Preliminary Itinerary

This is a map of our very early and preliminary itinerary. It started with just Brussels, Belgium and Antalya, Turkey. Checking the flights for those two cities, it was around $800 to Brussels, and then another $400 to Antalya (if we were able to book decent prices.) Then we remembered that Airtreks.com exists - but you have to pick 4-5 cities. No problem.

Travel Package

The next problem is that when you’re traveling to 4-5 cities - you don’t want to be out there for only two weeks. So we extended the length of our trip in order to make more time to see EVERYTHING. We added Rome and Athens in there because… well, we didn’t really need a reason.

For many people (particularly Americans), the money part of the traveling equation isn’t even really the most difficult - it’s having enough vacation time from work - and then also being in a position where you can afford the time off or convincing your job to let you go away for that period of time. I’ve worked at jobs where it would be difficult to take 1 week of vacation - you just couldn’t be gone for that long.

There are many things that need to happen for us to be able to do this - but it’s actually possible - and knowing that goes a long way towards doing what it takes to make this trip happen.

We’re talking a part time job for possibly both of us, hardcore saving, and of course negotiations for the time off from work - but again, it’s all realistically do-able. It might seem like way too much effort - but what else do we work for? A new car? tv? cable? clothes? that perfect set of… furniture? That’s all fine if that’s what you want - and there are things that we want… but there is a difference between consciously choosing those things and the usual ‘automatic’ buying/consumerism that many of us regularly perform.

Trust me, I know about automatic buying - keep me away from Amazon.com

L5P Corner

The Build Up.

I’m not saying this isn’t doable.  On the contrary, hundreds of women are out there working two jobs and doing whatever they can to support their family.  It’s certainly possible and a very common reality.

But is this the way things SHOULD be?  Should people be paid so little for the work they do that they must take on second and third jobs, must sacrifice precious time with family and loved ones, must forego playing an active role in raising their children… just to survive?

Elizabeth

When I lived in Phoenix I worked with a Sudanese refugee family.  The breadwinner, Elizabeth, was 28.  She had moved to the U.S. with a 4-year-old son, a 11-year-old nephew, and her 17-year-old sister.  For 2 years I did my best to help them survive.  My best wasn’t very good.  I watched as Elizabeth found a job, signed up for subsidized day care and food stamps, and still couldn’t pay rent.  So Elizabeth found a second job, but was not given full-time hours at either one, and lost her subsidized day care and food stamps were taken away because she “made too much money”.

I watched as they still struggled to pay rent, and as the 17-year-old turned 18 and dropped out of school because she was needed to watch the 4-year-old and work, as well, trying to pay rent.

I was there when the 4-year-old got a cockroach lodged in his ear - not once but TWICE- and had to go to the emergency room to have it removed.  Because even though the family kept a very clean house, the mismanaged, dilapidated apartment complex they worked so hard to live in would not take care of a severe infestation problem.

I watched as their spirits were crushed.  As Elizabeth - who was once so thankful to be here in the U.S., the land of possibility - slowly sank into a depression.  Her relatives had been killed or were living in refugee camps, so she certainly had a somewhat better life in the U.S., in terms of basic survival.  But the cost of that survival, the toll it took on her health and her happiness… it was a bigger sacrifice than she expected and it is a sacrifice that I believe no one should have to make.

Apat, Aguer, and Goch

L5P

• A single mom with 2 kids in DeKalb County needs to earn a minimum of $18.47 per hour at a 40 hr/week job to support her family without depending on any additional assistance.

• A 2-parent, 2-kid family in Gwinnett County needs both parents to work full-time and earn at least $12.89/hour to make ends meet.

• The state of Georgia’s minimum wage is $5.15/hour.  The new federal minimum wage will be $7.25/hour.

• 63% of jobs in Atlanta pay $10.50/hour OR LESS.

You do the math.

Sources: 2008 Georgia Self-Sufficiency Report; Georgia Living Wage Coalition

Riding MARTA

We had a busy Saturday - July 4th of course. Fortunately, we mostly did nothing yesterday. Still. We’ve been sorting out our finances and figuring out what we need to do in order to pay down our debt + find some money to travel sometime next year. We’ll probably have to go later in the year closer to fall or early winter ’cause the prices on flights are significantly cheaper. But that’s okay ’cause we’re not so dependent on going during any high season and since this would be a traveling trip and not a lie-on-the-beach vacation trip, the summer weather isn’t required.

