Roller Blades in or out

I love roller blading. I especially loved at my old apartment complex many years ago where we would play laser tag on roller blades in the huge parking garage. Or in high school when we used to play tag at the elementary school by my friend's house. So I commented to Brandon that the parking garage by our apartment would be a great place to play tag on roller blades with a bunch of people. Brandon said that no one has roller blades anymore because it was a fad, like slap bracelets or leg warmers. I'm sure! Maybe people don't own roller blades as much anymore, but that doesn't make it a fad. It's not like it's uncool to roller blade.

Best Day Ever

This morning I woke up and knew it was going to be another busy day, and after a couple phone calls from art directors it was even busier. I have 4 art directors all wanting to see their illustrations finished asap. A couple are probably even hoping for it today. (ha!) At first I was letting all this pressure get to me and I was pretty stressed. Then I realized, I have all this work that I enjoy doing and people are paying me for it. This is exactly what I want to happen, if only every day could be like today! Suddenly, my day started going so much better. And I've had a lot of sugar, I enjoyed that too.

Lemonade

For the most basic lemonade, add 3T sugar & 1T lemon juice to a tall glass of water with ice. simple & refreshing.

Blog Mimicker

My friend Katy just wrote a blog about being able to walk to places instead of driving and she mentioned this cool site: walkscore.com where you can find out how walkable your neighborhood is. Provo did pretty good. One of the commenters mentioned another site: livingto100.com and this site has you answer a bunch of simple questions and then predicts how old you will live to be. I'm suppose to live to 101. I hope I can still paint at that point, otherwise I better retire with a lot of savings.

The Phone Call

About a month ago Brandon & I met a really nice couple while we were chaperoning a youth dance. We spent awhile chatting and at the end of the dance they said we should get together sometime and we swapped phone numbers. Well, we went on vacation and came back and thought it would be fun to invite them over for dinner. I asked Brandon to call them, thinking the number we had was the husband's cell and that would be more comfortable. However, the wife answered the phone, but luckily Brandon remembered her name because he had just looked it up in his phone. He said who he was, but it was clear she couldn't remember him, which made it really awkward of course. He told her we met at the singles dance, which I'm sure confused her even more and I whispered to him it was the youth dance. Then she remembered and was happy to talk to him.
Meeting new couples is too much like asking people to do stuff when you're single, getting phone numbers, hoping they'll want to hang out with you, hoping they won't forget who you are when you call, etc. You think all of that is over when you get married, but it's not. At least you have someone next to you to laugh with when you get off the phone.

Seattle & Rain

When I was at the grocery store it was pouring rain (again) the cashier was commenting on the rain and the girl behind me said how she loves it, it smells so great. And she added it was because she is from Seattle. Being from Seattle also, I don't think that makes me like rain more, actually less. I get so tired of gray skies and blurry car windows. I don't like how the rain smells either. How often it rains is one of the few reasons I wouldn't like to live in the Seattle area. (it's the rain & the traffic, otherwise it's perfect) I enjoy rain in Utah because we don't get it here very often. Sometimes I feel like Seattleites feel obligated to stand up for the rain to say they like where they are from. I love Seattle. I don't love the rain. Anyone else with me on this?

Obligated running

Today I was meeting my sister at the gym and I got all dressed, locked the front door, walked out, and realized I didn't have my keys. So there I was standing outside my apartment thinking about when Brandon would be home next. Since I was already in my gym gear I thought, oh well, I guess I have to go running. It was nice until the clouds pulled away and I suffered in that glorious afternoon heat. But at least my experience was better than the last time I was locked out of my apartment.

Hide & Seek

The other night we went to hang out with our friends and the 6 of us decided to play hide & seek for some reason. We had a lot of fun, but it really felt like we were 5 years old. Maybe that's what was fun about it. And it only took us 30 minutes to decide on the rules: lights off, eyes closed, if you're caught you help find, no base, you can't move once you're in your hiding spot. The funniest part was if you cheated and opened your eyes to watch the finding person swinging their arms around. Or Brandon impersonating someone finding.

Special Talents

At our little nephews birthday party a few weeks ago Brandon and his brother decided they wanted to kick the balloon on the ceiling. As you can see, Brandon was successful.

Good Eatin'

This morning for breakfast we went to this great place called Floyd's in Victoria. We ate lots of delicious food. Then we indulged in some really good ice cream for lunch and then on our drive home we were a little hungry and decided to eat ice cream again. And that's what I've eaten today. I love being on vacation.

Morning Surprise

We have had a great time vacationing in Washington. On Sunday we stayed the night at our relative's house and in the morning they left for work. We were going to get up and then head to Seattle. Brandon decided we should get in the hot tub as well. We had a nice time lounging in the backyard and I was headed inside to dry off when I couldn't get the door open. It was locked! And so was the rest of the house.
So there we were, soaking wet, locked out of the house and no one would be around for hours. And it started to rain. We went over to one of their neighbors that we had met before, but they weren't home either. Then we were on to the houses of complete strangers. I'm sure Brandon looked funny standing there in a soaking wet clothes. Luckily they were nice, he got to make a few phone calls and we were able to get in to the house. It was kind of a funny way to start the day.

Craigslist

Craigslist offers so many great things. For awhile I thought of it solely as a place to look for jobs and ignored the other features. I've learned to branch out though and am a more frequent visitor of their furniture section, free section (one day I know I'll find something cool), and whatever else sounds interesting that day. I've decided Craigslist is just like a Wilk board for the whole world. I've always thought the Wilk board was useful, and Craigslist is the same thing, just bigger and therefore, better.

Announcing...

