THE List, Gotta See this stuff

THE LIST, Stuff to See:
To people who know me it's no surprise I have the travel bug and when I say have it I mean.. I can't be home for more than a few months without feeling the overwhelming desire to travel the world again. There is just something about seeing the world, heading out to uncharted territories, not knowing the language and going about things anyways. Some of the most amazing memories I have good and bad have been found on the road, traveling in trains, and getting lost in foreign countries. Sometimes the mundane, that can be life, is overcome with what I call internet trips.... sorta like watching the travel channel for internet junkies, like myself. I sit at work and sometimes I just need a couple of moments to escape... I look up flights for tomorrow to Paris... and think, ah if only :) As my husband and I have been talking we decided, due to a huge gap in decent television to watch, if we could go anywhere? Where would we go? What's our list.... before we die where must we visit to feel complete..... and so for the curious here it goes.



30 Trips of Wonder, our Life's Travel Ambitions if you will:
( In no real order but we certainly have our favs on the list)

1. India
- New Delhi
- Mumbai
- Jaipur
- Khajurho
- Kathmandu
- Ranthambore
2. Nepal
3. Bhutan
4. Kuala Lumpur
- Penang Island
5. Cambodia
6. Santiago, Chile & Tierra Del Fuego
7. Buenos Aires, Argentina
8. Iguazu Falls
9. Ecuador & Galapagos
10. Peru
11. Belize
12. Israel
13. Greece
14. East and South Africa (Melissa)
- Masai Mara
- Serengeti
- Ngororo Ngororo Crater
- Kenya
- Cape Town
15. Eastern Europe
- Romania
- Poland
- Croatia
- Montenegro
16. Tallin, Estonia
17. Iceland :)
18. Dubai and Cairo
19. New Zealand
20. Australia
21. Alaska
22. Montreal & Vancouver
23. Moscow & St Petersberg
24. Kyoto during Cherry Blossoms
25. Back to Bangkok, Thailand
26. Octoberfest in Germany
27. Ireland
28. Take Jon to Paris and F1 race :)
29. Jon take Melissa to Amsterdam
30. Brazil


Ambitious list for sure, but well worth aiming for....

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins

Shopping Binge for Drugs

Congratulations to me, I am one of the lucky ONE BILLION colds that occur in the us every year! Oh Joy! I haven't been riding, running, yoga'ing, nothing. Laying around, trying to sleep between the coughs, that's the name of the game. Fluids people scream, Listerine I scream! Thank you whatever little diseased dirty, coughing phalanges did this to me.... For now, I will remember the times for the last two years I have managed to escape the common cold mess and laugh at the poor suckers who were sick and now, now the laugh is on me. Big time.





Shopping for the common cold list:

1. A lot of tissue
2. Nyquil
3. Halls
4. Vitamin Water
5. Mucinex
6. More NyQuil
7. Dark Chocolate (it's supposed to help coughing right?)
8. Flonase
9. Beg the Doctor for the Zpack they should have given you to begin with
10. lots of magazines, chick flicks, and soup.

Happy Shopping..... Relief must be out there somewhere...

Didn't you know (fill in the blank) ?

Didn't you know the Unspoken Rule?

It was brought to my attention through one of my friends that there is a need for the simple things in life book. Why is is that we don't have more instruction booklets for things and why if the rules are unspoken are we expected to know them and live by them and worse judged for knowing them and then choosing to do something different?

In my effort to find out a little more information about what's really going on with these unspoken rules I decided to consult the North American icon of Emily Post, queen of etiquette, who evidently has a website emilypost.com which gives guidelines for everyday situations, and many other scenarios as well. I checked it out, wow seriously, there are a lot of rules, err suggestions.

I see something that sparks my attention.... "85 percent of people are EAGER to judge a host on the comfort and cleanliness of their bathroom" Really? Evidently Quilted Northern 3Ply toilet tissue "plush" conducted a study designed to support the concept of ‚Why Women Need Plush.‛This thoughtful leadership study was designed to engage consumers in a dialogue that moves beyond toilet tissue to a conversation about everyday behaviors and social experiences..... Social experiences? in the bathroom? To many men this concept is odd, get in do your business, and get out. No chatter, no shame, just get your work done. But for women this just simply isn't the case; the study claiming that their women needed plush, because the soft supple quilted paper will solve all your bathroom woes equaled their discovery of, and I quote "For women, public restroom use is a big burden; making most feel unclean, rushed, or repulsed." No Joke? Really? Let's get real.... what about all those unspoken rules we don't talk about?

Recently I had a conversation with my husband regarding the crazy social "woman" etiquette plagued in Women's bathrooms.... the unspoken rules if you will.

The Ladies' public bathroom rules to live by but no one tells you:

1. You can never fart, unless it's silent and there is more than one other person in the bathroom with you, so no one will know it was you.
2. If you are alone in the bathroom and someone walks in, you must cease what you are doing until they leave, unless you are just peeing. If you're desperate, squeeze in a bit of action between the flushes.
3. If you begin peeing at the same time as the person next to you and you have to pee a long time, then you should try to break it up, cause otherwise the person next you thinks, wow she really had to pee.
4. Public groans are never ok.
5. If you forgot to check for toilet tissue before entering the stall, the person next to you will judge you.
5. It's only ok to talk to people if one, you walked in with friends and you were already talking, and two, if there is a long line and you want to whine about the line.
6. You must help any unattended child in the bathroom who cannot figure out how to lock the door, reach the faucet, soap or towels. Then when you're done helping them see them out of the restroom and wonder what jerk let such a little kid in there alone?
7. And lastly, if something goes wrong in the public toilet, wait for an opening, and exit the stall quickly and pretend nothing ever happened.


Why in the world do we do this to ourselves? And who told us this, I don't ever remember being specifically told you are not allowed to make any smells in the bathroom. When I share this list with my friends... they all laugh and say oh my you completely nailed it..... I ask why are things so different for men than women? Are we so worried people might not like us cause our farts smell? The best explanation anyone has come up with is, I think it started in the cave... let's face it... everything started in the cave. When in doubt blame it on the cave.

My opinion, the plushest of all toilet paper won't change this reality for women; sometimes the bathroom smells and sometimes people will know you're in there.. pooping.

I vote a new ad campaign:

That's all, there is to say about that.