The frog legs are out in full effect! Kyla, Jimmy and I hope you have an awesome 4th of July weekend! Stay cool!

Step 1: Measure yourself. You need two measurements to get going here. First, the widest part of you below the waist. For most people this is their lower hips, for some, the thighs, whatever. Write that measurement down. The second measurement is the distance from your waist (where the skirt's waistband will sit) to wherever you want the hem to fall. This will be a straight skirt, the same width all the way down.

Step 2: Calculate the fabric. For the width, you want the first measurement you took, plus ease. Ease is however much extra fabric you want that will allow you to actually move in the skirt. It's totally a personal preference, but I think 3-5 inches is good for this project. You also need to add seam allowances. You can sew whatever width seams you want, but we're doing 1/2 inch seams for this project because the math is easy. So here's how you calculate.

Width equation: Hip measurement + ease + 1/2" seam allowance times 2. (There is only one side seam, there will be 1/2" of fabric on each side of it, so that's why the times 2.) Let's say your hip measurement was 45 inches and you wanted 3 inches of ease. You would get:

45 + 3 + 1/2 + 1/2 = 49 inches. Your piece of fabric needs to be 49 inches wide.

Length equation: Length measurement + seam allowances for waist and hem (1 inch each). Let's say your waist to hem measurement was 22 inches. You would get:

22 inches + 1 inch + 1 inch = 24 inches. Your piece of fabric needs to be 24 inches long.

Step 3: Cut! Measure your fabric and cut out your piece.

Step 4: Side seam. (If you have a serger, you can go ahead and finish the raw edges before you get started. If not, ignore that last sentence.) Fold the fabric in half widthwise, with right sides together. Pin if you want, or not, whatever works best for you. Sew a 1/2 inch seam with a straight stitch along where the edges meet. Make sure you backtack on both ends of the seam, your machine will have a button or lever for this. This is the same as tying a knot. Some tips for sewing a straight line: watch the lines on the needle plate, not the moving needle. Keep the fabric aligned with the line.

Step 5: Finish your edges. If you're working with a knit, don't worry about it, but if your fabric unravels, you want to finish your edges of the seam. Change your machine to a zig zag stitch, and stitch as close as possible to each raw edge of the open seam. Eventually you'll want to be able to get that zig zag stitch right on the edge so it actually holds the edge of the fabric, but at first, just do it as close as you can, it'll keep it from unraveling. Depending on how you cut your fabric you may need to finish the top edge or bottom edge of the skirt too.

Step 6: Press! As Burda says, well-pressed is half-sewn. Pressing is crucial in any sewing project. This will make the difference from people asking, "Did you make that yourself?" to people asking, "Where did you get that awesome skirt?"

Press your seam flat, then open the seam and press it open so it lays flat against the fabric.

Step 7: Elastic waist time! Grab a length of 3/8" (or similar size) elastic. Pull it around your bare waist until it's pretty snug with a little overlap, then cut it to that length. Sew the elastic into a tube (just sew the two ends together).

To attach the elastic to the skirt (obviously the elastic tube is quite a bit smaller than the skirt tube you just made), you want to mark both tubes with 4 pins each, at equal distances around. This will make attaching them to each other easier. This is a bit tricky to explain so let me show you with a crude drawing. An easy way to measure this is to lay the tube flat, put a pin at either side, then fold it flat the other way (your two existing pins will now meet in the middle) and put a pin at each side.

Once you have marked with pins, match up the pins and pin the elastic to the wrong side of the fabric. You'll be removing a pin each time you line the marking pins up, and attaching the elastic to the fabric. Don't put the seam of the elastic on the side seam of the skirt, it makes for bulkiness.

Now you will pull the elastic taut and use a zig zag stitch to attach it to the skirt. If you use a straight stitch, it's not going to work, because a straight stitch can't stretch. Keep the elastic pulled tight so the skirt fabric lays flat as you sew. This is a little tricky but you can do it.

Step 8: Finish waist. Your elastic should be on the inside of the skirt now. Stop what you're doing and try it on! Hey look it's becoming clothes! Now turn the top edge under to cover the elastic. Pin it to hold it down and sew with a zig zag stitch down the middle of where the elastic is. You're gonna have to pull tight again so the skirt fabric lays flat.

Step 9: Hem it! Iron down your hem edge to the inside of the skirt about an inch all around (iron the crease so the wrong sides of the fabric are together). Double fold the edge and pin to hold it down. Double fold just means you fold the raw edge to the crease you just made, then fold it over again. Sew your hem with a straight stitch with the left edge of the needle foot against the folded edge of the seam (or approximately 1/2 inch). Press your hem, and give the whole skirt a once over with the iron if you want.

Step 10: Wear it! Whipped this one up last night in mere minutes from an old sheet. I'm gonna be making a lot of these! Perfect for summer.

I hope this tutorial is helpful. See, you can make clothes! If you have any questions or if I got something wrong, which is quite possible, please leave a comment!

After much patience, prayer, research, frustration and a very nerve-racking meeting in which I stood up for myself, a few months later I have finally gotten the job offer I have been waiting on for SO SO long! I have been a contractor for over five years with the company I work for, and I am finally getting instated as a legit, full time employee with excellent benefits. WOOOO!

