Moving Heavy Stuff

I have always been so excited for moving in with a boy. You get married, go away to a tropical island for a week and then... my favorite part... Come back and move into your beautiful new home with all your cool new stuff.

Seriously hauling boxes, unloading stuff, painting, organizing all your stuff, his stuff and making it our stuff just sounds SO fun to me.

See Exhibit A below: Cute clothes. Big Smile. Both working hard :) FUN.

Well, well, well. D's lease ends at the end of August and he got his keys to the new pad yesterday. Spare room, deck, view, downtown, big kitchen, AWESOME location. Even thought we don't live together and I am not moving into this condo, this is still very exciting for me because I spend a lot of time at his place. So obviously, I was very excited to help him move...

So Friday Night.... Get off work, go for a run and head over to help unload the heavy stuff aka bed, couch, coffee table, desk, TV stand, TV. Piece of cake. I worked out every day this last week. I was ready ;)

See Exhibit B below: Smiling couple using the proper lifting technique and BOTH working together to move a big box.

This is how I envisioned us carrying stuff into the entry way. UMMMM. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? This is NOT real life. :)

OH. MY. FRICKIN. GOSH. This is maaaaaaaybe how our first trip looked for the first 15 seconds. Maybe. Probably not. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that I should always carry around my camera. I am now thanking God for not having documentation of this.

We took the bed first. Not my fault my arms aren't long enough to hold a queen size bed! But apparently that is my fault? After dropping it, ripping the mattress pad and dragging it through some leaves, we were barely speaking to each other. Also, I so graciously learned that I do not know "mover's lingo". When someone is screaming at you, "TUCK THE CORNER, TUCK THE CORNER?" what would you do? Apparently 'tuck the corner' means straighten out...? and hooooow am I suppose to know that?

The coffee table? He smacked the edge into my shin on accident?. I slammed the door on his face on purpose.

Couch? He decided it would be "better" if I just "guarded" the TV in the back of the truck while he lugged the couch inside? Brilliant idea to me. Not.

TV? We each carried an edge, but the cord was on my side. If I wasn't walking fast enough the cord would get stuck in the door when it shut. My lovely man informed me, "I know I am being mean, but I don't feel like you are performing to your potential..."????? Ummmmm. Sorry I can't sprint while carrying a HUGE TV. ugh.

By this time, we were speaking one word sentences to each other, COVERED in sweat, starving and had a HUGE mess in the condo. No longer was it fun.

It was the most un-glamorous, un-romantic,un -FUN thing I could EVER imagine doing.

I always envisioned moving in an organized, timely efficient manner.

See Exhibit C below: Organized, labeled boxes separated by room/area.

After I had unzipped a DUFFEL bag full of KITCHEN knives and almost cut my fingers off, Drew days, 'Oh yeah, be careful! That bag is full of knives!' Seriously dude? KNIVES in a duffel bag? Am I dating a serial killer? I was beginning to doubt our future at this point. I swear to God I was.

He was mad it took too long so all the restaurants he wanted to do to were closed. He says I should have told him I couldn't help as much as I thought carrying heavy stuff and we could have gotten other people to help.

I was mad that we didn't have music playing, Chinese takeout, beers open and unpacking like it was done in the movies.

We both got fooled by our expectations. :)

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED DURING OUR NIGHT OF MOVING:

1.) What is important to him... While everything else was just randomly thrown in boxes or duffel bags, his most important possessions were kept close. I actually hit his leg and noticed something hard. He had been carrying his TV remotes in his cargo shorts pockets all night... Priorities, right? ;)

2.) His XBOX 360Live "Gamer-ID tag"... Ya know, the username they use when they play video games against other real life people? His name? HylaFyler. When I asked what it meant, he told me that he wanted to have a username after some cool animals. All taken. Then. He tapped into his college biology degree background and remembered the official scientific name for a tree frog. Hyla. Flya because it is a jumping treefrog. HyLa.Flya. hahahaha. I was dying of laughter. Not only is my baby good at video games, he is nerdy too :)

3.) When things aren't going my way: I get whiny.

4. When things don't go his way, he gets short and snippy :)

5.) Cleaning supplies are important. Kleenex tissues with lotion aren't good for dusting. They get everything lotion-ey.

