May 6, 2008

After the spoilings of a first class lifestyle... it's not easy to return to the severly cramped spaces of economy... especially with a hearty number of greeks and turks... whew. Good thing my severe exhaustion was enough to knock me out, no matter the position, for the hour long flight from Instanbul to Athens.. hehehe....

I changed my few dollars, into what added up to be much less euros... ouch. But luckily, the man took my passport without question and let me pass... (I don't know why this always makes me nervous? Too many movies, I guess)... surprisingly, my back pack was among the first out. I throw it on my back and with a facade of "I know what I'm doing"... follow the other greeks out the exit. Now what? Hmmmm, I'm about 30 miles from the center of Athens... maybe I'll take a taxi? Sure. Oh, about 100 people waiting in line. That's a sign... it's just not adventurous enough. Ok. I know a metro line starts from the airport and goes into Athens... Ok, Dez, that's sounds exciting and confusing enough to suit you. ... follow signs with the little train on it... The entrance is in the building across from the airport exit. I enter a little shop and buy a Lonely Planet guide to Athens (gotta have something, I'm blind here!!!)... I buy my little ticket at the counter for 8 euro and validate it at the little machine that stares at me in the entrance...I go down the stairs and board the train. It was nice, reminded me of the regional trains in Tuscany, Italy. .... It leaves at 1930... the sun is setting, and the surrounding area is beautiful, rolling hills, the slight view of ocean in the distance, tall green trees... yet soon, we reach Athens. The nice train is now a full blown metro, and I'm cramped with local grecians trying to get home... I feel awkward, trying to quickly learn the Greek alphabet so I don't miss my stop. I throw my heavy pack on my back, almost knocking out a few people, and push my way out. Omonia. That's the name of the area I'm staying in... reminds me of ammonia... and fitting, since it's not the best of areas, and a bit shady... but not dangerous. I make it in at 2100.

Good thing in Greece, they start eating dinner at 10pm. Perfect. I'll take a shower, nap, and go get some food. The nice gentlemen at the counter expect my return for suggestions... but I never come. I passed out for 10 hours, all my clothes on, no shower, and the light on. This morning it hit me, It'd been 5 days since I'd truly slept, and months since I'd been alone in a clean room, with it's OWN BATHROOM , and not a single soul in the world to bother me. MONTHS! Yep, I ate breakfast downstairs, and returned to that nice clean bed... where I remained until late afternoon, when I finally decided to step outside onto the streets of Athens and begin exploring her. It was a beautiful thing.

>>>Dez

May 5, 2008

I sit here in the Privelage Club of Qatar Airways, pondering my upcoming entrance into Athens. It's been quite the few days of travelling around the Middle East, but I am finally only one flight away. I showed up to the airport in Doha, Qatar early this morning, yet I was told that my flight had been oversold... great. Well, I was put on a flight through Instanbul and the second leg will be on Turkish Airways. Because of the inconvenience, I was placed in business class... and that definetly made up for it. I haven't slept in days, except for a few hours here and there... tonight I will land into Athens, I will trod along looking for my hotel. I will perhaps catch a glimpse of the Acropolis as the day ends, and I will know that I am truly there. But I must get there first!! Hopefully David will join me in the next few days....

>>>Dez

March 14, 2008

...I miss Europe and I want to move there and ride around dodging tiny cars on an even tinier moped and wearing short dresses with a different pair of funky stockings everyday or jeans that hug and an awesome pair of boots, and sit at ambient cafes drinking lattes and staring whimsically into the distance with nothing but my thoughts.

some days ;)

March 3, 2008

30 photos

30 photos

February 28, 2008

89 photos

89 photos

February 26, 2008

I can't believe I missed your call before you left. I hope you can call or email me soon but more importantly I hope you are love love LOVING your new job!!

Here is the silly Greg photo I promised. I have NO idea what's going on in the front of this photo.

December 6, 2007

On our way to the DMV yesterday, we got an urgent phone call from David's mom... that's how we realized that there was a shooting occuring at West Roads mall, and people had been killed.

I was there only a few days before with Erika, and it's really an intense feeling when you realize how close to your 'life' these things can happen. The last time I was living in Washington DC when the sniper and his young accomplice were terrorizing us at random there. Only two days before, I had been to the Home Depot and had parked only a few feet away from where the sniper took another of his victims... a woman. We live in a world where we not only fight terrorism in strange, far away lands... we fight it here, in our own towns, against those we thought we knew, in a place that is familiar to us.