Goodbye crappy, worthless and expensive individual health insurance plan! Goodbye saving 40% of my income to give to the government! Goodbye unpaid sick days and time off! Good riddance to you!

Hello security, a retirement plan, very good insurance, tuition reimbursement and a bonus each year! Even though I may not stay in corporate forever, it's such a big weight lifted from my shoulders to be able to get what I'm entitled to. Life just keeps getting better.

Couscous Salad with Tomatoes

1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous
8 oz cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup basil plus more for garnish (from the CSA this week!)
2 tbsp. shallots
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
fresh ground pepper

Israeli couscous is so awesome, and nothing like the other couscous (in case you are a couscous hater). It's kind of like pasta but little balls instead of strings or shapes. Cook the couscous just like pasta. You can tell when it's done by biting it, should be al dente.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Let sit at least 15 minutes (up to an hour).

Garnish with basil and serve. Yummy as a cold salad too. This recipe serves four and is the equivalent of 4 Weight Watchers points if anyone finds that information useful.

Over the past year and then some, I've been making a concentrated effort to make my food choices matter, or like one of my favorite Herbivore shirts says, "Eat like you give a damn." Part of this is veganism, and part of it is eating locally and seasonally, which go hand in hand.

Eating locally has a few obvious benefits: the dollars stay in your own community, you are supporting small businesses instead of giant corporations, many small local farms use sustainable practices, if you choose to eat animal products often local choices are more cruelty-free than their large conglomerate counterparts. But why eat seasonally?

Eating seasonally goes hand in hand with staying local. Again you're supporting the local economy. You're not paying a premium for something that's traveled a long way. You're helping the environment by reducing the energy (and emissions) used to grow and transport food. And as hippy-dippy as it might sound, you're reconnecting with nature's cycles. Think of a vegetable garden in winter. Now think of one in the heat of July. Very different. Yet most every grocery store you visit has the exact same thing on its' shelves year round.

Have you ever tasted a supermarket tomato in March? Disgusting wasn't it? Pink, papery and tasted sort of like deprivation mixed with nothingness. Now, have you tasted an organic heirloom tomato still warm from the sun, fresh out of the garden in July? Man, what a difference. The flavor and the nutrients are far superior. The food is fresher and hasn't traveled thousands of miles and sat in a crate for weeks before it reaches your table. That can make or break a dish and especially if you're new to cooking or trying a new food for the first time, it can really make a huge difference.

So thanks to the handy dandy Virginia Produce Availability chart (check with your local Extension Office or google "what's in season insert state here" to get one for where you live) and the Pick-Your-Own finder, I knew it was berry time in Virginia. Strawberries are pretty much over, but blueberries and blackberries are doing their thing right now. I called a couple farms and most said blueberries would be ready next week, but that blackberries were ready now. So Saturday Mary and I headed out to Henley Farm in Virginia Beach.

The blackberries were huge and they're so cheap if you pick your own. Here's 8 pounds of them. I got these as well as a pound of strawberries for 13 bucks. Now I've got a freezer full of fruit for making jam or smoothies in the winter when no local fruit is to be had. Love it! Anyone else into the pick-yer-own thing? I think it's pretty fun plus you get to see the farm, meet the farmers and spend some time outdoors. What else can you ask for?

Our last day in Belize was spent much like the day before. Spent the morning relaxing, eating, reading, swimming, enjoying the beach.

I miss the color already. Virginia (and North Carolina) has been covered in a haze of smoke for weeks now and sometimes I almost forget these colors exist. Everything is gray here!

We went on another snorkeling trip in the afternoon. Alfonse was sick so he couldn't take us, we ended up going with another tour group. NOT WORTH IT! Seriously if you go to Belize and want to snorkel, get Alfonse (see my previous entry) as your guide. We didn't see one shark the whole time, the guides didn't identify much wildlife at all, it wasn't worth the money the second time at all.

I would highly recommend Belize as a destination if you're looking for adventure. They have everything between the jungle and the coasts. You can pack your schedule with nonstop activities, or just enjoy the gorgeous beaches and plenty of opportunities to chill and relax. It's an English-speaking country so you don't have a language learning curve to worry about, the people are warm and friendly, it has a low crime rate everywhere but Belize City (I never felt unsafe the whole trip), it's a relatively short travel time if you're traveling from the US, the money exchange rate is decent.

All in all Belize was an awesome destination and perfect for our honeymoon. Everyone should visit.

Chillin' done right.

Our first day with no plans. Ahhhh. We woke up and headed out to the courtyard for breakfast. Renita served us freshly squeezed juice, local tea, and two plates of fresh pineapple, papaya, grapes and melon. Next came the garnachas, a local breakfast favorite, fried corn tortillas topped with beans, shredded cabbage, salsa and cheese. She also had fried cinnamon triangle things with brown sugar and granola which were completely delicious. We ate til we were stuffed then grabbed two bikes and headed out to explore the city.

We stopped at a few shops and saw a lot of San Pedro this way. Jimmy bought some shoes, we bought some souvenirs for our family, rode around and saw the beach.

