What a difference a year makes.

Last year on St. Patrick's Day, Claire and I spent a good part of our evening celebrating with friends at our favorite Northfield, Minnesota hangout, the Contented Cow. We were raucous and loud and in jolly good spirits (also consuming some jolly good spirits), glad to be warm and insulated from the Minnesota winter outside. I remember late in the night as I sat with Claire, Jana, and a green frog lamp, rousing one boisterous cheers after the next. Highdee-Highdee Hoe!!!

Fast forward a year. We're not in Northfield anymore, so I don't think we'll be going to the Cow to pursue this year's greened festivities. We're in San Francisco, the sun is warming me as I write, and the only thing on our street as prevelant as the asian restuarants are the Irish pubs. Jana is gone as well; she's in Bangkok, where all the Irishmen wear backpacks, lather themselves with spf 100, and probably still drink Guiness whenever they can find it. At least that green frog lamp is still back in Northfield...

In the past year, Claire and I... well if you're reading this, then you probably know what the last year has looked like for us. If you don't know, we've been all around this world and are back in the Bay Area (check the archive section to fill in the gaps).

So here we are, one year later. I don't think we'll be celebrating this year's holiday quite as aggressively as last year's. We're more grownup now, one year older and wiser. And Claire does, after all, have a test to take in the morning.

But then, again, that test isn't til the morning. And what else are we going to do on a St. Patrick's friday night surrounded by Irish Pubs?

What a difference a year makes...

"Are we doing a good job? Do we still live on vacation, Clairey?" A question Jij posed yesterday and I can imagine one that may be floating in the minds of some of you since the end of our blogging. Afterall, it's quite a bold mantra to only be lived out for a short time. I'm happy to report that after short deliberation, we came to the conclusion that we are, most certainly, still on vacation. Perhaps a busier and more action-packed vacation, but vacation none-the-less. A quick catch up from our last blog to today. From the plane we were greeted by my parents, clad in smiles and giddy to have their kids back. The next morning Willie Nelson boomed throught the speakers of my parent's RV and we were "On the Road Again." Off to Florida for Christmas. After a lovely stay with my family we were off again. To Wisconsin this time for a nice visit with Jij's family, with entirely too much yummy foood and some good karaoke fun.





Biting at the bit, as we were, to get to California, we packed up my car and headed west, both with part time jobs awaiting our arrival. The first few weeks were spent catching up with old friends, a trip to Tahoe for Claire and what seemed like lots of visitors. A trip to Monterrey to the vineyards of Carmel Valley and to visit our "soon to be parent" friends Matt and Kasha (who are now proud parents of a beautiful little girl.) A baby shower to follow and another week began. Off to Mammoth for a 4 day visit filled with snow-shoeing, skiing and well, festive evenings. Jetta got a new pair of cables (to put on the tires) to help plow through the snowy roads. Back to work for 3 days and a visit from my college friend Erin and a trip to Yosemite. It has been about 2 and a half months since we arrived back in the US of A and we are feeling quite settled and happy in our California lifestyles.

As for work, I spend my mornings pouring coffee and my afternoons with a young man with autism. Keeps me busy and happy. I have been accepted into a teaching program in which I will teach in a special education (elementary school, I hope) class in the Oakland Schools come September and take courses simultaneously to get my teachers credential and masters in education. Jij has several part time jobs. He is in charge of organizing 1500 kids in a Beach Clean up in May. He is not only in charge of the kids but of all the ins and outs, the fine details of the event. He also works for a company called Edventure More where he is a sort of contract science teacher. He visits Bay Area schools and teaches a variety of science lessons to them, while at the same time promoting the summer science camp that he will be directing this summer. So, you must now refer to him as Mr. Director. This along with some part time environmental education work at the Headlands Institute (where he used to work) keeps him busy.
And that long-winded wrap up brings us to today, March 2nd.

We still think often of our travels. There are numerous times in a day when I am reminded of something from our trip. I obsess over and often browse through our pictures. It actually took me a while to readjust to a more stagnant lifestyle, by stagnant I am not implying boring. I missed moving so much from one very different culture to another equally different culture. From beaches to mountains to temples to the Eiffel Tower. What a fabulous experience that will live with us for a long time. We are very thankful for the opportunity to travel, we couldn't have chosen a better time to do it. So as we live on vacation here in San Francisco we will fondly remember our adventures, enjoy the present and dream of (and scheme) the next trip all the while living an interesting enough life to keep the blogging going! So keep checking back for updates.
Oh, and by the way, meet our roomate Helen. She's just as English as I am!