Thought this one deserved a *separate* post, but just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to my great friends Sylvia & Patrick who are officially engaged!
I'm so excited for the obvious reasons, but in Curt's words, this means our wedding was a "love machine" (say ma-cheen, not mash-een)! Meaning basically that although our wedding was not where Sylvia & Patrick met (as they knew each other in high school), our wedding is *definitely* where they kind of "re-met" with an interest, some raised eyebrows, strategic dancing, etc. if you catch my drift! Yea! LOL!
They just closed on a house as well in Dallas, so big news all around for them, and I'm looking forward to being a bridesmaid next July/August (whatever the date turns out to be)!
Couldn't be happier for them - and I have to tell you I'm a huge sucker for weddings... they make me so happy!
Love,
Tasha xx
Monday, July 28, 2008
Did you know that fish are capable of mocking?
Had another fun weekend – man, I love summer!
Friday we went to an early dinner with Heidi, Bill, Mikey, Anders, Heather, Danny & Sonora (YL friends) and had yummy fajitas, margaritas, and many laughs as well! Then I went home for a bit so I could be SURE to get my training in for that day so it was definitely interesting running on a full stomach with tequila in my system. Learned that lesson well, and that’s all I’m going to say. LOL! Seriously, it was slightly painful and after my second mile running I had to stop and walk b/c I thought I was going to puke, but at least I ran 2 miles and walked the 2 home, right? Probably burned as many cals as consumed in my margaritas at least? Then I got showered up and ready to meet the same group (minus the boys except Bill) to go see Mamma Mia. Bill happens to be a huge Abba fan, so we had a GREAT time singing to the movie and having a good time. What is interesting about Abba/Mamma Mia is that before I saw the show in London, the ONLY Abba song I liked was “Dancing Queen” – a personal theme song when I was 17… surprise, right? But after I saw the show in London, I was an instant Abba fan… Jo even got me the Gold album which I love to listen to, so was really excited about the movie!
Curt was still up when I got home so we went ahead and packed a little for our weekend getaway to Rockport! The next morning we slept in some (thank goodness) and then quickly got on the road to go to Courtney’s boyfriend’s parent’s beach house there. And we had such a great time on Saturday/Sunday! We went fishing out on their boat (with Courtney, Adam, and 5 of their other friends) on Saturday after we got there, and there were no fish… probably b/c they all went deep for the hurricane, but the ones that were left were *jumping* out of the water like crazy all around our 9 fishing poles… it was pretty funny, actually as it seemed pretty deliberate to me? I gave up after a bit and just laid out on the fishing pier tower thingy and chatted with the girls, so it was really relaxing and fun. Then when we all got cleaned up we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner and then played “Partini” late into the night. Fun game – very similar to Cranium so lots of belly laughing and tears and it was girls against boys so VERY competitive! Adam and Courtney are considering getting their scuba certification which would be GREAT as Curt and I have been wanting some dive buddies for so long now, so we’re crossing our fingers that they’ll get it done soon!
Sunday we all slept in, I enjoyed pancakes and bacon (didn’t help cook at all this trip except for brownies, but I did help with dishes!), we hung out playing Guitar Hero and watching “Big,” Curt helped Adam with putting away the boats, etc. and we got on the road a little after lunch and had fun talking about the future for the 4ish hour drive home.
Then as SOON as I got home I got an hour run in as I didn’t do a thing on Saturday (ouch) and then did a swim directly following. I can tell I’ve improved in the short time I’ve been officially training, too, as I wasn’t really tired at all and I was able to keep my heart rate relatively low the whole time! Then Curt and I took Maverick to the park to listen to a concert on the lake as he’d been alone for the weekend, and had a great time taking pictures, enjoying the music and evening, and being so proud of Mav for being such a well behaved boy with all of the kids and such that gravitate towards him due to his size, etc. Then back home for a very late dinner (after 9 p.m.) and movie to finish off the weekend.
Sigh… am sad that summer is winding down… and p.s. I still haven’t learned how to download pics from my new snazzy camera (or rather haven’t taken the time to even try) BUT I bought an external hard drive as they are massive files, so have this on my to do list for the week!
Love,
Tasha xx
Friday we went to an early dinner with Heidi, Bill, Mikey, Anders, Heather, Danny & Sonora (YL friends) and had yummy fajitas, margaritas, and many laughs as well! Then I went home for a bit so I could be SURE to get my training in for that day so it was definitely interesting running on a full stomach with tequila in my system. Learned that lesson well, and that’s all I’m going to say. LOL! Seriously, it was slightly painful and after my second mile running I had to stop and walk b/c I thought I was going to puke, but at least I ran 2 miles and walked the 2 home, right? Probably burned as many cals as consumed in my margaritas at least? Then I got showered up and ready to meet the same group (minus the boys except Bill) to go see Mamma Mia. Bill happens to be a huge Abba fan, so we had a GREAT time singing to the movie and having a good time. What is interesting about Abba/Mamma Mia is that before I saw the show in London, the ONLY Abba song I liked was “Dancing Queen” – a personal theme song when I was 17… surprise, right? But after I saw the show in London, I was an instant Abba fan… Jo even got me the Gold album which I love to listen to, so was really excited about the movie!
Curt was still up when I got home so we went ahead and packed a little for our weekend getaway to Rockport! The next morning we slept in some (thank goodness) and then quickly got on the road to go to Courtney’s boyfriend’s parent’s beach house there. And we had such a great time on Saturday/Sunday! We went fishing out on their boat (with Courtney, Adam, and 5 of their other friends) on Saturday after we got there, and there were no fish… probably b/c they all went deep for the hurricane, but the ones that were left were *jumping* out of the water like crazy all around our 9 fishing poles… it was pretty funny, actually as it seemed pretty deliberate to me? I gave up after a bit and just laid out on the fishing pier tower thingy and chatted with the girls, so it was really relaxing and fun. Then when we all got cleaned up we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner and then played “Partini” late into the night. Fun game – very similar to Cranium so lots of belly laughing and tears and it was girls against boys so VERY competitive! Adam and Courtney are considering getting their scuba certification which would be GREAT as Curt and I have been wanting some dive buddies for so long now, so we’re crossing our fingers that they’ll get it done soon!
Sunday we all slept in, I enjoyed pancakes and bacon (didn’t help cook at all this trip except for brownies, but I did help with dishes!), we hung out playing Guitar Hero and watching “Big,” Curt helped Adam with putting away the boats, etc. and we got on the road a little after lunch and had fun talking about the future for the 4ish hour drive home.
Then as SOON as I got home I got an hour run in as I didn’t do a thing on Saturday (ouch) and then did a swim directly following. I can tell I’ve improved in the short time I’ve been officially training, too, as I wasn’t really tired at all and I was able to keep my heart rate relatively low the whole time! Then Curt and I took Maverick to the park to listen to a concert on the lake as he’d been alone for the weekend, and had a great time taking pictures, enjoying the music and evening, and being so proud of Mav for being such a well behaved boy with all of the kids and such that gravitate towards him due to his size, etc. Then back home for a very late dinner (after 9 p.m.) and movie to finish off the weekend.
Sigh… am sad that summer is winding down… and p.s. I still haven’t learned how to download pics from my new snazzy camera (or rather haven’t taken the time to even try) BUT I bought an external hard drive as they are massive files, so have this on my to do list for the week!
Love,
Tasha xx
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Crazy Cousins and Crazy Signs...
Gotta love those crazy cousins… everyone has one but maybe not this crazy... keep reading!
This weekend was great, but pretty busy!
On Friday I got home and had to do a long run for tri training, and that went well… it was pretty hot out though)! When I finished Curt and I hung out (I think we did... gosh, I can’t even remember, how sad is that... oh well)?
