Travel

This is what happens when I get flustered…

Published on May 19, 2014May 22, 2014 by GBLeave a comment

It was the weekend of Easter, and I’d told my mom that it’d be no problem to be home for the festivities around noon on Saturday(I know Easter is on Sunday, but my family starts celebrating on Saturday. That post is coming later. First things first). Of course, true to form on Saturday morning that time frame changed to around 2 pm. In my adulthood I have somehow evolved into a person that is always late. Since it doesn’t matter how much time I give myself to prepare for being on time, I generally just wake-up at the very last moment and rush around frantically like a maniac. I’ve learned that waking-up early doesn’t help. I’ll fall into a time warp and still turn up late. So this tactic seems to work for me.

It does, however, leave me a bit flustered. As does pumping gas in the middle of a wind/rain storm. I got out of the habit of pumping gas when I lived in Oregon, and it was a law that a gas station attendant had to pump your gas. I thought this was pretty ridiculous at first, but then I realized what a wonderful thing it was. So flustered Lauren pumping gas in the rain lead to me to do something I have never done before. I had the gas pump running, and without turning it off pulled the gas pump out of the gas tank. I made it rain. Gas-that is. Everywhere. Then I spent the car ride alternating between worrying that I was going to spontaneously combust because I was covered in gas, to worrying that we created an environmental hazard in the gas station parking lot. (We might have spilled some oil as well.) And were we supposed to report it?? It was an accident! How are we supposed to know the answers to these questions??

If you know the answer to this, please do tell.

Conversations Around the Campfire

Published on July 13, 2012September 24, 2013 by GB4 Comments

This past weekend I went camping with a group of friends. As it grew colder and darker, we gathered around the campfire. The conversation took many random twists and turns until we settled on the topic of prostates. One of our friends had to leave early the next morning to help check people in for the free prostate exams her urology office was sponsoring at Dick’s Sporting Goods. My mom always said, “Never let them know how smart you are”, so I kept all my really smart comments concerning prostates to myself. For some reason the intelligent comments don’t come spewing out of my mouth with the same frequency as my ridiculous ones. Exhibit A-

Me with all seriousness: Well, thank goodness I don’t have to worry about that for awhile. Isn’t that something they recommend when you are in your forties?

Silence from the group. I sure know how to put a halt to a conversation.

Very helpful friend: Lauren, you do know you don’t have a prostate, right? Prostate exams are for men.

Me: Errr, of course. I mean, no. Well, yes. I mean, I guess I knew that. I must have just forgotten. I got caught-up in the moment. (I really should think before I speak)

At this point, the prostate conversation was up and running again. Granted a lot of the laughs were at my expense, but it was all in good fun. And within a few minutes, I redeemed myself by announcing that “Friends don’t let friends go unexamined”. After my earlier comments, this sounded downright genius.

And that's what friends are for... — And that’s what friends are for…

New Orleans Part 1-Jazz Festival

Published on June 21, 2012September 24, 2013 by GB2 Comments

So I am waayyyy behind on my promise to regale ya’ll with the adventures from our trip to New Orleans. So here goes! Since Jazz Festival was our first adventure I’m going to start there. It goes without saying that it was an awesome experience with mind-blowing music. So let’s skip start to the fun part–

My Top Ten List from Jazz Festival 2012 (in no particular order…that’s just too stressful)

1-Finding an air-conditioned spot with seats to relax and clean restrooms with no lines. Yes, this happened to us first-time Jazz Fest attendees. And it was phenomenal. First of all, it was hot. Second of all, I always have to pee and the lines at concerts are looonnggg. Somehow in the midst of all this craziness, we bumbled into an inside area that wasn’t getting much traffic because it appeared to be closed off for a private party. If you went to the right it was. To the left– free reign. A little exploration made our Festival experience that much more enjoyable. And no, I will not disclose the location of this secret Jazz Fest haven. You’ll just have to go find it for yourself…

2-I was able to purchase these lovely earrings. After tragically loosing my first pair of Bob Marley earrings, to then have them turn up in the parking lot of my apartment months later after the snow melted, to then loosing them again; I was thrilled to find a replacement pair. My life is just better with a pair of Bob earrings in it.

