Wedding Hotness

Wedding of John's good friend on Saturday
Rehearsal dinner at my old stomping grounds in Bmore Friday night, oh nostalgia
John was a groomsman
I was getting over a cold and therefore was not 100% (not a lot of drinking, boo)
The reception was in a library!
We had a very romantic slow dance at the end of the night
I did not catch the bouquet (the bride forced me to try)
John made a weird mention of his future groomsmen (yeah, what?!)

But most importantly...we looked really good.

Happy Valentine's Day!

First of all,we're going to jump backwards to Christmas. Where I was surprised with a diamond necklace. Long story short, I finally REALLY received my present and Valentine's was the perfect day to wear it for the first time. (But note how hard it is to take a picture of a necklace without it being a total boob shot...!) If you know me at all, you'll know I'm not a big diamond freak like a lot of women are. (I'm looking at you person who insisted upon diamond earrings and nothing else for a first xmas together gift.) I never thought a guy should buy you jewelery unless he wanted to. I have a problem with someone being told they HAVE to buy me something to prove their love. Anyway, I've been saving to get myself some diamond jewels because I felt it a very grown-up thing to do...and I really needed a nice necklace for fancy occasions. Then the boy surprised me, which was awesome. And I'm getting earrings for V-day! Super surprise! (Really, I was expecting flowers and a new pair of hiking/climbing pants, which is what I asked for.) So, he could have gotten me a chocolate cake and I would have been thrilled. It's more how unexpected these gifts were that made them special, not so much the diamond part. But really, diamonds are cool. Ok, my bragging now ends.

Diamonds - Not my best friend, but still very pretty.

Since we wouldn't be together today, we celebrated Valentine's Day all weekend. On Friday we went rock climbing and then ate ravioli and watched Grey's Anatomy. Surprisingly awesome as it sparked some conversation on relationships. Well, and climbing is always god.

Saturday we were very lazy and didn't do stuff we meant to accomplish in the morning.  But we went to Woo at the Zoo later on. We were back to our college days learning about animal sex...good times. Then we wandered around the zoo in the freezing cold.  Of course, since we got there late the indoor exhibits had closed and the animals were all inside due to the cold. Us and our laziness! So, we just wandered around the cold, darkening zoo and talked and were really cheesy romantic. (you can gag, it's ok) And we did actually see cheetahs! Then, as I said, it was getting dark. And the winds were completely out of control. Now imagine us walking through "Asia" where there's all this bamboo. It's blowing everywhere and even though bamboo is strong, you're pretty certain it's going to break. As the sun sets it's more and more difficult to find your way in the maze that is really tall bamboo. And it's freakin scary. Yes, we were lost in the zoo.

We then braved the metro (which was overrun with scary Republicans who were in town for CPAC) and went downtown for dinner. We had a lovely meal at 901DC. I had chocolate chipotle creme brulee! And at home we curled with with the super romantic Seven...woo severed heads! Yep, we're awesome.

Sunday was fun times with the Cooksey fam. More later on the wedding plans that happened!

Basically what I'm trying to say is it was a ridiculously awesome weekend and I felt crazy loved. And I'm happy to say it was more to do with being lost at the zoo than the diamond earrings. Romance is often in the smallest things. 

Porcupines are good at wooing

Flowers when they arrived on Monday....better pics later when the bloom.

Nothing says romance like protesting the Republicans.

On Birth Control

Everyone else is talking about it so I'm going to as well.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a liberal. I was raised Catholic and am often surrounded by Republicans both in my family, some friends, and 95% of my current coworkers. But they haven't been able to convert me. So let's just say that all this talk about Obama's healthcare plan has me kind of riled up. Mostly because I believe that the birth control thing is just one more thing the GOP can use to fight against Obama. Most of them probably could care less...but all we do is fight!

But if I go off that tangent all this post will be is a rant.

What's got me going right now is the hypocrites. I know someone who is on birth control (though legitimately for health reasons, not to prevent pregnancy) and I'm sure having it come free because an employer is paying would be more than welcome. And yet this person signed a petition to get Obama's plan banned. I get that some people are against birth control. THEN DON'T USE IT! We're not trying to force you too. But if someone wants to take it, they should have the option...and I do think it should be free. (and not just because mine is really expensive!)

I tried really hard to see the other side's point. If an employer is Catholic and against BC, then they shouldn't be forced to pay for that. Still, I should be able to work for a Catholic organization and still practice my beliefs that I can take BC. Where's the line of discrimination? If I tell a Catholic elementary school that they have to pay for a teacher's BC, they feel shit upon. But the teacher, an atheist, feels shit upon if it's not covered. So should she be forced to work at a public school just to get BC? Will such employers start going so far as to not hire non-Catholics in the hopes that they won't want BC? I felt my head was in a never-ending cycle of trying to justify my beliefs so I just stopped.

