Mission Impossible: Exercising at the Cottage with Dylan the Dog

Back on the Wildcat and DAAAAaaaaaang, 

does it ever feel good!!!

Why good?
It's the one place in the world,
where I can actually get "bored"

There's nothing really to do.
Okay-okay, not N-O-T-H-I-N-G!

What does doing "nothing" refer to at the Wells'sss cottage?
Reading.
Sleeping.
Exercising.
Making food for family.
Reading some more.
Naping.
Making food again for family and cleaning-up.
Back to reading.
Yoga or stretching.
Reading but this time in bed.
Snoring by 9:30 p.m. which is when it gets dark around here.

So this morning,
I tried very hard to be productive but THIS guy got in the way.
This is Dylan, Dylan the dog.

He looks cute and cuddly but MAN OH MAN...distracting as H***!

It started off okay and then...

...I couldn't help myself.

I JUST HAD TO PET HIM!!!

He is too cute.

But I also needed to get my circuit in for the day so, 

I distracted Dylan with a ginger break cookie thrown into the lake

(Brilliant plan Lauren, sheer brilliance!)

and just as I was about to start...

DYALN is BACK!

And this time with a vengeance.

He would not stop KISSING me and licking me, ewwww!

So gross but it KINDA feels good.

Just a little?

Yeah, well.

I am weird.

Sigh*

It's hard to be loved so much, right?

Clearly!

Cuz who WOULDN'T love this face?

*crickets*

Awkward silence.

So...yeah.

What lifts YOU Up?

What lifts YOU up?

I have plenty of bad days.

So what do I do when I need a little pick-me up?

Well, duh!

I ask for some of the following..

A kiss.

...or perhaps a fresh coconut?

When I wake up on

 the wrong side of the bed

(literally)

I ask for at least one sweet smile

 to go with my morning coffee.

(I also have more than one coffee

and so when I look in the mirror I see more than one smile!

That ALWAYS seems to help)

Clearly, some people prefers 

donuts to smiles with 

their coffee.

(Nice one dad!) 

But really, 

a kiss always seems to do the trick.

Why?

Well, why not?

Sweet.

Fun.

Exciting and

full of freshly pressed coffee breath taste.

Whaaaaat!?!

Yes, I said it.

Coffee breath kisses are the BEST!

Okay, fine.

Maybe not everyone likes kisses with coffee breath.

Sheeeesh!

What lifts YOU up?

Reading = A Sane Lauren

I have started reading again.

Stop that right now, cuz I know what you're thinking.

You're a teacher, you HAVE to read!!!

Well...yes and no.

For a long time, reading was like a chore.

I had to read certain topics.

Like what?

***

Eastern Philosophy like Hindusim and Kinsugi

Mesopotamia - cool

Domestication of animals - ugh

Human Evolution

Greek Gods - aren't they all beautiful?

UNESCO World Heritage Site - whoa, Canada is on the list!

The UN Sustainable Development Goals - uggh.

***

Shall I go on?

Fine, some of that stuff is FUN to read about 

but 

It kinda kills your spirit to read because you barely have enough

time in the year as it is...UNTIL NOW THAT IS!!!

READING HAS CHANGED ME!

Here are my thoughts on a regular basis.

Scattered.

Broken.

All out of order.

Out of place.

RANDOM.

Weird.

And terribly hard to organize in my head.

Which cause me to do things like:

Wear different shoes all day and not notice until I got home.

True story. 

Wear RIDICULOUS hats like this as an adult and think it's okay.

(For the record it's not)

My brain is so FRIED that I often see my fruit as underwater creatures and 

start talking to them, 

giving them names

and drawing on them.

(cough-WEIRD-cough)

My favourite is when I am so SCRAMBLED in my head that I catch myself seeing things...

...that aren't there?

HEY! 

Was there not someone just there?

I swear I saw a man...

Or simply, my brain is flooded with ideas, noise and chaos that I  

I struggle to mak decisions.

LAUREN, MAKE A DECISION ALREADY!

But 

since I started reading this summer - ahhhhhh!

Nothing but this:

Ordered thoughts.

Clear images.

One idea at a time.

Right to the point, well almost.

(sometimes I get a little too excited and trail off)

But most of the time, 

focused,

and happy to be silent.

Ahhhh.

Well, yes.

Of course,

I'm still a little weird but at least people can understand me!?

Of course it has NOTHING to do with sleep.

It's about reading - stick to the programme!

