Here is a picture of two small children riding a Wooly Mammoth.

Yesterday I had my very first experience with holiday baking. My friend Linda and I got together and made fudge, rocky road, lemon bars, chocolate dipped coconut balls, and rice krispie treats. I must say, in all humility, that I have discovered that I am an excellent baker! There is dessert outside of a cake mix. And you know what else I discovered? Baking makes you feel really good about yourself! Perhaps that was evident in my "I'm an excellent baker" statement, but it's true. I'm late to the game, as usual, because I'm sure other 25 year old women have already realized that cooking/baking can be a rewarding experience, but I never really had any interest until recently. I'm still glowing over the roast I made a couple of weeks ago. I like that I can make things. And they taste good.

So my baked goods are going to our upstairs neighbor, who is always so kind and puts up with Winston, who without fail, cries every time we leave the house for at least 10-20 minutes, and the girl who just moved into the building next to us, who I overheard getting yelled at for parking in someone else's spot the other day. Sheesh.
Next year I want to try making candy. But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself.

November

I decided to bust out the camera and have some fun. Don't you just love fall?

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

The Soundtrack of My Life

The complete, authentic, randomly selected songs Itunes believes describe my life's movie.

Opening credits:
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day-- MoTab

Waking up:
Through the Mirror – Disneyland’s Toontown Theme song

First day at school:
Sugar Blue – Jeff Finlin

First Love:
Idiot Boyfriend – Jimmy Fallon

Breaking up:
If This is It—Huey Lewis and The News

Happiness:
Me and My Gang – Rascal Flatts

Life's okay:
In the Garage -- Weezer

Mental breakdown:
Weather Channel – Sheryl Crow

Driving:
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake

Flashback:
I Miss You -- Incubus

Getting back together:
Bubble Toes – Jack Johnson

Wedding:
Nothing – Scott Fisher

Birth of a child:
Picture – Sheryl Crow

Final battle:
SOS -- Rihanna

Death scene:
It’s Only Love – Sheryl Crow

Funeral song:
Perfect Timing – Orba Squara

End credits:
Georgia on My Mind – Ray Charles

The skinny, blonde guy in the middle is my dad. Every year at Christmas time Dad would play Tchaikovsky with the orchestra while ballerinas danced on the stage above. We would hear a horn solo and turn to my mom-- "is that dad??" And it usually was.
He is a musician. In the same way someone is a doctor or a painter. It's almost like there is an extra entity that lives inside of them that makes them who they are. I can't imagine him without it.

When we were little he would turn on the radio to the classical station and quiz us on composers. "Who does this sound like?"
He always guessed last because it would have been a dead giveaway. I can't remember him ever being wrong.

During the years he was playing in the symphony it was not uncommon to fall asleep to the faint sounds of the French Horn coming from the garage. The "practice room," as it was. Now if I hear music that contains a French Horn part, I can always pick it out. It's become a familiar voice in my brain. That particular instrument is directly connected to my dad. I'm sure it will always be that way. When I'm 90 years old and decide to turn on a little Holst's "Venus, the Bringer of Peace," I'll still think of him.

Today is his birthday, and I was thinking. Of all the things my dad has given me, the exposure to and the love of music is one that I will always be especially grateful for.

Happy Halloween!

Every Halloween my sisters and I would do the trick or treating thing in our homemade costumes (can't even count how many times Laura went as a ghost. And when I say ghost I mean a little girl wearing jeans and a t shirt with a white sheet draped over her), but we ALWAYS made sure we were home for the Disney "Halloween Treat" special. These dancing skeletons were my favorite.
I have asked many people over the years if they watched this as a kid, and they have all said no. Which is a shame, so I am posting it, so that no one reading my blog will be deprived the experience. All two of you.

It's Shanktacular

Last weekend McKay and I were in Blockbuster, where we frequently find ourselves (ps. I fully endorse the online Blockbuster program, in which you get to trade one of your mail-in movies for an in-store movie). It was my pick. I decided to give the 1st season of Prison Break, Disc 1 a shot. Occasionally I will flip through the four channels that are picked up on our high tech set of rabbit ears and whenever Prison Break has been on I've always thought--how long can you possibly drag out an escape?? How entertaining can this possibly be?? Let me tell you.

I am decidedly hooked. To the point that I dragged my poor husband out at 11:30pm on a Thursday night to get the last three discs. I can't explain it, really. The acting is mediocre, the situations are ridiculously impossible and prison life is definitely, DEFINITELY glamorized. And yet. I love it.