So we moved everything in, and then we started putting stuff away and organizing. Before I even knew it, I was laughing at something he was saying, and he was telling me what I great idea it was to put the dishes in the cabinet by the sink, instead of by the stove. I couldn't even remember why half an hour ago I literally was ready to sneak out and walk home!

Once we both realized that it was FINE that things weren't going how we were expecting them to go, things were still getting done. I didn't HAVE to be the strongest girl he ever met, and he didn't HAVE to be the the best packer I know.

So instead of Chinese food and beer on the patio for dinner, we had Cheetoh Puffs and a sandwich on the floor around midnight.

And it was one of the most fun times we have ever had together ;) (that being saiiiid... if we ever have to move in the future when we have acquired a LOT of stuff, I think we will splurge for professional movers. That, or a marriage counselor :)

Coin Toss

AniMEG

This is what bored older sisters with makeup will do to ya. :)

Mountain Biking, Anyone?

Whistler is known for it's mountain biking courses and there are always LOTS of mountain bikers whenever we go up. What we didn't know before we went up last weekend?

It just happened to be the weekend of the Crankworx 2011.

What is that you might ask? Because I certainly did when we checked into the hotel and there were signs everyone that said, "OFFICIAL HOTEL OF CRANKWORX 2011". There were also Kokanee beer signs EVERYWHERE. I mean I know Canadians like their brewskis but a village that is sponsored by Kokanee? I had no idea what to expect :)

Turns ouuuuut, Crankworx is a HUGE, HUGE mountain bike race/trick competition that is yep, sponsored by Kokanee. As in a kind local told us that on Saturday 15,000 people would swarm this little mountain to watch these amazing bikers. Well, then. :)

This pretty little mountain and it's trails and gondolas?

Full, full, full of mountain bikers. I have never seen so much FOX brand racing gear in my entire life.

ALLLLL weekend these bikers were EVERYWHERE. At the restaurants all sweaty and dirty enjoying a cold beer and some burgers. Rinsing off their MUDDY bikes wherever there was a hose. Walking their bikes back to the hotels, enough mud on their face to seriously need like 6 showers.

So where am I going with this? I felt SOOOOO depressed! Being around sooo many people that were so invested in something they LOVED and were GOOD at? I. was. so. jealous. My competitive juices were seriously FLOWING. The feeling of being in LOVE with a hobby, and being able to travel all over the world doing what you love?? AHH. I WANT THAT!

I seriously had to force myself from not staring at most of them. It just looked SO FUN! Getting to your hotel, getting your registration number, putting it on your bike. Carbo-loading (umm heck yeah! Pasta, anyone?) Getting all dirty and sweaty and just doing what you love.

Being up there, made my life at home seem so empty, so passionless. Wake up, go to work, complain, get on the elliptical, eat dinner. Repeat (exaggeration but you get the point?)

I continued to mop and imagine my life as Lindsay the "BMX biker babe" (I would probably go by BBB for short :) and my hot bike racing helmet and hot pink mountain bike while we tanned at the pool.

I think God got annoyed with my wishing to be someone else. Heck, I don't even like biking! Last summer I kinda got into biking and one day rode my bike to the public library (umm, is that not the nerdiest thing you have ever heard?) Anyways. On my way home up a hill, I totally crashed into blackberry bushes. On a main rode. At age 24. Ummm... embarrassing? So yes, of course I didn't want to be a mountain biker! All of a sudden I was thinking about all the things that were on my bucket list that I wanted to accomplish. What was I waiting for????

Okay so maybe I am not meant to be a professional mountain biker. Maybe I am not even meant to make 6 figures a year. With media, celebrities and our culture's OBSESSION with success, it is sooo easy to got sidetracked and feel like we are just not good enough. Why didn't I get blessed with a beautiful signing voice to try out for American Idol? Why aren't I 6 feet tall and a professional basketball player? Why couldn't I have invented the Post-It note? It just doesn't seem fair. My talents? My dad said I am extraordinary at painting. Not like water-color or acrylics. Like painting our house. The fence? Ohh my specialty :) Umm. Who in the world wants that talent?

Ya know what those stinky mountain bikers taught me? Each and every one of us has something that gets us up in the morning. Something that we think about before we go to bed. For these guys? It was flying 60 feet in the air and doing a back-flip. Maybe for you it's being a teacher. Or even being a better mommy to your little babes. A better wife. Maybe you are a great, loyal friend.

