The One With All the Fishing on the Holiday Weekend

Oh hey guys. It's me. Back for my one weekly(ish) blog post. I really don't mean it to be that way, but as I've mentioned before, blogging is super hard for me right now. I don't really know why, other than to say it's just writers bloggers block. But alas, I miss it so much that I was determined to sit down and write something tonight. So here I am, breaking my "no wine on a week-night" rule, with a glass of Pinot trying to write. Cause if there's anything I learned in grad school it's that if you can't figure out what to write, just pour a glass of wine. Not that I was drunk when I wrote my research papers or anything, cause that's definitely not the case. I got good grades OK? And I was sober(ish) when I had to BS my way through 20 pages worth of paper writing. It wasn't all BS though. Ugh, I think I'm digging myself a good hole here so I'm just gonna stop.

Last weekend was memorial day weekend and I'm happy to report I actually did something fun. Nate and I went up north and did the outdoors-y thing. What qualifies as "outdoors-y," you might ask? In this case, it would be camping, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and boating. Unless you count boating and fishing as one since you do both at the same time. Bishing? Actually, kayaking and fishing were also completed simultaneously. Kishing? That's kinda like 'kissing.' That's not the point; I'm getting side tracked. Here's a picture of us on our kayaks:

Windy hair don't care. But seriously, I'm regretting posting this picture already. Whatever, it's the only one I got of us on our kayaks cause Willow Springs Lake was so freakin' packed that trying to get the 'yaks (I'm making 'yaks a thing so I don't have to keep typing out 'kayaks') unloaded and into the water was a borderline circus. Also, I was too concerned with not tipping over to reach back for my camera. Note to self: don't kayak on a holiday weekend. Also, another note to self: don't kayak when it's super freakin windy and you can hardly get back to shore, so much that it makes your arms sore for four days. Note taken.
Here's a picture of the fish Nate caught while we were out on the 'yaks:

I have no idea why it was so cold and windy up north on Memorial Day weekend, the alleged 'official summer kick-off weekend.' So Sunday, we decided to drive down to Roosevelt Lake where there's less altitude. And by less altitude I mean, hot. It was hot on Roosevelt. But that's OK cause it just meant we got to swim while we did the fishing thing and it actually felt like summer. Who am I kidding, it's felt like summer in AZ since March.

I realize this hat looks absolutely ridiculous, but there's a few advantages to it:
1.) It protects my face and neck from the sun; and we all know to 'just say no' to melanoma. Or is that drugs? Maybe both?
2.) It keeps me cool, and
3.) It's lucky cause I caught this bass (can't you hear that boom badoom boom boom badoom boom bass, I got that super bass)
The combination of all of the above means that I'm gonna sacrifice style for functionality...and lucky-ness. And I'm gonna wear it anyway.

If there's anything that screams 'summer time' it's jumping off of a boat into a lake, air drying with no towel, eating a luke-warm lunchable cause it's been in a cooler with melted ice all afternoon, and reapplying your cheap sunscreen. And I love all of it.

Before it was time to head home, we tried out Willow Springs one more time to do some more fishing. It was still cold. And windy. But it's ok cause I caught another fish:

And so did Nate:

It was the first trout I've caught and Nate said "hold onto it tightly, they squirm a lot more than the bass." So that's what I did. But then he made fun of me for holding it too tight. I mean, I'll strangle the thing if I have to, to get a good picture.

He lived, for the record. And I set him free like the free bird fish he is.

And that's about it folks. That's the end of my Memorial Day weekend. At least that's where the pictures end, and let's face it, not one wants to read more words when there's no more pictures to go along with it. Or wine. I'm also out of wine.

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend. And the best part about a long weekend, is a short week!

What To Do When Your Own Family are LA Dodger Fans

I realize I haven't been around these parts in like, two weeks, but since I (unfortunately) feel like that's been the general trend for like the last, two months, let's just skip the re-introduction and get right to it shall we?

I had some family come in from out of town this weekend for the Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers game at Chase Field and it was all kinds of fun. There was family I haven't seen in months, there was baseball, bobble heads, and there were runs. Lots of runs. 18 of them to be exact.

(Source)

I'm not mad about it.

The problem is, my family that came in from out of town are...Dodgers fans.

And I'm mad about it. I mean, I'm not mad at them per say, I just...I mean...I just really don't like the Dodgers. So when your own family becomes Dodger fans it feels like the ultimate betrayal of sorts. 

