Duck, Duck BEACH

Memorial Day weekend we maintained the tradition and we headed to Duck Beach (Outer Banks), North Carolina—along with a thousand (literally a thousand) other LDS singles. In order to prepare for the big weekend we started our DBD (Duck Beach Diets) in order to ensure we had DBB (Duck Beach Bodies) that would hopefully attract a DBR (Duck Beach Romance) or at least a DBHU (Duck Beach Hook Up). Did I mention you have to talk in acronyms the whole time--it's a rule;).

The tradition started years ago and has grown into quite an event. We rent beach houses that sleep 25-35 people and spend the weekend playing on the beach along with every other single Mormon living in the US of A. This is the third year I've been and I always seem to find myself as the party planner. I got talked into it this year and I have to admit it wasn't that hard to convince me. I like the planning process mostly because it means I get to be in control:). Our house was right on the beach included a pool, hot tub and theater room plus it was full of all of my favorite peeps. What do a bunch of 20 something and 30 something people do in at the beach for a weekend.

We bust out roller blades from Junior High. (Check out my sweet bruise from an encounter with a sea kayak the day before)

We attend local baseball games.

We watch the sunrise from the balcony of our house.

We listen to storm troopers sing karaoke.

We follow suit and sing karaoke...for hours.


We celebrate birthdays.

We watch the Justin Bieber movies 4x and spend the rest of them time trying to be like him. True story: a group of us watched the Bieb movie one night and fell in love with him. Some of the boys choose not to watch but the next day when I came back to the beach there was a group of boys watching the movie on their own during the day while everyone else was at the beach. They were also converted although they won't admit it.


Things not pictured: an entire choreographed synchronized swimming routine, lots of cooking fun, ultimate pool obstacle course, endless games of truth, and an UDBSD (sorry no translation on this one--I might want to run for office some day).

Since this will more then likely be my last DB, I went out with a bang. I skipped work the WHOLE week and tried to get as much of a DBT (Duck Beach Tan) as possible. It was a lot of work but so much fun and I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends. I made me realize how much I'll miss my DC family.

Off to the Races

Even though I hate animals, I jumped at the chance last weekend to spend the day outside with a bunch of prepsters watching the horse races. Preakness is one of the triple crown races and the winner of the Kentucky Derby also competes here. Let's be honest I could care less about all the horse stuff. I was more interested in what people wore especially their great hats.





We unfortunately did not dawn the great hats but I seriously wish there were more places to wear one so I could have invested in one. Maybe I should get one anyway. I mean I am sure I could find a place to wear a giant hat with a big bow on it. After a long winter is was so fun to be outside all day with great friends even if the reason was to watch animals run around in a circle.

Leavin' Liberia

It's good to be home. O so good. I love showering without gecko eyes staring me down and falling asleep with out the potential of bugs crawling in my ear. I did bring back some treasures from Liberia in the form of Montezuma's Revenge African style. But all in all it was a good trip--the work was interesting and I learned a lot. Here is a look at my life the last two weeks.

The view at dinner every night

Remnants of the war

Ugg I wish the pic would have turned out better. The humidity was so thick it was making my camera act crazy. These little girls were adorable. I met them on my way back to the hotel one night. They have huge bins on the their heads full of clothes I can only assume they were washing their clothes in the ocean as they were coming from that direction. And in their buckets is water that might be for cooking. I asked if I could take their picture and the little one in front jumped in front of the others and was posing away for me. They were so excited to practice their English with me. They have amazing balance to carry those buckets on their heads.

In case you didn't know how one gets malaria. PS. this pic is disturbing on so many levels but mostly because of the giant mosquitos flying around the bed. This was posted on the wall of my cube at work.

Don't let the wet face fool you I did not just come from the ocean. I'm a sweater and I came home drenched in sweat every night. So attractive I know.

This may look like I spent my time doing some illegal extracurricular activities however, in reality its The money that I exchanged but that NO one will buy back. Not even the hotel or restaurant in Liberia would accept Liberia dollars. That would have been nice to know before I exchanged it.

Albie.

And because I'm such a nice person, I thought I'd leave you with a few words of wisdom. Don't ever say I never gave you anything. You're welcome.