Trust me! It's sooo hard to find this. Some lucky people find their passion right out of high school. Others? Takes awhile. Did you know that Martha Stewart didn't start crafting until her thirties? Or that Suzy Oreman (money guru on Oprah) was a waitress well into her thirties???

It's not like tomorrow we will all wake up with a brilliant idea of our life calling, but just remember we are all talented... Some are just harder to discover than others, but so, so worth it :)

WHEN I STAND BEFORE GOD AT THE END OF MY LIFE, I HOPE THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE A SINGLE BIT OF TALENT LEFT, AND COULD SAY, "GOD, I USED EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME."

~Erma Bombeck

3 Things Tuesday

1.) IT'S NOW!
Ok this is sooooo cool and I wish I could find a better picture but you get the point. It's a watch. and the middle says "IT'S and then instead of the numbers it says "NOW" all around the face of the watch. Sooo. When someone asks you what time it is or you glance down?
The time? It's Now.
This concept was invented by a monk who hired another monk from LA to design it for him because he believed in savoring every moment. So awesome. Such a great way to look at things. Easier said than done, I will be the first to admit.

2.) WATCH OUT WORLD, HERE I COME!

So you know how I have been trying to perfect my magnetic makeup board? Look at this idea!!!! Cookie sheets!!! Already magnetic and in a cute little shape. Where do these people come up with these ideas? Brilliant! I am going to combine these ideas... Watch out... I just might be able to magnetize every single thing I own before the end of the year ;)
3.) TREEHOUSE!

I am trying to find a publication of the magazine to share, but I just want to brag. Our tree house was featured in a magazine! My dad and grandpa built it for us when we were really little, but it recently was in a feature on treehouses in our local county magazine!!! Complete with a system to pull up a bucket and a trap-door, lots of fun times went on in that thing. From sleepovers with our dolls, to waterballon fights to sleepovers with boys??? hehe. just kidding mom and dad. every girl needs a treehouse ;) Anyways... Cool, huh? :)

Now, go do something FUN this last Tuesday of July :) <3 <3

Sprinkles

DESSERT is STRESSED spelled backwards!

So I saw this quote, and literally had to read it four times and yes i ever wrote out desserts backwards cuz I didn't believe it... I will save you the embarrassment. It is true.

Have a Pampered Chef Spritz cookie gun that you only bring out at Christmas to make cute little Spritz cookies but takes up precious room in your kitchen the other 360 days of the year? Well. Is it your lucky Monday or what?

Y'all know those cookies. So good. but the Christmas wreaths and snowflake cookies are always waaaay too small, and kinda hard? My precious auntie makes her Spritz cookies a little bit bigger, sandwiches some frosting between them and adds sprinkles. Delicious. Cute. and not Christmasy :) The picture doesn't do them justice. Put that Spritz cookie gun to use this summer!!!!!

I also just realized that after my little spiel about starting WeightWatchers my first post is about cookies and frosting? Yeah. I am one of those people. When I am trying to eat healthy I bake up a storm and try to shove it down other people's throats. I say it is a workout for my will-power :) My dad thinks it is just plain weird and mean. :)

Olympic Rings

This weekend we went to Whistler, BC for a fun little trip!

My cute little sissy and Ms. Jessi Paige. Only we decided the creek would be a better background than the Winter Olympics 2010 Olympic Rings sculpture that was like 10 feet away? Sounded like a good idea at the time...

5 Things I Learned about Canada that I didn't already know on our little trip:

1.) Canadian public restrooms are called "washrooms" and they DON'T HAVE TOILET SEAT COVERS!

2.) They say "Cheers" to mean 'good luck, 'thank you,' 'you're welcome..." Anything along those lines. Where's the ice machine? Down the hall, CHEERS! What's the exchange rate for the American dollar today? 95 cents, CHEERS!

At first it was fun and endearing, but now it just makes me frustrated because it can mean so many things you don't know how to respond!!!!! and it makes them seem all fun and happy and spontaneous and we have nothing to say back :)

3.) On the way up, they had these signs giving directions. In English and then in some other language. We all had absolutely NO idea what language it is, how you pronounce it or who could read it? Like seriously? Any ideas? skkcmksdfkjkldjakljdflaskdf?

