Road Trip Weekend! and On Being an Overplanner (and Steven Universe)

We are on the road this weekend to visit my California family and celebrate my little sister's high school graduation! Also, I've been a little obsessed with Steven Universe lately, so right now I've got this playing in my head:

(p.s. Steven Universe = LIFE)

Serious Steven

Ok, so I am a huge over-planner.

A couple of years ago, my husband and I had our honeymoon touring like 7 different theme parks in California (it was a blast; we're really fun people). For about 10 months before our wedding, I was already picking out where we would go to dinner and day dreaming about the fun vacation outfits I would wear. Heck, I even planned what books I'd be reading and what fun crochet project I'd bring to work on (I tried to make a bikini, but 'twas not meant to be). I take vacation SERIOUSLY. And I plan like a serious person.

Anyway, for me, our road trip this weekend is pretty important for lots of reasons. The most important of the important reasons of importance is that my baby sister -- a girl whose diaper I used to change and who used to love to play the all the special features on our Sleeping Beauty DVD -- is graduating from high school! I don't know when the last time is YOU graduated from high school, but let me remind you: it is a gargantuan feat!

I tend to gush about my sister because I think she's so amazing. She's basically the best teenager/person I ever met, and I count myself lucky to get to know her. Even better, I've got to watch her grow up from a crazy and smart gap-toothed, curly-hair horse-fanatic goof into this spectacular human being who now has the ability (and the wisdom needed) to vote and buy lottery tickets! And now, she's graduating high school. Pretty soon she'll be packing up and moving out to start college in the fall in her dream school!

I can't wait to see her, and all my family in California and spend a little time celebrating.

Connie and her feels sandwich

That's also the 2nd reason why I've been looking forward to this weekend so much: it's a celebration.

That's important, because it's been a bit of a tough time lately. There's been a lot of what some people call "personal stuff," but what is ultimately just plain and simple LIFE. We've been doing a whole home-buying thing, there have been business trips, long days at work, and struggles and changes and feelings. And just one month ago, my grandmother died. That loss, and all this daily chaos has really taken its toll on me.

So, a much needed vacation indeed! I'm really looking forward to hitting the road with the ol' Rib, wearing our pajama/yoga pants, eating sunflower seeds and drinking frou-frou organic energy drinks, listening to the 2nd book in the Thrawn Trillogy and basically being gross and living in the car for a few hours. We have a little Cornicorns California Road Trip tradition of always going to In-N-Out in California at least once (usually it ends up being dinner every night we're there), so maybe we'll do that when we stop for lunch.

I love road trips and traveling for vacation, because of the sense of freedom and openness and I can stop to go to the bathroom anytime! Also, My Mr. Knightley* is right now working on some rad mix CDs. Plus, when we stop for lunch, we can use the data on his phone to watch Steven Universe on my iPad.

Ahh... the wonders of technology. It enables me to share my love for Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems. Seriously, I have been watching and listening to nothing but SU for like the past week. It's just soooooooo goooooood.

Stay tuned for more updates from the road and some chill tips for sweet road trips!

*I'm really struggling for ways to refer to my husband other than his name or just "husband" or "spouse" etc.