C's Guide to Killing Cockroaches*

1. Determine the size
a. If it's half the size of your pinky finger proceed to step #2. If it's larger, proceed to step #7
2. Take a deep breath--you CAN do this
3. Find a shoe with a hard bottom. Flip flops or tennis shoes are not hard enough to crush the exoskeleton. Dress shoes work great.
4. Use your cat like reflexes and superwoman strength to crush the cockroach.
5. Make sure it's dead--this may take several blows.
6. Wrap carcass in TP and dispose of in the toilet. Flush twice--if you leave it on the ground, it will attract hundreds of ants (trust me).
7. Find the nearest bowl, mug, or cigarette dish making sure it has a flat opening
8. Position yourself behind the cockroach (in case it scurries away you won't be in its line of movement).
9. Use your cat like reflexes and superwoman strength to place the dish on top of the cockroach ensuring that its entire body is covered.
10. Make sure the dish is secure by placing a book or something heavy on top.
11. Leave for the maid* to clean up

*Do I feel guilty for leaving "treasures" for the maid to clean up? Only as guilty as the hotel feels for charging me $150 a night for the cockroach motel.

New Friends

Dear Mom,

I am making lots of new friends in Liberia that I want to tell you about them. Every time you work in an Embassy, you have to do a security briefing to get to know the rules for that country. Mine was was done by a really hot Marine, named Kip. (Seriously—Kip??). He had the body of the Rock (our favorite!!) and the face of Brad Pitt. He was wearing khaki cargo pants and a fitted Columbia button up safari shirt. He had on khaki desert storm boots and was wearing a badge and gun. He would totally fulfill one of my husband requirements: if we were in a dark alley and someone tried to jump us, my husband has to be capable of protecting me. Anyway, GI Kippy (is kip short for anything? Kiptyn? Go by your middle name, buddy) was really intense and basically instilled terror into my soul. I learned that the Liberian embassy is the most evacuated mission in the world—so comforting. What's the best advice I got from GI Kippy considering the the country that I am in, you ask? “Don’t eat meat off the street”. Thanks buddy, but I wasn’t planning on it. While every place is a little different there are certain travel “rules” that apply to most places. Eating street meat is one of them.


My next friend is one you only meet once in a life time...or so you hope. The two "nicer" hotels that are also closer to the Embassy did not have any vacancies when I arrived. So the only choice I had was the Atlantic Beach Guest House. Don't let the name fool you, it is probably the sketchiest hotel I’ve stayed in a capital city on a work trip. I first met my new friend in the shower of my new home. He greeted me in all his albino gecko glory and so I lovingly call him Albie. It's better to be on familiar terms if we are going to be cohabitants. I was going to try and capture him under a bowl because I didn’t want to kill him and that way I would know where he was but alas he was way too fast. There was one low point where he scurried past me and as I was trying to get away I accidentally closed the bathroom door trapping me inside with him. I was so flustered it took me a few minutes to open the door and after that I refused to go back into the bathroom. When I had to go the bathroom later, I seriously considered Baby Mama styling it in the kitchen sink. But decided I couldn’t relieve myself in the kitchen sink for two weeks so I bucked up and made a run for it. I didn’t see Albie but I have never peeped so fast in my life. That night I was convinced Albie would find a way into my bed and I would wake up with him scurrying across my face.

I really like my new friends and considering that we are on lock down (work/hotel and nothing else) since bin Laden's was killed I know I'll be spending lots of time with both of them. Hope everything at home is well.

Your Loving Daughter,

Chelsea

Birthdayness

I am in mourning...my birthdayness has officially ended. Never have I been able to stretch my birthdayness out for a WHOLE month but by some acts of fate and a few really indulgent friends and family--my birthday really did last an entire month-. And I am not complaining.
First, I celebrated my real birthday in London. I was gifted by a morning serenade and strip tease, a dozen tulips (my favorite!) and dinner in the neighborhood of Chelsea. During the day we enjoyed a tour of the Tower of London, lunch in Borough Market (homemade alfajores from South America were a bday miracle!), a visit to the Tate Modern Museum, and a service at St. Paul's Cathedral.


I was welcomed home from London with lots of sweet phone messages, cards, packages, AND my tulips finally bloomed! I love tulips because you have to plant them so far in advance you kind of forget about them and then all of the sudden they pop up.

A few days after that I was surprised at book club with my favorite cupcakes and another birthday serenade. To continue the party that weekend, my roomies threw an amazing birthday dinner for me complete with all of my favorite things.

