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with love, in honor

This is the first time in 26 years that my granddad and I haven't celebrated our birthdays together. To help ease the abruptness of that transition, I'm celebrating in a new way this year: in Africa! I doubt this will be a yearly tradition but I did think it the perfect way to celebrate this time.

Plus, without GG's ever-changing math formula to help me out this year, I'm not even sure how old I'm turning...something like 26 maybe? (yikes.)

ghost posts

While I'm gone to Africa, I've scheduled a few surprise "ghost posts" to keep my blog going. Don't worry, though, I won't be spending any of my precious time in Africa looking at a computer screen. But there were a few events I just couldn't miss so I arranged the posting ahead of time!

i love:

the night before a trip! All of my things are perfectly in order and ready to go for the next morning. My clothes are neatly laid out so that I don't have to think about anything except getting out the door. And because I've usually gotten in bed way too late the night before (ahem) and because I'm leaving at 6:45 in the morning, I definitely need this kind of fool proof plan. Ready or not, it's almost here!

in the spirit

Lindy (our fashionista team member!) and a few others from our South African mission team left for Cape Town this past Monday. I saw this picture of Lindy at the airport on Monday morning with the South African flag painted on her nails. She's ready! And it makes me even more excited too...

so far,

...not so good. I set out to get a lot of packing done tonight, and now it's 11:02 PM and this is all I have: my swimsuit (because I only have 1 option to pack) and my pajama shorts (again, only 1 option). I guess it's better than nothing, but I fear I have a long way to go...

a little visitor

This weekend I had a little visitor. Actually I had a few, but one especially tiny visitor. Abbey! My sister and Abbey came to New Jersey and New York for a few days. They were able to come to New York on Saturday and get a quick tour of the city. We fit in Shake Shack, Central Park, FAO Schwarz, and then they finished out with the Empire State Building, American Girl Doll store, and dinner. When I met up to say goodbye in Penn Station, they looked like they had survived a very long, fun (and tiring) day.

Don't mistake Abbey's lack-of-smile as not having fun. Pictures aren't her thing; she was having a blast!

Magic fairy dust in Abbey's hair at Alice's Tea Cup



She asked if she could take the leaf home!





Not amused by the man in gold. Even though his cane was make of sequins...

Checking out the seals at the Central Park Zoo.

here.

I still can't believe I'm going here. And, in less than a week! I'm not completely sure of what awaits me in the next week, but I am getting more excited by the minute.























Cape Town, South Africa

roy g biv

I was partially switching out my winter and summer clothes last night when I inadvertently hung my sweaters like this:























I stepped back and was jubilant at what I saw. I had hung my clothes in rainbow order without even trying. I guess this is the moment when someone who has worked so hard to rainbow-fy her life feels like she's made it big.

an easy, surprise dinner

This is what happens when you suddenly remember at 6:45 PM that you actually have all necessary ingredients to make a delicious & easy dinner.

ground venison

marinara sauce

half a box of elbow macaroni noodles

dinner!

packing party

























My trip to South Africa is so close! On Monday night we had our last team meeting before we all depart. And we spent a couple of hours packing up supplies, toys, goodies, snacks into our 17 bags. We bought a lot of toys, art supplies and gifts to donate to the church and organizations we are going to be working with there. As for food, we'll be enjoying a lot of the local fare; but for the long and tiring days, Elisabeth Hasselbeck generously donated her nogii bars to our entire team! They filled up an entire suitcase as you can see above (and I tried one at our meeting - they are delicious and you should check them out!). I think we will be completely set on snacks, huh?

It's getting so close I can hardly stand it...