But have no fear, we will overcome. There's a few things I've learned in co-existing with my Dodger-fan family this weekend:

Rule #1: You've heard the cliche "love the sinner hate the sin," this goes for athletic teams too: love the fan, hate the fandom. You love your family cause they're your family and they're awesome and they're super fun, but you're still allowed to hate their fandom, i.e., in this case, the Dodgers. This also permits the use of extensive boo-ing, and singing Steam's Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye song when the starting pitcher gets pulled and/or when other Dodger fans start leaving because the game has clearly been decided. Love the fan, hate the fandom.

Rule #2: Set boundaries on your s**t talking. A good rule of thumb might be no serious jabs unless you're inside the ballpark. This means all s**t talking commences once your ticket has been scanned and you've turned those turn-styles, and it all ceases when you step outside of the gates and those friendly ushers hand you your coupon for a free cookie at Subway. Although this one might be hard to enforce when Nate's in tow cause he's kind of an asshole like that and just never stops talking crap. He wanted me to text my cousin today to let him know the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers again. I mean, it happened but I wasn't about to rub it in again. That 18 runs is probably still stinging. But for the record, it did happen. We beat them again today. For the record.

Rule #3: When you start to feel bad for them when they're getting pounded 18-7, just remember:

 Poolgate 2013. Never forget. Never feel bad.

 ...Ignore the mer-man with a coconut bra. I don't understand either.

Rule #4: Just remember this is America and we value diversity.

It's easy to dislike LA and the Dodgers for many reasons, but one of the reasons to love it is that it's only a five hour drive away and your family can come out for a weekend of baseball and fun. I miss them already. But not the Dodgers. Just my family. Just wanted to be clear on that.

Go Dbacks!

7 Stages of New Friendship

I love making new friends. I feel like the older I get the less frequent it becomes - I dunno if that's normal or maybe I'm just more and more anti-social as the years go on...but either way, new friends are fun. And getting to know people is fun. Last month I went on a blate and really hit it off with Brianna from Endlessly Beloved and Kailey from Hey Kai, and we've literally been talking all day errry day since. And in doing so, I've noticed a few different stages of the "making new friends" process.

1.) IRL friends.
This one is specific to bloggers; when you take your virtual friendship to the next level, your blog friend becomes your in-real-life (IRL) friend and you've now met each other in person. Congratulations, you didn't get catfished.

2.) Text messaging duration
After you've met in person and decided that you definitely like each other and you're like "where have these girls been all my life?", your group text conversations will start to be more frequent and last longer. As in, all day. Every day. Especially if one friend (cough Brianna cough) lives 2 hours from you and you can't hang out all the time. My cell phone is dead by 10am everyday. I always have my charger though, cause how else would I get through my day if not for texting Brianna and Kailey for a solid 12+ hours?

3.) Nicknames
It's cheesy, but inevitable. You're going to give your new friends nicknames.
Kailey - K Camp
Carissa - C Town
Brianna - Grilled Breezy (cause we decided to go the unconventional route on that one)

4.) Establish your senses of humor
Once you find out that everyone else has the same dry, sarcastic, awkward sense of humor you have, you can stop putting "jk's" and "lol's" after your witty one-liners. They know you're kidding.

5.) Controversy
As you learn more about your new friends you also need to see where they come down on controversial issues. Such hot-button topics can include:
-Miley Cyrus (thumbs down)
-Taylor Swift (thumbs up-ish...but we worked through it)
-Wine preference (all of it please)
-Cats (yuck)
-Anything blog related (all the stuff)

6.) Personal habits
Once you've had consensus on such controversial topics, you'll usually foray into more personal details as you get to know your new friends. These details might include personal hygiene habits (e.g. hair washing frequency, shoes that make your feet stink, etc.), bowel movements, menstrual cycles (sorry, TMI), and sending snap chats from the toilet...or not...depending on if you're judging right now.

7.) Inside jokes
You're total bffs now, which means you have a crap-ton of inside jokes. Things like, a Thanksgiving turkey emoji with sunglasses (deal with it turkey), hairflips, the judgement free zone, and any auto-correct mistakes. You're in for it if you fall victim to auto-correct...for example "dick commander" vs. Duck Commander" - that one never gets old.

So, in conclusion, making new friends is fun. Especially when they're Brianna and Kailey.

The end.