i remember it all very well, looking back...

it was the summer of 2008, shortly after the summer olympics. i was sitting on the deck of a pool with my sisters, watching my niece and nephew swim. we were discussing swimming, naturally as it had taken over the world thanks to michael phelps. we were also discussing the possibility of cassadie joining a swim team. my sister had been considering it, but wasn’t sure. neither of the kids had any swim lessons up till this point, other than what they’re grandma (my mom) had taught them in the local pool. but, we all saw some natural talent, at least we thought we did. it’s hard to push aside the bias when it’s someone so important to you.

shortly after that discussion, my sister did put cassadie on a swim team. and, amazingly enough, the coach saw the same talent we did. about a year later that same coach saw cassadie’s brother for the first time and began the campaign for my sister to get jarod swimming as well (he’s tall and strong…good for a swimmer).

two years after that first conversation, they are both swimming on a year round swim team and doing extremely well. they are both naturals at the breast stroke, even my untrained eye can see that it’s by far their best stroke. cassadie just took 3^rd in the 200 meter breast stroke and 4^th in the 100 at her age group championships this past weekend. she is just 7 seconds off the high school qualifying time (she’s 2 months shy of 14). i am amazed by her progression.

there is nothing i enjoy more than watching them swim. because not only do they put in the time and hard work, but they LOVE swimming. at a swim meet in january jarod had finished all his races and asked if he could get in the warm up pool and swim laps. a 10 year old who has been swimming all weekend wants to get back in the pool and swim some more…if that isn’t pure joy of the sport than i don’t know what is.

here are some pictures i captured at a swim meet in june...

cassadie has a whole warm up routine where she swings her arms and stretches. it's really cute.

(cassadie is on the right.) i remember the first time i saw her leave the blocks, it looked nothing like this. two years and hard work has definitely paid off.

(cassadie is closest in the frame) this is her breast stroke. and, this picture is of her winning her heat as you can see she is ahead of all the other girls.

jarod getting ready for one of his races.

jarod does not like the butterfly, it's awkward and really hard on the legs. i've heard him several times heading to swim a fly race saying..."i'm gonna die." he might not like swimming these races, but he has never once died, and i really like how the pictures turn out.

i would title this "lookie lou jarod". i'm sure he's just sizing up the competition, but he sure looks around a lot.

matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match...

i'm going to put the stories about my trip on pause for a minute to share something that happened at the boys and girls club a while back. i spend two hours each week at the club, usually in the art room since that's kind of my thing. i help the teacher pass out supplies and i wander around and help the kids if they need it. the first hour is usually insane. i'm not sure why, but it's loud and it's crazy and we very rarely get the project completed. the kids are all hopped up on something. the second hour is my favorite. it's the exact opposite of the first, it's calm and it's quiet. and, because it's a little more sedate i'm able to sit down at a table and hang out with the kids.

when i chat with the kids i try to ask them questions about themselves...school, friends, brothers, sisters. and most of the time they will ask me questions about my life. which generally consist of...do you have kids? are you married? do you go to school? do you have a roommate? my favorite...if you're not still in school and you're not married, then why do you have a roommate?

so, one day a little girl, in the second grade, is asking me these questions. i'm answering them and everything is normal, until...she asks my age. this is not a question the kids usually ask. here is what happened next (names are changed)...

sophie: how old are you?
me: 32
sophie: (very emphatically) 32! and you're not married? what are you waiting for? go out there and pick someone already (points outside for extra emphasis).
me: well, it's not that easy. it's hard to find a good man.
sophie: oh, you want a gooooood man? what about jason (B & G club staff)? he's a good man.
me: i'm sure he is, but i don't really know jason.
sophie: what about tim? you know him. he's standing right outside. (she gets up and runs outside).

i follow her in some kind of daze, out of morbid curiosity, surely this isn't happening. this is the conversation i overhear...

sophie: do you have a girlfriend?
tim: no
sophie: do you want to go out on a date?
tim: um, sure. i guess we could go get ice cream or something.
sophie: no, not with me, with her. (turns and points at me).

and, i know what my face looked like at that exact moment because it was mirrored in tim's. it was a deer in the headlights, yeah, that just happened, kind of look. what happened next? sophie yelled "you need to take beckie on a date because she's not married" and then skipped off.

