How high's the water, mama?
OK, so the blog hasn't stopped just because I got engaged. I've been holed up in Arkasas for Christmas. Everyone's really excited about the upcoming wedding (except maybe Dad, but I can't tell if that's because he still doesn't like Victor and me living together, or if he's worried about how much this shindig will cost). I'm already looking at dresses, of course. We're trying to get through the process of applying to get married at the Catholic church I want in Arkansas. Victor is a member of a church in Mexico, or at least he was once, so that's where the paperwork has to originate. Or something like that. Once everything's worked out, we can pick a date.

We've also solidified our New Year's plans... looks like it's going to be London. Leaving tomorrow, getting back Monday. This will be our last big trip until the honeymoon, I think. Neither of us will have the vacation days or the cash to go anywhere far until then. We're staying at the Stylotel, which looks small but nice and modern. The exchange rate is awful there, so we won't be able to buy or eat anything very expensive.

Time to step out of my self-absorbed shell for just a moment and check in on world news... isn't that tsunami/earthquake disaster going on in Asia just horrific? One of the states that was hit in India is Andhra Pradesh. That's the state where I worked, although Hyderabad is far enough inland to not be affected. I just hope that none of the agents I worked with were vacationing on the beach that day. I'm pretty worried. I emailed my old work to see if anyone was affected but haven't heard back yet. My good friend Andrew is also travelling around India right now, but luckily he had left the coast by the time the tsunamis hit. I finally heard from him today - what a relief. The whole thing is awful, and my heart goes out to the people whose lives were lost or destroyed.