Living It Up

     Countdown to life in Ecuador has begun. Which means countdown to not-living-in-Mississippi has also begun. To celebrate this, I've started living life kind of like someone who's going on a diet January 1st, and it's still December. I'm going to absolutely live it up and get in as much as possible of what I'm going to miss!

Things I’m Going to Miss MOST:

The FOOD

    Actually, the food and the drinks too. Specifically:

 Sweet Tea and Lemonade!

Technically I can make it myself, but when the restaurants don't even know what it is, you know you're a loooong way from home.

Mi Pueblo

Sunday night ritual for my family...gonna miss that white cheese dip!

Food from the garden

This is fried okra, my absolute favorite! I've been wondering if there was a way to somehow mail some to myself...but I don't see that happening.

 

Southern style breakfast food

Scrambled eggs with cheese, crispy bacon, butter sugar toast, homemade pancakes, homemade gravy & biscuits, fried potatoes...oh I can wax poetic on some breakfast food.

I actually couldn't find a picture of my other home-food indulgence. Homemade, from the garden, tomato soup with cornbread all mushed up in it. Oh my. My grandmother puts up jars and jars of soup every year, just in case we ever happen to use it all. I think we actually just started on the 2009 stock. I may have to find a way to mail that. I don't know that I can stomach fake (canned) soup for a year, missionary or not.

     I love living in the South. I think we have the best ‘ethnic’ food out of any. Yes, Southern is an ethnicity when it comes to food. Think about it. Where else in the world is mac & cheese a vegetable? Or you can get fried...everything? My cholesterol may not thank me for living here, but my mouth sure does!

My BATHTUB!

    I don’t care if you have a eight person jacuzzi, it’s still not my tub. And showers? Ugh. Please. Showers may get you clean, but they are passe when it comes to relaxing away your day. My tub at home is custom ordered. Extra deep and extra long so you don’t have to worry about your knees or shoulders sticking up out of the water getting cold. Actually, it’s a little too big for short ol’ me...I can actually lay down flat in it, with shoes on. But who’s complaining? :)

The furry creatures I call PETS

    Doc, Kasey, Toby, Lucy, and Wilbur. What a menagerie. You invade my bed, steal my pillow while I’m asleep, sneak my food when you think I’m not looking, lick my face when you know I am looking, get little white hair all over my black pants and little black hair all over my white shirts...well, maybe not Wilbur. I’m gonna miss my little cuddle buddies!

 

 Lucy...she pretty much just takes advantage of the humans for her pleasure.

 Toby watching tv with/on me...he's such a couch potato.

Wilbur and some Captain Crunch...dwarf hamsters go crazy for the stuff.

     I don't have any new pics of my Labs, but they're about the most laid back, easy going pets you can have. Feed us, throw the ball around, pet our ears, we're happy!

My amazing FRIENDS

     So, I don't have pics of everybody I am lucky to call my friends. But, I'll still miss em! Of course, those of y'all with wi-fi and webcams, I'll be on Skype just about every evening, and I'll still have Facebook access of course!

Last but most definitely not least

My FAMILY!!!

Oh yes. I'll be on Skype a LOT. Good think it's super cheap!!!

     What I'm really looking forward to: 

          Eating out super cheap (like $5 for a sit-down dinner)
   

           The weather - 85 and tropical during the day, 65 at night

   
          Everything in walking distance...I miss being at college and getting to walk most everywhere,        everyday. My house is next to the school, and most of what I'll need in the town is walkable.
    
          Traveling! Ecuador has everything a travel lover like me could want. The Andes mountains, gorgeous beaches, the Amazon rain forest, lots of Incan and Spanish history, all either a few hours drive or a cheap plane ride away. I'm hoping to go to the Galapagos Islands (they're part of Ecuador), and a town in South Ecuador called Vilcabamba that's supposed to be super gorgeous and really nice to stay in. Heck, if I'm traveling all the way down to Ecuador, I might as well see as much of it as I can!
          One of the guys I went through MOT with actually went to college in Ecuador for a few years, and he and his family are returning there next year to be missionaries. He gave me a huge list of 'must see/do' things for when I go. Maybe I can hit at least a majority of them...perhaps not the zip lining through the jungle though!