The Foxy Man | Halloween Costume 2012


Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. It marks the beginning of the best three months of the year. Every year, I always say I'm going to dress up, but it never happens. I think that the magic of fall takes over and I always have good intentions but never follow through. Last year, I made a lame attempt at being a pumpkin. I put on an orange dress and pasted some leaves in my hair. It was a bit lame I know, but this year, I decided that I would put in more of an effort for my students.

Since I work at a library full of wonderful books, I thought it would be good to be a literary character, Mr. Fox from Fantastic Mr. Fox. I bought a generic fox mask at a nearby costume store. It was pretty awful. It was all white with gold sequins all over it. Markus, the artistic genius that he is, transformed it into the beautiful mask you see now. He used watercolors and added a few other small touches. I think it turned out wonderful and I know that no one else in the world has a mask like it. Now that I've made the effort this year, I've decided that I want to dress up every year! Maybe next year, Markus and I will have awesome couples costumes. Any suggestions?



Wandering Wednesday | Florida Road Trip 2009: 1 of 3


During Spring Break 2009, Markus and I decided that we would go on a mini road trip through Florida. We wanted to see as many Roadside Attractions as possible. We also planned to visit friends and family. I planned for us to visit a bunch of quirky places that many people never heard of before. We also decided that while we were driving and saw any interesting billboards or places, we would stop and check them out too.



The first stop of our first day was at Jon G's in Lake Worth. This historic restaurant always has a line out the door and around the side of the building. We went as early as possible and were one of the first inside. Markus and I actually had our first honeymoon in Lake Worth and passed the restaurant many times, but never ate there.

After Jon G's we drove north towards Jupiter to visit Blowing Rocks. This was our first time going but definitely not our last. I never knew that something like that could exist in Florida. It was like visiting another state. Once we finished exploring the rocky terrain, we drove to the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse close to central Florida. I've never been inside a lighthouse before and I was quite impressed.



The final part of our first day took us to the Ruins of Bongoland. It was built in 1948 and for a few years was a mini theme park. Now the only remains are some poorly constructed and dilapidated dinosaurs.  It was the perfect way to end the first day of our Florida Roadside Attraction road trip.

Florida Road Trip 2 of 3

Chatsworth House | Derbyshire, England 2 of 5

The size of Chatsworth House is overwhelming. There is so much to see and I was glad that spent the whole day there. I think Markus and I stopped to look at everything. I must've taken over 600 photos.

When we made it outside to the gardens, we quickly realized that it was turning into a mini photo shoot. Sorry for all the shameless photographs of Markus and I, but I couldn't help myself. It was the first time I've ever been in a garden like this. It was stunning and unlike anything I've ever seen before. I felt like I was in a British period drama. I was waiting for someone to pull me into the bushes and either kill me or ravish me. 

Palawan, Philippines | 1 of 3


The final leg of our journey to the Philippines took us to the beautiful island of Palawan and the city of Puerto Princesa. Palawan is absolutely gorgeous and I wished that the majority of our trip was spent there. This was what I thought the Philippines would be like, a tropical paradise. It's really a pity that we were only able to spend two days there, it was too little too late. If I ever make it back to the PI, I hope I spend my time in places like Palawan.



After we dropped off our luggage at the hotel, we headed straight for lunch at KaiLui. Our hotel highly recommended this restaurant because it's one of the best in Puerto Princesa. It's always packed and we had to make a reservation for lunch to make sure we would be able to eat there. The specialty of KaiLui is obviously seafood, since the product is so easily accessible. Everything is so fresh and comes straight from the ocean. Even though I've lived in places nearby the sea my whole life, I never tasted anything so fresh and delicious.



After lunch, we went on a city tour of Puerto Princesa. I was a bit annoyed, I wanted to go to a beach. You would think that being on an island there would be a beach nearby but there wasn't.  I was unable to fulfill my wish of going to the beach. Not once did I don a bathing suit and go to the beach while in the Philippines. Needless to say, I was very grumpy and cranky on our city tour.
Don't blink.

The city tour took us to a church, a park, a museum, but the most interesting place was the Crocodile Farm. Growing up in Florida, I've seen heaps of alligators, but never crocodiles. I was a bit disappointed to learn that they looked just like alligators. The best part of the Crocodile Farm was the bearcat. It was so cute and I wanted to take him home. While in the PI, we were unable to see the tarsiers. Markus is a lover of animals and nature and that was the one thing he wanted to do. It was a shame we couldn't fulfill his wish, but at least he got to play with a bearcat. I didn't even know these existed.

We spent the rest of our afternoon pretending like we were in Temple Run. Seriously, there was this weird jungle area of the Crocodile Park and we ran through broken bridges and hanging vines. It was awesome especially since we both started playing Temple Run on that trip. I still wish we went to the beach, but I'm glad that we made the most of what we had. 

Palawan 2 of 3

Chatsworth House | Derbyshire, England 1 of 5

If you know me, you know that I'm a huge fan of

Pride and Prejudice

. It's one of my favorite novels. I love almost every adaptation of the story. I've seen them all, even

Bride and Prejudice

, which is a gem by the way. You can't go wrong with a Bollywood version of my beloved P&P. 

My favorite version of

Pride and Prejudice

is Joe Wright's 2005 version starring Kiera Knightly and Matthew Mcfadyen. The BBC adaptation with Colin Firth is amazing, but Wright's version has the best cinematography. Sometimes, I re-watch this version just to look at all the pretty landscapes and beautiful estates. 

When we were preparing for our trip to England, I wanted to visit some of the iconic places from the movie. Many of them were out of the way and impossible to get to without a car. The one I wanted to see the most was Chatsworth House. In the film it's

Pemberley

, Mr. Darcy's home. Ever since I read the novel as a young girl, I've always dreamed of walking the halls of Pemberley. 

This year, we made that dream come true. On our seventh wedding anniversary, Markus and I visited Chatsworth House and it was everything I thought it would be. That day, I felt just like Elizabeth Bennet. I walked the halls of a beautiful home with my own, Mr. Darcy.