Ahhhhh....time off!

va·ca·tion[vey-key-shuhn, vuh-] Show IPA

noun

1. a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: Schoolchildren are on vacation now.

2. a part of the year, regularly set aside, when normal activities of law courts, legislatures, etc., are suspended.

3.  freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.

4.  an act or instance of vacating. 

 

 *****

I just got back from a girls' weekend with one of my favourite girls of all time!  There are those friends that everything is always just easy with.  I'm so grateful for those friends in my life.  I love that we can pick up and it's like no time has passed between us.  Even if there are long gaps of time that we don't communicate.  Our friendship has grown.  We still have memories of "the good old days".  And of course we have inside jokes that no one will ever understand or find funny.  But we still have our current lives and are still just as much friends as we ever were.  Miles apart from the other.  In completely different places in our lives.  I love that.

Thank you friend!

A-Z of me

A friend of mine put this on his Facebook and I liked it.  Thought I would add this to my blog.

A - Age: 35
B - Bed size: Queen.  It's perfect!  I can sleep in it sideways or the correct way.  Lovely.
C - Chore you hate: Taking out the garbage.
D - Dad's Name: Ward
E - Essential start your day item: SHOWER!  I don't officially wake up if I skip a shower in the morning first (aka - the weekends)
F - Favorite actor(s): Adrien Brody, Edward Norton.  This question is always very difficult for me. 
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'8"
I - Instruments you play(ed): Piano, Guitar, and this one time - at band camp... (okay but I really did play the flute grades 6-8).
J - Job title: Nursing Admin/Lead Staffing Coordinator
K - Kid(s): Nada.
L - Living arrangements: Flying solo in my new house.
M - Mum's name: Cheryl
N - Nicknames: James, Hark, Harker, Jay
O - Overnight hospital stay other than your own birth: Nope
P - Pet Peeve: Poor Grammar/Spelling in general, the misuse of their/there/they're and other words.  People who think they're always right.
Q - Quotes you like: “Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.” - Walt Whitman
R - Right or left handed: Righty
S - Siblings: Matt, Jacob, Blake
T - Time you wake up: 5:30am
U- Underwear: yes of course.  The cuter the better please.
V - Vegetable you dislike: Is a beet a vegetable?  I really don't like beets.
W - Ways you run late: I do a lot of lolly-gagging while I get ready.  I easily find ways to waste time when I should be getting ready to go.
X - X-rays you've had: maybe 3?  Not including all those ones at the dentist, they take like a million every year.
Y - Chicken stuffed with Sundried Tomato Pesto and Feta Cheese and baked Sweet Potatoes.  YUM!
Z - Zodiac: Capricorn

Talk about a yellow submarine

Last weekend I painted my guest bathroom yellow.  I'm usually overly thoughtful about colours and what not that I choose (like taking 6 samples of the colour I think I like and taping them together on my wall for a week to see how I feel about them).  Last weekend I passed a Home Depot driving home from Trent's soccer game and I decided I would take a chance - and just go in and pick a yellow that struck me as great and go home and get painting.  That'll teach me to be spontaneous.  Seriously this yellow is brighter than that sun!  WOW.  So now I am about to go buy some new - more tame version of this yellow and re-paint.  I can't even post pictures of it, it's that bad.  I literally have to squint my eyes when I turn on the light to see if I still hate it.  (ps - I still do).

Houston!

 In April, I was able to go to Houston to visit my friend Sarah Jane and her adorable family.  It's always so fun to take trips to see friends and even more fun to see them in the role of MAMA!  I was there as a designated "helper" as she is flying solo while her husband has taken a new job in TN and they are planning to move.  Carson and Noah had lots of baseball that week.  It was fun to go sit out in the night air and watch munchkin baseball.  Carson and Noah and I played catch everyday and I loved it.  I was so glad that they loved playing outdoors.  It was really humid and sticky, but worth it.  I even got a little colour on my pasty NW skin.

Carson playing First Base!

Noah up to the plate

Miss Elizabeth and I played Barbie Princesses and Justin Beiber for the rest of the time.  She is a silly girl.  She is IN LOOOOOVE with Justin Beiber and refers to him as "the Bieb" and her boyfriend.  She's 4.  ha ha.  I took a hilarious video of her singing "Baby" on my phone.  And then there is snuggly baby Emily.  Oh my goodness she is so cute.  She loves it when you give her Eskimo kisses and will actually lean into them to get more.  She will let you snuggle her all day (and don't think I didn't take full advantage).




Emily had been sick one night and one of the mornings I had to get the boys ready for school, lunches packed etc.  You should have seen the list of notes I was taking.  I didn't want to screw anything up for them.  They told me I only missed one thing in their lunches when they got home that afternoon.  Not bad for a rookie!

I had a great time catching up with Sarah Jane and getting to know all of her kids and their growing personalities.  They're very cute and we had a very fun time.

Wheel of Fortune!

Tonight we scored VIP tickets to the taping of Wheel of Fortune in Portland. My good friend Cheryl's brother James is working on the set and he got us tickets for the event. They taped 2 shows. Our shows will be aired May 3 and May 4 so look for us in the audience! It was definitely fun and Pat and Vanna and the announcer guy were all very friendly and nice and talked to the audience during "breaks" and all the contestants were local Oregon people. My mom had to tape her mouth shut to not shout out answers. There were some others around us that were not so restrained. There was also a medical emergency at the end of the last show. They were just needing to tape the final little "bit" they do at the very end of the shows and there was all this commotion and EMTs and basically everything came to a halt. Pat was even over there offering his input. So we left before they taped that final part. Overall a pretty interesting night.

OMSI

I took today off from work. That's reason enough to blog in and of itself. My mom and I took Trent to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). Oh my did we have a lovely time. It was a gorgeous day out, so it was a little bit of a shame to be indoors, but it was worth it. We took a tour of a Submarine and learned all about life on a sub and the cramped quarters and very short shower times, if they got them at all (no thank you!)


We watched an Imax movie called Born to Be Wild about baby Orangutangs and baby elephants that are orphaned due to poaching and deforestation of the rainforests. These places that take them in, care for them, and release them back to the wild when they're ready. There was also a Lego exhibit going on. WOW! Talk about amazing stuff! There is a man that is a professional Lego Builder who built all these different things. Every young kids' dream job!


There were whole sections set up just to play and test things out...water rockets, and entire room about vacuums and air flow so balls were being shot all over this place. Trent had a great day! It's always good to hear him laughing and enjoying himself.

WICKED!!

The Broadway play WICKED is in Portland for 3 weeks. Tonight I surprised my mom, who is in town visiting for the week, with tickets for her birthday. Her birthday isn't until the 28th of April, but who cares! It was SOOOO SOOOO great! We've seen it in San Diego and Los Angeles already and we've just put New York on our "bucket list". I'm amazed at people who can sing like that, not to mention the ability to get up in front of people and act. My face is turning red just thinking about it. The musical was so great! If you haven't seen it yet - you really should. As my friend Amber describes it, "it's a great message that really shows you there are two sides to every story".

There is a song just before intermission that seriously gets me every time. Tonight was no different. The song is called Defying Gravity. Check it out here if you want even the smallest taste of how amazing this show is. Or better yet - just go see it when the Off-Broadway comes to your town (or anything even remotely close to your town!)