We eventually grabbed lunch at a little deli place and headed back to our room to change into our swimsuits. We chilled down by the beach, I read, Jimmy slept, and we both took a few pictures.

Around 4:00 we headed back toward the room to get our bikes and go see the crocodile feeding at 4:30. Apparently local kids will lure the crocs in from the lagoon and feed them, sit on them and do a variety of unwise, dangerous and extremely fun activities in true Belizean fashion. We jumped on the bikes and headed down to the lagoon.

We saw the crowd of people standing in the distance at just about the time a guy came jogging out of the bushes slapping his arms and saying, “Be careful, the mosquitoes are really bad down there.” We figured, okay there must be a few biting, no biggie. Literally seconds later, I looked up and the back of Jimmy’s shirt had at least five or six HUGE mosquitoes on it, he was reaching down trying to slap his legs while still riding the bike. I got bitten on the face before I knew what was happening. We rode down toward the crowd of people and it only got worse. I turned around and rode straight back the way I came, Jimmy followed.

We got a little bit of distance behind us and agreed there was no way we were going to risk getting some kind of crazy jungle virus to see the crocodile feeding, and maybe we would come back tomorrow with some industrial strength bug spray, and possibly a mosquito fog truck and some grenades for good measure. I have to say that compared to all the dangerous things we did since we came to Belize, those mosquitoes were the scariest thing we saw, hands down. They attacked furiously and in Jimmy’s case they literally drew blood when they left him, there were streaks of blood running down his leg. Yikes.

We went back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool and just chilled til we got hungry for dinner. Jimmy wanted Mexican so we headed over to a place called Caliente, which was a nice walk down the dark beach. We both got the fajitas. Delicious and not too pricey. We came back to the room and passed out from our exhausting day of doing nothing. Belize will do that to ya.

"Are you pregnant?"
"No, but the night is young..."

Haha. Joy Nash makes me smile. Live your life, y'all.

So the past two weeks Amanda's gotten my CSA since I was doing the whole wedding/honeymoon thing. The farm wrote us and said since the heat has been so awful, most of the spring crops have bolted (no cabbage for me, sniffle). But that means summer veggies are coming! Wooo hoo! Potatoes and little tomatoes next week! This week's harvest:

Basil, Sweet Genovese - I'll be using this in a recipe with cherry tomatoes (a few from my own garden) and israeli couscous. I store basil in a clean glass of fresh water on the kitchen counter (change the water every day or two and keeping the water level below the leaves). Refrigerating basil always kills it within like a day.

Lettuce - I think this is the last of the lettuces. All the lettuce in my own garden was bolting about two weeks ago, it's all been pulled out.

Yellow Straightneck Squash - You could do anything with this squash: steam, boil, roast or stir-fry alone or mixed with other vegetables. I think mine will probably get thrown in my cast iron grill pan. YUM.

Red Beets - I have no idea what I'm going to do with these. I'm still dubious about beets, I never had a beet dish that pleased me. If you have a recipe suggestion, let me know! The farm says: it is important to cook beets whole without peeling and leaving at least one inch of the stems and all of the root to avoid letting all of the nutrients and color bleed out.

Varna Leeks - I love leeks! The farm says Varna Leeks are summer bunching leeks with scallion like qualities. They can be used as a delicious alternative to spring onions either raw in salads or lightly cooked. The thing with leeks, make sure you wash em really good, and I often pull off the outermost "layer" because there is always a bunch of sand hiding inside. There's an awesome recipe for a Leek & Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits in Veganomicon so I think I might have to make it, even though it's not really a summer dish.

Mizuna - Mizuna is a mustard green and can be used in most recipes calling for cooking greens. I'm making black eyed peas with greens (southern style) and might throw some of this in there. I made a quick stir fry last night with mizuna, corn, garlic and chipotle hot sauce that went really well with rice & skillet cornbread. Yum.

Broccoli - These are the really small, tender side shoots. I will most definitely be sauteeing these with olive oil and garlic. Can't wait.

Garlic Scape - Never seen these before! The farm says: this is the long flower stalk that curls as it grows on hardneck garlic. Some say you should remove them to improve the quality of the garlic bulb. You can chop the scape up and use it in cooking to provide a subtle garlic flavor to salads and soups. It also cooks well in stir fries. I chopped it up last night and it has a wonderful garlic flavor. I will be adding this to a big batch of lentil soup I'm making tomorrow.

Day four we headed to the beach! Woke up early and got our stuff together, checked out with the staff and after a quick breakfast jumped in the truck with Carlos to head back to Belize City and the Municipal Airstrip where we’d catch our flight to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The drive was nice, the weather was gorgeous.

We finally arrived and the tiny airport was the most chill thing ever. One room, some people at the counter. You give your names and flight time, they hand you a laminated piece of paper that says BOARDING PASS. No IDs, no baggage searches, awesome. We finally get called to board and it’s the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was pretty much a van with wings. We took off and sailed over the Carribean sea toward the cayes (pronounced keys), the small islands off Belize’s coast.

