making it up as i go along
Ahh well … No rain. No rainbows.
It's been an exhausting race to the finish, but we leave for Hawaii tomorrow morning. We are 98% packed. Suitcases have been weighed. Loki is visiting at a friend's house. Our house is relatively clean. And we're all exhausted. And excited, I think, beneath all that exhaustion, anyhow.
We've been promised wi-fi at our accomodations, so hopefully I'll be catchin you on the flipside! Until then … Aloha!
Break it down, bullet style:
• Has anyone used one of those You Tube clip converters that actually worked??? I am trying to put some Sesame Street clips on my MP3 player for Tabby and am having NO LUCK.
• Got some of those elastic headbands everyone seems to wear these days and I'm quite a fan … the ball cap gets kind of hot on long runs in the summer.
• I sewed grosgrain ribbon through two of Tabby's binkies tonight. I don't want them rolling around while we're flying.
• I checked out Crafty Mama from the library. It is a really neat read … possibly even for non-moms.
• My friend asked me to run a race for Congolese women today. Sounds like a good time for a good cause. I'm in!
• There are babies popping up everywhere! I just bought a cute outfit for some friends of ours at Babystyle. LOVE that store.
• Tomorrow is my last full day of work before vacation! Friday I'm working a bit in the morning and then I'm going to spend the rest of the day running errands, doing laundry, packing and playing with Tabby. What? She loves to fold laundry. Honest.
• I've had 80 oz of water today. Is that too much?
I'm going to do it again. I'm going to stay up waaay past my bed time to watch The Olympics. Gymanstics. I love it. Can't get enough. Swimming too. I must be insane.
Dinner tonight came from the garden. Well half of it anyway. We made another mozzarella caprese salad (tomatoes, basil and mozzarella drizzled with balsamic). YUM. Our tomatoes have been pretty prolific, but we've only produced one zucchini. It was a big one (12+ inches long), but, seriously? Who can't grow zucchini.
I've scheduled a Paint Your Own Pottery night for my mom's group in September and I'm getting a pretty good response so far. I haven't done that in years and I'm really looking forward to it. It should be a good time!
I was really psyched with this picture of Loki. He's such a handsome boy, but sometimes his dark coloring makes him a bit hard to photograph, so I love to get a shot of his doggy cuteness.
Ahh, I must fly … Olympic fever is overcoming me again.
Did this weekend go extra fast or was it just me?? We mostly spent our time watching Olympics, hanging with friends and family, running errands, and doing household chores (gardening, cleaning, organizing).
I've been enjoying the heck out of the Olympics. No matter how you feel about China, this is about the athletes and how hard they've worked to get there and it's been amazing. I love the cool stories (like the 33 year old gymnast who's competing for Germany) and people overcoming the odds (like our men's fine performance in the 4×100 free relay last night – this morning?). I'm so glad I stayed up late to watch it (though I might not have been so happy about it this morning).
This week is set to go by in a blur of packing, to-do lists, and preparations both at work and at home. Tonight we ran an errand for the trip and while we were in a certain neighborhood, we went to this amazing Asian grocery store. It had every type of Asian grocery imaginable and I'm so excited to go back when I have more time to look around and some recipes to make. What a find!
Hope you all had lovely weekends.
I have sat down about 10x the past three days and tried to write something, but I've been failing miserably. I keep getting interrupted. So let's break it down, bullet style:
• Work has been beyond nuts. I worked 10 hours straight today, absolutely no breaks whatsoever, not even for lunch (ate that during a meeting).
• Root canal was yesterday … the worst part of it was paying the bill … $900 with another $900 bit to come later when I get my crown. Ugh. But the procedure was pretty easy and I only had to take advil for minor pain for about 12 hours afterwards
• I'm in super-nerd planning mode for our trip … to do lists, packing lists, etc. etc. We're at PackCon 3 right now, but this weekend I'll hit PackCon 2 and start COLOR CODING 
• Matt finally hung the swing that my mother-in-law got for Tabby for her b'day. This is awesome except for now she pesters us all evening with demands of “side” (outside) and “weee!” (what she says while she swings). It's hard to say no, though.
• The 21+ day 90+ degrees streak finally ended and we've had some amazing rain the past two days.
• I seriously thought about going outside and running it was so cool this evening. But did I? Hell no. I have a treadmill inside with a box set of Heroes.
• I am soooo excited for tomorrow and the start of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. What a bummer the Hamms are out … but I'm still looking forward to gymanstics, swimming and track & field.
• Our CSA share this week contained purple carrots! They're so cool looking.
• Being a CO girl and a Van Gogh fan, I'm pretty sure that if they make this t'shirt, I'm buying it!
Alright … it is SOOOO bed time.
Well my day has much improved since this morning. Still have to go back to the dentist on Wednesday, but I got to go out to lunch with my coworkers and I've had a very nice evening with Tabby and Matt. Nice and quiet. I need to get in a run before I go to bed (2 hours should come close to burning off all of the yummy calories I've ingested today) and watch an ep or 2 of Heroes.
Thanks to everyone for the nice b'day comments, facebook messages, emails, e'cards, telegrams and carrier pigeons.
Damn, people. I sure know how to par-tay. I kicked off things great this morning with a dentist appointment and got my first b'day present (aside from the free chapsticky-swag and bottle o' amoxycillin) … I get to go back Wednesday for a ROOT CANAL. I'm psyched.
I'm sure the day will improve, but I'm a bit disillusioned with my 29th year thus far …
My b'day is tomorrow, so I got to celebrating early. I spent Friday afternoon with Kelly and Tabby … shopping, the pool, chilling. Matt and Kelly joined us for dinner and a movie in the backyard, Juno!
Saturday was pretty usual: gym, breakfast, errands, etc. My family came over for dinner in the evening. We collaborated on the meal of my choice: fried chicken, corn on the cob, green beans, squash casserole, fruit (we got some amazing peaches) and chocolate peanutbutter refrigerator dessert. Oh … and mint juleps. Yum. And a great evening besides.
Today's main activity was going to Waterworld, which was … OK. We got there in the late afternoon since that's when the cheap tickets start. It started raining just as we got there and everything was closed for about 40 minutes while we waited it out. After getting cold, a spill going down a slide and the afternoon wearing on, Tabby wasn't having as good a time as we might've hoped. But I think it will be nice to take her back there at some point.
Now exhaustion is setting in and I am ready to lie around and watch some TV for a while.