On Saturday we were at our nephew's birthday party and Brandon said to some of our relatives, "I guess you guys are the last to know..." as he smiles at me and pulls me towards him with a pause just long enough for our brother & sister in law to look at us with excitement and say "no way!" "Really?!" and Brandon continues "...Yep! We got a TV!" Of course as a young married couple everyone likes to tease us about having kids. And not having a TV. I guess it's only fair we get to tease back now & then, right? It was really funny.

13.1 mile Results

I DID IT!!! I am so happy. I ran the Provo River Trail half marathon in about 2:25:00. So I accomplished my goal of less than 2 1/2 hours! Yeah, it's not a fast time. But it took everything I had inside of me and I am thrilled. I didn't walk at all, I just kept pushing myself. I was so grateful I didn't end up with serious foot pain, side aches, or shin splints like I feared. I was exhausted and was ready to collapse at the end, but that's what I signed up for.
Some highlights were: finishing, of course. What a relief. The last 2 miles were killer.
Also: I loved dumping water and/ or gatorade on my head at the last couple water stations when it was less shaded. I have always seen people do that on TV and thought it would be fun. And it is.
And: It was great to see Brandon at random parks throughout the race. I really appreciated his support and excitement for me to do well.
Last of all: There was suppose to be pancakes at the end, which I thought sounded gross after running and I said when I'm done with a run, I just want a smoothie. And they had them! There was Hogi Yogi smoothies, watermelon, & popsicles. I loved it.
I was surprised with the variety of people that were there. Anyone can run a half marathon, just try it!

Birthday Dessert

It's Brandon's birthday today and I've been trying to come up with lots of surprises for him. For dessert tonight I made éclairs for the first time. They are pretty simple. And delicious!

#1448

I have 2 days to train for the half marathon. It's all I can think about. I wasn't planning on running it due to a foot nueroma, but now I'm just going to give a try and see what happens. (they wouldn't refund my money, what else was I going to do?) I'll probably collapse. But I am going to get my full $30.00 memorable experience. And all the pain that goes with it.
As I was at the gym yesterday, doing some last minute preparing, I was thinking that maybe I'll write my name and Brandon's cell number somewhere on my bib or something, so if I collapse it will be easy to contact him. Then I realized that's exactly what those bib numbers are for. They are just trying to make it less obvious. They have you wear this large piece of paper on your front and back so if you go down, someone quickly scans the records and they can instantly start calling out for friends and family to go with you as they take you off in an ambulance. It's going to be an exciting day.

Car Chases

Tonight we are going to see Bourne Ultimatum. In preparation we watched the first 2 Bourne movies over the weekend. I liked the movies, but I wasn't really into the big car chases. (although, I'd watch more car chases than fight scenes) My opinion of a car chase is: dull. How many millions of car chases have I seen in movies in my life? What makes one more interesting than another? Yeah, maybe some exciting moves or crazy flips, but overall, cars get smashed, they drive like maniacs and sometimes they shoot at each other also. 15 seconds or less, that's what makes a good car chase. And fight scenes, 5 seconds, no blood.
"It's just my opinion, but it's true." -Jim Halpert

Hogi Yogi Run

Last night we played Settlers with some friends after dinner. Brandon creamed us, which he was very happy about. He commented on how he has been winning everything lately, since he won a few croquet games recently as well. Of course, no one wanted to hear how he was winning everything and we started suggesting other games that we could play so he would no longer be winning in everything.
The result of this conversation was a race between Brandon and Staci from our apartment to Hogi Yogi on 9th East. It's a little over a mile and since Staci is a frequent distance runner and Brandon never goes running we thought she would win. However, we didn't calculate in the fact that Brandon had a lot of competitive energy. And his legs are twice the size of hers. He had yet another win. I couldn't believe that at 10:00 at night we were watching these two race down center street. They both felt miserable afterwards, but it was impressive that they did it. Way to be competitive and entertain the rest of us.

Vacation Summary

Last week we went to California for a Miller family reunion, so I got to meet a lot more of my extended family. I decided they are just like my extended family, or anyone's probably. You have your cute kids, the sweet old people, the crazy relatives, the funny ones, the quiet ones. And we're the "normal" ones, of course. Or cool, you can classify us either way.

On our way down we stopped in Reno for a night with all the immediate relatives going to the reunion. Since it was my birthday they made a cake for me out of a stack of donuts. The funniest part was when the fire alarm went off from the candles at the hotel. It wasn't even that many candles. Probably my favorite part of Circus Circus was playing DDR (dance dance revolution) I even got Brandon to play and he creamed me, even though I am more experienced and more in love with the game than he is. Beginners luck. We'll see who wins next time.

After good times in Reno we spent a day at Lake Tahoe, which was beautiful! I got to swim my heart out in cool, clear water. What I love about swimming in a lake is that you don't have to stop and turn around like you do when you're swimming laps in a pool, you just keep going and going. I really want to swim across a lake sometime. I just need to figure out a way to do it without getting run over by a boat.

Then we were on to the reunion, which was full of camping, food, more swimming, card games, lots of family socializing, and the olympics. I never got a gold medal, but I did get a couple second places. Definitely not in the donut eating contest (bleh) but I did pretty good in the airplane throw and the water balloon toss.

Card fanatics

I'm a fan of card games. I played the speed games as a kid and I learned hearts later on in college, and love it. At the Miller family reunion I learned a new game, Blackout. We got their Thursday night and got to enjoy a friendly "pre-tournament" game. The next day was the real tournament, followed the day after that by the finalists tournament for those who qualified. yeah. This was serious business. It was a really fun game, although one family member, that I just barely met, got mad at me because I didn't understand one of the rules and kind of messed up a hand. (I was going to win it either way, I don't know what the problem was) I was creaming everyone in the first round, but lost it in the second round and didn't make it to the finalist tournament. I'll have to practice for the next reunion.