A Little Trip

Although our main destination was Tupelo, Mississippi, we veered off towards Memphis, Tennessee for a small tour.

We started the tour on Beale Street, a street famous for its bars and novelty shops.  Our bus tour was led by a singing tour guide- corny at first, but in a way, enhanced the tour immensley.  It was interesting to hear about the famous beginnings of singers who changed American music.  He would then sing small snippets of certain songs or types of music.  Even with the rain, Memphis is a sight to see.

Unfortunately, by the end of the afternoon, Memphis had a flood warning.  It was time to get out of there.  But not before we sampled Memphis barbeque first.  Needless to say, it might have won our small, internal contest.

But now that our little trip is over, our big trip is about to begin.  Christmas Day we are traveling back to Pennsylvania for a week and a half!  As of right now, the packing has not commenced- we will need a suitcase just for presents.  But perhaps I will get to it tomorrow.  Our schedule while we are back visiting family has filled rather quickly and interspersed are visits to the dentist (for Karl).  While I am especially glad to see family, I look forward to a nice cuddle with my mom's new kitten and waiting for Karl to say funny things after his oral surgery.  It's the small things in life.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Skimm

I cannot say that I do extremely well on keeping up with current events.  And it's not a lack of interest.  I would say the best time in my life for being "up to date" was when I took PoliSci as a senior in college.  I have never felt as aware and conscious of current events, and I almost wish the same pressure applied in class applied to me now (minus the grade, of course).

I like watching the news.  I like reading a newspaper.  But more often than not, when I'm online, I tend to read a lot of trash and celebrity gossip than actual news.  Thus, when I heard about "theSkimm," although I was ashamed, I was also curious.  Basically, theSkimm is an e-newsletter designed and written by women for busy, news-hungry women.  The name implies the purpose- to skim.

To begin, you sign up to receive the news via email on their website. Starting the next day, you will receive an email with tidbits of information about world news topics.  In the tidbits, there are links to fuller articles and discussion.  Altogether, the e-newsletter is written in a way to keep me entertained and give me the very basic information.  Then, if I'm super interested and find the time, I can click on the links to read more.

I'm not sure if anyone else has my problem.  And this (hopefully) is not a permanent solution to my issue(s) because what I really want to do is sign up for Time Magazine because I like reading those (despite the bias); however, the possibility of Time magazines all over the house is somewhat a turn-off when I do not want the electronic subscription at all.  *sigh* But hopefully some of you will find this at least a temporary, if not helpful solution to being just a little bit out of the loop currently.

Weekend Collection

Many of our weekdays and weekends have consisted of running around.  And I was really looking forward to this last run around before Christmas.  We were supposed to fly to Arizona to see two friends.  We were to take a hike, do some shopping, eat BBQ ribs, and experience a wine and design class.  But thanks to Dallas and ice storms, our flight was cancelled, our long weekend plans were ruined, and we drove home from the airport in silence, minus my hiccuping sobs.

So, instead of a weekend filled with sunshine and friendship, our weekend was instead filled with buckets of rain and cuddling.  Karl had four days off, and we put those to good use despite the monsoon.  I figured that a trip to Nashville might make the disappointment a little less apparent, but the rain prohibited any grand adventure.  Nevertheless, Christmas decorating, shopping, movies, hot chocolate, and general laziness in pajamas were all on the table.  And that is okay.  We will try again in the months to come.  I guess Karl just needed a few days off from work...and I need[ed] a lesson in patience.