The weekend after that we celebrated Easter with two easter egg hunts, lots of friend gatherings, and a sighting of the Easter bunny. While obviously not exactly a celebration for my birthday, it's always been fun to share my birthday month with such a great holiday. Plus who doesn't love an excuse to buy a new dress and get decked out in the spring's best. I still kind of wish I was young enough to wear a hat, gloves, and lace socks to church.


We capped the month off with a celebration of my favorite person's 30th Birthday. Melissa's birthday is actually May 1st but since that fell on Sunday this year and our party was not exactly sabbath appropriate, we celebrated a few days early.

Thinking that work had forgotten my birthday, they made up with it by sending my to Monrovia, Liberia for 2 weeks. The cherry on top was that they gave me 3 days notice--I found out on Wednesday night and by Saturday at noon I was on a plane headed across the Atlantic. I can't complain as I am just happy to have one last hurrah in Africa before I quit in June!

The best birthday present I could ever ask for was the arrival of Evelyn Kate! I normally wouldn't be too happy to share my birthdayness with anyone else but how can you resist this face. Not only do we share a birthday month but we also were both born with ear tags! I am usually not so excited to share about my malformation but when something this cute has it, it kind of makes it worth it. Can't wait to bond with her over ear tags and future April birthdayness plans!

The Hills are Alive

With the Sound of Music. Did you really think that I would only visit one country while over in London checking out schools and housing. It's not in my nature when stamps in my passport are so easily had. Plus Michele, my travel buddy, had never been to Europe so we planned a, albeit short, but fun rendevou through the continent.

First stop Barcelona, Spain. I had been to Barcelona before (Smart Family European Vacation circa 2005) and loved it! It has always been one of my favorite cites. Besides the obvious plus of getting to practice my Spanish--it has all of my favorite things: great shopping, beautiful beaches, history, architecture, men with accents, and churros.

Highlights include seeing Gaudi's work at Parc Guell, buying matching sunglasses, going inside La Familia Sagrada, not wearing makeup, eating churros filled with dulce de leche (for breakfast), shopping, watching Brian chase pigeons in the park, laying out at the beach, and exploring the city. The city has a great vibe and it was so relaxing after the whirlwind of London.

Next we headed to Austria. I'll be honest the sole purpose of going to was to do a Sound of Music Tour. That's right like with a tour guide, on a bus, singing along to the soundtrack, while we see the sights where the Von Trapp Family Singers call home. And I am not even embarrassed about it. IT. WAS. MAGICAL. The Mickelsen clan grew up wanting to be members of the Von Trapp singers and it was only fitting I was there with two of them. Brian pretended to hate it but was singing along, loudly, to EVERY song.

The goal of the tour was to be Maria. We sang like her, danced like her, and saw all of her favorite hot spots. It was cheesy and wonderful.





What Austrians lack in friendliness, they more then make up for in natural beauty. It was fun just driving around the country side. We spent the day in Saltzburg and then headed back to Vienna to do some more sightseeing.


I didn't love the culture in Austria but doing the Sound of Music tour was totally worth the trip. We did get to spend some time in Vienna's Globe Museum--a whole museum dedicated to globes. I was in heaven!

I am really becoming a fan of Europe--I still think its overrated and overpriced but it's so easy to get from one country to the next. I am looking forward to seeing more of it this fall between classes, studying and exams of course:)

A special shout out goes to the world's best tour guide. He planned the trip for us and was a great sport while Michele and I shopped, ate a restaurants besides Subway, and teased him about almost losing his passport! He gladly gave up his bed for us in London and let us turn his flat into girl central. And gratefully he accepts payments in the form of Cheese Its and gummy candy. As long as he can keep a hold of his passport, we'll be traveling a lot more together in the fall. Love you Woody!

In September, I will...

Be calling this city home.

I will be studying here,


Calling Yaktown from here,

telling time from here,

and will live here; pending Kate turns heinously ugly overnight and William decides the pregnancy tie of our mothers is strong enough to give me a giant sapphire ring.

I could also live here...if I could find figure out a way to earn $5 million pounds in the next few months. But wouldn't this just be the cutest place to live!

Unfortunately, I will probably end up living in a midget's shoebox. Either way, visitors are welcome--just don't all come at once.