& that's the way life goes

This post is just a lot of mumble.

As much as I love the cottage, and I do adore it, it is making me fat.  It’s hard to go grocery shopping for a couple days and we end up eating out.  It’s actually pretty horrible.  I’m trying to remedy the situation since we’ve decided to leave the fridge on since we are going up almost every weekend.

I’m falling off the fitness horse and it’s stupid scary.

In other news, I sparred with my dad last night and got a knee to my hip flexor.  Though I’m not as sore as I was afriad I would be, it still hurts like a mother fucker.  I also lost focus and slammed my heel into the base of the kicking bag.

Ok, moving on.

Yesterday was pretty fucked up kind of day.  Michigan felt the tremors of an earthquake (I missed out on this) and there were some wicked storms that came through the area.  Granted, they didn’t have anything on what Oklahoma or Kansas get but still. Armageddon, yo.

Did I tell you that I tried wakeboarding again last weekend?  I haven’t been on the board in 2 years since I face planted in the water.  C is ridiculous and makes that shit look easy.  Fucker.

Clearly, I have a potty mouth today along with a lot of slang. I’ve got no excuse.  All I know is…

I love summer. † I love the summer memories I have. † I love having a cottage. † I love being able to get away from the house on the weekend with C and the dogs. † I love wearing a bathing suit. † I love wearing dresses. † I love tank tops and flip(py) flop(pie)s.  † I love being on a motherfucking boat, yo! † I love settling back into a town I used to know. † I love discovering and rediscovering secret spots. † I love making new memories with people I’m pretty sure will be in my life for the long run. † I love vacation days. † I love flex schedules. † I love campfires and sunsets. † I love Lake Huron waves. † I love the AuSable and canoeing.

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It’s that time of year where I start making summer plans.  You know how it is, right?  The weather starts touching 60 degrees and even though I know that the poor flowers that are trying to sprout up are going to get a big heavy snowfall before we are officially out of winter, I’m making plans for my flip flop clad feet.

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Let’s start with April.  Yes, I realize that it will probably still be freezing in April but humor me.  For C’s birthday we are going up north with the dogs, with the hopes of maybe finally actually looking at cottages.  We went up in April a couple years ago and got caught in an ice storm.  Obviously not flip flop weather but eh, you gotta start somewhere.

{Oscoda, April 2008}

{Oscoda, April 2008}

{Oscoda, April 2008}

Next up is May.  At the tail end, Memorial Weekend, we are going to Chicago to celebrate my birthday.  It’s 2 weeks before the actual day but it’s cheapest then

{Chicago, March 2009}

{Chicago, March 2009}

The weekend in June, while C is gone with his friends, I plan to have a party at my house.  Who’s coming over to watch girly movies and play Wii with me?!

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Shell and I are making plans to invade Oscoda in June.  Possibly even reliving our glory days by camping in a tent.  OMG, I did just say that.  We’ll see if it actually happens.  I’m kind of excited of the prospect of throwing up our old tent since it’s been 9 years since both our hands have done it together.  We were totally these girls, ah, those were the days

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{Oscoda, July 2000}

LP and I are planning another girls weekend up north sometime in July or August.  Hopefully this year there will be more than just the two of us.

{Oscoda, August 2009}

{Oscoda, August 2009}

These are just the beginnings of what will hopefully will be a warm summer.  C’mon mother nature, I’m ready!!

I’m having a bit of writer’s block.  It’s an awful feeling.  Yes I have a couple things I’m pondering to write about, but I’m not that sure about it yet.  So instead you get this…

Summer, I’ve been realizing, is a magical time for me.   Narrowing this down even more, the place up north that I swear I leave a part of my heart, holds a lot of firsts.

So summers in northern Michigan, here is my list of firsts you let me experience:

• Seeing a snake swimming in the water – I was probably between the ages of 6-8 and thoroughly freaked out
• Picking berries from the island
• Paddleboat
• Sunfish & Blue Gill were my favorite fish to catch
• Appreciating the silence and sunlight filtering through the trees behind my grandparents cottage – I still remember the odd rolling little hills in the field
• Riding on a tire swing -  laughing and giggling
• Fireworks on the beach, I remember laying on the towel with my mom
• Horseback riding
• Canoeing around the lake with the bestie
• Licking cheese off the doritos and holding them out the car window to “dry”
• Camping with my dad – where he made the most amazing Filipino food in the wok on a propane stove
• Fishing at the dams – learning to appreciate nature and cutting off the butts of crayfish (I’m sorry PETA!)
• My first period (sorry boys!) – I was camping and at the dam fishing with my dad.  Luckily two of my more “mature” girlfriends were there and we bought the necessary items at Kmart and hid them from my Dad..haha I was embarrassed
• Backing my dads van into a tree stump – yep it left a big dent.  That was actually my first time behind the wheel…hmmm foreshadowing I suppose
• My first kiss – HA for the kissing whore I turned out to be I didn’t get my first one til I was 14. He was classy, he referred to it as ‘neckin in the woods’
• Riding on a jetski – again way behind the times, we were 18.  So lucky IC and I didn’t drown!
• Getting swore at by a crazy Mexican woman who was yelling that we had slept with her nasty husband WTF?!  That was a scary night
• Riding on top of a Ford Escort
• Sex in a tent *blushes (just fyi it took a whole summer before that happened, I just want to keep my squeaky clean image *winks)
  
• Being so high I thought I’d suffocate from laughing too much
• Being searched by the cops – both body and tent
• Having a “bowl” hidden underneath the floor of the tent
• Getting kicked out of the campground for being too loud, only it wasn’t us just the company that was visiting
• Renting a cabin on Lake Huron
• Having my heart stop and everything slow down around me when trying to park the car

Here’s hoping to more firsts this next time around.  I’ve been so lucky to be able to visit 3 times already this year.  I don’t know how I go 9 months without a glimpse of it’s natural beauty.  Oh wait, that’s right, the only time IC and I decided to drive up there in the winter my car got “stuck” and was “out of order”.  I need to find someone to drive me up there, because obviously I am not capable LOL.

I would love to someday own my own place up there to escape to on the weekends and for vacations.  I used to want to travel the world, and I still do, but I’ve realized that getting out of the city proves to be a good thing for my mental health.  Maybe I’ll just rent a place to live for the time being and buy something to retreat to?  Thoughts?