Wanna go for a ride?

Enjoy yourself. I'll catchya back here. As you can see from Phin's sb page and post on our collaborative art blog, I don't really do bicycles. Maybe if I had one of these stunner cruiser bikes, I'd change my mind. Maybe not.

Have a great weekend. We're heading to the hills. Be back soon.
_

I’m a sucker for the meme’s

Instructions:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone else up one place. Then, add you name to the bottom spot, like so:

1. Everything and Nothing
2. Mike's Homefront
3. What I Know for Sure
4. green butterfly
5. Willow Grace

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Spending part of the summer with nieces and nephews, hanging out with the husband and managing a stamp store.

What were you doing one year ago?
“June 28, 2006: Walked with Eve. later drove Bridge’s car to Oakland. Jimmy was following in our car. Bridge called, flight late, not arrive till 1:30a. Meanwhile, went to Skates By The Bay to celebrate b’day a little early with the fam. Picked bridge and her fam up at 1:09a. To cabin afterwards.”

5 snacks you enjoy:
1. ice cream
2. chips and guacamole
3. blueberries
4. chocolate chip cookies
5. Japanese sweet and salty rice crackers

5 songs you know all the lyrics to:
1. Don’t Give Up by Peter Gabriel
2. Add It Up by Violent Femmes
3. Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin
4. Taylor the Latte Boy by Kristin Chenoweth
5. One Step Closer by Linkin Park

5 things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1. pay off debt then not carry any debt
2. buy a hybrid car
3. think about finding a different place to live in the Bay Area
4. Buy a handbag I’ve been coveting for a long time
5. Go to Kauai for a week with closest family and friends

5 bad habits:
1. not stopping when I’m full up
2. driving too fast
3. obsessive collecting
4. buying too many crafting supplies
5. picking at scabs

5 things you like doing:
1. traveling and exploring
2. going to into the City (San Francisco)
3. being on the water: lake, ocean, river, pool...whatever
4. crafting
5. hangin' with my peps

5 things you would never wear again:
1. stirrup pants
2. plastic “pearl” jewelry
3. perfume
4. horizontal stripes
5. fur

5 Favorite toys:
1. camera(s)
2. computer(s)
3. crop-a-dile (scrapbooking tool)
4. my car
5. the boat

Wanna play? Then Tag, you’re it! 5 of you, please! lol!

Glimpses of past Alaskan adventures

I'm so blessed. I've been to Alaska twice already. But our upcoming trip will be my first to Anchorage and first not on a cruise. So I've been reflecting about my past adventures. Alaska has been very good to me. I've already shared a few photos here and on our family website. So this is just another one of my visual tributes to one of the most amazing places I've been.

Ketchikan



Juneau





Skagway




Glacier Bay




Sitka

Watching What Not To Wear wondering what to wear.

Next weekend we'll be in Anchorage.
This is not Anchorage. This is Glacier Bay circa 2004.

We're going to my brother-in-law's wedding on July 7th. Yep, that 7/07/07. And can you guess what time the ceremony is?
7:07pm, naturally.
Living in the lower 48, one might think: 7:07pm? Oh my. That's so late.
But in Anchorage, the sun does not set till 2am. So that'd be like having a wedding at 2pm.
BTW, the sun rises around 4am. Whoo hoo. a whole 2 hours of nighttime. Have I told you I like me my sleep?

Ok, there are a lot of other thoughts filtering thru my head right now, but I'm still thinking about what I'm going to wear. It's a very casual wedding. My soon to be sister in law says 'come as you are' and 'jeans are perfectly acceptable'. Quite a difference from the wedding I went to in March where the bride doesn't even wear pants on a daily basis. Get your mind outta the gutter...what I mean is she only wears dresses or skirts! LOL!

So, I'm thinking jeans and a pretty top. Or black pants and a sweater. What would you wear if you were going to a casual outdoor wedding in Alaska?

D&M

Hello Monday

San Jose Rose Garden.
_

the three Bs

a {B}aby shower and a {B}uddhist {B}azaar

That's how I spent my Saturday.

