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27.3.14

Decisions, Decisions



In almost 2 months I will be 30 years old (not that I'm counting). I am in no way dreading this, in fact I am pretty pumped about it. I like where my life is and even better I like where it is heading.

The Beef and I are gearing up to become homeowners which is an experience that I find equally parts exciting and terrifying. 

After that our friends, family and society clearly expect us to follow this life path:
 
                                  ^ House

Heck, I can't deny that that's the way I thought things would go.

But you know what? I'm not sold on it.

If you know me personally your head just might have exploded and for that I apologize.

I'm at the point in my life where most of my friends now have children and I absolutely love and adore those little ones. As a result it has been very easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all and participate in conversations about our future spawn.


It's always remained such an abstract concept to me though and when I finally decided to sit down and actually give it some real logical thought I was more than a little shocked to discover that I did not currently find the thought of procreating appealing one bit.


My first thought was that maybe I was just having a bad day, maybe my hormones were out of whack. I found myself in a daze of confusion and decided to sit on it for a little while.

As time went by I found that my feelings on the subject seemed to be genuine. I found this a bit startling as I don't really know anyone who has vocalized that this is their chosen path. To me it seemed like the great unknown. So I started to do some research and oh my, I was surprised to find that the concept of a child-free life is apparently a hot button topic. There are people weighing in on both sides of the argument and they appear to be just as focused and forceful as you would find in an abortion or gay marriage debate. Why choices like this are anyone else business I will never understand. Though it struck me as odd that both sides of the argument seemed to prefer the use of the term "selfish" to describe the opposing party.
It was interesting to see so many other takes on an idea that I hadn't even thought to discuss out loud yet and it really gave me a lot to think about. Suddenly, something that I thought about, albeit in an abstract way, that seemed somehow inevitable is now a path I don't have to take at all if that is what I decide. 

I can't say with any certainty that it's something we will end up choosing but for now it is certainly a topic for discussion and I find a certain measure of comfort and a distinct lack of pressure knowing that "yes or no" is a real option. 

25.3.14

Big News!

I am Batman.


Or at least that's what I've been telling myself to keep my spirits up ever since something went terribly wrong in my neck.  See that face he's making? He's not giving you the sassy side eye, he just can't turn his neck. I know the feeling dude. 

For years the bat turn has been one of my favorite jokes in the world. Imitating it has always brought me such joy. Have no choice but to do it? Not so much.




Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to find out what in the world I've done to find myself in this world of bat-turns and excruciating pain. In the mean time I'm going to continue looking super sexy in my 

kinesio tape and while making people think I have better things to do than look at them. 

18.3.14

Let's have a chuckle!

Having decided on a timeout from social media for 40 days I've had to go about finding alternate ways to amuse myself. For one, the house has never been cleaner, I'm ripping through books like crazy and I think I've come up with every possible decoration scheme for our future home via pinterest. 

I'm also laughing a lot more. The real out loud kind, not the noiseless laugh that one tends to do while browsing the internet. I thought I would share a few things that really tickled my funny bone recently. 

Warning: I've been told my sense of humor is strange.



This little gem caused water to erupt from many places on my face. 



I thought this was so amusing I had to share it and almost no one else did.


I hope my life never depends the ability to eat with chopsticks.


No words. Just none.


*snort*




17.3.14

Adventure time!

Generally I am not much for traveling though I do enjoy the occasional adventure. I have no aspirations to see the world and I don't really anticipate ever leaving the continent. (Hear that Canada? There's still hope) so when I do venture out if my comfort zone you can usually find me equal patsy amused and uncomfortable.

At this moment I am blogging from Michigan, more specifically the thumb. The Big Cheese moved out this way last year and this is my first opportunity to come and check it out. It's also his 58th birthday!! 



As he likes to say, "it might not be the end of the world but you can see it from here." 

This is a small town, lots of farms, no hills and scant tree coverage that allows you to see forever into the distance. Being from New England I tend to find this a bit unsettling. 

Don't get me wrong, it certainly is pretty out here but I also feel like I've been transported back in time a few decades.
The view from my bedroom window with a lovely shot of a wind farm in the distance. I am obsessed with wind farms I could stare at the turbines for hours completely mesmerized. 

Much like back home winter hasn't relented it's icy gripe quite yet so many of the big cheese's Christmas decorations are still frozen into the ground. Happy st. Patricks day! 

In the back yard there's a clothes line followed by farm land that goes on forever. The view from the front of the house isn't ant different which of course brings to mind the children of the corn. 



There is something to be said about the simplicity and tranquility of it though. I'd like to experience it in the summer. 


It's hard to know what you're looking at here but that pathetic little plant is actually a grape vine I bought my father almost a decade ago and it survived the journey out here, absolutely amazing. 



The cheese was thrilled to show off the local (nothing is really local out here in the sense of the world I'm familiar with) sights which included Bronners Christmas wonderland which bills itself as the worlds largest Christmas store and I believe it. Upon entering they hand you a map and my head just about exploded. I walked around for a good hour in a daze with my mouth hanging open. If you're ever out this way and if you happen to not be a complete grinch I highly recommend checking it out. 


On sight they also have the silent night memorial chapel (I forgot to take a picture the one from the brochure will just have to do). This a full scale replica of the chapel in Oberndorf, Austria where silent night "Austria's gift to the world" was first performed on guitar because the organ was broken, on Christmas Eve in 1818. 



The cheese explained to me that Frankenmuth was settled by a group of German Lutherans and from there it was just kind of expected that I would love it. It's a little Bavarian tourist trap so of course I did. Besides there was bratwurst for lunch so what's not to love?

And the I found the clock company and for the second time that day my head exploded. As we learned from my trip to ikea I have a hereditary clock obsession. I just had to peek inside. 



Needless to say I was not disappointed. If my current cuckoo clock didn't have so muh sentimental value I might have replaced it on the spot. Well, if I'd ever be able to pick just one to bring home. 


There's a lot of driving to get to anywhere thankfully I find the wind farms bountiful and soothing. 


Otherwise this is pretty much your view the entire time. 


Isn't this just so much better to look at?

My step brother has a 40 minute drive to school each way which I find hard to wrap my head around. There seems to be more churches than people and an inexplicable number of oil change places. Also you need one satalite dish for cable and a seperate one for Internet out in the sticks. 



But you can get a heck of a view of the stars out here, watch a spectacular sun or moon rise and now it's where my daddy lives so who am I kidding? I can't help but love it.  



I went light on pictures this trip in favor of being more in the moment but I did manage to catch this gem of the cheese photo bombing my brother while he skyped his girlfriend. This was after he crept along the living room and then jumped up while shouting "I'm photo bombing you!" 



Too short a trip as always, heading home tomorrow and hoping to bring along with me some of the simplicity I've been surrounded with out here.

Speaking of simplicity, I gave up Facebook, Twitter & Instagram for lent and it has been the absolute best decision ever. Unplugging was not as painful as I imagined it to be and I highly recommend it.