I want to be here

picture by Carlo Tancredi

I have spent my entire live living in northern states. I've lived in three different states, and the farthest south I've ever lived is Madison, Wisconsin. I'm used to the cold and I'm no stranger to snow.

My family rarely took vacations to tropical locations. We went to Hawaii once over Thanksgiving to watch a basketball team play. We went to Florida once, but that was during the summer. Other than that our vacations have all had destinations like South Dakota and Oregon.

I'm not sure why, but this winter I've been itching to go somewhere warm. I'm not sure why this is happening to me now when for 26 years I've been happy in the cold.

I've been dealing with my warm weather fixation by researching honeymoon options online. Of course, that's not going to happen for another 10 months or so. I guess I will just have to wait until summer comes for the cure. Oh well.

It's not summer yet, so why am I so busy?

I've been living in Minnesota for almost two years now. I can't believe it's been that long, and yet somehow it has. Peter, the Fredo, and I have settled into a nice little routine. We spend lots of great time together, and I love the simple, everyday things we do. Things have been a bit hectic since I moved here with working full time and being a full time student at Hamline University. I have become much less motivated to do things on the weekend. Usually I need a lot of that time to recharge and just relax after the work/school week.

Since I moved here, I have come to think of summer as the busiest time of the year. It's when we take the most trips and have the most stuff going on. It seems like every weekend in the summer fills up so far in advance. It's way below zero outside, but already Peter and I are planning our trips for the summer. I've begun thinking about when we will have his birthday party, and it is still months away. Of course, the holiday season comes in a close second in terms of busyness. The span between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always quite full of things to do and gatherings to attend.

I usually think of the stretch from January until summer as one of the slower times of the year. We stay home a lot and it is just generally pretty quiet. Except for this year.

It's not summer or the holidays, and yet Pete and I have been super busy lately. Most of our commitments have been fun, but they do cut back on my staying-at-home-and-doing-nothing. Maybe I have just become a huge stick in the mud. I just enjoy hanging out with Fredo on the couch.

So anyhow, this onion article used to be me and Pete used to protest. But since I started the work/school combo, I've changed! I sleep in more and I'm much more aligned to do NOTHING. :)

Local Girlfriend Always Wants To Do Stuff

SALEM, OR—Alicia Maas often asks to be taken to dinner, go grocery shopping, and embark on meandering walks without a fixed destination, purpose, or time limit.

The World's Most Perfect Food

I don't know about you guys, but I know as a girl, I split my snack time pretty evenly between the sweet and salty. I even alternate between the two in order to maximize my snacking experience and not get burned out on either one.

It is very rare that salty and sweet are satisfactorily combined in a snack. And that is why kettle corn is possibly the most perfect food in the entire world. It is salty, sweet, not overpowering, and 100% delicious.

I had not had any kettle corn for a couple of years, and then I saw some at the store yesterday. Needless to say, it came home with me.

Also, on Friday I had my annual fish sticks craving. About once a year I get a hankering for fish sticks. I don't know why. I don't even really like them, and have probably only eaten them about 5 times in my entire life. I usually don't give in to the craving, but when I do I always think, "Wow. These are really kind of gross." So I resisted the urge and ate sushi instead. I think it was a wise choice.