3-Bonnie Rait. After she commented on the heat and how we all needed to cool off, it started raining. A refreshing, gentle rain that cut the heat perfectly. So I’m pretty sure that she willed the rain to come which makes her like a god or something. And that’s just her weather-controlling powers. I was equally impressed with her musical performance.

4-Water Stations. I am hoping at this point that it’s a given a Festival like this will have these, but even so they make me very, very happy. You bring in an unopened water bottle and thanks to the water stations can refill as you like throughout the day. It’s economically, environmentally and health friendly. Now the trick is to keep track of that water bottle throughout the day…

5-Randomly catching the Foo-Fighters performance of Everlong as we walked behind the massive crowd watching the performance. I LOVE that song. And I like it even better when I’m not being jostled and crushed by a mass of people. After nearly disappearing into the crowd at the Eagles performance to never be seen again, we quickly learned that you don’t walk through the crowd (what were we thinking!), you walk around the crowd. Much better.

6-The Food. Not the first thing you think to rave about at a music festival, but holy cow it was nom nom extraordinaire. And in a town with such a storied food culture, you do not want to miss any chance to eat. So we did. Crawfish Sacks, Oyster Patties, and a Crawfish Beignet Platter from Patton’s Caterers, a variety of po boys, Crawfish Monica (aka crack pasta due to its highly addictive nature) from Kajun Kettle Foods, Inc., jambalaya, fried chicken, beignets from Cafe du Monde and even a seaweed salad that was the perfect accompaniment to a sweltering day and fried food overdose.

7-People-watching. One of my favorite sports. Do you see those shades I’m wearing? It’s so I can stare away without seeming creepy. (It just occurred to me that the shades in themselves might have made me look creepy.) My favorite was an elderly gentleman enthusiastically grooving with a frilly, pink parasol while performing in a Congo Line. He bore a striking resemblance to my Southern Baptist grandfather. I hope to one day be able to forgive myself for not getting a picture.

8-Warren Haynes with a variety of New Orleans musicians including Dr. John, Ivan Neville and Dirty Dozen Brass Band’s Roger Lewis, Kevin Harris and Efrem Towns. When we got to the Blues Tent for the performance, all the seats were taken so we piled into the aisle with the other over-flowers. I was hot, it was the end of the day and my feet were screaming. Then the performance began and I was mesmerized. The crowd thinned out and I got to do some seat dancing and rest my feet. And when it ended with Take A Load off Annie, I got to put my pipes to good use too. Drowned out by the crowd sing-along thank goodness.

9-I got to wear this beauty. Basically a belt with zippered pockets. I got it a while ago at an arts festival and I just knew it would come in handy. One day. And for the two days I was at Jazz Fest it was the star of the show. Seriously. Most clever idea ever. (You better not be thinking that this is a spin on a fanny pack.) I could store all my concert essentials, keep my hands free to do the important things like drinking and eating, possibly start a major fashion trend AND I’m thinking there must be some sort of fitness benefit from walking around with a weighted belt on all day.

10-Crossing an item off the bucket list. So I don’t actually have one but if I did, Jazz Fest would definitely be on it. I’d like to thank Leslee and Logan for getting married in New Orleans the weekend after the Festival which lead us to the brilliant idea that if we were making the trek to the wedding we might as well go all out and throw in Jazz Fest too.

Now that you’ve read this list of amazingness what’s your most recent travel adventure?

The After-Vacation Blues

Published on May 28, 2012September 24, 2013 by GBLeave a comment

You know that feeling of let down after a big vacation? It’s a bummer. You plan the vacation, can’t wait to go on it, count down the days and then before you know it you’re on that vacation and then before you can utter “ohhhhh I looooovvve vacation”–it’s over. Like Christmas when you’re a kid. You might have even been ready to take a vacation from your vacation and to embrace your non-vacation life. But inevitably, reality will set-in, life will settle back into its routines and it’ll all seem a bit mundane compared to the fabulous adventure you just had. It’s like a major case of the Mondays. So I thought to cheer myself up I’d relive some of my favorite moments from our recent trip to New Orleans. Since it was quite a long vacation and we managed to do a lot of amazingly awesome things that I’m sure you’re dying to hear about, I’m gonna spread the wealth out over a few posts. Lucky you.