Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Excited!

I cannot believe a month ago I was landing in Capetown. It feels like it was yesterday! I am going to take a very brief time out from South African blogging. I promise posts are coming and I will do my best to be productive over Thanksgiving. We dont need this epic journey to drag on and on.

Instead this will be a quick and very exciting update. Anders successfully closed on the house! After months and months of waiting we are finally here! I think we are both so excited to finally get to start our life together and to move into this beautiful new home. Unfortunately Anders work schedule has been a bit hectic during the past few weeks. You know - 7 days a week 8am to midnight or later - typical lawyer madness!

With Anders swamped at work I have taken the charge on the paint, prep and move to do list. I started with the grimy and dark laundry room first. It was a gross job - lots of navigating bug parts while painting many nooks and crannies. However it looks beautiful now! I'm excited to do the final touch ups and reveal it to the world! We also picked a lot rich paint colors for the rest of the house. That job is much bigger so I have been getting estimates from contractors and I hired a painter today. I am so lucky to have picked up construction lingo from my days working at Scott Thomas Construction and to have a father who can create a complete bid scope at the drop of the hat. I had plenty of good coaching on how to whip these contractors into shape. It will all get painted next week, so look forward to a future post with beautiful (hopefully) before and after pictures.

Beyond that I am so excited for Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday by far - I love the opportunity to reflect on those things that I am thankful for and to eat really amazing food. What could be better?!? It will be particularly special this year because Anders is coming to Kansas to spend the holiday with the WTs. I imagine it is hard to spend your first big holiday away from your own family and I am so thankful that he is really excited about flying halfway across the country to be with mine. Have I mentioned how amazing he is?

Anyway - in my lead up to Thanksgiving excitement all I can think about is eating. I thought I would share a favorite website of mine. Its a visual food buffet and filled with lots of seasonal recipes and beautiful photography!


http://www.tastespotting.com/


This week I had my staff share their favorite dish from Thanksgiving dinner. It was so interesting to hear the wide variety and unusual items that different families include - from a layered squash, cheddar, tomato dish to classic Greek food to a deviled egg/cream of mushroom casserole (yikes)! Personally I really like the classics. My moms stuffing, really great mashed potatoes, and as many varieties of cranberry sauce as possible. For desert I enjoy ALL types of pie - but my Grandma Barbs chocolate pie is certainly a Thanksgiving classic. And it would not be a complete meal without Pillsbury crescent rolls carefully constructed by DrewBear.

So world - what dish are you looking forward to?

Thursday, November 19, 2009

A Million Little Pieces

First, I love the photos from South Afrika. Second, I apologize for being delayed in my posting.

Despite being completely swamped with finishing the final edits and revisions to my dissertation (currently 175 pages) before I send it out next week, and preparing my cover letters and applications for jobs and post docs for next year, and the fact that the week before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest week of the quarter, AND the fact that I have to help review and select from the 175 intern applications for next year before December 4th, I managed to finish the first book I've read for pleasure in quite some time. It was the controversial not-so-autobiographical novel A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. The Smoking Gun.com says it is "filled with fabrications, falsehoods, other fakery." Still, it was an excellent read.

And what's more important is the fact that I am glad to be reading for pleasure again. I think it may go on hiatus for the next few weeks as I prepare for my defense, but since starting at Stanford two hours of my day are spent on a train. In the beginning I simply listened to my iPod ("Aisha") and observed the other patrons of the CalTrain system. It is fascinating to watch people on trains. Who sits where. Who talks to whom. Who wears what. How the conductors treat people who don't purchase tickets (once my friends ticket printed incorrectly and the conductor wanted her to sing to stay on board!). Every day interactions become interesting studies on human behavior. And looking out the window at the strange shops (e.g., how does Mary's Flag World stay in business??) and people (e.g., the woman wearing a raccoon skin cap who is out every morning at 7:30am preaching her conspiracy theories) we (thankfully?) pass.

Eventually, my sociological study faded into feeling like I should be more productive on the train. I wanted to do school work and printed out some documents to review but that is a hard way to stop and start my day. So, I picked up A Million Little Pieces and became hooked. Even knowing it was not 100% based in fact it is a fascinating novel and a terrifying look at addiction.

