the neighbor

she lives alone (i think). she is sixtyish...she works at fred meyer...and i used to think she was weird...

back in the days of fall when she would trim her rose bushes down in the dark - and not just the dark, but we are talking 11pm dark. scissors in one hand flash flight in another...i also thought she was weird for turning on a big flood light and chopping fire wood till 10:30 at night. maybe a little more than weird, maybe a little creepy. something about an old lady with an axe out in the dark chopping stuff up is odd.

well creepy weird lady turned to crazy lady when one morning about 10ish days ago or so - while i was making some of the fav. tea before going to work i saw her out my kitchen window chucking eggs at cars. yup! that's right. eggs. at. cars...and not just a couple but an entire carton full...there were something like 35 eggs smashed in the street. wtf.

don't worry it gets weirder...

last weekend i was woken up by skwauking seagulls...about 200 of them...they were acting like someone had just thrown 30 cubes of butter into the street for them to eat...and i think maybe it had even been soaked in some sort of magic "here-seagulls-i-know-you-are-totally-obsessed-with-butter-so-come-and-get-it" juice. cause they were acting like i would act if someone were to throw 500, 1-million dollar bills onto the street. and who on earth would put that much butter on the street you're wondering? yup my neighbor.

she did it the next morning too...

i wish so badly i had pictures to share of all of this, but considering she manages to always come up with something new...like last nights chopping of fire wood - into small starter sticks and then placing them into black plastic planter pots and lighting mini bonfires in the street...i'm sure that there will be more stories to come and i will definitely be sure that my camera is ready to take some photos...

on a side note...we leave for nationals tomorrow...I AM SO EXCITED and so so very nervous. I hope my next post is an exciting one :) wish us look and send good thoughts!!

a brain dump...

it is a new year...and that means a fresh start for me!!

so instead of looking back and thinking about what a bad blogger i have been...and all the other things in my life i have put on the back burner...we are going to focus on the good...the future...the moving forward...no sense bringing up old news - we all know i was a serious slacker of all things important ..but its time to move on...not my chair not my problem, that's what i always say - (sister probably you are the only one in the world that understood that. ok maybe not...maybe katie - you did...)

and just so others don't feel left out - learn about this video its hilarious shit.

anyway long story short...life is good. i feel like for the first time in a long time i am finally back on track...things will take a while to unfold and really its all about baby steps...but i think this year is going to be a very very exciting one!! for so many reasons...

i can't share all of them today...but here are some to get you started- and in no particular order

1. i am back in the gym - i know what!!? wait...i will repeat that in case you thought maybe you went blind for a sec and didn't read that right, or that you had a small stroke and your brain waves didn't process that phrase correctly...but it's true!! commitment to fitness is back and i am totally into it...being back in the gym feels oh so great! i know right? who misses working out??! but i love it...

2. i was asked to be a bridesmaid for the first time ever!! i am thrilled, excited, and beyond looking forward to all the fun times to come!! and best of all its tara's wedding!! aug 8th is going to be a fabulous day!!!

3. sister turns 21 this year...and we booked our hotel rooms in vegas!!! family tradition...big birthdays means girl trip to vegas...and if you even understand how my family does girls trips well then you would know why i am counting seconds for that favorite city of mine!!! we get to stay at paris...and yipeee im seriously so excited!!

4. i started using crest whitening strips...i have been wanting to for a long time, but just never have...one time a long time ago i did the whole professional whitening thing - where you get the bite guard and do that gel stuff...and sleep in it...but it hurt my teeth so bad it was like sharp machetes shooting in my face everytime i breathed in cold air...so i have been scared to try whitening strips ever since...but with a commitment to fitness, a wedding to look forward to and vegas...now is as good of a time as any to give them a second chance...im only three days in...but so far so good. - i'll let you know

5. i leave for florida in 2 weeks from today!! nationals baby...and i can't wait...this year has been such a roller coaster year of coaching...it has been one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life...but on so many levels the most rewarding. those girls bring me so much joy and it will be an experience of a life time to take them to disney world and watch them compete something that has taken us so many hours to construct, build, and perfect. it's going to be amazing...coaching is truly a blessing on so many levels.!!

there is more...so so much more...but so far this year is shapping up to be a great one and i can't wait to watch it unfold - i just hope it doesn't go by to quickly!!

cheers to 2009! (better late than never!!)
and my pledge to doing things i love! (including this damn blog of mine!)

ok, so once again i guess i suck...