Cheering on the runners

Saturday morning we went down to the Peachtree Roadrace to watch the runners and cheer on our friends that were actually in the race. It’s a 10k - but people around here are really into this particular race. Although this is our 3rd year living in Atlanta - this is the first year that I’ve seen the race. It was… you know, it was something that I think we’ll make an annual thing (not so sure about actually running it - ’cause running outside sucks…. put me on a treadmill forever and I’ll be fine.)

We rode MARTA down to the race route - and that was actually kind of interesting. Just because it was packed with so many people who were also going to the race. So you have all of these people in their running clothes with their race numbers pinned on - very different from the usual view on MARTA.

Of course - I am VERY HAPPY that on our ride back the train car wasn’t packed with as many runners - because a train car full of people who just ran 6 miles can’t be a good thing.

I took way too many photos - because it’s a race and you can’t be selective - there are just too many moments - you just need to shoot away and sort it out later - but here’s 17 from that morning.

At Lake Allatoona

So after the race - we rushed back to get home, take a nap (well, I did) and then we had to drive out to Lake Allatoona to go out on a boat. Last year the boat died while we were out on the lake - this year, our friend with the boat got a new boat (actually Leah’s parent’s close family friend - and the reason our table setting flowers looked SO GREAT at our wedding) … it’s actually her son’s new boat. Which means that none of us actually knew how to start it. So first we sat there in the boat, at the dock for 20 minutes, trying to figure out how to start the boat - it was a simple extra switch that we couldn’t find.

But once we were out there - it was all full of awesome.

Sparklers at the lake

Sadly. The weekend is over.

Monday! Monday! Monday!

Yeah. That didn’t work.

…. We stood in front of OutWrite bookstore at the corner of 10st & Piedmont. If you were in the race, I was on the right side of the street. - you know, almost standing in the way with my camera aimed at the runners. If you think I snapped a photo of you - let me know and I’ll try to find it and get it to you.

ISupport

Yay!  My sticker came!  If you want one of these, too, GO HERE.  They’re free!

The Westin Hotel Downtown Atlanta (the black spots are windows broken during last year's tornado)

Our apartment is a mess. It’s kind of been a mess since our wedding. After our wedding we got a lot more stuff. Just lots and lots of stuff. Boxes and appliances and stuff. On top of all of the stuff we already have - we’re kind of overflowing, especially for our small apartment.

Now, we’re moving in a month and we really need to start packing. We’re going to try to not make this one of those last minute things like we’ve done before - because that’s just not fun for anyone. SO, since we have a lot of stuff that we don’t use anyways - and it just sits there in my closet - we really need to go through everything, throw out junk, and pack up the rest… And then we also have half a garage full of things too.

At least we hire movers to move everything - so we just need to box it all up and let them drop it off.

Street 21 Level

You’ve probably noticed (or not, I don’t really pay attention to things here either) - but we don’t ever post photos of things very often. By ‘things’ I mean photos of stuff not people - or photos without people. I’m generally not interested in things not people - or people and their surroundings - but lately I’ve re-started reading/visiting MelissaMaples.com and now with her revamped website and the rotating header images - I am constantly reminded that I don’t take photos of things or landscapes (like she does) - so I figured I should start and practice. (Even when I shoot anything resembling a landscape, I have to have a person in the shot… and it’s almost always Leah.)

I’ve generally avoided it because I see lots of macro photos, or still life photos, or landscapes that are really boring.

So right now, I’m just working on looking for shapes and um, I don’t know what part of ‘Photo 101′ class this corresponds with - but that’s where I’m at.

Youth at OutReach Center

I also visited the Atlanta StandUp for Kids outreach center last night - it’s their new street outreach center and I hadn’t gone down to visit yet.

