Monday, October 29, 2012

Time flies when you're having fun! With a group. In a corn maze.

This weekend was great!

My favorite weekend outing recently (for about the last three or four years) has been breakfast. I love pancakes. Seasonal. Plain. Fancy. All of 'em. Just love 'em.

We went to Mimi's for breakfast on Saturday morning, a whole group six of us in all and had a blast, then parted, but with plans to meet up again around lunch time, for the corn maze.

It was really fun, going with a big group this year. I only wish that some of my family could have joined us, but the four-hour drive kinda kills it. Maybe next time.

Me and my favorite Lucy in the whole wide world. Such a cutie, but it's just pathetic how much she loves me...and how much I love her.






Awesome friends came with us!


And who could resist an impromptu photo shoot on top of hay bales? Not us, that's for sure!




...just pathetic!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Cleaning and old movies

I'm at home, cleaning today. And as usual, I have to have some sort of movie going on in the background. A few weeks ago, it was "Clueless" and "Joe Versus the Volcano." Today, it's "Ten Things I Hate About You" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

I haven't seen "Chitty" in such a long time; I didn't remember how scary it is! But I wish more movies included this part:


I think "The Sound of Music" has an intermission too. I love old movies.

What's your favorite old movie?
Or, do you not have a soul, you hate old movies?

Ch-ch-ch-changes, water, and a nap

This week was one of change.Starting with my cell phone.

My cell phone is my security blanket. The thing that puts me to sleep at night, and wakes me up in the morning. And has a tendency to annoy the guy who sleeps beside me every night. Plus, I can easily turn my alarm off, set another, and another... This also annoyed my sleeping partner. So, I put it on this hanging doo-hickey on the wall. Completely out of my reach.

I haven't slept so well ever since that first night. But I had to give up that security blanket eventually, right? It'll come with time.

Then, at work, all employees were warned about cell phone use. Or, rather, OVERuse. Everyone texts during work hours, even supervisors. I have my opinions about it, but whatever, it's another change. Involving my cell phone. Again, security blanket, blah blah.

One of the dogs was pretty depressed about the changes...

Or maybe it was about the change in the weather... Either way, changes around here are rampant.


Water. Essential to human life, yes? Did you also know that if you don't drink enough, you can have fits of yawning that don't freaking stop until you drink?

True story: I've neglected my water intake the past couple of weeks, because it's easier to stay at my desk than get up, walk the long hallway to refill my water bottle. I've been yawning like crazy at night; I barely even stop to take a normal breath.

From the research Tim has done (he's reading a book that covered this exact thing), he found out that yawning makes you salivate, which kinda sorta makes you think you're drinking something. Yadda yadda, I've been drinking much more (read: a normal amount for a normal person) this week, and no yawning fits. Go figure.

Speaking of changing seasons, I was basically forced to take an allergy pill Wednesday morning. I had a headache this big, plus some seriously intense sinus pressure and pain. Twenty minutes later, like a ton of bricks it hit me. I could barely keep my eys open. I napped in my car during lunch. Usually I have a hard time falling asleep with such a time crunch, but not this time. I was gone, out, almost from the moment my head hit the head rest.

I complained to Tim that night, and after a few questions about what color the pill was, he gathered together an emergency sinus headache kit for me, complete with non-drowsy allergy pills. Red is good; blue and white are bad!

Lesson learned.

It's a beautiful day today: not too hot, not too cold; perfect for a run. I'll get there. Right now I'm busy enjoying some peace and quiet on a lazy Friday. I love my three-day weekends. And silence.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Was it something I said?

Okay, just checking my stats, and kinda wondering what's with the spike?

If you read this, would you please comment saying where you are and why you read this? Like I say: just wondering.

Thanks.

Bing. Bang. Boom.

After Labor Day, life has become a blur; I honestly dont know how we would have survived if we had kids. It's been THAT crazy around here.


There was Oktoberfest where we had a great time with our bestie best friends. Tickets were expensive, but I won a four-pack, so it was a very cheap outing for us!


Then there was the Festival of Hope, put on by the County's Suicide Prevention Task Force. Awesome chalk art.


And Tim's birthday, which was amazing and very much a surprise for him, because our besties and I created a treasure hunt for him, beginning with a box in a box in a box, that held the first clue.