well, folks, that's the story of how i got set up by an 8 year old. i'm amazed at the thought processes of children sometimes. i often find myself thinking, "wow, how did you get there from here." in this case i knew exactly how sophie got there....to an 8 year old, 32 is old. and, 32 and single is unheard of.

i've thought a lot about sophie's question...what are you waiting for? the only response i can come up with...i don't know, something amazing i guess!

my life in ruins...

when you imagine greece, what picture comes to mind? is it this?
i think for many of us it is. and, i believe that the movie "sisterhood of the travelling pants" only perpetuated this stereotype. this is what i imagined all of greece to look like...white washed walls, beautiful blue water. so, imagine my surprise when athens actually looked like this...athens is big, it's loud, it's busy and it's extremely diverse. i should not have been surprised that it looks nothing like the iconic image in my mind. after all, it's a major city, it hosted the olympics. i shouldn't have been surprised...but i was.

the day we docked in athens found us in the middle of a transportation strike. there were much larger strikes and rioting going on in the week following our departure, but for our one day it was just the transportation. if we had been on tours this wouldn't have been an issue. but, since we are cheap and relied on public transportation, this posed an interesting problem. we found ourselves running for trains and buses, miraculously making it on the last one running in the morning and the first one running in the evening. this was the only port where we very narrowly made it back to the ship on time...with about 5 minutes to spare. (FYI...the ship will leave you behind if you're not back for the "all aboard" time).

our first stop in athens...the acropolis (with about 3,000 of the other tourists from our ship). it kind of became a game of where's waldo as we tried to stay together.
second stop...gyro's for lunch!
after lunch we wandered around down town. these guys guard one of the government buildings. i don't know about you, but don't they instill fear? i mean, with their white tights and pom pom shoes? if i had a video of this moment it would show the guy on the right teetering precariously on his one leg, which gives further proof that these soldiers are not at all scary.
next stop...dessert! greek baklava...yummmm!
if there were any lingering thoughts that i might see the white washed buildings in athens, this image erased them completely. (notice the KFC)

leave the gun...take the cannoli...

one thing i learned about myself while travelling is that i’m not very good at geography or history. i’m sure the knowledge was there at some point, i just lost it somewhere along the way. i won’t bore you with stories that prove this fact like how i didn’t realize that egypt is on the continent of africa or that pineapple and coffee can come from costa rica. i fully admit that in some ways i am the typical egocentric american, not paying attention to things outside my sphere. but, i am also an american that loves learning how other cultures live. one piece of advice i would give to someone visiting another country…don’t be afraid to eat where they eat, ride public transportation and just roam the streets. i firmly believe that this is how you fully SEE the culture.

on the morning of April 25^th i woke up in naples, italy.

which is coincidentally one of my favorite things about cruise life…waking up in a completely different country. i admit that I didn’t do a lot of research before this trip. i wish i had. i left the ship knowing very few things about the city i was entering. i wish i had known more.i really only knew what my tour book and/or someone told me such as...naples (napoli to the locals) is where pizza was invented. our goal for this day was to eat pizza, a margherita pizza (sauce, cheese and a bay leaf) to be exact. and we did. and it was fantastic!

the people living in napoli are called neopolitans.i actually learned this fun fact after returning to the states. i wish i had known it while i was there, because i love it!

napoli is the home of mt. vesuvius and pompeii, the town that vesuvius buried in 79 AD. pompeii was accidentally rediscovered by a british guy in 1592.

some of my favorite memories from my time in napoli…

as we were wandering the streets we stumbled upon this mall. yes, you read that correctly, this is a mall.

in a corner of the mall we found this pastry shop, where we found cannoli's. a cannoli is a pastry filled with a mixture including ricotta cheese and they are wonderful!

i just love this picture...just a vender hangin' out with his stroller full of goodies. i think the colors are fantastic?

a cruise ship life for me...

cruise ship life is the life for me. i loved almost every aspect of it. i loved the diversity of the crew. i loved the food…it was amazing! i loved that once you were on the ship you never had to spend another dime if you didn’t want to. and, i loved that you could be as busy or relaxed as you wanted to be. there was something going on every moment of every day and it was up to you to choose if you joined in or not.

