Life in Spades

Can you tell it is a holiday?

I have finally posted all the blog entries I had in "draft" that cover my activities, more or less, for the last month.
I also finally uploaded the 200 pictures I had between my old and new cameras, so now I can officially only use the new camera. It takes great photos, but I am still getting used to charging it. Unfortunately that means I have no pictures of Mom and Dad's Turkey Trot.

Other miscellaneous notes:
1. I took the GRE and got above 1200 (yes, GRE is still like the old SAT, a perfect score is 1600). Since this is a nice average score, I am pleased.
2. My release has finally started. Now the real stress can begin. Can I keep everything moving forward, juggling new requirements, not enough people, and shorter amounts of time without any motivational tools at my disposal?
3. For the first time in a long time, I am not done with my christmas shopping before christmas. I know, this is probably a sign of the end of the world.

Finally, I missed the thankful part of November. My sister usually emails me to keep up with my thankfulness, and without her prompting, the month has passed me by without any remarks. So in no particular order, here are a few of the little things I am thankful for:

1. Tivo and it's ability to make me the favorite sister, I hope
2. Cupcakes and their ability to make me the favorite fake aunt, I hope
3. Good colleagues
4. A sister to have dinner with
5. A sister to hang out with
6. A sister to call and talk on the phone with
7. A sister to text
8. Parents who run races
9. The challenge of an exam
10. Learning to work with someone new
11. Movie FHE nights
12. Swing dancing
13. 1.50 movie nights
14. Friends to be social with
15. Vacation days
16. A car that can drive long distances
17. A job that pays the bills and lets me do fun things
18. Apples
19. Bertolli
20. Finding the perfect pair of brown boots at DSW on sale with a coupon
21. Orchestra
22. Home teachers
23. Long, leisurely dinners and the conversations that go with them
24. Realizing that I have many BFFs, and am fortunate to continue to find good friends
25. Face to face is still a better connection than facebook
26. Asking someone to help out at work, and knowing that will be taken care of because they are reliable
27. Sunday dinners
28. Clean kitchen
29. Guacamole
30. An extra day off for Thanksgiving

I get by with a little help from my friends

The summer of 1987 we moved from Scotland back to Maryland. We landed in Gaithersburg, in a cute little neighborhood with duplexes and single family homes called Pheasant Run. We lived at the top of the court, and a family who lived on the corner at the bottom of the court brought over dinner. They had three kids the same age as me, my brother and my sister, and they were also Mormon. My best friend is now married with two children, and owns a home in Pennsylvania. I know, reading that sentence, who knew we had grown up this much? I remember sleeping over at her house as a kid.... and now, when I go to visit, I sleep in her daughters room instead :)

I got to visit my best friend and her brand new baby, and see the new house a couple of weekends ago. It was really cool to help out, and to relax. We got to see some cool craft stores in town, I raked some leaves, we watched movies, went to a park, and I took her daughter to a class and picked up cupcakes..... Yes, I am trying for "favorite fake aunt" :)
Sometimes the best vacations are ones where you just get to visit, and enjoy other people. My friend has a beautiful family, and I am glad I am a part of their lives.

Halloween

Happy Halloween!

When I was a senior I lived with my best friend. We decided to go out with a bang, and hit Franklin St for Halloween. But first, we needed costumes. We headed down to Crabtree Valley Mall to look for something suitable. We found some cheap pleather black pants and a pair of vests. So we decided to be biker babes, and got some bandanas. We walked Franklin Street, and then decided we were cold, so we headed home. (I wish I could have found the picture of us, and a scanner.... )

This year, I was Elfaba from Wicked, and my friends and I are heading out to some parties and then onto Franklin Street. Since my friends haven't lived here, they haven't ever been to a Franklin Street party. I got a couple of people to break into songs from Wicked, we saw Beyonce do the Single Ladies, and we heard Thriller. It was a good halloween.

High Adventure in the Mountains

My friends have not been to the mountains of North Carolina, so we thought it would be fun to go when the leaves were changing. It would also be a nice contrast to the beach camping trip we took over Labor Day. Since my sister lived in Boone, I wanted to go back there because I was familiar with some fun things to do, and I also hadn't gotten to do some other things yet.
We headed out Friday Oct 25, and drove straight into a rain storm. At least we got cook-out shakes on the road.

Setting up tents in the rain is not fun. And it meant the tents were pretty wet inside..... ok, there was a river on one side of the tent! So we went out to buy more tarps and towels to try to make it bearable. It did stop raining in the morning, but the ground was very soggy. Lucky for us, the campground had a laundry so we could dry out the sleeping bags and clothes that were wet. We enjoyed some pancakes for breakfast, and then got on the road. First stop: Linville Caverns. It was really cool to walk through the caverns, and we got to see a bat. Then we went to Grandfather Mountain and had a picnic. It was gorgeous and sunny. We saw the bears and eagles.



Then we hiked up to the Mile High Swinging Bridge. As we were hiking, clouds started flowing down the mountain. It was a really cool effect, but when we got to the top, it was covered in clouds, so we couldn't see the view. But we did walk across the swinging bridge, and it really does swing! As we walked down the mountain, we realized that the clouds were the rainy dreary kind, and they were there to stay. This dropped the temperature, and meant we spent 4 hours trying to get a fire going to cook our foil dinners. Once the fire was going, it was warm, but we were damp and hungry. That night was pretty cold, so I slept in the car to try to avoid freezing. When I bought my sleeping bag, I was thinking of hot girls camp camping, so it is only good at 40 F, not in the 30's :) Sunday we went to church, and as we were walking out, someone said, whoa, I smell campfire! Apparently showering didn't help our coats, which were still smokey. As we took down camp, we realized how much water was in the tents.... yuck! Then we went to the Moses Cone Manor on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and hiked around the lake. It was a pretty sunny afternoon, and the leaves were crunchy under our feet. Then we drove to see the Viaduct, and headed home.

We stopped at my friends house in Greensboro for dinner. It was fun to see her, and her cute little girl.

Bottom Line: Boone is awesome, Cook-out shakes are awesome, my friends are awesome, and camping in the cold and rain is not something I want to do again.