I’ve been feeling hopeful lately. Maybe it’s because I finally broke down and started reading FiveThirtyEight again after swearing off polls forever in 2016. Maybe it’s the warmth and coziness of the season, as the leaves fall and the days get shorter. I’ve spent so much time dreading a pandemic winter, but now? If it means that on the other side of it, we’ll get some normalcy back? I’m ready. LET’S DO THIS. I’d much rather start winter knowing that we may have a vaccine by the end of it, than reliving the fear and uncertainty of spring and summer.

The past two weekends have resembled something a little closer to normalcy, and I think that’s related to the considerable boost to my mental health. Last weekend, Husband and I went to Michigan for our next camping trip. No offense to Indiana, but I needed to get the hell out of here, but in a safe, ethical way. We selected the Warren Sand Dunes along the shores of Lake Michigan, which is about a three hour drive from us. Neither of us had seen a Great Lake before, so we were both excited. As a Texan, it still blows my mind that I can get to another state and see a GREAT LAKE in a 3 hour drive. That is how long it would take to get from Austin (Central Texas) to our hometown in South Texas. And our hometown is STILL a good two hours from the Mexico border! (Texas is big, y’all! Insert more homesick sentences about Texas here.)

Lake Michigan did not disappoint. It was so beautiful. I was amazed by how blue it was. I’d heard that you could see the Chicago skyline on the other side, but it was too cloudy to tell when we went.

Growing up with a dad in the Navy, I’ve lived by the water a good portion of my life – but I’ve never seen dunes like this! Look at this picture and see the people hiking the top of the dune for an idea of the scale.

The camp sites were much closer than what we’d experienced at Hoosier National Forest. While we were still able to keep a good distance from people, we’ll definitely do more research before our next camping trip to ensure we get a little more solitude. But all in all, it was a great trip. There was something about being in a new state, seeing a new landmark, hearing Google Maps saying “Welcome to Michigan!” and buying a souvenir sweatshirt at the little camping convenience store that boosted my spirits.

This weekend, Husband and I indulged in our old Saturday past times – a trip to the bookstore and some Starbucks. It’s been gray and cloudy here all week, but the sun came out yesterday. After our bookstore trip, we took Apollo to our favorite little park out in the suburbs and got Thai takeout. I don’t remember the last time we had takeout from this restaurant. It was sooooo goooooood.

I bought some ghost stories to get into the Halloween spirit. The cashier was all, “…do you have ghosts in your home?” Then she proceeded to ask me if I was in college, which was the BEST COMPLIMENT EVER since I started college in 2002 (half my lifetime ago. For people who still make fun of millennials, millennials are in their late 30s and have mortgages). This has nothing to do with anything in my post, but that comment really made my day.

I really need to do a book post here listing some of the books I’ve read. I’m really excited about No Hard Feelings. If you don’t follow Liz and Mollie’s Instagram, they have wonderful little comics about working during all of….this. ::gestures wildly::

I’ve also been working on knitting squares for my sweater. I’ve knit more than three squares obviously, but wanted to show you the colors as I’m working through them. I think they will look really pretty on this sweater.

Well, I’d better get to studying for my Italian lesson this afternoon since ::cough:: it’s been awhile. Also, I dropped my laptop this morning and broke the battery charger, (because OF COURSE I DID), so I need to save the battery while I wait for the replacement charger to come in. I hope you all are having a cozy Sunday and that you keep relatively sane for the next (gulp) nine days.