Sausages and Margaritas

I hadn't been out walking in a while so I thought I would do my body good and take a nice long walk. I set off with an ice cold bottle of H2O, my I-Pod, and a bounce in my step. Fifteen minutes later, I realized that setting off on a brisk walk at 1230PM in 100 degree weather, walking a circuitous route that would last 45 minutes to an hour..was not one of my best ideas.

The blood had already rushed to my fingers and they looked like sausages!Also, I was starting to feel a little dizzy and my water was no longer ice cold. I turned around and headed home, which still took me 20 minutes because I had to stop in the shade and elevate my sausages. I took an ice cold shower and when I looked in the mirror, my face was bright red, but around my mouth and eyes were rings of white. Pretty darn scary! So, lesson painfully learned, but learned well!

After I had recovered, my friend Regina, Tiana, and I headed over to Home Depot to pick up some white paint. See, during one of my break-ups with "he who shall not be named", I painted my bathroom red. Not a bright pretty red...but a deep bloodred. It was supposed to look gothic, but came out morbid. Anyway, I liked it. But since I am moving, (5 days and counting ... WOOHOO!!), I have to paint it back to boring white.

Home Depot fascinates me. It is much more interesting than the mall, becausethere are all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that I never knew existed for things around the house. One area I forgot to stop in was the closet dept. I wanted to check out the different fixtures that could be added to them for maximum storage space. =( So now, Regina and I are taking a break from painting the bathroom. We are sipping on margaritas and eating chips and gourmet salsa. (Yes, I AM cheating on my diet...just for today). I had figured that I would only need one gallon of paint (primer is mixed in) for this room...but we are It is no better than a small closet! We keep laughing because every time one of us bends over, we bump into the other one. Of course, it could also be the paint fumes!!

Golfing for Dummies

In the spirit of maintaining a positive outlook on life and experiencing new things, I have decided to try my hand at golf. I know absolutely NOTHING about the sport except that you have to walk a lot! ;P I talked to a few co-workers about it and learned that the very first thing I need is my own set of clubs...because renting gets very expensive. Also, apparently you won't improve your game if you are constantly using a different set each time.


So I have been browsing through Craig's List and found a couple of sweet deals on full sets of women's used clubs, complete with bag. I didn't realize that you needed soooo many! Why do you need 7 irons, a putter, driver, wedgie, etc? They only give you one club at Golfland and I almost always manage to beat everyone!! Heh. I'm planning on checking out those sets while I'm on vacation, after I have moved all my stuff into my new pad and get my cable set up.


One of my co-workers offered to give me a free lesson once I get my clubs...he's apparently a golf fanatic. Hope he doesn't get too frustrated with me...I couldn't stop giggling when we were talking about the types of clubs and he told me "don't get wood...you can get wood after you are more experienced." Hey, I am my father's daughter!! HAHA

All in all, I'm pretty excited to start. I'm told I should practice at the driving range first, so that I don't feel pressured at the course, when experienced people are impatiently waiting for me to hit the ball and all I can do is make divots in the grass! My co-worker told me that the driving range is where most beginners practice, even little kids are out there! I'm a little nervous about having to learn near children. I can't be one-upped by a toddler! Besides, I am pretty reckless with my aim.


On my last trip to Vegas, I was the only female at the craps table and all the men decided I might be their lucky charm. So they had me throw the dice...which was fun, except when I aimed too high and hit a man in the face with the dice at the end of the table! Luckily, he was wearing glasses and everyone laughed it off....True story!

Countdown II........

17 days and counting until I am officially a grown up...haha. My room is pretty much packed, except my closet. There are A LOT of shoes in there and I'm not so sure that I'll be able to take them all! :(



Due to a recent turn of events, I am no longer able to take my bed to the new place. It has gross bodily fluids on it, and I do not want to taint my new apartment. Ok perverts, just because I used the words "bodily fluids" and "taint" in the same sentence does not mean I am speaking of what your dirty minds are thinking. The dog didn't go out for his nightly walk on Sunday, and it happened to be the night that I chose to let him sleep in my room. He peed on my bed in three places! And then he just sat in it!! Soooo, nasty! Guess you can't expect too much from a boy....haha.


Anyway, I bought an airbed and will have to make do until I can buy a proper bed. *SIGH* I guess Tiana can sleep on the couch! I paid my nephew $50 to haul my bed and dresser to a dumpster...he came back pretty quickly so I'm hoping he dumped it where he said he would and not on the side of the street somewhere!



I set up PG&E and cable the other day. I signed a 2 yr contract for Comcast which includes cable, internet, and landline. I chose to get the landline because it was a better deal to go with the triple package, and I got a free Net Book out of it!! I heart Swag!!



