the park, elks lodge, and a clean house

Sneezing today - it just sort of occurred to me that my eyes are kind of sensitive and my throat hurts a little. Time to guzzle some water.

I had the strangest workday today - met two of my interns at HB Central Park at the location where we are doing the Walk for Independence on Jan. 17th (contact me to register!!!). I got excited for the Walk all over again - it's such a great park. That's where Adam, myself, and our friends usually go to play disc golf. It's where Adam and I used to go running at 2am, when the coyotes would come out and alternately play with/want to eat Rommel. It's got lakes, playgrounds, disc golf, dog park, picnic areas, Shipley Nature center (where I worked, actually, for a few months), and across Golden West the park continues with more lakes, willow trees, the best library ever, and a humongous and fairly new Sports Complex. It's a fantastic park.

Anyways, we stayed there for a while, and designated where we are going to have everything, then I came back to the office, did about 30 minutes of work, and then it was time to rush out to the Santa Ana Elks lodge to meet with one of the parents of my clients. She is arranging it so that we can use their ballroom for free for our holiday party - so we got a tour of the place, and it was just...a whole other world. First off, you have to use your membership card to even get through the door. She showed us the ballroom, a smaller banquet room - and the meeting room. Seats set up for 400 people, with this odd podium thing in the middle for their "Exalted Ruler" (so not joking. How do I get that job title?) Then she walked us past the lounge - a dozen or so older men drinking and smoking at 11am on a Wednesday - and then into the restaurant. She knew everyone in there, of course, both diners and staff. She treated us to lunch and told us all about what else the Elks do, how to become an Elk, etc. Have I mentioned, it's a whole other world?

There is something awfully appealing about it, though - I don't know if you know how many members Elks lodges have all over the US, or how much money they raise and donate - but you can't DO the kind of philanthropic things they do without the huge amount of sheer power that comes from that many members. I was a little awed. I loved being in Girl Scouts, I can totally see why people join sororities, there is also something about being a member of a club - you know, one where you have to use your card to get through the door - that I can understand wanting to have a part in. Apparently Elks only let women join as recently as TEN years ago. In their newsletter, the Exalted Ruler and Lead Knight (yeeessss) sign their statements "Fraternally," and "With Brotherly Love."

So we did the schmoozing thing for a few hours - finished it off with some chocolate pudding from the buffet, and now I'm back here. I have 2 hours left, and a bunch of stuff to do, but my head is spinning - and part of it is from my day, and part of it is from whatever is making me sneeze.

Adam cleaned so much of the house yesterday it's amazing, and I need to keep it that way. He put away a bunch of things that were stacked up in annoying places, and although I didn't think it looked that cluttered before, without them, it looks so much better. He cleaned up the yard, washed both dogs, washed my car, did laundry, and started dishes. I hereby VOW TO NEVER PUT ANYTHING DOWN IN THE WRONG PLACE EVER AGAIN. I heard once that clutter is always formed by not putting something away right away, and the reason you don't put it away right away is to avoid making a decision. Well, I am a Decision Maker! It's what I'm good at! So here I go.

Also - with the base of the house clean like this, I can see how to go the next step and make it *pretty* - which is really what I want to spend my time doing. So I not only am going to not put anything down without putting it away ever again, but I am going to do one extra cleaning thing a day to keep it looking so sparkling.

Yes I am. I like my house like this.

Okay. Time to go do Very Important Things now.

etsy bloggers team carnival for November

This etsy carnival post the topic is Veteran's Day - I am either to post about my favorite Veteran, or what I am going to do with my day off!

Sadly, sadly, sadly, that day is not a holiday at my place o' employment. Know what I'll be doing that day? I'll have a meeting with one of the interns I supervise, and probably go to karate that night. I'll be getting more and more excited about Thanksgiving, and my birthday (which is the day AFTER Thanksgiving) and... in all other respects it will be a normal Tuesday.

Speaking of Veterans - the only one I know also happens to be one of my favorite people in the world, and luckily, I get to be related to him too. My Uncle Timmy - married my Tia Julie when I was....12 or so, and who I thought hated me for the first year - is one of the greatest people I know. I thought he didn't like me because he has that habit of teasing you INSTANTLY as soon as you meet him. Now I understand that it's all from loooove, but man, back then, I wasn't so sure. Now I tease back.

Politically he is incredibly different from where I stand - he'll be the only person in our family voting the way he votes on Nov. 4, that's for sure. But in my life, he's the person who makes me stop and realize that people who believe different things than I do also have valid opinions. (I tend to think I'm the rightest righteous person of all time, can you tell?) I've never really stopped to talk to him about his experiences in the armed forces, but this blog topic sure has inspired me to do just that. Maybe in a few weeks I will do a follow up post, and talk more about the specifics of my uncle tim's experience.


on a slightly different topic, I do get a day off tomorrow (well, half a day off) due to the fact that I am working on Sunday. Tomorrow also happens to be Halloween - and I have NOTHING planned! My cousin still works at the daycare I used to work at, so I think I will go visit them - it's hard for me to visit since I work during the hours they are open, but I miss the kids and would love to see them all dressed up. I also have my first test in my online abnormal psychology class, so I am going to make sure I am prepped for that, annnddd maybe I will go hang out with my dad and have some low-key halloween handing out candy to the 5 kids who show up at my parent's door.

Saturday, Adam and I will be getting up early to go to the APPLE ORCHARDS! I am so excited. This is where my family and I used to go in the fall when we were younger. Its up near Oak Glen, and it's sort of like wine tasting, except it's in orchards not vineyards, and you can get out and hike around in all the fall leaves and go eat different types of apples and press your own cider and pick chestnuts... when Adam and I first became friends, I wanted to go there with him, but he said no, on the grounds that it was too much like a date. So now, since we've been In A Relationship for two years, we are finally going!!

I live in Huntington Beach - land of the large sunglasses, the day spa and the 24 hour fitness. We've got ocean - but not past 10pm - and we've got...yeah, we've got ocean - but we don't have much in the way of green. We don't have that air that hits you when you get up high, the cold that gets in your lungs, the smell of greeeeen. I miss green. I want trees. I cannot wait to go to the apple orchards.