Caffeine

There is this little café downstairs from my office. They sell coffee, juice and sodas. In the mornings for breakfast they have toast, breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy and for lunch they have sandwiches, salads and soup.
I frequent this café almost everyday to get an Iced decaf Americano and sometimes breakfast. They have a "frequent buyer" card - you know the kind, buy 7 cups of coffee get a cup free. Its like using the Starbucks at Safeway! So of course on my free cup days I always get a more expensive drink! Today I got a mocha freeze (I know, I know NOT trainer friendly but what can I say - it was free) and I ordered it decaf - but the girl was new and I think she made it regular caffeinated because LET ME TELL YOU! I can't stop moving! I am completely hyper and yet exhausted at the same time. I love the zing caffeine gives me but NOT the tummy ache.
I think I'll go run laps around the office now!!

Off the Chain

I hate the saying "off the chain" and all its different variations: "Damn! That was really off the chain", "totally off the chain". What the HELL does that mean? What chain are they talking about? Why do I want to be off it? Call me old but I just don't get it. I really don't. And I bet if you asked someone where that saying came from, someone who used it all the time, I bet they wouldn't know. How can you say something and you don't even know yourself what it means? That's totally stupid. For all we know "Off the Chain" could mean something very vulgar to people of another country.
I think that we should be more conscience of the pop culture phrases we pick up and pass on. Whatever happened to the cool sayings of our past? I mean if someone was acting like a know it all he was a wiseguy. If you screwed someone you would be screwing the pooch. And, my all time favorite, if you wanted to really drive you're point home - the proof was in the pudding (because really - who doesn't love pudding). I think we should resurrect these old time sayings and out these young whippersnappers and their jive talking lingo. Because really, should my 57 year old mother be saying "That is really awesome" or is it more fitting to hear her say"Cool Daddy-O, real cool", I think we both know!

Drink buddies

So I just got shit from my BFF Terra who said I NEVER talk about her on my blog. The fact is that I don't talk about her on my blog because most of the time the interesting stuff I have to say could get both of us in a lot of trouble!! But she insisted so here it is!
Take for instance the night the two of us decided that 4 bottles of wine would be a good idea. Or the night Terra decided that waking her husband up to let us into the house we'd "locked ourselves out of" was too difficult so Terra, much like a monkey on the National Geography channel, scaled her wooden fence and fell off the other side "SPLAT" and layed on the ground as no help to us to get in the house! I however was able to knock lightly on the bedroom window wake up Rob and have him proceed to tell us that the back door was not in fact locked (I swear it was. I don't care what "sober" Rob says IT WAS LOCKED!).
Terra and I tend to get ourselves in and OUT of trouble quite easily. But then thats what were supposed to do, we're BFF's that live a block from each other!

Heat wave

Its hot. In fact its 108 degrees but feels like 112 degrees hot right now. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. We have our air turned down to 70 degrees and it's 74 in my house right now at 240pm. At 6pm it will be up around 78 which in my opinion is WAY to hot for my house to be. If I wanted it to be 78 degrees in my house I'd set the thermostat at 78 but I don't, I set it at 70 because I like to be cool and I like to be comfortable and at 78 I am neither of those two things.
Its so hot that last night I thought to myself "Self I bet if you sprayed down the front walk and patio it would cool it down a bit" so I did just that, I sprayed the entire entry walkway and porch. Only to make it NOT cooler but muggy. How is it that I created my own humidity? This is out of control.
How did we go from bearable heat to out of control heat within like a week period of time? And people say there is no global warming. Its so hot that even the idea of swimming in a pool is too hot. The only place I think would be bearable would be the river since we know that water is cold and it might off set the temperature. I think I should go buy a tiny tot pool, put it in my living room, fill it with water and ice and watch a movie. Hmm, I wonder if that would work at the drive in . . . . I am off to WalMart, wish me luck! Keep cool!

Book club

Ah the joy of reading. To wrap yourself in the images created by the written word using someone's else's idea but morphing it into you're vision. Its almost like painting by numbers only without the paint and the bossy numbers. Friday night was book club night and as much as I'd like to say book club is about the love of reading. It's really more about the love of females getting together to chat, laugh and have a good time.
Our lovely hostess was Jody this time. She welcomed us all into her beautiful home and made a wonderful paste dinner. We sipped drinks and discussed this months book which was P.S. I love you by Cecelion Adhern. It's amazing how much tastes can be different, some of us really loved this book and hated last months (which was another book by the same author) and some of us hated this book but loved the other. I was in the second party. I loved last months choice but felt this one fell short of hitting the same mark.
I think what is even more interesting to me is not our likes and dislikes of the books but rather our ability for a group of women - all from different walks of life, generations and families to be able to sit and discuss how we felt about these books. For a lot of people reading is very intimate and sharing those thoughts can be very difficult - I think its so wonderful that we can sit and honor each others feelings all the while sharing our own. I love book club night!

