One week from today and you arrive in the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait to see all your pictures from India and hear all your stories! I have SO much fun stuff planned! (That picture above, I think we are at Alpha in Beijing, well, I will be so excited to see you that I will do the snap dance like I am doing in that picture!)
Dear Emma:
Things have been a little "batty" around here lately.
First off, we had a really heavy snow! It was pretty but wet and it only lasted for a few days.
Then we celebrated Grandma Kapfer's birthday. The next day Chelly and Jaron got engaged, and that leads us to now...
Last night Paul and I were supposed to get a lot of edging done. We are having a paint party tonight with his parents and my parents, so that we can have the kitchen and living room all painted and awesome by the time you arrive next week. In order to keep up with Paul's painting plan we needed to get that edging done. Well anyways, Paul was down in the basement getting our rollers and pans and then suddenly I heard him running up the stairs... "There is a bat." "WHAT?!?!? AHHHH NOOOOOO.... should I call my dad, should you call your dad?!?!" Paul armed himself with a broom, gloves, and a plastic bag and ventured downstairs. He hunted that bat for almost two hours to no avail. I even had to stomp around upstairs hoping it would motivate the bat out of hiding... it didn't (and let me just tell you that the stomping hurt my tailbone... I forgot to tell you I fell down my stairs when I found out that Chel was engaged and I have a bruised tailbone).
Finally we gave up on the bat for the night. We decided to run to Taco Bell for some quick food since our night was going so horribly wrong and when we got back to the house we shut our house key in the garage and were locked out in the rain. Luckily Paul's dad came over with the spare key and we made it into the house.
I am so mad at that bat!
Can't wait to see you! 1 week and 1 day!
Love-Anna
Dear Emma:
Yesterday was a rather exciting day for me. I had the day off (it was President's Day) and I spent the morning chatting with you on gchat... That was fun in and of itself, but you told me some pretty exciting new that changed the course of my month... you are coming to visit me! FOR THREE WEEKS! (in two and half weeks which is very soon!)
The last time you were here was for my wedding... it was a really busy time and though we did manage to cross Iowa off our list of states, we didn't get to do much else besides go tanning, work-out, and hit your local favorite restaurants.
With the wedding behind us and your guestroom all set, I cannot wait for March 8 to get here (on top of if I have more vacation days than previously thought so what say you we bang out a state or two?!).
I know you are looking forward to the simple things like running water, good food, and television, but I have some adventures planned (yes, I started planning the minute I found out you were heading my way!). I have also alerted the troops and set a desperate painting plan into motion so that the living room and kitchen will be in ship shape when you arrive!
Enjoy the last few weeks of India, soon we will be spoiling you in the USA!
Yours with love- Anna
Dear Emma,
Today is your birthday! Happy birthday to you! I hope you are eating lots of cake and getting to open presents... or at least getting a decent meal and a warm bed.
Love and miss you, birthday girl!
Dear Emma:
Happy Valentine's Day! Things have been really busy around my house since I hosted my first annual Valentine's Party over the weekend!
I spent all of my free time making delicious treats such as cake batter truffles and raspberry cheesecake cupcakes (you would have adored them!!).
(and also decorating my house with all the lovely flowers my amazing husband brought home for me!)
I hope you are having a wonderful Valentine's Day across the world! Miss you heaps!
Yours with love- Anna
Dear Emma,
I hope Sabrina is feeling better, it is no fun being sick when you are away from home! It was really nice getting to talk with you on the phone (and via chat). This time zone is much better for us.
Last night Paul and I had this amazing pizza...
It is from a place called Papa Murphy's. They make the pizza for you and then you bake it at home in your own oven. Since our oven is an antique and doesn't work the greatest we decided to take advantage of the fact that we have been house-sitting Paul's parent's house. Chicken Alfredo pizza with spinach and green olives! Yum!
That reminds me of the last time we had pizza together... you were here for my wedding and we were in Galena at Benjamin's.
That was a fun day-trip (remember we went to the winery too?).
You are heading to Sri Lanka right now... safe travels! Can't wait to hear about your next adventure!
Yours with love- Anna
Dear E,
That rat temple really grossed me out! The thought of having a rodents crawling all over me... I just fainted in my mind. It reminds me of the time we were in Thailand, Krabi if I remember correct. We really needed to wash our clothes and the only laundry place we could find was a washing machine that was literally on the sidewalk.
While we were sitting there on the sidewalk reading (practically in the gutter), a giant rat waltzed on by!
As promised Paul and I got buffalo chicken wings the other night (the night I had to shovel again).
We got them from Applebee's! Yum! You remember Applebee's, right? We took your parents there straight away when they got into town.
We also got mozzarella sticks in your honor! (also because they are my favorite.) I really wish you would have been there... I got sick because I ate too much... I need you to split food with!
I miss you so much! Can't wait til you get to Mumbai and I get to hear about all the American restaurants in India!
Yours with love- A
P.S. I got a second postcard in the mail! It was from Nepal!
