lessons learned (in Moab)...

Roughly 2.5 years ago, I went on a road trip to Moab, Utah, with a group of my closest friends. I cannot think about that trip without smiling...

I remember having a super unlucky day our first full day there:

*I got food poisoning off of what must have been bad cream cheese.
(All I had for breakfast was a bagel with cream cheese, and orange juice)
*Said food poisoning made me vomit once at the hotel.
*We went mountain biking and said food poisoning made me vomit once on the trail.
(Don't worry, I ran away from a potential audience in my friends)

*On our way down the rocky trail on our mountain bikes,
I went over the handlebars of my bike.
Scary as it was, I didn't snap my neck or my spine or crack my noggin: SCORE!

*Oh yeah, I shredded my pants with the biking incident. In the front.
From knee to waistband. (Talk about humiliation!)
*Oh yeah, and my legs got pretty bruised from "the incident" as well.
*I lost my wallet that evening too. Yep, I had my purse, but my wallet was gone.
(I found it at the restaurant after I called and asked them about it; they said it wasn't there,
but I went back just in case; I found it under the table.)

Throughout the ordeals of that day, I was able to laugh it off. (Except maybe for the shredded pants part. That wasn't funny to me for weeks, and I couldn't handle my friends laughing about that part in front of me until the weekend was over.) Anyway, I'm pretty sure the reason that crummy day was so bearable is because I was surrounded by amazing people who cared about me.

Lesson #1: Friends make even the crappiest situations so much better.

I'm not the only one who learned lessons on that weekend. Oh no; the girls (unintentionally) enlightened the fellas on that trip.

Poor Jason. Poor Cameron...the girl:boy ratio was 2:1, and our guys learned 3 very important lessons. The hard way. In quick succession...

The day after vomitting and diving over my bike, proved to be another day to remember. The night before, we didn't get much sleep; we were on vacation, after all...

We got up early-ish and hiked to the Delicate Arch, and made our way around Arches National Park to see all that we could see. The remainder of the day was spent jeeping/off-roading in the Canyon Lands. We had a cooler full of food and 6 bodies crammed into the Amigo: we were off!

As it turns out, the fellas had a desire to see everything the Canyon Lands could offer...when we found ourselves at a new arch, etc., we'd jump out for a photo-op and then back into the jeep and drive to another beautiful location.

The beauty wasn't lost on me: I was in paradise, really! But...when lunchtime came and went without a mere mention of stopping to eat, I became concerned. At 2:30 or so, I mentioned some foody thoughts and was basically ignored. The driver (one of the menfolk who shall remain nameless) said, "But we have to make it to Island in the Sky before sunset!" I'm sure he was only thinking of his feminine travel companions, sure in his heart of hearts that we'd be stunned by the beauty of the sun setting over that amazing patch of earth. So I kept my mouth shut and went along for the ride.

-When I say "I kept my mouth shut" I mean I began to shut down. I'm a big fan of breakfast, but can't fit much food in me in the morning; the last thing I had eaten was a granola bar on the trail to Delicate Arch at around 9:00 that morning.

As we made our way to Island in the Sky, it started getting chilly and all I had was a light jacket and a baseball cap; hardly the kind of gear to stave off falling temperatures...

I'll have you know we made it to Island in the Sky just in the nick of time: we ran to the Edge and watched the sun set over the glory that is God's Canyon Lands.

Nameless driver glanced in the direction of his lady friends, I think expecting us to be dabbing our teary eyes from the sight we had just beheld...and nameless driver was taken aback when he saw something else entirely. I daresay we (all the girls) had blank stares on our faces.

And then I asked our driver for his keys: I was making a sandwich, and I was making it NOW!

Please remember, I hadn't eaten since 9am, and it was somewhere near 6pm by then: I WAS HUNGRY! Also, I was running on not much sleep: I WAS TIRED! And let's not forget that it was November; night was falling and we were on an island in the sky: I WAS COLD!

That's when the boys learned to avoid what we have coined the nasty Trifecta...

Lessons 2-4: To keep girls happy, make sure they're well-fed, well-rested, and warm. Apparently guys don't stop to think about such trivial things when they've got a goal in mind...which is totally beyond me, but whatever.

Lessons: learned.

Here's to The Crew: I love you guys, always!

stick to what you know...

I haven't worked a Friday in...I think a couple of years? I'm lucky like that, you know. Of course, it's my own choice; I don't get paid on salary, so when I don't work, I don't get paid. But...Fridays off are totally awesome.

And this is why:

Friday is My Day. I get to do whatever the heck I want. It's a 3-day weekend every.single.week. I know you're furrowing your brow in annoyance. And really, I'm not trying to, like, rub it in. I'm just really, really thankful for my Fridays off.