As stated in an earlier post - I’m working tomorrow - while many other people have the day off - but that’s okay ’cause we’re going to Lake Allatoona on Saturday. That should be fun. Last year when we went, the boat died. We weren’t in the middle of the lake, but we were a good distance from our dock, and a good distance from any other docks or roads. Eventually a friend of our friend who owned the boat came to rescue us - but not after we had been stranded for a few hours, and had run out of water to drink. Still, lots of fun. Look here’s a video from last year.

A Little More Atlanta from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

But it’s alright because in lieu of working that day, I get a free floating holiday. A floating holiday that I can use at any time - outside of my vacation time accrual. So even though I’m negative five days of vacation, I still have 1 more day of vacation. Which makes for another opportunity for a long-er weekend. I know. Sounds like I’m grasping at straws - one more vacation day - but I’ve also worked at jobs where I never had the time or opportunity to take anything resembling a vacation day - at least not taking it and actually going away on a short trip.

Of course - what I did was just take off the 3rd Friday of every month. That was kind of cool.

Thriller Tribute from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Did you know that I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon? I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for something like 16 years and I never did make it up to see the Grand Canyon - and I never made it to Meteor Crater or Monument Valley - AND I never made it up to Utah (to see the desert landscape - not the Mormons.)

Now I’m here in Georgia - which isn’t a bad thing - it’s just that it doesn’t seem like the ‘natural wonders’ around here compare to what’s available in the Southwest. However, I did discover that there is apparently a list of the ‘Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia’ - and I guess we’ll make the rounds sometime.

Although we’ve seen one of them already - Amicalola Falls - and really as far as waterfalls go… it’s kind of a sleeper. I mean, it’s nice…. but not really impressive. You’re not going to see the falls and be wowed.

What else is on the list? A ‘mini-Grand Canyon’, a gorge, some hot springs and then the Okefenokee Swamp. Kind of interested in seeing the swamp (I’m from Arizona, not Florida - so my swamp exposure has only been what I’ve ever seen on TV.) But we would have to Kayak through the swamp - not just some stop at a scenic view and see the swamp set up. I wanna paddle. That’d be, neat - well, for a few hours.

And then we’d have um, swamp video.

But we’ll still knock out this list of 7 sometime, because there are so many weekends between here and forever.

Tomorrow. A. Real. Post. I Promise.

Goodnight.

Blueberries from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

After a busy week of running around and/or calling various Official Places for the somewhat lengthy process of changing my last name, I was ready for a fun weekend.  And it was!

Recently, I reconnected with Diana, a good friend of mine from middle school - and she and her husband and sister and niece and daughter are all super awesome and invited us to go blueberry picking with them at a small farm in Hiram, GA.  Some other folks had beaten us to the punch…er, bush(es)…but we still managed to find some.  And the few I’ve tried were quite tasty.

Not only did we pick blueberries, but we also had lunch and then ventured over to Cacao, a chocolate “laboratory and boutique” in our neighborhood.  Mark and I hadn’t been there before, but Diana and her family suggested we go…and I certainly don’t need much convincing to eat chocolate.  Especially really, really good chocolate.  Mmmmm.  After a few moments in Cacao, I think we all had smiles on our faces.  The chocolate buzz is oh-so-nice.  I even broke into a little dance.  Since Cacao is a rather fancy little place, I thought ballet would be the most appropriate style.

Anyhow, I start work tomorrow morning at the coffee shop.  While I’m looking forward to it, I’m also a little nervous.  I’ve gotten used to working nonprofit jobs.  Jobs where I have an office and a computer and… well, a better salary.  Haha.  I guess I just feel kinda…old.  But back in 2000 when I worked at Starbucks, I was an awesome barista.  And I still have my winning personality.  And I’m quite competent.  So once I get the hang of things and re-learn how to work a cash register and make all the drinks, it should be fine.  Fun, even.

Oddly, though, I am more nervous about this coffee shop job than I am about my internship or other nonprofit jobs when I technically had a good deal more responsibility, and got compensated significantly better for my time.  Go figure!

It’s difficult to really write anything that I feel would be worth saying, on topics such as the struggle in Iran, or any of the many other battles going on all over the world. And while we know things are getting considerably worse in Iran right now… this week I’ve been writing about going on vacation again. It sounds petty - but then you consider the fact that there’s little anything we can do - and there are so many more people dying in the different conflicts all across the entire continent of Africa.

