Well, we're here!

So this trip started out with running the Fargo 1/2 marathon - hardest run of my life because I decided not to run more than 9 miles during training. And then decided I should finish it in 2 hours. The pain wasn't really an issue until I got off planes. During my layover in L.A. I walked around a lot to keep from getting sore. I'm better now, and craving a run, though I don't know if that'll happen soon. I've been cooped up in a van for I don't know how many hours...

Sorry it's taken me so long to post. I didn't bring my computer along, so I'm using Clara's (right now, Sarah and I are traveling with Clara and Jana - more details in a bit). Add to that spotty internet access, everything gets just peachy.

Jana is Sarah's cousin, and Clara is a friend of Jana's. Hopefully that's detailed enough for you. :P

The flights were pretty boring. I slept a lot, it seems. Yay for earplugs and a mask! I have decided though that if L.A. is much like LAX, I've seen enough and have no desire to go back. I nearly hyperventilated checking my bag and going through security... However, in the airport I did get to eat California Pizza Kitchen pizza. And I ate it in a sunbeam, which made me happy :) I had an 8 hourish layover there, and forgot my phone until Sarah arrived several hours later with it. I was soooo bored. But when Sarah got there the time went by quite a bit quicker.

Sarah and I got into Sydney Tuesday morning, and Jana was there to pick us up. Customs weren't too difficult to get through, but long. We got a lot of questions about how we knew each other, being an American and a Canadian... We were able to shower soon after and then went for lunch - had a very tasty veggie-lentil burger at some cafe somewhere... my only complaint is that it was lacking in structural integrity.
We left Sydney Wednesday afternoon for the Blue Mountains. It was raining when we arrived in Sydney, raining when we left, and rained while we traveled to the Blue Mountains. We wanted to see the Three Sisters, but the fog made that impossible. We stayed the night in Katoomba at the Katoomba Mountain Lodge, basically a hostel. There we met Daan, pronounced Don, and the girls played card games with him and his friend while I fell asleep on a chair. My hat, at this point, was soaking wet because my shampoo had gotten on it (they were in the same bag while traveling) and I had to rinse it out. Because it was so wet, nothing was drying :( Thursday morning I bought a hat to wear around while we checked out Katoomba. It wasn't raining, for once!!!
Thursday afternoon we left Katoomba and headed for Melbourne. We stopped at some random lake near the coast to sleep - the van we're traveling in has a bed in the back :) Clara is suffering from terrible allergies and the van isn't helping, so she and Jana slept on the roof of the van. So far, I've been waking up far ahead of anyone else, but I think that will change tonight... it's 1am.
Thursday night we saw kangaroos!!!! They're kind of like deer... out at night, waiting to jump in front of your car, eating things that people may rather they didn't eat... We managed to scare them away with our headlights and camera flashes, and Jana and Sarah got really good pictures, while I just got proof. I'm avoiding posting pictures because this is not my computer, and I don't want to go through that irritating process multiple times. I shall do so in abundance when I can use Steve's, though :P

So we're supposed to fly out of Melbourne on the 3rd, go up to the Gold Coast, and then Sarah and I are planning on getting to the outback and going scuba diving. We'll see what happens, and hopefully blogging will be a possibility! I'm in a hostel tonight and should be getting to bed. Nighty night!

Dogs... :)

So I've come to the realization that I'm that creepy/irritating person who will talk to anyone about their pets. Maybe it's a good thing that I'll be gone for the summer and not have them to obsess about.

Yesterday, Molly and I went to Grand Forks to run some errands. It was nice to get away for a day with her... like old times! Today we went to the school to visit Mrs. L. and all of the teachers. There are a lot of new faces that I didn't recognize, in the faculty alone! For those of you who don't know, this is sad because I graduated in a class of 25. My school is TINY.

Later, Mom and I went to the vet to pick up flea, tick, and heartworm meds. When we came in, there was a dog, who JUST SO HAPPENED TO BE A MALE BRINDLE BOXER on the floor. At first I thought he was just sleeping, but it turns out, he was dying. He took his last breaths and finished twitching while we watched. The owner was a tough old Norwegian farmer who tried to be cool about it, but he was sniffing and tearing up. Turns out, the dog was being treated for Lyme disease and had been in for some shots the week before, but wasn't improving, so the man brought him in to see what more they could do (the dog walked in on the leash). They didn't get a chance to try. He was five years old.

This was very distressing to me, as I'm sure you can tell. I don't think it would have been AS bad if he'd not looked so similar to my baby. Since we got Dudley and Dharma, I've looked online at pictures of boxers and I've seen people walking their boxers. Never have I seen one that looks remotely close to either of ours.

