go out on an adventure at least once a month

November – Jack Daniels Distillery
December – Bodgea Bay, Guerneville and Santa Rosa
January – Marin county! Creamery tour, oyster farm.
February – Las Vegas! New experiences, fun times. Skiing at Tahoe.
March – Eastern shore, Maryland
April – Safari drive at SafariWest :)
May – Mendocino – train ride, horseback riding
June – Archery lesson!
July – Savannah, New Orleans and Houston
August – Saratoga, NY
September – Roadtrip: Berkeley to Seattle and the Gorge
October – Enormous Corn Maze
November – Day of Food in the South Bay

I feel so accomplished! I’ve decided to take this on for another year, with low cost, local adventures.

Well, I decided that even though I’ve been on adventures the past couple of months that I’ll start this month and consider this goal completed next November. This month, while we were visiting family for Thanksgiving, we went on an adventure to Lynchburg, TN to the Jack Daniel’s distillery. It was a great day long adventure. If you have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it – the tour was fantastic, and the people who work there are incredibly knowledgable and friendly. This month we’re headed to the beach for a weekend, and January – Las Vegas where the goal is to do new things since we’ve been there before.

Last weekend, we got a call from R’s friend, asking us to come out to Nashvegas and hang out with a friend of theirs.

So we went. Just threw some stuff in the car and took off. Drove out Saturday, came back Sunday. It was really fun…more fun than any of my previous trips to Nashville, in fact.

Now we’re talking about going to Texas in December, for a concert. Apparently it’s only 4 hours away – one more hour than Nashville. So why not? I love to drive.

Tried sushi for the first time tonight. (Vegetarian, but still.) It’s very nice. Though I’m not crazy about the pickled ginger or wasabi.

Plus, R made a new friend – the guy at the sushi counter. He seems nice. Maybe we’ll hang out soon.

The reunion was better than I’d expected. I spent most of the day with my aunt, whom I adore but rarely get to see. Also got to see my cousin, though not for as long as I would have liked.

And yes, I got to eat. We ate lunch out (good thing, as I could not have even eaten the salad…bacon, of course), but dinner there. I was able to eat the mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. I also ate a few green beans before I realized they had ham in them.

Which brings me to my tummy. I have been in agony for the past 12 hours. Food, rest, er…bathroom breaks, and an entire roll of Rolaids have done nothing to alleviate the pain. Now, typically I get sick when I go back home because of the water (there’s just something about it that makes me ill), but never has it made me hurt this bad for this long. So I’m wondering if it may be the ham in the green beans (and maybe something in the corn/mashed potatoes that I didn’t see). Or perhaps a combination of the two.

The other option – that there’s something wrong with me – isn’t exactly appealing. Mom’s vacillating between appendicitis and gallstones. I do have a strong family history of gallstones, so we can’t rule that out. (Though I do wonder if they’d make you hurt for 12 hours.) I don’t exactly have all the symptoms of appendicitis…and besides, I’d think it would hurt more. I’ve had cramps worse than this.

I’m taking a wait-n-see approach. At least I have tomorrow off.

We decided, for our anniversary, to try new things. Little adventures. For R, it was sushi. He loved the white tuna; didn’t care for the salmon. Hated the pickled ginger. Granted, he did eat it straight.

For me, it was trying import beers from World Market. (No sushi for me, thanks, and I’d already eaten at Kyoto.) So far, I’ve tried an Oktoberfest beer (tasty, but a bit too strong for me), Tsingtao (a bit harsh for the first few sips, then who cares?), Beck’s Light (quite good, but I’ll reserve final judgment until I get a fresh one…mine expired last September, apparently), Black & Tan (a bit too dark), and Dos Equis (my favorite so far).

_{This is spread out over several nights…if I drank that much in one night, I’d fall over. :)}

Next up in my adventure agenda: Family reunion. Weekend after next. Mostly people I’ve not seen in 20 years, or whom I met when I was three. Oy.

So we went to see Eddie Izzard last night. R’s first trip to the Orpheum, and one of our few forays downtown. We’re starting to get the hang of the layout (though the one-way streets still throw us); I think we might do downtown a bit more in the future.

Eddie was fabulous, as always. I found his theme (a riff on intelligent design) quite funny and thoughtful; the rest of the crowd did, too, though there were a few uncomfortable moments (we are in the Bible Belt, after all).

And even though I overestimated the size of the parking space and bumped the wall with my car, I didn’t damage the paint. Go me!

My parents called today: Mom is sick. Pneumonia, strep throat, and an ear infection. She felt fine until Sunday night, but she’s been sick ever since. They gave her a fistful of medication at the doctor’s, though; hopefully she’ll feel better by next week!

R and I are going to the Beale Street Music Festival. Not a huge adventure, granted, because a) I’ve been to the Music Fest before, and b) I’ve been to concerts with him, but any outdoor concert is an adventure – this one in particular.

It usually rains, though if the forecast is to be believed, it won’t this Saturday. It is supposed to storm on Friday, however, so we may still be dealing with a fair bit of mud. I must remember to wear old shoes.

Also, there’s the puke factor. The times I’ve gone, someone’s lost their cookies (ok, beer) nearby, and you do have to watch where you walk in case you missed the actual event. Plus, remember what happened to R the last time we went to a concert (drunken frat boy, unfortunate seating arrangement). In fact, I’m unable to think of any concert we’ve gone to where there’s not been a puddle of vomit nearby. Thus far I have escaped wearing it. And hope to continue the tradition.

So yes, it should be an adventure. Hopefully the fun stuff will outweigh the yucky stuff.

_{Note to self: Start planning adventures that involve less regurgitation.}

I’m going to see Eddie Izzard! I’m so excited. :)