Funny Birthday Card from Denise!!

Caption reads:

"I had to give up jogging for my health. My thighs kept rubbing together and setting my pantyhose on fire."

Thanks friend! I got this today and laughed my freakin head off!!! Katie and Michael both had to comment that I could be the short one and you could be the taller one. Gee...I wonder what made them say that??

Love This Place!

Take a hike.

Today I took MB & Megan out for a hike. This is the dam at Lake Clementine. It's a 2 mile hike to the falls. I think they liked it.

These Days

I had a wonderful birthday. Thank You.

Not to disrespect my family, but my favorite part of the day was hanging out with Denise. The art galleries inspired me. I wanted to go right home and paint! Lunch was yummy and you never know what kind of treasures your gonna find buried in a thrift store. I bought a shirt, a dress, a movie (Apollo 13) and a new black bath mat. Denise gave me a book (I'm really looking forward to reading it) and an incense burner.
Michael and the girls gave me 2 movies (Garden State and Zuthera), a yoga mat with case and a big bag filled with all sorts of goodies like candles & spa creams.
Gifts are nice, but honestly I just liked the attention I got. It was good to feel so much love from my friends and family.

As for that miter saw...yes, I did receive it. It was an early Valentine present.

I feel spoiled. Am I spoiled? Or just loved a lot?

I don't take this for granted. I know how blessed I am.

35 Today

Think Young, Act Young, Dress Accordingly.

I like to collect cards. This one seems fitting for today. As you are well aware, today is my birthday! I'm closing in on 40 (35). I plan on spending the day with one of my best friends, Denise. We are going to art galleries and thrift stores. What a combo! And of course, lunch.

Tonight MB is taking me out to dinner. Do I want Mexican food or steak? Also this morning I had a lovely bunch of roses waiting for me with balloons and a card. Thanks hun.

For a bit of history...I made a late entrance into the world. My mom was due to give birth on Valentines Day. However, I was destined for greatness, so I held out for George Washington's birthday. My mother's water never broke. As hard as the doctors tried to break it, I was stubborn. I brought my nice warm bath with me.

To this day...I don't like to be cold.

Girls Night Out

Guess which one is me?

If you said the short one in the middle wearing the "Happy Birthday" tiara...then you guessed right! Gee, how did you ever find me? Hehe.

We had a very fun night out. Here's how it went.

We hung around Dena's house for a while and then took off for Granite Bay. Our first destination was "Ake Bono", a sushi restaurant. We had reservations, but nobody in our car could remember the name of it?? So we reverted back to our old school days to use a helpful trick that lets you remember important names and dates...Word Association. What did we think up to remember "Ake Bono"?

Achy Boner!
It was much funnier with 10 gals laughing about it, trust me.

I ordered my favorite...Sesame chicken.

What Kathy? You didn't have sushi at a sushi bar? Well my friend...it turns out, I DID thanks to peer pressure. My first one was cooked and had shrimp in the middle. I didn't realize that you were supposed to eat it all in one bite, and I had a hard time cutting the seaweed with my teeth. Good thing I was surrounded by friends that just think it's hilariously funny to watch bits of sushi falling out of my mouth! I didn't like the flavor. Guess I'm not a shrimp person.
My second one was much more graceful. I had raw ahi tuna sushi. I liked it okay, but the sauce the girls had me dip it in, I didn't like so much. The texture was squishy, but I had no problems with that.
I'm sure I will try sushi again.

Once we were done eating, talking and laughing (I seriously think other guests wanted to kick us out) the waitresses and waiters brought out a plate of pink and orange frozen desserts and sang Happy Birthday. That was nice. I couldn't eat any because it was ice cream.

After that we all talked about where we would go next. Many of us wanted to go to the powerhouse, but not all. So we comprimised and went across the street to "Cobos". I think that was the name of it. It was a mexican restaurant with a bar. We all had a drink, me and Mindy had strawberry margaritas. The bartender kept calling me princess.

After a little while, we were bored. We needed a place to have fun!

Again another compromise and "Pistol Pete's" in Auburn was soon agreed upon. ehh, I still wanted to go to Powerhouse, but that's life.
I was having fun with my friends and that's all that mattered!

At Pistol Pete's we had more drinks...I had a peach rum punch. It was tasty! We danced around, watched the band and played pool. I spent most of the evening with Mindy. She is pictured to the left of me wearing the brown jacket. She's a kick! We even played air hockey while we were buzzed. Everything was funny.

Then the guitar player started playing a piece I recognized from Joe Sateroni. It's my favorite electric guitar piece. I enjoyed the sounds and started to mellow out a bit.

We left before the bar closed and I got home at 2 am.

Thanks Dames! I had a great time.

A Cool Morning in COOL, CA.