We spotted Ambergris Caye off to our right and started circling down. After a shaky landing, we jumped out and grabbed our bags, then caught a taxi to take us to our hotel. Taxis look like any other vehicle down here, we happened to jump into an early 90s minivan. He took us for a short drive and minutes later we were in front of Changes In Latitudes, the bed & breakfast where we’d be staying for the rest of our trip.

The place is incredibly charming. Painted bright blue, a gorgeous courtyard with white sand floors and walkways and beautiful tropical plants everywhere. Bikes to rent, a pergola with flowers growing all above, and hammocks and seating below. A dining area under a palm leaf roof where breakfast is served. A shower shack where you can rinse off before going inside.

We headed inside to the kitchen area and met Renita, one of the owners. She showed us around, gave us tips on some fun things going on that day, and took us down to the beach and the pool at the yacht club next door, which we were allowed to use. She mentioned that there was a snorkeling trip at 2:00 that day, which was in about an hour and a half, so we decided to go. We got settled into the room and grabbed some delicious lunch at a little place called Monkey Bites.

It was time to meet our guide down at the dock so we headed that way. We saw a green and white boat approaching and went down to meet Alfonse, our guide. I immediately liked him. He was all smiles the whole time, charismatic and talkative. He told us he’d been doing this since he was twelve years old, and that he was born on vacation and would stay on vacation his whole life. We headed to two other docks and picked up another couple and a family of five. Then we started the ten minute ride out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve, our first snorkeling spot.

When we got there, Alfonse explained how to clear a mask, how we should work our fins and not use our hands to swim, how we should stay to his left and right if we wanted to see the best stuff and not get kicked in the face or see only bubbles. All great tips especially for the people who had never snorkeled before. He put everyone at ease and told them not to worry, if you just listen to him and be tough, you can snorkel all day if you want to. One by one we jumped in the warm, clear water. It was about chest high and the bottom was white sand and green grass. We snorkeled around close to the boat and saw tons of horse eye jacks and ballyhoo swimming around us. A few conchs lay on the sea floor. When everyone was in, we followed Alfonse further out into the reserve.

Each time he’d want us to see something, he’d smack his fist against his other palm twice to make a sharp sound, then he’d point in the direction of the fish or coral. We saw an amazing amount of sea life while we were down there. Two sea turtles, southern rays, triggerfish, parrotfish, three types of tangs (gosh the blue tangs were gorgeous), a particularly mean looking green moray eel, three types of butterfly fish, a gorgeous and huge french angelfish, fairy basslets, grouper, barracuda, squirrelfish, and on and on. There were huge staghorn and brain corals, christmas tree worms, tons of soft corals and sea fans. We took some photos with a disposable camera. If any came out, I'll add them to this entry later.

After having a reef aquarium a few years back I grew to know the names of these fish and some of their characteristics, but seeing them in their own environment was exciting for me. We ended up back near the boat and saw an octopus down in its hole, as well as six huge spiny lobsters underneath a large coral formation. Two absolutely huge parrotfish finished up the wildlife we saw at Hol Chan.

We climbed back in the boat and hit the three minute ride to Shark & Ray Alley. As soon as the boat pulled up, Alfonse started revving the engine and the sharks immediately “came to daddy” as he put it. We could see their huge bodies under the water on all sides of the boat. We jumped in one by one and being near these creatures was very exciting. Alfonse found his buddy shark and grabbed him around his powerful body. We all came and felt his skin, it was much rougher than the small sharks I’ve touched before that were caught while my dad was fishing. This nurse shark felt like a very heavy, nubby canvas, what I imagine dinosaurs must have felt like. He asked if anyone wanted to hold the shark, and I was one of the first to volunteer. It was so crazy! I could barely get my arm across the top of him, but held him in place for a few seconds and pet him on the head before I handed him back to Alfonse. He talked Jimmy into doing it and when he grabbed the shark, you could tell he was really into it. It’s an amazing feeling, being that close to such a powerful animal.

Alfonse kept feeding the sharks and before long, a few large southern rays showed up. He brought one up to the surface to let us feel its body. Smooth on the bottom and slimy on top. He swam around with the ray resting on his head, on his arms, it seemed to be willing to do whatever he asked. More sharks came, the largest around 9 feet long. I free dove down a couple times and touched them, I also caught up with some rays and touched them as well. Jimmy was doing the same. It was really exhilirating.

We finally got back in the boat and Alfonse told us how he was able to train them just like you would train a dog, with food treats and hand signals. The sharks will come to him and roll over just like a dog, the rays will sit on his head or on his outstretched arms. It sounds unbelievable but I saw it happen. It’s amazing. Of course the American in me is thinking he should be on the Discovery Channel or something, but you can tell he’d never want to do something like that. He told us how much he loves what he does, and that he hates having a day off because it’s so boring. “This is my world,” he said as he gestured around at the open sea all around us, and for those hours we were out with him, it sure was. If you ever get a chance to go to Belize and snorkel Hol Chan or Shark Ray Alley, seek out Alfonse, he is the best guide we had our entire trip and made the whole experience completely awesome.