First, the baby shower.I used to work with her mom. Her mom was our bookkeeper and worked at home but came into the office every afternoon to pick up the paperwork. She'd bring the kids with her. The first time I met them, they were 9, 6 and 3. The mother-to-be was the 9 year old. I was a mere young'un in my 20s. If you refer back to my original dumass post where I said (#5) that I gave away my beanie babies...it's this family who adopted them. I think that was the last time I saw them. The family, not just the beanie babies. I'm fairly certain we won't wait that long again to see each other. There's a birth of a baby and a graduation to get together again, but maybe we can actually just get together for lunch or something, too. It was good seeing all of them again.

A few hours later, I watched my friends perform Taiko at the San Mateo Buddhist Temple Bazaar.Deanna's in the background on the big drum (there is a technical name but I don't know it) and Sharon's in the foreground. They are soo good! And one of the coolest thing is their troop has little kids in it, too.Too bad I'm not standing in a good position to photograph this adorable guy. I was talking to Sharon afterwards and she said he LOVES playing the drums. His parents confirms that he practices all.the.time and beats on Everything.

Here are a few more shots I couldn't resist showing:


One of the stamp clubs I'm involved in meets monthly at the temple. We have several members who are also members of the church and whenever possible, we volunteer at festivals. So after the Taiko performance, I helped serve Udon and bus tables with 3 other club members for a couple of hours.

Continued proof that I'm a dumass

Twice this week I walked out the door and got into my car wearing this:
Yep. Not just once. No, I didn't learn the first time. Not once a long time ago then 'oh i forgot' and did it again 2 years later. Wednesday evening, then again the very next day. The first time, Jimmy almost refused to turn the car around and nearly made me to go to the mall that way. Not just any shopping mall, THEE mall. THEE mall that's rated as the best mall in the entire Bay Area. The next time, I was alone so I smacked myself hard then turned the car around. The good news is that on both occasions I was only 2 blocks down the street when I noticed.

Why, you might ask, would I admit to this ineptitude? I donno. Maybe I thought you needed a laugh. Or maybe that is just the level of my dorkiness. That I'm such a dumass that I have to blog about it.

It's gonna be a dry summer

The weekend before we went to San Diego, Jimmy and I went to the hideaway and explored the high country a bit. This is the Stanislaus River, up around 6000 feet elevation. Our hideaway is at 4500 feet.

This is a view of the Dardanelles from a remote road off of Highway 108.

A short hike in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness.


Funny looking snow plants native to North American western mountain ranges, called Sarcodes sanguinea.

Wildflower Indian Paintbrush.

She's a fancy cat

with her pearl necklace.
_

Graduation and gluttony

We're home from our quick trip to San Diego for our nephew's graduation from UCSD. When we weren't in the car, we were always busy with family and friends. Which always leads to lots of opportunities to eat good food in gargantuan portions.

On our way down to San Diego, we stopped for lunch in Santa Barbara at a little taqueria joint that was supposedly boasted by Julia Childs. I ordered a pork taco and a tortilla stuffed with spicy beans. When I placed the order, the gentleman reiterated that it was Spicy. I thought about it and decided to go ahead and get it. Well, here's a word for the wise: when the Mexican order taker looks you in the eye and tells you "it's spicy" that means that he can tell by looking at you that you won't be able to handle it. We also ordered a dozen fresh homemade corn tortillas for the road, and they were gone before we got to Long Beach.
Before heading down to San Diego, we stopped in Laguna Beach at the graduates parents house (Jimmy's brother) for a few minutes to stretch and enjoy the sea breeze. We arrived in San Diego around 6:30 at Gil's, Jimmy's long time friend and our best man at our wedding. Two of Jimmy's other buddies from high school were there, too. Of course, we headed out for dinner, a delicious Japanese seafood buffet and aside from the sushi, I couldn't resist the tempura - which is oh so tasty but oh so caloric. I definitely had that "I'm on vacation" mentality happening.
Saturday morning, woke up at 5:30 so we could meet the rest of the family to carpool to the graduation. Graduation started at 8:30, but we got there early enough to get seats in the 3rd row.
Nan had commented in my previous post that she wished us a great speaker, good air conditioning, comfortable seats and less people than a large city. I have to laugh because as you can see from the next 2 photos, none of those came to fruition.

Here are the graduates getting their diplomas, outside in the sun. San Diego has temperate weather and it was probably only in the 70s, but when you're sitting in the direct sun for 2 1/2 hours, even 70s is hot. Despite having to wake up so early, we were thankful graduation was early because it was only going to get hotter. Those poor graduates in their black robes! We couldn't imagine what it would be like if it were in the 80s or hotter.