Last weekend I was working and asked my co-worker if she ever watched it. Immediately two random customers peeked their heads around the corner to discuss. "Prison Break, you say?? I love that show!" I am not alone.

I realize that it is not for everyone. My co-worker informed me that she worked with a lot of kids in juvenile detention centers and found it offensive the way the media glorifies prison life. Ahem. Awkward.

Did I mention that the lead guy has eyes that match his prison blues exactly? It's pretty amazing, actually.

This made my day.

Take the Quiz here!

Fun Family Fotos: 1st Installment

I was going through my digital picture library and found this little gem of my three older sisters.
This one made me laugh because I could practically see the story behind it. Laura (far right) is already in her slipper jammies, probably partly because she is going to bed soon, partly because she had a weird infatuation with those things. Leanne (far left) is sporting a new ring she probably got out of the 25 cent machine at Save Mart that day and wanted to make sure that little beauty was captured on camera. Mary (middle) stands all smiles, because she knows just how dang cute she is.
And the backdrop--the hideous rug with the picture of the mushrooms that my mom probably still has in the garage somewhere...

More to come for the photo diary series...

Me & My Scrilla

We were sooo happy to have Laura for 48 whole hours!! We had so much fun.

Here we are on the glorious waterfront. This sad little picture is the only one of the three of us together.

Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch!
Sporting the Clovis High gym shorts.



Here we are at our favorite burger trailer...

I need 'ja like a heart needs a beat, baby. Come back to me.

P O R T L A N D

Last weekend McKay's parents were in town, so we decided to go out on the Willamette for our own little version of a dinner cruise (Quiznos and my brother-in-law's boat, to be more precise), and it was probably one off the best things that I've been able to do since we moved here.
I've decided I like boats. And Quiznos.

Date Night

These are the kinds of things I subject myself to for my husband's schooling. This is a project for his camera and lighting class that we collaborated on.  

The other day I was folding laundry and this book popped into my mind. I LOVED this book. I remembered with perfect clarity my dad reading it to me when I was little in his uncanny, spot-on Grover voice.

I don't know why I thought of it, but I'm glad I did.

Newfound Weakness

Last week I was working in my little hole in the wall used bookstore, chatting it up with a regular customer when a young guy in a suit and tie moseyed in. I knew when he walked in without the slightest interest in looking around that he was looking to sell me something. For some reason, the salesey type people flock to this little bookstore. Food, trinkets, and in this case--coupons. As soon as my customer left he started chatting me up, as the salesies do. I was giving my typical responses. Hi. I'm fine, thanks. I'm poor, before you waste anymore of your time on me. But then he asked me the question that, for some reason, was what got me.

"Do you like baseball?"

Yes...yes, I do like baseball. In fact, I had just been thinking about how much I missed baseball games. I usually went to one or two in San Fran and my summer was feeling a little empty without them.

"Don't you just love being in a ballpark?"

Yes!! I do love being in the ballpark!

We proceeded to talk baseball and teams and hot dogs and finally, the Seattle Mariners. Just three hours way, their park is. Same distance from Fresno to SF. And according to this guy, the parks were comparable. The M's play right on the water too. I would have to look over the fact that they play for the American league, but still--baseball is baseball, right?

Suddenly, I was caught up in this little fantasy of a perfect little baseball-filled weekend, where we could enjoy the city and a great game, and it would be amazingly cheaper with these coupons!! The greatest idea. Ever.

It was the weirdest thing. Five minutes later, when this guy was gone and the haze subsided I realized, that idiot just suckered me out of $30 bucks worth of Mariners "2 for the price of 1" coupons. I attribute this to the aforementioned longing to see a game, and also the fact that I was going on about my 49th hour of work that week when Mr. Coupon caught up with me. I immediately felt sick and called McKay who was bewildered.
He said, "You never do things like that!"
"I know!," I said, equally bewildered.
"When are we going to be able to get to Seattle?," he asked.
"I...don't know!," I answered.

That's when I freaked out on him and told him I was tired when I bought them and I wasn't thinking straight and I like baseball and I'm sorry and it was dumb I know and he didn't have to rub it in and in a nutshell totally overreacted due to my own feelings of stupidity over the whole thing.

Now that the money is spent and I have the coupons in-hand I am determined to use them. Fantasy weekend or no. If I have to camp overnight in the parking lot of the stadium, so be it. I am getting my 30 dollars worth. And if you happen to be interested in catching a Mariners game this season and will be in the Seattle area, you let me know.