4.) Canadians (or some we met at least) think that American's have it right. "America makes their highways flat and straight. Such a good idea." Should we be proud??? :)

5.) It is $45 for a case of Budweiser. As in $45 for 24 cans of Budweiser beer. OMG. Not that I drink that lame, watery stuff.... I stick to my Mike's lemonade ;)

P.S. As I gear up to get over myself and begin following WeightWatchers again tomorrow after a 3 month hiatus and a sickening amount of weight gain (yep, I like to start these things on Mondays. I have already told my psychologist, don't worry :), this song keeps popping into my head. On the drive up to Whistler this weekend Mandy was showing us her new favorite Christian song. It's verrryyyy catchy.

What I didn't realize? HOW TRUE AND AMAZING the words are from One Thing Remains by Bethel Live...

Your love never fails

It never gives up

It never runs out on me

Say those words to yourself like five times in a row. Do it. and realllllly listen to them. Jesus NEVER runs out of love for us! Never??? NEVER! No matter HOW many times we mess up, fall down, say the wrong thing or just can't seem to get it right, his love and forgiveness NEVER fails. It NEVER gives up and it NEVER runs out.

Amazing. and I am so thankful. as I mess up lots and lots and lots and sometimes think there is no point in even trying again, cuz he has given up on me. But nope :) <3

Thanks Jesus and Canada for a fab weekend :) CHEERS!

SERIOUSLY? Thursday

Today I decided to link up with Becky from Frommrstomama.com and play along!

This is what made me go "SERIOUSLY?????" this week :)

• Seriously. OKAY. I love the Kardashian's just as much as the next girl. Wish I could be in their family. Klindsay? Sounds good to me. That being saiiiid, the 20.5 carot engagement diamond ring Kim got from Kris. IN THE INSIDE IT SAYS "K HEARTS K". So you spend money on HUGE rock and then can't get more creative than "K HEARTS K"??? Seriously?



• Seriously. The homeless man that is always on the corner when I get off the freeway to go to work now pan-handles with like 6 KITTENS! He sits with his sign, and has a cardboard box full of kittens. Cute. Buuuut. Right when it begins to pull of my heart strings and I am tempted to pull over and give him some money for cat food, I get mad. You can't just use cute little kitties to get money! Seriously?



• Seriously. I ALMOST ate a whole can of Pringles in one sitting the other day. I felt so bllaaahh with that I tortured myself with like an hour run the next morning at 7:30AM. A WHOLE can of Pringles. Seriously?



• Seriously. Did you know that people who regularly floss live an average of SIX YEARS longer than those who don't. Seriously?

Link up and play along! What made you go "Seriously" this week????

Three Things Tuesday

1.) WEIRD HOTDOG OBSESSION PART 2

You may remember my other weird post about hotdogs with the spaghetti noodles coming out of it. I randomly came across this pictures and almost puked. I had to share. Sorry. :)Forgive me?

2.) RESCUING HUG

So even though this story is about 15 years old, I had never heard it.

These twin girls were born weighing only 2 pounds each. While one twin started gaining weight, eating and thriving, the other one was not. Doctors only gave her a little time left to live. Hospital rule was to keep each baby in a seperate incubator but an Intensive Care Nurse knew that something drastic must be done if the other baby was to survive. She put them both in the same incubator (knowing she would probably lose her job for breaking hospital rules) and witnessed a miracle. The heathly baby threw her little arm around her sister and soon enough, her sister's heart-rate began to increase, she began to turn a healthy pink color and she began to eat.

They are now healthy teenagers :)

Go hug someone ;)
3.) SUNROOF AND RAIN

The last two Saturdays I have woken up, looked at my clock and been like "aahhhh. It's Saturday. I can go back to sleep." It's been even better because it has been raining so the sound of rain hitting my window is in the background. Just when I roll over and snuggle back into my warm cozy bed, I realize I LEFT MY SUNROOF OPEN IN MY CAR. Seriously one of the worst feelings ever. Knowing you should get up, go outside in the rain and close it when you really just want to go to sleep. Ya'll know that feeling? When you realize you SHOULD be doing something and you try to ignore it. But then you end up not enjoying what you are trying to do because you KNOW in the back of your mind you should just go do that thing you don't want to do? Confusing, but you get me right? ;)

Happy TuesDay! <3

The Good, The Bad

After going out to Mexican food for dinner and being so full we could hardly move, we decided to talk a nice little walk on the boardwalk to get some blood pumping and work off some chips and salsa. We got to the beach.