not to make excuses about anything...but here is my theory...when i spend 8 hours (sometimes 9 hours) on this computer here everyday i guess when i get home the last thing i want to do is get back on the computer when i am home to blog. it's annoying and i hate that because i LOVE to blog! it's fun to write about stuff that i like...it's fun to play with words and have the freedom to say whatever...i mean don't get me wrong, not that its anything shy of entertaining to tell the world about colons and acne and how many hops are in the latest 22ounce brew - but that's the thing, work stuff i have to do...blog stuff i get to do. and i get to do it about anything i chose!

anyway that's that. i am a blogger slacker and if you read this blog then i am sorry but that is just how it has to be - and i am finally ready to accept it rather than to be mad about it.

anyway i have lots to say, mostly cause lots goes on in my world everyday! but also i had a really awesome four day weekend. i wish every weekend could be four days long. it was glorious. plus also it was thanksgiving and i got to eat like crazy.

so hopefully someday i will get around to writing about that...but for now i will just share my day yesterday.

according to my mom, yesterday was suppose to be our luckiest day of the year...and not just year but luckiest day in a long time i guess...and that is according to the fact that i am a gemini? my mom's into horoscopes and lucky days and all that...not because she lives for all the fancy psychic stuff but any excuse to win at that oregon lottery business she'll take it...anyway i was instructed to buy lottery tickets yesterday by her...since that's not exactly the kind of stuff i care about i kind of forgot - but looking back on yesterday i think that i actually had a really lucky day...and mostly because it was probably one of the funnest (yes i used a word that isn't in websters - get over it) days i have had in a long long time, so you know what? screw lottery tickets...yesterday's activities were better than that. i got to play all day with two of my best friends. i love these girls.

we don't really get to play all that often together any more. see the thing is - laura lives in arizona too many days out of the year...

and plus i know my days with danielle are limited cause then she goes to college too...and lots of people may think it's weird that two of my best friends are so much younger than i am...but you know what i think? i think it doesn't matter because also i have my sister, and i have this other fabulous person who is almost double my age and i love her to pieces...so really i don't think it matters how old your friends are- if you are smart, you snag up those awesome, hilarious, nice and fancy bitches and never let them go! regardless of age...

so here's to my luckiest day of the year and to those special moments with my friends that i cherish every second of.

we got starbucks and went to the park....



a little bit obsessed with those fall colors...
and when things are fancy you have to play with them. like these leaves...

and we did other stuff tooooo...like go to the barrels, and to rite aid. also we made this gorgeous thing (we were all about living for it...and if you don't know what that means learn about the man)

it was a the best day...and other things that helped make it so great--that didn't get captured on film was the delicious french toast breakfast laura and i made, the fancy bracelets we beaded, the singing penguin that rang a bell when it wiggled, dressing up laura's cats with santa beards, filming music videos for facebook walls...and my night ended with yummy dinner with sister, basket and robbins ice cream and movies!

now that right there...that is a lucky day :)

the red and the green

wait what?

the red and the green? ...that means christmas...wait christmas? ALREADY??! i mean i know costco started selling the wicker light up raindeers and 425 pack counts of those cheap plastic-y ribbon bows after mother's day...but that's costco...and monday when i went to fred meyer's and saw the decoration isles (which a few days ago were full of harvest pumpkins, acorns and leaves - all good things fall) filled up with red and green m&m's, those mint chirstmas tree taffys, tinsel, lights and evergreen scented candles i couldn't believe that it was that time of year again...

don't get me wrong...i love it with every ounce of my heart...this time of year is my very most favorite. i love lights, and treats, and family time, and snow, and the non-stop christmas music that plays around the clock...but at the same time woah! i can't believe how fast another year went by...and to be honest it kind of freaks me out. but whatever it's fine...i'll embrace it...because embracing it means drinking lots and lots of these...

white chocolate peppermint mocas...pretty sure if clouds in heaven this time of year have a taste...they would taste something like this.

also this year i am going to try something...and no guarantees but if i write it down...and share it with the public, i figure my odds of getting it together and actually doing it (rather than just saying it) will be greater...so here it is:

i will be adopting a family for christmas...with the help of my family and friends and anyone else who feels generous this year...so far i am just in the planning stages but i have made some phone calls and been directed to the right people to contact...so working on making it happen, i will keep you posted.

halloween

i changed my costume about 12 times (at one point i even had purchased an entire burlesque dancer outfit...complete with the corset, thigh high fishnets, little skirt, awesome feathery satin flower hair piece, pearls, satin gloves-but i felt like a cheap whore so that idea went away as soon as i tried on that outfit)...and in the end i ended up being a gangster...

