Back to Nature

Hey Kids!  I'm getting ready for a big old-fashioned Camping Trip.  I'm going to be like the girls in The Parent Trap and make nice with the bears, and be Nature Girl for the weekend.

Here's the backstory:

For our wedding, J and I weren't really sure what all to put on our registry.  We already lived together (don't tell my parents), and we didn't need a lot of stuff.  So we put fun things on like Guitar Hero, for example (we actually spent almost our entire wedding night playing guitar hero, eating Thai food, and taking naps, which was super-fun) and Camping Gear.  So for the past almost-five years we have been the proud owners of a huge 8 person tent, a camping stove (with two burners!), a propane lantern, some nifty pots and pans, a queen sized air mattress, and sleeping bags.  

We haven't gone anywhere with all this stuff yet, though.  We did set up the tent twice - once in our old apartment, and once two years ago on our deck.  But the stove and lantern remained unopened, and waiting patiently for the time when we would take them out and use them.

Since this summer we're all about getting out into our gorgeous state, we decided that this weekend would be a camping weekend.  So this afternoon I'm stopping for good camping food, and then tomorrow we're going to head out to sleep under the stars.  If we like it, next week we'll reserve more spots at other campgrounds around CA for the rest of the summer.  If we hate it, we'll stick the gear on Craigslist.

I'll post pictures, but in the meantime, happy long weekend everyone.  Stay bug-free.

Bah!

So its the week between Christmas and new year's and I'm mad. I'm mad because Target already has Valentine's Day stuff out. Seriously? You can put Christmas stuff out in mid-freaking-October, but come December 26, it's time to sweep it all away and move on to the next moneymaker? I mean, come on, can we actually stop to enjoy a holiday for longer than five minutes? I hate to sound all “back in my day...when I walked to school uphill both ways...” but come on! No wonder we're all freaking out and ADD and all that crap. We spend months getting ready for Christmas and then it's over in a day! I am kind of getting over Target after all this. And I know it's not just them, but they're the ones I see. So that's my rant. Keep the flipping decorations up, at least till new year's! For pete's sake!

Halloween

We're all in the Halloween Spirit here. I'm actually not that much into Halloween, but I love fall, and Halloween comes in the fall, and so through using the transitive proof, I love Halloween. If Valentines Day came in the fall I'd love that just as much. But it doesn't, and so it's Halloween.

Yesterday we carved pumpkins, on display here. Mine is the happy one. J's is the skull and crossbones. We used a stencil kit from Target - I wish we could claim that much skill ourselves. We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas while carving. Today I worked on a new episode of my Renaissance English History Podcast - the history of Halloween. I'm loaded up on the candy corn and am officially ready for the trick-or-treaters!

A heartwarming sports story (and getting ready for Christmas)

my inlaws are coming for Christmas tomorrow, despite the snow. I'm looking forward to cooking and making a good spread. I think I'm probably the only person who misses being alone at Christmas, though. J and I spend so much time together, and I haven't had any time alone in the house with the decorations and cats. Plus we're all snowed in, so we're on top of each other. I used to love being alone with the decorations, and then with my cats, and I never missed having someone with me, or being with family. I guess I'm too much of a loner.

All my stuff is done, though, which leaves me with plenty of time to bake cookies. The house is pretty clean, despite the snow which makes it hard to keep clean. And my presents are all bought and/or made. We got out of the house yesterday and I got everything done. We still can't get to the post office, though, which means my parents are getting New Years' presents. Oh well. I'm snowed in. I'm not stressing.

And in the spirit of Not Sweating the Small Stuff, here's a heartwarming sports story. A football team learns that there are more important things than winning, and that sports are about empowering people. It made me cry.