wherever we go, there we are!

where have we been?
we've been home!
(we've NOT written a blog in two weeks!)
we've been experiencing reverse culture shock,
reintegrating into
what does it mean to us
-now, after everything we've experienced-
to be an american?
we've been overwhelmed.
we've been welcomed back into our families
our communities
seeing friends on the street
or in random places around town.
melissa's been working at the salon/spa she used to work in
being a front desk girl
greeting people and answering phones;
cleaning her room (see picture below!) of all the stuff she's accumulated in years and years and years (what happens after you've had a bedroom since you were 5?~ lots of stuff!!)
carson's been relishing portland
spending time with his family
hiking in forest park
and taking the train up to bellingham,
having his picture taken randomly for www.facesofbellingham.wordpress.com (check out the april 24th pictures, scroll down!)

we've been looking for a place to live
(may have found one yesterday!)
we've been deciding what to do about those hawaii tickets we bought in january
(looks like we're going on sunday! we were hesitant because of money, and were trying to move the ticket or get a refund, but hawaiian air said no way, and our friend chino said it best:

"Do not hesitate GO TO HAWAII, you will somehow find a way to finance the trip, and at the end you´ll have more beautifull stories to tell. Otherwise all you´ll have is regret. Life´s one and only, money comes and goes, and of course you can always work over there and make some cash to move around."

thanks chino!

so looks like we're going to attend a good friend's birthday party on saturday night, and then take the 4am shuttle bus from the bellingham airport to seatac, and fly on over to the hawaiian islands! what a trip!! we just finally "decided" to do this yesterday! luckily, we have friends to stay with on both oahu and the big island, including abram, our friend from pai who first introduced us to the durian! (thanks abram!)

we'll put more pictures on soon....both our memory cards are filled up to the max right now. we are also about to begin the awesome project of writing a book about our trip, to publish and share with the world! if you have any ideas, feedback, suggestions, memories of us (if you met us on our trip, or if you've been reading about our journey), pictures of us or you with us, etc., please send them our way and they can be included in the book if you like! our email is easy, carsonandmelissa(at)gmail(dot)com

we'll keep attending to the blog too, sorry for the lapse, we just needed a little time to decompress.
happy spring! smell those daffodils, they smell so good!
love,
melissa

pictures:
carson and his bro
melissa overwhelmed by her room
melissa and her sis