OMG, The Cuteness
Well tomorrow we are off for our kayaking trip. I'm super excited, and also hoping nothing goes wrong and that we all come back alive. Heh. To keep you amused in my absence, here is a video of my super adorable nieces sharing their political views with you.
Click here for awesomeness.Feel free to send that link along. If you have kids and you wanna make a video, send it to me, at the email address here or there, and I'll post it.
Have a great Labor Day! Memorial Day seems like it was both yesterday and 5 years ago.
Really Living Up To That Title
Okay you guys. I was on vacation 2 weeks/weekends ago (Oregon), last weekend (Phoenix), and I will be this weekend (Green River), too. I'm not complaining (AT ALL), just explaining. That should be my life's motto.
So yeah, I'm happy tired, and behind on everything cause I have pesky things like work and whatnot that I've been dealing with between trips. This weekend we are going with a bunch of friends to kayak the Green River near Flaming Gorge. I'm super excited, it's gonna be 3 days camping and floating on the river, and when we get back it will be my birthday month.
I've had such a great summer, this will be a great way to see it out. I really feel like I've gained some perspective (gag) this summer and am more aware of what I want from life. And possibly more importantly, what I don't want from life. Crazy.
When I get back, pics galore, I promise.
Worst Blogger Ever
So we went to Oregon August 13th to the 17th and camped and rafted on the Deschutes River and saw Crater Lake and hung out with Chris' awesome friend Nate and his fiance in Portland. Then I was home for 3 short days before I left to come to Phoenix to have a girls' weekend with my sister and her gorgeous daughters. So I haven't had time to blog or put up pictures, but I will. But for now I am going to go swimming with these cuties, so I must go. Just wanted to let you know that I'm alive. And am having the best summer of my life (I say that every summer, but it's true!) and to top it all off my birthday THREE WEEKS from Sunday. Twenty-nine, I am so ready for you. I need to work on my list of Things To Do Before I'm Thirty, like a little mini-bucket list. I'll post it here. (Pretend to be excited.) But for real, gotta go get my water wings on now.
Time, It's Not So Much On My Side
My work week ended on Thursday last week, so I took the evening to get a pedicure with Jo and then drink wine with Jo, Pat and Chris. I slept in blessedly late on Friday, late enough that I felt guilty and had a SUPER productive afternoon as a result. I mowed the yard, washed the shelves in the fridge (Chris' comment: WITH SOAP??), busted up some cement out back, and did a 9 mile run. No, that is not a typo. In a shocking turn of events, my body didn't completely shut down afterwards, and I even managed to take a shower and then meet Scott and Jessica at Brewvies to see Hellboy II. I would not recommend seeing this movie. Even if there is beer involved. You can file that under: the things I do for the sake of my marriage.
In an attempt to redeem myself from the day before, I got up at 8am on Saturday. I went for run, although a super short one. Then I cleaned up and headed North for my friend Melody's baby shower. I have to confess that I have never been to a baby shower, and it was really fun. I went to her house afterwards to oooh and aaah at the baby's room and clothes and the remodeling they have done on their house since I last went there.
After the Northern Excursion we met Scott and Jessica and their boys for a baseball game. We sat in the grass, and it rained lightly and lightninged far away. We drank beer and ate garlic fries and I rolled down the hill and totally flashed my boob to minors, on accident. We took the train home, at which point I declared myself too tired to walk. Chris motioned to a shopping cart that had seemingly magically appeared and said, jovially, "Well, hop in!!" Then he pushed me all the way home. I love a good-natured drunk.
We slept late on Sunday, since it was Chris' only day this week that he didn't have to work, and then met Steph and Tom to play golf at 1pm. We had so much fun, and I actually didn't do horribly! I shot a 64 on 9 holes (losing to Chris by 3 strokes) and drank 3.5 beers. That second stat is just as important as the first.
Spoiled, Lucky, or Smart?
Chris pushed me all the way home from the train stop in a shopping cart tonight.
Holy Slacker, Batman!
Kind of an appropriate title since once of the things I've done since I last posted is see the new Batman movie. And don't hate me? But I didn't think it was the best movie of all time. I didn't even think it was the best Batman movie, and I'm a fan from way back. I thought that the following were excellent (in order of excellence): Heath Ledger's performance, the makeup, and Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance. I thought the following were lacking (in order of suckiness): Batman's voice, character development, plot development. Since none of you care, MOVING ON. Ahem.
Oh fuck it, let's stick with lists. I'm in a list-y mood. Other things I have done since I last wrote:
- Attended my best friend's nursing school graduation party. Oh my god, Steph and I have been best friends since I was 12. She's a full on nurse now. I am so proud of her. She worked so hard to achieve this and I couldn't be more impressed with her dedication.