that mean things like this happened:
1. i was writing on a paper at the front desk, heard "so what are you suppose to be for halloween...?" answered before i had lifted my head - "a gangsta" (in a pimp sorta grimy dirty voice) looked up and saw that the question had come from this huge black fed-ex delivery guy...yes it was awkward...im sure my eyes were all like gulp...blink blink** but he played it cool and replied with an "aiight...straight up gangsta"
2. sister begged me to stop at the liquor store. we live in the north portland...we'll go with the phrase, a picture speaks a thousand words...(and in this instance probably more...)

not only was it 6'oclock on a friday night at the liquor store but it was halloween...so that means the line is about 19 people deep (i didn't count or anything)...3 of them were mexican...16 of them were black...i was white...dressed like 50 cent. and it was weird.

here was the rest of my night.



pretty sure this night was awesome, hilarious and way too out of control...the stories are way too much to share on this hear site without writing a novel so for those of you that were there...i will share a few words: 503, karen, bathroom door handles, cabs, vladi, lemons and honey, 5.63 miles, and the jagermeister

update and reminiscing

so i did it... i fell into that world of online that is the obsessed, can't handle a lack of communication, have to constantly be in touch with everything at all times, world of technology...and i will admit i am thrilled about it because i have been wanting this damn phone for way too long...it is this kind of phone

the blackberry kind...

and I LOVE IT! i love going to dance practice and feeling like i am not leaving the office hanging...i love leaving at 5:30 and not feeling like i will miss something important...i love getting ready in the morning and not being in a panic feeling like i need to rush to the office to check the e-mail...no no this phone lets me take my world of work with me...this glorious little piece of equipment that i have, that i have put into a cute trendy hot pink skin, is basically one of the most awesome fabulous things i own (other than my vera wang)...oooh OOOH!

also having this phone means that i have been forced to go through all of my old photos...and in follow-up to the post i did a few days ago...about the fabulous night of saturday sitting...i found this little beauty.

this is my joseph last christmas trying out the candy cane decoration as a straw...not sure what it is with this kid and drinking out of random shit...but he's totally into it...if i remember correctly this picture was taken about 12 seconds before that entire jug of odwalla was spilled all over the kitchen floor...

vote.

i have never written anything at all that pertains to politics on my site...mostly because i am not a policital junky and would rather discuss the happenings of my everyday life as i find that much more entertaining...that's not to say i don't care about stuff, i have lots of thoughts about lots of things...but i just don't really like talking about them really. so i don't...at any rate i am going to post something in honor of tomorrow...it's election day so i feel like i should...

it doesn't have anything to do with sides or who to vote for or anything like that...simply it has to do with the fact that you should vote...because really, that is the most important thing, regardless of sides...

so don't be lazy...just go vote...it's important...and if that isn't enough reason...starbucks has added a little extra incentive, free coffee...

experiments

there are a lot of hours i spend here at work reading blogs...and lots of those blogs are mommy blogs. (i know right? rough job having to sit at a computer reading blogs...no, no, trust me i understand the luxury of my job and count my blessings everyday that i get to do this all day long everyday with a fabulous group of awesome and talented pr girls...)

at any rate, i read lots of stories about kids...and i'll admit sometimes i feel weird, like i am a stalker or something, reading all about these peoples lives - and i have never met them before in my life...but i love it nonetheless and mostly cause i think kids are hilarious and awesome...and someday i am going to have a few and blog about them and who knows maybe my blog will be so successful by then i will have rich advertisers on my site who want to pay enough dollars so i can be a stay-at-home mom...and play and do fun stuff all day...but until then i will read about other moms that do that and get my child fix from one of my three jobs - babysitting.

so i have this family that i have babysat for, hmm...well since meggie was 2...and now she is 6! a whole 6 years old! so four years...and actually they have 4 kids...but mostly as the boys get a little older its usually just joseph (the youngest brother) and meggie and i...this was my saturday evening this past weekend...josh (the oldest) was gone for the weekend, and jonathan (the second oldest) was at a friends house...so joseph, meggie and i were left to play...our evening activities consisted of making dinner, making halloween cupcakes, making popcorn (yes LOTS and LOTS of making stuff...which means lots of cleaning for me...) and then we spent about 2 hours watching season 6 of full house...meggie currently has 3 seasons and is nothing shy of obsessed...but that's fine with me because i was one of the original full house fans and probably could watch that shit for hours...and trust me, DEFINITELY would rather watch full house than sydney white for the ninth time or the new barbie move - i don't even know the name (i feel like she is getting a new barbie movie every other month) but the one that is about the diamond castle with the old witch barbie lady trying to collect all the magical musical instruments? yeah i've seen that two times already in the past month...

