Let's Go Camping!

I have been a camper since I was two weeks old, and it's been a hobby in my family since my parents married.  My mom's dad actually built his family a pop-up camper!  Ben and I began camping together the first autumn we began dating, and it's been a really important part of our life together!  I mean, we got engaged while on a camping trip...  And we remained engaged while the raccoons were circling our campsite when we were cooking dinner!

Anyway, this year in early-May is my Fourth Annual Birthday Camping Trip, and I'm so excited to be planning it!  The first year I camped alone, the second with Ben, and the third with my mom.  This year I'm inviting lots of friends since I feel like I'm entering the last year of my "mid"-twenties (it may actually be my late-twenties though :)

So I'm reminiscing about our last camping trip!  Ben and I with our friends Kevin and Erin camped at Kohler-Andrae in early October and had a really great time.  My dad stopped by for dinner, and we enjoyed lots (and lots and lots) of cheap red wine!

Our Wedding

January 25, 2013. 

RSVP

I really had no idea how important it was to promptly send back an RSVP...  Until now.  Until now, when my wedding is literally in 16 days, and I need 21 responses back in the next two days!  Sure, there are several people I know for sure are coming, and several I know for sure won't come, but getting back the response card is formal - official - and I want that count.

Maybe it's something about having paid for the return postage.

I guess I'll keep watching Dawson's Creek and keep my mind off all the phone calls I'll have to make in a couple days!

Current Netflix Obsession

I just started watching Dawson's Creek on Netflix, and I'm definitely addicted.  It's almost antiquated at this point as a drama (in Season three Andie doesn't know how to use a search engine), and it's surprisingly poignant.  I guess I thought it was funny and cute and teen-hormone driven.  Well, the teen-hormone part is right, but this is not a funny show!  The things these kids go through with each other and with their families is sometimes almost painful to watch.

Image from Wikipedia

Anyway, plot lines are so ridiculous I love them (keep in mind I'm about half-way through season three):

• Dawson's overwhelming naivety regarding love, his parents, Joey
• Jen's sudden celibacy
• The entire Mitch and Gail saga
• Andie's convenient mental health problems

Okay, okay, I may not be completely fair to the show, I mean, it is over ten years old.  

So, did you watch Dawson's Creek?  

Love it? Hate it? Indifferent?

Dora

Dora has plenty of sweet, loving moments- she loves spending time with people, and leans into every pet you offer her.  Oh, she is a wonderful cat.  She does, however, get into plenty of trouble as well.  Yesterday she was batting at the Christmas tree ornaments like they were toys, for example.

Her cat oddities are often the funniest things that happen in the house.  I obviously got a real kick out of her sitting in this fall wreath when I replaced it with a holiday wreath last week.

45 Days!

One of my coworkers is a professional photographer, so her wedding gift to us was a photo shoot.  I have so many wonderful pictures of Ben and myself now, I hardly know how to make the best use of them.  So we ordered Christmas cards, and we'll blow a few up to frame.

We're getting married in just over six weeks... I can't believe how the time has gone by!  I bought a few wedding books last week because I'm worried I will forget something important on the Big Day.  Whatever, we have the church, rings, a couple pastors, and a reception.

L+B

Being engaged has been quite a road, and I honestly can't wait for our wedding at the end of January.  I am so excited to be married to Ben.. he's just my guy.  I mean, my guy.  Really though, wedding planning is not my favorite activity, and I am relieved I won't ever have to plan another wedding!  In the meantime, we're really enjoying our final days of "single" life.

<photos by Buzz and the Bird>

Refrigerators

Our refrigerator is the one surface in the kitchen that doesn't get covered in flour; it is not a place to relieve my arms of heavy grocery bags; you can't use a cutting board on it's flat sides.  The refrigerator is for the family calendar and pictures and postcards.  It is sometimes even a place for poetry, and it is frequently used as a temporary frame for artwork.

At my house you'll find our calendar as well as lots and lots of postcards from our friends and family.  I love these Petrified Wood Magnets to keep some of my favorite pictures where I'll see them most!

What graces the surfaces of your refrigerator at home?  Do you keep it neat and bare?