Fun Friday: Mount Airy

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Heart With Joy on bookshelf - YEA!!This Friday we ignored the rain clouds gathering overhead and ventured up the road a ways to Mt. Airy, i.e., "Mayberry" and home of all things Andy Griffith. We didn't have any real plans for the day. Just thought we'd take a look around, eat lunch, see what there was to see and head home. Mt. Airy is less than an hour away from us, so it was a good, quick trip. 

The first fun thing to happen is that we walked into Pages bookstore and I saw my friend Steve Cushman's book, Heart With Joy, on a shelf. Had to whip out the i-phone and send him a quick picture. The next fun thing is that I discovered that not only does Stephen King have a new book out, it's a new book in the Dark Towers series. Hel-loooo! How did I miss that? We bought the Steven King book, a book called Wild by Cheryl Straying that several people have recommended to me in the last week, and a cookbook by Olivia Newton John. (I am a SUCKER for cookbooks.) 

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What do Deer and "Hell Yeah!" Have In Common?

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I was talking to a friend the other day about living joyfully. Writing, relationships, exercise, chores... everything in life flows so much smoother on the days I approach life with a playful "let's just see what happens here" type of excited expectancy. I think the Universe works to bring us what we want when we don't spend so much time and energy fighting for what we think we need. 

I was thinking about this on today's trail run. I've been doing a trail run once a week after I work out with a friend. We work upper body for about 45 minutes and then I run. Last week, I was miserable. My arms and shoulders hurt from the workout and I brought this into my run. My mantra that day was something along the lines of, "Ow, this hurts, this sucks, I'm not going to make it."  Guess what? I had a crappy run, walking a good part of it. 

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Smug Marrieds: I Want My Tiara!

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Blair got a package in the mail yesterday, a big brown box from Amazon. I love receiving packages in the mail, even if they're not for me. Who knows what could be in there? It's like Christmas.

Since we don't open each other's mail--ever--I had to wait until Blair got home to find out what he'd ordered. It was almost 9 p.m. before he got around to going through that day's mail. 

"What's in the box?" I asked, dancing around him as he cut it open. "Oooh--did you finally get me the tiara I've always wanted? You know, if you really loved me, you'd want to get me a tiara to prove it. So is it a tiara?"

"Next best thing, baby," said Blair. "Check it out." 

He then pulled out a boxed online gaming set and read the words aloud every woman longs to hear: "Look! It's Sting of Lolth. And it has an umber hulk on the cover!"

Sting of Lolth? Umber hulk? That is NOT a tiara! 

However, the non-tiara...whatever it is game-thing...seemed to please Blair, so it's got that going for it. Meanwhile, I'll plan to keep an eye out for new packages arriving. The odds are with me that, sooner or later, one of them will contain a tiara for princess. 

Cheers,

Dena

p.s. One of my all time favorite scenes below from Big Bang Theory, when Amy accepts her tiara. Little tip for all you men out there: No matter what the intelligence level of your woman, she's lying if she tells you she doesn't want a tiara. ;)

Fun Friday: Ziplining!

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Blair and I took our nephew Logan and my mom ziplining yesterday at Carolina Ziplines. Our guides Ryan and Whitney took us on a canopy tour through the trees of Stokes county. Below is a video that captures some of the highlights. A few notes: 

  • You'll see one section where I'm doing a "whirlybird." This is where they twist the ropes so you spin around in circles as you come down the line. I was the only one in our group to attempt it. Until... Mom and I were the last ones to make this run and after I left the platform, Mom decided I wasn't going to be the only one to do the whirlybird. Take a look at the results!
  • Don't know if you can tell, but the last 2 runs you'll see on the video, it's pouring rain. Actually made ziplining more fun. 

 I would do this again in a heartbeat! They have nighttime tours which I'm going to convince Blair to take me back for. Our guides were stellar, beautiful scenery, felt totally safe. If you're in the area, you should definitely try this!