Really, back to the point. Don't be half against something because you think that's what your party wants from you if you really would benefit greatly from it.

Ok, this was a much more thought-out post when I was ranting on Saturday....sorry. Give me birth control or give me death?!

This just happened

Coworker 1: We're just killing trees left and right.
Coworker 2: It's all right, we're all Republicans.
Melissa's head : KA-BOOM!

And people don't understand when I tell them I just don't fit in here. 

Wild dreams

I have not slept well at all this week. I've been in a blah mood...I finally let myself cry over all the stress of January (mostly all gone!) and I just didn't stop. I blame the hormones, which have been making me crazy. But then I started to have these crazy dreams and I've been waking up like 3 times a night. So I think now I'm just tired...and maybe still kind of hormonal. Anyway, I'm hoping this weekend won't be too lonesome (John's out of town...but I do have plans with 2 friends) but will be the right about of relaxation and will cure me of this.

Dreams I remember:

John was being chased by a man in a rasta hat (with fake dreads). The man stole his wallet and his hat. He threw the hat on the ground and peed on it. John loves that hat :(

John and I decided to elope (yeah, right?!) so we went down to the courthouse. Somehow, family and friends found out and met us there. It got crazy. Someone probably punched the judge. So we rolled out. What were we thinking? Well of course we were chased, but we found refuge in a warehouse. Then we were mistaken for these criminals and the SWAT team was after us. I got shot in the back...in a wedding dress. I take this one as another sign that we don't need to get married. Also, I woke up from this one and my back was twitching. Creepy!

We had a daughter. She fell down the stairs and died. Not cool.

John and I were stuck in a pile of honey. Rats came and were eating us but we could not move. When I woke up I also could not move for about 5 minutes. It scared the shit out of me. I have since regained control of my body!

Oh, I also got a root canal this week. (well, part 2) I blamed the vicoden for the first dream, but I only took that one pill, so I don't know what the heck caused the rest.

Yes, I have a closet of balls

Sadly, I am not actually surprised that misogynists still exist. They're out there, and I sadly cannot get rid of them all on my own. It'd be nice if all men were great, but I know they're not so finding out about shit is not surprising. Sad, but not a shocker. What continues to surprise me is that these "men" actually exist in my life.

Luckily I'm in a relationship where I feel like an equal. When I have an opinion I let it be known. If John is acting stupid, I tell him. We both want me to have a successful career. Sure, I do cook and clean, sometimes I cook something just for him. Or I make his coffee in the morning. But guess what, he does those things too! And actually, most of the time we cook together. Also, John hates when I do his laundry. He is actually in capable of letting me fold laundry on my own. Even if he's doing dishes, he'll stop, come fold, then go back to the dishes.

These ideas on household chores are not the only way misogyny can exist, and I don't want to dismiss some more serious ways men ridicule women. They're just feeling like the most relevant right now. Why some people think women should be "barefoot and pregnant" is something I'll never understand.

But really, how'd this enter my life? I think I surround myself with people who (mostly) see the world the way I do...or at least we have some common ground. And yet there's a guy who I will never get along with because of the way he views women.

He calls women "chicks" ALL the time.

He asked me to make him a sandwich.

When I said something to John (I don't even remember what) that he saw as too powerful, he told John that he needed to get his balls back. I apparently have them tucked away in a closet.

When his daughter hit her head, he continued to sit there and went "Wife, Wife, Wife, Wife can you take care of this?" Instead of taking care of her himself. 

What's baffling his that his wife doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd take any of his crap. And yet she answers to his every request and never says a word when he says sexist shit.

Again, there are far worse people out there who beat their wives if they make more money or (name horrible misogynist thing here). There are plenty of men I would want to slap for how they treat women. But this one's actually in my life and he's probably not going anywhere. So how to I keep myself from throwing hot coffee in his face when he asks me to make him some 5 seconds after I've sat down to enjoy and he's standing in the kitchen?

Wisp Skiing/Snowboarding

Last weekend we drove out to Western Maryland for some snow time. John's friend Mike (and his wife and kids) met us there. I didn't actually get on the slopes. We're going to take lessons another weekend and I'll give it a whirl, but for the most part I avoid skiing b/c of my knee. Also there was an ice storm Friday night so the conditions on the mountain were not good. It would have been really hard to learn. John even had a rough time at first. I spent some time in the lodge reading and some time just watching John fall...I mean snowboard. I wanted to go snowshoeing, but there just wasn't enough snow and with ice on top it would have been silly. So John and I took a hike just in our boots. We didn't do anything hard or long, but it was still nice to be outside doing something. I'm sure if there ever is more snow I'll try snowshoeing and/or snowboarding. \

Wisp Resort...it was very overcast for 99% of the weekend.

Mike like's to make a grand entrance.

Skiing is hard.

Woo Anne!

Not falling actually. Getting ready to stand up and roll out.

Yep, snowboarding is kind of sexy.