They're not always full of fun, you know. Honestly, I typically use Friday to get stuff done that I, perhaps, neglect during the week. On Friday, I usually wax domestic, whether I want to or not: clean the house, get groceries, throw some laundry in the wash, paint my toenails. You get the picture.

But some Fridays are more domestic than others. Take yesterday, for instance. Yesterday I baked. Isn't that a stellar thought? I think it's essential that you know that the dessert section in my recipe box is the fattest section; I have more dessert recipes than I do main dishes, soups/stews, salads, and miscellaneous COMBINED. (Which is curious, really, because I mostly prefer salty to sweet, but that's another story I think.) Don't you love me more knowing that my dessert section is so full? :)

In the morning I made peanut butter brownies for Brooker's fun little luncheon today. Because, did you know? She loves peanut butter more than any other thing on this Earth. And do you know what else? Chocolate and peanut butter is the best combination I can think of off the top of my head. (Besides chips and salsa. See? I told you I prefer salty to sweet.)

I also made these tasty little brookie things. (Recipe found here.) I saw this recipe last week sometime and fell in love just reading the name of the dessert and looking at the pictures. (Isn't brookie a precious name for the brownie/cookie combo though?!) Last night I went to a game night at Jeanna's, and I thought I'd bring some brookies along to keep us company. So whilst I was out running errands anyway, I thought I'd stop by the store and purchase a few items in order to make this delicious little treat.

When I got home, I finally looked at the directions on how to make said brookies; it's a more involved recipe than I thought it'd be in looking at the ingredients alone. (Not that they were difficult to make; just took time.) They turned out okay, but let's just say they didn't look picture-perfect, I slightly over-baked some of them, and people didn't exactly fight each other off for the last...several. I have a gall0n-sized ZipLock bag full of the little monsters in my kitchen right now. I need to remember this one lesson (that I've technically learned several times over but never seem to remember until it's too late once again): Quit making treats for others before you've mastered the recipe, Gina!

Brookie eating a brookie...

At least the peanut butter brownies turned out perfect. (They are a perfect food. And the recipe's easy too; 2 of everything.) Seriously, I got almost a million compliments on those bad boys.

The perfect food. (As long as you don't look at calories and stuff. Which I don't.)

Part of the reason I wanted to be domestic yesterday is because I got an e-vite to my 10 year high school reunion Thursday evening. I've known it's coming; I know what year it is and I can do the math. But somehow it was a slap in the face, you know? Forced me to analyze my life; forced me to realize (again) that I'm not even close to where I thought I'd be 10 years outside of high school (married with a small batch of children).

It's not that I'm not happy to be where I am right now, please know this. I love my job. I have stellar friends. I get to do fun stuff and go fun places (mostly in the summer). I've got a good life. I think I baked yesterday because I was somehow making a point to myself that I don't need a family in order to be domestic. Does that make sense? Oh, and also, baking is kind of therapeutic.

Anyway...that was my Friday. How was yours?

take as directed...

Let's play pretend. Pretend you're taking a prescribed medicine. Got that? Now let's say you are warned (in print!) that this medication will make you extra sensitive to the sun. Still with me?

Now let's say you disregard the warning about sun sensitivity. You figure, "The sun has hidden behind winter clouds for months! I miss the sun! I bet this medicine doesn't make me extra sensitive to the sun...Besides, the temperature is mild anyway!" So you venture outside; perhaps you wax your car and go for a nice bike ride.

Turns out you get burned by the sun, and it hurts. Worse than the usual first burn of the year. OUCH.

Let's pretend it's springtime and wherever you live, springtime means the weather is unpredictable; the sun disappears for a couple more weeks.

On the next warm weekend, you decide to enjoy the warm weather once again. Maybe you walk around the Farmer's Market for a couple of hours and - DARN IT ALL! - you forget the sunblock this time!

Different reasons, sure, but same results.

*-*-*

Same medication, different warning: Do not take on an empty stomach.

"I bet it absorbs better without food, though," you reason.

An hour later, you realize you will never take this medicine without food. Ever. Again.

*-*-*

It's allergy season; you've been wondering when your allergies are going to kick in, because last year at this time, you were a sneezy, wet-eyed mess.

The very next day (it's true!) your allergies come. You sneeze a lot, you purchase several boxes of Puffs Plus, your eyes water rather more than normal, and you take some of that wonderful allergy medicine you bought last autumn to get you through your fall-time allergies.

Woopsy! While you're at work, you fight fatigue with all your might and suddenly it dawns on you--you ran out of non-drowsy medicine last fall and the stuff you took this morning is the drowsy formula.

DANG IT ALL! Will I never learn?!