- Met
Monica's sister, Amanda. They are identical twins, so it was kind of a given that she would be way cute, but now I can verify that she is awesome, too.
- Ran 8 miles. Yeah, you read that right. Holy shit, it destroyed me. I'm still not sure I have recovered. But I need to hurry up with that because I'd like to do 9 miles this weekend.
- Watched "Touching the Void". Great, yet haunting, movie. I'm still a little freaked. The truth is stranger than fiction FOR SURE.
- Had Jo and Pat over for dinner and wine and a Polish card game. We drank a lot of wine and didn't so much get to the Polish card game, but whatever. We have the rest of our lives to play cards.
- Weeded our garden. It's looking good, people. I think I may have conquered my inability to grow corn. Good thing, they were about to revoke my Iowa Native License.
- Booked a plane ticket to go to Phoenix and have a girls' weekend with my sister and her two gorgeous daughters. Could I be more excited? Well maybe if it wasn't Phoenix in August. But otherwise, no. No, I couldn't.
Vacay Piccies
(These are tiny, but I'm far too tired to care right now. Right-click and select "view image" to see full sizes.)
Jesse and Sharon picked us up on Friday, July 18th after work. We hit the road after loading up the car and camped about 4 hours North of here in Idaho.
Idaho hills.On Saturday we made our way up to Washington, and on Sunday we headed to the Washington coast. We stopped to get some cherries along the way and stopped at a farmer's market in Olympia. We were all happy to see the ocean.
Playing in the water. 
Chris and me. You can't tell, but I am soaking wet here, having just gotten entirely in the ocean fully clothed. Chris is (sensibly) dry and wearing a fleece. That just kind of sums up our personalities. 
Animals follow Chris around like he is Snow White or something.We drove down the coast to Northern Oregon on Monday. We took our time and stopped a lot, and ended up camping at a beach that had a lot of driftwood. And ravens.
Jesse and Sharon's awesome dog, Alex. She was our guard dog for the trip. 
We camped here in Northern Oregon. I think it was in Barview County? 
This made me think of The Cure song, "A Letter to Elise". It made me sad. Elise and Tim, I hope you're still in love. 
I love the way this tree was just growing out of the sand.On Tuesday we packed up and drove South to Coos Bay, Oregon. We stopped at a couple of wineries and at the Sea Lion Caves on the way. We picked up some clams, scallops and prawns at a fish market and ate a good dinner that night.
Chris tries to coax a squirrel over. 
Gratuitous lighthouse picture. 
Improvised clam shell receptacle. We slept late on Wednesday, because we were staying in Coos Bay for another night. We went to the boardwalk and to a farmer's market. Also while in Coos Bay I went surfing for the first time ever. The waves were really big, but it was so much fun. I want to do it again, soon.
Boats in the bay. 
Me in a wetsuit, with the world's largest surfboard. 
Me and the instructor in the water.On Thursday we drove from Southern Oregon into California. It was kind of a hellish day of driving because we hit the really wind-y part of the drive, and it was slow and nauseating. We drove through the Redwood National Park area, and saw a Bigfoot memorabilia flea market and various large tree tourist things, like the drive-through tree and the one-log house. We stopped along the coast in Northern California late that night to crash. On Friday we got up early because we were anxious to get on to San Francisco. It was a gorgeous drive.
There is a seal out there somewhere.We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (A $5 toll? Are you kidding me?) and got into San Francisco at about 1pm, where Chris and I changed out of our pajamas in a gas station bathroom (classy!) and we all went to a sushi place recommended by the gas station clerk. It was basically our first meal out since we'd been on the road, and we ordered a ridiculous amount of food. We were surprised that they didn't make us put up a downpayment. We went to the Fisherman's Wharf and walked around there for a while, and then headed to a campsite. Jesse made us an awesome dinner and I drank a whole $2 bottle of wine by myself. Again, classy!
We packed up on Saturday and went back into San Francisco. We drove around, seeing, among other things, the Haight/Ashbury area, Nob hill, and Chinatown. We ate some good Thai food and then hit the road again. We camped along the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe on Saturday night, which was beautiful. The town of Truckee is just adorable, too.
The truckee river.On Sunday we made the long drive from Lake Tahoe to Salt Lake City. We concluded that Nevada is full of freaks, based partially on the man driving along the interstate, alone, wearing a FULL ON gas mask. Also of note was the car that pulled into a gas station behind us and was painted with skulls and the like, full of very unshowered (yet obviously well-fed) individuals. One guy blindfolded HIMSELF and started wandering around the gas station parking lot, while the others got out to reveal the car's interior, which was full of bloody handprints. Awesome. We arrived back at Salt Lake City at about 10pm on Sunday.
The sun setting on the Salt Flats.We crashed, and while we were laying in bed I remarked "This really isn't any more comfortable than camping." Chris responded with "I was just thinking the same thing."