As a therapist I have worked with many people addicted to alcohol, drugs, the internet, porn, sex, exercise, eating, etc. and the human capacity for addiction seems almost limitless. Some seems based in our evolution (e.g., the idea of binging on food made sense when we might not have regular meals between hunts) and some seems based on predispositions and neurotransmitters. Working with addicts is typically incredibly stressful and my first alcoholic client taught me so much about not being too invested in client success as a measure of my work. I would work so hard in session and we would agree on how little she would drink and I would leave feeling great and trusting her to hold up her end of the agreement and she would come back the next week having too much to drink and being beaten down and worried that I would judge her for it. And maybe some small part of me did judge her (although I never showed it) but the larger piece judged myself for not finding the magic cure for her.

The truth is, there is no magic cure, especially not for addiction. She needed to struggle and suffer and prepare herself to make the changes she so desperately wanted to make. The idea of rock bottom made sense in this case, although rock bottom is sometimes much darker than we would hope or expect. And that didn't reflect on the good work we each were doing in and out of session. Still, the heartache of watching people in pain strikes a particular cord when willpower is not enough. And although James Frey wrote an excellent novel, I worry about some of the messages it sends about willpower being enough to stop addiction, especially when addiction is part of a larger system or family dynamic or the only coping method available.

All that to say...I can't wait to find the next book for my commute! Any suggestions?

Also, one week until Thanksgiving and I am ready to get out of California, to see my family, and to pass out from a good turkey dose of tryptophan!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

South Africa: Capetown

Howzit! (That is South African for "How are you doing?")

Part two of the South Africa trip! Capetown was a very bizarre and beautiful way to start the trip. I am not quite sure what I expected, but I know it wasn't Capetown. In many ways it feels very much like California - almost an African twist on the SF bay and Napa. I think I was hoping for a bit more of a jolt into South African culture, but Capetown felt very familiar to places I have traveled to before. After that initial surprise I realized I could spend a LOT of time here. It is a truly lovely city with plenty to do and see. I mean really - look at this place:

View of Table Mountain from the Capetown Waterfront
Even the wildlife is happy in Capetown.
Seal at the Waterfront
We had planned to go to Robben Island, the island prison where Nelson Mandela was held from 1964 to 1982. You have to book tickets far in advance so we were lucky that Lawson was able to get them for us. However that morning was incredibly windy so the boat ride and tour were canceled. We were able to spend some time in the Robben Island Museum which was fascinating. It provided a good history of the Dutch colonization of South Africa, Afrikaans history, the apartheid movement, and actions that eventually led to the overturning of apartheid.

The wind also prevented us from going on the cable car ride to the top of Table Mountain the highest peak overlooking Capetown. So what do you do when your carefully planned day gets hijacked by the wind. Clearly you go on a double decker bus tour!
Lawson and Lyndsey on the bus
Now we have this exact bus tour company in DC. I have spent many days laughing out loud at the tourist that would choose to go on one of the City Sightseeing Tour Bus. Perhaps it was karma working in mysterious way, but let me just tell you I am a convert! I loved every minute of it. Nothing is cooler then sitting in the top decker, its the ultimate one-up to cool kids on the back of the bus. We had a helpful guide and listened on headphones to very interesting tour. We saw tons of the city and learned a lot about other placesto visit while in Capetown. All I can say is get on that bus! It was awesome!
Capetown Beaches
On the opposite side of Table Mountain are these incredible beaches. Gorgeous houses, white sand, and crystal blue water. It was breathtaking!
One of the early lessons I learned about South Africa is that you can go from some of the most beautiful things you have ever seen to some of the worst in almost the blink of an eye...
District 6
This area is in the middle of Capetown and is called District 6. This area was declared "whites only" in the late 60's as part of apartheid. The government then spent the next few years forcibly relocating black families to townships and bulldozing their homes. Almost 60,000 people were forced to relocate - and the area had never been redeveloped, except for a very small grouping of houses. You can simply find huge fields of grass like this in the middle of the city where homes used to stand.
Lions Head

One of the other huge peaks surrounding Capetown is Lions Head. Lawson, Andrew and Nick hiked it the day before I arrived. The view from the top is supposed to be amazing!

Capetown from the base of Table Mountain
Sort of like this view over looking Capetown - but much, much higher! After our bus tour was over we headed outside of Capetown and into Stellenbosch (wine country)! As we were driving out to the vineyards you could see informal settlements like this one lining the interstate.


