It's that time of year...let the sunshine appear....

So while the rest of you may be listening to Christmas music blaring over speakers in overcrowded malls while you are stuffed with turkey and....well...clearly...stuffing, I'll be singing a different tune. Instead of "It's that time of year" followed by all kinds of Christmasy musings, I'll be singing "Let the sunshine appear!" For some reason, this fall has been extra fallish. Too few days of clear blue sky and not enough sparkling rays to illuminate the shades of brown. I'm ready to escape the drab Indiana fields for warm, sunny Arizona! Now mind you, I've yet to be in AZ for Thanksgiving. I've done AZ in Feb, April, and Christmas. Plus this trip will be extra special since we're traveling up to northern Arizona and I may get my first peek at the Grand Canyon! WoooHooo!!!! So think of me on Thanksgiving day while you enjoy your stuffing. I'll be flying from Indy to Dallas to Tucson complete with Faith sermons and Third Day for good company. Ahhhh....Vacation! No court, no staff to manage, no crisis calls!!! Just me and my hiking shoes! You'll have to stay tuned as I hope to update the blog with pics from my adventures with the AZ parents.
In other news, let my tell you about my preparations for AZ travel. As all of you are aware, I am of the white variety. Yes, and by white, I mean could be mistaken for albino easily at times. I travel complete with water babies 60+ and cover to avoid the tomato paste effect after being in sun all of 15 minutes. Well, this year, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I decided to prepare for the trip to enjoy the outdoors all the more without fear of sunburn. I signed myself up for a tanning package at a reputable place in town and experienced my first ever tanning time. I have to say, it was quite the experience. I got the "cyclone" which basically means you stand in a glowing room for 9 minutes while swirling air keeps you cool and you feel as if in the midst of a ....well...cyclone. Actually it feels quite wonderful....I think part of the wonderful was knowing that for 9 minutes I couldn't hear my phone ring and could enjoy 9 minutes of uninterrupted blissful warmth.
So first session went well. They set me for 6 minutes. No burn. I returned a few days later and agreed they could up me to 7 minutes. Ummm....not so good. Turns out 6 minutes to 7 minutes is huge in distinguishing between a little less than white results and tomato paste results. Lance got to see my blazing burn. Basically I learned tanning means I can burn before then trip or not tanning means I can burn on the trip. My bad! Totally thought I could create an option "c" but clearly I was wrong!
As the weeks have continued, I am pleased to say I have secured several other tomato paste days but now yield a somewhat glowing tan. Compared to the rest of the world, I am still of the whitest variety but there is some satisfaction I am less white than 3 weeks ago. Only time will tell if my plan will mean no burning while on vacation or not.
Well...I'm now done checking one more "never done it before" off my list....Tanning...check....mental note: tanning in Abby world still = burning to gain desired results.