December again

I made it through Blogvember, but fell just short of my goal. I did not blog quite every day, but very nearly almost did. Anyway, I'm proud of what I accomplished, even if none of my entries were earth shattering. At least it got me writing again!

The She & Him Christmas CD is adorable. I don't like the version of Baby It's Cold Outside that's on it, though; she sang a cuter version in Elf.

For a day when I got out of bed too late to shower, I sure did get a lot of compliments on my hair today.

A 2-day work week is much, much too long after 5 days in Arizona. Never again will I get off a flight at 11pm and go to work the very next morning. There needs to be a day to recoup in there somewhere.

The view from Aron's and my hotel room:


You're in a desert. Go left.


All I need out of a vacation.

Too tired for words

Grand Skywalkers

I'm not even sure I can put into words how awesome today was. We saw the Grand Canyon, we walked on the glass bridge, we saw and fed the fattest goat ever, I discovered I'm not a bad shot with a bow and arrow, I almost won a macbook, I sucked some more at bowling, I won and lost at video poker, I played black jack...

My grandpa said today that this has been his best birthday ever. I think this has been my best vacation ever, and I've had some pretty damn amazing vacations before.

I walked on the sky today.

Today's advice comes from my dear, sweet, amazingly active 80-year-old grandpa: Conserve water; shower with a friend.

California Dreaming

Today is my Grandpa's 80th birthday, the reason for our surprise trip down here. We went to Oatman, AZ, a town on Route 66 straight out of the gold rush era. There were wild burrows, a staged bank robbery and gun fight, crumbling old buildings, and about a thousand gift shops. There was a wild donkey tussle in which a man next to us was knocked very suddenly to the ground; that's when I stopped trusting donkeys, those jackasses. We stopped in Needles, CA for lunch, fresh jerky, and the ability to say we went to California on this trip, and then we proceeded to Lake Havasu.

In the spring, Lake Havasu is a hopping spring break destination, full of busy shops and restaurants and scantily clad young women. Today, it was full of closed, empty shops, and only a few other people besides the eight of us. But we saw what we went there to see: the original London Bridge, moved there in 1971. Pretty strange to see the British flag, old and very British lamp posts, and palm trees. We took a lot of pictures and then moved on the watch the sun set behind the mountains next to a small replica of Split Rock lighthouse.

We got Grandpa some birthday ice cream and now are trying to decide what to do for the remainder of the evening. I'd love to fall into bed after yet another full day, but I have a feeling I'm going to get outvoted on that one.

Tomorrow: the Grand Canyon!

The best vacation.

Bullhead City, Arizona, where my grandpa lives, is in a different time zone than Laughlin, Nevada, where my family and I are staying. This makes for very confusing itinerary arranging.

I love when hotels have everything. Ours, for instance, has a buffet, a 24-hour restaurant, various food court type places, a casino, a billion stores (where EVERYTHING is covered in bling...why is everything in old Vegas SO covered in bling??), a movie theater, some bars, a car museum/showroom, and a bowling alley. We went bowling tonight, and while I scraped a measley 69, my dad got got over 200 and had five strikes in a row. Five!!! Crazy awesome.

Shrimp cocktail is only good if the shrimp are nice and big and displayed in such a way that allows you to pick up one at a time. When there are 30 little shrimps in a sundae glass, covered and mixed with cocktail sauce, it doesn't take very long before I find them creepy and unappetizing instead of delicious.

So far I'm down money in gambling, but I'm definitely up on headbands.

Today's bit of sage wisdom comes from a lady in our elevator, on oxygen and driving a scooter: "Have a good evening and life."

Laughing in Laughlin

Today I got on a plane for the first time since December 6, 2010. Oh, how I've missed flying! Not flight attending, but flying and airplanes and mountains...oh my! Towards the end of our flight, I started telling Pam and Aron about the reasons behind the rules that people think are dumb - why seats and tray tables have to be up, why you have to wear a seatbelt, why you can't hold your purse in your lap, etc. It has a lot to do with how the plane acts in turbulence and during a crash. The surrounding passengers probably didn't like that too much. Oh well.

We got into Laughlin around 9:20. My grandpa knew my mom and dad were coming for a visit, but he didn't know that my aunt and her husband, Pam, me, and Aron were also coming. We surprised the hell out of him, for sure. It's his 80th birthday on Monday, and he's just thrilled that we all showed up.

So far we've gone to In N Out, napped, decided that Laughlin is like an old Las Vegas, watched a holiday boat parade, shopped, had Mexican food and margaritas, and taken a dip in the hot tub. Despite ridiculous amounts of wind, it has been a delightful, wonderful, awesome vacation so far.