Now I just have to sneak into Tiana's room when she's not around and toss out all of her junk! She has toys from when she was about 5 yrs. old and played with maybe once or twice....why she wants to keep them is beyond me. It shouldn't be too hard to get rid of her stuff, since she's ditching me. That's right, my own flesh and blood...the child I spent 14 hours in labor to give life to....the child I went through NATURAL birth for (Demerol does not count..I felt EVERYTHING!!)....has chosen to go to San Diego with Madalene and the rest of the family to visit Caroline.

And so, it is up to me to haul our stuff ALL the way down the street to the apartment. That's like 50 steps!! It's a good thing I have a downstairs unit!

Spiderwebs and Tahoe

Here are a few more pics I took recently, along with some older ones that I still had on my SD card. I have recently become very taken with spiderwebs and trees...I would have liked to have taken the web pics in a black and white format, but they wouldn't be as visible against the backgrounds. As you will see, I have become partial to black and white tones as well. The pics just stand out better, and I can play with contrast and light easily. Enjoy!

Charlotte's web

Nowhere to go but up!

Creeping Vines

(This is the wall that seperates the freeway from the neighborhoods. These vines are growing ALONG the wall, which I thought was pretty neat.)

Tree of Faces

(Look closely and open your mind...there are several faces here)

Daisy

Webs in Sunlight

Carey Hart, Tiana, and friend at Motorcross in San Francisco

earlier this year.

Tiana, me, Alyssa, and Edward Cullen

Tahoe

January 2009

Tiana, me, and Eddie C. :)

Chris and I

Lake Tahoe January 2009

I wanted to get a better shot with the reflection of the mountains in the lake, but the water wasn't "smooth" enough and I wasn't up high enough on my mountain to pull it off. Oh well, I'll just have to go back! ;P

Countdown

In exactly one month, (and counting!), I will officially be in my new pad!! I am so excited! I have so much to do, and yet I really haven't done anything besides pack a few boxes. However, I have organized my moving crew, two friends whom I DID NOT bully or threaten in the least to help me...and myself. I think between the three of us, we can manage to move my bed and the few pieces of furniture that I am keeping, to the apartment. Then there is the matter of all the boxes of clothing that I have. I'm sure that between the two of us, Tiana has more clothing then I do. Such a clotheshorse! And she buys things in "small" to ensure that I will have a difficult time fitting the "ladies" in them, thus denying my opportunity to wear them. Sneaky little stinker!

Oh yes, and 12 days until my birthday. Not too stoked about that, seeing as how the only thing I have to look forward to is more gravity!! Getting older SUUUCKS...

For my birthday weekend, Madalene suggested that we go camping in the Santa Cruz mountains. I have only been camping once..and it was horrid! There were bugs everywhere, the temperature was always in the 80's by the time it was daylight (all time high that weekend was 118!!), and there were NO OUTLETS!! Plus, I had my first ever encounter with a porta-potty (shudder). Word of advice, don't look down the hole (those are NOT tree roots!) and for god sakes, bring hand sanitizer, lots of it!!

Traumatic experience aside, I agreed to go camping...mainly because if I couldn't stand it, I could just hop in my car and be home in an hour! Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who have the same idea and all of the ideal places are booked. Hmmm...was it a sign? God's birthday gift to me? So, I may just spend my big day cleaning my room up and packing some more.

Someone once told me that your 30's are the best years in life....I will reserve judgment on that for now!

Therapy in Motion

Bucket list #1 is almost accomplished! I have filled out the paperwork and given the deposit for my apartment!! And, even better, I'm right near the pool and my friend's apartment!! I'm sooooo excited. I don't move in until September 4th, but I've already started packing and discarding. It's very therapeutic for me. Like shedding old skin.....ew.

I even had my nephew break my old dresser apart. As you may recall, my apt. has a walk-in closet(!!!) so I won't need it. But I don't want to drop moolah for a hauler to come get it...maybe if I had more stuff that needed to go, but not for one piece of furniture. So, in the dead of the night, under a cloak of darkness to conceal my nefarious deeds, I will be throwing the pieces in our community dumpster. Mwahahahaha. Yes, I'm still loopy from the salad diet.


Speaking of diets, mine is going well. I am eating meat again...I started having dizzy spells and figured that subsisting on greens alone was not the way to go. Also, my hair started falling out...we're talking 4-5 strands at a time!! I hope that it was just because of the diet and I'm not going prematurely bald! Synthetic hair SOOOOOO does not work for me! So I have started incorporating fish and chicken into my diet. I may start taking vitamins too...Flinstones are nummy and they come in gummy bear form now!!!!



I also got the best compliment from my mom. She said "wow, you really lost weight". If you know my mother, she is not one to give you a compliment, especially about your weight, unless she means it. Of course, she wasn't wearing her glasses at the time.....