Saturday we had to wake up early and get on the road to Pearland for Carrie’s 50th Birthday party celebration. It was so fun! Courtney did a great job hosting the party – it was at Adam’s house and we were so happy to see everyone, including Adam’s roommate’s basset hound puppy, Oscar. What a cutie! PaPa made homemade ice cream, Adam made *delicious* fajitas, and we all watched the slideshow that Heidi had made for Carrie. I loved looking at all of the old pics with Curt and Courtney as a baby as for whatever reason I’ve never seen a ton of these before? It was precious…really touching, as well :-)
Unfortunately we had to leave early as that day was also Paige & Keith’s wedding day back up north in The Woodlands. Kendyl was a bridesmaid and by the time we got there we were only 45 minutes early so I tried to help some in the bridal room but I tried to stay out of the way mostly as Paige's zipper busted. BRIDE'S WORST NIGHTMARE! She was trying really hard to hold it (emotionally) together but the thought of walking down the aisle in no dress or a busted one is no dream as you can imagine so she (as you can imagine) was not doing so well. I got the needle threaded with every strand of white thread we had available and her aunt started to sew her in... she and the maids went into the bathroom (for whatever reason she was calmer in there) and I tried to comfort Kim (her mommy) and coach her as well to hold it together and that all would be well... and it was! Paige was sewed in, the wedding was beautiful, Keith cried like a baby which I personally always love to see at weddings, and on to a WAY fun reception!!! By the way, we don't know what happened with Paige's dress. One of those wedding day mysteries where she had actually lost weight that last week, so who knows...? And she looked amazing... sigh... and so did Kendyl! They both clean up to be beautiful women :-)!
So the reception was a blast... the M & J families (and friends) know how to party! We all danced almost every song, and then Keith's crazy cousin Blaine kept entertaining the group with his crazy, and quite suggestive dance moves... and not just in the corner but on purpose as the reception-clown that loves loves loves the attention! LOL - I was cracking up b/c this guy was unlike any I have seen at a wedding... I mean, his shirt came off, his boxers were showing, and you can imagine the rest yourself - hysterical. I also bawled like a baby when Keith danced with his younger sister Kayanna (sp?). She is probably 19-20 now, but a couple of years ago was in a devastating car accident and sustained brain injuries, was in a coma for weeks, and the doctors said IF she survived she'd be a vegetable forever... well not so (thanks be to God), she is alive and she can communicate, and man she loves her "bubba." She's confined to a wheelchair mostly, but she can text and share her emotions and needs. She was a bridesmaid and looking amazing, and Keith went and got her, picked her up to a standing position, and danced with her to "Texas Angel," and the tears (for all) just flowed. I have always LOVED that song, but I think forever now when I hear it I will think of that dance... even the DJ, who I don't think even knows them, was bawling. What a special moment... I'm so choked up just remembering! So anyway, it was gorgeous... the whole thing... and I'm lucky enough to have a beautiful hydrangea centerpiece that I got to take home that I wish would last forever...
Sunday I did a practice run tri with the full lengths all back to back and did *great* so that was exciting. Curt and I rode our bikes to the Y (I had my swimsuit on already) which was 5 miles, he watched me while I did my laps, then we finished the 6 miles to make 11 total, and then I changed shoes and went on my run. I definitely need to invest in proper gear though as biking and running in my swimsuit isn’t going to work, but other than that I felt great when I finished. Also to note because I had decided to sleep in (due to late night wedding night before), I started the tri around lunchtime and was running in the full heat of the day by the time I was done - not bright, I know, but I really needed the rest so I was willing to pay the price with my sweat... :-)
This week so far I've been super swamped with work, but all is well... I did feel a moment yesterday that I had failed God, though, so I was a little emotional about that. Story in the smallest nutshell I can (but still not going to be small) is not even a week ago Curt and I were talking about how sad it makes me to see dead animals on the side of the road, and how I *never* see any still alive to try and save them and how much better I would feel if I had the opportunity, etc. Curt knows I'm a huge cry baby about this... I mean we pass a dead skunk and I can totally start the waterworks in a second. So Tuesday morning, rushing into work because I'm the only one with a room key, HAVE to be there by 7:30 a.m. to let guests into our room for a huge presentation, and basically it was my thing to plan and everyone was counting on me to do my part, etc. So I was in a time crunch and every second counted that morning to get out of here, etc. I go over the huge flyover, in the left lane, and see an injured pigeon on the left shoulder flapping around. I thought about pulling over, but wasn't really sure where I could safely as it was on a huge flyover, no shoulder, huge curve so would get hit, etc. and then when I looked at the time I knew there would be no way I could save a pigeon and not make a huge career limiting move... and I made the wrong choice... :-( I just felt like God gave me the opportunity and I failed Him... I tried to call Animal Control, but it was so early (6:45 a.m.) that no dispatchers were there yet, tried to call Curt and no answer as he was in the shower, and I was a huge disappointment to myself. I know that many would not care about a pigeon, but it was more "life" to me and it upset me so I prayed about it... So I do my deal at work all day, recap it for Curt on my way home and though he was trying to understand he didn't really and then I got MORE upset b/c he was talking about he would have been so mad at me if I had sacrificed my safety for a pigeon, etc. so it just didn't go over well (rational reasoning maybe, but I was emotional, people)!
Came home and it was a long run night so got on my way... I had planned to go 2 miles in, 2 miles back but when I got there I decided to run another 1/2 mile in to get to a water fountain. My last minute decision put me in the spot... as I was rounding a corner there was a turtle in the bikepath... a box turtle just like the one I used to have and I knew it was a sign. Background info, I don't ASK for signs, but when they appear I recognize them for what I feel they are... and my family knows me well for saving turtles, most of the time when they have embarked on the precarious journey of crossing the road. They just don't have a chance, you have to stop and help them! I've done this for as long as I can remember, and Curt has even told me before I need a bumper sticker that says "I stop for Turtles," because I always stop - even if I'm not driving I make a huge fuss that we need to stop, and my family has learned to humor me in this. So I picked up my new friend (he wasn't in huge danger as it was a bikepath vs. a road) and walked him deep into the woods, and was happy again... one of those swelling heart moments, I just love those :-).
Tonight enjoyed some hurricane rain while biking on the trainer in the backyard under the porch, and "So You Think You Can Dance, my new favorite show...
Exhausted so off to bed... here's to crazy cousins and those crazy signs...
Love,
Tasha xx
This weekend was great, but pretty busy!
On Friday I got home and had to do a long run for tri training, and that went well… it was pretty hot out though)! When I finished Curt and I hung out (I think we did... gosh, I can’t even remember, how sad is that... oh well)?
Saturday we had to wake up early and get on the road to Pearland for Carrie’s 50th Birthday party celebration. It was so fun! Courtney did a great job hosting the party – it was at Adam’s house and we were so happy to see everyone, including Adam’s roommate’s basset hound puppy, Oscar. What a cutie! PaPa made homemade ice cream, Adam made *delicious* fajitas, and we all watched the slideshow that Heidi had made for Carrie. I loved looking at all of the old pics with Curt and Courtney as a baby as for whatever reason I’ve never seen a ton of these before? It was precious…really touching, as well :-)
Unfortunately we had to leave early as that day was also Paige & Keith’s wedding day back up north in The Woodlands. Kendyl was a bridesmaid and by the time we got there we were only 45 minutes early so I tried to help some in the bridal room but I tried to stay out of the way mostly as Paige's zipper busted. BRIDE'S WORST NIGHTMARE! She was trying really hard to hold it (emotionally) together but the thought of walking down the aisle in no dress or a busted one is no dream as you can imagine so she (as you can imagine) was not doing so well. I got the needle threaded with every strand of white thread we had available and her aunt started to sew her in... she and the maids went into the bathroom (for whatever reason she was calmer in there) and I tried to comfort Kim (her mommy) and coach her as well to hold it together and that all would be well... and it was! Paige was sewed in, the wedding was beautiful, Keith cried like a baby which I personally always love to see at weddings, and on to a WAY fun reception!!! By the way, we don't know what happened with Paige's dress. One of those wedding day mysteries where she had actually lost weight that last week, so who knows...? And she looked amazing... sigh... and so did Kendyl! They both clean up to be beautiful women :-)!
