following an unknown path

some posts to check out

Since I'm in the middle of enjoying family and getting ready for marriage and planning a wedding, writing about life in Taiwan is not on the forefront of my mind.  But, some bloggers I enjoy reading are still posting some great stuff . . and not just about Taiwan either. 

A new addition to my blogs to watch list is stevewebel.com.  Recently he's been posting about "third culture kids." 

What is a TCK?
You might be a TCK if . . .
Would this stress you out?
TIME Article on TCKs

Guy Muse has an excellent quote about what is ministry at Ministry is . . . .

The Desiring God Blog has been doing an excellent on going series on "Day to Day Observations in Asia" written by a 'Cross-cultural gospel spreader" (what a great term!).  So far the series includes:

Do You Believe in Djinn?
Praying For and Burying the Dead
Faithfulness and Fruitlessness
The Traffic Jam

Of course if you are interested in what life is like for places in the world where cell phones are not the norm check out this really cool video on Mobile Phones in Uganda.  Mobile as in big yellow phone travels around village by bike. :)

And, the Taiwan Prattler posted about idols in Taiwan recently: are they Cute? Solemn? Stately?.

Another site/blog I love to keep my eye on is the Missionary Blog Watch.  The author is always keeping us up to date with great things going in the "missionary blog world."  Recently he's featured Blogs You've Never Read.

blogging about the wedding

I've decided to blog about my wedding here on "my blog" . . . and move my few wedding blog posts over here and keep the wedding blog site purely a site with pages rather than a site with a blog. 

That way I am more likely to blog about it.  :)

So, for the next week, the things that I blogged about the first week of June on our "wedding blog" will post here in the exact same way I posted them at that time--except I will add an "originally posted on" line at the end.

I decided to do this not just to make it easier on me, but also because several people have commented or encouraged me to blog about our wedding planning process.  So, here I am . . . coming back to blogging as best as can at this time in my life. :)

the faces of persecution

A Believer dies for their faith in Christ every 3 minutes according to Voice of the Maryts.
{RSS Readers: Click over to see the embedded video.}

Join me today in praying for our brothers and sisters around the world.

a random meme

A month ago (I'm just a little behind), I was tagged by both Deborah and Lindsey--one loves missions and used to be an MK teacher and the other is a new-to-the-field missionary in the Ukraine! 

This meme is to share 7 random facts about myself to my bloggy friends.  Well, I feel like I've shared so many random things about my life in the last two and a half years there is little left to disclose to the public.  So, here are 7 random facts about me, that I've shared before but perhaps you didn't catch or don't remember.

1. Even though I now call Taiwan home and love living here very much, when I first came to Taiwan in 1997, I didn't really like it very much due to some intense culture shock.

2. I love green tea flavored stuff (for the most part)!!  I've even had the world's best green tea ice cream in the world's tallest building.

3. I am incredibly logical--sometimes this annoys the people who love me most especially since I also tend to be very stubborn firm in my beliefs.

4. I am a self-confessed bibliophile--not just a reader, a book-lover.

5. I've never had a "first kiss" (or a second one for that matter) . . . well, at least not yet.

6. If I'm going to enjoy an Oreo, I prefer it frozen and then dipped in milk. (I started keeping Oreos in the freezer as a way to keep the ants away, and now there is no turning back.  They are best frozen, I promise.)

7. I love oatmeal. It makes me happy. I could eat it for any meal of the day or for breakfast every day of the week for months at a time.  But I don't like it plain--I like it with cinnamon and either with raisins or peanut butter . . . or baked!

Just in case these 7 were too normal or things you already knew and remembered about me . . . here are 8 more random things about me and 8 random facts about my kitchen.

I'm tagging: Sandy, Cahleen, Char, Jen, Michelle, Tabetha, and Sarah
But, of course yall are under no obligation to post if you don't wanna. :)

Here are the "rules" for this meme:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

life is fragile

Would you please join me in praying for Kristy, a newlywed and dear bloggy friend, who lost her new husband this weekend in a tragic boating accident?

my blog's chinese name

Awhile back, when I was changing the design of my blog, I translated the title into Chinese.  I never incorporated it into the blog design, but thought I'd post it here anyway just 'cuz.