every night there was a big production show. these shows generally consisted of singers, magicians, dancers, a comedian, etc. there were also lots of lounge singers and a variety of live music around the ship throughout the day. so, for a music lover like myself it was pure heaven. the very first show was “The Jersey Boys”, four boys singing the songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. and, they were fantastic!

i firmly believe, and this is only my opinion, that there is a proper and improper use of falsetto. in fact, as much as i have been and always will be a fan of new kids on the block…Jordan Night abuses the falsetto on a pretty regular basis. just because you CAN do it, doesn’t always mean that you should. with that said, the guy portraying Frankie Valli in this quartet has what i consider to be the most proper use of falsetto i’ve heard in a long time. in the middle of the performance Jessica leaned over to me and said, “his falsetto is SICK.” and, i agreed.

since we all have the right to our own opinions, i’ll let you decide for yourself…

here are some of the other happenings on the ship…
this was my home for 12 days...royal caribbean's navigator of the seas.
the village people showed up for disco inferno night and the policeman started a conga line.
as i said, the food was fantastic. this was a dessert sampler...amazing!
they really do make animals out of the towels they leave for you. and, if you leave your sunglasses laying around, sometimes they'll accessorize.

when in Rome...

i just returned from the vacation of a lifetime. at least, that’s what one of my co-workers calls it and i’m of a mind to agree. i spent twelve days on a cruise ship, with three friends and about 4,000 other people, touring several ports in the mediterranean. i set out for the airport early the morning of the 22nd with two prayers…please, God don’t let eyjafjallajökull, the icelandic volcano, trap me at the JFK airport. and, please, let me find Jess easily in the rome airport. i learned something about myself that day while sitting and waiting for a connecting flight. i had secretly, somewhere in the back of my mind, been expecting something to keep me from this trip. i would double check my tickets, sure that i somehow had the date wrong or the wrong destination. surely i wasn’t really going to rome, italy to board a cruise ship. i somehow expected for someone along the way to say, “nope, not you Beckie. you don’t get to have experiences like this.” surreal, that’s the only way i can describe it.

and, it’s still surreal, even now, after the fact. i’ve been back home for about four days and it now feels slightly like a dream. if i didn’t have the pictures to prove it, i might think i wasn’t really there at all. i’m trying desperately to keep it fresh in my mind and to process what i’ve seen and experienced. it will probably come in patches and out of order, but i’m going to do my best to share my adventures, starting in rome…

three things i love about rome…one…gelato, which is much more than ice cream ever could be. my favorite was cappuccino, which somehow tasted like chocolate and caramel with the tiniest hint of caffe. it was like a creamy frappuccino that you eat with a spoon. i would buy it from the lady in the termini train station because it was the cheapest (2.60 euros for two scoops) and the best. although, it might have been the price that made it the best because i can’t say i had any bad gelato, just expensive.

and, two…the way italians say “Ciao Bella.” (translation: hello/goodbye beautiful). i firmly believe that every woman should have an italian man say this to her at some point in her life. in fact, if i could get a recording that i could play on repeat i would be in heaven. there’s a reason italian is referred to as the language of love…it’s beautiful.

three…the buildings. i have hundreds of pictures of random buildings. i can’t even tell you what they are, i just liked the look of them. maybe i missed my calling as an architect. i don’t know, but i loved looking at those buildings with their little green shutters. so, i chose a few of my favorites to share. some i’m sure will be very familiar…

the colosseum

part of the roman forum (next to the colosseum)

st.peter's basilica in vatican city

one of those cool buildings i was talking about

fontana di trevi (aka...the trevi fountain) and, of course i threw my coin in and made a wish along side the other tourists. fun fact...the coins in the fountain are collected every day to help feed rome's homeless.

rome has several bridges that cross the Tiber river. this one was my favorite...the statues along the side represent the stations of the cross. and, they're beautiful.

my own personal business...

as i said in an earlier post, i am working on starting my own freelance design/etsy business. my family has been telling me for years that i should do this and for years i've come up with reasons and excuses as to why it's not a good idea. mostly just plain fear. well, enough excuses.

my first task, aside from the name that is, was to do research. see what else is out there, learn what i can from people who have gone before me. and, since i'm an avid reader...i hit the book store. what i found is this...


