How-To: Make the Perfect Greeting Card

July 20, 2012By y2kemo
Perfect Greeting Card
Perfect Greeting Card

Trying to find the perfect greeting card is a pain in the dark side of your moon. You’ve got to stand in the greeting card aisle looking at card after card with all the other losers trying to get your names in the relationship history books.

Look moron, it ain’t gonna happen. Not that way. If you want the perfect greeting card, one that will blow the mind of the one you love, hate, is sick, or who did something nice for you, then keep reading.

When you’re done you will share this post. Why? Because this post will make you look like a genius.

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Backpacking Fontana Lake

July 6, 2012By y2kemo
fontana Feat
shuckstack-map
Shuckstack Tower Trail
Click to enlarge

I love a good hike. I love the peacefulness it brings. The camaraderie it provides when traveling with friends. And,  I enjoy a good challenge. This past weekend I got my wish.

Three buddies and I hiked the Great Smoky Mountains via Fontana Dam. As an added bonus the lot of us hit up Tsali Campground for a couple nights where we swam a bit, fished, got poured on, and hit up the Nantahala River for a ride.

We arrived at Fontana Dam on Saturday around noon, grabbed a permit from the dam welcome center, and began unloading our packs from the car. Within minutes it was evident that the 100° F (37.7° C) temperatures were going to be a factor in our planned 12-mile hike. Every one of us were sweating buckets. Thank God for water bladders and bottles.

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Who Wants S’mores?

June 24, 2012By y2kemo
Spiders like s'mores
Spiders like s'mores

So I went camping with my sister and family over the weekend. As usual, we gobbled up the s’mores by the campfire prior to winding down.

In the morning, as my brother-in-law prepared breakfast, he removed the box of graham crackers from the food bag. When he did he found a little ole spider hanging out in the corner.

Naturally, we removed the spider from its new-found home, placed it in my niece’s butterfly container, and took a bunch of photos.

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Wedding Anniversary Gift Guide by Year

April 18, 2012By y2kemo
Woman opening gift
Presumed married couple exchanging gifts

Each year for the past six years I’ve been Googling “wedding anniversary gift guide by year” and each year I have to wade through a fillion websites to find the list. Not any more. I culled the Internet and created this post as a reference. More for me than for you, but you’re welcome to use it. And if you have no idea what this whole buying of wedding gift business is, here’s the short version.

Some time ago you got married. Be it last year or 50 years ago you are obligated to buy your spouse a gift. Thankfully, there are options. You can follow Emily Post’s etiquette guide created back in 1922 and get your hubby a traditional gift, you can opt for a more modern approach, or you can go with jewelry and/or flowers.

Bottom line. Ladies and dudes, you need to get your lifer a gift and here’s a list to make it easy.

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Running an #Anywhere5K is a blast!

March 4, 2012By y2kemo
anywhere5k bib and vibram bikila LS
anywhere5k bib and vibram bikila LS

In the 20+ years I’ve been running today marked the third time I’ve run a race without being anywhere near my fellow runners. The concept is called virtual running. The race I ran is called an #Anywhere5K.

What makes this particular race special is that together with a few friends we organized, promoted, and hosted the race. We invited the world and about 40 showed. From New York to California. From the Australia to the Philippines to Lithuania to Singapore to the UK. Runners really did run the Inaugural #Anywhere5K  from wherever they were.

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