Tip of the Iceberg

Thanks for all your fun emails regarding our trip to the Olympics. All Jim and I can say is WOW! Watching the Canadians take so much pride in their country, witnessing history, and seeing our world unite (even just for two weeks) is something I will never forget. Once we move into the house on March 13, I'll work on getting some video and lots of photos together. Until then, I thought I would share a brief insight into our trip. Enjoy!

ABOUT THE PHOTOS
above text: Vancouver skyline
top to bottom: 1) downtown Vancouver, 2) the Olympic cauldron, 3) bobsled in Whistler, 4) luge track in Whistler, 5) women's downhill in Whistler, 6) actual Olympic torch, and 7) the inukshuk
*click on any photo to enlarge in a new window

Bellagio Fountains

Here is some video of the fountains at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. We took the video from our room in the Bellagio and also from the street during our anniversary trip this past December.

UPDATE: For some reason, the videos quit working while we were gone to the Olympics. I will troubleshoot this once we get moved and settled in the new house. I'll get them back up soon.

New England Video

This past October my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and Jim all went to Vermont for my cousin's wedding. We had to fly to New Hampshire, drive to Vermont, and then for fun we tacked on a couple of days in Boston. It was Jim and my first attempt at taking video. And, the movie of that trip was my first attempt at editing. It's a bit wobbly and has some bad lighting. But, I think it is a good set of firsts and I definitely learned some things about video before we go to the Olympics. Enjoy!

UPDATE: For some reason, the videos quit working while we were gone to the Olympics. I will troubleshoot this once we get moved and settled in the new house. I'll get them back up soon.

Snow Day!

This has been the hardest spring semester of work I can remember. Mentally and physically. My body just aches and feels run down and it's only February. Jim and I leave for the Olympics on Saturday. But by Tuesday of this week, I just needed a break. My students were all praying for a snow day and the forecasters said it was possible. Call me a cynic (or a Texan); but, I just didn't believe it was possible. Sure enough. I awoke to a text message this morning saying that school was closed. When I went outside, there was already 2 inches of snow that had fallen overnight. By mid-day, we had four inches. And now (6:53pm), we're sitting somewhere around 6.5-7 inches of snow...not Texas snow (ice)...but real snow. And, they expect it to snow until at least midnight. Sitting here alone all day, I couldn't help but put my creative energy to work. Click below to see a little movie I made. I like to call my movie "Ode to Snow Day" or by it's real title "How I Spent My Snow Day: A Web Film by Kim Turner." Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, watch this and weep! Cinematic genius.

UPDATE: For some reason, the videos quit working while we were gone to the Olympics. I will troubleshoot this once we get moved and settled in the new house. I'll get them back up soon.

Less than a Week to Go

Less than one week to go until we go to the Olympics! I can't help but smile every time I think about what an experience this will be. We've been getting a lot of questions about how we got tickets, what events we're attending, how to navigate a city during the Olympics, etc. I'll do a write up about the logistics sometime...because the planning of this trip has not been easy. We won't have cell phones with us to provide updates. So, here's a run down of our trip day by day. Watch the NBC's coverage of the events and possibly The Today Show (if we can work it in to our schedule). We plan to take a Texas flag with us. Maybe you'll see us on your tv.

February 13: Depart Dallas for Seattle/Sightseeing in Seattle
February 14: Sightseeing in Seattle
February 15: Train from Seattle to Vancouver, British Columbia/Sightseeing the Vancouver
February 16: Women's Luge (medal round) in Whistler
February 17: Women's Alpine Skiing (medal round) in Whistler/Women's Curling (Russia, Denmark, Great Britain, Sweden, China, Switzerland) in Vancouver
February 18: Tubing or Snowmobiling at Mt. Seymour/Men's Hockey (Russia vs. Slovakia) in Vancouver
February 19: Sightseeing in Vancouver/Train to Seattle
February 20: Depart Seattle for Dallas

Countdown to March 13...and Other Important Dates

We finally have a moving date. After months of construction, mistakes, more construction, more mistakes, our house is close enough for the builder to give us a closing date! We are all set to close the second week of March with a move-in date of March 13. It would be earlier if it weren't for the trip to the Olympics and then my work trip/girls' weekend to NYC. But those are fun, too. So it's hard to complain too much.

I can't wait to be in the new house. Moving in with my brother-in-law's house has been very helpful financially and timewise. But, I've learned the importance and comfort of having your own space...especially when you're out of that transient college student mindset. As much as I'm ready for my own space again, I'm also ready to see our furniture and new purchases in the house and even more ready to get Murph back from my parents. My mom is already putting up a fight to keep Murph. It must be the extreme shedding, constant barking, and weight issues that have made my mom melt and want this dog 24/7 for life. Mom may put up a fight; but, Murph is definitely moving back to live with us. Here's some new house photos for the two of you who actually visit my blog. Enjoy and check back here in 3 weeks or so for Olympics photos! We got another set of tickets (downhill skiing), bringing our total to four events. We should have some great photos and video.

Countdown from February 2
Olympics Trip: 11 days
NYC Trip (Work): 26 days
NYC Trip (Girls' Weekend): 30 days
Moving Day: 39 days