So the reception was a blast... the M & J families (and friends) know how to party! We all danced almost every song, and then Keith's crazy cousin Blaine kept entertaining the group with his crazy, and quite suggestive dance moves... and not just in the corner but on purpose as the reception-clown that loves loves loves the attention! LOL - I was cracking up b/c this guy was unlike any I have seen at a wedding... I mean, his shirt came off, his boxers were showing, and you can imagine the rest yourself - hysterical. I also bawled like a baby when Keith danced with his younger sister Kayanna (sp?). She is probably 19-20 now, but a couple of years ago was in a devastating car accident and sustained brain injuries, was in a coma for weeks, and the doctors said IF she survived she'd be a vegetable forever... well not so (thanks be to God), she is alive and she can communicate, and man she loves her "bubba." She's confined to a wheelchair mostly, but she can text and share her emotions and needs. She was a bridesmaid and looking amazing, and Keith went and got her, picked her up to a standing position, and danced with her to "Texas Angel," and the tears (for all) just flowed. I have always LOVED that song, but I think forever now when I hear it I will think of that dance... even the DJ, who I don't think even knows them, was bawling. What a special moment... I'm so choked up just remembering! So anyway, it was gorgeous... the whole thing... and I'm lucky enough to have a beautiful hydrangea centerpiece that I got to take home that I wish would last forever...
Sunday I did a practice run tri with the full lengths all back to back and did *great* so that was exciting. Curt and I rode our bikes to the Y (I had my swimsuit on already) which was 5 miles, he watched me while I did my laps, then we finished the 6 miles to make 11 total, and then I changed shoes and went on my run. I definitely need to invest in proper gear though as biking and running in my swimsuit isn’t going to work, but other than that I felt great when I finished. Also to note because I had decided to sleep in (due to late night wedding night before), I started the tri around lunchtime and was running in the full heat of the day by the time I was done - not bright, I know, but I really needed the rest so I was willing to pay the price with my sweat... :-)
This week so far I've been super swamped with work, but all is well... I did feel a moment yesterday that I had failed God, though, so I was a little emotional about that. Story in the smallest nutshell I can (but still not going to be small) is not even a week ago Curt and I were talking about how sad it makes me to see dead animals on the side of the road, and how I *never* see any still alive to try and save them and how much better I would feel if I had the opportunity, etc. Curt knows I'm a huge cry baby about this... I mean we pass a dead skunk and I can totally start the waterworks in a second. So Tuesday morning, rushing into work because I'm the only one with a room key, HAVE to be there by 7:30 a.m. to let guests into our room for a huge presentation, and basically it was my thing to plan and everyone was counting on me to do my part, etc. So I was in a time crunch and every second counted that morning to get out of here, etc. I go over the huge flyover, in the left lane, and see an injured pigeon on the left shoulder flapping around. I thought about pulling over, but wasn't really sure where I could safely as it was on a huge flyover, no shoulder, huge curve so would get hit, etc. and then when I looked at the time I knew there would be no way I could save a pigeon and not make a huge career limiting move... and I made the wrong choice... :-( I just felt like God gave me the opportunity and I failed Him... I tried to call Animal Control, but it was so early (6:45 a.m.) that no dispatchers were there yet, tried to call Curt and no answer as he was in the shower, and I was a huge disappointment to myself. I know that many would not care about a pigeon, but it was more "life" to me and it upset me so I prayed about it... So I do my deal at work all day, recap it for Curt on my way home and though he was trying to understand he didn't really and then I got MORE upset b/c he was talking about he would have been so mad at me if I had sacrificed my safety for a pigeon, etc. so it just didn't go over well (rational reasoning maybe, but I was emotional, people)!
Came home and it was a long run night so got on my way... I had planned to go 2 miles in, 2 miles back but when I got there I decided to run another 1/2 mile in to get to a water fountain. My last minute decision put me in the spot... as I was rounding a corner there was a turtle in the bikepath... a box turtle just like the one I used to have and I knew it was a sign. Background info, I don't ASK for signs, but when they appear I recognize them for what I feel they are... and my family knows me well for saving turtles, most of the time when they have embarked on the precarious journey of crossing the road. They just don't have a chance, you have to stop and help them! I've done this for as long as I can remember, and Curt has even told me before I need a bumper sticker that says "I stop for Turtles," because I always stop - even if I'm not driving I make a huge fuss that we need to stop, and my family has learned to humor me in this. So I picked up my new friend (he wasn't in huge danger as it was a bikepath vs. a road) and walked him deep into the woods, and was happy again... one of those swelling heart moments, I just love those :-).
Tonight enjoyed some hurricane rain while biking on the trainer in the backyard under the porch, and "So You Think You Can Dance, my new favorite show...
Exhausted so off to bed... here's to crazy cousins and those crazy signs...
Love,
Tasha xx
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Greatest Show on Earth!
So today is my mom’s birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! And to celebrate we took her to the circus last night and it was *great!* By the way, I feel pretty confident in saying I have one of the best mom's in the world. She's great and I really love her... so happy that she's mine.
Beforehand we had gone to Pappa’s BBQ downtown to eat dinner and give Mom her gifts – we were pretty excited as we surprised her with probably the most expensive and rare book any of us have ever had our hands on – “A Girl and Five Brave Horses,” by Sonora Carver. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken,” a childhood favorite of Kendyl’s and mine, then you know the story… apparently Sonora Carver’s book has been out of print since the 1960's, thus there are very few available for purchase online which therefore makes them very expensive. But Mom wanted it as she fell in love with the story, movie, etc. so Dad, Kendyl and I strategized and Dad made it happen! So we gave her a bike rack (for her bike/saddle bags), the movie, and the book. She was so surprised! It was really cool – and *perfect* theme night as we were on our way to the circus!
In other news that I have been forgetting to blog about, I am training for a triathlon! So far so good... It’s been on my life goal list for awhile and with my birthday and upcoming stuff I decided no time like the present. Considering I can do all 3 things separately, I thought I should try and see how I would be at putting them together… This one is just a sprint, but it’s a 300 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run.
So this year’s theme is “Bello-bration” and apparently the clown/man, Bello, is a 7th generation circus performer… think about that guys, 7 generations! AND his daughter is planning on being in the circus (she’s a teenager) so she will be the 8th – crazy! I mean Barnum & Bailey is one of the oldest circuses, with this year being it’s 137th and if you average 20 years per generation that puts this family at 140! Makes me think about the book “Water for Elephants,” GREAT read by the way, and what it must have been like in the old days...
They had a ton of animals in the show this year… 10 elephants, 10 tigers (one’s name was Tasha and she was a *star!*), a ton of dogs including a great dane, and of course the performers were amazing, too! They had a lot of new stuff and I feel like a lot of Cirque de Soleil type acts, which of course are always impressive! Very funny show, too – all in all just so fun! I love the circus!
Beforehand we had gone to Pappa’s BBQ downtown to eat dinner and give Mom her gifts – we were pretty excited as we surprised her with probably the most expensive and rare book any of us have ever had our hands on – “A Girl and Five Brave Horses,” by Sonora Carver. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken,” a childhood favorite of Kendyl’s and mine, then you know the story… apparently Sonora Carver’s book has been out of print since the 1960's, thus there are very few available for purchase online which therefore makes them very expensive. But Mom wanted it as she fell in love with the story, movie, etc. so Dad, Kendyl and I strategized and Dad made it happen! So we gave her a bike rack (for her bike/saddle bags), the movie, and the book. She was so surprised! It was really cool – and *perfect* theme night as we were on our way to the circus!