it has encouraged me, inspired me and scared me to death. ironically, the fears and excuses i've been telling my family for years...this book has completely squelched. which would be great except that it simultaneously has brought up so many more questions and anxieties like...business licenses, taxes, bookkeeping, marketing, etc. so many things that i have never even considered. the only thing keeping me moving forward on this endeavor is that this book explains how to do all of those things. it is the nuts and bolts of starting a "crafting" business.

so, i will keep you updated as this journey unfolds. it's exciting and a tiny bit scary, but...i'm ready for a little bit of risk.

smarter than a fifth grader?

i've been volunteering once a week at the Boys and Girls Club of America for about two months. my experience so far has been really good and has proven that kids really do say the "darndest" things. and on weeks where i find it a challenge to go after a long day at work, i find that generally something happens to make me extremely thankful that i did. here is a little example of just that...

keagan: (singing) "i fell in to a burnin' ring of fire."
me: wow, johnny cash, impressive!
angelica: i just saw that movie about johnny cash, walk the line, i loved it!
dustin: (directed towards me) isn't there an ocean that is called the ring of fire?
me: um....
keagan: no, you're thinking of a ring of volcano's and the lava is the fire.
dustin: no, i'm pretty sure there is an ocean that is called the ring of fire because of the plates or fault line it sits on. (again directed at me, i guess assuming that as an adult i should have this information) is it the pacific?
me: i'm not sure. i really don't know
dustin: you don't know? c'mon, it's geography. (thus solidifying in my mind that he assumed as an adult that i should have this information).
me: dustin, what grade are you in?
dustin: 5th
me: well, i guess i'm not smarter than a 5th grader.
dustin: (after controlling his laughter and becoming very serious) maybe you should try to learn then.

yes, dustin, maybe i should try to learn. and, since google is my friend...

the pacific ring of fire (or sometimes just the ring of fire) is an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of a pacific ocean.

thanks to wikipedia, it has been proven that dustin, and kind of keagan as well, was right. and....i am in fact...not smarter than a 5th grader.

what's in a name...

for years and years I’ve been trying to come up with a name for a freelance graphic design business. and frankly…i have commitment issues. i have no idea how people name their children…it’s so permanent. there is pressure and i feel it. i want it to be catchy, clever, maybe even witty. but, most of all i want it to instill confidence. i want it to say that i know what I’m doing.

recently i’ve considered going a different route and opening a shop on www.etsy.com, where I could sell other types of artwork as well. while looking into this i stumbled upon an article about choosing the perfect name for your shop. should it have my name in it? should it involve alliteration? and, i find myself with the same problem…commitment issues.

so, i’m going to do something i’ve considered doing for a while now…i’m going to ask for help. what do you think my design business/etsy shop should be called? any thoughts, ideas, strokes of genius...HELP!

gotta' get yourself connected...

today i've been researching and preparing for a technology seminar i'm teaching next week. i have taught this seminar for the past three years at a conference for senior adults. somehow the word has spread and i've been asked to teach it at another conference. my seminar generally covers what's out there on the internet...social media, photo sharing sites, blogs, etc. every time i prepare to lead this class, it begins to seem so basic. i mean, i use these tools on a daily basis, and i quickly begin to lose sight of the fact that not everybody does. plus, i use these tools, but that doesn't make me an expert. so, i find myself questioning, in a typically self-deprecating fashion, why they've asked me to teach and if anyone will even come to my class.

then i read this quote that helped put it into the proper perspective..."whatever technology that's in front of us always challenges us, [for instance] our parents thought that we listened to the radio too much." (Jesse Rice, author of the church of facebook).

that's the truth, isn't it? it is always changing, there is always something new. and sometimes, that newness scares us. it also tends to divide generations. so my task, whether i choose to accept it or not, is to bridge that gap. and, to show my audience what's out there and how it can work for them. it seems a daunting task...wish me luck!

during my research i stumbled upon some videos that i thought were pretty fun and i thought i would share them...



this next one was presented to me as an idea for a new communication tool in my office. i personally thought it was a fabulous idea...

