Sometimes typing out a blog post feels like the most
daunting thing ever. So I don’t do it. For, like, weeks. But then I wake up one
day and realize I started a blog because I enjoy writing, and because it was a
way to keep my family informed about my weird life, and then typing a post
doesn’t feel so hard!
Spring Break has officially come and gone, today being the
last day. How did 9 days go by this quickly? If this is what it’s like to get
old, I’d like to not get old please.
As fun as it would be to recap every single day’s happenings
from the last time I posted, I’m not going to because that’s boring to read as
well as type. Instead, you get the last three days!
My roomie of 2 and ½ years/soul sister/childhood friend and
I have had the whole “pasty skin” thing going for us for quite a while. Starting
in October, we basically lose any pigment to our summer sunkissed skin at a
rapid rate. Now that it’s mid-March and people are returning from their
tropical Spring Break adventures, we decided it would be a prime time to do
something about our clear-ness. Tanning beds are simply a no-no because we’re
both fair skinned and freckley – basically the recipe for melanoma – so we tend
to steer clear of heated cancer-causing contraptions of death. Soaking up the
rays on our front yard was also ruled out considering it snowed this morning
(yay not). Those self-tanning lotions are great and all but we’re both over 5’7”
and consist of long, gangly limbs – that’s a lot of lotion, folks. So we
researched some spray tan machines online, put on some loose clothes, hopped in
the car, and headed out for our very first spray tans. After sharing a high-five
and a jinxed “YOLO” we scurried into the tanning salon and whipped out our
debit cards for a $35 four minute cold shower of orange mist.
The things that went on in Room 16 were reality show
material. First, we decided to be in the room together for moral support. That’s
all fine and dandy except we didn’t realize that we’d have to get in our
birthday suits in a four-by-four foot room. Manageable. That brings me to the
second thing: I went first – nearly forgot the barrier cream for my hands (which
would have been very, very bad), didn’t realize that the spray tan booth didn’t
actually close so I frantically tried to pull what I thought was the door
closed, smearing the barrier cream everywhere in the process, and shouting “close
it! Close it!” only to realize the top of Room 16 was wide open which meant
every other person in the shop could hear me completely spazzing out, naked in
a spray tan booth with hands covered in creepy white lotion. Yeah. So there was
that. On the upside, I don’t look see-through anymore!
That night, we had a group dinner and I made my mom’s
infamous “Alice Potatoes”. Funny story about that dish: whenever my dad was out
of town when I was growing up, my mom would make these things called Alice
Potatoes. It’s basically a baked potato cut open, filled with seasoned ground
beef, covered in shredded cheese, and topped with a dollop of sour cream. It’s
quite wonderful. I always thought Alice Potatoes were an actual thing – like,
you could order them at a restaurant as a side dish. I’d get put out when they
were never on the menu. Well, when I finally got to college and had to cook for
myself, I decided I was probably capable of busting out an Alice Potato and was
pretty excited about it. I called my mom and asked her if she knew the recipe
off the top of her head, or if I needed to look in a cookbook or online or something.
She was like “of course I know it off the top of my head, I made it up!” I was
really confused and replied “what do you mean you made it up?” She proceeded to
inform me that in college, she had to find meals that were cheap to make and
she discovered the affordability of a) ground beef, and b) russet potatoes. And
voila! The name given to the dish was simply because she lived in her Aunt
Alice’s basement throughout college.
My life = a lie.
Suddenly all these memories began flooding back to me about being
at restaurants and whispering to my dinner-neighbor how unfortunate it was that
no one ever carried the delicious Alice Potato on the menu. Sigh.
Needless to say, the Alice Potatoes we had on Friday night
were scrumptious as always.
Yesterday, Garrett and I and our good “couple friends”
headed to Yellowstone for the day. I was super pumped because the weather was
fabulous and I hadn’t been to the park for probably a decade. We saw tons of
bison, antelope, elk, and deer – just what you’d expect! Our main destination
was the Boiling River and it was a beautiful day for it. We had to share the
pools with quite a few other soakers, but it couldn’t have been better. There
was a slight breeze, the sun was shining, birds were calling, no screaming children
in sight, and great company. We soaked for a good two hours, until our fingers
and toes got pruny, then we headed back along the trail. I managed to slice my
hand open and Garrett got a rock stuck in his foot – you just can’t take us
anywhere! We all took turns changing clothes in the car (which is pretty
humorous when you’re as gangly as Garrett and I), took some great photos, then
drove around the park a bit more until the roads were closed. Then it was back
to Livingston for a delicious dinner at the Rib and Chop House. It was such a
great day.
Now back to the real world tomorrow – only six weeks until
graduation!
