to Nebraska, and back

I instagram-ed my way through the 1,100 mile roundtrip journey to Kearny, NE and back. Many snack-sized bags of Lay's sour cream & onion chips, Hostess Ho-Ho's, ice-cream sandwiches, and Cracker Barrel pancakes were consumed with glee. Our roadtrips most always equal the most delicious, bad decision eating choices one can make. We ended up driving out there on a wild goose chase, so to speak. The bull we traveled all that way out there to see, ended up not being the piece of the puzzle we needed for our cow herd. But we made the best of it anyways.

last night i dreamt of paris

Me in Paris, October '09

            I guess, technically, it was this morning. It always seems like I have the most vivid, odd dreams after I wake up when Chris leaves and then snuggle back down under the covers to block out the morning (I think I need blackout blinds).
            Anywho, I dreamt that I was back in Paris. Most of the people with me were the same people who were with me in reality when I went there in fall of 2009... My dad, brother, and sister (no brother-in-law in this version, sorry J.P!). The only new edition to the clan was my husband, Chris. Nothing in my dream actually resembled the real Paris. For some reason, when I dream of that city it never looks like the real version but the dream version of the place is the same from dream to dream.. I will never understand the science or nature of dreaming so I won't even try. In the dream we only had 4 hours before we had to be at the airport and all I wanted to see was the Eiffel Tower. I wanted more than anything to have a picture snapped of Chris & I standing in the foreground. We tried finding it but then my dad made us go to airport early. MAJOR disappointment when I woke up, as I'm pretty sure I thought it was real and that, yes, Chris & I made it over to Europe before the ripe old age of 65.
          When I went in real life, my dad, bro, & I flew to Germany for my sister's wedding. We were in Europe for 11 days and went to 6 different countries. My brother-in-law & sister were kind enough to take us along on a sort of "honeymoon" before their wedding. They are both in the U.S. Air Force and at the time were stationed in southern Germany. Everything about Europe made me fall head-over-heals. The food, the different languages, the building that dated back further than any building I'd ever seen in America. Ever since that trip, all I've been wishing and wanting for is to go back. Of course, we probably couldn't afford such a wide-ranging trip (we were chauffered around by my bro-in-law in a rented car and most nights stayed at their apartment in Germany). But I would be content with centralizing our trip in a big city, like Paris. I just want Chris to see it. But then again, if we are going over there we might as well see somewhere neither of us have seen, like London or Rome.
           We are in NO WAY planning this trip at the moment and probably won't be for several years. We want children in the near future and I don't know how I feel about 13 hour flights with toddlers or babies. I suppose my subconscious will continue to take me on little tours of Paris every once in a while to keep my travel hunger at bay.

The Great Northwest

vintage postcard of Highway 101 in California 

No more boring, harvest related posts for this gal...

Now that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (we will be done with harvest by Monday *fingers crossed*), I can finally discuss exactly how much I am looking forward to November.. Our November will be busy, busy, busy but only in good ways....

Here's the breakdown (chronologically, of course):

• Chris & I will be making a trek south to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the North American International Livestock Exposistion (or N.A.I.L.E.). As I've mentioned before, we raise purebred Hereford cattle (ya know, the pretty red ones with white faces). NAILE is a national livestock show (i.e. breeders from around the country select their best animals, give them baths, haircuts, & blowouts and lead them into a ring where they are lined up with peers their own age and judged on their beauty... Ya..  in Lehman's terms its pretty much a beauty contest for cows. We will be exhibiting our gals Izzie & a calf we own with another breeder, Trisha.. 

Me, Samantha, & my sister Jenna in front of our playhouse

• One of my besties, Samantha, is finally turning 21!!!!! Sam grew up across the ally from my sister & I in our hometown of 200.. We pretty much all grew up like sisters playing hide and seek with the neighborhood kids with the entire town as our playground (perimeter of town was 1 mi), doing cartwheels, laying out in our preteen bikinis on Sam's picnic table drinking kool-aid & eating grilled cheese sandwiches.. I'm already doing research on kool-aid flavored "adult beverages" for her inaugural night
• I will be moving on to the ripe-old-age of 25 on the 20th.. I've always loved the date of my birthday due to its close proximity to my fave holiday, THANKSGIVING.
• Sometime soon, we will be booking a one-way flight to California to meet our new niece!!!!!!!! I just received the personalized onesie I ordered for her off of Etsy and sat there in awe of how tiny the little trinket actually was.. Little toes, little fingers, little eyes, little smiles... lets just say I'm pretty excited to be a tiny somebody's auntie.. 

• One-way ticket to California, you ask? Yep.. Why? Because my husband is amazing.. A couple of days ago, during some down time that I didn't have to be cooped up in my tractor, I rode along with Chris in the cab of his combine and he did something.. One of the things I love MOST about him.. He proposed an aimless, surprise adventure. The kind of adventure that always yields our favorite memories.. We were talking about our California visit and I had mentioned staying a couple extra days to get a hotel room and just meander around San Francisco. He agreed and then countered with another proposition.. "What if we just rented a car and drove to Seattle along the coast?"                                                                                                                                         We found really, REALLY cheap airfare one-way from Chicago to San Fran and even cheaper airfare to fly from Seattle back to Chicago.. Driving along Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran northward has been one of my major travel dreams for a long, long time. Even though its like an 800 mile trip by car, I still look forward to every mile... We're going to stretch it out over 4 days or so..I love driving long distances with Chris. There's hardly ever an agenda.. we just go where we please, stop where we want, listening to great music and laughing