One... Step... At... A... Time.

Sometimes the climb is high and steep,
Sometimes we don't even know we've climbed so high,
Sometimes we have to go back down,
Sometimes it's up and sometimes it is down,
Always we should go
one...
      step...
            at...
                  a...
                      time.

I like to move it, move it!

This pathway is paved with change... no, not as in money change but you know, experience and adventure change...

This is the week of the big move! I don't know when I'll be back. Could be a week, could be two. Until then we'll be gypsying south. This is going to be a huge adventure!

Mental mental chicken Oriental...

Things around here are MAD!
We're moving in a few day to California.
Mr. A left this morning to sign some paperwork in California and won't be back til Sunday night.
Loans, housing, schooling, packing, moving, working, editing...

We took a break last weekend and visited our good friends we hadn't seen since their wee man was a teeny wee man. The break was exactly what we needed - even though the ferry home was an hour late and I missed the excitement of it all because I dozed off.

Next time.

Don't forget to send us your pics.
You might just find yourself being 'feetured'!

wandering_shoes@live.com

Questions and Answers

This evening was spectacular. What I thought was going to be an hour to an hour-and-a-half of slight boredom turned into 2.5hours of pure uplifting enjoyment.

I went to a talk by one of the high up religious leaders of my religion. It's quite a rare occurrence, and he lives in the USA. But he was visiting Scotland and he conducted a Questions and Answers session for 2 hours rather than talk at everyone in Scotland that wanted to attend.

The final gist of this Q&A session was an object lesson about not always looking for answers from specific people and always looking and researching the answer yourself.

It made me realise that quite often we do that in life, we always look for other people to answer our questions of what do I do now? How should I behave when I reach this age? or am I doing this right... is this normal?

But sometimes we already know the answer and we just have to do what we think is best for us and those that we love.

Before the main guy started speaking he had three other people give brief introduction talks and the first lady, who was from Portugal, challenged us all 'To be an answer to someone.' My interpretation of that is pretty much to look for opportunities to assist other people and be the help that they very well might be shouting out for.

Once everyone had left I stood on the stand in the very location that the main speaker had been standing. The image might not be very visually pleasing, but walking on the same ground as something that confident, and important is incredibly symbolic in itself.

My best friend's feet:

"Me and my buddies, Emma and Laura, 519 feet above the ground on a sheet of glass. We were at the top of Blackpool Tower (the Las Vegas of the UK!) and were super brave. Sadly I we didn't have time to have a ride on a donkey... next time!"

-Paul

Don't forget to send us your adventure stories!
wandering_shoes@live.com

"San Francisco, let me beat my feet Up and down Market Street..."

Saying goodbye to my best friend, her husband, and her two older daughters at the airport this morning was hard enough. And then there is the youngest, the Little Sunshine that fills these shoes, who has stolen my heart and taken it with her to San Francisco.

- Ninang Lei Lei

Send your pictures to us! wandering_shoes@live.com

"Life is only as good as the memories you make..."

It was just a few weeks ago we were queueing up to rinse the sand off our feet at Cannon Beach, Oregon and now the leaves on the trees are turning red and getting ready to drop from their branches. There's a lot of change going on in my life this Autumn.

What about you?

Isn't Autumn great?

Vikkers is sickers...

Dear Vikki,

I think you're great and I'm sorry you're sick. This picture from this post is one of my favourites that you've shared with us. I love the black, white and greyness of it. The depth of the moving stairs against your white Chucks and then the pattern of your trousers. The lines. I love it all.
I hope you feel better soon Sikki - see what I did there, instead of 'Vikki' I said 'Sikki' ha!
Love,
Laura x

she may be following my footsteps.

"There is a saying that big gates move on small hinges... Your example in seemingly small things will make a big difference in the lives of our young people. The way you dress and groom yourselves, the way you talk, the way you pray, the way you testify, the way you live every day will make the difference. This includes which TV shows you watch, which music you prefer, and how you use the Internet." -Elder Uchtdorf from the LDS church

I've been feeling rather inspired, as of late, to try and set a better example.

Must be the fact that I am now sharing a room with my 15 year old sister.

Life is so good. It's marvelous that it is never too late to start living the way we've always hoped we could.

A fishy tale of two sisters...

This picture is my amazing sister and I wearing our guys' Muck Boots on a weekend fishing trip. The water was a bit higher than normal, thus producing lots of mud and causing us to con the boys out of their boots so that we wouldn't our toesies all gooey.

My hunting dog, Braxton he kinda wanted in on the photo op and turned out being a great photo that I am excited to share with The Gypsy Feet!

Luv, KariAnne

If feet could kiss...

This picture was taken the last week of February 2009.
My dixie chicken feet are the ones wrapped in sandals. The converse clad feet across from mine belong to my lover, Mr. C. When we set my camera down on the sidewalk and posed our feet for this picture, we had only known each other for a month. We were already ridiculously in love. A week later, we decided to tie the knot. And before we knew it, this picture wound up as a matted snapshot in our wedding announcements. Yes, a foot picture in wedding announcements. We lived that dangerously. And we loved it. We call it the kiss picture... if feet could kiss.

-Lissa

Furry Gypsy.

This is an ode to a future Gypsy. As of just now she's not been many places, she doesn't like leaving the house actually. She was born in another house, and spent a week in another house, but at the age of four years and seven weeks and six days she is pretty awesome thing to be around.

This is Zero the ghost cat, and she keeps my feet warm at night. She also scratches my feet at night because she thinks they are toys. She chases my feet and jumps on them and wraps her paws around my leg whenever I walk to or from the bathroom — she likes to get her pounce on.

I've spent a long and boring day selling things on ebay, and she has kept me company most of the day. The selling comes as phase one of my immigration, a process that will involve her.

My dear kitten will officially be a gypsy in a few months.

Going Coastal:

With the acceptance to school and the fact we'll be moving in less than 3 weeks - once we find somewhere to live - comes the excitement of being near the sea again.

I'm not sure why being close to the sea is such a big deal to me. I think I might have inherited it though. Wherever I am in the world so long as I'm near the coast I feel at home.

What makes you feel at home?