About this young man, I will not mention his pathetic name.... I have no forgiveness in me for this pathetic slime. He felt 'society' wasn't giving him his fair due perhaps, oh wait... he also got fired from McDonald's and broke up with his girlfriend... boo hoo. With all the pain and suffering that world leaders and terrorists already inflict on each other and their people... the last thing I care to hear about is this pathetic, "please feel sorry for me", piece of crap, who ended his letter with 'Now I'll be famous'... Screw you and I hope that if there is this brimstone fire and hell, that you are cooking quite nicely in it now, screaming and pleading your pathetic cries to the devil himself.

For the families that lost loved ones... I'm speechless. I pray that their souls have found peace and that somehow peace will find you in the future. There is nothing really that can be said that could make this any better. I will be praying for you all.

Let's put our energies into thinking of those that were lost and NOT to the one that committed this horrendous act. He shot himself like the coward he was, and I will not speak his name. I will not give him the pleasure he felt he deserved.

Please take care of each other! And remember, no matter how bad things get, there is always someone else in this world that is suffering in ways that you could never understand.

~~Desiree~~

To those we lost in the Omaha Community, RIP

November 2, 2007

92 photos

92 photos

September 23, 2007

39 photos

39 photos

September 18, 2007

42 photos

42 photos

After 9 months and five days of waiting for Bailey... she finally made her presence into the world this past Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 3:44pm. She came in weighing a whopping 9lbs 8 oz!! Barb is the first amongst our close group of friends to have a baby, but many others are following suite. Barb and Jeff, you guys are going to be incredible parents, crazy, but awesome nonetheless. Barb should be coming home today in the afternoon time with Bailey in tow. We are so ecstatic, and we only wish Amanda could be here with us to complete the Quadpod :-( .... Chris and Lisa are the godparents, and I'm sure they'll be getting into their role pretty soon... ;-) So here's to another new life, another miracle to the circle of life, and the progress of humanity. I only met you yesterday Bailey, but I already love you more than words can say.

~~Desiiree

September 17, 2007

53 photos

53 photos

September 10, 2007

My friend Michelle has a tatoo that reads "The beauty of just letting go..."

I think about that tattoo a lot these days. And in a lot of different context.

It is so simple and speaks volumes.

Seems the older I get, the more important "letting go" becomes and the harder it is to do.

I guess nothing beautiful comes easy, so I'll just have to keep trying.

-MA

August 20, 2007

I had another one of those days this past weekend…those days I ache for the familiarity and warmness of DC. It is amazing how much I internalized that city, and well really, the larger DC, the whole metro area surrounding the city. I didn’t just live there, I felt “there”, it had a pulse that set my internal idol.

But when I really try to put my finger on it, what it was that so bonded me to that place, it was that I came of age there…

I guess most people do that in high school, but for me those years were strife with anxiety. I didn’t learn who I was - I learned how to survive in a violent home. I learned how not to be suffocated by poverty. I learned that a person can have two faces, especially where alcohol is involved. I spent every moment planning and carefully crafting my way out (…maybe that’s why shawshank redemption is my favorite movie, I never thought of that way before, but anyway I digress)…then I went to college, fell in love, and spent five years drowning my neuroticism and inner turmoil with another person’s stillness and peace… image my surprise to learn that that supposed peace never existed in his reality but rather was created by mine for self preservation. His outer actions simply fit the mold. It was moving to DC that eventually closed that chapter in my life. Though I tried to revisit it, it never felt the same – it just felt wrong. So I was set free in DC, free to grow and make all the mistakes that teach you who you are NOT, to experience life in more effervescent emotions, to live by my own agenda, to fumble and blunder, to overcome and accomplish the things that teach you who your ARE, to find every nook and cranny of the city… and to eventually find resolve. I am so thankful for resolve and the resulting good decisions, the best decisions. I guess after all that, after all I found, it is fitting that I would find him, the best him, the forever him. It is as if the city said, I’ve finally given you the best I ever can, move along now…but I guess it was really me who said that to the city. I can see it being a VERY strange place to some but to me its existence is necessary to life. It is forever part of me.

-MA