Sigh*

I am finally speaking and everyone around me can understand.

YAY!

Success.

I win.

Time for bed.

Sleep is the best.

Boom.

My Life in the Nam Up-to-Date

Time has really gotten away from me lately.

As in, where the HECK did the year go?

(Let alone your blog posts Lauren!) 

As I said, I kinda just... got distracted?

Okay-okay.

Let me explain.

THIS is where I live currently.

(WARNING: This is 100% travel porn)

Local rice fields in Mai Chau, three hours outside of the city of Hanoi.

Sapa mountains 5 hours north of Hanoi.

Beautiful temple somewhere along my travels.

Beach down south, two hours away from Hoi An.

The view of the lake that I ride along every day to get to and from work.

So.

Can you really blame me for not getting a lot done this year?

(other than teaching, training, family dinners and finding looooove?)

MOU-HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!

STAY TUNED!!!

(Lauren Wells is here and back in ACTION...well, it's also summer break for teachers!)

Old, sick, mare alert...WATCH OUT!

I woke up looking like this today.

And felt pretty much like THIS guy the whole day.

Without the bush of course - hah!

WHY DO I KEEP GETTING SICK?!?

Let's ask Dr. Stool, shall we?

"The Deuce is Loose"

Loose stools like the Soft Serve have many causes. If the stools are loose

only intermittently, it is important to make sure you are not

eating something that your body cannot digest.

(You mean that black sesame butter is not easy to digest? Really?)

The most common causes are lactose intolerance, 

artificial sweeteners (e.g. sorbitol), 

and ructose (sodas). If there is no obvious dietary culprit yet

you continue to experience recurring Soft Serve stool, 

(Oh gawd, this is TOTALLY my problem!)

you should consider getting checked for certain gastrointestinal

diseases like celiac disease, which is an intolerance

to gluten-contain products.

Done & done.

So in the meantime...?

"The purpose of life is to enjoy every moment"

Even if it's constantly on the toilet.

So...yeah.

It's 8:17 pm.

Bedtime.

Night night.

Billy Murray Monday: Move Over, A Little Message From The Heart of a Grade 6 Student

We have been studying "Eastern philosophies" in Humanities these past few weeks 

and this past weekend was spent assessing for their 

level of achievements on the most recent work.

(a.k.a. grading)

Insert unhappy ~ GROAN.

However...this was the insightful response from one of my students.

Question:
Which belief system (from those we studied) best matches your OWN beliefs?

Explain.

"The belief system that least matches my own belief
 is Buddhism. 
This is because I don't agree with 
"removing desire removes suffering" 
for me that means to remove life.  
An example from my life that show how this belief
 system/religion is different to my values is that I fall in love and I still do and yes,
I might suffer but I might not.
And that is the fun of life!
You kind of gamble your heart for someone and 
you might be refused or might not
and that's the risk that is fun and sad"

Ummm.
Bill?
Pretty sure that couldn't me said any better.
THANK YOU MONDAY!

Twins Day Should Be EVERY Day! Beware: Cheesey Post

Not sure why
but
I always seem to get involved with "Twin Day's" at school.

Hmmm, I wonder why?

Holi-paint in face Twin.
(Solid match)

Serious-face twin Day, 

that also happens to begin with the letter "L."

WHOA.

(Leia and Lolo)

Glasses Twin Day.

Well, why not?

(Peter and Lauren super-spyware) 

(International School of Dhaka HUM teachers UNITE!)

Who the heck are THESE guys?

And how did they get on my twin blog???

These two "twins" are trying WAY TOO HARD!

Shessssssssh!

(Please, just make the cheesiness stop!)

Triplets?

Ya - it can happen.

KINDRED-STARS IN THE EYES triplet-TWINS hanging out in Dhaka...

(I will never forgot that afternoon!)

Triplets AGAIN!?!

(bahahah!)

Nope.

Health gums and big TEETH twin sista!

(Clearly her teeth are WAY bigger...)

But hold on a second....forget these fake "twins" garbaggio!

What would YOU like to say Rhiannon?

Yeah, I thought so...

"Those fools got nothin' on us!"

Real sisters.

Real twins

Real selfie.

True story.

BOOM!

p.s. It may be hard to tell us apart in the photos above therefore I am the 

more mature one on the right, 

and Rhiannon is the one on the left...so immature Rhi.

I mean really, who takes a photo with a face like that?

Oh wait....WE DO!

Double BOOM.