In other news that I have been forgetting to blog about, I am training for a triathlon! So far so good... It’s been on my life goal list for awhile and with my birthday and upcoming stuff I decided no time like the present. Considering I can do all 3 things separately, I thought I should try and see how I would be at putting them together… This one is just a sprint, but it’s a 300 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run.
My hardest leg of the three will be the swim as although I’m a good swimmer, I’m not a good free-styler. With all of my many swim lessons, girl scout camps, water certifications, lifeguarding, etc. I’ve never been able to freestyle for long without sucking down a lung full of water! I do a lifeguard freestyle really well, but it is extra tiring to keep your head out of the water as your body is not in a supine position in the water, thus making it more difficult. Good news is that apparently at the actual event hardly anyone does real freestyle anyway as you’re in open water and have a million people around you, so should be fine for me I guess? Haha! So I’m busy training and trying to consolidate the activities and going one to the other… tonight is bike to run night, which sounds reasonable though they say your bike legs making the transition to your running legs can be a little interesting so we’ll see! I’m going to try and do a dry run Saturday or Sunday just to see how it goes as it’s not too far away! My biggest fears about it (which Kendyl said should be the last thing I’m worried about) are the transitions, so am trying to get more educated on these so I have a better idea about how all of this will work! So far though I think I’m really liking it!
Also got to see Ash and the boys tonight again, with Pam and Chandler, too. Ashley's mom had knee surgery this week so she's in town briefly to assist, so we had dinner and watched the boys play in the fountains. It was adorable and I hate that I don't get to see her/them very often. We also took the new camera so as soon as I figure out how to download the pictures I'll post some!
So glad it's Friday tomorrow!
Love,
Tasha xx
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Happy Birthday to me!
What an amazing weekend!
It’s no secret that I’m into birthdays (of course and obviously my own, but I love other people’s, too!) but this one I think will end up in the top of the list!
Here’s a recap of the rest of the week from where I left off:
Thursday was relaxing – had lunch with a work colleague (she took me out for my birthday, so nice!) and then that evening Curt and I cleaned the pool (doesn’t sound fun but it kind of was watching Curt bob up and down while he was vacuuming the hot tub while I was working in the main pool). So we were just chatting out there and working away, though keep in mind it wasn’t too hard of work – I find that keeping up the pool isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. This is literally the first time I’ve ever “cleaned” the pool. Granted it’s mostly Curt’s job to keep up with the chemicals, emptying the buckets, which I appreciate very much, but as long as you keep up with that stuff it’s pretty low maintenance? It just so happened that the whole week before we had a ton of storms that had blown things in and wanted to have it sparkling clean! So we were done with that way before dark, I made some yummy dinner, and then we decided to go upstairs and watch my Monday Birthday week gift – “10,000 BC.” Love those kinds of nights!
Then of course Friday was *my birthday!* Started off great with a quick commute in, had a great day at work, colleagues took me out for an amazing lunch at my favorite place – it was so fun! And then we had a long meeting in the afternoon that took us until the end of the day. I had a little more work to do, so took off around 5:30 p.m. and headed straight to the Goose’s Acre for a family dinner on the patio, with tres leches at Americas to follow… That was all so fun (weather was *perfect* in my book) and then we headed back to the house for some presents! Whoop! (no secret that I love those, too). So Curt had been really nervous about my present, which I thought was sweet as it implies he put some thought into it (for him, anyway). So I opened them and got so much great stuff! Everything from an iPod car plug in (from Kendyl, and on my b-day list for months – yea!), Vera Bradley pink elephant bags (from Mom & Dad as apparently she’s retiring this pattern), Kinoki foot pads (Mom, Kendyl, and I have talked about how fun these would be to try for awhile, so Mom got some at BB&B!), and… drumroll please…. My Nikon SLR D80! Holy smokes I was totally surprised! This was Curt’s gift to me, along with a super power additional 200x zoom lense, photography classes (like 15 or something?), a DVD, car battery charger, and the bag/kit with memory cards, cords, etc, etc, etc. Wow… I was so amazed. So this was from Curt and a few others chipped in as well (my parents, Carrie & Don, and Courtney). So I am SO excited to become a photography guru! I mean, I think I have some natural raw talent considering I have taken some pretty amazing shots with just a 35 mm camera (see Italy pics in your mind here), so we’ll see how good I can be with the proper equipment along with some coaching! Then we had some fun with “So you think you can dance” and I showed my fam the Bollywood dance as Mom hadn’t deleted it yet… lol!
Saturday we slept in some, then started to get to work to get to the store for party supplies/food, and getting the house ready for the big day. It ended up being so great – we started at 3 p.m. and I think we had 21 people there plus my family so it was probably the upper limit of what our house can support party wise as it was packed when everyone came inside to sing to me... But it was GREAT having so many family members and friends there, and a lot of us got into the pool after awhile, too! I was so relaxed and it was the perfect birthday celebration… our last guests left at about 9:45 p.m. (thanks Vicki, CP & Judy for helping us clean up)! Then we decided to watch the “Bucket list” to cap off the day… Sunday we did it all again, this time on a much smaller scale for my mom but at my house again as HER birthday is only 6 days away from mine. So the fam came over at around 1 p.m., we got the food ready, had a few different guests over, and when they left a few hours later we had family time in the pool which was way fun, and again very relaxing (Kendyl and Curt kept pushing me back and forth across the pool on my float – best game ever)! Then half of them left, and Mom stayed with me and we watched Quest for Fire.
So all in all it was an incredible birthday weekend full of good times, just enough R&R, fun in the sun, movies, *cake,* presents, etc. – all my ideal and favorite things! YEA!
So back to real life again and this week is going well, too… am trying to figure out when I can start diving into my photography stuff in between other things I have planned… this weekend we have Carrie’s 50th birthday to celebrate as well as Paige & Keith’s wedding. Should be a lot of fun… I’m also looking forward to the wedding b/c Fred will be marrying them (he’s who married Curt and me!) and it will be attended by a ton of people that we’ve known forever. Then maybe on Sunday we’ll get the boat out as it seems like centuries since we’ve had the chance to get up there!
OH! And how could I forget, tomorrow evening we’ll be attending the CIRCUS! Always a family favorite for us and it’s to celebrate Mom’s birthday (which is really on Thursday) so I’m *very* excited about that! My dad loves to tell the story of how special the circus is to our family… I guess when I was just 9 days old my mom was tired of being cooped up in the house and decided to take me on one of my first outings to see the world. As the circus was in town (they always are in July) she decided to take me to see the elephants being unloaded from the train (I think the train?) and then they would be walking them down the street in a mini-parade. Well I guess as I was obviously the youngest bystander so the news crews and reporters that were there decided to interview my mom so she and I were on TV later that night – it was my debut to the world (lol)! I guess she was so excited because it was still a very new city, I was the new and first addition to the family, and with all of the excitement/elephants, etc. I guess it’s just one of those really happy memories that carries over forever into loving the circus, thus, Kendyl and I have also always loved the circus as well! Just one of those magical things (similar and right up there with me and my love affair with the Renaissance Festival).
Anyway, so all is well and I’ll just be snapping a million pics away on my new cam until next time! July is always so busy so should have plenty more to write about soon… and will include pics next time!
Love,
Tasha xx
It’s no secret that I’m into birthdays (of course and obviously my own, but I love other people’s, too!) but this one I think will end up in the top of the list!
