These Are the Erin's I Know, I Know...

So, today is my 27th birthday. I haven't figured out how I feel about that quite yet.

This morning, I woke up with the Vandals birthday song in my head. "It's my birthday and I'll do what I want to. Fuck you! It's my birthday."

Then, inexplicably, the song changed to "These Are the Daves I Know" from Kids in the Hall. "Some of them are Davids... 'But most of us are Daves!' They all have their own hands but they come from different moms." My favorite part of that song is when he gets to the one guy and says, "Dave Capisano, I hardly know him..." and then they just stand there. Canadians. So funny.

Anyhoo. I'm stressing out a little bit at the moment for reasons unrelated to my birthday, but I'm sure it'll all work out.

Cory and I had our birthday/Halloween party last weekend. We had the party at my parent's house and it was a really, really good time! It was cold, since October has decided to be December instead, but my dad built a giant bonfire and all was well. Except for the part where I tripped over things I knew were there cause they've been there for the last 26 years, and fell on my dad, thereby bruising my finger on whatever he had in his hand. I think it was Beefeater.

Oh, and there was cake!!! CAKE!!

Me and Pouty Sara...(she was really dressed as MaryAnne and her boyfriend was Gilligan, but it got cold so she put on a coat, and it got late so Gilligan passed out in a car somewhere).

Me and Un-Pouty Sara...

Yaarrr, me ale!



Burglar Bobby, Emo Stu, Jabbawokee Jenny...



Nicole Dorothy and Jabawokee Kyle...

Pippi Lauren-Stocking, Me, and Beth-orothy....

Tonight my mom is making me lasagna, and Dustin is in town, and we are all supposed to head up to Mickey's for some fun, excitement, and hip-hop (or so I hear).

Hope everyone's enjoying Erin's Birthday Day!

Hock-in-the-Hills

Cory and I finally got to take our rescheduled trip to Hocking Hills. We had so much fun, we didn't want to come home! But we also thought the owner of the cabin we stayed in might have noticed if we didn't leave... By the way, from investigation of the guest book in the cabin, it sounds like the cabin owners had pet monkeys. Now, we didn't see any monkeys, but I'm not ruling it out. What else are you gonna do with that much property if not put monkeys on it?

Our cabin was super cute and cozy. And WAY out in the middle of nowhere. The drive through the back roads felt suspiciously like the beginning of the horror movie Just Before Dawn...without the helpful man at the bottom of the mountain to warn us away. Oh, and we weren't later brutally murdered by twin brothers who were the product of incest. Other than that, it was exactly the same.

The first night, we got there too late to do any hiking, and decided to just drink some beers and have a camp fire...till we realized we forgot the beer! After we calmed down, we decided we'd better go out and try to track down a store that sells beer, that is open on a Sunday evening, in the middle of nowhere. After realizing the only store in the closest town was closed, we came upon 2 girls who were maybe 13-14 and got directions to the nearest beer store from them. Kids. They know everything. Our night thus saved, we drank by a camp fire under a full moon and then spent some time in the hot tub on our balcony. Good times.

The next day, we went to the little store in the little town and got directions from the sweet store lady. We hiked Old Man's Cave....

By going off the marked trails, we also made a startling discovery- the elusive Diaper Tree!!

Every fall, the rare and special Diaper Tree gives off its fruit, scattering across the forest floor its diaper-y goodness...

I also climbed a hill of tree roots...

And we found a Snake Tree. Which is not in the same tree family as the Diaper Tree, although they dwell in the same forest.

We hiked to the Lower Falls, Upper Falls, and Cedar Falls, but alas, there were no falls to be found. Seems the rains haven't been raining as much as they usually do, so things are a bit dry. But, the area is still very beautiful.

After our hike, we BBQ'd burgers back at our cabin and had another campfire.

And this is the face I get for insisting on one too many pictures with Cory...

The next morning, we got up after way too little sleep and watched The Mist while packing up the cabin and cleaning and whatnot. Side note on the movie The Mist: I don't think I've ever been more pissed off at the ending of a movie in my life. Those people are stupid. That's all there is to it. No one would be that stupid. And if there are people out there who are that stupid, maybe the end of that movie should happen to them. I'm just saying. Sheesh.

Anyhoo. The weather during our entire trip was f-ing fantastic. Here is a picture of the side of the road near the area we were staying in, and the pretty blue sky and fall leaves...

Now, back to Toledo. Booo!! But at least it's our birthdays and birthday party and Halloween soon. Hooray!

Have a lovely Wednesday, everyone!

Sad Heart...

My grandpa passed away on Wednesday. Last night, my mom and I went through a whole bunch of pictures, many of which we'd never seen before. I'd like to share a few of my favorites...

My grandparents, young and in love...



My grandparents on their wedding day...

Grandpa...way before he was Grandpa...

My grandparents bringing my dad home...this picture was apparently published in the newspaper...

My Grandpa and my dad....

My Grandpa, messing with me while I get my picture taken...(he also used to make faces at us whenever we sang in the little kids choir at church or participated in Christmas and/or school plays, which means I never made it through a single performance without laughing really hard and sometimes forgetting the words)...

My Grandpa and me on my 18th birthday...he turned 81 the same month and liked that our ages were the reverse of each other...

My grandparents, in the only church portrait he smiled in...he said the guy taking the picture was making faces at him. I said, "Oh, and you wouldn't know anything about that kind of behavior, would ya?"

I miss my grandparents....