The Utah Shakespeare Festival was next, complete with an eight-and-a-half-hour drive through the lovely Nevada desert. (Yawn.) The shows were amazing, though: we saw Les Miserables, Hamlet, and Stones in His Pockets. All were amazing.


I loved the fact that Tim requested to see Hamlet, AND that he loved it. I must admit: it was an incredible production! The main guy (Hamlet, duh) did a great job; I loved the scene with Polonius. Oh, and the flute. Oh yeah, and Hamlet's soliloquy. It was just... Really good.

We found some super yummy pizza in Cedar City, but there were some disappointing parts of the continental breakfast at the hotel, in the form of misspellings:




Leave it to us to make it home by 3:00 on Sunday (we were glad to be home early, but I wasn't thrilled at the idea of getting up to leave Cedar so early). My parents had to stop by on their way home, which was fun.



One of my favorite things at USF: the treats! Humbug drops are so yummy! The tarts...oh! The tarts!


This past Friday (just a few days ago), we drove east, to California Hot Springs, to meet with Tim's now-retired boss. We had tons of fun, driving, talking, lunching, more talking. It was great, and I can't wait to do it again!


See? Fun!


And then I fell in love...a number of times, all in one store, but didn't bring anything home. This time.


Funny how little things make you want to cry, right? My little brother was buried wearing these same cufflinks.


I ran yesterday (finally)! It's been way too long, and it wasn't that great of a run, but it was something. 250 or so calories burned; I'll take it!

Yesterday afternoon, we drove east again, this time to Three Rivers to attend a friend's wedding at the White Horse Inn. It was lovely, truly.

...and we made off with a couple of the leftover cookies, which were incredible. Shortbread partially covered in chocolate. They made for a great breakfast treat.

Next up:
A visit from our niece
Also, Tim's mom
Halloween
Hawaii
Thanksgiving
Shopping
Wrapping
Christmas
New Year
...and then...? Hopefully, a little chillaxin' before our lives start to change, and we start to head for the land of parenthood (don't get any ideas: I'm not knocked up yet, honestly).

Monday, October 8, 2012

Cleaning and Hope

Y'know how the weekends always fly by at 'round 'bout 75 mph or so, n Monday comes flyin' out at ya into the left lane and makes you slow suddenly to 45 mph? Dontcha just hate that, like, for example?

Well, that was me this morning. Literally. Going great, 75 in the left lane; trucker switched to the left lane, slowed me down to 45 (in a 70 mph zone, thank you).

This doesn't bode well for this week.

The weekend was great, though:


Started out Friday cleaning and doing other household chores and stuff before my man came home. The house was ready to party like it was 1999, so we did our usual Thursday night thing, watched "Love Actually," and went to bed. Long day, even longer week.


Saturday morning, the NAMI walk kicked off the Festival of Hope. I had fun walking with some friends, and Tim had umm... "fun"? walking with his group.


After the walk, we went for a quick lunch at a Mexican place here in Tulare, not far from where the walk (and the rest of the event) took place. Not great food, plus I made a bad decision on what to get.

"You have chosen...POORLY!"

Then we hit up the other location, the Tulare Outlets, for the chalk art festival. There were some amazing drawings there!


Next up was Tim's birthday dinner, with friends (who walked with me earlier in the day), and back to the house for presents.

(To be continued...)

Friday, October 5, 2012

Cleaning out the almond butter (just so I can get the better butter)

Who doesn't love cleaning? Me. Right here. Especially from the moment I wake up until the minute my hubby comes home (he was at a business conference since Tuesday)!


Still, I managed to have some fun here and there. Like laundry. I really like doing laundry. No, seriously; I really do. I love loading up the tall hamper with all the clothes, and chipping away at the pile until all that's left is the folding part. Which is NOT always my fave.


...And that's why I watch "my" movies when I fold clean laundry. Today, it was "Pete's Dragon," "Clueless," and...something else.

Other than folding laundry, I kept moving from the word "go."


For breakfast/brunch (I woke up kinda late, 'cause sleeping in on Friday morning is the best!), my favorite: a granny smith apple with Target brand (meh, it doesn't hold a candle to Trader Joes brand) almond butter. And then I decided to live on the wild side.

CAUTION: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME


All in all, not a horrible way to spend six hours on a Friday. Tomorrow should be equally thrilling but in an entirely different way.