Of course it means "following an unknown path," but if we translated it literally it would come out more like this: "taking steps on an unknown pathway." 

If you wanted a more word-by-word translation, it would come out more like this: "Walking Unknown Road/Way/Path On"

And, if you want a character-by-character definition it would come out more like this: "Step Walk (indicates current action--hence "ing") Not Know (particle for making adjectives) Course/Way Road On."

And, if you want it in pinyin, it would be: "Bu Xing Zai Wei Zhi Dou Lu Shang."

And, just for fun, here it is in some different fonts.  The font I used above is my favorite Chinese font.  I like it best because it's fun, but I also like it because it comes with a matching fun English font and they go well together.

Isn't Chinese fun?

Oh, and if you happen to be looking for some fun, free Chinese/Asian fonts (like the one in my blog header) look here.  Kudasai is my favorite, but I also like Japan and Chowfun.

a pictorial year in the life of amanda

Like I've done for the past two years (2005, 2006), I am summing up my entire 2007 in only 12 photos (one for each month).

I took less than half as many pictures this year as I did last year.  This year I only took a little over 4,000 . . . .it's kinda hard to beat 9000 in one year. :)  Nonetheless, it was still not easy to choose only one pic per month, but it is a fun way to showcase the various things that took place this past year.

January: Telling People about Jesus

February: Go to Thailand

March: I Play My Erhu in the Park

April: I Learn to Make Spring Rolls

May: A Fantabulous Weekend Getaway to Neighboring Island--PengHu (which I never blogged about but always intended too)

June: Students Graduate

July: My Cousins Come to Taiwan!!

August: I move to Tainan

September: My First MIRL--I get to Meet Fellow Taiwan Blogger in Person

October: Yuka, One of My Japanese Friends, Comes to Taiwan!!

November: New School, New Students, New Friends

December: Christmas Parties Galore!

Quite different than previous years.  This year was filled with more "風風雨雨"  (wind, wind, rain, rain), a Chinese idiom which can be translated "ups and downs."  But still the year remains a testament to God's kindness.

If you'd like to join me in doing this, please do . . . just leave a comment below with the link to your own pictorial summary of 2007 so we can all go enjoy looking over your year (I tried Mr. Linky, but he doesn't do custom meme's anymore unless you pay).

overwhelmed by generosity

Deb, one of my very first blog readers (by the way I don't think I ever replied to that first comment.  I never answered her question, and yet she still came back for more), was a HUGE encouragement when I first started blogging. 

And, just recently she was HUGE encouragement to me in another way . . . she sent me a box of goodies full of wonderful stuff (shhh . . .don't tell anyone but that box of thin mints is already empty).   She made me a dishcloth in my new kitchen colors, and she picked out a book for me that has several pages about journeys and paths (I'm not sure if that was on purpose or not, but I love it!!).  She even sent me a sunflower from her garden--how fun!!  And, there were lots of other goodies inside too.  I was TOTALLY overwhelmed by her kindness as I opened the package this week. 

Thank you, Deb, for being so thoughtful and kind and overwhelming me with your generosity! 

happy, happy birthday!!

Guess what is two years old today?? 

My blog!  That's right, Following an Unknown Path is two years old today. 

I started playing with the concept of blogging many times in past six years, I even tried to make a "blog" on my website (that after ten years of owning I finally let go of this year), but because I didn't truly grasp the concept it didn't quite work.  I started playing with different blogging platforms starting in the spring of 2005.  But it wasn't until December of 2005, that I created the concept of Following an Unknown Path and got hooked on blogging for real. 

(After Following an Unknown Path was birthed, I carried over some of the content from those other blogs I had played with.  That is why the archives go back into the spring of 2005--in case for some random reason you were wondering why my archives go back further than the birth of my blog.)

Following an Unknown Path has changed quite a bit from its original.  Content, layout, purpose, intent, some of the audience, design and look of the actual posts, writing style . . . .its all changed over the past two years.  I guess--in some ways--that is a good thing.

Honestly, I can't believe it's been two years!  Time goes SO fast. 