And as far as we could see were friends and family members there to support the graduates. There was an estimated 10,000 people there. And this was just one college's graduation from the university system. But the great thing was there were no tickets or limitations on how many guests the graduate could invite. There were 13 of us at graduation, then we headed to a celebration lunch at PF Chang's where the graduate works and 24 of us gathered in his honor.

After the celebrations, we headed back to Gil's house and chilled for a couple of hours. Our niece joined us for the evening. Before heading out to dinner, we stopped at the Campland RV Resort so she could visit with the Machado family (Jimmy's sister) for a little bit. So fun hanging out with the family. Love 'em all!
After our quick visit, we went to Pacific Beach for a tasty Mexican dinner. The best part though was the companionship and laughs. Gil drove his BIG Toyota Land Cruiser, which was perfect since there were 6 of us. Ashley and I squeezed in the 3rd row bench seat, while the boys all sat up front. They're all bigger than us, so it was the logical thing to do. When Gil parked the car, the boys hopped out of the car, shut the doors and TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT US!! We couldn't get out of that back seat without one of them moving the seat up for us to crawl out. No, they didn't do it on purpose, they just shut the doors and went on their way. 2 of them paid for the parking, the other 2 headed into the restaurant to get a table. Ashley and I were CRACKING up. We could.not.believe that they just left us in there. But it was so freaking funny, too. When Jimmy and Sly walked by the truck after paying for parking, I pounded on the glass so they heard us in there. The windows were tinted, so they couldn't see us. Jimmy called Gil to bring the keys to unlock the doors. Ashley and I laughed even harder because we heard the phone ringing in the car - Gil left it behind. Anyhoo, they finally let us out, they were very embarrassed and we laughed about it over drinks.

Here's the motley crew after dinner during a walk along Pacific Beach. Ashley's such the good sport hanging out with all the "old" folks. She's so cool. Totally comfortable with everyone, no matter who or how old they are.

Sunday, before heading out of town, we had breakfast with Gil in Encinitas. Their claim to fame is "Manhole Sized" pancakes. They are. Yes, I had one but I could only eat about 1/4 of it along with the bacon and 2 eggs that were served with it.

We parked next to this cool workshop. Loved the colors, so had Jimmy take a photo.
Before heading up the coast towards home, we stopped for a Father's Day lunch in Claremont at Jimmy's brother's house. More food, YAY. But they bbq'd pizza and I've been craving pizza for months. I'm so glad I held out, because this was the best pizza I've had in years. I ate 6 slices! Which probably worked out to about one CPK sized pizza. I visited my dearest friend Danielle for about an hour, also. She just moved and now lives 7 minutes from my brother in law's house.
On the way home, we opted to eat in the car. Snacks included a Krispy Kreme donut, which nearly made me barf and a Subway sandwich.

Graduation and gluttony fulfilled.
_

A Graduation

Early tomorrow morning we're off to San Diego for our nephew's graduation! Yay!! We're so excited for him. This graduation is the start of our very busy summer.

The older nephew in the photo is the one graduating from the University of California, San Diego this weekend. He was our Jr. groomsman at 7 years old. It's amazing that he's now older than when Jimmy and I got married.

Recreating a commercial, and a meme

Have you seen that paper towel commercial where the son is in the kitchen and he opens quart of orange soda and it sprays all over his mom and she yells at him and says "BILLY! What are you thinking?" then proceeds to have a water/soda fight with her son?

Well, this was my attempt to recreate that scenario: except my story isn't as fun as a water/soda fight with a family member. My story is just plain stupidity. Let's just say that I don't recommend mixing club soda with Crystal Light then shaking it in a cup with an insufficient lid.

Since I'm on the topic of what a Dumass I am (another commercial reference. You wouldn't think I had TiVo, would you?), I thought that now would be a good time to catch up on a meme I owe to Jodi who tagged me last week. I figure that whatever else you learn about me that you don't already know, along with the pink Crystal Light all over my kitchen, won't really be that surprising since I continue to prove time and again that I am a Dumass. Or at least prone to a good dosage of dumass-ness quite frequently.

Ok, so here goes. This time, I'm gonna follow the rules, which are:

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. Remember to leave a comment for them letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I'm guilty of using exclamation points in excess. I can't help it. I like to do it in 3's!!! But will often think, oh, that's going to annoy someone, and will tone it back to just 1 or 2!! Also, I think about using air quotes a lot, but try to resist since I know it annoys people.