View from the backyard

Katie & Megan playing in the front yard

This was the scene at our house this morning, bright and early, 7:30am. My girls have never woken up in there own beds with a fresh blanket of snow waiting to dazzle their faces.
Well, Katie has...but that was many years ago when she was only 2 year old. She doesn't remember it much. Our neighbors have grown children and said that our area hasn't seen this much snow in nearly 16 years. I'd say we got about 5 inches overnight. Very "COOL".
Interestingly enough, these same neighbors happened to have 2 bright pink sledding saucers they offered to let the girls use. Isn't that nice. They are very nice. I should bake them something. Hmm...if only I liked to bake!
Cookies...YEAH! Everyone likes warm chocolate chip cookies on wet snowy days. I know I will enjoy making cookies with Megan. Anytime spent with her is fun.

Girl Fun

My birthday is next week...

This is the first time in my life when a bunch of WOMEN want to take me out for my birthday. Seriously. I've never had so many girly friends in my life, it's great!

Here's where they are taking me. We are going to see a very old band, that I met while performing at an East West Shrine Game as a cheerleader when I was 17...STARSHIP. They're big song was "We built this city", remember?

http://www.powerhousepub.com/index.html

MB doesn't approve, but don't worry- it's not like I'm gonna get bombed, dance my ass off, twist my ankle from falling off the bar and let some sweet guy offer me a ride home! Not me, I'm not like that.

When will guys learn...girls just wanna have fun.

This trail is kicking my ass!

I've just got to tell you...yesterday I finally parked at the bottom of the canyon and set out to run some REAL trails. You know, the kind that have big rocks, deep water ruts, red dirt, mud slides, wild critters and gorgeous views?

It's about time.

I live 5 minutes from some of the most scenic trails in the country. I've lived here for 2 and a half years, and only been on 1 trail!
That's pathetic.

I have a book that describes all the trails around here. I choose one that looked good for me. Unfortunately, while I was on the trail, I missed an important turn and instead kept going up. I ran and ran. Uphill. I had to walk (hike) twice. I thought to myself, "This trail is kicking my ass!"
However, there was consolation. The view of the river, where the north and middle forks of the American River converge was gorgeous!
Finally I came to a dead end at Foresthill Road. When I got back down, I consulted my book. Sure enough, I wasn't on Stagecoach Trail, like I thought.
I decided to do another trail. That's when I met Norm. Norm looked to be about 60 years old and asked me if I was going to hike to the dam. He told me all about it and said with a tear in his eye, "It's just beautiful. I've been there 4 times already just this week!" That did it, I was hooked! He said it was only about a mile up the trail and told me how to get there.

No problem. I knew I could easily do it, if this older man does it everyday. Well, it turned out the dam was 2 miles uphill. I ran it and thought to myself, "Damn, Norm must be in great shape to do this everyday."

Finally I got to the dam that brought an old man to tears.

It was beautiful. The water from Lake Clementine crashed down on big boulders you could barely see because of the overspray of the waterfall. The water made a stunning transition from bright white to emerald green. At the base of the waterfall a perfect rainbow shined brighter than I've ever seen.

Next time I'm bringing my camera.
You've just got to see it.

As I ran back down the trail, I wondered..."Shouldn't I have just paid to see that? I am in Ca."

Valentines Day

Here's a short list of people I love;

My parents- Rosella & Hal
My sister/brother- Kris & Jeff
My husband- Michael
My children- Katelyn & Megan
My In-Laws- Don & Ginger
My nieces- Hiliary, Caitlyn & Sierra Grace
My nephews- Jonny, Shane, Drew & Bryon
My sister-in-laws- Tammi, Conni & Julie
My brother-in-laws-Jim, Jeff, Rick & Myce
My Friends- Denise, Devona, Kathi, Dena, Thea, Bridget, Becky, Carl, Celeste, Jana, Jen, Tiffany, James, Toni, Gary, Duf, DJS, Steve, Nick, Claudia, Adam, Sabrina, Don, Lori, all the Divide Dames and future friends I haven't met yet.

Bless these people, Lord. Watch them and keep them safe.

Hope I didn't snub anybody. Man, I just know I'm forgetting someone??

I REMEMBER NOW! Great Grampa Larry! Today is his birthday. He is 90 years old today!! Go Grandpa!
Oh Jeez, how could I forget him?

Spring Cleaning

Do you know what is under your rug? Probably something like this. Fine grains of sand filtering through the web fabric of your rug. There they sit, safe from the sucking power of your vacuum.

However, I knew it was there. It has nowhere to hide from me. BTW- it helps to take the rug outside and beat the crap out of it. Literally.

Quote from yours truly

"I've got one foot well lodged in the abstract end of life while the other is firmly cemented in hopeless denial."

