This is just going to be a random list of things. Sorry :-P

1. Loi Krathong: This week, Thailand celebrated Loi Krathong. In Chiang Mai, they also celebrate/combine this holiday with the Yi Peng festival (read more here), and boy do they know how to throw a festival. The whole week was absolutely spectacular. We went to the opening ceremony a few days ago, and for the first time heard this lovely little tune: Once was enough to get it stuck in my head, but just in case it wasn't.....they played it everywhere, all the time, all week. There was a parade each night, and each was more extravagant than the previous night's. The real party, however, was at the river. There were oodles of fireworks and oodles of teenagers anxious to set them off (we're not talking the dinky safe kind either), countless krathong stands, and hundreds of people setting off hot air balloons. The hot air balloons were beeeautiful. It looked like someone had thrown stars into the sky, but these were dreamy and constantly moving.
2. Pictures: I've discovered (or confirmed, really) that my photography skills are abysmal. However! I am taking pictures. This is a significant accomplishment. I really will put them online someday, but just a heads up....there will be 4 albums: exciting thailand trip pictures, ridiculous dogs, backs of heads of people who decided to stand right in front of me while i was taking a picture, and white guys who obviously moved to Thailand so they could get a girlfriend.
3. Cooking school: Sarah and I went to cooking school today at one of our favorite Chiang Mai restaurants. We'd gone a week or so ago to a class run by an organic farm outside of town. During that class, we met some very interesting people, enjoyed the beautiful farm, learned a lot, and left absolutely stuffed. This time around it was just the two of us and the restaurant owner in her home kitchen, and it beat the pants off the other class. We went ot the market that morning with her husband who taught us a lot about the different things we could buy there and how they're used in cooking. We came back and spent the afternoon with Kanjana, who was an excellent teacher and very patient.
   
4. Haircut: It is not horrendous! She did a great job.
5. Starbucks: Always there to remind me that it's the holiday season in the US. Dark cherry mocha and cranberry bliss bar, fa la la la la. However, should you find yourself in Chiang Mai getting coffee at Starbucks and feel compelled to take a picture....do not. They will get mad.
   
6. Monk chat: We've had some really interesting conversations with Em at one of the temples near our guest house. We're hoping we can bring him a monk "care package" (they sell them all over the city) before we leave.

Hope you're all doing well!