Dear Em,
I have been a little under the weather lately. Hearing about the lines and seeing your pictures really cheered me up! Oh, also, I got your postcard from Phuket! Yay! How exciting...
We had a massive snowstorm last week on Thursday... they declared it a "snow emergency" in Rockford and the surrounding cities. I had to shovel twice in a matter or 3 hours since the snow was coming so fast! (chelly helped, she loves to shovel.) Paul even had to shovel once the next day... that is a lot of shoveling for one storm! I bet you have never had to shovel in your life. I am excited for you to move here so I can teach you how to shovel! haha... you will hate it.
On top of it we are having another snow storm today. I will be spending the evening shoveling, again, but this time there is a light at the end of the tunnel... buffalo chicken wings for dinner! Even in the dismal weather buffalo chicken can warm the soul. Maybe I will even get some mozzarella sticks (aka fried cheese) in your honor.
Here's wishing you were here... with a shovel in hand!
Yours with love- Anna
Emma,
I am quite surprised that you buckled and wore socks with your flip-flops (don't you call them thongs? haha)... even if it was wash day. I am certain I remember you making fun of me doing this on my trip to Tibet, saying how you would never stoop to that level... I could be exaggerating.
We have a pretty neat exhibit at the Discovery Center Museum right now. It is about nature and is explained by the Peanuts gang!
Ben's team won their basketball game last night! You would be so proud! He is soooo tall.
I am trying to eat healthier so yesterday I made beet soup. I haven't tried it yet as I ate loaded nachos at the b-ball game, but at least it is made so now when I need to eat I can just warm up a bowl of beet soup... just thinking about it is making me frown haha. I will let you know how it is!
How's the food in India? Any amazing dishes? Let me know if there is something you recommend and I will try to make it here! Be safe!!!!
Yours with love- A
Hey Emma!
Sounds like your trek was gruesome! I'm proud that you made it and in record time at that. Good work.
Paul and I rang in the new year in the suburbs of Chicago with some friends. I wish you would have been there... my purse caught on an old lady's hair (well, relatively old) and she yelled at me! It seriously did nothing to her hair but lift a tiny piece for like 5 seconds. Later, when we were walking by her again, she told her friends I was "the {insert naughty word} who messed up her hair." Can you believe her! The nerve! I walked out of the ballroom and around the outside when I needed to get back to the dance floor as I didn't want to chance seeing her again.
I could have really used your back-up on the dance floor too! Some crazy drunk girl stole Ashish's party hat and gave it to her boyfriend. When Tina went over to confront her, she snatched the Happy New Year tiara right off Tina's head. Then they started elbowing and trying to invade our space... I had none of the space invading. They may or may not have run into my very sharp elbows while I was doing some amazing dance moves, and then backed down... I mean seriously, who acts like that at a new years party?! (well, they also might have cleared away because someone kept passing some serious gas and I kept turning around and telling them to stop stinking up the place... though we will never really know if it was them, the smell did subside once they moved on!)
All in all it was a really fun night! You would have really enjoyed the snack buffet at midnight... and the brunch the next day too!
Did you do anything exciting for New Year's Eve? Your photos all look amazing so far, and I'm trying desperately not to be jealous! Miss you!
Yours with love- Anna
Dear E,
I had a very busy Christmas holiday this year! Paul and I were bustling around from one relative's house to another's... it is a wonder we made it through the six family events scheduled over the course of just two days! It was really a lot of fun though...
I bet next year when you are spending Christmas with us you will get to take part in matching Kittle family pajamas!
We all got them! Even Jaron.
I bet next year you will get to join us at Benson Christmas breakfast... where we eat scrambled eggs with left-over Christmas Eve ham, and home-made cinnamon rolls.
(I will even let you help make the glogg for my Christmas Eve's Eve celebration... I am starting to make up my own holidays to host haha!)
The saddest part about my Christmas holiday was missing your phone call. We have talked every year on Christmas Eve and this year I missed your call by about eight minutes! (I may or may not have been singing Christmas carols along to a player piano at the time...I guess you will just have to wait until next year's Christmas Eve and find out for yourself!)
I hope you are having a really nice time on your Christmas hiking excursion! All that jogging you did up the hill on your lunch break should help. Miss you!
Yours with love-A
Dear E,
It is the highly anticipated Christmas season but here in the Midwest we are lacking one key component...snow! Paul and I have been busy decking the halls and rocking around the Christmas tree, but it doesn't look much like a winter wonderland without the snow.
We have our tree up! I strung tons of big vintage Christmas lights all over it but unfortunately they all blew out... it took forever too. Thankfully Paul took them down and re-strung other lights... lights that actually work haha.
Wish you were here to join in the festivities with me... if you were here right now I would pour you a glass of hot wassail to enjoy with a plethora of different Christmas cookies! You would probably tell me how being in America makes you a fatty (all that liquid and fried cheese) and I would say that we can just go to the Y and work it off! Here's to hoping next Christmas season you'll be here!
Yours with love- A