There have been times in this past blogging year that I've wanted to throw in the towel and call it quits.  But, I've not done so . . . yet, at least.  I enjoy writing, and I enjoy photography, and I need an outlet for sharing with others what God is doing in my life and what is going on in the world I find myself.  And, blogging seems to be a great outlet for all of these.  So, for now, I continue with my little hobby.

It is also such a blessing to be able to update my family on the other side of the world in a matter of seconds about what is going on in my life.  Now, if only I can convince them to start blogging about their lives so I can keep tabs on them.  (Wanna know a secret?  My paternal grandmother comments on my blog posts in handwriting and my grandfather scans in the letter and emails it to me as an attachment.  Pretty cool huh?)

It's been a neat blogging year since I've actually gotten to MIRL with some other Taiwan bloggers.  I've also been put back in touch with some college friends and their blogs. 

And, twice this year, blog readers told me to go check out some other blog they thought I might like . . . and BOTH times I actually knew these people in real life--just didn't know that they blogged!  How cool is that!?!?

Oh, yeah, and I entered my first bloggy contest and won an x-shot--thanks to readers voting for me! :) 

I've made some neat and special friends as I've blogged about my journey along this unknown path I follow.  Thank you!!  It's been fun, and I've enjoyed getting to "know" you.

So, all in all, it's been a neat journey with both its ups and downs.  However, as I sit here right now looking out over the Tainan skyline, I look forward to another year of blogging, another year of changing, another year of living in God's grace and being overwhelmed by his generosity and  . . . being able to share some of that with yall. 

I thought I'd continue a tradition I started last year on my blog's birthday, here are the first lines from the first posts of each month in the past year:

Firecrackers and fireworks--yes they are different (one goes "pow! pow!" a hundred times and the other "swoooooosh! pop!")--went off all around my apartment from about 9 or 10pm till about 2 or 3am in random intervals. (Jan, 33 posts)

Sandy is a IRL friend who is also a college teacher, tentmaking here in Taiwan. (Feb, 12 posts)

. . . in paths that they have not known I will guide them. (Isaiah 42:16) (March, 35 posts)

My coworker in the harvest has a brother who is also missionary. (A post about how five shirts is too many shirts to own.) (April, 21 posts)

The lens of my camera loves to focus on flowers. (May, 13 posts)

Stacy, an IRL friend who also lives here in Taiwan, tagged me while I was taking my bloggy break. (June, 31 posts)

Take heed of pride and haughtiness of spirit. (July, 36 posts)

Remember when I wrote about waiting and how hard it is. (August, 22 posts)

(When I grow up) I want to be a real missionary like her . . . or her (great book) . . . or her  . . . or any number of the bloggers listed here.  (September, 22 posts)

Ok, so we are not in Japan. (October, 26 posts)

For the past two weeks, there has been only one thought stuck on repeat in my mind about the beauty of kindness: It's your kindness that leads us to repentance, Oh Lord. (November, 8 posts)

My thirteenth year of life was horrible. (December, 22 posts so far)

Well, happy birthday little blog!  Thank you for helping me make friends around the world!  Thank you for helping me draw closer to Christ.   

And, thanks to all of you who take the time to read and comment (I know I am bad about responding to comments--maybe I could try to work on that). 

I'm glad you stop!

come on ring those bells . . .

Light the Christmas Tree!  Jesus is the King, born for you and me . . .

Welcome to all of you coming from BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes.  Just to let you know, you've safely arrived in Taiwan. :) 

Most of my decorations are the same as last year; the main difference is that I moved this summer, so they are all placed a little differently in my new apartment.  But, I do have a few new things to show you.

Of course if your a little tired of all the touring, you could just sit with me here on the couch a little while a enjoy my new tree. (Snowmen booties courtesy of my NeeNee.)

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Are you ready now?  If so, here are my snowpeople this year:

 

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And, here is my favorite little snowguy of all--he just blends right in! :) 

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In addition to snowmen, I also really like candles.  They just add a certain festive feel to the atmosphere.

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Here is one of my new things for this year!!  This is a Chinese paper cut of a nativity scene which a dear friend gave me four years ago.  She was living in China at the time.  I only got around to framing it this year.  But, I love it!!

