Josey's on a vacation far away...

Brian and I love each other.
Gross. (CONFESSION: This is what my friend Haley would say, I think it's quite lovely.)
But we do, we like to just be with each other, so whether its a friend, a sibling, a companion or a lover (Haley: "Grosssss-er") get out and do stuff. It doesn't have to cost anything. Well for vacations-sake it really helps to know people who invite you to stay with them in exotic places like... Arizona! (insert oohs and aahs to your liking).

There are free things to do pretty much anywhere you go, often times it only takes a little bit of effort to find free things to do wherever you go. Do your research and you won't get caught up in gimmick-ee attractions that cost outrageous amounts of doll-hairs. Because making memories should be free or something like that. My vacation indulgences: anything related to exercise. I always like to push myself to work out harder then I normally do at home, especially if wearing a swimsuit is in the itinerary. This vacation we hiked up this monster mountain, a nine-mile jaunt burning no less than 1000 calories, accomplishing a 1500 feet in elevation gain. oh yeah. stairs are my enemy for the next week or two.

So I realize that not everyone thinks hitting' the gym is a riot, real fun involves burning calories with gut busting laughter created when playing... card games. A small investment in ridiculous card games will have a large payoff, here are 3 of our faves (thanks Sean and Tess):

• We Didn't Playtest This At All
• Quiddler
• LRC (left. right. center. - quarters required)

The best part is that these all take up minimal space, in one bag. Which brings us to minimal packing. Brian challenged himself to bring one drawstring bag and I challenged myself to pack only in my bag and not beg Brian to smuggle some of my items in his. For guys it should be easy - okay for my guy its easy, he looks good in whatever he wears (Haley's not allowed to interject anymore). Girls, listen up. If you don't bring excessive clothing options then your forced to actually wear what you bring. Weird. Anyways, it also helps to use the hosts washer and dryer that way you can bring less unmentionables and undershirts etc. See photos (for what we packed, not for unmentionables).

jk. it's not a competition. woop woop! Brianna gets honorable mention because her Michael Khors bag is gorgeous

But what do we eat on said exotic vacation? Happy hour can be a huge money saver (even Haley would agree). But an even better idea is to eat before you go out. I know it sounds counterintuitive. But when you're on vacation eating out seems to be the thing to do, pick one night to splurge and the rest of the meals visit the grocery store and treat your wallet to a vacation! Then when your out with everyone you can actually restrict your appetite to just the happy hour menu and still feel satiated. Also try not to buy so much food the first grocery stop. Picture this: night before you leave for home and you have to eat any left over food: lunch meat, half a dozen eggs, a bag of pretzels, yogurt etc. No one wants to last-day-of-vacation-binge. Seriously, you can visit the grocery store more than once, it's allowed. I like to buy enough food for one meal at a time. easy. peasy.


Welp that's all we'd like to share for now,
 thanks for reading!
 Stay tuned for more...

Need not,
Brian and Josey

CONFESSION: This is tough

So now that we have overzealously purged our excess items (over 150 items to date), we are reverting  back to the 'One Item Per Week' we initially started out to accomplish. This week my item was pretty weak, but Brian seems to have unknown stores of items he feels unemotionally attached to. I, however, haven't quite conquered the skill of getting rid of things not just for the sake of getting rid of things. So what to do now that the going is getting rough? Really consider what items we don't use and are not going to use. While owning extra cords and old cell phones seems like a smart idea, you might need a backup emergency cord or phone in the future, the simple fact is that you don't need it.

Example #1: Recycle unused (and especially unusable) phones, cords, batteries, computers, cameras etc. etc. There are many places to properly dispose of said items, I use this link:  Hennepin County Recycling. Example #2: Craft supplies that you have so much of there is no possible way you could ever possibly use them up, trust me, Brian and I try our hardest (apologies if you have ever received one of our handmade cards decorated with stickers from a coin operated machine). Example #3: Rocks. Yup you know you have some, rocks for a fish tank or bamboo plant or be it an igneous or sedimentary piece of earth excavated on a camping trip from the mid-90s. Some you could keep, but what are you really going to do with a rock (don't say paper weight, I'll know you're lying). 

Furthermore and on a side note, thank you Catherine for being the receiver of some of my unneeded items, preferably I should get items out of my household and not pass them on to others in my social circle - HOWEVER I think you might enjoy what was in that floral bag and I'm always willing to properly dispose of unwanted items! 

Wish me luck, because I think I'm going to at least need that...

Need not, 

Josey

P.S. In case your curious my items this week: colored construction paper (100 pages or so) and Elmer's glue