And of course you don’t see Congressmen and Governors calling for intervention in these areas on the basis of ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Democracy’ - because that’s never the reason we ever enter militarily into any part of the world. I suppose there is the added factor that Iran is strategically a million times more important than say, Sudan right now - but I’ll still be irritated when people call for intervening in Iran on a moral basis connected to upholding Democracy and/or Human Rights - while denying that it’s about strategic power mongering, and taking this opportunity to grab some more control in the region.

… so while we’re on the topic of the People’s Struggle in Iran - I’ll shift over to what we’re doing tomorrow.

We’re going to a farm to pick blueberries. Leah recently reconnected with one of her middle school friends after all this time - and amazingly, she and her family live here around Atlanta - so we’re all going to pick blueberries.

And actually, one of my 5th grade classmates recently found me on Facebook. And for that reason alone - the ability to find people from your past that you otherwise could not find without a great deal of effort - that is why Facebook is a good thing and not something to be avoided… unless of course, you’re in hiding.

Well, there’s that, AND the part where you can check out everyone from high school and see if you’re winning at life more than they are… (but you know, that’s just me being petty… whatever! I’m winning!)

See you tomorrow.

Mexico Extras from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

DirtyTruth.org FLM from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Alongside our regular gifts wedding registry, we used HoneyFund.com - so that people could ‘buy’ us pieces of our honeymoon. What you do is break your honeymoon into individual costs, like dinner on the beach, or you know, swimming with dolphins. Then you break it down even further. So if it costs $100 to swim with some dolphins, you break that up into four $25 pieces - and now four people can get you a gift of $25 that goes towards something you really want.

For friends and family that would rather get you an actual gift instead of just handing over cash, this is a pretty good middle choice. As you can see, one of the things on our list was to swim with dolphins.

There are several ‘eco-parks’ between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen where you can swim with dolphins and they’re all in the range of $130-$200 per person for an hour. Yeah. It’s not exactly a low cost activity.

Leah did this at the eco-park Xel-Ha (Shell-ha). We choose Xel-ha rather than Xcaret (owned by the same company) because Xel-Ha seemed like it was the more ‘eco-park’ and less ‘eco-Disneyland’. We were only there for the day and we weren’t bored at all. These are all-inclusive parks so you get to use all of the equipment AND you get to eat and drink all you want (this is Mexico so alcohol is included!)

It was a lot of fun - and I think everyone should go and spend a day there at least once.

Swimming with Dolphins at Xel-Ha from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Now, it may seem kind of weird but one of the restaurants in Xel-ha had really, really good food. Many of the dishes were prepared as they are in the Yucatan and not as they would be up near the US/Mexico border - so the difference was nice. Even at our all-inclusive resort the mexican food wasn’t as noticeably different/local. (But maybe we should keep it secret that I really liked the food at a theme park.)

The snorkeling is fun - although it’s really just for beginners - since if you’ve ever actually snorkeled anywhere near a reef… you’ll be bored here because there aren’t that many fish in the main inlet area - but for kids, it’s great since they have lifejackets that you wear and you don’t have to worry about actually ’swimming’ - you can just float and kick. And of course they have several cenotes there (underground cave/rivers) - but we didn’t even make it out to those because we were doing other stuff, AND honestly we figured that they couldn’t be any better than the one that our tour guide took us to after we visited the pyramid at Chichen Itza.

At all of the eco-parks they have ‘photographers’ strategically placed at different points to take your picture. At the end of the day you can choose which photos you want to purchase - and they’re all $12 each. Yeah. $12. We ended up buying 3. And that’s just for the two of us - you can imagine how easily buying these photos can rack up. But even with me bringing my waterproofed camera(s) - their photos were really good and you when you realize that you already spent $200 just to get there, what’s another $12 to have a great photo.

Oh yeah, swimming with dolphins? An hour costs $150 - AND THEN if you want to buy the photos it’s another $60 (you haggle to get it down to that much) and if you want the video that’s something like another $100. We opted to just buy the photos (these two are some of the 26 we got) - and then just be satisfied with the video I took while standing on the shore.

