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I hope everyone's holidays were amazing, over in Coeur D'alene, we lucked out with a beautiful white Christmas! 

As for Christmas day, we started with great stocking stuffers (gag glasses and mustaches made for an interesting morning) and spent the rest of the day with family, drinking homemade eggnog, and eating far too many sweets!  

It seems like the holidays and this past year flew by...and I can't believe that 2012 is right around the corner!

Here's some great posts from the weekend you might have missed:

A  look at Christmas around the world

Nice things to have for holiday guests

DIY ombre skirt

Beautiful series of photos

Ever wonder what Jack Kerouac would wear?

One year and 1 day of A & B

We have been together for one year and one day and we thought we would share some of our favorite moments...

1.  Finding the note on my van in the Wallingford QFC parking lot one year and one day ago.

2.  Taking Direstreets photos with the kids in Cambodia at Otres Beach
3.  Dinners on the roof of Big Skookum (my sailboat) staring at the Seattle skyline

4.  Cooking Sunday morning breakfasts at the apartment and eating outside on the grass

5.  Rafting, camping, and floating down rivers in Leavenworth

6.  Ashley fostering kittens that destroyed the apartment everyday

7.  A + B and the Winter's Abroad riding bikes through the streets of Bali ringing their bells

8.  Sneaking out of our guesthouse with the Winters on Nyepi in Bali

9.  Mother dearest trying to cross the street in Bangkok, Thailand

10.  BBQing on the back of Big Skookum in the San Juans

11.  Brian giving pen tattoos to the Cambobian kids at Otres Beach

12.  Linda's Tavern after the failed Refresh premiere on Capital Hill
13.  On our second date, Ashley not knowing anything about BMX, finding a stack of BMX magazines that Brian was in, then thinking he was famous.

14.  Summer concerts at Seattle Center

15.  Running the stairs by the apartment and throughout Capital Hill

16.  All the Frisbee hangout sessions at Gasworks Park

17.  Eating with our hands for the first time at Selvam in Melaka, Malaysia

18.  Wandering through all the night markets in Southeast Asia.

19.  Building an Igloo in the front yard in Spokane

20.  Hanging with Bing-Bing on the couch

21.  Seeing Disport go from an idea into reality (more about this later)

22.  Wake surfing and huckleberry daiquiris at Priest Lake, Idaho

23.  Playing with the pups at Bali Dogs in Ubud

24.  Riding an elephant in Chang Mai, Thailand

25.  Planning our future...

For your viewing pleasure

 Stay tuned for more video footage!

Canon EOS 7D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-inch LCD and 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens 

Lost Photos

Hello from Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. Here are some lost photos from Bangkok and Koh Phangan. Enjoy!

Alternate Routes Koh Samui

Day 2 Railey Beach

Lions and tigers and caves and cliffs and penises- Oh MY!

 The climb up to the view point at Railey

 

 The Phra Nang Cave- littered with phallic symbols offered up the the cave "goddess" as good omens

 

 

The sunset from Railey West Beach 

Boats and Rock Formation at Railey Beach on the Andaman Sea Coast Photographic Poster Print by Mark Cosslett, 24x32

Railey Beach

We've gone from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea and are currently hanging out on Railey Beach, located just a twenty minutes via long tail boat from Krabi (or Aoe Nang, we can't remember where we were dropped off at!).  

We all feel at home on Railey, which is our happiness factor. I personally love this beach, it is not only stunning, but has a mellow island feel, and (most) everyone here ascribes to that easygoing attitude.

Railey also has something else going for it; FOOD! We've been missing our street vendors from Bangkok and eating at resorts on the beach leaves a lot to be desired. Railey on the other hand has a couple of great hole in the walls so that we can get our "real" Thai food fix. The little stand we ate at last night had some killer curries, and shakes- We had the best coconut shakes yet, and like true beach bums, we bought some Kahlua at a near by store to make the best and cheapest coconut cocktails! Brian received a free shake, only this time he strayed from his usual mango flavor and went with what the locals were making- a Chang beer shake- surprisingly good (well only after a generous helping of sugar cane juice).