In other words...I'd rather not live in the real world right now. It's to painful.

A Real One From Facts of Life

It's been a while since I've written any boring stuff about my daily life, hasn't it? Honestly, it's not that boring. It's what you want to read. It's the boring daily crap that keeps you coming back here, isn't it?

I know because boring daily crap is what I look for when I hit the "next blog" button. I want to know (actual proof) that someone I don't know who lives thousands of miles away is doing the same boring crap as me. I want to relate and connect and laugh (or cry) and say HEY, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANS!

So here's a real one from me. Catch my WAVE.

Last Friday I packed up my bags and left the house. After a nice breakfast with MB, I was on my own for the next 4 days. I made an immediate beeline for Border's Bookstore. I wanted to kick start my weekend with a hefty dose of strong soy coffee, thousands of books, soft leather chairs and bright red walls. I stayed there for nearly 4 hours.
The weather outside was bright and sunny warm. Before I left the parking lot, I sat in my backseat and started reading "Carrie" by Steven King. I kept my door ajar to let the fresh breeze flow in.

I was reading the part about Carrie getting blasted with a shower of tampons when a voice distracted me. The voice came from behind me and said "yeah, uh, it's a white trooper..."
Knowing he was talking about MY vehicle- I turned my body around and poked my head out the door. A man in the passenger side of a new black Lexus was talking into his cell phone. He stuttered a bit with the shock of seeing me. "Oh, I'm sorry- there is someone in the car. Good-bye."
I guessed it immediately (anyone would). He obviously thought, driving by to find a parking spot, that my vehicle was empty and a door left open. He was on the phone with the parking lot security. Discovering his mistake, he felt foolish and so did I. Quickly I smiled and said "Oh no, this is my car. I'm just getting some air. Thank you anyway."

It made me smile to know that there are people in the world whose first response to a bad situation involves going out of their way to help...by preventing or reporting a theft. Even if it wasn't what he thought it was. I like to witness good deeds.
Like the Tin Man...good deed doers.

By that time it was almost time for my movie to start. I drove over to the theatre and bought a ticket to see Harry Potter #4- The Goblet of Fire. I've already seen it, but when I discovered that it was still playing on the big screen, I wanted to see it again. Since it's been out so long, there weren't very many folks sitting around me. Just a few old people in front of me and a dad with his son behind me.

After the movie, I was so hungry! I had not eaten since breakfast. However, the freeway was jammed packed with motorists and I sat there in traffic going about 15-20 MPH for the longest time. Now, freeways confuse me. I am not ashamed to admit it. Why the heck do they have to call the same road by 3 different names? 99, Capital City freeway and 80? Just call it ONE name please!
I knew it would take me longer...but I ended up taking the Watt Ave exit all the way down to the Jackson Hwy. I stopped at the Safeway to pick up some food for the weekend. Then I stopped again at Subway for dinner. I ordered my favorite 6 inch Turkey on wheat bread. I wrapped it up and saved the last third for later. I get full fast.

Now I know how to get to the cabin from here. No big deal. I did have some moments of thick fog. I stopped at the gas station to use the restroom. By the time I got to the cabin it was 11pm. I was beat. MB was mad at me cause it had taken me so long to get there. Dang! I wanted to just say LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY! I'm a big girl.

The rest of my weekend was great. I lit candles and wrote to my hearts content. I figured some things out by drawing diagrams of the two worlds.
Perspective is key.

Whenever I got bug eyed from staring at the computer screen to long, I either called home- or went for a walk. No running. I just thought and thought...drank coffee and ate cereal.

Monday morning I woke up early and decided to just come home. My head ached like I was crushing it in a trash compactor. I took 2 tylenol and feel asleep in bed.

Today I got back on track with my running and I feel good.

Sunny Outlook

Weather forecast for Northern CA.

ABUNDANT SUNSHINE ALL WEEK

pretty nice, eh?

You know what? I really need to see the world...or at least the good 1/3 of it. Not having a point of reference really sucks.

February is my Favorite

Happy February Folks!

I love this month.

Why?

1.) It's my birthday month. My birthday is on February 22nd. I will be 35!!!!Yikes. That's like almost middle aged or somethin.
2.) Valentine's Day. Share the love.
3.) Wet drizzly days for running!
4.) Did I mention it's my birthday month? I think that should be counted twice.

What do I want for my birthday?

A miter saw! A nice one! If not a miter saw...how about a wet table tile saw? A 7 inch portable will be fine. I could always use one of those. I must have borrowed my father in laws at least a couple times over the summer.

However, if getting me a power tool is not what you had in mind...gift certificates are always appreciated. I think a sporting store would suit me just fine. A place where I can pick some new running clothes. I am in need of a new dri-fit, long sleeved, light weight over shirt. And of course, socks.