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The only thing I've splurged on this year for my home is this little jingle bell tree--isn't it so cute?  And, here is what my Christmas card wreath looks like this year.

 

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I've also gotten a few new ornaments from others and made some paper snowflakes.

The biggest change is that I bought a new Christmas tree.  Only thing is that it looks empty now . . . I love over stuffed, crowded trees that look like if you add one more thing they will fall over.  I guess this gives me room to grow and add and build. 

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Oh!  I did make some chocolate chip brownies, but they're all gone now.  So, can I offer you some green tea toast instead?  It's really yummy!!  I even tried to make it extra festive for you!!

 

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Well, thanks for coming to visit me in Taiwan!  Before you head off to visit other homes on the tour, let me just say 聖誕節快樂 (sheng dan jie kuai le) or in other words "Merry Christmas Yall!!"

google me this

I've seen versions of this meme on both Butterfly Kisses, MzEllen and Co. and Lux Venit recently, and thought I could play along.  It is a fun and simple meme where you google images for the answers to questions and then choose one of the images from the first page of results.  Wanna play along?  If so, consider yourself tagged. :)

1. age at next birthday:
 
yeah, the big three-oh is next year.

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2. place i'd like to travel
 
Know where this is?  Korea!!  Korea has been on my to visit wish-list for a LONG time now.

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3. favorite place

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4. favorite things

my answer to this one was "people"  . . . I love spending my free time with people!

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5. favorite food
 
Thinking of cravings and not what's for dinner tonight . . . I'd have to go with tex-mex or chicken and dumplings--at least for today.

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6. favorite color

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7. favorite flower

gotta love daisys and sunflowers!!  They just smile at you!

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8. town you live in

in case you didn't know, i now live in tainan city.

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9. name of a past pet
   
do you see a theme here?  growing up we had a dog named rolo and another named kandy.  we had other dogs with non-food names too . . .

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10. nickname

sometimes my sister calls me minda.

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11. college major

can you guess?  communication theory.  I loved it by the way!

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12. first job

My first paid job besides babysitting was filing papers at an insurance company.  I had lots of paper cuts that summer. :)

to my dear feedreaders

Salutations!  How are you doing these days, dear feed reader?

Just kidding.  I do, however, really want your attention for a minute.  I am nearing the completion of updating my blog and giving it a "blogover."  New colors, new header, new layout, making my past photos more prevalent, you know stuff like that . . . you really should just click over to take a quick peak. 

I know your feedreader is speedy and nice and convenient.  I love my g-reader (as I affectionately refer to it).  But, really now, can you call your feedreader environment pretty?  I think not. 

I've been making small changes with my blog design here and there for awhile now.  In fact, I've longed for a new header for about half a year.  But, I just didn't really see the point in shelling out the cash for something so digital and temporary. 

That is . . . until I read about a project that Sarah and Rebecca are a part of called Blogovers with Love. 

Both of these ladies are in the process of adopting a child from Taiwan.  And, while they are waiting, they are donating their time and design skills to raise money to help send needed items to two orphanages here in Taiwan. 

How could I resist now?  A beautiful blog header plus instead of shelling out the cash for something that viruses could destroy I get to make a donation to help bless orphans.  What a great combo!!

If you are wanting a new header (or a complete blogover if you are on blogger), I HIGHLY recommend you consider Blogovers with Love.  Sarah has been such a joy to work with.  And she created something that is totally me and that I just love to look at because it is just SO pretty.  I also really like some of the fabulous headers that Rebecca has designed.  Go take a look and see for yourself some of their other handiwork!!

Remember . . . I've already proven to you that I don't exaggerate.  ;)

I am still here

{I didn't mean to post my blogrolls as a post.  They were supposed to go on to a "page."  This page in fact.  Right here.}

I am still here, I know it's been awhile since I posted.  I am ok.  A bit overwhelmed and feeling a bit lost, but ok.  It is always frustrating when my past experiences tell me I should be experiencing the end of a year, that things are coming to a close and refreshment is just around the corner as well as lots of time to spend with family . . . when in reality it is only midterm, I've got tons of things to do and the end as well as all my family are no where in sight.

Yeah, that can be just a little frustrating (you do notice the sarcastic tone in my voice right?).

