toast wallah, i'll have another toastbutterjam, please.

We got our 10-year Indian visas this summer, so with those and our vouchers from Lufthansa, we are able to make a return trip to India this year. It is just a quick trip this time at 3.5 weeks, but that is A-OK with us. Traveling AND having jobs are very good things. Seeing our families for the holidays is good too. I haven't had a Christmas with my family in 3 years, so having ObieShelbeyCooperDrake in Boulder for Christmas week and then 4 days with my family in Michigan at the parent's farm is stellar.

So with only a few weeks, we thought that we should actually make plans for the trip, but alas India has some plans for us. After buying our tickets, we got an wedding invitation from our friend Ravi, who hooked us up when we were in Varanasi in 2005 for our honeymoon. Luke built him a business website and they have stayed in touch. We have also gotten a response back from the Karmapa's secretary with his cell number to contact when we arrive. The Karmapa will be in BodhGaya before the Monlam begins and we will see him then and there. We are both really excited about this and going to see the MahaBodhi Temple and Tree again.

My Yoga therapy teacher and mentor, Mukunda, is in Boulder this week to teach and to find a new home. He is moving to back Boulder, as is his partner, Chinnamasta. Yesterday we had lunch at our place and then I have class with my mates this weekend. We also found out that Mukunda and Chinna will be in Ganeshpuri and Sapta Shringhi around December 7, so it looks like we will go there before the wedding to spend some time with Mukunda and our friends in Ganeshpuri.

We are still wanting to go to Amritsar for a first visit to the Golden Temple and also back to Rishikesh. I have photos to give to our friends we made in Rishikesh that are over 4 years old.

I am getting so excited just typing this all out! I also just watched our moto video that Luke put together, so makes me so excited to get back to India too.

What is happening right now? We are getting ready to scoot!

Luke is getting the technology side dialed. I am setting up clients with practices to keep them on track until January. My article on immunity, ayurveda and yoga is due to the editor next week. hmmm, what I am forgetting here... Oh! Luke is healing his clavicle, which he broke skiing yesterday--his first real ski injury. (Luke will do anything to get me to carry his backpack on this trip! Remember my birthday years back when he tossed himself into a wall because I was winning our bike race? I am again suspicious.)

A little Luke factoid for you: the many, many, many injuries/surgeries have all been from the bike or moto...oh, and from a broken nose, but we are not pointing fingers here. (pssst. you-know-who, you owe me $5 for keeping your name off this blog.) Really though, he is doing great. He was with our good friends who helped him out, then he had an appointment yesterday with Dr. Steve Paul who is the best orthopedic surgeon in Boulder, and that is really saying something. Steve is also a long-time family friend and he got Luke in right away. The x-rays look good, considering, and he won't need surgery if he looks the same at Tuesday's follow-up. Please send your good wishes and prayers our way.

We were thinking back to this time last year and to where we were on this big, beautiful planet: We were in Tibet on Lake Manasarovor on November 6, 2008. We were asking our Tibetan guide and our driver try to tune in the free radio coming out of India to see who had won the USA presidential election. We wouldn't find for a few more days even, until we drove back across the Tibetan plateau to the town of Saga.

I feel so much gratitude for these opportunities and for those to still come. I am glad to share them with you here in this blog.

All happiness,
Nichole