Here’s a recap of the rest of the week from where I left off:
Thursday was relaxing – had lunch with a work colleague (she took me out for my birthday, so nice!) and then that evening Curt and I cleaned the pool (doesn’t sound fun but it kind of was watching Curt bob up and down while he was vacuuming the hot tub while I was working in the main pool). So we were just chatting out there and working away, though keep in mind it wasn’t too hard of work – I find that keeping up the pool isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. This is literally the first time I’ve ever “cleaned” the pool. Granted it’s mostly Curt’s job to keep up with the chemicals, emptying the buckets, which I appreciate very much, but as long as you keep up with that stuff it’s pretty low maintenance? It just so happened that the whole week before we had a ton of storms that had blown things in and wanted to have it sparkling clean! So we were done with that way before dark, I made some yummy dinner, and then we decided to go upstairs and watch my Monday Birthday week gift – “10,000 BC.” Love those kinds of nights!
Then of course Friday was *my birthday!* Started off great with a quick commute in, had a great day at work, colleagues took me out for an amazing lunch at my favorite place – it was so fun! And then we had a long meeting in the afternoon that took us until the end of the day. I had a little more work to do, so took off around 5:30 p.m. and headed straight to the Goose’s Acre for a family dinner on the patio, with tres leches at Americas to follow… That was all so fun (weather was *perfect* in my book) and then we headed back to the house for some presents! Whoop! (no secret that I love those, too). So Curt had been really nervous about my present, which I thought was sweet as it implies he put some thought into it (for him, anyway). So I opened them and got so much great stuff! Everything from an iPod car plug in (from Kendyl, and on my b-day list for months – yea!), Vera Bradley pink elephant bags (from Mom & Dad as apparently she’s retiring this pattern), Kinoki foot pads (Mom, Kendyl, and I have talked about how fun these would be to try for awhile, so Mom got some at BB&B!), and… drumroll please…. My Nikon SLR D80! Holy smokes I was totally surprised! This was Curt’s gift to me, along with a super power additional 200x zoom lense, photography classes (like 15 or something?), a DVD, car battery charger, and the bag/kit with memory cards, cords, etc, etc, etc. Wow… I was so amazed. So this was from Curt and a few others chipped in as well (my parents, Carrie & Don, and Courtney). So I am SO excited to become a photography guru! I mean, I think I have some natural raw talent considering I have taken some pretty amazing shots with just a 35 mm camera (see Italy pics in your mind here), so we’ll see how good I can be with the proper equipment along with some coaching! Then we had some fun with “So you think you can dance” and I showed my fam the Bollywood dance as Mom hadn’t deleted it yet… lol!
Saturday we slept in some, then started to get to work to get to the store for party supplies/food, and getting the house ready for the big day. It ended up being so great – we started at 3 p.m. and I think we had 21 people there plus my family so it was probably the upper limit of what our house can support party wise as it was packed when everyone came inside to sing to me... But it was GREAT having so many family members and friends there, and a lot of us got into the pool after awhile, too! I was so relaxed and it was the perfect birthday celebration… our last guests left at about 9:45 p.m. (thanks Vicki, CP & Judy for helping us clean up)! Then we decided to watch the “Bucket list” to cap off the day… Sunday we did it all again, this time on a much smaller scale for my mom but at my house again as HER birthday is only 6 days away from mine. So the fam came over at around 1 p.m., we got the food ready, had a few different guests over, and when they left a few hours later we had family time in the pool which was way fun, and again very relaxing (Kendyl and Curt kept pushing me back and forth across the pool on my float – best game ever)! Then half of them left, and Mom stayed with me and we watched Quest for Fire.
So all in all it was an incredible birthday weekend full of good times, just enough R&R, fun in the sun, movies, *cake,* presents, etc. – all my ideal and favorite things! YEA!
So back to real life again and this week is going well, too… am trying to figure out when I can start diving into my photography stuff in between other things I have planned… this weekend we have Carrie’s 50th birthday to celebrate as well as Paige & Keith’s wedding. Should be a lot of fun… I’m also looking forward to the wedding b/c Fred will be marrying them (he’s who married Curt and me!) and it will be attended by a ton of people that we’ve known forever. Then maybe on Sunday we’ll get the boat out as it seems like centuries since we’ve had the chance to get up there!
OH! And how could I forget, tomorrow evening we’ll be attending the CIRCUS! Always a family favorite for us and it’s to celebrate Mom’s birthday (which is really on Thursday) so I’m *very* excited about that! My dad loves to tell the story of how special the circus is to our family… I guess when I was just 9 days old my mom was tired of being cooped up in the house and decided to take me on one of my first outings to see the world. As the circus was in town (they always are in July) she decided to take me to see the elephants being unloaded from the train (I think the train?) and then they would be walking them down the street in a mini-parade. Well I guess as I was obviously the youngest bystander so the news crews and reporters that were there decided to interview my mom so she and I were on TV later that night – it was my debut to the world (lol)! I guess she was so excited because it was still a very new city, I was the new and first addition to the family, and with all of the excitement/elephants, etc. I guess it’s just one of those really happy memories that carries over forever into loving the circus, thus, Kendyl and I have also always loved the circus as well! Just one of those magical things (similar and right up there with me and my love affair with the Renaissance Festival).
Anyway, so all is well and I’ll just be snapping a million pics away on my new cam until next time! July is always so busy so should have plenty more to write about soon… and will include pics next time!
Love,
Tasha xx
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Birthday Week Fun!
It’s my Birthday Week! YEA! And so far so good…
Monday was a little out of the ordinary… I worked from home so we could have some workers come and pressure wash the house, as well as do the windows (inside and out) and wow was it an ordeal! They were supposed to arrive at 9 a.m. but were running late so arrived at 10:30 a.m. The guy kind of showed up with some attitude as in his opinion our house was bigger than what he was expecting square feet-wise (I guess by the looks of it), so was ticked about the quote I was given by the owner/main guy over the phone. I was really offended by what he could be implying and suggesting I would have to pay $100 more than what I was quoted so I simply told him the quote is what I would be paying, and that I told the main guy our house was the correct sq feet (it is actually even slightly lower than what I told them and even rounded up), two stories, and a combo of brick and siding so what else could I say about it? I also offered for him to come see for himself on HAR (one of my personal favorite websites – why can’t every city have this?) and told him I didn’t appreciate his attitude when I had taken off time from work to be here and had done what was asked of me on my part to prepare for their visit. I was so mad!
Then they apparently needed more supplies so left and came back. Then a nozzle was broken so Adam (Attitude Adam) went to buy another one while Daniel (no attitude but still buddies with Adam) starting on the inside of the windows. What was hilarious (not in a mean way) about Daniel is that he was a big guy, probably in his mid thirties, and he was scared of Maverick. At one point he said, “that dog’s bigger than me,” and I couldn't even fake agree - there's no way… I mean Maverick is big, but this guy was a big guy, way bigger than 140 pounds... So I spent the day making sure Maverick was gated safely away with me and plenty away from him. He would just call my name whenever he was ready to move around – just made me giggle. Maverick was fairly annoying throughout the day, however, as they were at our house for 7 hours – constantly banging on the house and making noises that don’t belong, suddenly appearing in the backyard, back door, front door – you get the picture. Maverick was having a tough time guarding me and it was a lot of work for him when normally he sleeps all day while we’re gone!
Then Monday night was the much awaited finale of The Bachelorette! I can’t tell you how excited I was for that moment to arrive… Vicki and Mom came over to enjoy it on the big screen, and we decided to make it like old times and order Domino’s (thin crust cheese and cinnastix +Bachelor night = Tasha’s personal heaven). Not only did we have the finale though (I won’t say who she chose until next post JUST in case someone has been in a hole and hasn’t watched their DVR yet), but we also had an After the Final Rose… 3 hours solid… love it. I tell those close to me that it doesn’t matter if I’m 90 and this show is still on, I will still love it so much.
