Autumn Winds

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

August is allergy season.

At least, it is in Colorado.

We have ragweed, see, and in August, all of its awful, horrible pollen is released into the wind, and I have to retreat into my house with my air purifier and take allergy meds on a schedule and freeze rags for my puffy eyes and generally just endure the misery until it’s over.

Not my favorite thing.

But! September is approaching wonderfully fast, and—since I can’t go outside right now anyway—I have gone into full planning mode.

Autumn doesn’t last long in Colorado. If you blink, you miss it, so I like to make sure I have all my favorite autumn activities scheduled and my favorite autumn books lined up to enjoy every last perfect crisp day.

It’s my favorite season.

If you hadn’t noticed.

This year will be extra special because, although I am actively running my own business and writing up a storm, I also have the flexibility to work around other people’s schedules. People like my writer’s group, and my sister and her husband.

We’re planning for corn mazes.

And pumpkin patches.

And a few bonfires too, if the weather doesn’t turn out too dry.

We might have to skip that one.

But you know what we won’t have to skip? Hot apple cider. And corn mazes. And pumpkin patches and carving parties. And sweaters and scarves and boots. And turning leaves and apple crumbles and autumn wreaths. And Halloween, which, oddly enough, I did not ever appreciate until I became an adult.

I was a very nervous child.

Autumn also signals the beginning of our hunt for wood. My husband and I are setting aside weekends to build our winter stack—just as soon as I can go outside without falling to pieces. We’ve also got some special dates planned. I’m counting the days.

What are your autumn plans this year? Tell me about them in the comments!

Birthday Adventures

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

My birthday was the end of last month.

I turned 27.

I feel very grown up now. Almost like a real adult.

Until I hang out with really real adults, who use budgets and understand the stock market and eat kale.

I almost never eat kale. Not unless I have to.

Bok choy, maybe. But kale?

Ugh.

This birthday was a special one. Mostly because it was the first birthday I had a husband I could haul around on birthday adventures with me. He didn’t even complain.

He’s my favorite.

About a month before my birthday, we went out to sushi—which is our most favorite kind of date night—and talked about what I might like to do on my birthday. Since I’m more of an ‘experiences’ kind of person than a ‘gifts’ kind of person, I jumped on the website for the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts. I went to see Newsies there a few years ago with my mum and sister, and we had a fabulous time.

And whaddya know.

Shen Yun 2021 was playing. On my birthday. The actual night of my birthday.

What??

Shen Yun, if you haven’t heard of it, is a fabulous, gorgeous celebration of 5000 years of Chinese culture; a mixture of Classical Chinese dance and music that will literally blow you away. The costumes, the world class performers, the music . . . it was one of the most moving and wonderful performances I have ever had the pleasure of attending. Each short dance—five to ten minutes long—told a story from Chinese history and lore. They were a mixture of funny, emotional, inspiring—and heartbreaking.

We got seats in the first row of the balcony.

Basically, I had the best view in the house, and could barely breathe for about half of it because I was so blown away.

Safe to say, I had the time of my life.

27 is off to a good start!

Any theater experiences you’d like to share? Tell me about them in the comments!

Pennsylvania

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

Can we just be honest? May was a bit of a blur.

I remember about half of it.

The rest feels like something between a dream and a hallucination.

Since I had a fever for at least part of the month, it’s possible a good section of what I remember was actually a hallucination. When I figure out for sure, I’ll let you know.

The craziness that was May started with a friend’s wedding. My editor’s wedding, actually. She married the best guy. I’m so happy for them both. I flew down to help her with all the last minute details for the wedding, walk in her gorgeous, glorious woods, and fulfill all the duties of a bridesmaid.

All of this included being away from my husband for five days.

I was not prepared for how badly I missed him. Guys? I’m officially clingy.

Ouch.

After the wedding was over and we waved off the lovely bride, my husband and I set off on the second part of our trip. See, we figured that we’d made it all of eleven hours away from Colorado, and we might as well go a bit further and see a few things while we were at it.

A bit further meaning another fourteen hours to Philadelphia, PA.

Pennsylvania was a whole new experience for me. We stopped in Pittsburgh on the way to spend the night, and I instantly fell in love and was disappointed that we had decided to only spend one night there. The next day we drove to Philly, ate the best Philly cheesesteak sandwich available (according to Yelp), and had three glorious days to explore downtown Philadelphia.

We got lost. Like eight times.

Why can’t you turn left, guys? Why?

After Philly, we stopped in Scranton so that my Office loving husband could experience the Electric City, then went camping up at the most beautiful camp site I think I’ve ever explored. Pennsylvania is lovely, guys. Absolutely gorgeous.

Despite a few road bumps (fevers, bedbugs, a hotel room that smelled like smoke, and an encounter with what I was pretty sure was actually Bigfoot but was probably just my imagination going nuts in the middle of the night), we made it through and made it home and had an awesome time connecting with each other and exploring.

I’d call that a win.

When was the last time you took a road trip? Tell me about it in the comments!

Airports

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

Airports are weird.

I’ve spent my fair share of time in airports over the years. Probably about as much time as I want to, actually. Airports in Scotland, China, Cambodia, Spain . . . you get the idea. No matter what country you’re visiting, airports are just weird.

For example.

I flew down to Missouri to visit my editor for her wedding in May. Because of some issues with weather and rides, I ended up at the airport a little early.

About ten hours early, actually.

Snowstorms in Colorado make you do weird things. Especially when the airport is two hours away.

So, I sat around at tables, on benches, and in corners on the floor while I waited for my flight to come in. I had a book, my computer, and about a dozen projects to work on, but for a good part of the time, I got caught up in people watching.

Have I mentioned that airports are weird? Social norms go out the window. No one looks twice at the guy sleeping on the floor in the corner. Who knows how long he’s been there—but we’re sure he’s fine. A child can be screaming somewhere close by, but no one goes to check, because we understand. Airports make us want to scream a little too. People wander around in their pajamas. Some of them have pillows. Or teddy bears. No one questions it.

Airports are just like that.

When we were traveling through Southern Europe five years ago, I carried my sleeping bag with me through the airports. While we were on the plane, it stayed safely stashed with my carry-on in the overhead bin. While we were waiting for our planes, usually for three or four hours at a time, I whipped it out and slept on the floor.

I still wish I’d thought of that during my ten hour layover in China.

Concrete floors are not the nicest to sleep on.

What are some of the weird things you’ve seen or done in airports? Tell me about them in the comments!