We headed back to Changes, totally exhausted and salty and grabbed a shower. I blow dried my hair and put on a little makeup for the first time in days. In the jungle I NEVER dried out, it was not comfortable. It felt nice to be clean, dry and somewhat presentable. We headed out in search of dinner and ended up at a little place called El Patio, which was open air with white sand floors. We were right next door to a live reggae band and the breeze blew the smell of the sea right in to us. Jimmy ordered the special, a coconut curry with snapper, conch and shrimp and I got veggie kabobs, coconut rice and fresh fruit. I love Belize for no other reason than Jimmy ate curry dishes there no less than three times (he is an avid hater of “curry”, turns out he wouldn’t know curry if he was gobbling it up, HA! Will be making more at home!). We walked back to Changes down the beach, the wind blowing and the smell of nearby restaurants and the salt air filling our lungs. Truly awesome.

We awoke early and headed to the lodge for early morning birdwatching with Luis. Two other couples joined us. It started out great, he spotted a keel-billed toucan (the national bird of Belize) across the river in a tree. He set up the viewing scope so we could all take a look.

We saw a few common birds like flycatchers and robins (not the same as our robin, this robin is the national bird of Costa Rica and has a beautiful call) and then set out with binoculars in hand on a hike to view some other birds.

My camera proved to be pretty useless since the birds were against the sun and since my zoom is less than great. It was fun to watch the birds though. And I got some pictures of the plants.

Black Rock grows most of its own food. They have over 100 banana and plantain trees, several varieties of mango trees, an orchard of orange and lime trees, a grove of coconut palms, as well as tamarind trees, chico sapote trees, breadfruit trees, jackfruit trees, passion fruit trees, avocado trees, jaboticaba trees, Barbados cherry trees, and papaya trees. In addition, they grow sugar cane, cultivate a small coffee plantation, and harvest from their gooseberry bushes and over three hundred pineapple plants. While I'm bragging on Black Rock, I'll also mention that they're also "off the grid" and have produced their own clean electricity since 1898 through a combo of hydroelectric and solar power. They do all their wash by hand, they compost, they are an all around amazing eco-resort.

We moved around the property for a while and headed down by the riverbank, where Luis spotted a six foot crocodile sunning himself on a rock. He told us how he and his two buddies tried to tie up one of the river crocs one time, just for fun. I’m starting to think this guy is more than a little nuts.

Right after I took that picture, the big horse bit Jimmy. I think it was after his chapstick in his pocket but he swears they were out for blood. The day was turning out to be pretty cool and overcast. We headed back to the lodge for breakfast, and then Luis came to get us again, he would be our guide at Xunantunich, the Mayan ruin we were to visit that morning.

Xunantunich was only a 45 minute drive so we headed out down the bumpy road. We reached the village of San Jose Succotz and drove up to the hand-crank ferry to get our truck across the Mopan river. Jimmy enjoyed working the machinery. We drove up a winding mountain road and finally reached the entrance to the ruin site.

Luis told us a little about Mayan history and culture as we walked up the hill to the first structure. He pointed out how to tell the difference between the ruin’s original surface, and that which had been restored by archaeologists. We saw a model of Xunantunich and he showed us how only a few of the structures had been excavated, including only the front half of El Castillo, the main building. The rest was still buried under dirt.

We headed into the main plaza and looked at the different buildings. A dwelling place, a temple, all with roofs collapsed. We finally headed up to El Castillo and began our climb to the top, 143 feet.

At each level we stopped and talked about the different structures, and the east frieze, representing Chac, the rain god, the jaguar (god of the underworld), a man holding up the heavens, and several decorative carvings.

We finally reached the top and the view was breathtaking. When the Mayans built the city, none of the surrounding jungle was there, and it was apparent you would be able to see absolutely everything from up there. No one could come or go without being detected.

We could see Guatemala to the west, San Ignacio far in the distance, and the “shit house” which was Negroman’s house, and the entry road to black rock. (They call it the shit house because Negroman is the only person in Belize who makes and distributes toilet paper, ha.) I walked to the edge and leaned over, felt the heady rush of being up so high.

We climbed down the other side of the structure and were able to observe the north frieze, with jaguars, an unidentified mask and a ruler with smoke coming out of his head. We walked back through  the plaza and saw the ball court. Luis described the ball game the Mayans played with a heavy rubber ball, in which you could only use knees, shoulders and elbows to bounce the ball. To celebrate victories, the Mayans would bring back captives from the conquered village and force them to play the game with heavy objects tied to their knees and elbows so they couldn’t reach up to bounce the ball. They were forced to lose. Losers get decapitated. Wooo victory!

We wrapped up our visit to Xunantunich and headed back to the ferry. Jimmy and I visited the open air arts & crafts market right next to the ferry and bought a few things from locals. We drove back to the lodge for lunch and then it was time for tubing down the Macal river (yes, the one with the crocodiles in it). No cameras were involved at this point so you get more pretty Xunantunich pictures.

The sun had come out and the weather was looking fabulous. We grabbed our tubes and started the 45 minute hike up to the entry point. About ten minutes in it started raining. Then pouring. Like monsoon-rainforest pouring. We trudged on, trying not to step in horse poop or slide down a hill in the clay-ey soil. We reached the tubing entry point but decided since we’d come all this way, we would hike for a while longer and reach Vaca Falls, where there were supposed to be pools to swim in and waterfalls to slide down.