Tonight was fun, too in a weird-ish sort of way, but I got home and Curt gave me the second and third presents to celebrate my birthday week (he’s so sweet). My first present (on Monday) was 10,000 BC. Note we haven’t seen this movie yet, but as Curt knows that I love Clan of the Cave Bear (movie and Earth's Children series), he figured I would like this movie as well, and he’s probably right. :-) I didn’t get a present on Tuesday – I don’t know if by plan or not but I was in a really bad mood and didn’t really deserve one anyway.
Tonight, however, I got 2! One is a small coin-ish looking token that is silver and says “good for one birthday wish.” I haven’t decided what my wish will be yet but I’ll let you know what I decide! And my third was this absolutely precious oversize wine-type glass that is painted with candles and says “Happy Birthday!” and I love it! What’s more is that when Curt was asking me if I liked it, I of course said yes, and he’s like, “can you tell where it’s from?” and I paused and studied it, he gave me a couple more hints and I finally figured out it’s from Swoozies, which is one of my guilty pleasure, favorite stores (later this evening Curt called it "Smoothies," God bless him. I hardly ever go in there though b/c I love their stuff, but usually can’t justify spending that kind of money on the wonderful stuff they offer (which I don't ever really NEED), so I was SO happy that he remembered how much I love that place. What a cutie.
Then, we had to weed the yard, which usually is not that fun but for whatever reason tonight it was (maybe because I got a present beforehand)? After we finished Curt decided to mow while I went and got washed up to make dinner… WHILE I was making dinner I flipped on the TV and got sucked into a NEW show – “so you think you can dance?” sigh… another show, it happened – geez! So watching the dancers, enjoying it, etc. finish dinner, blah blah blah, and THEN the last couple to go does this *AMAZING* Bollywood dance that I watched about 12 times before I decided to go put dance appropriate clothes on and attempt to jump around and learn the dance myself. What a blast – Curt laughing in the other room as he would peek over from time to time, Maverick jumping and dancing (and getting kicked in the head, don’t worry, not hard) and finally I pretty much got it. I’m just bummed b/c I wasn’t recording it on my DVR so I can’t go back and enjoy it… maybe it’ll be on YouTube (you'll never believe it - someone has already posted it and it already has hundreds of views! I guess there were others like me... click here to see).
So anyway, off to begin another day in the Birthday Week – woohoo!
Love,
Tasha xx
Birthday Week presents
P.S.
Here’s a snippet of a post that I’d forgotten from BEFORE Wilderness (sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but thought I would include rather than delete):
This last weekend was AMAZING! I left it pretty much open so we could relax as during the weeks we’ve been running all over the place. So Friday Claire called and wanted to see if we wanted to go out to eat that night, so Curt and I met her and Adam out at this Japanese restaurant where we had a lovely meal and great time with friends! We had Mochi Ice cream at the end, and MAN that stuff is GOOD! The rice dough around the ice cream is like heaven – almost like a cookie dough consistency but a lighter, sweet taste. It was delicious. We got home later so we started a Netflix but quickly abandoned for bed! The next morning we slept in a bit – I actually woke up earlier than Curt which *never* happens so finished the movie (he didn’t care) and then woke him up so we could take Maverick to the Spring Bark at Northshore Park!
We met Chelsea there (who had Nina) and though I was a little nervous for Maverick and his current ailments, he did GREAT! There were *tons* of dogs there, and vendors, etc. so we had a lot of fun just walking around and looking at everything. I brought Savannah’s old leashes/collars (the 3 sets that I bought her and she never wore) and donated them to the Humane Society, and they were appreciative so that made me feel good and a little sad at the same time. But Maverick made lots of new friends, and only had one moment where his back legs started to bother him, so we made our way home soon after and he seemed fine for the rest of the day.
Then Curt and I got into our hiking boots and started walking over to the Darling Showcase of Homes and brought a pitcher along the way to pick dewberries! I wanted to get enough to make a pie later that afternoon, so we had fun hiking and such. Picking dewberries is an art, though – we were so intense about strategy to avoid getting scratched up with thorns – it was hysterical! We ended up getting the entire pitcher full so we made TWO homemade pies (Curt insisted on homemade pie crust even) that we are still working to get through… so yummy!
The showcase was nice, too… I always love to get good ideas for decorating and wish I had enough money to just start over or something!
Monday was a little out of the ordinary… I worked from home so we could have some workers come and pressure wash the house, as well as do the windows (inside and out) and wow was it an ordeal! They were supposed to arrive at 9 a.m. but were running late so arrived at 10:30 a.m. The guy kind of showed up with some attitude as in his opinion our house was bigger than what he was expecting square feet-wise (I guess by the looks of it), so was ticked about the quote I was given by the owner/main guy over the phone. I was really offended by what he could be implying and suggesting I would have to pay $100 more than what I was quoted so I simply told him the quote is what I would be paying, and that I told the main guy our house was the correct sq feet (it is actually even slightly lower than what I told them and even rounded up), two stories, and a combo of brick and siding so what else could I say about it? I also offered for him to come see for himself on HAR (one of my personal favorite websites – why can’t every city have this?) and told him I didn’t appreciate his attitude when I had taken off time from work to be here and had done what was asked of me on my part to prepare for their visit. I was so mad!
Then they apparently needed more supplies so left and came back. Then a nozzle was broken so Adam (Attitude Adam) went to buy another one while Daniel (no attitude but still buddies with Adam) starting on the inside of the windows. What was hilarious (not in a mean way) about Daniel is that he was a big guy, probably in his mid thirties, and he was scared of Maverick. At one point he said, “that dog’s bigger than me,” and I couldn't even fake agree - there's no way… I mean Maverick is big, but this guy was a big guy, way bigger than 140 pounds... So I spent the day making sure Maverick was gated safely away with me and plenty away from him. He would just call my name whenever he was ready to move around – just made me giggle. Maverick was fairly annoying throughout the day, however, as they were at our house for 7 hours – constantly banging on the house and making noises that don’t belong, suddenly appearing in the backyard, back door, front door – you get the picture. Maverick was having a tough time guarding me and it was a lot of work for him when normally he sleeps all day while we’re gone!
Then Monday night was the much awaited finale of The Bachelorette! I can’t tell you how excited I was for that moment to arrive… Vicki and Mom came over to enjoy it on the big screen, and we decided to make it like old times and order Domino’s (thin crust cheese and cinnastix +Bachelor night = Tasha’s personal heaven). Not only did we have the finale though (I won’t say who she chose until next post JUST in case someone has been in a hole and hasn’t watched their DVR yet), but we also had an After the Final Rose… 3 hours solid… love it. I tell those close to me that it doesn’t matter if I’m 90 and this show is still on, I will still love it so much.
Tonight was fun, too in a weird-ish sort of way, but I got home and Curt gave me the second and third presents to celebrate my birthday week (he’s so sweet). My first present (on Monday) was 10,000 BC. Note we haven’t seen this movie yet, but as Curt knows that I love Clan of the Cave Bear (movie and Earth's Children series), he figured I would like this movie as well, and he’s probably right. :-) I didn’t get a present on Tuesday – I don’t know if by plan or not but I was in a really bad mood and didn’t really deserve one anyway.
Tonight, however, I got 2! One is a small coin-ish looking token that is silver and says “good for one birthday wish.” I haven’t decided what my wish will be yet but I’ll let you know what I decide! And my third was this absolutely precious oversize wine-type glass that is painted with candles and says “Happy Birthday!” and I love it! What’s more is that when Curt was asking me if I liked it, I of course said yes, and he’s like, “can you tell where it’s from?” and I paused and studied it, he gave me a couple more hints and I finally figured out it’s from Swoozies, which is one of my guilty pleasure, favorite stores (later this evening Curt called it "Smoothies," God bless him. I hardly ever go in there though b/c I love their stuff, but usually can’t justify spending that kind of money on the wonderful stuff they offer (which I don't ever really NEED), so I was SO happy that he remembered how much I love that place. What a cutie.