2. I'm extremely near sighted. My eye doctor says that she only has one other patient who has worse eyesight than me.

3. I rarely get motion sick.

4. Names of pets I've had: Mork, Pixie (of Pixie and Dixie cartoon), Getty, Lucy, Joanie and Chachi, Bill and Ted.

5. I got sucked into the Beanie Baby craze in the late 90s. I gave most of them away when we moved 4 years ago.

6. When going down stairs, I almost always have to lead with my right foot.

7. My currently overused words are "Freakin", "Curses" and "HI-larious". But I try to say them without the air quotes. ;)

_
Now if Phin, Ragged, Lilli, Rook's Nest, Cate, Zann and Susan D would like to play, that'd be cool. If meme's aren't your game, then that's cool too. :)

In the right place at the right time

At the San Jose Rose Garden
_

Hockey inCalifornia?!?

The Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup tonight! Go West Coast hockey! The Ducks are bringing the Cup to California!

Ok, truth is, I'm not a sports fan. But Jimmy plays the game so by marriage osmosis:
Hockey is my favorite sport!!
This photo is a flashback to 1996. The Hockey Hall of Fame is in Toronto and we went that summer. Jimmy's standing next to the Stanley Cup for a photo op.

updating

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Mine will be full of activities. Tomorrow morning, heading to the favorite scrapbook store for a chance at a 30 second shopping spree then going to Paper Source for their grand opening event. Sunday going to the parentals for dinner.

Wanted to give you an update on my attempt-to-better-health journey. I haven't blogged about it much but I'm almost down 2 sizes. My weight is evenly distributed - I'm not a pear, apple or cone shape. I fall more into the hourglass category. So even though I can't wear any of my 'big' pants anymore, I don't look like I've lost as much as the numbers indicate. This happened to me the last time, too. (7 years ago already). It wasn't noticeable for a long time till suddenly it was dramatic. Strangely enough, I'm really not telling anyone I know in the real world, except those few who read my blog. I think it's because the last time I was on this journey, it made some people uncomfortable. Like they couldn't eat in front of me or they had to change their way of eating or cooking when they were with me. It also made me uncomfortable whenever I would eat something that they deemed bad for me. I know how many points/calories I've eaten and how many I can afford for this meal or that snack. Trust me, I calculate everything to the 1/2 point. So if I'm eating a cookie, I know the caloric/point value of it and it's accounted for. I still eat ice cream (the low-cal kind) , chocolate and potato chips (always portioned out), Mexican and Hawaiian food. But I admit that I miss pizza.

On another note, since I admitted that I'm an aggressive driver, I've been driving a lot calmer lately. I really just like to get to wherever I'm going Now. So maybe I'm really more of a speed demon rather than aggressive. Because I always signal, I'll let people in if they signal and will move out of the way if someone wants to go even faster than I'm going. And I don't talk on my cell phone while I'm driving because I know that I can't possibly concentrate on driving fast, watching all the other cars around and hold a cell phone to my ear all at the same time. But what weighs on my conscience more is the gas issue. Since I drive an SUV, my gas mileage isn't ideal to start with. I try to get around 22mpg, but if I'm feeling a little lead footed, I'll only get around 19mpg. Yup, I need to slow down.

Those of you with blog readers have noticed that I've been updating my blog a bit. Just adding labels to past posts. That organizing thing I like to do. My apologies for any confusions. It'll probably happen a few more times till all of my old posts are properly labeled. Just as a little warning. :)

Cherry pickin'

Doris invited me to join her and June to pick cherries at Seko Ranch in Brentwood on Thursday morning. She goes every year and ordered 50 pounds for her and her whole family to share. All I wanted was 1-2 pounds but once we started picking, next thing I knew, I had 4 pounds in my bucket!

Here are Doris and June in the cherry tree field.

The trees were loaded.

We didn't even have to climb on ladders, although we did for a cute little photo-op with June picking cherries from the top of the tree.

There are also peach and apricot farms nearby.
June and I pretended to fight for the perfect peach. Actually, these peaches weren't quite ripe enough so after our little photo excursion, we headed to Peter Wolfe Ranch. Not only were the peaches and apricots wonderful, the woman working was so helpful and nice.

Now...what to do with 4 pounds of cherries...any suggestions?