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

this last one really doesn't pertain to my task, i just thought it was adorable. this little boy is an extremely talented ukelele player. any guesses on how old he is? performing "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz...

ran across an old box of letters...

i keep everything. i'm extremely sentimental. this is not a surprise. i've always known this about myself. but, it's a fact that was proven as i sifted through three gift bags full of old letters. FYI...if you've ever sent me an invitation to your wedding and you need a copy for your scrapbook just let me know...i still have it.

i've kind of always thought of this as a negative thing...keeping everything. the term pack rat comes to mind and that always has a negative connotation. but, i'm not sure that it is bad, unless it gets to the point of having to wander through a maze of junk just to get to my kitchen. what i found as i looked through those bags is...life. my life. there were letters, birth announcements, wedding invitations, graduation announcements, notes of encouragement and much much more. of course, some of it was junk and i did throw things away. but, most of it was priceless. here's an example...

my bebo norman autographs...

i am a bebo fan! there was a time in my life where his was my music of choice. i love his folksy sound. i was even willing to look past the acrylic nails on his strumming hand and the fact that he spelled my name wrong because, well let's be honest, just look at him.

my postcard collection...

i'm not sure at what point i thought it would be a good idea to start a collection of postcards. it might not have even been a conscious decision. but, somehow, on some level, i think it's kind of romantic.

my cards from jess collection...

jess and i have a similar love for great cards. it's one of the many things that make us such great friends. looking through these cards made me realize that she did an amazing job of keeping in touch. there are birthday cards, valentine's cards, easter cards, and postcards. Some are store bought and some are homemade. i can only hope that i kept in touch half as well as she did.

the card standing up in the picture is one of my favorites. in case you can't read it, it says..."so, you will not go to omaha with paco? paco can show you many things, but paco will not beg." the inside says..."birthday or not, don't go with paco." it makes me chuckle every time!

the best birthday card in the world...
if you don't have a child in your life to send you amazing things, then i recommend you go out and find one. this homemade card and envelope are from my niece. i love it! my favorite part is this..."you may be getting older but your my aunt and your still beautiful." awww, priceless! she also says "i hope you like your card" several times. yes, cass, i love my card!

the best letter in the whole world...

again, if you don't have a child in your life to send you amazing things...well you know how i feel about that. this letter is from my nephew. i wish i knew how old he was at the time. it is adorable...

i have no idea what it was i helped him with or what a "starcraft" is. however, i do remember the necklace and still have it somewhere (of course). i remember that the beads were things like basketballs and soccer balls, real manly beads. and, as he said, it WAS a real nice necklace.

so, what i learned from this little trip down memory lane is...that it's not a bad thing to keep stuff (as long as it's in moderation). it reminded me that i have had, and still do have, some amazing people in my life. looking through those cards, i laughed, i cried and i remembered that i am loved. and, i think that is ALWAYS a good thing!

real men of genius...part three

Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris...real men of genius!

old long since...

have you ever wondered what the song auld lang syne (AKA the new years eve song) means? if you're anything like me, probably not. in fact, like me, you probably can't sing any of the song past "should old acquaintance be forgot." well, if you're reading this blog and you're dying to know...it translates to "old long since", it's the idea of casting off the old...looking toward the new. (if we thought hard enough we probably could have all figured that out, but what's the fun in that?)

and, as always, since the new year began there's the dreaded question...what's your resolution? i don't generally make resolutions. i'm sure the reasoning behind that has something to do with my lack of self discipline or something else equally as self deprecating, but i just don't usually make them. However, this year i did...by accident. it wasn't a conscious decision, it just happened. it really started happening last fall. i began to realize that i lead a very small life. not that i think my life isn't valuable, it is. i mean that my world, my social circle, how i spend my time, is very small. i began to see some areas where i was being asked to grow, to stretch myself out of my comfort zone, to take some risks (as long as those risks don't involve picking up hitch hikers, per my parent's request).

so, here is my inadvertent new year's resolution for 2010...to put myself out there more, broaden my scope, meet new people, impact lives and take some risks. here are three goals i gave myself that i believe will steer me in the right direction. 1) find, commit and get involved in a church home. 2)volunteer at a homeless shelter, soup kitchen and/or food bank (if you've never read "under the overpass" by mike yankoski i highly recommend it, it is life changing. 3) hang out with/mentor kids. so, there it is, out there for the world to see! this is how i want to actively change my life in the coming months.

resolution update...here it is january 11th and last week i began the process of becoming a volunteer with the boys and girls club of america. one goal down, two to go. i'm not telling you this to toot my own horn. i tell you this because i believe accountability is the key to success. i'm hoping that as the year progresses i will find other valuable ways to spend my time that i can share with everyone. right now, i'm just looking forward to hanging out with some kids!