Another reason for the delay in recent posts. . . well, my computer at home has decided to run at the speed of molasses on a cold day.  What used to take me 10 seconds now takes me 10 minutes to do.  Can we say frustrating again??

And, yet, another third reason for the lack of posts . . . . I have finally hit bloggers block or I don't know what to call it . . . maybe bloggers dread.  I don't lack ideas--I have lots of those from long before.  But, I currently lack the desire to compose--maybe that is due to the fact that I have 40 essays awaiting me to be graded and 40 more just around the corner.  My brain is like oatmeal and creativity is zapped--I've loaned it to my students when I coached them with their writing. 

It's funny really . . . .I used to have days where I could write multiple posts and still have more to write about.  I would think, "oh my how on earth do people live without blogging?  how on earth could she claim she needs a blogging break?"  Well, now that's me.  I am there.  I totally understand now.

So, for now, I am going to be doing some behind the scenes stuff--like did you notice my sidebar is now white and no longer pink?  And, like my blogrolls which were in serious need of upgrading.  I might post some here and there, but it will be very sporadic for awhile as I decide what to do with my home computer and overcome my feelings of being overwhelmed and wait for my writing ideas to come back to me.

Thanks for your concern and offers of cherry kool-aide.  They are much appreciated. 

editing pictures online

Inspired by Jimmie's weblink wednesday . . . I thought I'd share my two favorite online photo editing tools.

1. Picnik is just awesome. 
It used to be 100% free, but now that it is out of beta, they will soon start to charge for their "premium  services" (but they are free this week). It interacts with flickr, facebook, photobucket, and picasa.  I don't know about the other sites, but I know it is a seemless, painless process with flickr--beautiful really.  You can crop, edit, fix, create, frame, add text and graphics, and more . . .  Too bad it won't continue to stay completely free.

2. My other favorite photo tool is bighuge labs--and it is 100% free. 
There are tons of fun things to do there.  Some are productive and worthwhile, while others are just creative time-killers.  I use their Mosaic Maker a lot!  My students loved making their very own magazine covers and CD inserts.  You can also add captions and/or bunny ears and santa hats to your photos.  You  can also make billboards, photo cubes, calanders, motivational posters, and more . . .

All of these work best with flickr api, but if you know the image's URL, you can use any photo online, or upload one from your local harddrive.

Here are some of the things my students have created using bighugelab's flickr toys:

These two online photo tools really work for me.

oops

If your rss reader grabbed a post called "doll collection" from me, it stole it. :)  It did NOT have permission to show it to you.  You might wanna give him a little talking to.

Just kidding.  I preposted that as a note to myself months ago as an idea to blog about if I had bloggy-block.  (I should have preposted it as a draft rather than a "real" post.  The oops is all mine.)

The truth is I have anything BUT bloggy-block.  There are ten million and twelve ideas floating around in my head waiting to be posted.  There are a number of series/collections of posts I'd love to put together.  There are several things I am in the middle of blogging and just haven't gotten around to finishing yet. 

So, what does a girl do when she has SO much to blog?  She blogs little posts that require little forethought because if she starts "forethinking" she might not be able to stop. :)

I'll get my act together one of these days . . . hopefully sooner than later! 

Thanks for all the encouraging emails and comments several of you have sent recently.  It makes a girl smile.

slow response time

I apologize for the slow response time to comments made last week.

I read them all and appreciate them all . . . but I had company for a few days; I came down with a cold, and I'm teaching "Email English" which took a lot of my email time the past few days. 

I will try to respond/reply to comments in the next few days. 

Thanks in advance for your patience!

MIRL-ing

This weekend, before I saw my Japanese friend, I got to MIRL with a fellow Taiwan blogger!!! :)

Just in case you don't know . . . MIRL is an acronym for "Meet In Real Life." (For a history of the origin of this acronym look here and here.)

Charlotte and I met in Hsinchu for lunch on Saturday.  We spent the afternoon talking and getting to know each other better. 

