That One Really Big Country To The East

CHINA!!

CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA CHINA!!! 

I've always wanted to go to China.

Growing up, the majority of my friends in elementary and middle school were Chinese. Because of this I must say, I became fascinated with their culture pretty early on in life. Actually, to be more accurate, I became a culture mooch.

My poor friends. After all that all I can say in Chinese to this day is, "I put pepper on your pancakes," and, "Hi! My name is Lauren Mason and I like cats and dogs."

Not for long though!!!

Lark and I are moving to China for a year in September!!!

Well, most likely we're going. If all of the paperwork details, shot getting, and passport/visa setting up goes as planned.

We got accepted to a program called China Calls and have requesting that we be set up with a school in Hangzhou. They told us that this shouldn't be much of a problem since they have ties with over 24 schools in Hangzhou. Sooooo inevitably we should be able to find at least one that would work for us. 

Things are still in the works, but it's looking like Lark is going to get to teach a university class English and I (fingers crossed) might get to do some modeling over there! Everything seems beyond ideal. God is great.

We are waaaaaay beyond excited. This has been a dream of both of ours since...forever.

Actually, the second time I ever talked to Lark was about China. We were both in the Library and I used my super-sight to spot him from across the room.

I promptly sent him a text alerting him to the fact.

Lark skipped across the room and joined me at my table. 

What if it had been my diary Lark? What. If. It. Had. Been. My. Diary?

Rude.

I had been pasting a card about applying to teach English in China into my scrapbook-style notebook and that sparked a China themed conversation between us.

"You want to go to China?" said Lark

"Yeah! I've always wanted to go to China" I said.

"I'VE always wanted to go to China!" Lark said.

THAT riveting dialogue was obviously the emotionally charged moment that changed the way our relationship path was pointing towards marriage. 

Till this day I still wonder what would have happened had my notebook been shut….Just kidding.

Anyways, we've been scrambling to get ready for this new adventure. Getting documents, working our way through readings, trying to figure out local customs and just generally what it's going to be like living there. 

We've been told by multiple people that we're going to stand out with us being foreigners and me being 6 foot 1. I figured as much but evidently it's going to be more than the few stares I expected.

My sister, Kara, taught English in China for some months and while she was there,  the Olympics were held in China. She was actually able to stand by, with the crowd, when the Olympic torch was being run through the city. As it was passing, she says that all of the people near her were staring at HER and taking pictures of HER instead of the torch. She got it on video. 

Pretty crazy.

We've been warned that little Larkin, being a baby, and white with blue eyes, is going to have an admiring following wherever he goes. 

We're going to try our best to keep up with the little celebrity.


On a side-note, this Easter Lark, Larkin, and I went to the Abilene Country Club for lunch and this happened:

The Easter Bunny evidently frequents the country club, which is totally 
alright with me. He came up and asked to hold Larkin. Pretty cute. However when I asked for him back, the rabbit turned his back to me and continued hugging my kid. His human escort had to chide him and make him give Larkin back and move on.


I'm not surprised there are sights like this now. Check it out. Bunnies are frightening. Who knew?


Larkin knew. Just take a gander at that face. Poor little man.


Also Erica over at Touch of Embellishment . Her most recent post actually has an awesome story about the little creepers. Click on that link.
 

Love you guys!

More updates coming soon!

~Izzy~

True Romance and Ping Pong

True Romance

I have the best husband. Not only is he fantastically sweet, superbly loving, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys, he buys me the best gifts EVER! 

For Valentines day this year, he bought me a TAURUS PT99 pistol! The prettiest pistol of them all. I had been obsessing over it since I found this picture online:

I know, right?!!! It was based on the same Pt99 I have, but was incredibly more souped up for the modern day remake of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. I usually make a point of not watching Leonardo DiCaprio movies because of a personal boycott I have against helping his career along. (Story for another time- We used to go out with the same crew occasionally in New York. He's a real tool). I made an exception though after seeing this picture. In the movie the gun belongs to Romeo's best friend, Tibalt, and let me say that i'm in love..with the pistol, that is. 

Lark and my new project is to trick out my normal pt99:

and make it into a working replica of the movie's prop gun. We're going to strip it down to show some of the works, gold plate the bejeezes out of it, cut a hole in the cartridge to expose the bullets, and either cast a clear grip or leave the grip open, like it is in the picture. 

Can't wait. It's going to be PIIIIIIMP!

Thank you dearest husband!! Best Valentines present EVER!!!

Ping Pong

Baby, being a baby, has ruined a few things so far in his short life. He's had accidents over all sorts of tiny outfits. He's spewed all over a couch cushion. Somehow he has managed to get mess onto every one of Lark's sweaters (Lark swears it was on purpose).  I expected this. I didn't expect what happened a couple days of days ago though.

I have a panda teddy bear that was named "Ping Pong", oh-so-delicately, by his tag. I got the little guy before I could read however, so I oh-so-creatively named him "Pandy". Pandy and I had lots of adventures growing up. Him actually more so than me. I liked to write about his exploits and make them into mystery stories. Most of the time he was saving my dolly's from one thing or another. My favorite case was the "The Case of the Stolen Purse". Pandy eventually found out that my dolly's pink plastic purse was stolen by my dog. End of story.

Anyways, now that Baby can hold on to things I decided to pass on my Pandy to him. Baby was hugging Pandy and I was holding him in front of the bathroom mirror, trying to get him to look at himself.

"Look Baby! I have a face. You have a face. We all have faces!!!"

It was a tender moment. That is, until baby lost his grip.

I fished Pandy out by his tag. Baby didn't seem the least bit sorry. Pandy seemed very soggy.

I dropped him into the bathtub and washed my hands thoroughly. I'm not quite sure what to do with him yet. Probably should incinerate him, but I don't have the heart. We have too much of a past…What to do, what to do, what to do?

I'll figure it out.

Obligatory picture of baby:

Hope you are all having a great spring break!

Toodles!

~Izzy~

Ready, Aim, Fire!

Projectile pooping. It's a thing.

God help us,

Tootie and Izzy