Watercolor agouti & France

I painted a watercolor agouti to bring to France with me. The organizers of the Frugivory and Seed Dispersal conference (FSD2010) asked everyone to bring something from their home country to put into a raffle -- only people who bring something get something (I think) so I thought I would paint a quick little sketch of one of my favorite frugivores -- the Central American agouti. This could also serve as a little propaganda for my research (hehehe -- tricksy hobbits).

Anyway, I leave for France tomorrow afternoon/night. I really hate having to get to the airport 3 hours early just to wait around -- blarf! I am packing my stuff into little piles right now and printed all of my confirmation things & maps. There are so many little details that I hope I don't forget anything (especially undies!). I am going to practice my conference talk tonight. I am pretty nervous about giving (another) talk, but that's just how it goes. This one is in a plenary symposium which means that potentially everyone in the conference (250+ people) could be in the auditorium with me! It should go smoothly because it will basically be a pared-down version of my defense talk (and that was 50 minutes) -- I only talk for 13 minutes this time. I am nervous to travel but excited to be visiting France again after many (~15) years! Au revoir -- see you in 2 weeks~

Passports from Moleskines

I made these two little "passports" from small red Moleskine cahiers and I really like how they turned out! I used/am using them as planning journals for my trips and also for trip journals to write in while I am away. The first one was for my Walt Disney World trip (though it just says EPCOT) and it worked perfectly. The other one is modeled after a French passport and has all the vital info I need for my France trip (grouped by city). I will be flying in to Paris where I catch a small plane to Montpellier (for the frugivory conference). After a week, I meet up with my mom and her friend and we will travel to Carcassonne, Amboise, and Paris. I am excited but also a bit nervous about the vast amount of traveling I will have in 1 day -- blarf. I am NOT looking forward to connecting in Heathrow. At least the British Airways strike shouldn't affect my flights!

Animal Kingdom -- last day

Today was our final day in the parks, but also included a park that was new to both Carlos and me -- Animal Kingdom! We were both really excited to see this park and it definitely did not disappoint.

We visited Starbucks again this morning prior to driving to Animal Kingdom around 9 am. It seemed pretty crowded, but this park is so big that all the crowds disperse throughout the lands and you don’t feel too stifled. We first walked past the HUGE tree of life (the trunk has lots of cool carved animals on it) and onwards to Africa where we rode the Kilimanjaro Safaris. One thing we immediately noticed as we wandered through the park was that the theming everywhere was beautiful and extremely well-done. The safari was super-cool and we saw a lot of animals out and about in the morning sun (including an ostrich that wanted to take a bite out of some tourists). After the safari, we walked through the Pangani Forest exploration trail. We saw more cool animals including naked mole rats, flattened tortoises, and spiny desert mice!

Carlos and I walked to Asia next where we stopped at the Royal Anandapur Tea Co. for a frozen chai (it was really good). I went on Expedition Everest and judged it not too scary for Carlos so we got fast passes for later. We next wandered another trail (Maharajah Jungle Trek) where we saw some great fruit bats, tigers, and Asian birds.

Next, we had a tasty lunch at the Yak & Yeti restaurant and then we both rode Expedition Everest (probably not the best idea to ride a fast roller coaster after a filling lunch). From there, we recuperated by watching the Flights of Wonder bird show, then we headed to Dinoland USA.

We next rode the Dinosaur ride (this was my favorite ride here – it reminded me a lot of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland) and explored some more dino-themed trails. We watched a 3D show called It’s Tough to be a Bug then went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris again to see more animals. After that we rode Dinosaur again (woo-hoo!). I had a soft pretzel and we walked through all the gift shops. By this time, it was almost 6 pm (when the park closes) so we headed back to the hotel to pack and prepare for the drive home the next day.

The drive home was fairly uneventful -- except for the LOVE BUGS!! They were even worse on our return trip than they were when we drove from Miami! We stopped to clean the car at rest stops twice (!) and once we arrived back in Miami, we got a real car wash.

We had a great trip full of fun and we were able to make this Walt Disney World vacation happen on a pretty little budget (especially considering Disney standards). I can’t wait to visit again! I also managed to get some cool souvenirs~

Happy 3rd birthday Rowdy Mouse!

Today is my blog's 3rd birthday! I started this little online journal three years ago to keep my family and friends informed about my life and I think it has been a great ride so far!

I have been really busy lately so I haven't been posting much, but there will be lots of exciting things to blog about soon: the final installment of my Disney World trip, my upcoming trip to France, and my move to Washinton DC! I hope this blog keeps on truckin' -- woo-hoo!