October Thoughts and May Dreams

1.  Every time fall comes I dread the food choices.  I hate pumpkin everything.  Why can't we have raspberry season where everyone goes crazy with different kinds of raspberry items?  Raspberry cheesecake, raspberry spice lattes, raspberry cookies, raspberry pie shakes.
In other food: I also don't like bones in my meat so I don't eat turkey come Thanksgiving.  I don't like ham, stuffing, or gravy.  For me, fall is just the season of bad food.

2. I had a four year old in at work this week who wanted to get on the computer.  At my workplace in order to get on the computer you need a library card or some form of ID.  Since he had neither and his mother wasn't with him to show her ID he asked if he could make a library card.  I said of course, gave him crayons and some scrap paper and he made his own library card.  Of course he expected to get on the computer with it.  There is some hope for the younger generations.

3. We had a staff pumpkin decorating contest at work which is currently going on.  I made my pumpkin into an elephant which I'm actually quite proud of.  Go vote on it so I can win some pizza.

4. My mom and I went to Pittsburgh yesterday to do some shopping.  I'm very disappointed in the fashions this season.  Everything is bulky, thick, insanely patterned, and is the same from store to store.  There is also no color.  This is coming from someone who had an entire black closet in the 8th grade.

5. The Browns lost today.  lol.  Honestly, I really like football but I think the NFL is a shitty organization so I don't support any of their teams.  A lot of players have issues, are overpaid and just don't have anywhere near as much heart in the game as high school football players do.

6.  Does anyone actually get salmonella from eating raw cookie dough?  I'm thinking it's all just lies.

7. I refuse to believe I fall the first snow flakes of the season yesterday.  Absolutely refuse.

Killer BLT's

Fall has arrived in Northeast Ohio.  With that comes indecisive weather, my first cold of the season, and an unsurprising influx of bad drivers.  At least there's still apple cider.

1. Evan and I have been making our rounds to places we wanted to visit again before a very hopeful move next year.  This past September we went to Amish Country which I have never been that big of a fan of but it's just one of those Ohio things.  As usual, the food was fabulous at Der Dutchman and I was able to find a few art pieces for myself and an item for my mom.  One thing that I absolutely love about Amish County is the scenery and just overall happiness of the people visiting.  It's hard to be pissed off on a Monday when you are surrounded by the simplicity of the rolling hills of nature and tiny shops of random oddities.

2.  Going along with a very hopeful move next year, I have been reading the books I own that I haven't read yet and deciding which ones I really want to keep.  My goal is to lug as little as possible because that would just make sense.  You don't want a lot of baggage in a new relationship so why would you want it in new living quarters?  I have been constantly getting rid of clutter and really trying to narrow down my material goods.

3. I have discovered that I am HORRIBLE with candles.  I recently finished off a candle that I started burning in May.  First of all, I didn't burn it long enough during the first light so the "life line" of the candle didn't take up the whole diameter so every time it burned, it would stop in the same circle it was first lit instead of going to the edges.  I was determined not to make the same mistake with this new candle.  Well...I accidentally cut the wick too short and after two and a half hours of burning it still had a tiny pool.  So now this one has an even smaller life line.  Like many Browns fans, there's always next time.

4.  I made fastpasses for our upcoming WDW trip at midnight and we had no problems at all getting what we wanted.  We are so excited for our already fifth trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.  Each trip just keeps getting better and better.  This year will be our longest trip with six park days and two and a half days off.

5.  Besides planning Disney we have also been discussing what we want to do on our spring trip to NYC.  We have NEVER been and oh damn there is so much to choose from.  All the food, sights, sounds, smells, gah!  This has been on hold planning-wise at least until after Christmas.  It's still so much fun to think about though.

Midnight Memories

Yesterday, I attended the One Direction concert here in Cleveland and I learned many things.

First, let's rewind to last September when tickets first went on sale.

Actually, let's go back even further to summer of 2012 when 'What Makes You Beautiful' was one of the biggest songs.  At first, I was annoyed with the song.  It was always on the radio, people were always singing it in public, and it was just in my face EVERYWHERE.  I was sick of it and would piss and moan every time I heard it.  Then, one of my best friends and I would hear it while heading to or home from the beach that summer and ironically I would sing along.  LeakyCon Chicago came around near the end of that summer and the song was still in full force.  People were jamming to it around the hotel and of course it was played at the Ester Earl Charity Ball where hundreds of us were jamming.  I had started to grow an appreciation for the song.

Time went by and I never paid the band much attention.  I did like 'One Thing' but that was about as far as I got.  Now, back to last September.  One of my other best friends had NEVER been to a concert before and she really enjoyed 1D's music and stated that she would love to see them in concert.  So when she found out they were coming to Cleveland on their tour next year I knew we would go so tickets were purchased.

The year leading up to the concert I again didn't pay them much mind.  I was going for a friend and I was okay with that.  Most of our time in the car consisted on listening to at least one of their CD's and while I caught on to a few of the songs, I never exclusive sought time to listen to their music.

