Bruce Lee Tropics Bound

(wallowa lake)

My little brother called me last night. He's suffering from some serious pre-summer ADD. He's an architecture student which demands A LOT of his time (and that's being conservative). Anyway, he's off to Maui for the summer to be a surf bum and restaurant boy. It feels like eons ago that I myself was moving to Hawaii for a few months hiatus from post-graduation from college life (other-wise known as putting off time before I had to find a "real job"). It was FIVE years ago already and to be honest, I cannot believe it's been so long ago. I'm genuinely happy for him. I think everyone should have that sort of experience at least once in their life. Move off to a place that you know virtually no one and just figure out who YOU are without the norm of your everyday life around you. I keep telling him it's going to change his life. He must think I'm nuts, but I do believe in some way (big or small) it will do just that.

Mister and I are trying to figure out if we can swing a trip to Germany this summer. An old friend is getting married and she and her fiance came all the way from Germany for our wedding (she was in it). We would really love to...it's just that the wedding is in the end of August, so I don't know how that will shake out. Summer is always slow to arrive and quick to pass.

My hopes for this summer are not all that lofty:
1. go camping at LEAST three times; one being a trip to Wallowa Lake
2. ride my bike as much as possible
3. have a picnic in washington park.
4. take mister to multnomah falls (he's native to portland and has still never been...CRAZY i tell ya)
5. have friends over to bbq
6. take as many three-day weekends as humanly possible
7. become un-sucky at golf (or at least attempt to)
8. don't kill all the flowers and greenery the mister and i so painstakingly worked on planting this spring. i have a bad track record with this one.
9. tackle the wine country with vigor as done the past 3 years in the russian river valley, ca

i think that sums it up. god, i cannot wait until it's hot enough outside to sit by a pool with a good book! that sounds amazing. too good to be true. that's the beauty of the seasons. whatever season it isn't at the time, you think you LOVE and you miss it like crazy. i'm always saying "fall is my favorite" in the spring or "i love winter most" in the summer (or mister's favorite-" i can't wait to wear sweaters and coats and ski" when it's 100+ out). thank goodness i live in the northwest i suppose!

that's about all for now...i've been a bad blogger lately. maybe because i journal too and doing both is just about enough of the writing already!
mo

Twirly Swirly Gumdrops

It's only 11:45 and I feel like I haven't been fed in days. Why am I so hungry???? i'm literally making myself wait until at least afternoon before i dive into the cottage cheese and fruit i packed for lunch. yummmmmy.

On to more important topics. What is up with the whole Tom Cruise melt down this year? I mean honestly. i cannot go to the store, look at a magazine, watch tv OR even listen to the radio (XM satellite to boot!) without hearing something about tom cruise and katie holmes. What is the deal? Is he just sort of whacked out or is it just my imagination? Poor girl got sucked into his weird zone and just did not even see it coming. One minute she's eating up the attention from a man she probably fell in love with watching top gun as a kid... and within less than a year, with the snap of a highly-publicized finger, all of the sudden you are engaged at the eiffel tower, touring the world but never really speaking in public (maybe because tom is so busy making out with you in major PDA), then for good measure cap it all off with giving birth to his baby along side an out of control media frenzy, a manic freaked-out tom who is widely criticized and viewed as a bit nutty and a slew of scientology "advisors". right. what a nightmare.

What is even MORE disturbing than that little warped recap is that I, who actively resist the urge to be a complete and utter media junkie, KNOW all this information! I mean...who in the hell really CARES! It seems like these stories are so in your face, it's hard to not just wonder what is going on, or what is going to happen next. like they are in a freaking soap opera! it's so pathetic. what a fishbowl. a co-worker of mine NO JOKE refers to the celebrities on a first name basis. when the whole jennifer aniston/brad pitt thing was going down she would call me with tidbits. just brought things up in our everyday conversation, as if we were their buds "did you hear that jen tried to call brad when she heard about angelina?". oh yes. that must be true. oh, star magazine! oh yes, for sure then. absolutely. and now what to do with this piece of very reliable information? spread the word! oh yes!

no no. no one really wants to talk about it. we all might read about it and hear about it, but i have to say... i draw the line at having involved conversations about these people. it's just ridiculous.

more later.
mo

basketball, baseball and beer...

the three B's of manhood according to the life of my mister the past few weeks.

