Well, it’s that time of year. My favorite time of year, actually. Thanksgiving into Christmas, when I get to decorate my home and REAL tree, write out all my cards, wrap gifts and bake goodies. Except for the fact that we don’t have a home this year. Not looking for pity here, just stating the…
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Cliche or not, I would like to jump on the bandwagon (albeit a few days too late) and tell you what I am most thankful for this year. Well, besides the obvious thankfulness for surviving my blood clots in my lungs, that is. I am most thankful for y’all. This summer while we traversed the…
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I am happy to report that I feel a million times better than I did last week. Both physically and mentally! Seriously, I don’t know who hacked my blogger account and wrote that post … Of course, I still have pulmonary embolism-related obsessions and worries. Been trying to remember to take my blood-thinning therapy everyday…
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I wanted to write a blog post so many times this week. The main reason I didn’t is that people tell me (and J) that we are glass half full people. This is true, but this is one of those times where my mood is just not feeling it and it was showing in my…
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On Monday, J & I hit 7 years of marriage. How do most people celebrate their anniversaries? Dinner date, movies, maybe even a weekend getaway somewhere. But, we like to live a life less ordinary, so we settled for a hospital admission for a life-threatening condition called pulmonary embolism (PE). I had this whole blog…
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Our Colorado time culminated with a James Buuuuffet concert. My 5th, J’s 14th. One of the main reasons I go to JB is for the tailgating entertainment. Plus, Jamie/SIL Adventure and Rachel/DocDoc had never been, so taking newbies is always a treat. Since they had to work (damn those people with real jobs), we couldn’t…
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Back when we started our contract with BP, we got an e-mail from our boss asking if we were available for a photo shoot on July 19. Of course we complied, thinking it was probably related to the tour. As the photo shoot got closer, we received the contract and were surprised to see so…
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We’ve been in Colorado for 10 days now. And in no particular order, here are 10 highlights of our time here so far. 1) J’s Bday We celebrated J’s bday with football watching (that is a Sunday tradition regardless) and a home-cooked dinner and Rum Cake made by Rachel/DocDoc with some friends. 2) Speaking of…
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We now have Phil Keoghan on speed dial. Okay, that’s a little of a stretch, but it was really fun to be chummy with Phil for a day. Earlier in the afternoon, we met Phil only briefly before our presentation, and thankfully, I don’t think I showed how star struck I was. Then the evening…
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All summer long, friends and family asked if we would be coming to a town near them because they wanted to see us present (or maybe they just wanted a chance to win cool prizes). Well, the good news is if you are free Tuesday evening at 8:30pm EST, you can watch our presentation LIVE…
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First of all, happy birthday to my old man!! For the many, many years, he would tell people he was 22 when they asked his age. Lately, he’s been saying 31. Getting closer to his real age, but still in denial! J shares his bday with a number of our friends and friend’s kids ……
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I love those stories about being in the right place at the right time. But this is a story about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In March 2012, we bought our bright blue, shiny Malibu. It got me to and from my The Job I Loathed for 6 months, then it…
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Our whole summer has been speckled with spur-of-the-moment decisions and seizing the opportunity because we’re there. This weekend was no different. We had 2-3 days in southeastern California and wondered what to do. We knew we couldn’t hit the high point of Nevada even though we were driving RIGHT BY IT because the 14-mile road…
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We’ve traded in coniferous trees and high-alpine lakes in the Pacific Northwest high country for barren landscapes and prickly cacti in the Southwest. We had forgotten how HOT it is in the Southwest, even though it is approaching “fall,” but we’re still hiking! Lately, we’ve had local “guides” on our hikes. In New Mexico, we…
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We knocked off 2 more high points as we have been making our way to the Southwest … this makes 7 for this year! With 17 left, you’d think we were in the home stretch. But many of the high points left are daunting with their elevation and difficulty … and we know how I…
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As I said in my last blog post, our time in the Pacific Northwest was wrapping up. But I couldn’t go without one last blast of pictures from Crater Lake National Park in Oregon because this place is too good to be true. Almost as unbelievable as its beauty is its formation. Something like 7,000…
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I love Washington … always have. How could you not love a state with such diverse ecosystems? We have been lucky enough to come to Washington 3 different times this year and get to really experience its diversity. You already heard about our experience in the alpine ecosystem up on Rainier. But to get the…
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I’m going to switch gears from backpacking to pure road tripping in this post. In our travels during the last few weeks, we’ve stumbled onto a few cinematic hot spots. Admittedly, they are not the coolest of movie locations, but you can still geek out and get excited. Astoria, Oregon Location for: The Goonies (1985)…
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