It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

       Well, when I found out I was going to be in McCall for Christmas, things really kicked in gear around the MacNichol household. We got out all the decorations and Mom and I commandeered a tree from the neighbors back yard (shhh) and dressed it up with lots of lights and ornaments so no one would recognize it!  We spent three whole days baking holiday treats (and much time eating them) before Neil got home from OSU and had wrapping paper all over the house for days.  It snowed like crazy and I was able to bust out my old skate ski's and take Charlie for a spin! He sure loves to ski, but his tiny paws get snow burn before too long, hence the fanny pack.  Don't scoff. He loves it.  
        The girls came over for a movie night a while back, and I was reminded how much I love them! We ate snacks and watched Twilight and caught up on our lives; what a treat! I even got to attend a Christmas party this year with my friend Jeremy, where there was so much good food I thought I'd be stuffed for weeks! We played pool (and I won...both games ;), listened to Holiday music, chatted with his co-workers, and I even got to wear my Santa hat!

       My good friend Jason flew out on the 23rd for a visit and to do some skiing! Now, Jason is from the Midwest and has Chihuahua named Shelby who looks just like Charlie who came for Christmas too! Can you tell who is who in their little elf costumes?! Jason and Shelby had never seen a good old fashion Idaho winter before, and by the time he left four days later we had him involved in every snow adventure we could think of!!! We went skate skiing, snow shoeing, downhill skiing, AND ice skating, all of which were a first for him.  He did great at all of them; sadly, I have discovered I am a terrible ski instructor. But he claimed to enjoy himself through all the falling and getting up, and getting burried and getting stuck. What a good sport.  John took him on an air tour of McCall in the Supercub and we even went to Cascade to watch The Hobbit, which I loved even though it was a 3 hour film! Thanks for coming Jason!!! It was great even if I did essentially push you down a mountain with slippery sticks strapped to your feet. You Rock!! :D
       Other than that, things have been pretty low key around here.  I am studying like a mad-woman to complete my TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) for my new job.  I am nearly done thank-goodness, because I am ready to get my butt in gear and head to China!! Packing for Charlie and I has been difficult because I want to bring too much stuff and trying to plan for a whole year is overwhelming!! Also, I am so excited about the whole ordeal I can hardly focus on anything!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and CONGRATULATIONS to my Cousin Ross and his new fiance Sara!! Happy New Year everyone!!! May 2013 be as wonderful as 2012!! xoxoxo

The Road Home

           I left Portland early Tuesday morning and headed to Boston where I caught up on some phone calls, emails, and hours of sleep before hitting the road again at 2am Chicago bound to collect my mother at Chicago Midway Airport.  Now, I have a bit of a grudge I need to get off my chest before I go any further.  Out west (where I have always lived) we pay road taxes and therefore have no road tolls. I don’t know what the deal in New England/The Midwest is, but I spent over $50 dollars in “road tolls” over a period 1,000 miles of driving.  There seems to be a tollbooth about ever 50 miles and if I may say so, that is just plain crap.  Not only is it expensive and a pain in the neck, but the roads aren’t even good! The pavement is riddles with potholes and rough spots and the shoulders are littered with debris!  It rather ruined my mood and used up all my food money so my diet for 24 hours was rice cakes and peanut butter :(, which makes for a very grumpy Madi….

            On a different note, I got to the airport at 8pm in the dark with time to get lost three places at the terminal while people honked angrily and yelled that I was a dumb bitch out their windows…oh yes, Chicago is a real treat.  I was deeply disappointed I didn’t get to spend more time there to enjoy the rest of the sights and pleasantries…shame really.  By the time Mom and Savannah arrived I was exhausted, starving and in desperate need of a shower.

            We took shelter for the night at a skuzzy Comfort Inn on the other side of town and slept in long enough the next morning to feel somewhat rested.  After a 9-hour drive, day one of our mother/daughter road trip got us to the Embassy Suites hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Now I know what your thinking, “Lincoln…Nebraska…bummer right?!” No way!! Lincoln is actually a really neat place that I would love to revisit with more time in the future! Who would have thought!? We ate spicy Thai food, snuck the dogs into our room under our jackets and called it a night!  The following day we were hard-core road warriors and drove 13 straight hours to Ogden, Utah where we celebrated our success by going through my first fast food drive through.  Now, I am not sure how I feel about this because on one had I feel more accepted by the mass American culture of high cholesterol meds and television obesity campaigns, but on the other hand I feel as if I have cheated on ever moral I’ve ever had, specifically because it was a McDonalds drive though!  However the deed was done and Mom and I ended our day with McFlurrys and fries.  Oh the shame…..

