First  – Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom today!

Also, I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving with family/friends! (Or successfully avoided family/friends and had a lovely solo day of thanks. Whichever floats your boat. No judgement here.) We did and I have now consumed my yearly quota of delicious canned cranberry sauce, so no complaints here.

Second – I remembered that I have a blog! Or more remembered that I hadn’t finished anything I had started writing for it in the last couple of months. So, sorry. Or, maybe, you’re welcome if you only read this because you are a family member or friend that feels like it’s an obligation. (It’s totally not, but I do appreciate the clicks.)

And, finally, third – The kitten recently broke the backspace key on my computer. (She’s pure evil wrapped in an adorable package.) I can guarantee there will be more typos because I’m already getting exhausted from the extra effort it now takes to fix them. Sorry. Again.

Okay, on to it! The McGill October/November wrap-up:

1. Traveling!

We’ve done quite a bit of it. Our first trip was to Lexington/Eastern Kentucky  where we actually saw UK win a football game, visited the insanely beautiful Cumberland Falls  and  met friends at the home of KFC in Corbin.  I cannot recommend a trip to Cumberland Falls enough. It was gorgeous. Even Brody was impressed. Before we even left the parking lot, we were all already planning a return trip on a date where we’ll actually get to see the Moonbow. The boys even missed a Cowboys game so we could go and I can’t thank them enough.

Justin and I took a solo St. Louis trip to see Queens of the Stone Age (great show, as always) and had amazing  beer and poutine at the Schlafly Tap Room. But, in even more amazing news, I made conversation with a random stranger in the concert merch line. The look of pride on Justin’s face was hilarious. (The stranger and I both decided that badass denim jackets covered in enamel pins are in our futures.)

Somehow I convinced Justin to go home through Missouri so we could take a two hour hike through an area called Pickle Springs just to see some hoodoos. Totally worth it. We also drank wine in a cave at the aptly named Cave Vineyard. It was delightful even with the elderly couple next to us discussing their plans to be cremated.

And, in what was supposed to be our belated anniversary trip, we went back to Lexington to see Foo Fighters at Rupp. And for the third time in a row, a concert we went to Lexington for got cancelled. Within 2 hours of the doors opening. NO JOKE. The universe does not want us to rock out in Lexington. Instead we drowned our sorrows at a brewery with friends and other people who were supposed to be enjoying a Foos show. I may have drowned them a little too hard and made everyone at our table talk about rocks and minerals. Not sorry at all.

We also went to Nashville for the Crafty Bastards arts and crafts show and bought awesome stuff and I got very inspired to try to make some art again. I have bought paints and everything. It’s serious.

2. Home!

Last weekend, I did not leave my house for two straight days. It was amazing. I honestly can’t remember the last time we didn’t have a trip planned or I didn’t have to work half the weekend. As thankful as I am for all our little trips and adventures, getting to sit on my couch and read a book with a cup of coffee is pretty much heaven. I recommend doing it as much as possible.

3. Thyroid update!

Just in case anyone’s actually interested in the ongoing saga of my thyroid or in case you might be having similar issues with yours, here’s a quick update:

Within three weeks of starting my medicine I felt great. So great that it made me realize how bad I had actually felt, which turns out was pretty bad. I stopped wanting to just lay down and sleep in random places and my anxiety and mood swings decreased an astonishing amount. (Hence my merch line stranger conversation.) My nails returned to normal and the black circles under my eyes went away. I even lost two more pounds.

Of course, now things are leveling back out and while I still have more energy than before, the black circles are back and I cried over absolutely nothing for 45 minutes this week, so I feel like there’s probably still some work to do. Fun!

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Oh, and also, our friends Loree and Rob are doing a super fun podcast called A Very Hallmark Christmas where they decided to torture themselves by watching all the 33 Hallmark Christmas movies. Despite the never ending trouble the technology gods threw our way, Justin and I recorded an episode with them about the movie With Love, Christmas. Give it a listen and marvel that Loree’s editing skills allowed it to come together at all!