Are you a costume person? Do you dress up for the Holidays? 

Of all of the seasons, Fall has always been my favorite. It's something about the crispness of the air- the weather allowing you to wear any combination of short/long sleeves imaginable, or the beauty of the trees as their leaves change colors to fall. Caramel apples, cider, pumpkin pies, Thanksgiving- I could go all day. Fittingly, Halloween has also always been my favorite Holiday. As a kid, I loved the costumes and free candy. As an adult, I love it even more. Discount candy bag? Sign me up. Then all the ghouls and ghosts (my friends) go out and get up to some fun.

While it may not be the case that scholars and wisemen alike have been debating this topic for centuries, it is certainly a fun article to argue about. What fruit is best? You know- the major food group growing on trees and bushes out in the wild for anybody to take. (And a shockingly delicious one, too.) And while the concept of delicious food just appearing for anybody to take is crazy enough, not all are created equally.

THE best fruit on the planet Earth is an UNRIPENED pear. And I mean UN-RIPE. Green and crunchy, a little bit sour, a little bit tart. The answer to all of my questions. The apple (see what I did there) of my eye. And for all of that, somehow ripened pears are actually my least favorite fruit. Gooey, grainy, nasty. Second place best fruit of all time goes to the asian pear, which is an apple pear hybrid. Definitely worth trying that thing out too if you ever get the chance.

This has been my two cents on this debate! Can you tell that I'm hungry?

I'll start by prefacing this- Wes Anderson is and always has been my favorite director. We as people are lucky that the likes of him have ever graced the silver screen. But why? Easy. He is methodical, intentional, rhythmic, humorous, & above all else, entertaining. His more outward point of acknowledgement is his particular way of filming, using wide pans and center framing. His movies were actually my childhood inspiration for my interest in stop motion & live action film. (Seriously, you can ask my parents. I made them watch this movie so many times that they banned it in our household.) 

But, how does this tie into my love life? It's the parallels in thought & methodology. It takes a lot of creativity & input to churn out a meaningful relationship, and just as much abstract thought that applies to how I operate on a day-to-day basis. I relate to many of the characters and overhead general direction that these movies follow. Most importantly, however- I find these movies to be so enjoyable that I use them as a personal Litmus test to gauge compatibility. Can't stand them? There's the door.

Enter- my lovely lady.

As a rule of law- I don't count any relationships that occurred during my time in High School. I mean, seriously, is this 1958? These days, those are practice runs. And pictured above is the most earth-defyingly compatible lady to ever stumble into my life. And like all good things, there's a lot of history here too.

I've had the great pleasure of knowing my Meadowe for two years, and the stockpile of picturesque events that have occurred between us until now could very well be made into a movie that I would watch 10x over. Directed by Wes Anderson, of course. Our favorite director.

Above is a picture of the craziest trip of my life. (A whopping 2 hours down the street from my house!) I'm joking, that's a lie. But in the grand scheme of things, I really have not seen that much of the world. If you were to find a standard map of the United States and draw a 2-inch circle around Virginia, you'd have covered more ground with that alone than I had in my lifetime as of 2023. So, to put it simply, I've been making some travel arrangements.

Know this: I will never hesitate to pack up for a few days and see what the world has to offer if I am given the opportunity and have availability in my schedule. They say that you work to live, not the other way around!