Then, we had to weed the yard, which usually is not that fun but for whatever reason tonight it was (maybe because I got a present beforehand)? After we finished Curt decided to mow while I went and got washed up to make dinner… WHILE I was making dinner I flipped on the TV and got sucked into a NEW show – “so you think you can dance?” sigh… another show, it happened – geez! So watching the dancers, enjoying it, etc. finish dinner, blah blah blah, and THEN the last couple to go does this *AMAZING* Bollywood dance that I watched about 12 times before I decided to go put dance appropriate clothes on and attempt to jump around and learn the dance myself. What a blast – Curt laughing in the other room as he would peek over from time to time, Maverick jumping and dancing (and getting kicked in the head, don’t worry, not hard) and finally I pretty much got it. I’m just bummed b/c I wasn’t recording it on my DVR so I can’t go back and enjoy it… maybe it’ll be on YouTube (you'll never believe it - someone has already posted it and it already has hundreds of views! I guess there were others like me... click here to see).
So anyway, off to begin another day in the Birthday Week – woohoo!
Love,
Tasha xx
Birthday Week presents
P.S.
Here’s a snippet of a post that I’d forgotten from BEFORE Wilderness (sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but thought I would include rather than delete):
This last weekend was AMAZING! I left it pretty much open so we could relax as during the weeks we’ve been running all over the place. So Friday Claire called and wanted to see if we wanted to go out to eat that night, so Curt and I met her and Adam out at this Japanese restaurant where we had a lovely meal and great time with friends! We had Mochi Ice cream at the end, and MAN that stuff is GOOD! The rice dough around the ice cream is like heaven – almost like a cookie dough consistency but a lighter, sweet taste. It was delicious. We got home later so we started a Netflix but quickly abandoned for bed! The next morning we slept in a bit – I actually woke up earlier than Curt which *never* happens so finished the movie (he didn’t care) and then woke him up so we could take Maverick to the Spring Bark at Northshore Park!
We met Chelsea there (who had Nina) and though I was a little nervous for Maverick and his current ailments, he did GREAT! There were *tons* of dogs there, and vendors, etc. so we had a lot of fun just walking around and looking at everything. I brought Savannah’s old leashes/collars (the 3 sets that I bought her and she never wore) and donated them to the Humane Society, and they were appreciative so that made me feel good and a little sad at the same time. But Maverick made lots of new friends, and only had one moment where his back legs started to bother him, so we made our way home soon after and he seemed fine for the rest of the day.
Then Curt and I got into our hiking boots and started walking over to the Darling Showcase of Homes and brought a pitcher along the way to pick dewberries! I wanted to get enough to make a pie later that afternoon, so we had fun hiking and such. Picking dewberries is an art, though – we were so intense about strategy to avoid getting scratched up with thorns – it was hysterical! We ended up getting the entire pitcher full so we made TWO homemade pies (Curt insisted on homemade pie crust even) that we are still working to get through… so yummy!
The showcase was nice, too… I always love to get good ideas for decorating and wish I had enough money to just start over or something!
Sunday, July 06, 2008
4th of July Weekend
Gotta love holiday weekends!
This weekend was totally great...
On Thursday afternoon Curt went riding with Danny, and while we were waiting on him to get home, Kendyl and I went to Luby's - one of our faves! Then we got Curt and proceeded over to a local park to help build our Village float! It was fun and got me excited for the parade the following morning... when we finished float building we went to our house for a second to pick up some FIREWORKS! Since we can't set them off anywhere near where we live, we went over to Kendyl's area to set off fireworks that we have had since the wedding (Kendyl had bought them for us to drive off to but it was a dry time of year so we couldn't back then). We made it into like a spy mission with our night vision headlamps, etc. We found a lake to shoot them over away from any civilization and had a great time enjoying shooting them off and me yelling at the 2 of them to be safe every 30 seconds. LOL! It was GREAT, and now Curt and I have extra space in the bottom of our pantry!
Friday we woke up early to go and meet some folks from work to enjoy the July 4th parade - it was a lot of fun... I love parades! I also learned that Curt isn't really a fan, which I thought was interesting, but he humored me and we had a good time.
Our village float was great, there were lots of high school bands and little kids, some pretty professional looking floats, a ton of classic cars, some horses, scouts, etc. It lasted a couple of hours and then we went to the grocery store to pick up Mam's Tinkerbell cake (as it was her birthday and we were celebrating later) and do some shopping as Danny, Heather, and Sonora were coming over for hot dogs at our house a little later.
When they came over we all jumped in the pool and had a great time swimming around and carrying Sonora around the pool. She was hysterical as she would fuss to get out, and then squat and pee on the concrete, repeatedly saying "Uh-Oh" - it was hilarious. Maverick was also outside so he was lying on the concrete watching us swim and she would go over and sit right in the middle of his two front paws like it was nothing. They have a lab and maltese at home, but Maverick is still twice the size of their lab, and still Sonora had no fear (and she's so small - she's maybe 20-25ish pounds and is almost a year and a half old). We had a ton of fun until it was time for dinner which is when we had to run to meet the family for Mam's birthday celebration.
When we got to the house we met Gerald, who is Mam's beau, and he seems to be polite, and she enjoys his company. We gave her her presents (a gift card bouquet and a small flat screen TV to mount in her bedroom), sang "Happy Birthday" to her, had some cake, and then we got on our way to head to the park for a concert and fireworks. 
When we got to the park we set up our lawn chairs, played some frisbee and enjoyed the music (and the lovely weather and being outside) and waited for it to get dark. It was perfectly relaxing and so nice - we had fun taking some sunset pictures and laughed a lot, and then at 9:30 p.m. we saw an *amazing* firework show set to music over the lake! It was FANTASTIC!! 
Yesterday I slept in and Curt and I piddled around the house all day - watching movies, catching up on shows, etc. Then we got ready late in the afternoon and headed over to Mam's for a turkey dinner. Gerald was there, too, so we got to know him a little better, and had a nice family dinner complete with Mam's GREAT mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. It's been great hanging out with the family this weekend as it's been awhile as Dad was out of the country for the last 4-5 weeks, and Mom joined him a couple weeks ago... So after dinner, we all watched a Netflix that I had brought, chilled out, and came home, and then Curt and I watched another movie, and now it's Sunday!
Today we're going for a bike ride and getting ready for the pressure washers/window cleaners who will come tomorrow. Other than that, we're just hanging out which I'm loving - we're doing great at the "summer slow life" that we always try to implement as I run us ragged during the year. I may choose a book from my "to read" pile, and go lay out after our bike ride if it doesn't rain!
Hope everyone else is having as fun of a weekend as we are!
Love,
Tasha xx
Tasha xx
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
See how great I'm doing already??
So last night I went in for a haircut… I LOVE my stylist – he’s wonderful and does such a great job, but I was a little annoyed! I had made Curt and I’s appointments back to back for 6 and 7 p.m. – mine for later as I don’t get home until later from work/driving, etc. So I was pushing it to get home on time, quickly changed clothes and as I was headed out the door Curt called to see where I was because our stylist was going to cut another guy’s hair in between us. I told him I was 5 minutes away, and whatever, as long as it was quick that would be fine. So I got to the haircut place at like 6:45 p.m. before my appointment and the stylist was cutting this guy’s hair so I chatted with Ash while I was waiting. So 7 p.m. comes, and he’s chatting away with his “friend” in the next chair, while cutting the other guy’s hair, and he didn’t finish until like 7:15 p.m. – ugh! I was trying really hard to not be visibly annoyed but geez – I had things to do still for the evening! And what’s the point of making back to back appointments?! THEN as he was cutting my hair he was still chatting with his “friend” in the next chair and I was so worried that in his obviously non-focused state that he would chop too much off or something! I wanted to shake him and point out that if he could just focus on my head that he could be done in like 10 minutes and free to chat up his friend after, versus my 40 minute hair cut/trim! It didn’t help at all that I was completely starving (read grumpy) with no dinner in sight as I was going to Kendyl’s after for a workout video session and only THEN were we eating dinner. It was actually more of an inconvenience for Kendyl to wait for me though, b/c she goes to bed at like 9 p.m. (because she wakes up in the 4’s – she’s nuts!), so by the time I got to her place, we did the workout, and then ate dinner it was totally 9 p.m. – sigh!
