In honor of Pat’s birthday, which ends in 35 minutes. I give you this:
I would have posted Spidey’s amazing tour through the rainforest, but someone (who will remain nameless but who is celebrating a birthday today) deleted it.
I also would tell you stories about Pat, but it’s late. Instead, let me direct you to his blog and you can read about him there.
And Pat, I offer you this word of advice for the next year of life: Carefee…Carefee!
In honor of my dear friend Kelly’s birthday, I’d like to share this story with you…it’s relevant because:
1) it involves Kelly and today is the day of her birth
2) it’s winter and this story happened in winter and
3) I think this will start a new ‘thing’ here at the blog – celebratory posts about friends on their birthdays.
This story is titled: How to learn to ski, or, What happens when you’re friends with a pansy.
It all started with one of Jessie’s plots to get a group of people to do something fun – in this case, go skiing. The year was 2003 and we had just months left of college life to enjoy. Despite no one else wanting/being able to come along, Jess, Kelly and I piled into the Surburban (three across the front, Patty Griffin at top volume, a ‘do as you please’ vehicle) and drove to Virginia for a (my first-ever) ski adventure. Lots of things happened, but we had a great day at the slopes – me on trick skis because that’s apparently what they give beginners and Kelly and Jessie on regular people skis.
Skip ahead to the last run of the day.
I’m doing great – I successfully dodge the gravel pit I fell in earlier and manage to stay upright the entire run (a first). I’m coming down the last hill when I realize that I’m completely, 100% out of control and going too fast to make myself stop. I spy Kelly and Jessie waiting for me at the lift. Beyond them there’s a plastic barrier and a black diamond. There are lots of people but no piles of snow or anything soft. I realize there’s nothing else I can do…I swing my arms out wide, shout, “I’m sorry Kelly!!” and slam, full speed, into her.
We both go flying about 15 feet downhill and everyone in the vicinity stops to stare.
Kelly, being the good friend that she is, is still my friend. Even though I almost killed her.
Want to know more about Kelly? (It is her birthday after all!)
- She lives in Argentina.
- She is married to the great Tabo.
- She is one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet.
- She has one of the cutest kids ever. How can you not love this face?
- She taught me to be a little bit of a rebel. (I will update with a photo of this once I put my hands on it, which may be a few days…)
Happy Birthday Kelly!
Ack. I’ve fallen off the posting wagon and I’m so surrounded in updates that I don’t know where to start. So far 2010 is turning out to be the year of Kate (despite Jessie’s good intentions of that happening 2 years ago). So, a quick recap of the first month of what is shaping up to be a great year:
- One of my favorite people married another great person, which gave me an excuse to visit Louisiana.
And, in typical Louisiana fashion, our hotel flooded during the reception and we were all thisclose to flying home in our fancy dress up clothes.
Luckily Uncle Walt saved the day and our stuff and we all just flew home smelling like roses a little musty.
- I got a new job, which I’ll start on Monday – more on that soon.
- I respectfully resigned from my previous job. Or, at least, I tried to until my boss threatened to withhold one of my paychecks and blamed me for everything short of world hunger and made me cry and threw papers at me and stomped his feet*.
Then I just never went back. And that, thankfully, is the end of that.
- I had a great ski adventure where I only fell down one time. Hear that? Once! And I didn’t even hit anyone! It’s a minor miracle along the lines of Jesus showing his face in toaster strudels.
- I got to spend a fun weekend in Boone with some of the Asheville crew. The weather was cruddy but the company and food and hot tub were amazing. We played a lot of games and, not to gloat (okay, gloating a little), I won every game we played – I guess Heang may have been right about choosing me to be his teammate in Sequence.
There was probably more, but that’s all for now. Until next time, just remember: it’s fun, it’s challenging, it’s exciting…!
*Not an actual representation of said boss. Actual boss was much scarier, but I’d hate to frighten any children out there.
Trip: Mexico in October – sun, relaxing, ancient pyramids, margaritas and shrimp tacos…it was pretty great.
Discovery: That soaking nasty smelling gym clothes in baking soda before washing them actually does get the foul body odor funk out of them.
Book: I read a lot of books this year, so this one is tough. However, I’m going to have to go with Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.
If you have not read it, you should. Eggers gets the award for favorite author of the year as well. With the exception of You Shall Know Our Velocity (which I stopped reading on page 14) I have loved all of his books.
Honorable Mention: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Heartbreaking and kind of amazing.
Album: No clue…I can’t keep up with what was released when. I’ve liked a lot of music this year. I’ll have to leave it at that. But, I’ll add a music-related discovery – Lala.com, which has been a lifesaver at work.
Accomplishment: It’s a two way tie between the triathlon
and surviving driving through the blizzard in Oregon.
