Melissa, Oh?

Where I’ve been the past few weeks:
= I spent the week in Athens, Ga., visiting Chris.
= On the way home from Athens, on a Sunday, I got the news that my grandmother was in the hospital.
= I spent the better part of the next week at the hospital. My aunt, Josie, stayed with Mia (my grandmother) [...]

Working at a newspaper made me paranoid.
In the years I spent in the newsroom, I shared space with a police scanner. A police scanner that was always on (well, except for when someone would turn it down so they could watch the latest episode of the news or Lost or Elimidate …)
And in being around [...]

It’s 1980-something and I’m in the back of mom’s station wagon, sitting on blue vinyl with my neighbor Lauren sitting across from me, and we’re on the way to school. Jenny and Kevin are in the car as well. Lauren says to me, “Why don’t you ask your mom if the tooth fairy is real?”
It’s never [...]

Chris B. asked me last week to write a gear list regarding what I took, should have taken, and shouldn’t have taken on my recent trip to Mount Mitchell for winter camping. So, without further adieu, here it is:
Head to toe
Here’s what I wore on my trip:
Balaclava – I fought against one of these. I [...]

Things I learned on this camping trip:
- I burned more calories backpacking last weekend than I did running the marathon last month.
- Chris is terrified of clowns.
- Bears do come out in the winter, and when there is snow on the ground they leave the tracks to prove it.
- The guys all knew exactly what type of [...]

Gear I would not do this trip again without:
In addition to the usual stuff, of course …
- Yaktrax - attaches to your hiking boots to make them easy to walk in snow/ice
- Toe Warmers - I used to think they were a luxury. In this weather, they were a necessity. Next time, I will have enough for [...]

Quotes from the trip:
Me: We saw some tracks that looked like a cat. Would that be a bear? A mountain lion?
Andrew: No, that’d be a cat.
Chris: I’m gonna get one of those at some point (spoken every time someone showed him a piece of gear. Any gear.)
Chadd: I hate rabbits (spoken every time the smoke got in [...]

So, better late than never on the Christmas blog post, right? I’ll try not to bore you with all of the details, but I wanted you to see what my grandmother thought of this present I made for her. Instead of telling you, I’ll show you with pictures, all beautifully captured by Jeff:

 
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Also, I had [...]

When I was a child, my aunt Josie had a book made that featured myself and my cousin David. I thought it was so cool, reading about our day of chasing foxes or whatever we were doing in the adventure. A few months ago I thought of that book and then found myself thinking – [...]

So, I’m a little late on the the whole “look back/look ahead” post that comes at the end of the year, but I was too busy celebrating the holidays to take the time to sit down and think about it! So, better late than never, right?
Last year I wrote about some thoughts on 2008, and [...]