A New Haircut (Just like the old one :-))

Ahhhh, normalcy. Got up reasonably late (around 9 AM -- except I also got up at 2 AM because Roma -- whom we are babysitting -- decided he needed to go outside). Mark made me a normal breakfast. And then went to Elizabeth Arden for a mani, freshening my color and a hair cut. I was telling Heather and Tulip about Africa -- like everyone else they reacted like I was nuts. And Tulip is from Cairo! Nice to have "city" hair again -- somehow I could not get the grime of Africa off myself. Went to Starbucks (for the first time in weeks!). Picked up my dry cleaning. Managed to salvage a couple of the things Hotel Saphir ruined. Not some others. I guess they will become "disposables" for Columbia :-).

Started looking into next year's vacations last night. Akos is having a Madagascar special -- 150 Euros off to try to fill his last 4 spots. The trip sounds awesome and surely Air Madagascar is better then Air Congo :-). The hotels seem good ...... But it would take over two weeks .... in March .. which is not in the cards :-( Besides I HAVE got to learn my lesson and not jump back in -- Mark was telling me he was amazed by my rapid bounce back. One minute asking Houeida to call our Congressman to rescue me and the next ready to jump in again.

I think we are settling on Mauritius in April; Greenland in July or early August; quick trips to New Orleans and Oregon to visit Mark's family and Terry; and then maybe something in October in our Hemisphere -- like Belize or one of the couple islands we still have to visit. Maybe it is too much -- given the economy. But as I read somewhere today -- shrouds don't have pockets :-).

Mark thinks we are headed toward a ''30s style depression. Sharon certainly put it in context with the '87 and '97 "crashes" -- this is bad but not quite as bad because of the safety triggers. Glad to know someone that knows something about money :-).

Have tons of work to catch up on ... but I still feel soooo tired. Probably better to have a rest and be bright eyed and bushy tailed next week :-). Have dentist and Hopkins check next week as well -- the latter always extremely trying ...... Just the clinical this time. Maybe I'll have a little nap now and work on laundry and vacation planning later. "Normalcy" feels nice :-)!