Summer!

So the summer solstice came and passed, and the weather is finally warming up. Like a warm, wet blanket warming up. :P

The year's half over and I still feel like I've done nothing [notable], and I'm ok with that. Meh. I'm on par with my reading challenge over on GoodReads.com (though, just barely. And I'm ok with that), finally got my first tattoo and just waiting to get it filled in with color, and I haven't been geocaching as much as I'd like to. It also doesn't help that I work weekends when the majority of the events I want to attend are (not just geocaching events, events in general).

I've also been wanting to blog more, actually writing stuff because I use to really enjoy that (still do), and I've just gotten out of the habit of doing it!

Hope your week's been treating you well!

ROAD TRIP!!! (sort-of) - A Wee Geocaching Adventure

Yay for blogging again...

So, the inspiration for this post is Geocaching.com's summer Road Trip 2015. (If you're new to Geocaching, here's a Geocaching 101 for you!)

Geocaching.com this summer decided to shake things up a little. The last couple of summers, August specifically, they have done a souvenir thing that you could "earn" for your profile (one year was find a cache every day in August you'll get the souvenir, the other year was "find this kind of cache" and you'll get the souvenir). This year to celebrate 15 years of geocaching, they decided to spread the fun out over the ENTIRE SUMMER! So every two weeks, beginning June 19th the website has enabled a new "challange" for it's users to get more shiny for their user profiles.

I'm excited, this year you have 5 different types of caches to find and earn a total 6 souvenirs. . So far, I got 3 of the 5. What's nice is everyone has until Sept 2nd to find the 5 different caches.

What's the kind of caches you're finding, you ask? I'll tell you! :D








On June 19th, you had to find a cache that had at least 10 favorite points, earning you "Fun With Favorites". Favorite points is usually a good indication of a nifty/cool/awesome cache (sometimes it's for the journey to the cache - like walking along a trail with the most spectacular views).

July 3rd brought us together, attending a geocaching event earned you "Meet Your Road Trip Crew". :) Had fun discovering a nice out of the way winery and a new favorite wine. ~.~

The most recent one, starting on July 17th, "Let's Get Extreme", was finding a cache that had a difficulty level or terrain level of 5 (caches are rated out of 5 on how much of a challenge it is, mentally or physically - a 5 terrain (or T5 if you want to get technical), you should have some sort of safety gear, like hard helmets and spelunking gear).



The next two are coming up on July 31st and August 14th will round out the summer fun. July 31st is "High Five for the Earth" - getting an Earth Cache or a geocaching event where you "Cache In - Trash Out" (i.e. clean up trash as you geocache). And August 14th is "Putting on Your Thinking Cap" for finding a Mystery Cache.

I will admit the "Let's Get Extreme" had me a little worried, only b/c I was afraid I would be trying to find this one by myself.  ~.~ Luckily I got a friend who caches as well to come with me and discovered it relatively quickly (if she wasn't there, I would have left sooner after looking for a short time. Took us about 15 min before I found it, granted it should have taken us a bit longer, but I would have walked away a lot sooner than that by myself).

My friend and I went to a near by National Park to find a couple more caches and to hike a little to an overlook with an awesome view. Well worth it in the heat and sweating buckets.

And in case if you were wondering about the different cache types, they can be found here.

Summer Picnic!

Its finally August. The last hurrah for summer.

Now I dont know why I hadnt thought of this sooner (maybe the heat has finally gotten to my brain), but a picnic sounds really good. Now the weather hasnt been ideal for picnics (let say 100'F or hotter), but summer is suppose to be for outdoor eating!

Anyway, I'm thinking of going on a picnic as soon as the weather gets cooler. More than likely it'll be a one person picnic, but here's what I'd like to bring:

• Champagne
• Strawberries
• Sandwich - sort of a cranberry bread, turkey, maple cream cheese, and spinach
• Lemonade
• Iced Tea
• Salad - pear, gorgonzola cheese, craisins, and mixed greens
• Mini-Quiche - egg, cheese, onion
• Bread Pudding

I can see myself sitting under a tree in a park, with this spread on a blanket and a picnic basket, leaning against the tree reading a good book or maybe even knitting, listening to book on tape.

Music, Music, Music.

Sometimes, it amazes me how much my life revolves around music.

Let me rephrase that.

Sometimes, it amazes me how much I "discover" new music and/or musicians I've never even heard of.


(That's how I started this blog. I kept "discovering" all this music and sharing it with my musically inclined (and very talented) friend. She put it politely. Stop bugging her and write something about yourself).


What initially inspired this blog is from an e-mail sent out by a local performance space. It puts out what music shows it's putting on, as well as a couple of other performance places too.

On this particular e-mail, I "discovered" a band called She & Him (they have a MySpace page as well). They label themselves (according to MySpace), as Indie/Country/Pop. I would say they're more like a band you would go see on a cool summer's eve, with a picnic of watermelon, light refreshments (mint sun tea), sandwiches (like cheese, light mayo, lettuces, freshly sliced tomato, and maybe a dash of mustard), and someone who you wouldn't mind cuddling with.

They're for sure more than background music.

I believe I've seen the girl singing before on TV. She looks like that girl from "Gilmore Girls", you know - the daughter Alexis Bledel. Wait! I've seen the girl before. Her name is Zooey Deschanel. She was the girl in "Elf" and the Sci-Fi channel's "Tin Man". The guy is M. Ward.

note: as I'm writing this I'm jumping around between pages doing a bit of research. I am known to know faces and not names. NOTORIOUS, actually. So bare in mind that this blog posting is more or less a cut and paste of names and mini facts.

May I suggest listening to Sentimental Heart. A good first song.


PS. A good friend of mine is in the musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I love that musical. I am sorely sad I am most likely not to see her in it. To boot, on a slight tangent, the Cowboy from The Village People, Randy Jones, is playing the Pharaoh. Ok, I may be jonesing a little about that a relatively well know person is coming to the town where I attended college (yes, pun intended).