 

We were happily greeted at our hotel. It was the first time Lisa was greeted as a Ms Dillon!

GoPro HD HERO Camera Naked - Wearable 1080p HD Video and Still Photo Camera

A visitor in Kho Phangan

So we decided to leave our blog post up to our traveling visitor, Lisa, Ashley's mom. Here is her debut:

"Hello Everyone,

Well yes I am alive and kicking after a nasty sinus infection.  After being threatened by Ashley and Brian that they were taking me to a thai doctor I broke down and started taking Ashley's antibiotics that she brought.  By the next morning I was feeling like I would survive another day, if all the crazy insects and spiders did not eat us first.  Ashley opened the door to her bungalow and her and Brian saw a snake that they both swear was a cobra after googling what they had seen, funny thing was Brian was standing on the bed rocking worse than Ashley.  Well not for long though, a couple of days later Brian went on a snorkeling trip so me and Ashley decided to risk our lives again and drive our toy car. Over in Thailand you drive on the wrong side of the road, and it was a stick, which is also backwards, so needless to say that was interesting, but it got better.  After we got into the town I see a spider (bigger than a tarantula) walk right in front of my face on the inside windshield, now I am trying to drive in traffic on the wrong side of the street and I just freak, but I knew if ashley saw it we were for sure going to the mental ward (she has arachnaphobia) so I am yelling at her to just get out of the car, she keeps asking why, and somehow does not see what I am screaming about.  I jump out in the middle of the street screaming, she is out of the car by this time and sees it, starts screaming, while all the thai people just stare at us.  I knew I had to get that thing out or we were abandoning this piece there and then so I hit it with a water bottle and it flew out the window.  After googling this spider we think it was a cane spider, they are huge and harmless (we are told) google it for funsies.

So after five nights on this island jungle we caught the ferry out today and I have never been so happy, even ok with the fact that due to high airline ticket prices off the island (everyone must want off) that we were facing a 3 hour ferry, onto a 4 hour bus ride, onto a 30 minute van ride, and then onto a longtail boat for 20 minutes to our next destination, Railay Beach in Krabi.  Krabi area is known for it's rock climbing, Brian actually has a friend living here to climb so he is trying to meet up with him. This island is down towards Phuket in the southern part of Thailand  and is on the Andamann Sea.  Me and Ashley have decided that we feel it here more, not so jungley.  Very small little island, very green and tropical, no cars or scooters or roads for that matter, only way on or off is by boat.  Our hotel is very nice here and right on the beach, we are here for 3 nights, tomorrow I will put some pictures of this island up, huge green limestone cliffs jetting up out of the water, very beautiful.  Hope everyone back home is staying warm, it is hotter than hell here! Well I must go throw Brian's clothes out of our room, they smell like well..... let's just leave that to your imagination.

 

Lisa"

Changes to the video!

We made some changes to the video so check it out!

A & B C the World Teaser from Brian Chace on Vimeo.

The Beach

After a few days on Koh Phangan, we have adjusted to the life of island children. We discovered our favorite beach on the island, Haad Salaad- so if you are ever on the island, check it out, it's pretty idyllic!

 

Waterfall with a Go Pro!

So today we rented a small Suzuki and headed to the waterfall. I haven't really used my Go Pro yet so I'm still learning but the photos and video looks great. Here are some photos from our adventure on Koh Phangan so far...

 

Here we come paradise!

So here is another one of me trying to figure it out. I've got self portraits down!

 Us after a long walk, some rain, and a dip in the falls.

 Of course we ended the day with cocktails on the beach.

Mommy dearest is here!

Ashley's mom Lisa arrived late last night, so we got up this morning and spent the whole day wandering through the city. Here are the photos of the Pink Duo (Caution, you will be forced to wear these shirts or worse if not properly dressed for temples!).

 Here they are standing next to a guard at the Grand Palace

 

 Enjoying a foot massage after a long day

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