Sitting at the Night Market in Nathon eating noodies and sticky rice with mango (oh my god...nothing is better!) I look up to see a huge banner for Bangkok Airways advertising non-stop flights to Phuket, Krabi and of course Bangkok. I mean, of course I realized that being on Samui that has an airport and again with the knowledge that the above locations were also equiped with airports, until then I hadn't given it much thought that we would actually fly off our island. Yes, we've boated to our neighboring isles, but I was totally content with our humble accommodations in Ban Taling Ngam until right then! I don't say a word to Shaun and casually continue to enjoy the people watching and the sunset. (who am I kidding, I was squirming around with ants in ... read more

Today in America millions of people watched the Presidential Innauguration, I'm assuming. I know for sure that Seth and Coley were indeed in DC and I'm hoping Katie M also had the chance to see history unfold in the flesh. I had been keenly aware that we would be out of the country and was excited to have it unfold here in Thailand for their reaction. As it drew nearer, I started to frantically search the internet for when it would be shown here, GMT +7. (Or 15 hours ahead than our friends in Oregon) Since we don't have television here at the villa, (well, we opted not to buy the subscription as it was explained to us) we had silently agreed to go find a pub that would show it on air. Ok, we narrowed ... read more

Wow...if I were a guy I surely would have had a Happy Ending. Translation...Thai Oil Massage equals 3rd Base. I had no idea, really! We are in dispute a bit over how the bases go...this is how I interpret them. 1st Base...kissing. 2nd Base...Feely Feely over the clothes. 3rd Base...felt up under the clothes. 4th Base...is still a Homer. (I've only had one actual massage and it was from the massage school in Denver that my mom took me to a few summers ago. Obviously the massage was given by a student and was about $20 bucks for an hour or so. My mom gave me the disclaimer that each week they are learning new techniques and you can't choose your style and sensibly enough, some students are better than others. Only having attempts from my ... read more

So, first off...not only did I not anticipate the reaction I got from Shaun re: Blogging which was very good by the way...after he edited my posts, he gave me the thumbs up. Super! Then he surprises me again by casually saying, "maybe I'll put together a blog..." wow, ok so super again! I'm not surprised though at how good his post was (last one on driving, if ya didn't catch it, I'd say it's totally worth the risk that your boss could walk by and catch you "surfing the net" again) He is the writer in this family after all. From song lyrics to short stories to the next Pulitzer Prize winner, you can find him jotting down notes and ideas almost anywhere. He's got that old fashioned style of using long hand to sort ... read more

Ok, well....he knows. The cat is officially out of the bag. I had hinted to Shaun that I was thinking about a travel blog a few times and he would do the customary little head tilt, crooked smile, not quite an eye roll, but a distinguished look of sorts. (Totally different from the Cautionary Rage Blackout look that I mentioned earlier, and a little closer to the "Babe, are you sure, this might be a bit embarrassing for you?" kinda look.) He didn't put too much stock in my claims because I usually have a scheme or two handy to pull from the vault at a moment's notice, and I'm assuming he has learned better to roll with it (it, being me) vs. put up a fuss in a no-win sitch. I will add one tiny ... read more