This is what the sky looked like. (Middle of July, mind you.)I wanted to get some fun pics of the usual sailboats and yachts that were in the bay and the harbor.

This is the only boat I could find.

When it started to rain, we decided to head home.

This is what I saw in the parking lot. UMM. HELLO... WEIRD? No one else seemed to be paying any attention to this! Depressing/weird pictures from our little adventure. Does that not always seem to happen when you actually bring your camera and want to take some fun pictures?

So BEFORE we went out to dinner, I had stopped over at my aunt's house and my little cousins had BEGGED to play with my camera. I let them take it outside while I chit-chatted. When it was time to go, I gave them hugs and grabbed the camera. I asked where they went to take pictures and they replied, "No where! Just around here." Booooring, I thought. I was probably just gonna delete them from the camera so I wouldn't have to deal with stupid pictures of the grass and their feet taking up room on the computer.

But of course... While I was uploading the pics from our depressing little journey to the boardwalk, I realized I had not yet deleted little J's pictures, and they were going on my computer. I took a quick glance and was surprised. (Our little photographer is only 6!!!!)

Just in the perimeters of her little backyard, she had managed to capture more beauty and color and cheerfulness than I had at the boardwalk. Sometimes it's the simple things that are so beautiful, and that we just take for granted. Like a freakin' shadow? That's the cutest little picture ever, and yet we overlook the simplicities where a 6-year-old mind finds beauty.

I loved looking through her pictures. Seeing a normal background through the eyes of new innocence and creativity, and making some pretty darn cute photos while she's at it. ;)

PS. Another reason we had to abruptly leave the park? Drew suddenly remembered... "Oh we gotta go! I forgot a put a Coke in the freezer at home!"

Come to find outtttttt. He also wanted to get home in time to see the last ever Friday Night Light's episode and make it to the late showing of the last Harry Potter....

Rough day on the poor guy. Two stories/shows that he liked (weird, I know) both had to come to an end. :)

Just ANOTHER reminder how there is indeed good in every day (a great TV show, a LONNGGG movie, a pretty pink flower, a baby girl's shadow) amongst the not-so-great. (the end of a great TV series, the end of a great movie series, a rainy JULY day, 2 bodiless figures..?)

We just gotta have perspective, and keep our eyes open to the good stuff. :)

"Not every day is good, but there is GOOD in everyday."

Sorry, Mama :)

I can't even REMEMBER the last time I burnt something I was baking.

It had been years at least.

Someone is turning 50 today...

I didn't want to be mean and do the whole black balloons, "Over the Hill" thing, but I did want to do something that at least acknowledged hitting this big milestone.

I decided to make cookies with BLACK M &M's :) hehehe. Am I clever, or what?

The first batch? I sent the timer for 9 hours instead of 9 minutes.

They were BURNT to say the least. (This picture makes them look somewhat edible. They were not. Let me tell ya that)

ahahahahahha. Sorry, Mom. Is it a sign???

Happy 50th Momma! I love you! Let's celebrate with some burnt black M&M cookies, shall we? :)

Mr. Relay

At Relay for Life, there is a contest called Mr. Relay.

Ten guys are in the game. They have 2 minutes to go through shopping carts full of GIRL girls and pick out what they want to wear. Then they have five minutes to have their teams help them get dressed and makeup on. :)

After they are all dolled up? A little Mrs. America style Question-and-Answer session! :)

After they have modeled their clothes and done their best to answer their interview questions, they are let loose on a 3 minute dash around the Relay for Life track to collect as much money to fight cancer as they can in their pretty little purses. :)

The guy with the most money collected is crowned MR. RELAY...

Over the past couple years, my sister and I had donated most of our old high school homecoming/winter formal/prom dresses to GoodWill. Or so I thought...

We are going to play a little game. Ya know in magazines when celebrities are wearing the same thing and the mag has a little column called "Who Wore it Best?"

WECOME TO "WHO WORE IT BEST" MR. RELAY 2011 EDITION

A very cheerful contestant from this year and me. Sophomore year of high school at Homecoming. (WITH A DATE WHO COULD DRIVE BY THE WAY.Yep,going for the older boys.) SAME DRESS.

