They'll Let ME Drive There...Seriously??

I'm ready for an adventure. A trip that isn't all planned, that's a fly by the seat of your pants kind of trip. We've been on a couple of trips in the last two years or so and all of them have been with a tour group of sorts, or at least pretty planned out. I always knew when someone was picking me up and taking me to the next place. (Except of course for the first week we spent in Thailand..Who REALLY plans for a 3 night hospital stay on their honeymoon?)

I'm ready to change. I want to go it alone. So, where better to try that out than Iceland. I've bought the plane tickets, I reserved the hotel (which, I must say I'm pretty proud of the deal I got...but the Ritz it certainly is not), and next comes the transportation.

Now, we do plan on using some local transportation. Apparently there is a bus of some sort that you can get a pass to and you can basically just jump on and off where you want and you also get free entrance into some of museums and so forth. However, we are going to push ourselves and get international drivers licenses and can I say that I am pretty psyched about it.

I don't like driving in places in this country that I'm not familiar with, let alone a foreign country. The only international driving I've done is in Canada. Now picture me in a foreign country where you get into remote territory relatively fast. We may get lost, who knows, BUT I can guarantee that we'll get to see parts of the country we wouldn't have experienced on a tour, and that's what it's all about right??

He Wears Skinny Jeans...and That's Hot...

Everyone knows that I'm a travel gal...I'm getting to the point where I'll pretty much go anywhere and do almost anything, unless of course it involves bugs or heights. Looking for someone to hang with in a third world country in some roach motel?? I'm down. But, I'm not quite the traveler I want to be.

And this Matthew, is where you want to turn your computer off...

Don't get me wrong, this post certainly shouldn't be rated X or even R for that matter. I'm not the kind of girl who can realistically pull that off without people laughing. I'm going to rate this a hard PG...

But here is where I will officially and publicly pronounce my love for Anthony Bourdain. I want to be him, or at least be close to him. I want to be the type of traveler he is, uninhibited and is always willing to try something new. But I also love the way he talks...I love the way he writes...I love his program all together. Seriously, there is nothing about him that I don't like.

If you haven't read his blog, it is a must read for all travelers and foodies a like... He inspires me to want to see the world in a different way, far from the normal tourist traps and tours. He makes me want to go it alone and see things like the locals do.

So, the journey to Iceland will be Bourdain style. Sure we'll see the hits, but there will also be time away from the everyday tourist spots, into the world of the locals. Matt will try the whale and the rotten shark, and I will document the occasion through photographs and video since I have a stronger gag reflex when it comes to that sort of thing.

Thank you Anthony Bourdain for your hard drinking, cigarette smoking, foul mouthed way. And thank you for helping me to become a more ambitious traveler.

And yes, he does wear skinny jeans...and yes, it is incredibly hot...

I'm Not Scared!!

I'm in the minority. Definitely. I LOVE to travel. I couldn't see my life as being complete without seeing new countries and experiencing people and cultures that are the exact opposite of myself. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, pretty much since I met my husband. We both come from very different worlds. I had a grandmother who loved to travel and spent a great deal of her time seeing the world. She instilled in me the love of all things travel related and when I was younger I loved to hear her stories of the places she'd been.

My husband on the other hand, came from a very different family. They did not travel. In fact, he didn't leave the country until our honeymoon. This was and really still is, absolutely incredible to me. After experiencing the world outside of America, he has been bit by the travel bug, but up until we went to Thailand, he never really cared so much.

This all brings me to my point. I read this article on Gadling. The article talks about why American's don't travel. This is a question I ask as well. Ask around, most American's don't leave the country and I'm not sure why. Any ideas??

Going to the Land of Bjork...Maybe

My roommate in college was obsessed with Bjork, I on the other hand never really saw the excitement around her. I'm still not into her, but I do hope to visit her country.

Last week I had found a tour to China on sale, and I thought that we would be going on it, but after actually looking at the length of the tour, and the fact that we'd have to fly out of NYC, we moved on from that idea.