By this time the weather was absolutely heinous and it was also lightning and thundering every few minutes. We kept walking through the jungle, crossed a small stream and finally reached an outcropping of sharp rocks that jutted out into the river. We could hear the falls from here, and Jimmy scrambled out onto the rocks to get a better look. He seemed excited about what he saw so we decided to continue down the trail to get there. The rain continued to pour as we went further up the mountain. We reached an area where the trail forked to the right or left. We went left first, in the direction of the falls. This climbed an extremely steep and slippery hill which dead ended into a huge pile of fallen trees and brush, and then dense jungle. We took the other way, but it soon became apparent that trail went the opposite direction we needed to go. Jimmy suggested that perhaps the way to the falls was just to scramble across the rocks until you reached it.

I forbid him to climb across wet, slippery, razor sharp rocks in a lightning storm monsoon. I get it that Belize is all about unsupervised dangerous activities and all, but I do have a limit to how far I'll go for "adventure". We walked back to the rock outcropping and looked again. The waterfall looked especially fierce. Pummel you to death on sharp rocks in a lightning storm fierce. It's a scary day when the safer choice is tubing down a river filled with crocodiles.

The water was very high and at points our ride got a little too scary for my comfort but Jimmy was having a great time. I especially enjoyed the point where I thought he was grabbing onto my tube to help me feel safer and close to him, and he promptly spun me around and tried to throw me into the river. What a sweetheart! We found the exit point and started walking back to the lodge. We had thought about canoeing or hiking up to the cave on the property but we were completely drenched and the storm showed no signs of letting up, so we turned in our tubes and headed back to the cabin to shower and relax for a little while before dinner. When we got there we had a little visitor on the top of the door. I almost didn’t notice him until we were both inside the cabin.

Giovanni, the tour organizer, said he was a racer snake. I got a few pictures, then helped him off the door. He slithered all four feet of himself with surprising speed down the hill (racer snake: I believe it!). Dinner was amazing as usual. I seriously wanted to bring the chef home with me. Another day ended and we headed back to the cabin for some rest. Tomorrow: the beach!

On our second day in Belize, I woke around 5:15 to hundreds of birds calling and the rush of the falls. Once I wake up there's usually no going back to sleep and definitely not with the racket the birds were making. So loud! I sat on the porch and looked at our gorgeous view while I made notes on the previous day’s adventures. Cora the dog came by to say hello, there are two dogs that patrol the grounds, her friend came by a little later. At breakfast we talked with some of the other guests and discussed our various plans for the day. Our guide, Benjamin, arrived and we headed over to the van and set off for our destination, Actun Tunichil Muknal cave (or ATM for short).

We drove to San Ignacio and headed to Pac’z Tours to meet the others who were joining our group. There were 8 of us in total. We all loaded into the van and started the two hour drive to the cave. 80% of it was on extremely bumpy limestone roads. We stopped at a checkpoint when we were getting near, ATM is very secluded and there are only a handful of guides in the whole world who are authorized to take people there, due to its danger and sensitive environment and artifacts. He let us pass and we drove through lemon and lime orchards til we finally reached a clearing with forest and mountains on either side, and a few thatch roof open air shelters. We unloaded and Ben distributed helmets and lunches.

We had a 40 minute hike through the rainforest ahead of us, then we would reach the entrance to the cave. We moved very quickly through the jungle, stopping a few times so he could point out interesting trees or plants, and also to cross the river three times. The water was knee to thigh high, and the rocks were really slippery and I held my camera extra high in case I was going to take an unplanned swim. We arrived at the encampment where adventurers sometimes camp right in the middle of the jungle. There were a few shelters and fire pits. We ate our lunches there and left everything behind but our cameras.

We finally arrived at the entrance to the cave, and it was truly breathtaking. Blue-green water, a curvy opening in the rock, lush rainforest and moss covered rocks and trees all around us. We handed our cameras over to Ben, who put them in the dry bag. Helmets went on, and it was time to swim into the cave. There's no other way to enter the cave - you gotta swim! After the sweaty hike through the jungle, the water was more than refreshing. We dove right in and started swimming the short distance to the rocks inside. I could see bats flying around ahead and hear their calls. The cave echoed our voices and the rush of the water.

We all got on dry land and began picking our way through the rocks after Ben. I don’t know what I expected when they said we’d be traveling through the cave. I knew some swimming and climbing would be involved, but I envisioned walking on a flat surface on either side of water in a large cavern. Pretty much as far opposite from what we did that day as possible. The tour was extremely physical. As soon as we were in the cave, we were climbing rocks, ducking under low ceilings, crawling through tight spaces, jumping down into water and pulling ourselves out again. It was very challenging, not to mention completely dark save the light from our headlamps.

Ben shouted instructions which had to be passed to the back of the group, such as “don’t touch the formation on the left!” or “sharp rock on your right in the water!” I felt that we were moving very quickly but once we stopped he told us we’d only gone about 300 meters in over an hour. Along the way he pointed out stalactites and stalagmites, the formations were beautiful and sparkled in our lights. Some had water flowing down, and those were porous.