Singing in the Bathroom

There are certain rules and etiquette that should be recognized when using public restrooms. Your company restroom is NOT the American Idol stage and YOU are NOT the next Kelly Clarkson or the next SoulPatrol. No body wants to hear your rendition of The Greatest Love of All while they are trying to pinch off a loaf.
Remember in the bathroom the quieter the better. You don't need pleasantries or comments about someone else's outfit. Try to avoid eye contact and please please if there is more than one stall open DON'T ALWAYS go the one right next to someone. You're immediate attention is appreciated.

Lost and Found

I misplaced my sharing sunglasses this morning. Somewhere between my bathroom and the kitchen they disappeared. My 10 minutes search came up short and I couldn't find them. How many places could there possibly be for sunglasses to hide at?

Reunions

Last night I had dinner with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. While catching up on what is currently going on in our lives, our conversation was drawn to an upcoming anniversary we share – 10 years out of high school and thus our high school reunion.
Admittedly I wasn’t part of the A list but I had a great group of friends and network, and I can’t help wondering what a reunion of these people will be like. I haven’t kept touch with many people from high school mostly because I didn’t want to. It’s funny to think back and remember thinking “I am going to be friends with FOREVER.” And now lives in a trailer park in Rio Linda, is missing half their teeth and you haven’t spoken to that person since you were 19 - my how our times change.
10 years is a long time though to not see people you basically grew up with. Schools are SO big now and graduating classes have more students in them than my entire high school had when I graduated. We were a pretty close knit class I am anxious to see some of the people I haven’t seen in 10 years. While true, the reason I want to see most of them is to laugh – I do genuinely want to see a few people I liked but lost touch with.
Since the reunion is in August – I’ve gone into overdrive with my working out (this epiphany just hit me last night) – I am secure with who I am however, I’d love to look better than I did in high school, is that so bad?!

Summer Sick

I am home sick today. My throat feels like I decided snacking on molten hot glass would be a good idea. I don't know how it happened. I felt fine when I went to bed last night but, I woke up about midnight and my throat was on fire. Poor Rick. I tried waking him up to tell him he just wasn't that interested.
I tossed and turned for the next 3 hours - trying to get comfy, trying to decide if breathing thru my nose was better or my mouth - which hurt less. Around 4am Rick woke up to go to the bathroom and I followed him. He's such a good care taker at 4am. He made me take some IBprofen and an antibiotic (from another cold I had) and then put me back in bed. He even got me an ice pack for my neck and throat.
Now I am home alone while he's off working and socializing and have a great time (ok that maybe a TAD overstatement on the great time front) while, I am stuck on the couch squinting at the TV (I don't know where my glasses are and I don't have the energy for my contacts) wishing someone would shoot me like an old horse and put me out of misery. I hate being home alone while sick - I want some here to "poor baby me", I think that comes from my mothers inability to baby me when I was little - we tease her all the time that her favorite saying was "Suck it up and go to school - you're fine!" even though you had a 102 temperature and got dizzy standing up. So here I sit, waiting for an email since talking on the phone is not a possibility and on the computer I am able to prop myself up by my elbows.
I think I'll go lay on the couch and squint at the TV more that seems to move the day along quickly. Note to reader - getting sick in the summer SUCKS!

Camping 2006!

Every year my mother and aunt take a week (or longer) camp trip. Their usual spot is at the Lodgepole camp ground at Yuba Gap. This is a great little camp ground Rick and I stumbled into one year while looking for a place to camp(it also happens to be where Rick proposed – so it has a sentimental place in my heart). The last 3 years Rick and I have spent in Vegas living the Rock’n’Roll lifestyle for the weekend however, since the 4th fell on a Tuesday and funds were running low – we opted out on the Vegas trip (not to worry, I am hoping to go for my birthday if we can’t figure out a quick trip sooner) and ended up going camping on Friday after work.

Other than the mosquitoes (darn rainy winter), it was the perfect weekend for camping. The weather was mild both at night and during the day and the company was great! Nearly my entire family went. Mimsy and my little cousin Killian had drove up early Friday to secure our spot and then Rick, Auntie, Willow and I headed up. Earlier that day, my other cousin Sallee and her family (husband and 2 daughters) went up. The only people missing were my cousins Jim and Mike who ended up joining us Saturday morning just in time for breakfast.

Being with you family is so different when you’re an adult from when you’re little. Being the baby of my family I always felt a little left out but, now being older and more mature (okay not really but at least now we’re all on the same mental level) I get along with my family so much more.

I had a blast sitting around the campfire talking with everyone. Discussing everything from our great grandparents to the new boat my cousin bought for fishing (Mmmm Tuna). It was an experience like no other. Both Rick and I were sad to see Sunday night come, I think that is why we opted to drive home (I had to work Monday morning) and then head back up after work on Monday for the night especially when we were only staying for until noon as we had a BBQ at a close family friends house to attend. That brief night was well worth it though. Good camp food, great camp fire and tons of laughs!

I am trying to plan a trip now to Dillon’s Beach for Labor Day weekend with friends. We’ve camped several times at Dillon Beach and it so much fun! I can hardly wait – hope we get to go!