need cold weather? just call me . . .

so today . . . is our last day of vacation in oregon. the weather has not been all that cooperative, but we have still had a good time just being together. and we only got rained on a couple of times!

sadly, i think i am weather cursed. when we started packing for this trip, i checked the weather forecast on my computer. it said there would be a couple of days of cloudy, possibly rainy weather, followed by 3 days of warm sunny weather, topped off by 3 more days of mostly sunny and cooler but still warmish weather.

ok. so i wore a pair of jeans and boots, and then packed shorts, tank tops, sundresses, sandals, and a couple of cardigan sweaters. remember, we were packing light! : ) i thought i was set--but diandra said, "you are only taking one pair of jeans?" diandra doesn't go anywhere without at least 3 pair of jeans! but i thought i would only need them the first couple of days, and jeans are heavy to pack, and we were packing light . . . so yes, one pair of jeans. i lived to regret that decision . . .

it was cloudy and cold every day we were here, except for one! the first two days i wore the tops and sweaters that i brought for the cool days. but then it was cold again. what is a girl to wear when all she has are shorts and tank tops and it is cold? well, she wears her jeans, again, with two of the tank tops (for body warmth at least) and one of the cardigans. and then when it is cold the next day too, she wears two different tank tops and the jeans, AGAIN, and the other cardigan. and this pattern continues all week . . .

one day diandra said to me, "man, mom, you are colorful today!" this was the day i had on the green tank top over the brown tank top with the bright pink sweater. it didn't exactly look bad, but it was kind of an unusual color combination. and had i been wearing my green and brown plaid shorts (and no pink cardigan) it would have been cute. but when you are on vacation, you have to wear what you have, even if the combination necessary to keep you from freezing looks a little odd.

every day after that, she looked at me and said, "very colorful, mom . . . " i think she was mocking me, but i was too cold to care. and yet, every day i thought that maybe the next day would be warm. i wrapped up in my polar fleece blanket underneath the covers at night, because i didn't want to turn the heat on in my room. i just knew that it was going to be hot the next day and i would be glad for the cool temperature downstairs. and every morning i woke up expecting sunshine . . . but the sun was nowhere to be seen.

when we were in orlando a couple of weeks ago, the same thing happened. it wasn't as cold, but every day was cloudy with short, unexpected bursts of rain. i had big plans for my week there. i was going to sit by the pool and read my book. i was going to walk around and take pictures of cool stuff. but it was risky to spend any time outside, because you never knew when the rain was going to fall.

we are going home tomorrow, and the weather forecast says sunny and 90 degrees! on the day that we leave. and so, the curse continues . . .