Thanksgiving

Holiday travel season is quickly approaching! Actually, in our house it's more like Get-all-the-projects-and-papers-done-so-we-can-enjoy-the-holidays time. It's a mouthful. On our docket this year: Kansas City and Springfield, MO with a stop in Columbia for Thanksgiving, a nice long Christmas in KC and back to Indiana to move into our new house just after the new year!

Last year, Boyfriend braved Michigan with me and my extended family. It was fantastic. We ate too much, stayed up late making stupid jokes and it snowed! This year it's my turn to tag along for his family's festivities. We're headed to southern Missouri for Thanksgiving day. Boyfriend has a bunch of family there and we'll all be getting together for too much food and carrying on.

We might head back to Kansas City in time to see the Plaza lighting, which, for non-Kansas City residents is the city's official holiday season kick-off. The Plaza is a beautiful shopping district with Spanish architecture and high-end stores. On Thanksgiving night, hundreds, maybe thousands of Kansas Citians buddle up and mill about until a local celebrity flips the switch and row after row of lights outline the Plaza's buildings. It's one of those simple, pretty holiday moments.

The other side of Eric's family will get together on Saturday where the eating and carrying on will continue! Sadly, Sunday it'll be back to Indiana to kick into high gear and finish out the semester. Whew.

I've had a lot of picture-less posts lately. Allow me to remedy that. Here are some randoms I found on my computer. If you just can't get enough, I'm also on Instagram, Feel free to follow along, I'm pinsinthemap.

We made a feast a couple years ago...for two of us. It was awesome.

Boyfriend and I grinning excessively into my phone

Getting excited about the holidays? Trying not to think about it?

Tiny Airports

Airports are one of my favorite kinds of places. That first scene in Love Actually, about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport always being a place of hope and love, that's how I've felt about airports since I was old enough to take in the wonderful atmosphere around me. I know, flying can be a hassle. There are long lines and at the end, people telling you to put your computer, your belt and your shoes in a bucket. Even with all the weirdness that is the security process, airports are exciting. They're the first step in your travels! Adventure!

When we lived in Charlotte we did more flying than usual since we were in our own little corner of the county. Flying from Charlotte to Kansas City where our parents live was always so easy; just hop from one major airport to the next. But, while I was living in Charlotte I had a couple occasions to fly to Michigan. I went to my family's big Thanksgiving shindig in Bay City and my brother graduated from college in Marquette.

Neither of these cities are near large cities with large airports. They are however, near fun little airports that resemble an outdated living room more than a hub for international travel.

The Marquette airport is on a former Air Force base and therefor one drives on the airport's property for probably a solid five minutes before actually seeing the little building where half a dozen gates (maybe) are located. The airport closest to Bay City is in Saginaw, the next town over. Saginaw's airport has as I remember 4 or so gates and a gift shop. In Saginaw I beat the security personnel to the airport and had to wait to even do through the metal detector. While flying in and out of one of these small airports can be strange for those of us used to massive campuses of terminals, there are perks.

Sawyer International (yeah, Canada) Airport in Marquette, MI

The first thing you'll notice is that whoever is tasked with dropping you off or picking you up will probably not have to pay to park or wait in a long line to pull into the correct curbside area. A small half-full parking lot is much more the norm. Once inside the airport you probably won't find a Cinnabon or a Starbucks but you won't have to search like a detective for bathrooms and your gate won't be in a different zip code. Remember that the adventure of travel begins the minute you leave home.

Boyfriend and I have a couple family-oriented trips back to Missouri planned this summer as well as plans to have more visitors in Indiana. Unlike last summer-4 weddings and a move to a new state, this summer should be a relaxing, low-key one.

March honey, back off on the lion, little more lamb

I don't consider my corner of Indiana to be the Great White North. I have family from Michigan, they would not allow such misrepresentation. What's more, my parents live in Kansas City which has been all but completely buried in snow over the last couple weeks. So I don't have it all that bad. But no matter the severity of the winter, cabin fever sets in and the occasional weekend adventure staves off the Shining-level crazy. So, this weekend Boyfriend and I headed to...

.....Columbia, Missouri!

...for a documentary film festival!

...where we saw exclusively political films!

First, I'm not kidding and second, it was a fantastic time. I see, though, that you're going to need some convincing. Fine. Let me start by saying that we had a bunch of family in town (my parents and uncles, Boyfriend's parents, aunt and uncle) and with these people we could have congregated at a rest area in the middle of nowhere and had a blast. Luckily we were not in the middle of nowhere and therefore could eat ourselves silly. Cafe Berlin has vegetarian biscuits and gravy that I would happily choose over a real sausage version any day of the week. 

The reason we'd all come to Columbia though was for True/False, a documentary film festival in its tenth year. There are dozens of movies to see over the course of a long weekend. Serious, funny, sad, Sundance alums and premier showings. We chose a package this year that allowed us to pick three of the more major offerings. All of our movies were political in nature yet distinct from each other. What I thought would be a heavy, dry series of facts and talking heads was actually very engaging.

The first movie we saw was No, a dramatic interpretation of the advertisers who devised the 1988 political campaigns which contributed to the downfall of Augusto Pinochet. I was a Communications major in college and am usually fascinated by the world of professional advertising (although I've given Mad Men a couple tries and it's never stuck for whatever reason). The movie uses real footage from those TV campaigns and the rest of the movie was shot to match those clips- kind of an Instagram treatment for film as a producer said afterward at the Q&A (a perk of True/False, staying after to hear the people responsible talk about their work). 

