palace of winds

Since I last wrote, it has stopped raining. The weather is glorious: high 70’s, mid 80’s, sun sun sun. I am welcomed home indeed.

Ft. Lauderdale had good weather too. It rained every day, but mostly briefly, in the afternoons or evenings, and every day there was enough sun to sit by the pool or on the beach, and most of the trip was spent sitting on sidewalks at cafes or bars drinking something slushy and enjoying the beautiful, beautiful scenery (I had no idea one place could have so very many pretty men). We fit in an airboat tour in the Everglades and a corporate REO Speedwagon concert too. In the course of four days I used an entire bottle of spray-on sunscreen, and had an unprecedented victory: I didn’t get burned. (I was religious with my sunscreen last summer at the lake and I burned anyway every time out.)

There was the unfortunate storm on Wednesday while we were waiting for our flight out of Miami, and we sat in the airport for an hour and on the runway for an hour and a half, and I was exhausted by the time I got home but glad to be there. Especially when I discovered my mom had left a basket of fruit on the counter, goodies from the Byerly’s deli in the fridge, and a note about how she thought I might not feel like grocery shopping right away. My family? Rocks.

Two nights ago I dreamt of my sister with her pregnant, jutting belly, skin stretched so tight you could see the whole outline of the baby beneath, the curled limbs and face scrunched in discomfort. She was stroking the twisting baby; Soon, soon.

She went into the hospital early this morning. I haven’t heard anything since, but I am all excitement.

The same night I dreamt S– and I were strolling in the sun along an oceanfront beach, and ran into a young Tom Hanks and another celebrity. S– went off with the other one, and Tom and I sat just beyond the tide, making out.

Yesterday S– and I planned a June trip to Fort Lauderdale. I have not yet had a random encounter with a hot young celebrity, but I will keep you posted.

You know how there are some times when your life feels enormous? You’re in step with the whole world, like a fairytale, like a musical and you’re just waiting to round the corner and have the flowers burst into song. Limited only by the size and strength of your imagination. And when it comes to dreams, mine have always been epic, technicolor.

I recently spent two and a half weeks in Peru, and it was — amazing seems like such a pedestrian word for it. Whatever the word, I’m in love with Peru, frigid dodgy showers and all, and I have hundreds of pictures I want to share. Only I haven’t had a chance to even look at most of them, because since I returned I’ve been mostly consumed by horse shopping.

Since I’m, you know, getting a horse.

Life, my friends? Is very, very good indeed.

In 15 days, Bryce and I are off to Peru. Which has just suffered a massive earthquake.

My heart goes out to everyone there. It sounds utterly devastating, and they’ve only just begun sorting out the mess. The epicenter is a good 100 miles south of Lima, the city we’re flying into two weeks from tomorrow. I don’t expect trouble with our plans — the village where we’ll be volunteering for the first week is north of Lima, and afterwards we’re flying to Cuzco. All remains to be seen, though.

I feel a bit weird about talking about the trip in the wake of all this, but I am also still unbelievably excited to be going, and I think bringing tourism dollars into the country is a positive thing — just like I think it’s important for people to visit New Orleans if possible. So, in light of that, a request.

For my birthday Bryce hooked me up with this incredibly awesome little mp3 player, the Creative Zen V Plus, which is beautiful and wee and which has made biking much easier (to bring my ipod I had to also bring a bag to carry it in, and then I might as well throw my wallet in, just in case, and then I have to bring my bike lock along as well, because I’d need to be able to secure the bike if I decided to stop to buy something…). Ahem — and Y!Music-to-Go, which I can use to put almost any song at all onto said mp3 player. So what songs should I take to Peru? Like I said, I can get almost anything at all. Right now I’m specifically interested in the songs that make you groove. I want to feel compelled to dance the entire two and a half weeks I’m there, so lay ‘em on me.

Oh, and I chopped my hair again last night. With no hot water for our first week, I want it to be quick to wash. Before and after (forgiving how my hallway’s lighting always makes me look exhausted):

03/04 Sun: 30 min C+S (JF Arms) & 8 min abs
03/05 Mon: rest (sick :( )
03/06 Tue: riding! <3
03/07 Wed: rest (fam dinner)
03/08 Thu: 50 min C+S
03/09 Fri: riding (lesson)
03/10 Sat: ?

I’m posting this week’s early, ’cause next week? Next week I’m going to be in sunny Saaan Diego. I leave tomorrow morning and don’t return until the afternoon of Sunday the 18th. My boss keeps leaving weather print-outs on my desk for me, and they’re fabulous: sunny and 83, sunny and 82, sunny and 82, etc. So long snow!