Who wore it best? WHY, OH WHY DID YOU GUYS LET ME GO OUT WITH MY HAIR LITERALLY IN A BEE HIVE? Ugh. He wins. Just based on hair. And that chest that definitely fills out with dress ;)

One of the lovely contestants this year and me... like 8 YEARS AGO at Winter Ball :) IN THE SAME DRESS :)

Who wore it best? Based on the underwear malfunction, I would have to say I wore it better :) Know the importance of whitey-tighties, boys. ;)

My cousin, Evan, in the same dress I wore to my FIRST EVER HIGH SCHOOL DANCE. Homecoming 2000. :)

Who wore it best? The votes are in. Maybe if my date wasn't leaning AWAY from me, and I had more of a dress-hugging figure like Evan, I would have had a better chance. Evan rocked it. ;)

So donate stuff to GoodWill. SOO much better than just sitting in your closet. I had no idea my three old dresses would help raise over $1,000 to fight cancer just from those three "women" that wore them for 15 minutes. You just never know. :)

Please Forgive Me, Debbie

I usually HATE when people post videos for some reason. Like really, I have to click on it and wait for it to load and blah blah? Waaay too time-consuming.

BUT PLEASE WATCH/LISTEN TO THIS!

You only have to watch like a minute into it to be laughing so hard you can't breath.

Debbie on her Eharmony dating website, introducing herself to potential men :)

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE DEBBIE COULD DATE? We HAVE to get this lady a man, so she can take a break from the kitties... :)

Happpppy

So. Have I been Negative Nancy lately or what? Ugh. Sorry :)

This is my Auntie AKA Annie.

(No, her name is not Annie, but when I was little, I pronounced AunTie like AnNie and it stuck. So now that's what we all call her. :)

She is seriously one of the best people in this entire world. And I am not just saying that because we are related and clearly all of my relatives are awesome. But really.

She works SO hard at her job and raising her beautiful FOUR girls :)

Exhibit A: A few years ago, she had a kid in preschool, one in elementary school, one in middle school and one in high school. (Note to self: Do not volunteer to ride along to do four school pick-up stops. IT TAKES FOREVER. I was the one complaining and wanting to watch the DVD player in the backseat. But my auntie did that EVERY single day, without complaining.

Exhibit B: I wish I could show you a picture of her daily laundry load, but she would probably be mad at me. Like SEVEN LOADS AT A TIME???? And yep, no complaining and everything is perfectly folded.

Exhibit C: She makes things like THIS. and has the patience and always let us help when we were little and it would have been waaaaaay easier to just have her make them herself. Her house is always the house with the Easter Egg dying parties with hundreds of hardboiled eggs, or the Super Bowl parties with pedicure stations. You should SEE this woman's nail kit. It's like a HUGE fishing tacklebox but filled with EVERY color of polish you could imagine and sparkles. Her Kool-Aid packets? Organized alphabetically :)

One of the best things this pretty little lady has taught me? Life is HARD, but we just gotta keep on, keepin' on.

Like she always says, "Yeah, the grass may be greener on the other side, but you still have to mow it."

Love it. Love her. Loving that it's almost Friday. Your weekend homework? Be grateful for what you have this weekend :) I am grateful for you, Annie :)

Saturday Night

Lately, I have been feeling like at any given second, I could just burst out in tears.

While I know horrific, terrible things are happening all the time, it seems like lately there have been soooo many horrible, unfair, awful things in the news and newspaper and it is just making my heart hurt.

When it rains it pours? I dunno, but it sure seems like that.

On Saturday night my sister's boyfriend and his family were in Lake Chelan (where my boyfriend is from) and T and his little brother were doing some late night fishing.

They heard yelling nearby, and quickly found out that a 27-year old had gone for a late night swim, and hadn't come up. His friends were yelling for help.

T and his bro (fully clothed in sweatshirts and shoes and everything) quickly ditched their shoes and jumped in.

T dove 15 feet down and saw a white light type thing, that he thought could have been a reflection. He went down again, bringing up this guy. He was white, eyes rolled back and had no pulse.

T's brother who had just learned CPR in his health class, started doing compressions and breathing until the paramedics came. While the CPR was being done, they were praying for the man to start breathing again. He was helicoptered to a hospital where he was in a coma.