Our second choice was Manhunt which, as far as I understand, is the real information behind Zero Dark Thirty. It was really interesting to see the whole process of searching for a terrorist explained. There are a lot of people who dedicate the better parts of their careers to learning everything they can about one guy half way around the world. The final movie we saw was Dirty Wars which was disturbing and educational, disheartening and eye-opening. It addresses night raids and secret missions by the military in the Middle East. As the credits rolled one part of me wanted to cry while another part wanted to run into the street screaming. There are so many destructive, immoral things happening every day that are kept so well hidden. Those films certainly made my day-to-day dilemmas seem laughable.

This certainly wasn't the most uplifted I've been by True/False. A few years ago I saw a great film called The Mirror about an Italian village's plan to get more sunlight into their little mountain community. The first year my family went my parents saw Racing Dreams, about kids who race go-carts and aspire to be NASCAR drivers. But, that's the beauty of this now not so little festival. There is a reason for anyone to return year after year. My reasons are many, interesting films, a weekend away and of course, biscuits and gravy with the fam.

Next weekend adventure? Bourbon tasting in Kentucky for Boyfriend's early birthday present. Here's hoping this trip involves considerably less snow.

Aren't people great? And a bunch of other things, too

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I travelled to Michigan to hang with family and dragged Boyfriend along for the ride. While there I got to go to a place so fabulous I must share it with you and also change the name of the series I started.

Ok, that was a random and jumbled way of saying:

We have a second entry for Exceptionally Awesome People of Exceptional Awesomeness (because grown-ups do awesome things, too). 

Do All Inc. is an organization that supports people with disabilities and general community betterment through a variety of shops and resources. I had the pleasure of going to Do Art in downtown Bay City which is, as their website describes, "a community arts program which brings artists with and without disabilities together to produce and sell their work." There are paintings, drawings, jewelry, hats and mittens, cards, all sorts of great things. The artists apply to the program and work in every aspect of the business from creating pieces to framing to the working on the sales floor. My parents spoke to an employee who told them an online store is in the works so folks outside the Saginaw Valley area can purchase awesomeness anywhere in the county. I just love seeing a successful, creative way to benefit an entire community. This was the perfect way to kick off my holiday season.

Here are some awesome things to look forward to on the blog:

Boyfriend is going to tell me the truth about how accurate those "Great Christmas Gifts for the Men in Your Life" lists are. Prepare yourselves, internet. Boyfriend is a snarky, snarky man. 

I will attempt to take some not terrible pictures of my Christmas decorating efforts. They are slightly grander than originally intended because I inherited a Christmas tree, lights and more ornaments than you can shake a fist at (that's a lot, right?) this weekend courtesy of my grandmother. 

So tell me, big plans for the month of buying things and crashing with relatives? Have an awesome community organization you want to brag about? Think your grandma is awesome? It's all welcome! 

Who has holiday plans?

Ok, before I tell you all about my great holiday plans I have to get something off my chest. I know this is not a new or creative rant but it is oh so timely. I hate (yes, hate) that, as far as nearly every retail store is concerned, the Christmas season starts on November 1st.

Ugh.

Let me say that I may be especially sensitive to this obnoxiousness because I loathe busy shopping. Walmart on a Saturday afternoon? I go into survival mode. Sales brought on by 3-day weekends? I stay home. So, I do even less shopping this time of year than I would otherwise. But, oh, when I have to venture out. I cannot handle two whole months of Christmas music, tinsel and candy-striped everything. So much green and red and shiny. Let me take this opportunity to give a big sanity-saving shout out to Nordstrom. I ran across this on Buzzfeed. Yes, Nordstrom, yes. Exactly this.

I think it's crummy that we associate Christmas so closely with buying crap. Do any of us really need more stuff? I understand that giving gifts is a great thing to do, though. It's fun to pick out the perfect gift for someone you care about and it's fun to find out that someone cared enough to spend time finding you something awesome. But, let's not lose our heads, ok? I am going to try really hard this holiday season to keep in mind that the important part is hanging out with my and Boyfriend's family, listening to the Peanut's Christmas CD until my parents beg for mercy and eating some yummy food.

Rant complete. Thanks for hanging in there.

Thanksgiving is this coming week! Hooray! Let's celebrate taking over our country by bullying the people who already lived here into submission! I'm just a little rain cloud of a thing today, no? Sorry about that. Regardless of the questionable origins, I dig Thanksgiving. Getting together with family and eating is one of my very favorite pastimes. This year, Boyfriend and I will be headed to Michigan with my family to visit aunts, uncles and cousins. This is fantastic for a couple of reasons.

1. I don't see my extended family all that often as we're scattered all over the country.
2. Boyfriend has never been to Michigan!
3. I live eight hours away from my parents and brother so, I'm actually looking forward to spending some time in the car with them.

Brother has to survive the trip from KC to Indiana with my parents. Hopefully that won't be too painful for him. They're headed this way on Tuesday! Yikes, my house needs to look a great deal different (read: something resembling clean) than it does now!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

I've got some fun ideas for the coming (yes, that's right, it hasn't started yet) holiday season.