Emerald Anniversary

How many of you knew that your 20th Anniversary is your Emerald Anniversary? Well, Tapley and I may not be married, but we just celebrated a wonderful 20 years of friendship with a fabulous trip to Odessa, Ukraine! Well, to be fair, she is the one that went through the expense and long hours of traveling and I merely took a couple of marshrutkas an hour to the airport to pick her up. We used to talk about traveling through Europe together, but never had the money, so it was fun to finally see that dream come to fruition, though in a completely different way than we had ever imagined. Tapley is my best friend and has been for most of those 20 years. We've gone through a lot together and the more years that go by and the more lives I observe, I know what an incredibly special gift God has given me through her friendship. A silly tradition that has been a part of our friendship is taking pictures of ourselves everywhere. So, with the exception of the very first photo, all other pictures were taken by the two of us. This is your tour of Odessa, via the faces of Anna and Tapley. To see more of Odessa and less of our faces, click on the title of this blog entry and it will take you to the complete album. Enjoy! =-D

Out on my balcony

Enjoying coffee and blini the morning before she left.

Sipping on the refreshing goodness of Kvas.

Tasting the strange and yet delicious combination of foods inside the Shaurma.

Taking in the sun at the Black Sea.

Strolling through the cemetery.

Relaxing in front of my building at the newly painted Tire Garden.

Checking out the Odessa Port.

Contemplating travel in Ukraine at the Odessa Train Station.

And last, but certainly not least, getting ready to go to the Monastery. We should have perhaps been a little wiser in our choices of "skirts" and head coverings, b/c some crazy old lady followed us around yelling at us about them. I think we were a tad too colorful. =-D