Some, the water had dried up and he tapped on them with his light, it made a sound like a steel drum with different tones on each formation. We were not allowed to touch any of the calcified formations, where humans touch it turns black and will stop growing because of the oil on our hands. We traveled for a while longer and came to a high rock where we were instructed to leave our shoes and put on socks. The rest of the trip would have to be made without shoes because the oil from our feet would ruin the surface of the caverns. We got our cameras back and followed Ben through a series of caverns.

We started seeing remains of Mayan pottery, most of which dated back to 700-900AD. He showed us how when the water table started rising and falling rapidly, around 1300, the Mayans had to stop coming to the caves. We heard how they used them for sacred rituals, including bloodletting and human sacrifice. We also came upon a very frightening spider which was huge and which of course I was the only one to notice. Ben: "Oh that's a scorpion spider. If it bites you, you have 8 hours to live." Sweet! Let me just move away quickly.

Right about that time we came upon the first human remains.  By this time the group was completely exhausted, the tour guide was getting very intense about where we should or shouldn’t step, and we were all ready to head back, we knew we had a lot of cave and a long hike til we could get back to the car. We finally made it to the main cavern, and I have to say it was impressive. After climbing the most sketchy ladder ever, which made lots of unpleasant creaking noises, we reached a high precipice, and a few of us at a time were allowed to go down below to see the main attraction, the crystal maiden.

Sacrificed by having her throat slit, she lay inside a small cavern surrounded by pottery. By this time I was exhausted and kind of over it though, really ready to head back. We got to take a shortcut going back, but it sure didn’t feel that way. We were freezing, and kept having to plunge back into the cold cave water to swim to the next rock. I was feeling a little wimpy by the time we reached the opening, looking forward to drying out. We swam across to the other side of the bank and it was absolutely pouring outside. What’s the rainforest without a little rain though, right? We hiked back to the car and Jimmy and I slept the entire bumpy ride home. We got home just in time for a shower and dinner and then passed out in our cabin.

Awesome tour. I highly recommend doing this if you go to Belize and love adventure. It's definitely not a relaxing tour, if you wanna do caves and relax, there are several cave tubing or cave canoeing tours that sounded neat as well. The whole time, I kept thinking, they would never let you do this in America. There would be liability waivers and guard railings, and besides, in America artifacts belong in museums so they wouldn't be there inches from you. One of the guides back at the lodge said the Belize department of archeology is about to change the rules so that no cameras will be allowed, and the group sizes and frequency of tours will be super limited, so check this out before you miss your chance!

What can I say about Belize! Whew! From swimming and climbing inside a cave to tubing down a river with crocodiles to hugging sharks, it was pretty much nonstop adventure the whole time. Belize is a tiny country in Central America, the only country there where English is the official language. It's situated next to Guatemala, just below Mexico's Yucatan peninsula (home of Cancun). For the first three nights, we were about a 40 minute drive from San Ignacio, in the Cayo district.

After our flight to Houston, we landed in Belize City at the International Airport and were picked up by Carlos from Black Rock Lodge. We had about a two and a half hour drive ahead of us so we decided to hit up the Belize Zoo on the way. When we turned off the highway, I felt like I was driving back onto someone’s heavily wooded property, not into a zoo. All the signs are handpainted and have a sense of humor.

Most of the animals are actually in their natural habitat, like this spider monkey. He put on quite a show for us. Many of the animals are in enclosures but you can't even tell. It looks like the monkeys could come join you any minute. I loved this zoo (I am not usually a fan of zoos).

This is April, the zoo's mascot. She's a tapir, which is the national animal of Belize. All the animals here were either bred right here at the zoo, or rescued from poachers, or rescued in the wild with an injury.

These little cats are the size of housecats. They look so cool! There was gorgeous varieties of ginger growing everywhere you looked as well as houseplants like mother in law tongue or devil's ivy grow everywhere and are huge. Bromeliads are in the crook of every tree. Large cahoun palms (where palm oil comes from) tower over the rainforest canopy everywhere, I was told 80% of belize’s broadleaf forest made up of these.

The coatimundis were my favorite. They never stopped moving, digging in the dirt with their paws and snouts. Lots of little babies were around too!

The birds of Belize are gorgeous. Parrots like this are totally commonplace, it's like seeing a robin or cardinal here in Virginia. After the zoo we drove along the western highway and stopped for lunch at a place called Cheers. It was an open air restaurant with an amazing breeze, donated and autographed t-shirts hung in the rafters overhead. The place was American-owned, the food was very good.

We headed out and drove toward Black Rock, through the capital city of Belmopan, also Santa Helena and San Ignacio, which are twin cities. The buildings are all different sizes, shapes and imaginable arrangements and painted in vibrant shades of pink, lavender, teal and orange. Many are on stilts since Belize is only 2 feet above sea level in most places. We passed several cemeteries and the brightly painted tombs are all above ground as well for this reason. We passed through several orange orchards, teak farms (pictured above) and coconut farms. All were on a smaller scale than any farming organization I’ve seen in the states, and all were surrounded by the lush vegetation that’s so common here.

