Catching up

Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of posts lately. I promise I'm still here, (occasionally) reading your blogs in between, well, life. I feel like I've not only alienated my blog readers, but also my real-life friends. The only friends I talk to anymore are the ones at work and the ones on my class discussion board! I normally get really stressed out this time of year, but this year with school it's been doubly bad. Over the past few weeks, I've been working on a huge project at work, finishing up a 15-page paper that was due last night (thank God!), planning a baby shower for my friend (smashing success), and getting ready for Christmasukkah (ugh, don't even ask where I am with that). I'm at the point where nothing sounds better to me than going to bed at 9 on a Friday night and waking up a glorious 10 hours later to do laundry. Which, after turning in the paper, is exactly what I did!

Thankfully, on Monday we're leaving for our annual trek to the U.P. Staying with my inlaws, particularly in the winter, is about the least-stressful vacation ever. They live in the middle of the woods, they don't have internet, there's nothing to do in town, and even if there was, leaving the house involves at least two snowplows, an ice pick and potentially a bulldozer. So all there is left to do is eat, sleep, showshoe, and watch TV. Sure, it gets a little boring, but boring is exactly what this gal needs right now. And, even better, Brad gave me my big gift early - a video iPod nano! I've never had an iPod before, and I'm convinced it is just about the coolest thing ever. I've been downloading TV episodes like they're going out of style so I can have plenty of stuff to keep me entertained when I'm up north. So, take heart -- not only am I alive, but I plan to soon be very well!

Since this post is bound to remain front and center for, oh, the next month, I'll leave you with a pic I took this morning of the two guys who have been keeping me relatively sane. :)

Yawn

I've been such a bad blogger lately. I have all these epic adventures to write about, and I don't have the energy to begin. Traveling is exhausting, even when you don't leave your own state.

I'm so happy to be staying in town this weekend. It will be so nice to spend a full week eating home-cooked (er...microwaved) food, not worrying about my cats (who have been under the fine care of their grandparents -- but you know how it is), and sleeping normal hours.

So instead of writing, I'll leave you with two of my favorite pics from North Manitou Island, where I did not get eaten by a moose.

PS -- those are not my undies peeking through. It's my orange bathing suit. (Thanks Swimoutlet.com.)

Saugatuck, Mich. -- A great place to go with your mom!

Mom and I had a great time. All the requisite shopping and buying was accomplished, many cups of coffee were consumed (seriously...that woman can down caffeine like nobody's business -- it's pretty incredible) and going to bed at 9:15 p.m. was not as lame as you might think. I may have overdone it with all the walking, but I'm planning on spending the rest of the day on the couch catching up on TV. Actually, more like work. But with the TV on in the background.

Saugatuck was pretty dead this time of year, since most of its tourism centers around boating and beaches. Although if I may make a side comment, I never really understood the Great Lakes beach thing to begin with. Since moving here, I've been to Traverse City, the shores of Lake Superior and Grand Haven -- and no matter where you go or what time of year, the sand is full of rocks, the water is 55 degrees, and nobody ever swims except for 6-year-old kids. Pretty, yes...beach, no. But I digress.

And any comments about my 58-year-old mom being hotter than me are strictly prohibited. And no, I'm not adopted, although I realize we look nothing alike. I'm basically quintuplets with my dad, brother, aunt and cousin -- you can see whose genes dominated up in this joint.

Mom's weekend

Brad's out of town this weekend for a film festival in beautiful, sunny Cleveland. Normally, I'm all about having the house to myself, but I realized earlier this week that I just wasn't feelin' it. I fantasized about finding a girlfriend who was willing to skip town at the last minute and go to Chicago or something, but I'm still not quite up for big-city navigation, plus I'd have to find someone to watch the cats.

Suddenly, I had a brainstorm. Why not leave town for one night (so I could leave the cats alone)...and go somewhere fun with my closest girlfriend of all -- my mom?

Now, I say that half-jokingly, because while my mom and I are close in that familial sort of way, we've never been close in that "go on a roadtrip together" way. I've always been jealous of people like my friend K, who goes on a mother-daughter vacation every year and comes back refreshed, tan and slightly hung over. But not only is my mom not into the beach or the bar crawl, she also doesn't like to fly or, frankly, travel at all.

My mom and I did go on one trip together -- back in 1997, when I was a junior in high school. We drove from Cleveland to Columbus so I could go on a campus tour of Ohio State. My mom hates driving on the interstate and I'd just gotten my driver's license, so getting there and back was too white-knuckled to be considered a road trip.

But somehow, I managed to talk her into going on a last-minute trip with me! I'll believe it when she shows up to get me tomorrow, of course, but I think it's actually going to happen! We're going to a small town on the west side of the state called Saugatuck, which is famous for shopping, antiques and bed-n-breakfasts. (It's also famous for being a super gay-friendly town in one of the most conservative parts of the midwest, which makes things interesting and artsy.) I'll drive so there won't be any white knuckles, and we're staying in a cute little hotel with a continental breakfast and a heated indoor pool.

So who knows -- maybe this weekend will prompt some long-awaited female bonding! Wish us luck, and stay tuned for lots of mother-and-daughter photos.