Ken and Ally's Wedding Weekend

My sister in law got married, and we were lucky enough to join in on the festivities. In Kauai, no less! It was a quick trip-- I had to get back for work and McKay for school, so we didn't have a whole lot of time, but we stayed long enough for me to enjoy some shave ice (which didn't compare to Matsimotos), a full rainbow at sunset, island music (including Three Plus' "Undercover Lover" in F-Land, Laura!), snorkeling, unexpected yet wonderfully warm rain showers, pineapple from a local farmers market and carmacs. Oh, and a lovely wedding. We had a great time.

While I was there I thought a lot about the summer I spent on Oahu 5 years back. The music and the smells and the stickiness and the lounging on lanais... all I had money to do that summer was sit on the beach, much like this summer, and it was still just as fabulous. I thought of the short walk from my practically condemned, being held together by cinder blocks shack to Hukilau beach--the shack I shared with 5 other girls. The Laie temple just around the corner. The bus rides to the north shore with the Ukulele player singing and playing his heart out in the back. Watching the filming of Blue Crush, walking back and forth in front of Surf N Sea hoping I'd see myself on the big screen. Dinners with Laura at pizza bob's, banana pancakes with coconut syrup, halpea ice cream on campus, shopping trips to Food land, hoping and praying that Laura's 1974 Buick dinosaur would get us there and back, despite the fact that 1st gear was the only one that worked.
These are some of my most favorite memories and I am SO glad that I took that opportunity. To quit my job, grab my camera, and just let life pass me by for a while.

Anyway--a few pictures from the wedding trip a couple of weeks ago.

My favorite flower girl, Maddie Anne...




















The Bride's tropical bouquet...










Notice the hawaiian garden hose behind us...

The Big 4!

Four years! Way to go us. We were talking the other day and decided that the longer you're married, the better it gets. I used to think that when I was no longer a "newlywed" marraige would get a little mundane and we would become boring. And perhaps from the outside that's the way it looks. This year for our anniversary we're getting an air conditioner and packing boxes for our move next Saturday, but that really is okay. I won't say that every anniversary would be okay that way, but this year, I'm fine with it.

I can honestly say that I love my husband more as I sit here in our partially packed apartment, dirt poor, neck deep in responsibility and reality than I did on our beautiful wedding day. The everydays have proven him to be the man I was waiting for. We're a good balance. He makes me laugh. I make him wear clean shirts. He calms me. I cheer him on. We have had our share of hardship, and while I would never want to go back there, I know I am better for it. I know we are better together for it.

Marriage is kind of like kayaking . Once you get past the breakers, the highs, the lows, and you're in smoother territory, you can look behind you and remember the good times fondly, smile at the ridiculous arguments, and be glad that the future looks a bit more predictable.

Many thanks...

to dearest Laura for her gift this week. I am currently sitting listening to the music of P&P and thinking it was MUCH needed. Listening to "Your Hands are Cold" and thinking about how much I like that part in this movie. And how this Darcy was THE Darcy, for me. Totally the way I imagined him.

I hosted a book club about a month ago where we discussed Pride and Prejudice. I've read this book a million times-- and it shows. The spine of my copy is broken, the cover was ripped off sometime in high school, it has been chewed on, water stained, food stained, sun stained, etc. But I can't get rid of it! It holds too many memories--parts I'd outlined, pages folded over of my favorite parts. I have to keep it forever.

Anyway, getting off track here. Hosting this book club I really came to realize that I am not the only one with such strong feelings about this story. It actually kind of amazed me how intense, and almost heated, the discussion got regarding the characters in this story. EVERYONE who has read Elizabeth Bennet KNOWS Elizabeth Bennet. She (or he) knows what she's like, how she moves, how she says things, what her relationship is with others...you do not mess with someone's ideals about Elizabeth Bennet, that is what I learned from that book club.

I do not exclude myself from this group of all-knowing Elizabeth Bennet fans. I love her because she is so incredibly real. I love that she is flawed and beautiful. Awkward and poised. Insecure and courageous. Honest and sarcastic. She was the first character in a book that I wanted as my friend. One of the greatest literary characters ever, in my humble opinion.

Kudos to you, Jane Austen. And kudos to Laura, for the lovely gift that has conjured my gratitude for good music and good books.

Good Grief

I read this book a while ago, and I have yet to find a new book to read that entertained me as much as this one did. This is Lolly Winston's first book, and I was really impressed. I laughed out loud reading it, which sounds a little morbid, since the book is about dealing with grief. it was very human and honest and totally enjoyable. I was just thinking about this book and thought I would put it out there as a suggestion to anyone looking for something good to read...

19 Days and Counting...

Ah, sweet escape.

Seriously??

Should I be alarmed?