Moment of Relief: Getting the keys to a rental car in the San Juan Airport. Words cannot express how fantastically amazing it was to sit in that car. Oh, the silence! Oh, the air conditioning!
New Friend: Spidey! Shown here with Jesus and Conan the Barbarian
Honorable Mention: Lots and lots and lots…2009 was a great year on the friend front. There are too many to count.
Traveling Companion: Jessie, but of course.
Honorable Mention: Oscar, for being the only cat I know who doesn’t complain (well, not very much) about driving across the country and getting bounced around for months on end.
Place I Called Home: I floated between 5 different houses this year. I liked them all for different reasons – the house in the woods, the guest room of my best friends, the neighbor’s house, Muffins and Paul’s house, my current apartment – and, cheesily enough, realized that wherever you are is home, for however short a time.
Thanks, 2009, it was fun.
It was Christmas! Hope it was wonderful and nothing like this video, which I am posting as a strategic move in my war against the 99% of the population who think that Bob Dylan is the most amazing thing ever. I just think he’s good.
I’m taking a page out of a friend’s book here, but only because it amuses me. Here are a few of the things people have searched for and inadvertently stumbled across this here blog (I wonder what kind of things they were actually looking for):
creative titles for school uniforms
worlds grossest urinals
treaty of versailles paper it was signed (that exact phrase, four times)
moist breathe (makes me shudder that this was googled twice)
dreadlocks style breaded
hanging pinatas woman
And, by far, the most common link from my blog to the intewebs is the word lightning, which is weird, because I have a feeling a lot of websites contain the word lightning.
How’d you end up here?
I got a tree.
It almost got the best of me after the stand it came with broke (actually the screw holding it to the stand broke, and I didn’t have a long enough screw to replace it with). It was an epic battle that was the demise of many a pine needle. But, thanks to a nail and some wire (yes, I tied my five foot tree to the wall), it now smells like Christmas in here.
It’s nice.
Oscar, who is generally the world’s least photogenic cat, participated in the photoshoot too.
I’ve never really liked the dress up people at the mall – the Santas and the Easter Bunnies and the whatever elses that kids get their pictures taken with. But, I love these from sketchysanta.com. It’s like awkward family photos Christmas edition.
wait for it...
Nice 'stache
it's all in the glasses
Hilarious.
Part 1:
When I was three or four years old my family (mom, dad, two teenage siblings) took a trip around the world. We traveled for a month and though I remember very little of the trip, the photos are amazing. The story goes that my parents, being thoughtful about traveling with three kids, made everyone essentially responsible for carrying their own luggage. My stuff was all kept in a kid-sized blue backpack that I’ve been told I dutifully toted around airports and through various countries. The last time I can remember actually seeing that backpack was in eighth grade and, as always, I was surprised at how small it was. It’s hard to fathom how I carried around a month’s worth of clothes (even size 4T) in it.
I tried to find a photo of me and my backpack but couldn’t. But, just for fun, here’s one of me at about that age (a little older?) looking crazy and one much younger:
They are grainy so it’s hard to tell just how amazing my mom’s perm is…
Part 2:
In college I acquired the grown up version of my blue backpack – this one much larger, but just as bright blue. I carried it all over Europe and across the country on countless trips. This summer, in the midst of many, many moves between houses I seem to have misplaced it. I know think that it was perhaps stolen one fateful day, but I’m not sure about that. Anyway, I’ve been making a list of the things that were in the backpack as I realize they are gone. So far I’ve missed:
- A hairdryer
- Two pairs of jeans
- Another pair of pants
- A thin blanket, the kind you add as an extra layer to your bed in winter
- A Camelback
- Soft fleece
The most depressing was the last one – a black super soft fleece that I literally lived in last winter. Then, hooray! A birthday and not only a replacement, but an upgrade with thumbholes and a strangely placed side zipper. Suffice it to say I haven’t worn anything else for three days. Loving it!
Part 3:
True story-I’m writing this post in said fleece when Oscar walks across my desk. As other pet owners are aware, animals tend to ‘express‘ themselves through indelicately placed (and smelly) glands. It would be just my luck that as Oscar strolls across the desk his rear end explodes with a few drops of the most heinous smelling stuff I’ve ever encountered…all over the new wonderful fleece. I very nearly vomited. The fleece is now soaking in the sink and will hopefully be returned to it’s former pristine and odor free condition.
Sometimes you go to the store and come away with more than you went in for. Often, like every time I go to Target, those are things I want, and therefore pay for. Other times, like at Food Lion, these are things I don’t want and thankfully don’t pay for.
First, there was this incident.
Yesterday I went to buy a few items and when unpacking my bag discovered a large box of Queen Anne Cordial Cherries.
Was it cordial cherry giveaway day or did I just get lucky? Either way, these are definitely not a favorite of mine, and I already know what Christmas party I’ll deposit them at.
Partygoers beware!