speechless...

lady gaga is crazy. last year i was at a concert and the opening act was this unknown artist...lady gaga. the performance was insane, and a little bit painful. a couple of months later, this "unknown" artist starts poppin' out singles left and right. i tried to not like her. i tried really hard. but, her songs are so catchy.

i stand behind my opening statement...lady gaga is crazy. but, she is also extremely talented and maybe a little bit of a genius. after all, her bizarre behavior has us all talking about her. whether we love her, hate her, or just don't know what to think about her, we talk about her.

you might question my sanity for calling her talented. but, i will leave this video to speak for itself...



no, lady gaga, you've left ME speechless!

flirtin' with disaster...

i think that when disaster strikes we would like to be able to say that we respond well. we want to know just what to do, just what to say to make the situation better. unfortunately, i don't know that everyone can be ready for every situation at any moment. in most cases we're probably only prepared after the fact, for the "next time."

recently, due to cold temperatures, a pipe broke in the sprinkler system at my work. one minute i was enjoying lunch, the next i was wading through water trying to save whatever i could. i keep referring to it as a disaster, because in the little world that is my work place, it was disastrous. but, i don't know if it would be a disaster in the grand scheme of things. i don't know if there is a sliding scale that determines whether or not something is in fact, a disaster. maybe it has to do with numbers of lives lost or square miles destroyed. i mean, in comparison to say, hurricane katrina this was minute. and, luckily, the only casualties were leather dress shoes and electronic equipment.

what i have learned about myself through this experience is that i don't necessarily respond well. i found myself just standing, staring at the destruction, unable to move. because i realized that no matter what i was able to salvage, the devastation was far beyond anything i could comprehend. i stood watching water pour down a door, not unlike a waterfall, and i thought to myself (i may have even mumbled to someone nearby) "this is bad, this is very bad." and, it was bad. but, we will recover from it.

we will recover. we are in the process of recovering. and, after the fact, there are stories to tell...where were you when you heard the call for help? what was the first thing you saw? what did you do? and, on this side of disaster, you even poke fun...whose elaborate plan was this to get us new carpet? who was our of the office today, it was their fault. you recover and you go on with life.

real men of genius...part deux

jimmy fallon does neil young singing the theme to fresh prince. jimmy fallon...genius.

love is a mix tape...

"most mix tapes are CDs now, yet people still call them mix tapes. the technology changes, but the spirit is the same." - Rob Sheffield

i'm reading this book called "love is a mix tape." it's written by Rob Sheffield, a writer for rolling stone. it's the story of his life and loss told one song at a time.

i love mix tapes. i love everything about them. i believe it stems from my love of music and my passion for wanting everyone else to love music as much as i do. i like the idea of sharing with people the songs that mean something to me. songs that inspire me, challenge me, or just make me want to move. with the invention of the iPod and iTunes playlist, this obsession has only been perpetuated. this technology allows me to make a mix tape for any occasion...a workout mix, road trip mix, pity party mix, dance mix, and the list could go on and on.

these playlists can transport you to another place and time. after all, you can say a lot with a mix tape. just recently i was listening to a mix that my cousin Jessica and i made a couple of years ago. we spent weeks or maybe months making lists of the perfect songs. we wanted it to be just right. we wanted it to be fun, to inspire, to encourage. we titled it...girl power. as i listened to this mix it reminded me of that time, when Jessica (who now lives in another country) and i lived together. we spent a lot of time listening to music, discussing music and singing music. this mix will always have a special place in my heart.

...Girl Power
disclaimer...that last song is not so much about girl power...it's just stinking hilarious!

country roads take me home to the place i belong...

i am not a spontaneous person. i'm sure this admission does not come as a shock to any of you. i'm actually the exact opposite of spontaneous, i'm a planner. i think long and hard before i act. so long, in fact, that action becomes extremely difficult. yes, i over think things. there have been a few times, however, when i act on things so quickly that it is seemingly uncharacteristic of me. it leaves those around me surprised when they hear of my spontaneous decision. these moments can be counted on one hand. these moments are also considered, by me, to be acts of God.

i believe them to be acts of God because they ARE so far from my comfort zone. and in retrospect, they tend to be a positive experience and, on most occasions, what my life needed at that exact moment.

