Things I Like....Confessions of a Happy Glamper

THINGS I LIKE....LIGHT SWAPPING

Confessions of A Happy Glamper

I’m drawn to bright, sparkly things-diamonds, chandeliers, Christmas ornaments & strings of outdoor lights.  Naturally, as I pulled into our campsite at Stub Stewart, the vision of two trailers bedecked in multi-colored lights acted as a beacon drawing me to them.  A quick hello to Doug and our friends the Pauley’s and then I was off to meet our neighbors!!

The couples had clearly been friends for a while, one driving a beautiful new Itasca motorhome & the other a  newer trailer.  Like a moth to the flame, I marched right up and said “hi, I love your colorful lights” &..as I got closer it became apparent that not one of the lights was the same!

As it turned out, these fun & outgoing people make it a practice to “swap lights” with fellow campers resulting in strings of lights with Pumpkins, Snowmen, Cowboys, Palm Trees & Pink Flamingos...oh my!!!  They even carry extra strands just in case they need to offer more options :)

Of course I wanted to swap lights too so, after discussing with Doug, later that evening we walked over with two AS’s in hand & immediately started eyeing our choices.  No surprises here:  mine = Martini Glass, Doug = Salmon.

Imagine our delight the next morning to see the AS  lights proudly hanging amongst the myriad of others. Could it be possible that some other camper down the road swaps one of their lights for our Airstream?  Simple, Magical, Fun - I think Wally would approve.

Happy travels - 

Mona

'Tis the Season

You Can Never Have Too Many Lights, Too Many Ornmanets, nor Too Many Trees....

I'm really not sure where 2010 went....really hard to believe Christmas is 20 days away!!  Headed off for a holiday luncheon with our AS Unit - a record number of members are attending which is great!!  I'm donating a pink flamingo-themed gift for the white elephant gift exchange - should be pretty amusing to see what people salvage from their years of camping and regift!!!  Should be pretty fun.

It seems like every year I add more and more and more decorations to our home and, since I'm running out of space at home (unless I start hanging the trees upside down from the ceiling!!!) I've shifted some to the AS and my office.  It's turning out to be a very tinsel Christmas in our home.  My husband thinks I'm crazy but really I see nothing wrong with two vintage tinsel trees - I so had to have the newest addition which turns.  Oh, and then there's the 7' vintage white tree I just bought on eBay, various decorative trees and "the big daddy" - the 10' prelit tree that, although beautiful when done, is a nightmare for two not-so-tall people to put together!!

Whatever you celebrate this holiday season, wishing you all the best.

So much to be grateful for.....where do I begin?

My health, a loving husband who keeps me young and inspired, a big silly hound dog who loves me (ok - probably cuz I give her cookie bones, treats, basically whatever she wants), an interesting and challenging job with an amazing company, a beautiful home which offers me sanctuary when things get too crazy, beloved friends - the list is endless.

Not to trivialize any of those things which I hold dear - this year in particular I'm thankful that we had the perserverance to complete our AS renovation, the financial wherewithal to fund the renovation, the openness to respect and consider each others' creative input and the sacrifices made by our friends who devoted countless hours to work on our beauty.

I'm also incredibly grateful to the members of the Oregon Unit of the WBCCI who welcomed Doug and I into the group with open arms, who never judged nor critiqued the work we had done in rescuing our AS and who've become very dear to us through their kindness, generosity, humor and true commitment to maintaining the vision and spirit of Wally Byam.  

Wishing all of you who stop by this blog a peaceful and relaxing Thanksgiving filled with the love of friends and family.  

Cheers...and safe travels...

Mona