Imagine my surprise when I was finally getting to one of my monthly pleasures last night (oh, do whatever you want with that phrase, but...) reading the latest issue of Country Home and I came to this...
...how proud and surprised I was to see at number one the place where all of my "family of origin" live. Not trying to be p.c. but my children live here, Baltimore, and Texas and my other blood relatives, few as they are anymore, are all over the place, so I was just trying to be...oh heck. Right after my niece and her husband were married in Carmel, Eder received an offer to work for Comcast in Corvallis. He and Maya had lived most of their lives in Monterey, parents and sibs there, life-long friends, etc, so it was a very difficult decision but they moved. Just a couple of months later my dad passed away in Texas where my parents had moved back for the last couple of years of his life, and my mom did not want to stay. So, as she and my dad were not afraid to do, she decided to move to Corvallis also and sight-unseen just like Maya and Eder.
My oldest son, Lucas, lived there with Maya and Eder for half a year or so. My sister, her S.O. Court, and son, Aaron moved there two years ago. Three generations of Eder's family moved there this May and Aaron's dad moved to Eugene in July. Have I qualified as having ties there yet? Although I do wonder about the list. See that Salinas is number 21? Well it's been 11 years since I moved away from the Monterey Peninsula but for many years while there Salinas, although one of the country's largest sources of produce, was also the go-to place to be in a gang or be hit by a random drive-by shooting bullet. Not all of Salinas, not the suburbs, but in town, yes. Also the closest In-n-Out Burger at the time, so you see, still worth the chance bullet to visit when the jonesing for a great burger gets to be too much.
Ok, small CITIES, is right. People talk about small towns like 50,000. Wrong. A good sized small town is under 5000. 1500 tops. Have you read all my droning regarding Stromsburg, Nebraska? "It's perfect in every way.", says the real estate princess (me).
The Northwest is not for me but it is beautiful in its own way (not my favorite but still beautiful), wonderful weather, cool shopping, loads of neat places, Corvallis being one of them. It's a great place to have family and visit, especially if you don't live all the way on the other side of the country on the EAST COAST. But I'm just guessing.
Now here we have at number 5, Casper, Wyoming. I'm sure you can take a look at this list and other than Omaha, Ames, and Cedar Rapids, guess whether or not these are big tourist areas. You know tourist areas? The ones where they are so wonderful people clamor to them whenever they can? I lived the longest year and a half of my life in Casper and I wouldn't recommend packing up your stuff in too much of a hurry to get to any of these other than the
previously mentioned above too quickly. Okay, we've seen the movie Fargo. Done. Assume then that you've also seen Bismark and Grand Forks. I can't speak much for Iowa since I've only barely driven through and, of course, I love Nebraska. So that leaves Casper and Cheyenne. I should have just stated from the beginning that I wouldn't advise choosing a place to live based on the wind factor. These places are in the PLAINS which, in case you've never lived anywhere without a bump between you and the nearest rock 300 miles away, means common winds of 40-50 mph. Common. An uncomfortable day might be one the day after a big snow hitting you in the face at 65 mph. Did I mention the drive-through liquor barns? Okay, you get my drift-HA! Having been from Texas and California it was a little too much time inside especially with two little boys. On nice, sunny days I could hear the boys clearly outside with the neighbor kids riding bikes and playing, screaming at the top of their lungs so as to be hear each other over the 55 mph gales. On snowy days it took 2 1/2 hours to dress them, they would play in the back yard for 20 minutes then come in and cry hysterically while I undressed them as fast as I could and they defrosted in front of the fireplace, oh, half hour or so. The Tetons are beautiful but 5 hours away. Go visit Corvallis, you get to play in Portland on your way to and from there!
I opened the box but still haven't "unwrapped" it. She did it up so cute that I love it the way it is with ribbon, umbrellas, and millinery flowers. And look at the cute card she sent with it!
Here are close-ups of the eggs themselves but you can also see that they are set on a beautiful china plate with
yellow grass, shreds, and
little bits of bling. Thanks a ton, Beth. I swear I'll get over there soon to see you!
Next, I received my nest from my swap partner from Sweet Little Nest Swap partner Megan. How sweet is this nest?
From the top angle and, again, check out the beautiful card she sent with it.
There is even a dressed up star fish on the inside lid! It's so beautiful, thanks so much Megan!
Then my Texas friend who lives in Annapolis, Shelley, sent me all these Texas Highway mags 'cause I don't subscribe. Why should I when every few months she sends them to me in an envelope that she has decorated so cool and includes...wait for it...a beautiful card. I put "my man Bobby" on the top so's I could share his photo with everyone. Shelley left a comment on my previous post bragging (well it was cleverly disguised as very blase) about going to Round Top this week! Oh my, where are my pills (Scarlet's voice) and fan? Ashley, won't you take me to Round Top? Ashley? Ashley? Rhett? Tom? Crap, I want to go, I need a pony...
