Tom & Louise

I am not sure there are words to do these two people justice, but this is a blog and words are what I have. I met Tom & Louise (or maybe Louise would prefer that I say Louise and Tom) on a study abroad to Vienna in 2010. It was by far the best summer of my life. Louise and Tom were a huge proponent of that being true. They gave us the freedom we needed, but the guidance we craved. Louise taught us all about words and how it could be fun to keep track of who you are and where you are going. She’s the reason that I journal today. Tom taught us about photography and made us keep a blog. He’s the reason that I still blog today. These people, these vivacious, hearty, full people changed me.

Today I had the chance to catch up with them for a couple hours and it was such a treat. Louise was cracking jokes and Tom was keeping up. As soon as I walked in the door Louise said, “You’re shorter than I remember,” cracked a huge smile and pulled me into a hug. We covered all sorts of topics from babies, to old age, to Michael Jackson, to desserts, to boobs, to anything and everything in between. The one thing that I think I love the most about them is how honest they are. How important it is to them to have fun. I wish I could capture how funny they are but its pretty much impossible.

Some of my favorite quotes were:
“If you have left a chocolate dessert in the fridge all day obviously you don’t want it”
“Was it Ale that broke up with the guy with the one testicle?”
“He would make them call in at 10pm, and I just thought that was from the Devil.”
“Rules for photographing me: 1. Only photograph from the front. 2. Do not take a photo from the side, I have no chin. 3. No pictures of my Boobs. 4. No Full Body Shots.”
“I need some adult diapers because no one wants to change their underwear every half an hour”
“That’s a wonderful gift to be able to raise one eyebrow”
“If there is a God like this I am never speaking to him… “
“Jesus changed my tire last night”
“If you have a sprained ankle, and it’s 100 degrees, up the hill is too far! So we go up and look at a castle that is BRAND NEW, it was where Maria Teresa had once had a castle, and they had tore it down and rebuilt it and we are looking at a brand new building there was nothing historical!”

Coolest names mentioned:
Obert Sky
Sweden Bee
Harley Buzzbee
Ima Hog

(Louise I guess you’re going to have to tell me what I can or can’t leave up?) hah.

I also wish I would’ve taken more photos of their house because it is the most charming thing in the world. You can catch up with Louise’s blog here (it’s one of the only ones that I read these days) and Tom’s art here. They are cool and you should know them.

And then there is this which basically sums up their personalities perfectly.