In other news… I’ve actually gotten a bit of interests from different people about working on videos with them - some musicians/bands and a nonprofit. This should be cool. We’ll see.

You know what’s dangerous? Having travel tour brochures lying around the house. We have a couple from IntrepidTravel.com - and they have the intended effect - they make you want to take a month off from work to go wandering around south east Asia, or spend 51 days making a circle of India, or trekking through Nepal and Bhutan. Of course they do that! (we have the booklet covering Asia) - I ordered the one for South America but that one hasn’t arrived… I think it got lost somewhere in the mail. That’s probably a good thing.

While waiting for our flight to Mexico - I bought a National Geographic Traveler and Adventurer magazine. I’m not sure if there’s a clear difference between the two - but they have the same effect. And while it’s a form of self torture to be this envious, and to want to just pick up and go… aside from not being able to pay for it - Leah’s in school right now, and we’re paying down debt. So no flying away until we can go next year… because if anything, unlike many Americans - we’re doing everything we can to leave the country at least once a year on vacation.

However, until we’re debt free and we have another round of ample vacation time - we’re going to have to settle for extended weekends (or regular ones) and the roadtrips we take around the deep South. It’s obviously a challenge - because it’s dumb if we spend money on hotel rooms traveling around the south when we’re trying to save up to go to Brussels and Turkey and Nepal. Luckily - there are actually hostels around here - and there are enough cities that are half a day’s drive away that it’s feasible to get there and have a day looking around before we drive back.

Because we never did believe the hype in Staycations. Staycation? Staycation!?… Why?! There are so many places in this world (and the South) we have to visit and see.

(if you wanna join us - let us know, we’ll split the cost of fuel - but we’ll probably only give you a week’s notice at most - life’s better that way - trust us.)

Savannah. New Orleans. Asheville. Charleston (again)… and that’s just the road trips. With some of the really low airfare deals - the whole east coast is open as long as we have someone to stay with for free. Staycations suck, we’re against them and we think you should be too.

(Hey Jill @VacationExpress.com - have any flights to Cuba?)

Vertigo in China from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Over the weekend I started replying to craigslist post for video editors. You know, editing film/video/tv/web junk - whatever. I need practice and I need to work on something other than my absolutely awesome home music videos! While something paying was hardly what I was going for - I went with the free (unpaid!) gig and now it looks like I’ll be working on editing episodes of a web series filmed here in Atlanta (there are many.)

So that’ll be cool if it works out and I actually get to work on that.

I’ve been editing these videos and stringing them together since we got back from China last April - it mostly started out because I had taken some video and wanted to show it to our friends/family - but we didn’t want to just throw it up on a screen and hit play. Because as interesting as our trip was - it’s not like you wanna watch hours of raw video of us walking down the street or eating… (you may think you do - but no, you really don’t.) So I started cutting clips and stringing them together in time with music - well, mostly in time.

But then it got to be really time consuming. My process just wasn’t fast and if I wanted to throw in a series of fast cuts, in time with the music, it got to be a big deal and it would take me much too much time to finish any video. Eventually I stumbled upon a way to pre-cut the music and leave markers in time with the music so that I basically just had to drop clips into the pre-defined boxes and I was done. It cut down a process that was an all day affair down to 2 hours. The earlier process was to visually make cuts while looking at the sound wave peaks - which can get to be really slow - compared to just hitting the ‘cut’ button like it’s a drum while I listen to the music.

Of course - editing for a storyline is a little different - since you have to deal with the narrative and pacing and tone and other junk like that y’know. Still. It’ll be fun.

These two videos were made a year apart and although it might not seem like there was a lot of progress between them… there was.

Birthday 30 X 2 from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Still Learning.

Mark and I don’t share our fathers’ DNA.  Our dads might not have genetically contributed to our stunning good looks, but in every other aspect of our lives, these men are our fathers.  There are a lot of not-so-great dads in the world.  A lot of kids do not have the good fortune to be raised by men who both want and commit to being a father.

