Freakishly Happy

We just got back from Key West Florida last night. Our trip was wonderful- the best time we've ever had in the Keys. We all went down for John's brother Jim's wedding.

We got to meet a lot of really great people while we were down there. Jim's new bride Sao (from Thailand) has a lot of really great friends from all around the world who were very kind to us while we were there.

The pre-wedding prepartion was a little hectic (mostly for the happy couple and for John the best man) but completely worth it. The ceremony and reception were elegant and simple. The ceremony was held in an old civil war encampment turned botanical gardens and the reception was held at La Concha hotel- at "the Top" from which we all had an amazing view of the sunset. I will post pictures when I get a chance to steal John's computer from him.

The rest of the week was spent hanging out, going to the beach and spending some QT with the happy couple before going back to Iowa.

This spring has been quite good to us. Jorgi (our little white dog) is finally potty-trained after months and months of thinking that the tile next to the front door was her personal latrene. She’s now enrolled in puppy classes at a school called Spot&Co and let me tell you, she’s the most enthusiastic puppy there!

John and I’ve been doing a fair amount of traveling. We’ve been to Chicago three times this spring for various conferences. We first went in March to go to the Family Farmed Conference, a conference that taught us a lot about organic and family farming and about sustainable agriculture. We’ve taken an interest in this type of things over the last few months. I feel that it is really important to know where your food comes from- whether it come from your own back yard of from the grocery store- one should have an idea of what is being put into their bodies. We learned a lot at this conference, ate a lot of great food and met some really great people!

On this trip we used hospitality club international to find our lodging with great success. Hospitalityclub.org is a website that hooks travelers up with a place to stay. When you sign up you volunteer to either let travelers stay at your place, have them over for dinner or show them around your town. It connects travelers with locals so that travelers can have a more rich experience and hosts can learn more about the outside world. We stayed with Daniel and Kathryn, a couple of kids who had just moved to Chicago from South Carolina. We became fast friends with them- and stayed up most of the night and into the next afternoon talking and sharing ideas with them.

The second time we went to Chicago was for the Green Festival. In the last few years Chicago has prided itself on becoming one of the greenest cities in America- much in part to the actions of Mayor Daly. This festival was a little less of our style. It was held in a huge convention center with thousands of people in attendance. Although many of the ideas presented in the booths were good, many of the booths were there simply to make sales. It really gave the impression that with in the green movement there is definitely a class divide, because all of the things that were marketed were outlandishly expensive and mostly superfluous- giving the impression that only the wealthy can care about the environment. (grrrrrrrr) Kathryn went with us the first day, but after 8 hours of looking at booths she was a bit wiped out and decided not to visit with us the second day.

The third trip to Chicago was wonderful. John found out about this magazine called Conscious Choice, a mag dealing with social issues- especially those pertaining to the environment and the Chicagoland area- and found out that the Dalai Lama was coming to Chicago. We jumped on tickets days after they were in circulation (this was way back near December or January for his appearance in May!)
The Millennium Park was nearly full to capacity. As we were waiting through the lines of about 10,000 people we found someone who needed to get rid of their tickets and got one for Kathryn (sadly Daniel had to work). Before the Dalai Lama came out there were children’s choirs and Tibetan children dance and music troupes. Then a group of about 20 Tibetan monks came out to pray to welcome the Dalai Lama. It was incredible. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of throat singing (ask John to do it for you some time if you haven’t), but 20 or so guys joining in a throat singing choir was just beautiful and hypnotic.

Then the Dalai Lama came out. He is just as wonderful and adorable as I’d imagined he would be. He gave a talk on how to find inner peace in a world filled with chaos. The general gist was that in order to find inner peace one has to be of sound mind- and needs to realize that although the actions of other may directly effect us, they need not effect our mental well-being. There is a lot more to it than that, and I can go more into detail in person if you are at all interested.

Other than that life has been pretty status quo- hence me not writing very much. I quit my job at the pet store sometime in April, thus achieving my goal of working there for 5 months. I also got rid of my purple hair. I’ve been working around the house trying to get us ready to move out at the end of July (you’ll never believe how fast time is flying) and planning for Jaci’s baby shower on the 9th of June.

John has been well, too. He’s still working as a contractor for Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids Iowa. He doesn’t really like it, but I think it’s getting better. Jim’s wife Sao said something profound the other day- no one really likes to work, but one has to work because it makes you stronger and builds your character. I guess I’ve never thought about work in this respect, I’d only ever considered it as a means of making money or passing time.

We’re planning on taking some time off in August and going traveling. The current plan is to try to visit as many of our friends and family in the US as possible. Then later during the fall the plan is to move to Chicago. John has been offered an extension of his contract and will be able to work remotely for 20+ hours a week. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do, but I’m sure that will come along. Love,
joni

Due to the avalanche of complaints, I thought I'd blog. We will have a steady stream of gorgeous fast-paced internet next week on the 15th. YAHaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! It is very exciting. We are counting down the days.

Currently we are living in Iowa City, Iowa, with our friends Jonathan and Sarah. We're living in 1/3 of 1/2 a duplex. We're currently living under a mountain of boxes with a constant threat of landslide (or shall I say boxslide? ?) Hopefully we will be dug out by the end of next week.

Well all, I'm getting a cold so I'm going to head home and go t bed.

With love,
Joni