I leave you for now with some advice my dad has given me today: "Get a room!" and "Eat less, drink more!"

Black Friday.

My sister and I went to Target at 11 last night to stand in line for a camera she wanted. We got in at 12.05, and the TV I wanted to look at was gone (I didn't have high hopes, really). There were plenty of cameras, though, if you could only navigate through the sea of people to get to them! It was insanity. After much walking around and picking things up and putting them back down, she decided she didn't want the camera, and I decided the $9 stick vacuum I wanted wasn't worth the line...so we left with nothing. We went to Target at 11pm, waited in line for an hour, and left with NOTHING.

But I went back later, and I got my vacuum. Best $9 I ever spent! Seriously, I love it. I got a couple new purses at Kohl's, and resisted buying any of the ridiculously overpriced Kindle cases anywhere.

Now I don't know what I'm doing here, blogging. It took me awhile to pack, and then of course I had to blog, but really I should be sleeping. I have to be to the airport at 4am, after all.

Next up: Live from Arizona!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm far, far too busy to post on Thanksgiving. There's too much good food to eat, too many turkeys to color, too many ads to look through.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sifting and sorting

I don't know why I wait until so late in the day to blog; I could easily write things much earlier in the day.

Today, for instance, I got off work a whopping 3 hours early! I was home enjoying the sunshine and my cat by 2:30. This was especially delightful since most days, it's dark out by the time I leave work, where I have no windows at all, anywhere. I'd be safe in a tornado there, but I would have no idea it was happening.

Sitting on the couch with my cat in my lap and my Kindle in hand is my new favorite thing. It's amazing. Also, thanks to some excellent people, my Kindle is suddenly getting pretty fat and happy. I have almost everything I've ever wanted on it! Almost.

In unrelated news, I've been discussing the concept of intellectual property a lot recently. Jess and I came to the conclusion that it's an interesting concept, and it had its place for awhile, but it was a concept that was only applicable from the mid 1800s until the internet. The end.

Which is not to say that I don't want to pay for anything ever. If you write a book, I will gladly pay you for the pleasure of reading it. But...I would like to pay you once, and I would like to be able to read it in any/every format of my choice. I would like to buy your song once, and listen to it on as many computers and devices as I want.

I think this is the direction we're heading in, but some people are reluctant to go there. Aron told me that if you buy a record, it often comes with a code to download the album on itunes. If you buy a blu-ray, you get the dvd and a digital copy with it. Hopefully soon the same will apply to books - buy a book, get a code to download it to your preferred e-reader as well. That would be loverly indeed.


Pam and I spent the evening baking: two batches of brownies, a pumpkin pie, and a pumpkin roll. I made the pie crust, and I hope it's super delicious. It's gluten free, but it looked and felt like gluten-ful dough! I hope it turns out alright.

While Pam did much of the baking, I sorted Kindle files. There's a program that lets you make sure the title and author are correct, fill in the series it's a part of and what number in the series that book is, AND change the cover art! It makes me very happy to have all of this arranged now.

I'm so looking forward to the next week. Oh, did I mention I don't go back to work until a week from tomorrow? Yeah, a week. From tomorrow. I'm gonna do so much reading!

Kindling

I almost forgot to blog tonight because I was too busy reading on my new Kindle. Never has it been so easy to read a big, heavy book with my kitten in my lap! So, so delightful. So worth it. So much fun.

Aron and I ventured to Poor Richard's for dinner again, a restaurant conveniently located equidistant from our houses. Crab quesadillas and shrimp scampi? Yes please. The slowest service I've gotten perhaps ever mixed with incorrect refills and taking my plate without asking if I'm done? Mmmmm, not so much, thanks.

Today is Tuesday, but it is like Thursday in that tomorrow is my last day of work for the week. But then I don't go back until NEXT Thursday, and that, my friends, is amazing. I'm so looking forward to vacation! I love my job, but I suspect I will love it even more after a week away from it.

My favorite thing is when Mabel sleeps under the Christmas tree, like the furriest, fattest little present.

Speaking of. Care to put your sleuthing skills to the test? There is a movie (that probably came out sometime after 2003?) wherein the characters lay down under the Christmas tree and look up through the branches. I believe one character does it first, then another two join the initial character. It was all over livejournal in icon form. I am almost positive it is in a Harry Potter movie; Jess is certain it is not. Does anyone, anywhere have the slightest idea what I'm talking about? .... Anyone?