Checked the mailbox today. . .

No, I didn't find this dog in it.


This is Buck, our dog neighbor who is good looking, sampling some of Charlottesville's best coffee. He has good taste for such a young man.




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Nor did I find a package from the Peace Corps, alerting me of my fate for the next number of years. Maybe tomorrow.


Buuuuut, I did get a package from my supercool friend Cat who is not only gorgeous but also a genius. Contents of the box included two tattoos, one of a puppy one of a kitten (hardcore, no?), a cd mix complete with a clip from Star Wars (the original) a Dana Carvey bit about broccoli, as well as songs from dynamite hack, the the, lovebugs, new order, and other great greats. Other goodies in the box: some candy she stole from harry potter (sucker!), a book of wicked spanish phrases to prepare us for our pending travels to latino world ("Pardona mi esposo. El es malnacido" -pardon my husband, he's ill-bred), and a cd with pics of our last great hoorah together over christmas, some of which I shall preview here. Muchas gracia, Cat. You make my day. I luff you hard.



Cat has moved to the country of Colombia, Missouri, where she helps the orphans and cares for the poor. We miss her hard, but she is doing great work for the suffering people of the midwest. Also, I think she's involved with the neighboring Hugo Chavez socialist thing, but she hasn't said so. Just a suspicion of mine.







Talley and I are sooooo serious. All the time. I'm serious.









We are laughing. . . We are good Friends. . .

I love lamp.

Road Trippin Fools

This is from our road trip last summer -we took a dip in Lake Superior in the morning and one in Lake Michigan (behind us) in the afternoon. The water was freakin cold! Tom's good ol' Chevy just won't die, so we keep driving it across the states, visiting friends and seeing new places. Next trip, coming right up!

Last summer's trip was a midwesterners delight: First stop Missouri, where friends Cat and Matt live in platanic love (as far as him mother knows), then onto Omaha, Tom's motherland, to play with family and friends. From there we went north into the land of 10 billion lakes, many of which we swam in, and one of which caught a fish in. We stayed at the family cabin in Minnesota somewhere northwest of Marshall, then went up to Deluth to see our friends Sarah, Martin, and their baby Kiera. From there we cut across the top of Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, which is rock solid good looking. That was my fave stretch of the trip. Last stop, my family's cottage in the Irish Hills of Michigan, where we played with my family and did as little as humanly possible. Then back to VA where we live on this groovy farm along the Moorman's river with our friends Jay and Erika and their son Lio and their baby that is yet to come out. Best swimming hole in the county is in our back yard. Beat that, fools.

Next road trip: coming soon (March, April, May? -depends on our ship off date for the Peace Corps). If you love us and live within 1,200 miles we'll come see you! Put in your requests now!

Life is Good, but this is Heinous

A Brief History of Our Pursuit of the Peace Corps

August 2001. I meet the love of my life in Montana. He's a cowboy. And he's so cute I could eat him. I proceed to throw myself at him shamelessly, and he takes the bait and follows me first to New Zealand, then home to Virginia. I have scored.

October 2003. Cowboy marries me. His name is Tom, and mine is Anna, and I think we might be two of the luckiest people on earth.

January 2005. Tom and I decide we need an adventure and receive our Peace Corps applications in the mail. A friend tells us it takes longer for married couples to apply, so we should get on it.

January 2006. Tom and I submit our Peace Corps applications. Don't make fun of us, it's harder than you think.

March 2006. We interview with Matt, the local and affable recruiter in our neck of the woods. He digs us, says we'll probably be a good fit, and that we should be hearing something from the Peace Corps office in a few months. That's longer than we'd hoped, but we're optimistic at this point, and we console ourselves with the thought that it might be nice to spend one more summer in Charlottesville, take off in the fall, live a life of service, poverty, and adventure for two years, then come back home and make some babies, get a dog, buy another house to fix up.

May 2006. We get an email from the Peace Corps saying we are being nominated to serve as Health Educators in Latin America, leaving in the spring of 2007. We have 12 hours to decide whether we want the nomination or not. They can provide no other information at this time. For real? A whole year from now? Anything sooner? Nope. And quit asking so many questions, you want it or not? Um, sure, we'll take it.

June, July, August 2006. We hear nothing from the Peace Corps.

September & October 2006. We hear a little bit more of nothing from the Peace Corps.

November, December 2006. That's right, not a peep.

January 2007. Seriously, still no information about where we might be spending the next two years of our lives or when we might should start quitting our jobs, packing up our house, saying goodbye to friends? Sorry, we have no more information for you at this time, though you are still being tentatively considered for your original nomination. Tentatively? what the crap does that mean?? We start looking into appealing alternatives: hiking the Appalachian Trail, working for the UN or International Red Cross, growing beards and joining a motorcycle gang, something, anything to fill the need for an adventure. After all, we're getting old here, and we've got this narrow window of two years set aside -our last chance for childless, carefree fun. If this Peace Corps plan doesn't work out, there will be much sadness.

February 2007. We get an email. Congratulations, you are now medically, financially, and legally cleared to serve in the Peace Corps, and we should be looking at your applications in the next two to four weeks. Now really, that didn't take so long did it?