5 of my favorite things right this moment

Last week I caught some kind of hellacious stomach bug and spent a good 2 1/2 days miserable, so I wasn't exactly up to blogging. Now that I'm feeling better, I thought I'd share with you 5 things that are currently rockin' my world:

1- The (new & old) Crocker Art Museum
I know, it's pretty lame that I'd never been to the Crocker before, considering the enormous amount of art history knowledge I carry around inside my head.
Jude wonders how I acquired this information, seeing as I am not exactly college educated.  I answer the same as when he asks me how I know anything: If it can be Googled, I have done it. I don't need your fancy degree, I am a graduate of the school of internetting.  For the record, I do not like your Modern art, and I do not like Impressionism.  I am amazed by photo-realism and surrealism, but am a huge Hater when it comes to digital art. "Isn't that design?", I always ask, and Jude just shakes his head at me.

2- Mumford & Sons
They should probably just have a picture of my face on that "Stuff White People Like" site.  My musical tastes  now consist of almost nothing but Neo Folk music.  But I don't know how anybody could not love this.

3- All things Fall
Pumpkins, spooky decorations, falling leaves in brilliant colors.  Taking the kids Trick or Treating, watching all the documentaries about the Salem Witch Trials.  Cooking a giant meal for Thanksgiving, eating too much, wearing long sleeves again. Cooler temperatures and shorter days.  The Harvest moon.  Snuggling by the fireplace with a cup of hot apple cider.  Not dying from the late California Summer that waited till the last minute to hit us with 100+ degrees.
I like it all.

4- Foursquare
Originally I thought this was a site that made it way too convenient for stalkers to kidnap you, but I have been schooled in the ways of Foursquare now and so I have busied myself with checking in to every place I go.  I am currently the Mayor of the laundromat.  I'm not sure I like what that says about me, but I hear that there are a ton of local places that offer deals for Mayorships, etc, like free passes to the zoo for example. I've yet to get any coupons or good deals but a lot of people leave cool tips after they've checked in somewhere that can be really helpful, like what times a business is slowest and which location has better service. I'm gonna keep checking in because I am pretty sure I'm on my way to becoming Supreme Queen of the ghetto laundry and that has to have some kind of perks.  Free fluffing, perhaps?

5- These crazy people

This group is pretty much always on my list of favorites, even though they try their best to drive me to the very edge of sanity.  I still like them better than anyone else.

File under: Things I do when left to my own devices

my favorite headstone

Maybe by now you've gotten the drift that I am not your average girl.  I do things for fun that might make other girls cringe.

Camping with no running water, for example.
Doing the dishes by hand.
Or taking photos of scary insects and looking up strange diseases that plagued the people of the 1800's.
You know, fun stuff.


So, it really shouldn't surprise you that when I was gifted a few hours to spend alone (see: no children) I chose not to spend my time getting my hair done or shopping, but to spend it wandering around the Old City Cemetery.
In the evening. Alone. For over an hour.

You know what's nice about the cemetery? (Aside from the  historical significance, beautifully crafted monuments and slightly creepy feeling of voyeurism.....) 
It is QUIET. Obviously.  The Old City Cemetery has tons of benches & even some randomly placed picnic tables and if I'd have known that ahead of time I would have packed some food, brought a book and spent more than an hour there.  In fact, I envision future cemetery picnic-style date nights with the husband.


On a strangeness scale of 1-10, I figure this ups my score to somewhere around 57 but you know what?
I don't care.
We can't all be mall-rats.