My Favorite Time of the Year is not Christmas

 Just kidding, of COURSE Christmas is my favorite! My SECOND favorite is September 6th, our anniversary.

On our very first anniversary, I wanted to do something really special and our of the ordinary for us. So I surprised Jon with a giant road trip that spanned the Californian coastline, from Trinidad to San Fransisco. I had it all planned out, from the maps and directions to/from every stop, to having a hotel booked for every town we landed in at night, in advance. We spent four days in a two-seater convertible, with our two small dogs on our laps, and sometimes at our feet. We slept in smelly, shady, (but dog-friendly!) Motel 6s every night. We survived out of a tiny blue cooler shoved behind my seat, and ate the cheese, crackers, and salami that we had bought the morning we left. It lasted nearly the entire trip! We saw 14 Northern Californian lighthouses (in various working order), 3 small-town museums, 2 Blue Whales from a boat in Monterey Bay, and drove through 1 Giant Sequoia tree. Among countless other weird and crazy adventures, including stumbling upon a road-side Spanish-only circus.

CLICK HERE to see more pictures from the lighthouse trip!

We planned out second anniversary together. Our Lighthouse trip was so fun, we wanted to do it again, but this time see the Southern half. Well, the further south in California you go, the more populated it becomes. Long story short, there arent enough lighthouses in working order to make it road-trip worthy for us. So back to the Northern we went! We drove through countless adorable small towns the previous year, but one stole both of our hearts: Ferndale. Imagine driving for hours on a heavily wooded 2-lane highway. You drive up and up and up! Youre the only car on the road, and its quiet. Its foggy, and the air that whips your hair in the open-top car smells like the sea. The car turns a corner, and suddenly you are transported back in time to the Victorian era, and the building that loom from the clouds are statuesque. Youve made it to Ferndale! We stayed in the Shaw House B&B for a glorious four days! The town is so small and quaint, not one place is open past 4pm and the only shower in your room is a claw-foot tub. It was magical. Oh! And Ferndale is on the Lost Coast, so we managed to see one last lighthouse.

CLICK HERE to see more pictures from the Ferndale trip!

For us, every anniversary is really special, and we love to celebrate our lives together, in a way that is meaningful to us both. We want to spend our lives creating stories and memories that we will never forget. So because our third anniversary is coming up this September 6th, we started to think about how we wanted to celebrate. We are in a pretty cool country already, and could easily spend it here, and could legitimately stay in arguably the coolest B&B ever (its in a real castle, no joke). But nah. We're going to Paris, baby!

This May Offend Pet-Haters

I have always thought people who do not own animals by choice are weird. How could you NOT want something fluffy and cute (or even scaled and sleek) to call your own? Another life form to take care of, dote on, and cuddle with? A little pile of fur that bounces up and down whenever they see you walk in the door? And by the way, husbands just dont count; mines not much of a bouncer anyway. I tend to think that people who have the ability, room, and time to have even a small animal, and STILL choose to stay pet-less, are often people I dont really get along with. They're generally very tidy and (dare I say) neurotic. They are the white couch lovers, the no-shoes-allowed rulers, the dry-clean-only buyers.

And now Im worried Im one of them, by way of a pet-hating landlord. I bet his wife only buys Organic lettuce, too. The all-white dinnerware and Crate & Barrel color scheme should have tipped me off. When I found out I couldnt have so much as a hamster, it made me want to install carpet over the sterile wood floors, just so I could spill something on it.

But Im starting to like the way the square white plates make even a PB&J look like a work of art. Im beginning to love the simple black fireplace (electric of course, no soot here thanks) against the sand-colored walls. I am actually having a hard time deciding whether or not to hang a piece of art I bought in the living room, because it wont really match. I do my dishes like, as soon as I dirty them, because who wants a dirty dish in an otherwise clutter-free kitchen space? I sweep the hardwood daily, sometimes twice. I do laundry almost as much. Its a hairless, petless, LOVELESS apartment. Not even the candles Jon got for me make it much warmer. They're white.

To help stave off the neurosis creeping up on me, Ive volunteered my time at the Dublin SPCA. Im really excited to get some much-needed cuddle time in with some cute little hairballs! Dog, cat, goat, Ill take anything non-human at this point. I hope they email me back before I feel the need to cover the couch in plastic!

Maybe I Can Get Some Illegal Ones...

Happy Fourth of July, people of the USofA!
I think The Fourth is about as American as it gets. Just the words bring to mind tanning on the blanket-strewn grass, smelling the clouds of sweet smoke from the pit, and floating in the algae-green lake till fingers are prunes. Women in bright dresses, getting reverse-raccoon suntan lines from wearing huge glasses all day. Some men wearing far too little. All in the name of their patriotic love of country, and Doritos.

While it isnt raining where I am, its not exactly a hot summer either. Nobody's in a sundress, and I dont know anyone who owns a barbeque. I thought about having a big American BBQ here for all my friends, to give them a good taste of what our great holiday is all about! Then I remembered I dont have friends within a BBQ-sharing distance. Sad. Then my Mom asked me where Id put a barbeque even if I did have one. Out of my pure American Spirit and American-like unwillingness to back down when faced with a challenge, I told her Id balance it on the windowsill, since its the closest Ive got to a porch. I havent spotted a smoke detector in my apartment, so I wouldnt have to worry about setting one of those pesky things off either. Perfect!

Not so much, actually. I dont want to be responsible for a fiery mass of red-hot coals falling from under my grilling tongs onto some poor random stranger's bike. Or face. Glorious, big, street-facing window Setback #5: Witnesses. HOWEVER, my good American friends, I WILL be serving the all-American Fourth of July favorite, hamburgers! They'll be broiled (not grilled), on toast (not buns), with sauteed potatoes (not fries) and apples (not watermelon), but they will be burgers, darnit, and they'll be great! SO great in fact, that I plan on making them for everyone I know here! So the job'll be easy, Ill set the table for two.

Enjoy your firework show, ya jerks!