Trying not to run into anyone.

Proof that I was outside in the snowy mountains...not usually a fan of winter.

North Face whores! Hey, it's good stuff.

Friends forever!

I have no idea. Am I falling? Is he falling? Did I stab him? It's hard to say.

Snowy hike!

Icy branches are beautiful.

This was empty. I don't know if that's good or bad. The bears were probably waiting for us to get trapped.

Deep Creek Lake

Deep Creek Lake

Deep Creek Lake

You buy books, I buy hiking/camping/climbing gear

I finally got my act together and published my book for sale for the Kindle!! I started months and months ago but whatever Amazon's system does majorly messed up the formatting. And for poetry I was not about to just let it be ugly. I was so frustrated that I gave up. I was fairly certain I was going to have to do something drastic like code the entire book in HTML in order to make it look right. It ended up not being that complicated, but it still took some time to get it to translate. But it's finally ready.

If you don't already have a hard copy, go buy it here! Note: If you don't have a kindle you can download the free kindle app so you can read the book on your computer.

On Doctors...

For someone who's active (well, in the spring/summer), eats well (mostly), ect., I dread going to the doctor. No matter how well I take care of myself a trip to the doctor always results in something being found, more tests being needed, something. I'm not kidding. Remember when my cyst wasn't draining and I had to go in for extra ultrasounds? Yeah. It is, luckily, almost always nothing serious, but it's a hassle to always need blood work or other tests. And really not good if you worry about the results.

So I was having some issues and just wanted to get blood work done. Voluntarily! I was fairly certain I was just anemic but before I took iron supplements I wanted to be sure. Well, instead of anemia, the doc found a lump in my throat. This resulted in more blood work and an ultrasound. Good news is it's probably not cancer. Yet all the appts I've had the last 2 weeks I still have to go back in a few months and make sure it's not growing. If it is, or if I get funky blood work back with messed up hormone levels, I may need my thyroid removed. How fun!

So, I've decided to just not go to the doctor anymore.

Resolutions for 2012

I tend not to make resolutions. Seeing as I usually think life is pretty great, it seems silly to say "be kind" or "eat better". But there is something refreshing about looking back on the past year, celebrating what you accomplished, and thinking about what the next year will bring. So, here are some things I (or John and I) am hoping to accomplish in 2012 (yeah, some are kind of resolution-y, sue me).

1. Write more...I've not been inspired at all this last year and I'd like to finally get something accomplished. Even if that's just a simple article on a hike.

2. Be climbing 5.8s regularly. John thinks I should make my goal 5.9s since I already do 5.6s (mostly) clean and just did two 5.7s this week. But I'm being realistic. There's plenty of skills I need to develop in these higher climbs (hello crazy lunge I did Monday!) and I know 5.8 is more what I can accomplish.That's not to say i don't think I'll be doing some 5.9s by the end of the year, I just don't think I'll be doing them well.

3.Go on an overnight backpacking trip. We talked about this a lot last spring/summer and never actually did it. We stuck to day-hikes. So, it's time.

4. Stop buying bread, bagels, buns, ect. I don't know if I'll be able to make ALL my own bread products as sometimes I get lazy and just want to run to the store and buy hamburger buns. I do want to make a good effort though. I've already made 2 loaves! I love my bread machine :)

5. Try at least 3 new things (physical activity, food, hairstyle...whatever)...3 seems like a pretty low number for this, so hopefully I exceed the goal. But if I end up breaking my leg snowboarding (new thing #1!) and end up on crutches for months, I want to be able to still meet that goal. (go me and my optimism!) And I have recently done rock climbing and eaten Vegemite, so even though those happened at the end of 2011 I feel like it's part of the be adventurous goal, so I've gotten a head start.

6. Stop eating at chain restaurants. The only reason we do is that we're too lazy to cook or are on the road and not willing to drive a little longer to find something better. If we go out it should be to a good restaurant that's unique and appealing. there's no reason to eat at Applebees. It's really not good, wastes money, ect.

7. Summit a mountain. Maybe it's cheating since this is something I do just about every year, but here it is. It might be Old Rag again, which I know I can do. Or it'll be something wild like Mt. Rainer or Pike's Peak...depending on where we decide to go on vacation.

8. Activate Mission East Coast Exile. That means we'll either move to Colorado, at least actively make plans to make said move in the next few years, or decide to move elsewhere. As long as we get some better plans in place we don't actually have to leave yet, there's more to figure out still.

9. Raise a pig. And by this we're actually going to give John's uncle a pig to raise, but we're building the shelter, the pig, and all food.We'll take care of it when we visit, but Uncle Glen will do the daily grunt work. Or we may scrap the whole pig idea and just get chickens. But we want to do something farm-y.

10. Have a pig roast. This will likely be at John's sister's wedding. Which is pretty much the best idea for a wedding reception ever...other than my own ideas, anyway.