a secret garden!

Osito was complaining that he doesn't get out enough, so I was nice enough to take him to a "secret garden" in Madrid!

He had to go by Metro to get there, so he sat on Blanca.

This secret garden is in a very nice area of Madrid, where all the "pijos" live (rich people, snobs essentially). The best part? El lago-- the lake had a gorgeous fountain and was surrounded by autumnal trees with yellow leaves.Even though Osito's head starts to hurt after speaking so much Spanish with these chicas, he is thankful that there is Christian community in Madrid, and spanish-speaking at that! It was a great day! Praise Him!

Osito would also like to take this time to encourage all the other little bears to get off their tiny butts and get out there! That's what this blog is for, after all!

ACL, U2 and Wine Country!

Little Blue Bear has had an exciting few weeks. He went to Austin City Limits and the weather could not have been better! He heard great music, but his favorites were Thievery Corporation and Kings of Leon!
We were actually able to squeeze our way all the way from back here to the second row! I took some pictures up close, but they're pretty dark.
Blue almost got lost in the debris afterward, but he made it out safely! I was not looking forward to taking the GRE three days after I got back from ACL, but I actually did pretty well. Now I begin the application process...

Next, Blue got the amazing opportunity to see the U2 360 tour!!! My boss bought me and her daughter really cheap tickets the day before the concert, but we lucked out and an old friend from high school invited us up to his box!! We had our own personal bartender, Shirley, and a hot dinner buffet ! This definitely was the greatest concert experience of all time!!!
Lastly, my sister Sylvia flew in from Arizona this weekend and wanted to check out Texas wine country. We had beautiful weather all weekend in San Antonio, Boerne and Fredericksburg and got to try some great wines! I love spending time with family, they are all such a blessing to me!

That's all for now! I can't wait for Baylor Homecoming this weekend!!!

tiny bear visits the inlaws

one of the top 50 burgers in texas. found in kerville. boom baby. 

someone bought zebras. we looked at them.

tiny bear is officially saved. no promise ring with a cross necessary: 

we took a tour of the homeland. 

tiny bears favorite part of the weekend was looking at

pictures of tiny, middle school, and high school ross.

especially middle school ross. 

tiny bear says: in-laws are weird

but pretty places, wineries & and free food are fun. 

osito goes euro!

Osito (Tiny Bear's newly established name) made it safely to Madrid and delightfully announces that he has internet in his flat!

Unfortunately, he hasn't had much time to take pictures since he's been settling in to his new home across the big pond.

He did, however have time to take a picture in his new Euro bathroom:

Osito had never seen a bedet before, and now he has one all to himself!!!

guaca-holy-mole!!

Kadogo (Tiny's kiswahili name) has been enjoying some crazy adventures lately!

She's enjoyed trips to many different parts of the big city of nairobi, learned how to navigate public transportation, sat in hours and hours of traffic, met some the most amazing and inspiring people in the world, and breathed in way too much we-need-rain-here dust for her tiny little lungs!

Last night Kadogo felt even tinier when this happened:




An avocado this size of my head (almost!)

Kadogo helped us enjoy this little taste of tejas home... yummy!
and yes, all of that awesome guac was from ONE avocado :)

Busy Blue

Tiny Blue Bear has had a very busy September! He made a lot of new friends, helped me celebrate my 23rd birthday and made his first trip to WACO!
Since I couldn't be with all my friends from Baylor, I stretched my birthday out to last a whole week! My family and I celebrated at Capital Grille in Houston (Blue had too much too drink that night and has requested that no pictures are posted). Then, Alise and Travis drove down for a night and we went to Chuy's with Leah and our new friends Bryan and Zach. Before they had to go back to Waco, we had enough time to gather round the piano for a sing-a-long!! Blue Bear is a tenor :)
Much like myself, Blue Bear LOVES chocolate. I had to pay him to get off my birthday cake. This year I turned two gold and three silver. Leah drove out to Clear Lake to deliver special birthday flowers! She's such a sweet friend. I had a great birthday. I was overwhelmed by the kindness and love of my friends near and far away.
Last weekend, Blue was finally old enough to visit Waco. Our first stop was Elite, of course (blue is taking the picture...). I forgot how awesome it is to visit a past employer...we got two rounds for free!!
On Saturday, Blue went to his first college football game!!! The only empty seats in the stadium were in the visitor section!! Bear was sad we lost...but so glad we won tonight's game!!
After the game, Blue Bear was overwhelmed with new friends. Here we are with the beautiful Lauren Beck at Marshall's birthday party...

And again, with Ben, Scott (congrats on the promotion), Ryan and the birthday boy, Marshall!
The boys wanted to make a tribute to Sarah Sat and Wade in Kenya, so they used these African figurines to depict a typical day in Kenya. Kenya guess which one is Wade? :)
All in all, September was packed with fun friends and great memories.

Next up with Blue..."Blue takes the GRE"

do you know the way to san jose?

hello!

a couple of weeks ago, r.franklin & i adventured to the west coast

to play in san jose, california!

my parents generously flew us out there & showed us their new home, 

freakishly cute city, and beautiful new state. 

{it's weird to think that they are under the leadership of the governator now}

it was our first time to travel since our honeymoon, and to stay with my parents

since the wedding. it wasn't even awkward sleeping on their pullout couch, thankfully.

