"Coldsure" Shock

As I pulled on a pair of fleece socks over my SmartWool socks this morning, I found myself marveling at the fact that only a week ago I was happily pulling a new Hawaiian sundress over my head.  I think it's time to admit I've been in somewhat of a culture/weather shock since coming home, and it's only been softened by the fact that I don't really have to get up and go out anywhere in the mornings, or even all day if I don't want to.  I've been sleeping in till 11:30 or 12 since Wednesday.  (Which is 6:30 or 7 in Hawaii, about when I was waking up there).  Having the radio show and my birthday celebrations and friends inviting me out for coffee has been good at getting me out of the house at all.  

People may be mislead by the fact that I'm happily spamming Facebook pictures with comments into thinking that I'm all fine and dandy, but I'd also be just as happy to curl up in bed with the Stephanie Meyer books I just picked up from the library and not come out till spring.  Except that they wouldn't last me that long and they're due back at the beginning of February anyway.  I haven't started them yet because I know there's a pile of stuff I should be doing and I know that once I start it'll be exceedingly hard for me to put them down.  

When I read, I read hard, fast and intensely.  My friends and family would always try to shake me out of my book comas as a kid.  Quite brave of them to face my snarls at being ripped out of my fantasy worlds.  They could bounce all over the couch I was lying on and I'd totally ignore them, but trying to get me to actually stop was a bad idea.

I'm not that bad anymore, but I've still been known to stay up so late near the end of a story that my eyes water and the book is practically falling out of my hand just to find out how it finishes.  Only problem with that is I tend to forget what actually happened the next morning and end up having to re-read the last 50 pages or so to find out.

Went to see Catie Curtis last night at CSPS.  They are still struggling after the June floods, it was cold enough that everyone pretty much had to wear their coats and hats inside, and one of their toilets doesn't quite work properly yet, but it was a testament to survival that the show went on.  Meg Hutchinson opened for her, really amazing.  I'd found her several months ago on MySpace and kind of forgotten about it, so it was awesome to see her face on the posters and even more awesome to hear her music.  Praise be to YouTube, I was able to find the song she opened with that doesn't seem to be on any of her records yet (tiny ad at the beginning): 

Travel In by Meg Hutchinson.

This is not the best quality video of the song, but the song Fools off Catie's new album was the one of hers that gave me chills:

Well worth the drive up to Cedar Rapids and the cold in the room.  Thank goodness I was wearing warm socks! :)

Happy Easter!

I am 29 years old and this is the first year that I can remember not having an Easter Basket. We stopped doing the eggs several years ago, but the last couple years my mom would make up little baskets with dried fruit and other mostly healthy treats in the plastic eggs and hide them around the first floor at Cromwell. The general rule was that at least from SOME angle, you would be able to see at least SOME part of the basket without having to uncover it or move anything, though I'm not sure that was always the case. If we found our other sibling's baskets we would NOT tell where we found them, but sit on the couch and smirk as we noshed on our bits of sweetened pineapple and papaya and jelly bellies (hey, I said MOSTLY healthy).

It's funny, for all that Holy Week here in Colombia is a big deal, you'd think maybe today would be the biggest deal of all. I don't know if it's because G's mom isn't feeling well, or if they really don't go to church on Easter Sunday, but today has been super low key. The plan HAD been to go to the beach, and to bring the Grandfather. I've heard the churches are all decked out, and I was kind of curious to see at least one. But while we have gone to a couple of masses in people's houses, I haven't been to a church the whole time I've been in Barranquilla this trip. So who knows. I've missed church the last couple years at home I think too, just didn't wake up in time, so I'm not that bummed about missing the service, more just wanted to see the decorations.

This is the third big holiday I've missed at home in two months - first was Valentine's Day, second was St. Patrick's. For Valentine's I did get an ENORMOUS bouquet, and taken out for a nice lunch, but it was kind of strange not being with my husband, and that was the day it really hit me HARD how much I missed him. I remembered it was St. Patrick's day just before I got dressed, so I wore my army green pants and a t-shirt that had some kelly green leaves in the design, and after dinner I tried to explain some of the traditions to my in-laws. When we finally got clear that yes, they actually TINT the beer itself green, not that people drink the beer that comes in green bottles, they grimaced a wee bit, and they also thought it rather horrible that you got pinched for not wearing green clothing. But hey, they have a tradition of throwing wet cornstarch at people during their big Carnaval parades, so to each their own. :-) (For the record, I think they also think the cornstarch thing is horrible, but at least they are used to the concept.)

Anyway, I think it's funny how holidays in one sense are just another day in the year, but in another they have so much history and emotion and expectation tied to them based on how you celebrated in the past. I didn't realize I was going to miss my Easter Basket this much, even if I AM 29.