Blue Bike Tours!

I am excited to announce that our little business is finally up and running!

Blue Bike Tours of Paris

We offer Day and Night, public and private bike tours of some of the best monuments and charmingly typical Parisian neighborhoods.

Come see Paris with us and I am sure you will love the experience and come away with a true appreciation for this one of a kind city and its amazing history.

Here is a link to our official site: Blue Bike Tours

Ride it. Live it. Love it!

The Mom and Pop go to France Fund!

I've already spoken with most of you on the phone about this, but just to say it all again for those of you I didn't catch yet; JB and I want to host Mom and Pop for 3 weeks here in France during this July or August. Preferably August as the tickets are a little cheaper.

The idea is that all of us kids will put as much as we resonably can into this trip for them so that they can have a really great Anniversary present/Birthday present for Pop. I've already mentioned this to Mom and she is down with the idea, and Pop, well Pop is really wanting to come. Baby Timmy is a big draw, but think about it, Mom and Pop have never been to Europe and it will be such a good memory for them. Hell, Mom has never been out of the country and Pop hasn't been since he left India. As Rafiki the monkey says: "It is time."

I've been looking for inexpensive flights for them and the best that I have found so far is as follows. Using Icelandair, if they fly out of Minneapolis, (which they can take a shuttle to from LaCrosse) and have one layover in Iceland, before reaching Paris on August 10th and return in the same style on August 25th, then the tickets will cost: $985. Each.

So: $1970 for both of them round trip.

I know it is expensive, but it will make them so happy, and shit, we are 8 kids I figure we should all be able to pitch in at least a little something! Even Gelly can help!

Here's the deal, JB and I don't have any cash available till the end of the month, but you should all feel free to go ahead and start putting money in the donate button up in the right hand side of my blog. This way it will all go into one account and then I can buy the tickets for them faster.

If you want I will keep a running tab up so that we all know how much still needs to be put in. Yes, I think I will do that so that we all feel guilty and give more money.

TOTAL DONATED as of Feb. 10th: $0

Any questions or comments? Use FB, and I will get back to you right away.

BTW! Mom has promised to lose weight for this trip. She know that obesity costs extra on an airplane, so she is really gonna do her best!

On bridesmaids

The wonderful history or should I say histories behind bridesmaids and their roles in helping the bride can be watched in this cute little video.  (You'll see the brides head falls off , how realistic...my head does that too!)

More helpful tips on what a bridesmaid is commonly expected to help with can be found HERE, or on many other useful internet sights! ( hint, they aren't just there to look pretty :)

Being Home and starting the wedding preperations!

I've been home for a month. I don't have a job yet, but I am so busy trying to arrange the wedding for this April, that I think I am lucky to not be working yet. So far I've voted for a president, found my dress, bought a pattern for my bridesmaids dresses, bought dozens of flower bulbs (which I will force start indoors before the wedding), talked with the priest, set the date for the church, sent out the "Save the date" things via email, demanded the "list of guests from his side", started studying NFP, checked out and blocked off some rooms for my guests at local hotels, and this morning I am going to look at rooms for the reception. Tomorrow I will work on the invitations. They will be homemade. So much cheaper.

Hopefully, my mom and I can find something and book it soon, because there aren't many places around here that serve such small weddings and we are kinda late in the game for booking a place now. Usually people book a year or six months before, so we're at the wire. We'll probably only have about 100 people at most who show up for the wedding and most places have a 200 people minimum. I don't want to pay for 100 more plates of food that won't be eaten, or all the linen table clothes, and place setting rentals either...

Also Jean-Baptiste and I are having huge problems finding a wedding registry that speaks English but is either in France or ships to Paris. Anyone have any suggestions?

It's the End of the World As I know it!

Yeah, It's the end of the World as I now know it and I feel fine!

It is time.

The Poorva Express leaves tomorrow morning at 8:05 am from Howra Station and will arrive at about the same time in New Delhi on the 7th.

Poorva Express = 24 hours of grabbing and "Where you from?" molestation before I reach Delhi, but it will be my last train ride in India so I am just gonna suck it up!

In Delhi I will probably take a small walk down Main Bazaar to get myself some food for the day and a fresh bottle of water, it will be no fun carrying all my stuff with me but there is nowhere that I would trust leaving it for even 20 minutes.

Then I will negotiate a fair price for the Taxi to the Airport. About 10 minutes of acceptable grief.

After I arrive at the airport I hope to be pleasantly waiting around with my journal and thoughts and a good book until Midnight at which time I will board my flight heading non-stop to Chicago.

When I arrive in Chicago at 7:30 am on the 8th I will wait for my luggage and then lug it to the Metro. Which will take me to Union Station where I will wait around for the Empire Builder to leave at 2:15 pm.

Five Hours later I will be only 40 minutes from home! As I dismount the Empire Builder in LaCrosse Wisconsin and feel the cool October air and see and smell the season change, I will probably start crying and asking for a cheese burger.

My mom and hopefully most of my family will be there to put me back together again, and make me wait till I get home to the farm for that burger. So, 40 minute more until I see my farm again and smell my own cows and get howled at by Addie the Beagle.

God, I can hardly wait!

Aproximate transit time between me and my next Cheese burger: 24hr train + 30mn taxi + 15hr flight + 30 mn Metro + 5hr train + 40mn drive = 35 hrs and 40 minutes

Total time till next Cheese burger from start of travel: About 72

Next Cheese burger: PRICELESS

I am grateful

I am grateful for:
My Faith
My Parents
My Siblings
My many friends and few relatives throughout the world who pray for me
The fact that in my country I am respected as a person
The fact that I was given an education
That I will always have someone I can call on to help me


That I have knowledge of how to keep myself healthy
That I will never have maggots crawling in any of my wounds
That I will never have rotten fingers that show their bones.
That my babies will not die from malnourishment,
nor AIDS, nor polio...
That I will never be addicted to drugs.


That I will never die alone
nor on the street
nor from a sickness without possibility of treatment
That when I die people will mourn me and respectfully dispose of my body.

O! GOD!

I am so grateful.

I am so blessed.


LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

So many photos from Thailnad and India

ARE HERE



That's JB's blog

By the way we are no longer dis-engaged. ; )

He asked me while we were riding an elephant.