{side note: they are building a murphy bed for the study for us to stay in- score!!}

anyway, we absolutely fell in love with northern california...and we're kind of hoping we can more there after med school. there and germany...

ross is applying to be in the air force :)

besides ross and i, tiny bear really fell in love with san jose. 

he came along on a lovely morning walk around my parents new

pleasantville-like neighborhood...

and then took off at a park, which had a ground that looked liked this:

we searched for a long time, and ross apologized profusely for allowing tiny bear to slip through his grasp... but the truth is, tiny bear is a free spirit.  like the rest of our friends, he took off on his own adventure. 

we are currently looking into adopting a new bear... perhaps a more brightly colored one... for the rest of our travels.

tiny bear goes to beantown!

This weekend Tiny Bear (name still pending) visited Cheryl in Boston! We met up with our other study abroad friend, Christine, and had a weekend filled with sightseeing, reminiscing, and eating.

Tiny Bear quickly discovered that Boston is one of America's most beautiful, pristine, and historical cities! A true gem!
Above, Tiny Bear took a break from all the sightseeing in Boston Common: The oldest park in the country!



On the way back from eating a gelato in Little Italy, Tiny Bear found a very colonial looking alley way.

Tiny Bear even got the spooks a couple of times... he went to Salem, Massachusetts {Witch hunts, anyone?} and even sat on a tombstone in the oldest cemetary in the U.S.A!

Tiny Bear and I {Smiller} think Boston made it pretty high on our list of favorite U.S. cities! The combination of European inspired architecture, crisp New England fall air, and the most delicious Dunkin' Donuts coffee I've ever tasted made this a trip we won't forget!

kenya believe it?

I feel like I should give this bear an African name, no? I'll pray about it...

So we arrived in Kenya a few days ago! What an adventure!

We endured almost 30 hours of travel, including a stop in London with she repped some green and gold with Wade:

We finally arrived in at the Nairobi airport where we were picked up and brought to our new home for the next 4 months. We have had no shortage of this stuff:

In fact, we are served it about 4 times a day. It's fantastic.

We've also met lots of other cool people, including this guy Alex, whose house we were welcomed into a few days ago.

We also went through Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT)- and guess what, we're both HIV negative! Good news...

More to come :)

Blue's arrival!!

I was quite delighted to receive tiny blue bear in the mail! As you can see, he is very comfortable in his new home (which is basically the same as my room in the poonanny...). Yes, it's true. I bought paint to match those beloved beige walls at the circus and spent a day transforming my old high school bedroom into the oasis I grew to love so much. It's not the same without sharing walls with kindred spirits, but it's enough to make me smile at the memory...
The first thing I had to do was introduce Blue to Joey, the newest addition to the Hoo family. Joey is a trouble maker...but we love him (even though he tried to eat Blue). He is a miniature Australian Shepard with a huge heart and a lot of energy.
Next, it was time for work at Legal Express. Blue was not a fan of the number of copies we have to make everyday...but he likes the sound of the machine.I taught him all about subpoena's and affidavit's...but he's just not interested. He thinks I should look for something more exciting...and I agree.
After work, it was time to wind down with an old Baylor friend. Leah drove down for some delicious margs at my new favorite Mexican Restaurant!!! We made some friends who also happened to be Baylor grad's and pretended we were at Elite on a fabulous margarita Monday...

I'm looking forward to seeing all the wonderful places Blue's friends will go!! Happy travels to you Sat as you begin your journey tomorrow!!

Mandeville: part deux

Tiny Bear 2 arrived in Mandeville!

Just in time, too. She only has 2 days before she leaves for Kenya!

She spent the afternoon playing outside...

She visited the birdhouse...

Emma gave her a ride, too.

She's wondering what her other green-and-gold-loving teammates are up to...??

arrival: Mandeville.

One tiny bear has officially arrived in Mandeville, Louisiana.

His owner was shocked and ecstatic to meet him. Oh the places he'll go!

Katie Plu Pins-- Best idea ever. The end.

first post

surely the fact i thought of this little project is not shocking.  it's no secret that i'm a blog enthusiest, a lover of tiny things, a proud baylor bear, and most of all, a recent grad who misses our beloved p.c. everyday. love for tiny things aside, i believe this describes must of our rockin tribe.  

this blog is like a sing act. it could be really cool or really lame, depending on what we make of it.  i don't know if anyone else will think this is neat, but i hope so.  the dude's passion for community spread to all of us, and in this time of our lives where we are all over the state, country, and world, this can be a fun way to stay connected- not only to each other, but to our roots.  and obviously by roots i mean the facing couches of the p.c. 

missing you all in bryan today.  i'm sitting in a starbucks (not working, just enjoying) and all the little a&m sororiety girls are coming and going.  {is there any non-awkward way to introduce yourself to other pi phis?} anyway, they are all rolling in with their sweatpants and pj shorts- probably voting today i guess.  those were good times, even when they weren't. 

anyway, thought it might be fun to post silly pictures {involving the bears, of course :)}, talk about what God is teaching us, and basically simulate in this small way that we are back sitting on those eternally messy & slightly grimy slipcovers, but loving it with our whole hearts. 

happy travels!