There are a few things in life that give me that all time, happy, elated feeling. The “I’m-so-hiiiiigh” happy feeling that can only be equated to that moment when a long, hard, belly laugh suddenly becomes just a small chuckle that escapes once every 30 seconds.

This weekend I’ve been reacquainted with a few of those things, moments, tastes. Things like playing “Clue” (the boardgame) and slipping the cards that determine “whodunnit” into the little yellow manila envelope marked “Confidential.” There’s a technique to doing that, you know. It involves putting your entire hand over the card being inserted and dragging it face-down along the table so no one else even THINKS about peeking, then, inserting it into the envelope and hiding the envelope beneath something else. I love that sense of anxiety as you start eliminating the elements of the whodunnit as each person started to share their hand (of cards). Clue is an oldie but goodie and though it wouldn’t dawn on most of us to whip a board game out to play, I did so this weekend, and suddenly remembered how awesome it was to just sit around and play a game with people. This is what the original board game looked like when I used to play. The image alone brings back great memories. I was always, and continue to be, Mrs. White.

Another thing that I recalled this weekend is how much I enjoyed going to the mountains and being in the snow. Now, mind you, by NO MEANS am I a snow bunny in any way, shape or form and I can hardly ski and am a joke on a snowboard. Regardless, having lived in California, I made the trek to Lake Tahoe on MANY occasions and I always had a fantastic time. There’s an electric energy in the snow that only multiplies when you’re surrounded by like-minded people who enjoy getting “out there” and doing their thing. While I still have high hopes to make it past the bunny slopes on a snowboard, I’m certainly not there yet, and I’m COMPLETELY and TOTALLY motivated to continue to make the best of my life here in Chile and that means, in my mind, taking advantage of the Andes mountains and the snow life it can provide! With that, I’ve succeeded in motivating G’s kids to go and try either skiing or snowboarding (their leaning towards snowboarding – good kids!) and even G himself is loving the idea of a family-style vacay to the snow. I used to just sit at the lodge (or at home) and drink warm drinks, bake sweet things and watch 80s movies – all of which just the memories alone make me happy… and I’m not about to let that one go. In fact, I’m going to take it up a notch and I’m going to learn to snowboard well enough to graduate to the next level. The all-around goodness that brims inside me being on the snow, with the sun shining overhead, is priceless and hardly comparable to anything else.

Then there’s just your basic, all-around, brilliant comedian. When was the last time you just sat and watched a comedian do his/her thing? In fact, who’s “in” when it comes to comedians now a days? (I’ve always thought this was a hard gig!) Whoever it is, old or new, this weekend I once again became reacquainted with a routine by Eddie Izzard and his take on the “Death Star” (i.e. Star Wars) and what the everyday in’s and out’s where like on there. The routine is brilliant enough, especially for someone like me who quite enjoys all things Star Wars (hello, my bulldog’s name is Obi-wan Kenobi). But when someone (who knows now who!) sent me this routine with a homemade Star Wars Lego video animated to it, I just about died and went to heaven. If you haven’t seen it, prepare to have your life changed. If you have, prepare to remember that moment in time when your life changed. Let’s all take a minute for that.

“This is not a game of who the f*ck are you.”

Eddie Izzard and your “Death Star Canteen” … all I can say is, I’m eternally indebted to you. No matter what, you bring that high roaring back time and time again.

Finally, sweet, chocolate-covered, awkward David Sedaris. Have you read his books? If not, I’ll slap you silly until you run out and buy any one of his many published works. In fact, if you live close enough to me, I’ll even lend it to you. That’s how much I feel this person needs to affect your life in some way. Forget Elizabeth Gilbert and her IMMENSELY unrelatable memoir “Eat, Pray, Love” (seriously who has the time or money to get up and leave their life in order to travel to Italy, India and Bali?? Puh-lease.) David Sedaris is priceless and he writes to you in a manner that’s equatable to a friend sitting across from you at the kitchen table. I’ll humor you with some excerpts that might tweak your curiosity. If they don’t, and you don’t find yourself typing in the words of ‘amazon’ on a computer keyboard, something’s wrong with your brain.

Taken from “Me Talk Pretty One Day”:
“Over the coming years I would find a crack in each of the therapists sent to train what Miss Samson now defined as my lazy tongue. “That’s its problem,” she said. “It’s just plain lazy.”

My sisters Amy and Gretchen were, at the time, undergoing therapy for their lazy eyes, while my older sister, Lisa, had been born with a lazy leg that had refused to grow at the same rate as its twin. She’d worn a corrective brace for the first two years of her life, and wherever she roamed she left a trail of scratch marks in the soft pine floor. I liked the idea that a part of one’s body might be thought of as lazy — not thoughtless or hostile, just unwilling to extend itself for the betterment of the team. My father often accused my mother of having a lazy mind, while she in turn accused him of having a lazy index finger, unable to dial the phone when he knew damn well he was going to be late.”

From “Dress Your Family in Courdory and Denim”:
“Out in the hallway I could hear my mother straining for something to talk about. “A boat!” she said. “That sounds marvelous. Can you just drive it right into the water?”

“Actually, we have a trailer,” Mr. Tomkey said. “So what we do is back it into the lake.”

“Oh, a trailer. What kind is it?”

“Well, it’s a boat trailer,” Mr. Tomkey said.

“Right, but is it wooden or, you know . . . I guess what I’m asking is what style trailer do you have?”

Behind my mother’s words were two messages. The first and most obvious was “Yes, I am talking about boat trailers, but also I am dying.” The second, meant only for my sisters and me, was “If you do not immediately step forward with that candy, you will never again experience freedom, happiness, or the possibility of my warm embrace.”

By the way, not that it had anything to do with this past weekend, but speaking of David Sedaris, if you happen to be a fan, I highly suggest his wicked, twisted sister Amy Sedaris. She’s probably known by the mainstream as one of Carrie Bradshaw’s book publishers in SATC (alongside Molly Shannon), but really, I believe her claim to fame is the all-too-genius “Strangers With Candy,” which ran on Comedy Central for three seasons in the late 90s. Basically, each show is a parody on an after school special told from the perspective of a middle aged high school student who used to be a crack whore. I mean, how do all those elements NOT spell success??

I don’t know. I feel like I’ve given you some really valuable gems here, dear blog readers. I can’t tell you how happy all of these things in life make me and more so when I can share each and every one with others.

So go ahead, take a gander at all of the above. Go skiing, make snow angels, watch “Strangers With Candy” then read a book by David Sedaris and make your own conclusions as to why that family so JUST.SO.WEIRD. After that, take a look back at your favorite comedy routines and watch them while playing a good board game brought to you by the former Parker Brothers.

Down a little vino, do a little dance, make a little love and get down tonight.