Mark and I both hit the jackpot, though.  Our dads have been there for us every step of the way.  Playing games, reading books, taking trips, and…most importantly…walking the fine line between steering us in the right direction and letting us find our path in life.  We have fathers who go above and beyond.  Who love us, support us, and who we can always call on whenever we need money.  (Joke!  Okay, not really.  We do sometimes need money.)

Happy Father’s Day, Dads!  We love you!

Our Wedding Photographer Jason Spruill is running an ultra-marathon today. 100 miles in one go… well, in a 30 hour go. He posted this article about Dean Karnazes that started his transition from biking over to running… and more running.

While I’m not about to start running with ultra-marathons in mind, the part that sticks out is this:

If you’re going to explore the boundaries of human endurance, you’ll have to learn to adapt to more and more pain…. This training made the extreme seem ordinary and made the impossible seem the next logical step.

And then in the most recent issue of National Geographic Traveler:

Even while I was planning these trips, I knew that my behavior looked foolish, irrational even. Friends more sober and practical than I counseled me to stay home, hang out, and keep plugging. But I didn’t. I flew out of my trap like a bird, spent eight hours riding from Pondicherry to Kanchipuram in a bumpy Ambassador taxi with marigold garlands bobbing on the rearview mirror. I ate street food, slept on sheets with holes. When strangers invited me home to dinner, I said yes.

What happened, after a while, was that the logic of traveling took over my life and became a habit. Taking a series of little risks over and over every day meant that, in time, risk-taking became no big deal.

Making a hundred small decisions - what to eat, where to stay, how to get from here to there - made decisions in general seem less terrifying. And when I finally returned to a home and a world that looked much smaller and less daunting than when I’d left them, finding a job seemed more like a game than an ordeal.

I have a theory about travel that’s sort of an economist’s argument. In order to travel, we need time and we need money. Ideally, there’s a balance between the two, but when one element is in short supply, an excess of the other will compensate. In the past decade or so, the travel equation’s been out of whack. Too many trips have been about squeezing as much as we can into the few precious vacation days we have and paying a premium for the experience.

There is a certain degree of risk taking and self challenging that I’ve lost. Not that I was ever that big of a risk taker - but there was always an underlying current in the back of my head that repeatedly reminded me that I should be doing impossible things.

Somewhere along the line I stopped thinking in terms of doing the impossible. I’ll admit that some of this is because there are some thoughts that I just KNOW are possible and will happen - and then other things… I started thinking about too logically.

In my head, I took away all of the unknowns. Whether I planned them into oblivion or I delusionally just accepted them as fact - that space in my head where things float around because I can’t put them in a logic box of problem solving - that’s where magic happens. Some how I rationalized all of it away.

I’m sure it’s tied in with the level of risk I take on. It makes sense that the less risks we take on, the less chance we have at experiencing truly great things. Obviously.

… and I suppose I would finish this thought if I didn’t have this nagging feeling that I need to get up and do something. Right. Now.

Hope you like it!  Let us know if you run into any problems.

You’ve probably noticed our cowboy hats. We bought them in Playa Del Carmen so that we could use them when we visited the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza - but really, we should’ve just bought them when we arrived on site. Outside of the gates before you enter, there are around 10 different people all selling the same hats and selling them for $5. We paid a bit more than that in town - and don’t think that we didn’t haggle. Leah had one old guy looking sad and dejected as we walked away from his shop because he wouldn’t meet our price. We ended up buying them at a different shop - but for the same amount we could’ve paid at the 1st one.

You need a hat when you visit Chichen Itza. There is very little tree coverage in the center and along the walkways. Also - hide your video camera if you can - or else you’ll get charged 25 pesos to take video as opposed to just photos…. and yeah I know, 25 pesos right now is… just under $2 American - but whatever.

Chichen Itza? It’s kind of cool. I don’t know - I liked the pyramid, even though you can’t climb up it any more. You can’t really touch any of the ruins. Oh yeah - there are vendors everywhere inside of the ruins area. Apparently there is some kind of dispute between the federal government and the state/local government regarding this. The vendors aren’t allowed to come in through the ‘gates’ - but they just make their way to the location through the surrounding jungle. It’s kind of… different. You have this really great pyramid, but surrounding it is a very large flea market.

