October

I absolutely love the Fall. September to December are my most favorite months. You get to wear fabulous sweaters, jeans, boots, have an excuse to stay inside on a dark rainy night drinking red wine and watching bad tv.....make a roast on a Sunday, just because you can.

This Fall is no different then any other, except for the fact that it feels different. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just feels different. In a good way. Maybe it's my fun action-packed schedule. Last Thursday we had our first family oyster fest which was fabulous! Everyone had to bring an oyster and cook/present it however which way they liked it. It was amazing!!!! On Saturday night I went to my friends place, Jen & Sheldon's to celebrate Sheldon's second year in Canada. How did we celebrate you ask? Well, Sheldon makes THE most amazing cuisine! Jambalaya, Creole, Gumbo, fried okra and homemade corn bread. OH_MY_GOD. Delicious.

Last night (Monday) I got to dress up pretty and attend a fashion show that my beautiful friend Beatrice was in. AMAZING. Tonight, as is every Tuesday night, dodgeball. Except we finally got our team shirts and we won 9 out of 15 games!!!! That's amazing for us.

That's a lot in one week and there's still more to come! Thanksgiving dinner, pole dancing lessons start Sunday October 23rd, halloween parties..... the list just goes on and on and on.

As I'm typing this, my dog is sleeping by the fire, all curled up and looking cute... except she's burping like I have never heard her burp before! Eeeewwwwww. Anyway, it's late and I need to get to bed. I have more to say but it will have to wait. I don't want to be up all night :)

Camping

I have to say a big THANK YOU to my mom and Oma for teaching me the beauty and love for camping. I LOVE CAMPING. I could easily spend most of my time camping and sleeping in a tent. Rain or shine, it doesn't matter. As long as there's woods and fresh air......

Canyon Hotsprings, Scotch Creek (I think that was the place) and other random campgrounds.... so much fun! DAMN PHONE. I have to go, this is the problem with trying to blog at work.

Marriage

Marriage means a lot of different things to different people. Some people get married because they feel like the should in order to take the "next step" in their relationship. Some people get married because they couldn't imagine spending their lives with anyone else BUT that person and are madly in love. Or some get married for financial reasons or because they think they need to in order to save a relationship. Some people get married for religious reasons or family obligations.

Regardless of the reasons, the common factors for any marriage is to make vows and sign a paper legally tying yourself to another. This is a pretty serious commitment, but no matter what, at the end of the day, you're committing yourself to another. But is that the only way to show commitment to someone? To sign a piece of paper? To declare your vows out loud to your significant other? What about the rest of us that make a commitment to one another, without signing a piece of paper or making out loud vows in front of people?

I'm committed to Rob as if we did do all of that. We share our life, we own a home together, we have a dog, joint bank account, file taxes together, etc. We do everything that married couples do and in most cases, are more "married" in the asset sense then others. Now, owning assets isn't a definition of marriage, but we've hit emotional bumps in the road just like everyone else. Now, if we were just "dating" then it would be easy to simply wash your hands of it and walk away. But it's not that simple (and not just because there's assets to split and we have a dog). But because we've both made a commitment to each other. Our own personal vows. So much so that when we've had hit a bump or two, we've gone to couples counselling. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't just do that if you were simply dating.

I don't need a piece of paper or to stand up in front of people in order for me to be committed to someone. I guess it boils down to what your definition of commitment is.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know other peoples thoughts on their definition of marriage and if you're not really committed to another person unless you have signed a piece of paper and made vows.