Outdoorsy, I Am Not

My dad is a very outdoorsy kind of fellow. He loves hunting and fishing and camping, so many of our family vacations were camping trips. However, as I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate the finer things in life, such as beds and showers and maid service.

Feller, on the other hand, LOVES camping. He’s been trying to get me to go camping with him since we started dating, but he didn’t have any definite camping plans until a friend of his invited us to go with them on a big group camping trip this weekend. And because I couldn’t think of any terribly convincing reasons NOT to go, and because he wanted to go SO BAD, camping we went.

And it was fun. It was nice to get away from the house and all the accompanying distractions: internet, Netflix, video games, and I really, really liked the campfires and the smores and the drinking and the sitting around all of Saturday afternoon knitting. Unfortunately, the elevation got to me a little bit, and I had some trouble breathing, plus I was FREAKING EXHAUSTED despite not having done much of anything at all, and that made me a little grumpy.

Then there were the usual camping irritations: the packing and the tent and the driving six hours each way to get there and the screaming children (Lady, I understand that you’re tired, and I’m sorry you didn’t get any sleep last night because your two year old is a screamer, but at a communal campground, surrounded by strangers who are trying to sleep, is not an appropriate time to let her cry it out. I mean, REALLY.) and HOLY SHIT THE YELLOW JACKETS.

We did, thankfully, start out the actual camping on a high note when we discovered that the campground had honest to God actual TOILETS that FLUSH with SINKS and SOAP. No showers, but at least I didn’t have to deal with a nasty ass portapottie or a hole in the ground.

City Weekend

I really don’t get into San Francisco very often, despite living a 45 minute drive from the city. To be fair, a 45 minute drive is halfway to Phoenix in my mind, so it’s VERY DIFFICULT to convince myself to spend that much time traveling. Add in parking and other nonsense, and I just…no. Not to mention the fact that it’s ALWAYS COLD THERE WTF. But this past weekend, the feller had two birthday parties just a couple of miles apart (one a brunch and one an evening bar thing), and as it turned out, there was a Tweetup I wanted to attend hosted by two of my favorite bloggers, Nicole and Jamie, so we had a full day planned. And it was every bit as awesome as I wanted it to be.

The breakfast brunch was amazing; that group of the feller’s friends are fun and welcoming. There was good food and champagne for breakfast and holy crap, do you know how delicious Martinelli’s Prickly Passion Lemonade is? And even though it’s 120 calories for 10 ounces, and I try to avoid drinking juice because of all the sugar and such, I probably BARELY had 10 ounces of the stuff because my drinks were more like champagne with a splash of juice for color. Not that champagne is any better for me. And so it was 2 pm, and I had a nice buzz going and some good chats with awesome ladies, and the feller and I BOTH managed to pass out during the festivities. Though I, at least, had the decency to wait until the party was essentially over before snagging a quick nap. What? We’re not used to being up at 11 AM and not being able to nap on the weekends.

And then coffee and the Tweetup. Part of me was kind of nervous because what if in real life Nicole was all loud and attention-whorey and I ended up hating her because I’M kind of loud and attention-whorey and having another person like that around exhausts and frustrates me and then I wouldn’t be able to ever read her blog again because it would just remind me that she’s totally not that great in real life and then I would be a sad panda. BUT! She was awesome, though I didn’t really get a chance to talk to her or Jamie due to the noisy bar, the biggest round table I’ve ever seen and the next birthday event starting an hour-ish after the Tweetup. I look forward to hanging with these ladies again sometime.

I love LOVE LOVE my lazy weekends at home when I don’t have to do anything but sleep and sit on the couch watching bad but oh so entertaining television, and I’m so glad we had no Sunday plans, but Saturdays like this one are refreshing.

Whoo!! Wine is awesome!

Me and Carrie Ryan, originally uploaded by Being a Dilettante.

Last week, I drove into San Francisco (sigh) to get my copy of Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves signed. If you may recall, Forest of Hands and Teeth was one of my favorite books of 2009, and Dead Tossed Waves was equally awesome. Carrie Ryan was amazing. She was funny and smart, and I’m totally looking forward to her next book, not to mention short stories she has coming out in several different anthologies like Unicorns vs. Zombies, which I was pretty much going to buy anyways.) I’m so glad I made the trek into the city for this, because I almost didn’t.

I also may have spent almost $30 on really fantastic greeting cards.

I was going to talk about exercise and stuff, but, as always, weekends have become my off times. Oh well. I’m doing pretty well 5 days a week, so I’ll give myself Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Went to this really great Farmer’s Market this early afternoon. I’m hoping to get there earlier in the day in the next couple of weeks to browse and buy some flowers and maybe get some breakfast stuff (so if anyone has any fruit/pastry preferences, he might want to let me know). I also want to spend some time buying veggies for the coming week. There was some lovely looking spinach and carrots, so I can only hope for an even better selection at a time that is not 15 minutes before the pack up to go home. Also, I’ll need my flip flops (YAAAAY).