the most recent of these experiences was a road trip with a good friend across the country. my friend needed someone to help her drive to Kentucky and when i found out, i immediately said i would do it. the decision was made on thursday and we left on tuesday. this left me four days to make arrangements at work, find a plane ticket home, and pack. every detail fell into place perfectly and we set out on our adventure. i spent three days in a car with my friend Kim, talking about life, singing along to random music, and enjoying the scenery one can only find in middle America. Oh, also, committing near nascar maneuvers in order to capture memorable photos. here are some highlights from the trip...


is this sign really necessary? i mean really, state of oregon, how dangerous could the dust really be. and, if it is so dangerous that we need to be warned, then shouldn't the sign read...warning: SEVERE dust blowing area next 40 miles.


this sign cracked me up. not only was Butch Cassidy imprisoned here, but they also sell brooms! question...who is going to go to the wyoming territorial prison to buy a broom? i mean is this just a happy coincidence? are you just sight seeing and then, "oh, honey, imagine our luck! we were in need of a broom!" i mean, are they special brooms? is wal-mart not available?


a detour for gas in the middle of nowhere led us to stumble upon this statue of Jim Bridger. Jim is apparently famous for roaming around the state of wyoming telling tall tales. if this is all it takes to make a person famous, than my cousin Jessica deserves a statue because i remember a time when she told a bunch of tall tales about the state of washington to some visiting friends!


i call this picture...wheat field Jesus. observation...a wheat field is not that tall, therefore Jesus would need to be reclined for this to be accurate. well done Burlington, Colorado! i'm sure you're leading thousands to Jesus with this billboard!


you cannot get much more small town America than this!


my part of the road trip stopped in Kansas City, where I spent the weekend with some great friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

overall, it was a great trip. and, like many other of my God ordained spontaneous moments, it was just what my life needed at that moment...a little shaking up.

i'm just a girl in the world...

setting...white river amphitheater. scenery...mt rainier. sounds...three amazing rock bands led vocally by three (well maybe just two) strong and amazing women.
i love concerts. there is something about the feel, the vibe, and the people watching opportunities that makes me really happy. sunday night i had the chance to see no doubt and paramore, opened by a swedish band called the sounds. it was an amazing show. we danced, we jumped around and we sang our hearts out.
when the sounds started off the show my first imression was...alright, they're pretty good, i think i like it. this was quickly followed by my second impression...did that woman just flash her panties at the audience? yes, i believe she, wait is she making out with the keyboard player? yes, yes, whoa she really needs to keep her dress down. I think she, why yes she is, she's swearing at us? So, my message to the lead singer of the the sounds..."your music is actually really good, but unfortunately i left your show with the memory of your performance etched in my mind, and not in a good way. please don't belittle your music and women everywhere by continuing to act this way."
i had hope that paramore would redeem this rock show and i knew that i would not be let down. they were fantastic! my favorite part of their performance...cute, little, twenty year old, hayley williams telling the band to stop and pointing out into the mosh pit. we all, for a brief moment thought it was staged until she proceeded with the following..."what's going on down there? we got beef in the pit? come on, we're all here for one reason, to hear great music, so grow up! you want to fight, there is plenty of room in the parking lot, the rest of us are going to enjoy some music." and, the band continued playing to uproarious applause from the crowd. all i can say...i so love her! another highlight from paramore...the guitar player doing a back flip over the bass player, while continuing to play his guitar. what?
that brings us to the final act of the night. while i've always considered myself a fan of gwen stefani and no doubt, i must admit that i went to this show primarily to see paramore. i was amazed how much i really enjoyed no doubt's performance. as i said, i danced, i sang, and i jumped around. it was a really fun time! i think gwen is fantastic! at forty something, after having two kids (although i'm not convinced that she gave birth to the children herself...see pictures below), she not only looks phenomenal but she dances, jumps around, and manages to sing while still sounding good. Amazing!


it was a great evening including dinner at el camino's mexican restaurant in downtown enumclaw, a very high priced coca cola, freebies including bedazzled earbuds and a harry potter hat (for knowing one of gwen's children's names...thank you useless knowledge of pop culture trivia), and one fantastic rock show. well worth the money spent and the lack of sleep for a great experience!

real men of genius...

i stumbled upon this video of chris daughtry performing lady gaga's "poker face." i believe this version is better than the original. chris daughtry...genius!