I'm BACK!

An African teaser:

Marula the elephant: I was thisclose to her in this photo, no lie

Today was my first day back to work after our 17-day vacation. We traveled for a total of 31 hours over the weekend from Benguerra Island in Mozambique to Seattle, Washington. We took a helicopter over the Indian Ocean and then a small plane to Johannesburg and then a huge plane to Atlanta (a whopping16-hour flight which is currently the longest flight time in the whole world) and then another huge plane to Seattle. It's a 10-hour difference from the island, so I've been sort of a zombie face the last few days. Forgetful, foggy, detached, unaware. You get the picture.

Our trip was truly, truly incredible. I feel changed by Africa; it's a mysterious and intoxicating place. Full of emotion and contrast. Safari was wonderful. Our accommodations were luxurious. The food was delicious and ever-present. But (above and away) the best, most extraordinary part of our journey were the kind and selfless and humble people that we met along the way. It is an understatement to say that I have been moved by the people of Africa. My perspective has shifted. I realize that I have only interacted with an extremely small percentage of the people who live in each country that we visited, but my state of mind and my being have been altered by their stories and their situations.

Over the next few days (and, perhaps, weeks) I will share about our trip! It's much too lengthy to detail in one post, so I'll spread it out with pictures and stories and fun little tidbits.

In terms of my outfits: This week's theme is whatever Kelly is awake enough to throw on (aka Miscellaneous Week). Realistically, I have been waking at 4am, so I shouldn't have too much trouble putting things together, but I must be granted some sort of flexibility seeing that I did just shift 10 hours (which is almost half a day).

Today, I wore an oversized chartreuse sweater tee that I recently picked up at a garage sale in Green Bay. I liked the contrast of the bright greenish yellow with the black and white skirt. I chose nude heels to modernize the look. (In my opinion, black heels would be too "safe" and also sort of wintery. Nude heels scream summer.) My hair was a complete frizz-tastic ball of curls when I woke up this morning, so I chose to knot it around my head, almost like a French braid, but with 2 strands instead of 3. I pulled out some side curls to soften the look.




Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer so far. See you tomorrow! Which reminds me: I'm pretty certain that my new, sweet little nephew will be joining the world tomorrow! My brother's wife is being induced tonight (!!) at 39 weeks pregnant, so I'm hoping to have some good news to share when I post tomorrow evening. :)

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