We finally headed off the paved road and onto a bumpy limestone road that leads up to the lodge. Most of the resorts are nestled up in the mountains off this road, Black Rock is the highest and last one. Carlos pointed out the different farms we were passing as well as who owned them, much of the property in this area is owned by a guy who calls himself Negroman. We saw where areas of the hillsides had been slashed and burned to make space for crops. He pointed out one black, bald spot where he said corn would be planted soon, grown for two seasons, then rotated out with another crop, or where grass would be planted so cattle could be brought there to graze.

We finally arrived at Black Rock and jumped out of the truck where we were immediately greeted by Cora, a huge and friendly German Shepherd dog. She escorted us up to the reception area/restaurant, where we were immediately given some delicious lemon/lime concoction that tasted amazing. We spoke with Nadya who showed us the gorgeous view of the Macal river and falls from the top deck of the restaurant and explained some things about the lodge.

We headed over to our little cabin. It was open air with fresh hibiscus and ginger flowers everywhere and stone floors and walls. No air conditioning made you really notice the penetrating humidity and we were inundated with the constant calls of birds and the rush of the falls below. We got settled and headed over to dinner.

Dinner is served family style to everyone and the night’s menu is written in chalk on a five foot tall slab of slate that leans against the bar. The food was astonishingly good. Nadya had asked us if we had anything we didn’t eat or didn’t like. I told her I was a vegetarian but I also didn’t eat eggs or dairy and she immediately offered, “Are you vegan?” Apparently the kitchen knew what was up. Jimmy told them he didn’t want any red meat and that seemed to be no problem.

We ate fresh vegetable soup with bread (freshly handmade tortillas for me), tomato and spinach salad with a simple vinegar dressing, grilled okra, coconut rice and veggie kabobs marinated in something completely amazing. They made a fish and vegetable dish in coconut sauce for Jimmy and everyone else ate stewed beef. Dessert was a tropical fruit tart with whipped cream and chocolate sauce (the most amazing fresh mango, papaya and watermelon for me). We drank water from the mountain spring as well as a fresh juice blend of papaya, mango and watermelon juice which was out of this world. Jimmy had been glancing dubiously at the menu throughout the afternoon and I heard him mention something about needing to bring snacks back to the cabin, but he ate and loved everything. At the end of the meal, the servers brought out Indira the chef, and everyone gave her several rounds of well-deserved applause.

Jimmy signed us up for the night hike so we ran back to the cabin to change into jeans and shoes. Our guide, Luis, met us up at the restaurant with headlamps and we headed out. Boy I wish I'd brought my camera! We took an hour and a half hike through the rainforest, scanning the path, brush and trees for reflections. Blue reflections were mostly spiders (lots and lots of wolf spiders and one disturbingly huge spider which Luis did not know the species of) and orange reflections were something else, so we were especially looking for those.

We saw several tarantulas, a few of which Luis coaxed out of their holes so we could get a better look. An adorable Belizean banded gecko which I got to hold for a few seconds before he squirmed away. Several frogs and toads, a central American coral snake (the deadly kind), a gibnut which is a type of rodent, several of the horses kept by the lodge, centipedes, a cicada which had just emerged from its shell and whose wings and body were still a translucent white, and many moths and beetles who loved our lights. Wandering around in the rainforest in complete darkness save our lights, surrounded by the call of insects and the rush of the falls was very disorienting and exciting at the same time. We headed back to our cabin, exhausted, took a much needed shower and passed out.

We're back from our honeymoon in Belize and our wonderful wedding. You guys will get the honeymoon updates first while our pictures are getting ready so keep an eye out. Record heat on our wedding day of 101 degrees (yes, an outdoor wedding). Normally it's 80 this time of year in Norfolk. I think this photo accurately captures how stifling it was that day. Picture by my sister Heidi.

Thanks for all the well-wishes, for everyone who braved the heat and came out and to all my friends who helped with everything, it was awesome because of you! Glad to be back, I'm an old married woman now!

Things are happening around my garden! It's awesome to see things like these baby tomatoes which were just a little seed poked into the dirt back in March. These little guys are Mexico Midgets (from Seedsavers).

Beautiful nasturtiums. I absolutely love these orange flowers and their big, green lily pad leaves. Did you know you can eat the flowers? I sort of want to but I sort of just want to let them stay because they're so pretty. Behind them are my chives, which are still blooming like a champ.

A fruit crate I got at the thrift store that turned into a planter. Here we have sweet potato vine, Mexican heather and one more which I can't remember the name of at the moment!

Lemon balm, which is flourishing. And mint. Both plant swap scores.

Blueberries are ripening! There was also a blueberry casualty this week, when the kids who mow my (barely there) grass ran right over one, along with several other plants. Grrr. Someone owes me a free lawn mow, I think.

Marigolds (started these babies from seed too) and strawberries!

Another plant swap plant which is really happy. This is a primrose.

A little bug helped himself to my gooseneck loosestrife. Darn it.

My compost bin doing its thing. There's some great lookin' dirt in there. And about 50 oak trees. Anyone want one?