He's ramping up for the old HS basketball alumni tournament and in full-on guy mode lately. His only message to me today (just for an example) was something like this: "this saturday 5pm baseball game; next saturday basketball at 1pm; doubleheader at 5pm. i need to hook up some gear before then". um, yeah, my day is going really great. thanks for asking you little sweetie!

oh well. i'd much rather have a manly man than some sappy girlie man. he must be extra manly to reflect all the girlie crap i sling at him on a daily basis.

we went to the valley to visit the parent's this weekend. my sister and her two boys were there and my brother came for a night. those kids are so dang cute. crazy and very cute. the littlest guy (we'll call him miniman) just turned three and says the most hilarious things. he is totally obsessed with spiderman and any action hero for that matter. he pretends he can spray web from his hands with sound effects and all, jumps and runs rather than walk and is constantly catapulting himself off of everything in sight. it's great.

my sister and i took them to the pool and the older one (who currently goes by dash) wore his goggles the entire car ride. it's especially entertaining, because over half the time they are upside down, inside out, you name it. he just wears it like a champ.

this week is just plain nutty at work. sewing lessons start tomorrow night. oh yeah baby. i'm going to be big time. it all begins with a pillow. it's going to be the best damn pillow you've ever seen.

sappy love songs

You look at me...and then a song begins
Played on a million...velvet violins
My head goes reelin’...and around it spins
Fantastic...fantastic...that’s you
You whisper darlin’...and before my eyes
A blaze of fireworks...light up the skies
My heart grows wings...and away it flies
Fantastic...fantastic...that’s you
You perform miracles
Whenever you hold me near
Tender, warm miracles
That make me surrender dear
And when you kiss me...heaven opens wide
And there you are...inviting me inside
No wonder angels up there...have staring eyes
Fantastic...fantastic...that’s you
Yes, and when you kiss me...heaven opens wide
And there you are...inviting me inside
No wonder angels have...those staring eyes
Fantastic...fantastic...that’s you
I said fantastic...fantastic...that’s you

Anger Ball

I recently caught myself going to the dark side. Some days I am in and out of being such an anger ball. It just doesn't do anyone any good, including myself. Honestly, who wants to act mean and angry? I don't get it. These people sometimes suck you into it and before you know it you are even fouler than they are! Beware of this phenomenon and resist the urge to go down with 'em. Things seem a little brighter and all around better when you lighten up. Don't you think?

Today it is beautiful and sunny. yippee! to top things off i had my exhilaratingly fun ww mtg today and lost another pound. a pound sounds so measly, but you know what? it's the small things in life that make a big difference...at least that's the game i'm talking.

this weekend i'm heading home to visit the parents. my big sister and her two little guys are going to be there from seattle so that's always so much fun... and my little brother will come down from wsu. mister really loves these trips back to my home town. he really does! he has some old baseball buddies there that he usually visits. he was just asked to be on a competitive team for the summer and is going to take batting practice this weekend. no doubt he'll be incredibly sore... which leads me to this hilarity. last night we are watching tv just relaxing. i was hooked on watching this jeremy piven show on the travel channel (my absolutely FAVORITE) on India (a place i'm dying to visit). anyway, mister man had just "warmed up" with several minutes of arm circles-he was doing conditioning exercises i guess. so i'm watching my show and the rest goes something like this...
mister: "i'm going to be so sore"
me: "from what"
mister: "from that conditioning"
me: "you mean the arm circles?"
mister: "yeah, i bet in a couple minutes you'd be more sore than ever in your life"
me: "from arm circles"
mister (deadpan): "yes. i challenge you. right now"

Is this for real? Are you kidding me? An arm circle challenge at 10pm Sunday night with your wife? I, of course, was forced to politely decline. maybe tonight i'll be forced to whoop his ass in arm circles. just the thought of how serious he was kills me! he's so funny. very entertaining. i'll end my post today with this nice loving quote from my man (and really, I quote):

"I’ll put you through the ringer missy. You won’t be able to lift your arms."

ha! we'll see big talker. we'll see...

mo