Childhood Friends

A couple weekends ago Nick and I drove down to Omaha to meet up with my friend Kelsey and her husband, Simon. It had been 5 years since we'd seen each other. We email quite a bit and exchange Christmas cards, but we hardly ever get together. So this evening was long overdue. Kelsey and I have been friends since we were maybe 12 years old. Our fathers were both in the autobody business and every summer they had these camp-outs that we would attend so we would always enjoy playing, swimming, just having fun. I also used to go down during the summer to Omaha and spend a couple days with Kelsey and her family.

It's funny that after 5 years we still had plenty to talk about and it was really nice to sit down and catch up. We both said we'll have to do it again and hopefully it will be soon and not 5 years down the road. Thanks Kels for a good evening of catching up!

One of the summer trips to Omaha. I think we are 14 or 15 here

This picture cracks me up!! I have no idea what we are doing!!
Kelsey, Me & Alysha, Kelsey's younger sister.
This was during one of the camp-outs for Autobody.
Not sure how old we are here, maybe 11 or 12. I had some bad hair!!! ha!

I Wanna Rock & Roll all night......

We have discovered this new band, called The Away Team, they are out of Kansas City. The drummer, Chris Sweetland is a native of Wayne, Nebraska and also a classmate of Nick from High School. Chris had called us up and told him they were coming to Wayne to play a show at Riley's and asked if we could spread the word (pass our flyers, cds, posters, etc.). We were more than happy to help them out. They are really good...Their CD is awesome, but they are so much better live!! They like to compare themselves to Jimmy Eat World -- They are a mix of Rock and Alternative with their own sound. Here are a few pictures from the long, awesome night we had with them. And I say long, because we ended up having them over to our house for a little after-bar party and we didn't get to bed until 4 a.m.!!!! Good times!!

We told them we wanted our picture taken with them, so when they get ridiculously famous we could sell this picture on Ebay!!

Me, Cindy & Mindy enjoying the show!The 3 Amigos -- Amanda, Nick and I

Jeff Limer - Lead Vocals & Guitar

Q Schmidt - Bass

Chris Sweetland - Drums

We came, we saw, we conquered Taiwan!

I know it's been forever since I've blogged, just been so busy. Our trip to Taiwan was awesome!! It was so nice to spend a week (march 15-23, 2008) with my sister, Marisa doing stuff that she's been doing the past 8 months. We did a lot of walking, riding the MRT, trying new and different foods, some I'd prefer not to have again and sightseeing. I can't even begin to tell you ALL the things we saw into a couple paragraphs, so here's a brief list of things we did.

• Touring Sanxia (Marisa's town)
• Meeting her toddlers she teaches and her schools
• Random Temple visits
• Sun Yet-San Memorial
• Taipei 101 Building
• Meeting Angela & her family (mom & dad's exchange student last year)
• National Palace Museum
• Taipei Zoo & Mao Kong Mountain
• Dinner with 2 old classmates from Marisa's Exchange year
• Meeting Davids Parents, Eric & Stacey (David was another exchange student the same year Marisa was living in Taiwan, and actually living with Eric & Stacey, so Marisa's extended family)
• Chaing Kai-shek Memorial
• Shopping at the Chinese Handicraft Mart
• Dinner, Drinks & Dancing with Marisa's co-workers

We took over 300 pictures, so you'll have to go to my Shutterfly to see them all when you have an hour to go through them! :) But here are some of my favorite pictures!

Random Temple in Sanxia

Sun Yet-san Memorial

National Palace Museum

Taipei 101 Building

Gondola Ride up to Mao Kong Mountain

Chaing Kai-shek MemorialDrinking, Dancing and Having Fun with Marisa's Co-workers at Roxy 99

9 Days, 15 Hours, 9 Minutes & 10 Seconds.....

That's how much longer I have to wait until I'm off to Taiwan with my parents to see my sister Marisa!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am. I'm always excited to be going someplace for vacation, even if I've been there before. Just to get out of Wayne and away from work is the best part. But to have this opportunity to go to Taiwan is just awesome and what makes it even more awesome is that Marisa is there and she'll be able to show us around "her" town. I'm sure she has a lot of stuff for us to see and do and both my mom and I think that this time will go by faster than we would like. We leave bright and early on March 15 and arrive back in Omaha on Sunday, March 23 early in the evening. I'm very anxious and nervous, more nervous about the flight, it's a LONG flight, I just hope they are showing a descent movie and that I'll be able to sleep. I will have TONS of pictures (mom and dad have put me in charge of picture taking), and I hope that I'll be able to remember the names of the places that we see. I will definately have to have a pad & pen along to mark down everywhere we have been. Laundry & packing start this weekend......

9 Days, 15 Hours, 1 Minute, 40 Seconds and counting......

GushyGrams

Marisa discovered this website www.mushygushy.com. It's a pretty fun website. She had sent us all (Mom, Dad, Nick & I) GushyGrams the other day -- I couldn't stop laughing and I think Nick's is hilarious!! I've sent off a couple to some friends and it's definately a website that is now in my bookmarks!! Enjoy!