She is the first (and so far only) fellow blogger I've ever MIRL-ed with.  It was a unique experience because on one hand I felt like I needed to say "Hi, my name is Amanda," but on the other hand I felt like she was a long lost kindred spirit.  Feeling both of these at the same time is rather odd. :) 

Nonetheless, I enjoyed our time together, and I assume that the next time we get together it won't be odd at all!! :)

We tried out my xshot (my first time to use it in public), and it's a little tricky.  The first one was TOTALLY washed out, and I look like a turtle in the second one. :) 

If two foreigners together attract a lot of stares . . .then two foreigners together using an xshot attract tons of stares! :)  Some people just stopped to watch our picture taking, and others walked by looking at my camera's screen.  It was fun.

random facts about my kitchen

Proverbs31 from Bringing Good Home has tagged me in a meme and since this is a four-day weekend for us here in Taiwan, I have time to actually do it. :)

Even though it is a rather simple meme--list 8 random things about your kitchen and/or cooking--I still couldn't follow directions.  I listed 11.

1. I love cooking with a wok and couldn't imagine kitchen life without one. 

2. I am very (VERY) excited about my new kitchen.  It actually has some counter space.  My former kitchen's counter space was only large enough to hold a small dish drying rack.

3. My dishes are black. All my glasses and most of my cooking utensils are red.  I covered my previous kitchen cabinets with black contact paper and painted my fridge black too. My red and black scheme don't quite work in my new white and blue kitchen.

4. I don't have a dishwasher.  And, I hate washing dishes.  Not a good combo.  I do, however, have a dish dryer--a built-in, over the sink, dish drying tray that will blow/heat my dishes dry.

5. I love my Chinese knives.  Chop! Chop! Chop!  They are wonderful.

6. I am swapping cooking lessons with my neighbor/friend.  She teaches me to make Chinese food, and I am teaching her some American dishes.  This weekend, I was teaching her how to make french toast and fry bacon.  I told her I would also show her how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, mashed potatoes, and omelets.  Her response: "Oh!  Goody!  I just love knowing how to cook exotic foods!"  Who knew that mashed potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches were exotic! :)

7.The burners on my two-burner stove are shaped to hold a wok.  So, when I do use a skillet, it has a hard time staying balanced on the burner. 

8. The flame that comes out of my gas stove is HUGE.  I love it.

9. My oven sits on top of my fridge.  Ovens are not common here, so my little oven which holds one pan at a time is a luxury item.  I once baked 156 mini-cupcakes 12 at a time in my beloved little oven.

10. I can cook with chopsticks (which is totally not impressive if you live in Asia).

11. Another main difference between American kitchens and Taiwanese kitchens is the height of the counters.  They are much (MUCH) lower here (it makes sense that shorter people need lower counters).  I find myself leaning over a lot in the kitchen--especially when washing dishes.  So, if I have quite a few things to wash, I bring in a stool and sit down to wash them.

I am not tagging anyone specifically, but I'd love to hear about other people's "international kitchens"--either Americans living abroad or non-American kitchens.  But those with American kitchens in America are still welcome too. :)

If you do play along, leave your link, and I'll add it to this post.

the states

Can you tell I'm a southern gal?

States I've been to are in red.  You can make your own map here.

[HT: Sandy's Neipu Notebook]

thank yall!!!!

Thanks to all of you I now have in my hot little hands a very tiny telescoping camera holder!!

Thanks to all your votes, I placed third in the BenSpark's win an xshot contest.  So, that means I actually won an xshot.  It was here waiting for me in my mailbox when I got back late last week from Taipei!  (And, just in case you were wondering, yes, my doorman made sure I found it right away.)

How exciting!!  Of course, I wish I had had two weeks earlier; but, like my mom always told me "beggars can't be choosers." ;)

Thanks again to all of you who voted for me!  I am grateful.

I'll play around with it, and then share some pics with yall later on. :)

last chance

Friday is your last chance to vote for amanda--you have till noon EST. (So, it is also my last chance to bug you about it.)

If you voted previously, you can vote again--once a day is the limit.

THANK YOU SO MUCH to those of you who have voted for me.  If I win, I promise to share lots of pictures with you! :)

Since I am out of town Thursday and Friday of this week, I have no idea how I am doing in the contest, and I also can't vote for myself (Yep, this is an auto-post).  So, I appreciate all the help I can get!!! :)