            On our last day we drove all the way home to McCall just in time to start making lists for the holiday baking extravaganza that takes hold of the house around this time every year, and I ended the trip with a somewhat heavy heart.  I set off three months ago to the day and I am about the set off for a new adventure soon! My new job decided to allow me to stay in the USA through Christmas, which means we are busting out all the decorations and getting the Christmas radio stations all fired up.  

Thanksgiving and the Missing Chapter

I spent Thanksgiving with my East Coast family for the first time this year in Connecticut at my Grandparents house.  It was just as it should be with much laughter, catching up, teasing, eating, and general merriment.  I also was able to briefly meet up with a friend in Boston whom I have not seen since my Costa Rica days! Kasey and I wandered around Quincy Market downtown and chatted about the overall ludicrisity that is the holiday season and our future travel plans to Africa (someday, someday…).

As you all know I had to postpone my journey to New York City, as I would have arrived in the immediate wake of Sandy’s chaos.  So when I reached Maine I bought Amtrak tickets for the first weekend in December to visit the glitzy city and was lucky enough to have a travel buddy!  I set Charlie up with a wonderful babysitter (thanks Therese!!) while I got to stay at my Aunt Sally’s adorable apartment in Chelsea and spent time with my cousin Liz, who took me out to Indian food and brought me up to speed on all the wonderful things she is doing in her life.  My good friend Jason (see previous New Orleans blog) met me in the Big Apple and we crammed the whole city into three action packed days.  It was quite the tailspin I must say and we had a ball!

            We started on Friday when he arrived and made a rough plan over sushi and miso soup and that afternoon our first adventure took us along the Highline and all the way down to Battery Park. We stopped at the World Trade Center Memorial and to take a photo of the far off Statue of Liberty, which we could not visit due to Hurricane Sandy damage (DAMN HER!).  We strolled down Wall Street past all the fancy day traders in suits on their cigarette breaks to the New York Stock Exchange and then met Sally and Liz for dinner at a really great Afghan restaurant.  

Saturday morning Jason and I were up and running early starting with a pancake breakfast at Le Champignon.  When we had our fill we braved the confusing subway maze to Time Square and played tourists in the M&M World Store and Rockefeller Plaza, followed by a ride up to Top of the Rock.  We spent the early afternoon wandering the bizarre yet intriguing halls of the Museum of Modern Art and chatted about what is considered “real art” over enormous slices off greasy pizza for lunch. We headed over to the Brooklyn Bridge just as it was getting dark and walked the beautiful lit up city streets back to Chelsea where we polished off the night with more Indian food.  Phew!!!

Sunday was seemed ever more hectic than its predecessor as we started the morning with a great run in Central Park followed by a Dim Sum lunch in Chinatown. When we had stuffed ourselves to the brim with egg rolls and green tea we hurried off to Carnegie Hall were we watched a performance by the MET Orchestra.  It was beautiful and the music was lovely but let me just say they do not give you even one extra inch of room in those balcony seats! The chairs are so small!  That evening we met one of Jason’s coworkers, Gabby, for burgers at a great place called 5 Napkins, which serves amazingly unique hamburgers (a chicken mushroom burger in my case) and fantastic homemade guacamole.  When I got back to Sally’s that night we watched her favorite TV show called Homeland and called it a day!

Monday was slightly sad as Jason and I went for one last stroll around the Chelsea Piers to say farewell to the famous city and say our goodbyes before heading to the train station.  New York City is a special place that seems to have a strange effect on people.  The longer one stays to visit the more one never wants to leave its crowded streets or its cramped apartments.  The whole city was light up for the holidays and we passed several holiday street fairs on our daily walks.  It was magical and really put me in the Christmas spirit!

            On a different note, as most of you know by now (because news in this family spreads like wildfire!) I have been offered a job as an English teacher at a Chinese high school in Ningbo!  I am very excited to say I leave in two weeks and will be overseas for a full calendar year; which is ready to be filled with visitations from all of you!! The next few weeks will be crazy and once I am settled in my new place I will send out my address.  The blog will continue as usual (I know it’s hard to imagine life without it right ;), so wish me and Charlie luck as we prepare for this next chapter and I hope to chat with you all a bit before I leave! (Sorry the font is kinda messed up in this blog, I don't know what happened)

The End of the Line...For Now

            Well Portland, Maine is all I hoped it would be.  It is cold and sunny and friendly and lovely.  I have to admit, when I first arrived I was a bit shaken with the realization that my road trip had reached it destination.  I felt trapped and uncomfortable unpacking, but my cousin Hailey was kind enough to let Charlie and I take refuge in her adorably tiny apartment on the comfiest couch known to man, and I was soon able to come to grips with my temporary immobility. Hailey and I spent the next few days walking, running, cleaning, baking granola, cooking soup, hanging Christmas lights, farmers marketing, holding babies, painting nails, attending yoga, chatting, and just enjoying each others company in general.  It was really wonderful I must say.