When I got home D&D got quite spoiled. Earlier, I had split an apple between them, and if you've ever watched two full grown boxers be hand-fed an apple, it's pretty entertaining. They love it. :P After their four mile run (during which Dharma decided to sprawl in a VERY muddy puddle), they each got an egg, which took them a total of 2 seconds to eat. And then while I was eating my snack (a peanut butter sandwich), they each got a spoonful of peanut butter. All the "people" treats we give them are natural. And, NO, they can NOT have bacon. And yes, they have lost weight since they came to live with us :)

Sorry this is a bit long, but I love my dogs, and I won't see them for about 6 weeks. So you'll have a reprieve! I leave in 3 days!!!!

du jour, NOT du semaine

I just realized that my blog address is "jeniseDUJOUR" and what that means for me. The thought had crossed my mind in the past obviously, but was content to be posting weekly. Maybe I shouldn't commit to daily posts (I feel that would be very mundane) but more than weekly is possible. (That is, if you want me to. If you, Dear Reader, are opposed to hearing from me on a more than weekly basis, please let me know.)

Lately, my life has consisted of packing and de-ticking. The dogs pick up ticks like ...I don't know. We have a little container filled with alcohol and drop the day's ticks into it. It's like woodtick soup when we're done. GROSS. And then of course there's those savvy ones that climb onto the de-tickers so they won't die. Yet. I feel like they're crawling all over me.

For those of you who don't know, my dogs are spoiled. (They're really my parents' dogs, but while I'm home I call them mine.) They even have a "bed" which they do sleep on.


I'm fairly certain that I'm Dudley's favorite (he's the brindle boy... Dharma is the fawn girl). He follows me around and when I'm upstairs he comes to visit. Right now he's sleeping at my feet :)


Yeah, I love these guys. Here's a couple more pictures, just because my dogs are awesome.

Home :)

So, I'm finally home. Finally. I have a week before leaving for Australia, and so many things to do before then! But for now, I will enjoy being here and spending time with the family and the dogs. And having a phone so I can keep in touch with people who aren't here.

As I've been sitting here facebooking and skyping, Dharma has proceeded to eat some rawhide tastiness, growling at anyone who looked like they might interrupt. I would feel like this is super-unhealthy, but she ran at least six miles today, so she deserves a treat. Dudley just went to sleep. I wonder why he's the skinny one? Anyways, I could have gotten home Saturday night, but there were people who I wanted to see and who wanted to see me, so I had to settle with 7 tonight. Add in a run with the dogs (which takes longer than a run with just people) and unloading the car, there hasn't been much time to get things done today. Anyways, I'm making to-do lists for this week and freaking out even more than when I started writing this.

Hopefully there are no typos/hard to understand parts in here. I'm not taking the time to proofread :S

Ciao!

And so it begins...

My first exam of four was today, and I'm really not sure how it went. Literally, no clue whatsoever. (If you are Priscilla and reading this, feel free to add a very distinct "h" in front of "whatsoever"...) I keep wanting to write here, but feel that it's just because I'd like a distraction from studying. I don't want to bore you all with the details and whining of my personal life, because I know if I was a Reader, I may die from irritation. Hopefully this doesn't fall under that description:

A couple days ago (maybe yesterday? They all run together when you spend them doing the same thing) I made (almost) vegan pizza. Almost because I had a little real mozzarella left that got sprinkled over the top. The rest was a tofu-mozzarella that tasted like, well, tofu-mozzarella. Seriously. Tofu in mozzarella. Or mozzarella in tofu? It was a little strange, but manageable. Next experiment, I'm thinking no cheese whatsoever. Any ideas for what to put on it? This last pizza didn't have any "vegebles," which will be rectified next time as well, obviously.

Running has been put on hold this week because of tests and studying, which stinks, I know. Especially since the race is in 2 weeks. Yikes! (Check out www.fargomarathon.com!) But the nice thing about the race being in 2 weeks is that I leave in 2 weeks!!! WHOOP!

Peace out!

Yay!!!

So, today is my birthday (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and I've decided to go ahead and do a first post, even though this is supposed to be for my trip this summer. I'm headed home from Texas next Thursday (hopefully... we'll see how that goes!) and leaving for Australia on the 23rd of May. After running a half-marathon on the 22nd. WHOOP! And then going to Argentina on the 18th of June till the 9 of July. Let the adventures begin!!! If I decide to continue to post until I leave, you may hear many uninteresting things, and for that I am sorry.