Informal Settlements

In Stellenbosch we stopped for lunch at Moyo. It was a huge restaurants with tables in tree house platforms. There were musicians, face painters, and a huge buffet of South African cuisine. We had a great time, but were fairly confident we just ate lunch at the Cracker Barrel of South Africa. Anytime your meal starts with a walk through the huge gift shop you have reason to be suspicious. However we had a fun and enjoyed the food. Below is the platter of South African breads (I guess the Cracker Barrel equivalent of biscuits and apple butter)
Lunch at Moyo
We then headed to Waterford for a wine tasting.
Its amazing how wine country looks the same all over the world. Is this South Africa or California?
Waterford Estate
They had a beautiful seated tasting room and are know for the chocolate/wine pairing. We tried chai, salted, and rose chocolate that they had developed to enhance the flavors of the wines.
Lawson and Andrew wine tasting
I was halfway through the chai dark chocolate and the Kevin Arnold Shiraz before I remembered to take a picture.

We then headed back to Capetown for an amazing dinner at Salt, the restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel.

Its hard to appreciate how fantastic the view was based on these pictures. Just trust me, it was FANTASTIC!
Looking at these pictures just makes me want to go back to Capetown. My short time there was just a tease. I could happily go back for another week.
View from Salt
If you happen to be part of the elite few that know Lawson and have the chance to go visit him please do. However, if you know Lawson then you should also know the months of planning he does for your visit doesn't come without a price. He will happily send you a 15 page itinerary with every hour planned - but you had better be ready to work for it. Traveling across South Africa with Lawson's new lampshades was just the beginning...In the next chapter we will start to explore the joys of Johannesburg and the most amazing Halloween party ever!
Andrew looks cool - even carrying lampshades through the airport.
Hope you are all having a lovely week. Anders is closing on the house this Thursday and we are so excited! Cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly for us! Also - forgive the lack of posts from Drew. He is finishing up this little project called a dissertation. Countdown to Dec. 11th!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

South Africa: Cage Diving

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed since returning from South Africa. Life has been moving in such huge ways since returning to the states. It has made the whole trip seem so surreal and so difficult to explain. It was an adventure, luxurious, heartbreaking, unexpected, wild, and a little overwhelming. All I can say is that if you are lucky enough to know Lawson and Nick you should stop reading immediately and book your flight. They showed us South Africa in a way that very few people will get to experience. They were incredible hosts - literally every minute was planned for us! It was a truly amazing experience. That being said I am going to have to break up the trip into a few blogs posts since there is a lot to share. Here we go...



This was the sunrise on my flight over. I flew from DC to Atlanta - Atlanta to Johannesburg - Johannesburg to Capetown. I really distinctly remember taking this picture and feeling like I was on such an adventure. Traveling internationally on my own for the first time. It was over 26 hours of travel headed to a country half way around the world. There something particulalry exciting about leaving at night knowing that the airplane was barreling toward the sunrise. After 7 hours of sleeping on the plane I woke up to this view.

After a slight mishap with my plane ticket in Johannesburg (Someone bought a ticket to Capetown for the 23rd but I landed the 24th. Time changes are really hard to understand.) I made it to Capetown around 11pm local time and headed for bed.


It seemed only appropriate to start our my time in South Africa with a bang so why not get up at the crack of dawn my first day and go cage diving with great white sharks!



South Africa is know for "The Big Five" the lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. This summer that term was upgraded to "The Big Seven" to include whales (a few kinds) and the great white shark.


Sharks leap overhead while Andrew mentally prepares to face the great white shark! With a banana!


It is just starting to be spring in South Africa. While it is beautiful weather out, the water is cold and it is getting windy. We wet-suited up, including covers for our head and booties. As you can see Andrew is officially pumped.





There were a few holes in Lawson's wetsuit so he isn't quite as excited...yet! Note the large hole near the neck. It only sort of looks like a shark bite. Did I mention the extensive liability waiver we signed?












Once we have our wetsuits on they packed five of us into the cage. The first challenge is not letting your hands or feet float between the bars of the cage. I would be bobbing along enjoying being the water. Then it would occur to me "My foot is hanging outside of the cage. Oopsy!" Just a tasty treat dangling out in the open for a passing shark to nibble on.

(Lyndsey -far left, Lawson -right, surrounded by a CAGE)






There were sharks all around but we could only see them if they came within 4-5 meters. We didn't have any snorkel gear or any coaching on how to keep from hyperventilating when face to face with a shark. Just eye masks. The skipper would yell "Get Down!" and we would all dive under and hold our breath. Andrew got this great picture of me and Lawson as the shark came by. We saw this one close up and with its mouth WIDE open!