I visited the bakery she works at (which so reminds me of Stacey Cakes) called Katie Made.  The elevated exterior and tiny kitchen gives it a cozy rather than cramped feel, and any glamour lost in its size is more than made up for by the alluring smell wafting down the street and delectable mixed berry scones.  We also caught a glimpse of the city Holiday Tree coming down the road to be erected in Monument Square.  Santa controlled the crane. I can’t wait to see it all lit up! 

Portland is a conscience community with a wonderful mix of city life and small town tradition.  It has large grass roots/ locally preferred influence, which is noticeable everywhere while still living up to its reputation as Maine’s largest city.  I could see myself staying here for an extended period of time, but then again I can also see myself leaving…

Not all who wander are lost.  I’ve heard that quite a bit in my life, and I like to think it suites me.  If I have learned anything on this trip, it is that I will most likely always wander.  There are those who know from near infancy what their calling is (or maybe I should say callings) and work consistently and heartily to achieve it (them). In the past I prided myself on membership of that category, but in experiencing even a tiny fraction of the world unknown to me, my previous goals and ideas unraveled before my very eyes.  I realized wanted to do and see and experience so many things.  There were too many paths to choose from and I didn’t know where to start.

There are infinite ways to live a single life, which means in some way we all search how to navigate it.  When it comes down to it, deep breaths are taken, opportunity cost considered, decisions made (some slow, some fast), and action taken with each step creating repercussions and abounding with endless possibilities.  And that is life. 

It is impossible to know what is coming and in that hides the beauty of the entire process.  Will I stay here? Maybe.  Will I move again? Maybe.  I will know what is right when the time comes, and you (my ever faithful readers!!) will be the first to know. Happy Holidays everyone, and may your hearts and homes and tables be overflowing with gratitude and love.

New England

           Charlie and I rolled into Essex, Connecticut on Sunday evening just in time for supper with my Grandparents and my Aunt Sally who was temporarily seeking refuge there from the chaos of New York City.  Gram and Grandfather live in a small community called Essex Meadows and have access to many small towns strewn about the Long Island Sound.  They (luckily) missed out on the worst of Hurricane Sandy, but many communities nearby lost power and had days off work and school.

            The first few days of my visit were spent shopping, eating, and visiting while the last two were spend holed up inside watching movies while a strong Noreaster brought piles of snow and rain.  We ate at a great restaurant called the River Tavern (try the date pudding, or don’t, you’ll be disappointed in every dessert forever afterwards) and hit up a great independent bookstore where I got a fabulous cookbook containing almost a zillion soup recipes.  Charlie was unhappy with the snow because it was nearly up to his belly, and Stella was certainly having a bad morning after the storm.  So after a few days of relaxing, hot-tubing, and enjoying life in general, Charlie and I scraped the snow off Stella and we scooted North to Boston, Massachusetts to see my Aunt Caroline.  On the way we made a stop in Newport, Rhode Island, where we wandered along the cliff walk (which was so so beautiful although included a somewhat snotty aura) and had lunch at this little café downtown. 

            My Aunt is the head mistress of a middle school called Dana Hall where she lives on campus and luckily had a bed for me! On Saturday we went for a walk in Wellesley College and then had a lovely shoe-shopping/dinner date, which was a huge success.  On Sunday we went out to a farm (owned by a friend of Caroline) to watch a fox hunt and go for a walk with the doggies and Charlie was just in heaven!  

That evening my cousin Hailey and her boyfriend Will came down from Maine and we spent the evening chatting about Will’s upcoming adventure in Jackson Hole and eating Thai food.  It was lovely.  

            The following day I wandered around town and hit up a bookstore and paper shop where I purchased this year’s Christmas cards, which of course got me all pumped up for the holidays!  So excited for pumpkin pie and holiday lights!!! That evening Hailey and I went to Harvard Square for dinner and did a little window-shopping (no purchases). The next morning we hit the gym early and before we packed up and I followed Hailey on the last leg of my journey to Portland, Maine.  I can hardly believe it….