We are now looking at taking advantage of the declining financial climate in Iceland. We had planned on going to Iceland last year, but when my father bailed out of the trip, Matt and I decided to take advantage of the time and go to South Africa. The trip to South Africa pretty much emptied our wallets, and realistically we weren't even sure we'd be able to take a trip at all this year, but with prices the way we are, how can I say no!

My father is looking at coming with us this time (and even if he doesn't we'll still go on our own). I plan to hopefully book the flights and hotel this week!

Yeah...I need a new new topic...

Yesterday I had my last "welcome to grad school" class (at least my last one until December). Our homework for the class was to do some research for our topic and then come to the class and talk about whether or not we'd be able to do it for a thesis project.

So, I had decided that I'd do something related to work. We had been talking about having a welcoming committee (which sounds REALLY stupid, but trust me, I think that it will be good). My thought was that I could use that and do the whole kill two birds thing and use it for my thesis, or at least a research project. I was going to look at how organizational culture is formed and how to get people more engaged in an organizational culture and how that relates to the length of time people are with a company. But, I started doing some reading on organizational communication and found that it is SO incredibly boring! I really don't like it at all.

Now I am back to the drawing board. I have a lit review due in two weeks and I'm hoping that I can change my topic to a new one and use it for my research project as well. Now I'm thinking that I want to do something with online media and the legitimacy of polls. I'm still not sure though...My original idea was self disclosure in social networking, specifically look at if there were differences in people's level of self disclosure online based on culture, age and sex.

Any suggestions on other possible topics in the same realm?? Please bring them on!!!

Is It Supposed to be THIS good??

Today is our second second anniversary, so I feel the need to reflect on how life has been for us in the last two years. Quite frankly its been great!

Matt always knew that he wanted to get married, I on the other hand wasn't sure. To me, it just seemed like everyone got married early, had kids, and then that was it. I knew I wanted more than that. I had actually not even considered getting married until I was 30. Obviously I forgot that idea and I'm very glad I did!!

At this point in our lives I can safely say that we are both the happiest we've ever been and have grown so much.

Matt FINALLY went on a vacation outside of the country. (As a girl who had been to several countries by 16 it just always seemed past due for me!) Not only did he leave the country, but he also picked Thailand for our honeymoon which was his first trip outside the US , Talk about culture shock!! Add into that sitting with me in a Thai hospital for 3 days and you'd think that he'd never want to leave the country again. But Thailand gave him the travel bug and since our honeymoon we've been to Costa Rica and most recently South Africa and we're hoping to plan a trip to China the beginning of next year.

We're in the final stages of finishing up our house after 5 years of working on it and have put in our own touches to make it OUR home.

We both also took the plunge and did something that we've wanted to do for a LONG LONG time, go back to school. And, while it is a lot of work, I know that I can say it makes me incredibly happy to be doing it....

So, tonight we'll go our and have our traditional anniversary meal....Thai food and then home for chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting (that was what our wedding cake was).

So, hooray for us for two years down and may the next two years be even better!

Ideas Needed...PLEASE!!

Okay all you creative people, I need your help! As some of you may know, we will soon have a new bride here in HR and I am planning the bridal shower. So, my question to everyone, How do you have a bridal shower for a girl that has no feminine bone in her body??

Here are my thoughts:

Harley Davidson themed shower. I don't know what I can get for decorations...we'll see

It will be a pot luck

I'm collecting money for a group gift and/or gift cards

Yeah, that is pretty much all I've got right now. I am in desperate need of some suggestions and thoughts about the whole thing!! Keeping in mind that this will be a work party and I have less than a week to plan it!

A Decision Has Been Made...WOOT..WOOT!

Thanks to everyone who offered up an opinion, I will be taking your advice...After much though I have decided that I am going to go the Mass Communication route. I'm a media junkie...it's true. It's better that I accept this now than spend 2 (or 3) years studying regular old communication when I could be writing about the impact of television violence on children, or the impact of left and right wing blogs on the main stream media. It just sounds so much more fun than talking about Plato right??

So, as of next semester, I will be taking Mass Comm theory, law and other related classes. Oh yea, and someone in my research methods class wrote a paper analyzing Gossip Girl...Ummm...Plato or Gossip Girl?? Yeah, it'll be Gossip Girl.

SCORE!!