Yesterday, the day came.  I was going to a concert where thousands of screaming girls,  most likely at least a few years younger than myself, would go absolutely bonkers for these guys on stage.  Oh joy.  However, the way the boys were on stage impressed me.  They were very thankful of their fans and you can tell that they know they wouldn't be where they are now if it weren't for the fans.  They were constantly thanking everyone and showing such an appreciative-ness that I have never seen at any of the several concerts I've been to.  In fact they even solidified that the lead singer of Papa Roach is an asshole because instead of thanking everyone he just called everyone fuckers.  The boys were also very mature but also had tasteful fun on stage.  They weren't trying to get with any girls and instead spoke to an older couple that were celebrating their anniversary.

In summary, these are the things I learned:

1. These thousands of screaming girls have passion and it's contagious.  They care so much for these gentlemen it's really quite astonishing.  Not all of them just want to bang them, they care about their life and are supportive through everything the band has been through this year.  It's really great to see something so positive in such a negative world.  I was given hearts and glow sticks by some of the fans that I didn't even know to hold up during certain songs to show support.

2. The UK raise their men right and the US has a looooong way to go to catch up.

3. The Rapid is full of thirsty dudes.  To the point of being ridiculous.

4. Take a chance on things.  You may learn something. ;)

Tomorrow's Just Another Day and I Don't Believe in Time

Time goes by and I have celebrated yet another birthday.  I am now 25 and many people have reminded me that this also equals a quarter of a century.  Yippee?

Over the past few days or so I have mostly been thinking about places I have been and how a part of me will always be at some of those places that I have grown special attachments to.  Here are some examples:

1. The western side of Upstate New York on and around Lake Ontario.  These are where my very few family vacations have taken place.  It was here that I saw my immediate family in a different way other than just getting together to eat for holidays.  I also met and see my extended family here.  I've enjoyed staying at cottages right on the lake here.  It will always be one of my favorite places to go and will continue to be like another home to me.

2. Robertson Lake in Ontario, Canada.  This was my first real vacation and ultimate camping experience.  Part of me will always be at this little lake of wonder.  It's where I first gained confidence in swimming.  It's where I first really discovered my appreciation of nature.

3.  Pine Island beach/Inverness/Orlando, Florida.  As an Ohioan you are taught that Florida is paradise.  When I finally made it there in 2009 at 19 I was amazed by how different (yet strangely similar) Florida is to everything that I'm used to in Ohio.  I still get extremely excited every time I see palm trees and geckos everywhere.  I had the opportunity to discover more of Florida than just Disney World in the summer of 2012 during a roadtrip that just made me love the state even more.

4.  Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois.  Whenever I think about Chicago I think about the canal in Lurie Gardens in Millennium Park.  I loved the peace that soaking my feet in the canal gave in the middle of the city.

Millennium Park is the only place in this list that I have been to just once.  All of the others have been twice with the exception of the Orlando area of Florida which is now around five times and soon to be six.

Each of these places are very special to me and I always look forward to visiting new places to add to the list.

Month 1 of 12

1.  January ends this week which has given me my first taste of what 2015 has to offer so far.  Let's take a look:

• a) Karma has been working so far.  Bravo.
• b) Less worrying.  I've learned to trust myself more.
• c) Giving less shits.  This has proven to be one of the best things so far.  I narrowed down what I see on Facebook to a select few people that I actually would care to see updates from.  Everyone else I see when I didn't click on the "Close Friends" column fast enough.  I spent too much time looking at everyone's updates.  Now that time is better spent watching The Simpsons.
• d) Taking on new things at work which has been very exciting.
• e) Losing some loved ones.  This mostly effects Evan but what effects Evan also effects to me.  RIP Casey Joe and Uncle Rick.

2.  Life Planning.  This has suddenly become more exciting than scary as fuck.  Disclaimer: this has nothing to do with children, getting married, or any of that other "gender norm wants" crap.  

3.  Snow still sucks.  Unless it does it when I don't have to go anywhere.  In that case, it still sucks, just significantly less.

4.  Vacation planning.  I've never planned a vacation on my own.  As in booking hotels, planning where to go on what day to make everything go smoothly and experience as many things as possible.  Which is especially hard when it's places I have never been at all.  Or even know anything about.  

5. Trying to organize and let go of things I don't need.  This actually goes along with the life planning.  When the time comes, I would like to transition the smallest amount of things I can.  The problem is, getting myself motivated to do this.  I had a lot of motivation at the end of 2014 and it has since subsided.  Unfortunately.

6.  I only have 4 pages left of my final Disney World scrapbook.  I said it would be finished before the end of February and it most definitely will be.  Woot!

2015 Bookish Resolutions

1. Read more series.  Including:

• Percy Jackson and if I fall in love with it then Heroes of Olympus so I can have debates with my co-workers.
• Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
• Finish the Shatter Me series (I'm planning on doing this in January IF UNRAVEL ME WILL EVER COME IN AT THE LIBRARY *ahem*)
• Infernal Devices trilogy.  Even though I didn't like City of Bones, I would like to give her other series a shot.
• Actually finish the Twilight series because I never read Breaking Dawn.  I'll probably have to re-read the series because it's been a loooong time.
• Throne of Glass, Falling Kingdoms, Shadow and Bone, Mara Dyer, Lunar Chronicles, gah so many.

2. Read more books that I own.  I have too many un-read books on my shelves.  At least if I come across some I don't want to keep I can donate them and clear off room for books that I actually want there.