anyway full house was better and actually the three of us ended up having a pretty good time! but a night of babysitting wouldn't be complete without of one of joseph's fabulous experiments...lets see...in the past i have seen a sponge bob dvd melted and burnt in the microwave (thank you myth buster for showing a marathon the night i was asked to come sit), a scene that consisted of me walking into the kitchen to find a shirtless boy wearing nothing but pj bottoms 2 oven mits and holding a wooden meat pounder looking at a AA battery bent with battery powder laying around it on the counter, and a blown up sprite can completely deformed from being shook up and put into a bathroom sink full of boiling hot water...yes my little joseph is quite the experimentalist...

i think i was out of the room...for about, well...maybe 17 seconds total? i went pee, came back and found this scene in the living room.

saturday's adventures consisted of sticking 23 straws together dragging it up the stairs to the second floor dropping it through the banister and having his little sister hold a cup of water on the main floor so he could hydrate upstairs without having to go all the way to the bathroom to get a sip of water...

a day of reminiscing

so it is brittney and i in the office today...and a decision was made a few minutes ago...it was decided because of this situation:

i was in the bathroom a second ago a girl over at staccato was in there to...i was putting my hair in pig tails because my hair was nasty and bugging me (today is scrub day cause i am tired and went to america's best dance crew last night so that means i have to wear the tshirt to the office today...and pig tails go with tshirts i guess) anyway i hear "ooh that's fun!" and i was thinking what these sick pigtails? until i saw that she wasn't looking at me she was looking at the wall...and not so much the wall but the piece of paper hanging on the wall...it was a sign for the annual r/west halloween dress up and pumpkin carving contest...i came back into the office and told brittney about it...we had been discussing the other day about halloween and dressing up and going out and she is all worried cause she can't think of an amazing outfit...anyway i told her we needed to start brainstorming her costume because she would be participating in this...and as i tried to explain to her about last years adventures, burger king, sarah's finger pumpkin, etc...i thought it would just be easier to read her my blog about it...so i got on here, went and dug through the archives...and nothing! i can't seem to find it...and i swear i wrote about it...or maybe i meant to but forgot?? anyway that was annoying but the good news was i got to read about all the random adventures of those first few months of my job...its so funny reading about what i used to do and then knowing what i do now...and then for a second i got sad...cause guess what (not that you don't already know...cause im sure if anyone still reads this they do...)

but i don't even blog about my job anymore! and that is lame. because my job is awesome. and also there are times like last friday when i had two beers and a shot of crown royal at my office that just need to be written about for memory sake...

so that is going to be one of my new goals...to stay current on the blogging side of things...in work, personal and randomness...cause blogs are awesome and being dumb and not staying current is not awesome...so here's to awesomeness and my vow to be better at blogging (which i am pretty sure i have made several of in the last few months...and broken all of them...)

ps - in other news...i tried a synergy drink for the first time today...it looks like this in case you don't know about them

now i don't think the one i am drinking is this flavor...mine is cosmic cranberry...but i'm drinking it, cause well...i thought it was cranberry juice...and it is DEFINITELY not cranberry juice...it is definitely pink easter egg dye...the kind that is solid vinegar but has been mixed with some club soda, yeast and something else that make my face cringe up like a little kid when you feed them nasty skank food...this stuff is suppose to be good for you but i'm pretty sure something this nasty isn't good for you...it tastes about as good as sipping on warm tequila from the bottom shelf of the bar...only when you are half way through the bottle you're not drunk which means you can still taste the nastyness till the very end.

my laker girls

so if i am not at the office...and not at home sleeping...you could probably make money on the fact that i am out at my other home in lake oswego...

doing what i love most of all...coaching my amazing and beyond talented favorite girls - the laker dancers.

these girls can sometimes drive me so crazy that if i didn't love having hair so much probably i would rip it out...in fact i had a dream last night about them and the part i remember most vivid was rolling on my stomach in the middle of the gym and pounding my fists screaming and crying...like i was two or something...i'm not sure why but i have a feeling it is something to do with the stress level i am at in preparing for friday nights game - i have no doubt that they will be nothing shy of fabulous (because they totally are...) it just takes lots of work to get them to fabulous :) at any rate, though they can drive me crazy i love them all to pieces.

i'm pretty sure i can't imagine my life without them, nor would i want to. they teach me patience, they teach me how i must force myself to relax and laugh once in a while when stressed out, they teach me that a hug and a smile can fix almost anything, they teach me tolerance, they teach me compassion, they teach me the importance of getting to know someone and learning how different people respond to different things, they have taught me how to cut music, how to side braid, how its cool to wear hannah anderson striped pants with your uggs.

they make me laugh. they make me cry. they make me want to be a better person so that they have someone to look up to or turn to if they need help.

we have our second game coming up in two days. i am nervous for it. but very excited. they danced their first game two weeks ago and they were awesome.

i am pretty sure i have found one of the things i was meant to spend my life doing...