Chichen Itza Mayan Pyramid from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

Along with buying hats at the site, you should also do your souvenir shopping here. Because the prices were cheaper than anything anywhere in Playa Del Carmen.

I think that before you go, you should definitely pick up a book on Chichen Itza and learn more about it. No matter who your tour guide may be (the one that guides you through the site, not the one that drives you there) - I think you’ll definitely benefit from knowing more about Chichen Itza before you get there - so that when you see the different carvings and statues, you’ll really understand what they are and what they mean. It would be the difference between a Disneyland tour guide and having a Professor in Mayan Culture give you a tour. (Not that our tour guide wasn’t great - he is Mayan himself and was considerably knowledgeable.)

Visiting Chichen Itza has really made me want to see more. As much as we’re all about China/Nepal/India/All of Asia - I also want to make our way through Central and South America now.

For our honeymoon I bought a DiCAPac 510. It’s basically a ziplock bag for your camera. It’s supposed to be good for about 15 feet but I’m not sure you’d want to take it down that deep. I will say that it worked really great during our entire trip. I took it everywhere with water. For $30, it’s a lot less than a real underwater housing that costs around $200. Especially for a point and shoot camera that only costs $150. (I also figured that if the bag leaked and ruined my Canon Powershot, it would be an excuse to upgrade cameras… sadly, I’ll have to wait even longer since the DiCAPac worked.)

DiCAPac 510 Underwater Test from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

It IS difficult to do anything more than turn the camera on and take a picture. My camera has a turning dial for the different automatic settings - and you have to be delicate when you turn the dial through the bag or else cut through the bag and ruin it’s waterproofing capabilities. Also - you have to line up the camera just right so that the black tube for the lens housing isn’t in the picture. But for $30 - what do you expect out of a ziplock bag for your camera?

Oh yeah - and when sealing the ziplock part - make sure you take something flat and smooth and basically run it along the seal to make sure it’s absolutely ziplock’d. That’s about it. If your DiCAPac isn’t defective, then the seal will work and you shouldn’t have any problems. You’ll know if the bag is leaking if when you put it underwater, bubbles are flooding out of the bag.

We’re deep in festival season here in Atlanta - and every neighborhood has one - and down where we live in Inman Park, the neighborhoods might cover 2 square miles and each of them still has their own festival. Some are alright - but most of them suck. It’s just… the same thing over and over.

I think that while we’re paying down debt and saving up to travel out of the country - instead of going to these weekend festivals, we should just take day roadtrips around Georgia. It would cost the same amount of money since the food at these neighborhood festivals is such a big rip off anyways. Plus, we could just picknick our food for the roadtrips - except for you know, if we find a good barbecue shack - and of course we have to get boiled peanuts from some guy on the side of the road.

I used to have that shirt.

Wedding Ceremony - Goldfrapp: Happiness from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.

I feel like we’re kind of all over the place. Maybe it’s just me. I feel like I’m kind of all over the place. I probably need to stop half-way trying to do so many things… it’s always those many options that get me in trouble… and maybe confused. I’m not quite sure about what this time.

I wish I had a point for this entry - but I don’t think I do.

I think I’ll sit down and actually start learning how to work my camera.

We really need to finish writing all of the thank you notes for the wedding.

Hey - look - our friend MelissaMaples.com revamped her blog/website.

I can’t wait until our photographer(s) finish editing our wedding photos. Apparently they shot roughly 4,000 photos - and whittled it down to around 900? Good ones so… that might take some time. But I was happy to hear that they are/have been already working on them - so hopefully we’ll get them relatively soon.

Actually, we had SO MANY cameras at our wedding - the whole thing is pretty well documented.

Plus - Ira, one of our reiki masters video’d a good bit of everything also (FYI - our officiant, Cyndie - is actually our other reiki master.)

Do you have home videos you want me to make into a music video? That’d be cool. Let me know. I’ll give you an FTP site where you can upload everything and I’ll cut it to whatever music you want.

I have to get ready for work now.

Wedding Extras from LeahAndMark.com on Vimeo.