This year is flying by!
Oh, hey dere! /Midwestern accent
Ryan and I just got back from an extended weekend in Rochester, Minn., where we visited some family for a little pre-Christmas celebration.
Where has this year gone? There’s snow on the ground, tomorrow is December and I’m only one (!!!) book away from reaching my goal of 50 books this year!
Thanksgiving is over, which means it’s Christmas season!
(Thanksgiving comes BEFORE Christmas, this is a hill I will die on.)
Following our hastily-abandoned moving plans, Ryan and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner for his parents and a few friends at our apartment, tore down our fall decor and hiked out into the forest for our second-straight year of cutting down our Christmas tree!
What a Thanksgiving week.
If you’re an avid reader (hi, Mom!) you might have noticed that I’ve alluded a bit to an upcoming move.
Well, that move won’t be happening for a little while. It’s a good thing, though!
I can’t believe the holidays are already here!
My holiday decorations will not go up until after Thanksgiving, but I like to get a head start on shopping because it feels so nice to get it done and out of the way so I don’t have to stress.
I can’t believe 2023 is almost done.
It’s been a really weird year. I had a very long summer spent working on wildfires, so most of the products I bought and used over the course of the summer were all products that helped me out with my job.
We’ve still got some wildfire activity on our forest, but it’s slowed down quite a bit, which is good.
However, Ryan and I are preparing for a move next week — which means we’ve been doing way less shopping and buying, and way more downsizing and donating.
But, I have found a few cool things lately that I wanted to share.
I mentioned it in my loooong novel of a post about all my rec gear and apparel, and here we are! Another looooong novel of a post about how to acquire said recreation gear and apparel.
When I first moved to Flagstaff and started venturing out into the great outdoors, the process was super intimidating because — while I did a lot of camping as a kid — both gear AND the gear-buying process have changed SO much in the past two decades, and buying your own stuff instead of just using the cheap Coleman sleeping bag* your parents hand you? A very different experience.
*Did everyone have this same sleeping bag growing up, or was it just me?
But, after a few years of trial and error, I’ve figured out both how to find the right gear for me, and how to save money on acquiring that gear for myself.
While I’m bummed that Ryan and I won’t get to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year due to our upcoming move, Thanksgiving is still my favorite holiday.
I mean, putting aside this holiday’s problematic origins for just a moment, modern Thanksgiving is an entire holiday centered around both food AND the Detroit Lions.
What’s not to love?
I’m still on a post-concert high from last night. It’s so rare that a band or musician that I love makes it up to Flagstaff for a concert, so I’m always very quick to grab tickets when one does.
And last night – that was Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on his New Friends tour!