The workout video was GREAT though – we were totally panting but had a good time. I like doing workout videos at her house b/c when I do them at mine Maverick is all over me. He loves that I’m on the floor and thinks it’s cuddle time, but goes CRAZY when I’m jumping around so barks b/c he thinks it’s some sort of game or something! When I do my pilates video I have a hard time not laughing b/c I’ll make him go lay down on his bed and he does his inching scoot forward until he’s right next to me and I’m rolling all over him, or a leg hits him in the head or something – cracks me up, but probably not an efficient break in the workout…
Anyway, so got home around 9:25 p.m. and Curt told me I had just missed the coolest thing – ugh! Apparently 2 minutes before I pulled in the driveway, he looked outside and near our pool is what he thought was a cat (background info, Curt installed landscape lighting and blue pool lights that look GREAT in the backyard, so we have them on a timer and the backyard is kind of lit up til around 10 p.m.) by the edge of the pool. Well as we do not like cats in our backyard (we are not cat *haters* but for every blue jay I find dead in my yard I go a little more crazy) he was about to go back and shoo it away. At a closer look, it was a *RACCOON* who had come into our backyard and was pawing at the pool water to make the june bugs come closer through the ripples and eat them! How adorable is that? Curt said the raccoon was a pretty big one – Maverick saw it as soon as Curt had started to process what was going on and quickly sounded the alarm. Instead of running away Curt said the june bug bandit turned to look (oh so nonchalantly) and just trotted away, with a last look over the shoulder before he disappeared in the night. I can’t believe I missed it, but you can bet I will be watching for the clever raccoon!
After that excitement decided to watch Part I of the Bachelorette – WOW what a great episode – 2 great ones in a row! I have no idea who she’ll pick as both have laid it out on the line, so next week will be GREAT!!! Then, as Curt was still working on his laptop next to me I decided to watch John and Kate + 8 (my other fave show) which is *usually* 30 minutes but I realized only halfway through it was an hour show, so ended up staying up much later than I wanted…
Tonight was pretty low key and fun - came home and changed and went back out again to meet Pam for dinner at Market Street. Was really fun to catch up and just sit outside (it was so nice out today!) and talk shop... we don't do that often enough which is silly as we live so close, so will hopefully be doing that more often! We chatted about everything really, but I especially loved sharing Wilderness experiences with her (as she went as well on my trip in high school) from a few weeks ago! What is so funny is how well we both remember that trip, but how we remember different things from it! We both brought up a ton of stuff that the other had forgotten about until tonight again... so fun!
Oh and random thought - to make up for me missing the raccoon last night, TODAY I saw deer (pretty common but always love it nonetheless!), a bunny (NOT as common) and a SKUNK (*rarely* ever see!) so I felt like Discovery Channel girl again - whew!
I’m really looking forward to this weekend, too, by the way! Curt and I are going to decorate a float Thursday night for the Friday parade, we’re going to celebrate Mam’s birthday on Friday, then on Saturday she’s making a turkey dinner where we’ll get to meet her beau, Gerald (should be interesting, but from what she’s said he’s a nice guy so stay tuned there!), and then just try and relax and start getting things prepped for the following week’s birthday celebrations! We’re doing my stuff on Friday/Saturday, and mom’s on Sunday as we have a wedding the following weekend so it will be all our birthdays together! YEA!
Hope everyone has had a great day! Off to spend time with the hubby and go to bed - and laugh at Maverick... As it's July 1st I just gave him his heart worm pills with peanut butter, which he *loves* but always does this adorable head rubbing thing afterwards as if rubbing the outside of his ears/face with his paws will affect the amount of peanut butter stuck on the roof of his mouth! He cracks me up!
Love,
Tasha xx
The workout video was GREAT though – we were totally panting but had a good time. I like doing workout videos at her house b/c when I do them at mine Maverick is all over me. He loves that I’m on the floor and thinks it’s cuddle time, but goes CRAZY when I’m jumping around so barks b/c he thinks it’s some sort of game or something! When I do my pilates video I have a hard time not laughing b/c I’ll make him go lay down on his bed and he does his inching scoot forward until he’s right next to me and I’m rolling all over him, or a leg hits him in the head or something – cracks me up, but probably not an efficient break in the workout…
Anyway, so got home around 9:25 p.m. and Curt told me I had just missed the coolest thing – ugh! Apparently 2 minutes before I pulled in the driveway, he looked outside and near our pool is what he thought was a cat (background info, Curt installed landscape lighting and blue pool lights that look GREAT in the backyard, so we have them on a timer and the backyard is kind of lit up til around 10 p.m.) by the edge of the pool. Well as we do not like cats in our backyard (we are not cat *haters* but for every blue jay I find dead in my yard I go a little more crazy) he was about to go back and shoo it away. At a closer look, it was a *RACCOON* who had come into our backyard and was pawing at the pool water to make the june bugs come closer through the ripples and eat them! How adorable is that? Curt said the raccoon was a pretty big one – Maverick saw it as soon as Curt had started to process what was going on and quickly sounded the alarm. Instead of running away Curt said the june bug bandit turned to look (oh so nonchalantly) and just trotted away, with a last look over the shoulder before he disappeared in the night. I can’t believe I missed it, but you can bet I will be watching for the clever raccoon!
After that excitement decided to watch Part I of the Bachelorette – WOW what a great episode – 2 great ones in a row! I have no idea who she’ll pick as both have laid it out on the line, so next week will be GREAT!!! Then, as Curt was still working on his laptop next to me I decided to watch John and Kate + 8 (my other fave show) which is *usually* 30 minutes but I realized only halfway through it was an hour show, so ended up staying up much later than I wanted…
Tonight was pretty low key and fun - came home and changed and went back out again to meet Pam for dinner at Market Street. Was really fun to catch up and just sit outside (it was so nice out today!) and talk shop... we don't do that often enough which is silly as we live so close, so will hopefully be doing that more often! We chatted about everything really, but I especially loved sharing Wilderness experiences with her (as she went as well on my trip in high school) from a few weeks ago! What is so funny is how well we both remember that trip, but how we remember different things from it! We both brought up a ton of stuff that the other had forgotten about until tonight again... so fun!
Oh and random thought - to make up for me missing the raccoon last night, TODAY I saw deer (pretty common but always love it nonetheless!), a bunny (NOT as common) and a SKUNK (*rarely* ever see!) so I felt like Discovery Channel girl again - whew!
I’m really looking forward to this weekend, too, by the way! Curt and I are going to decorate a float Thursday night for the Friday parade, we’re going to celebrate Mam’s birthday on Friday, then on Saturday she’s making a turkey dinner where we’ll get to meet her beau, Gerald (should be interesting, but from what she’s said he’s a nice guy so stay tuned there!), and then just try and relax and start getting things prepped for the following week’s birthday celebrations! We’re doing my stuff on Friday/Saturday, and mom’s on Sunday as we have a wedding the following weekend so it will be all our birthdays together! YEA!
Hope everyone has had a great day! Off to spend time with the hubby and go to bed - and laugh at Maverick... As it's July 1st I just gave him his heart worm pills with peanut butter, which he *loves* but always does this adorable head rubbing thing afterwards as if rubbing the outside of his ears/face with his paws will affect the amount of peanut butter stuck on the roof of his mouth! He cracks me up!
Love,
Tasha xx
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