The "Washington" Post

15 Things Noted While Visiting This Gorgeous State:

1) A knowledge of Geology makes the gorgeous drive up here even more breath-taking and full of wonder.

2) There is no scent more welcoming upon arriving from a long road-trip and having slept few hours along the way than the aroma of my grandmother’s home after she has just prepared a meal.

3) Tequila is forever my friend. He will always be welcome at any party I attend.

4) To cure virtual alcohol poisoning: mix equal parts understanding family; sassy new friends who give you a good dose of picking on your sorry butt camped out on the bathroom floor; comforting new friends who let you (1) sit in a corner of the bathroom while they pee, (2) give you towels to sit on for cushioning and (3) compliment your mad skills in the art of…well… while holding your hair back; two tablets of aspirin from someone (you couldn’t remember who the next day); too much water and a good night’s sleep (plus TONS of laughter and, surprisingly, a number of good memories).

5) No matter how hokey the pokey, or how chicken people are to dance the dance; no matter how not electric people’s feeling towards the slide can be, or how bad people want to cha cha slide their way out of dancing….these songs almost always get people moving on the floor & will definitely play on my wedding day.

6) I like laying on the floor. A lot.

7) Gardening is the one single activity that I can think of at the moment that can erase any thoughts at all from my brain while I do it. And for that, I am extremely grateful and have kindled a new love affair.

8) I garden barefoot and barehanded; I love manual labor; I love, love, love getting dirty, sweating etc.

9) I could live in Washington. For sure. In fact, I’d like to buy a house on land here in addition to a house on land in Colorado, and a nice little apartment in Los Angeles.

10) Cousins who bake well and regularly are extremely dangerous to be around on a daily basis.

11) I miss the stars and felt it was a huge treat to look at them through one of the sky windows when transplanting myself from the floor to the couch to sleep at God only knows what hour of the night.post treadmill work-out at Aunt Cindy & Uncle Greg's.

12) I think really cheesy thoughts while hiking. For instance, while cross-country hiking downhill: “I am like the water. I flow effortlessly and with grace through the easiest route down the mountainside toward my home”. No joke…that was a thought I actually had, today.

13) My true wants in life are much simpler than I sometimes imagine them to be.

14) Despite the fact that I want answers from the Universe NOW, there is a time for all to be revealed, and a reason for everything. I am precisely where I need to be.

15) The real pleasure in life truly is not found in the material things that you have, but in those people who surround you, and in the small things in which you take pleasure. Life is a gift, the world is a treasure.