It might look like I am being held up in a robbery. Actually I am just really excited about cage diving with great white sharks!
















This may be my favorite picture of Andrew from the whole trip. Its a perfect mix of "I really am an old man trapped in a young mans body/why the heck am I getting into this cage with sharks/golly this water is chilly/wait -someone is taking a picture of me?/whaawhoo I am really excited!"



It wasn't the best day for diving. The weather became quite windy and choppy. You might note that I am missing pictures of Nick. Being out at sea with a tiny bit of food poisoning is a bad combo - so I wont go there.





Also the sharks became shy. While they continued circling the boat it became harder to get them to come close to the cage. However out in this very blue water we saw something almost cooler then the sharks!




AHHHH! That is right! Whales leaping up from the ocean! Surrounded by beautiful rainbows!!!


Ok. So perhaps the whales were not actually surrounded by beautiful rainbows. And maybe I didn't actually take this photograph (thank you very much animal planet). However we did see whales leaping into the air around 40-50 yards from our boat. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was also so surprising that I forgot to take pictures both times we saw it. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment.
























I intended for this post to be all of Capetown, but it is getting long and this is only the first 12 hours I was in South Africa. I promise that will work on my editing skills between now and the next post.


I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I am looking forward to having nothing planned but watching college football!

From the East Coast!
Lyndsey



PS: Dear JMU Alumni Office,
I will be submitting the picture above of three incredibly brave alumni showing their JMU pride after escaping certain death in a shark cage. Please put it in the monthly Alumni Magazine. Pretty pretty please. We toted the flag all over South Africa to prove our undying love for the James Madison University. GO DUKES!

Friday, November 6, 2009

South Africa - The preview

Well it has been a busy week since returning. Work has been moving along at a clip. Also after many months of waiting things are finally moving forward with buying the house. If all things go right Anders will be closing exactly one week from today! After it is finalized we are hoping to spring into action and move into the house before heading to Kansas for Thanksgiving! Who knows if it will really happen that way - we are trying to strike a perfect balance of not stressing ourselves out, while moving as fast as week can. It all still seems a little surreal after almost 5 months of waiting, but that is also mixed with a huge amount of excitement. Cross your fingers that everything goes well.


Unfortunately I have not had a chance to go through my pictures yet or write the very long and detailed blog post I am planning. I would do it this weekend except Anders, Huxley and I are headed down to Chapel Hill this evening. We will be visiting Anders parents and go to the UNC/Duke football game with friends. I am really looking forward to it.


So basically South Africa will have to wait until next week. To keep you hanging on I will leave you with a pretty cool tidbit. This is on the game drive and is the only video I shot while there. You will see two baby lion cubs and an adolescent male lion. You will also hear some really inspirational narration from yours truly as well as a little play by play from our South African guide Doug.





Unfortunately my camera died before the mama lion came into view. Doug was right though - only moments later she came over and let the bigger male know who was boss.


Hope you have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Defending

Yesterday I set my dissertation defense date. Friday, December 11th at 2pm I will defend my 166 page book and the associated study in front of three faculty members and community members. I can hardly believe it could happen this quickly, but after my last phone conference with my advisor, she stated that there were no new additions she would recommend beyond a editing one last time overall. I am still stunned that the date is set. For the last six years I have been working on a degree and that is the last hurdle that needs to be complete before I am ready to finish. And to be Dr. Drew.

Suddenly, I feel like I have a lot of work to do to get myself ready! I sent off the document last night to a professional editor who will sweep it for errors. Then I need to do one last read-through, bind three copies and send it to UC Santa Barbara for my committee to have no later than Friday, Nov. 27th. Next, I have to develop a brief presentation about the study and the results for the day of the presentation. Finally, I have to defend and answer any question they can fire at me!

Five years to prepare and yet somehow it's all happening so fast!

Monday, November 2, 2009

I am back!

I am back from an amazing week in South Africa! It will take more then just one blog post to share all of the stories and pictures. I promise they will be coming soon - once I dig through all of my laundry and email!


Until then I hope you have a happy Monday and enjoy this cute picture of Huxley. He only inhaled one rubber toy while I was gone - subsequently throwing up most of the pieces. I would call that a smashing success. I am lucky to have an amazing team of dog sitters to clean up after him when I am gone!