I spent my day alternating between long walks, photographing the fall colors to hanging out inside the tent to stay warm.

Now if you’re a girl geek like me, you have to have some stuff to keep you busy. Here’s a look at what I had inside the tent with me for the day.

That’s right. What you see here are my essentials including:

• Lots of layers for warmth
• Lucy jacket
• Microfiber blanket
• LED lantern
• 0° sleeping bag
• iPad (with lots of downloaded international baby magazines on Zinio)
• iPod
• Composition notebook for great ideas
• Nikon D90 with a 50mm prime lens
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS8 (not shown, used for taking this photo)

Of course, with all of that technology, you’d think I had to worry about the batteries all dying out on me right? Wrong!

It was the perfect first camping experience, and I didn’t even have to give up my girl geek comforts!

Pinterest is a social bookmarking site that allows you to add bookmarks by pictures. You can organize your saved items in boards. You can essentially create an online vision board and collective wishlist with their service which I have done with other boards including travel, fashion, cars, and other various topics. When you sign up, grab the Pin it! bookmarklet from their goodies page – just drag it to your browser’s bookmark toolbar, and anytime you see something you want to pin, you can do so right from the page. It makes it super easy!

Taking this quiz shows one thing about Geminis with an artistic temperament – you never fully lean in one particular direction. In the past, quizzes that ended in “Mostly A’s mean” have been unsuccessful in determining my nature, as I would have an almost even mix of each option. Usually there was one option that was significantly lower than the rest, but never an option that has been significantly higher.

In the Who You Were Meant To Be quiz, you are asked a series of questions to find out what you are striving for in life which will define who you want to be. There are seven areas that you can fall into, with most people having one dominate area and strength in two or three areas. I managed to have five strong areas, with no obvious dominance. Here are my five strengths.

I am an Intellectual – Score of 18

While I don’t believe that I come off smug and arrogant, I have to admit that I do withdraw into my own little world of curiousity, inquisitiveness, and deep thought. Any opportunity to work independently with the sciences, technology, business, or psychology is best for someone striving to be knowledgeable.

I am an Artist – Score of 18

Often, I do take the Lone Wolf stance. I am generally content with only having a few close connections between friends and family. The warning for artistic types is not to over dramatize emotions as it may hurt creativity, but I scoff at this. For many artists, over dramatized emotions are the spark of creativity. Culinary arts, architecture, public relations, sculpting, and painting are areas best for someone striving to be creative.

I am a Nurturer – Score of 17

This one goes against the ideals of an independent intellectual or lone wolf artist, but I agree that I have a strong nurturer instinct. Volunteer work, rescuing animals, nursing, teaching, healing, and social work are best for those striving to help.

I am an Adventurer – Score of 17

An inner born entertainer with a restless streak sounds like traits that I have experienced in my lifetime, for better or for worse respectively. The downside to being a risk-loving thrill seeker is falling into self-destructive, impulsive behavior. But when controlled and directed, it can be a great entrepreneurial strength for those striving to be spontaneous.

I am a Stabilizer – Score of 17

Contrary to my spontaneous side, I am very shaken by changing environments which lead to over-controlling behavior and rejection of anything that goes against my picture of stability. While the suggestions for government, military, finance, law enforcement, and product manufacturing do not appeal to me (probably because they go against my creative, spontaneous side), they are good options for those striving to be secure.

Weakest Links

Striving to be in control and striving to be recognized came in as my weakest strengths, with scores of 15 and 12 respectively. Both suggested a career in politics, which is definitely not something I could see myself getting into.

Conclusion

The capacity to have five strengths that often contradict each other seems somewhat absurd, yet it certainly can have its advantages if one can control using the best of the strengths while avoiding the pitfalls of the weaknesses that come with each area.

the light in your eyes
brightens my heart
illuminating my
world

the way you look at me
pierces straight through
into my
soul

the touch of your hand
creates fire that
only you
extinguish

the time we are apart
fills my mind with
longing for
you

Today, I was watching a clip from Good Morning America of the Ally McBeal reunion to celebrate the complete series finally coming to DVD, and at the end of this part of the interview, they shared this short clip where the character Georgia asks Ally…

Georgia: What makes your problems bigger than everybody else’s?

Ally: They’re mine.

There are so many times that you are feeling stressed or upset about something, and you get mad at yourself on top of it all because maybe that something is trivial in the grand scheme of things, or in comparison to what someone else is going through. You think that you don’t “deserve” to be as worked up over a specific issue, and may even feel guilty about discussing it. You may even find yourself sharing your problem with someone, only to have them remind you how insignificant that problem is – like if you are irritated at something going on at work just to be reminded that you should simply be happy to have a job.

While you should consider all of the good things to be grateful for, there are times that your problem is bigger than everything else simply because it is yours. Don’t sweat the small stuff is easy to say to someone else when you are not currently sweating their small stuff. No two people feel, react and deal with things exactly the same. Therefore, while there may be many more tougher trials in life than what you are facing, remember that you can’t get down on yourself for feeling strongly about something – that something is yours to deal with. You, no one else but you, is experiencing it, so you cannot let anyone else or even yourself downplay what is important to you.