Just today I saw on T's facebook that the man is recovering and will soon be removed from the machine that is helping him breath!!!!!! HOW AWESOME IS THAT???????????

I mean, I like to think that T's reaction to just dive right in would be mine too, but I really don't know what I would do in that type of situation. I am so proud of those boys and their automatic reaction without even questioning if they would be "heroes".

So while I STILL feel like crying at all the pain and suffering in the world, I also know how GREAT our God is and he is just so much bigger than all my tears and sadness. :)

Check out their article from the newspaper!

10,000 hours

Last week we had a motivational speaker come talk to us at work.

Everyone meet Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky. She is amazing.

She talked about finding contentment in life and how to be happy even when we see such horrible, traumatic things in our lives. But it wasn't like the "la di di, be happy" typical speech. She was real. Understanding. Knows what's like.

One of my favorite things she talked about?

10,000 Hours to Expertise

umm what?

There is a theory that suggests that after 10,000 hours of practice in anything, one is considered an "expert" in that topic.

Play your piano for 10,000 hours? Move over, Ray Charles.

Spend 10,000 hours working on perfecting your buttercream frosting recipe? Join a gym, and move over Martha Stewart.

I bet you get the point. :) So. Laura was talking about how when we gossip and do things we KNOW we shouldn't be doing, all that time is adding up towards our 10,000 hours.

For some reason this really hit me. Do I really want to be an expert in face-book stalking? Or gossip-magazine reading? Or for that matter, WORRYING?

An hour here, an hour there, a couple more minutes on the Internet may not seem like a biggie. But over the course of a week, a month, a year? How close to being an expert are you?

...Cuz I think Mark Zuckerburg is getting a litttttle nervous about my facebooking skills. ;)

The Time They Thought I had A.D.D.

I had a MISERABLE first year of college.

I moved back and started going to WWU, and I called up the good ole doc, and got a referral to see a psychiatrist to see just what was going on in my poor little brain.

Now, I am not a pet person especially, but I mean, dogs are cute and fine.

BUT. maybe if you are working with people who obviously have a lot of angst and anxiety in their lives, you could not assume they are all dog people, too.

Perhaps I should have asked the receptionist if the psychiatrist I was visiting would bring a dog into her practice? Was it my bad? Do most people ask this? Hm. I had no idea. :)

So I go to the appointment and am greeted by her dog. In the office building. Whatev. I can handle it :) I pet it, say the obligatory "oohh, what a good puppy you have." Blah, blah, blah.

The appointment goes on, we do whatever a doctor does during the initial appointment and we come to the conclusion I might have ADD.

Me? I was speechless. I was honor roll all high school, got a scholarship, LOVED school, took AP classes... pretty much a nerd when it came to school. I got a 4.0 freshman year of college and I was ADD? Umm... okay?

After more eduction, I learned that my problem with attention could be responsible for why I always felt anxious. Interesting? I think so. Me? A college girl who almost joined a sorority and had a boyfriend and got a 4.0 was ADD?

Got my prescription for adderall, did my followup appointments and went on my merry little way.

I think the only thing my adderall did for me was that I could AMAZE my college roommates by being able to sit in the middle of the living room with like 7 other people all talking and laughing and watching TV and listening to music and COMPLETELY zone it all out and type away furiously on my laptop doing homework. Like seriously, it was amazing. :)

So I kept taking the meds and had to tell cute older college boys that 'no' they could not buy some of my adderall off me when finals came around.

The only problem with this appetite suppressing, focus-enhancing pills? I WAS STILL SOO ANXIOUS.

Come to find out, I got a new doctor who told me that for people who in fact ARE NOT A.D.D., these meds MAKE THE PROBLEM WORSE!

So this whole time? This adderall was making me MORE and MORE anxious.

Did I talk to my old psychiatrist about this? Nope. Couldn't. Found out she closed her practice and got her license revoked because she was drinking on the job. Reassuring? Not so much.

Moral of the story? Unless you are an animal lover and perhaps request a doctor who brings pets to your appointments, if you see a dog in the 10 foot by 10 foot office on your first day, make up an excuse and get outta there :)

Orange Smoke

I think the smoke bomb smell might be finally out of my hair.

According to a certain 6 year-old & 7 year-old, "the white smoke bombs smell the worst!"

Which is clearly why we only play in purple, green, blue and ORANGE smoke. Duh :)

I Love Magnets

Remember the CUUUTE makeup board that I wanted to make?

Well my Mom and I got some plain old metal sheets and started playing around with some different ideas. These were our rough, rough, rough drafts, just to test out the strength of our magnets :) So yeah. They worked on the carpet, but would I even WANT my makeup stuck to a board next to my mirror? Test Run 1. I just used thumb-tacks to pin the industrial magnet board to my wall, just to see if I would like my makeup like that.

Tried it out for a couple days, and realized it was actually pretty darn handy :) I was thinking about how nice it would be if I didn't have to open my dresser drawer for ANYTHING in the morning.

Step 2. Magnetize deodorant. :) hahahaha. Yep, I did it. AWESOME.

Step 3. I now have my hairbrush and face lotion stuck to the board too. No lie.

I vote for everything you EVER use being magnetized to the wall. Spoons, cereal bowl, oatmeal container... All ready for me to grab in the morning. ;) Whatcha think?

I am currently OBSESSED with magnets and find myself staring at things at work, in the car, at home thinking about what I could magnetize and stick to the wall :) Don't have room for all those shoes? Stick em to the wall :) What about your tennis racket? Maaagnet :)

The possibilities are endless. Watch out world, here I come ;)

Calling all Girl Scouts

Three Things Tuesday

1.) WANT SOME MORE SMORE NACHOS??????? I have heard of these for awhile, but finally this weekend I decided to give them a try. Break up your graham crackers for the bottom layer ( the tortilla chips.) Add chocolate to coat (the cheese). Then top off with some big fluffy marshmellows or if you are lame and lazy marshmellow cream :) (the sour cream, of course). Put in the oven on broil just for a bit, until the chocolate is melted and the marshmellows are toasted ;)

PERFECT for a fun sleep-over snack!

The verdict? They were fine. but i think there is a reason why smores are smores. There is something satisfying about the marshmellow gooping out between two graham crackers. I think I will stick with the orginal smores format. :)

2.) SNAKE FIRECRACKERS

While we are on the topic of food, I thought I should show you this :) Oh my gosh. These are the fireworks that the kids were all OBSESSED with the first part of the night. HOW NASTY do those little "snake" things look? Ugh. I couldn't stop laughing this morning when I ran by the lake and saw these all over the street. :)

3.) SOMEONE'S ENGAGED!
Look at that surprised face and the BEAUTIFULLLLL ring ;) One of my besties is getting married!!!! Woohooo for Jen and Travis! :)

Favorite Day of the Year

Today is my favorite day of the year. My deep-dark secrets of being obsessed with fire come out today, I think. :) I loooooooooove fireworks. Happy Fourth ya'all!

Manual Labor

I detest yard work. Like would rather do ANYTHING in the entire world except weed. Well, or any manual labor for that matter, but what can ya do. :)

So when I was presented with this chore?

'Not excited' was an understatement. Thank you GOD for inventing a scrapper. :) hehe. 15 minutes FLAT. and they think I pulled it out all by hand... :)

M & M's

I love holidays. Every. Single. One. Decorating, celebrating, dressing in the Holiday colors. You name it. Flag Day, 4th of July. I'm allll over it.

I also love baking. Especially cookies.

Sooo. One of my fav things to do is bake M & M cookies with holiday themes. You know how the stores sell the packs? Red and green for Christmas. Pinks and Whites for Valentines Day, yadda, yadda.

I even branch out sometimes and get a little creative if I do say so myself.

Pick out the red's and blue's... Wait... There is no white M & M's. Add white chocolate chips!

This time I went with the basic assorted Holiday pack.
I've made some for football season where I pick out all the blues and greens for Seahawk colors, red and yellows for the San Fran 49er's. You get the picture. While they are fun and cute, it is not fun to pick through the colors. Plus you need like 5 bags to get enough of the colors you need.

Where am I going with this? My lovely sister had the GENIUS idea of seeing if the Sweet Factory (a specialty candy store in malls around the Pacific Northwest) sold the customizable M & M colors. While they didn't have the ones where you could write messages or print pictures, they had WAYYY more colors of M & M's and they were organized by color!

We bought purple and yellow and she baked up some cute cookies to celebrate Tyson's graduation from UW and his younger brother's acceptance for fall!

Such a fun, easy spin on something simple!

Go bake some in your favorite colors. :)