He does not want to be a cowboy

No, my husband has no inclination to be a cowboy.

He much prefers the beach to farm land

And superman underwear to flannel

And off roading in the jeep verses ATV riding with your dad

But that's okay, because nothing can top naked cowboy riding while singing at the top of your lungs.

I wanna be a cowgirl

I have always loved the idea of farm living. Maybe it stems from the fact that I was born on a dairy farm. Or maybe it is because I think cows are just so darn cute. Yeah, I have always wanted to be a cowgirl.

So, of course, I love the idea of . . .

FLANNEL

ATV RIDING WITH MY DAD

HAT WEARIN'

(Not quite a cowboy hat, but one must make due with what one can find in the kitchen)

COWBOY BOOTS

AND

*

*

*

HORSE BACK RIDING WHILE NAKED . . . AND SINGING AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS.

What can I say, cowgirl living is in my blood.

Just talkin . . .

Me, my nephew and the dinosaur.

Girls will be girls

My sweet sister and two adorable nieces.

Cats and a bag

My cats, like most, love bags.

This is Casper enjoying a few quiet minutes in a new found bag.

This is Sadie-- "Hey Casper, whacha doing? Looks like your having a nice few moments for yourself?"

Casper, newly interrupted by Sadie, quickly escapes. "So much for a few quiet minutes to myself."

This is Sadie again-- she's discovered the bag. If it is good enough for Casper it is most definitely good enough for her.

This is Casper. "Hey Sadie, whacha doing? It looks like you are having fun."

And the cycle goes on and on.

Misty Grey thought about going in too, but she feels that she is above such obvious nonsense as hiding in a bag.

Photoshop and my niece

I've discovered Photoshop or maybe Photoshop discovered me. Whatever the case, I am in love. This is the SOOC (straight out of camera) shot of my baby niece. Did I mention how adorable she is? Just look at those sweet cheeks and those kissable lips. I digress. . .

This is what I did after I played around in Photoshop (notice the pacifier is gone and the subtle color in her eyes, lips, clip and onesie).

Again, I say, how cool is Photoshop and how cute is my niece?

Dance

So this week begins the craziness of all things dance for me. I’ve joined a modern dance company and we have rehearsals every day this week. I love the idea behind this company. It is a multi-age (therefore multi-level) dance company with about 40 members or so. We split off into different rep pieces and create, rehearse and perfect all year for the concert in March. What a great concept for those of us who are not going to win “So You Think You Can Dance” in any lifetime of ours. Yet despite all of our levels and abilities, this company allows us to be creative and share in our passion of dance with one another. I think this will be a fun year for me- my goal is to truly give all I have while I dance and not hold anything back.

At the same time as Rainbow Dance Company, I am also involved in my church dance ministry, Windsong, which meets on Wednesday nights and some weekends. This is another group of ladies with different dance abilities who come together and worship the Lord through dance. A totally different concept than Rainbow, but equally as challenging. We are a pretty dedicated group of woman and we also do a lot of stuff outside of dance.

So, this year will be busy- I have dance classes/rehearsals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights as well as at least one weekend (Saturday and Sunday) a month. It’s going to be great. After all, if I wasn’t busy I would just be sitting on the couch watching reruns of CSI interspersed with mind-numbing games of Spider Solitaire on the computer, and would, consequently, be 15 pounds heavier. And, just so you know, I hate to be bored and chunky. So, bring on the dance classes. I am ready.

A Minor Complaint

Why do they show women’s gymnastics during the 11:00 pm to 1:00 am time slot? Am I the only one who has a problem with this? I keep hearing the gymnasts say “I remember watching Carly Patterson win the gold, and I wanted to be just like her” etc. etc. How are little girls (and big girls) supposed to be inspired by gymnasts if they can’t even watch the program because it’s on at midnight? Just saying.

Another year

So, today I am 28. It was a fantastic day filled with some of my favorite things . . .

Krispy Kreme (my own assorted birthday cake)

and a Dooney & Bourke purse (completely overpriced) . . . but I don't ask for these types of things often (well, never actually), so I'm not going to feel too guilty!

Grant and I also went to 518 West to eat my favorite pasta of all time-- Black Angel Hair Pasta with Salmon. Oh my gosh, between the pasta and the Krispy Kreme I have gained at least 2.37 pounds. Which is okay, because I also got some cute sports bras, so I will feel well-dressed while I run on the treadmill lamenting the fact that I ate the entire bowl of pasta.

Thanks for a great birthday Grant, mom, dad, Sam, Lauren and Rhea (who I will see on Monday)!

I've got the bug

to choreograph that is. When I hear a fantastic song, and one that touches my soul, I feel the need to choreograph something to it (well, at least try to choreograph). I'm in love with a new song-- "All That I Can Say" by the David Crowder Band (listening to it right now and squirming in my seat with movement ideas). I can't find the song anywhere though. Apparently, the band does not sell the CD anymore. I'm desperate to find it. AHHH.

My Monkey Heads

So, since I do not have kids right now I transfer all my motherly instincts to my three cats. I cannot help it and yes, I am one cat away from being the “crazy cat lady.” Let me introduce you to my “monkey heads” as I like to call them.

This is Sadie

She is a beautiful, green-eyed, velvety soft, slightly rounded, vocal, large, gun-metal gray, pleasantly plump, loud kitty cat. I love her-- did I mention she is large and vocal.

She likes to wake us up at 5:00 in the morning just to remind me that it will be breakfast time in 3 hours. I love her. She follows me EVERYWHERE I go, just in the hopes that I might give her a treat or better yet feed her a little early. Yep, she is a sweetie. She fights with her big brother and lets out the most horrendous, blood curdling, ear piercing, banshee mimicking screams at 3:00 in the morning. Yep, that is always fun to wake up to. That’s my girl. She has a fascination with cups of water. She must dunk her head into any open container of water and drink lavishly, as if it sweet nectar from the gods. And when she’s done, she will then bat the cup of water so that it spills everywhere, as if to say, “hah, cup of water, I am Sadie and I am in control here.” (This is why I have resorted to water bottles). She swats, bats and tries to bite me when I sing really loudly and according to her out of tune (me, really, no). And yet, I love her still.

Ahh, sweet nectar from the gods . . .

What? It's not my fault you left your cup out. Silly human.

American Idol Auditions

Were held this past weekend at my local mall. I thought something looked out of place when I saw hundreds of people lined up outside and the faint sounds of screeching their songs could be heard from the parking lot. I went in, made my purchases, heard two girls singing and then was headed back to my car. I thought about standing in line. For I have a lovely singing voice (snicker- my cat tries to bite me when I sing), but alas, the pains of hunger won out over the pangs of stardom. Instead I decided to eat a Panera sandwich and call it a day.

Maybe next year. . . or not.

This is what happens . . .

when a less than nimble plumber is precariously balancing on a wooden beam in my attic while installing a water heater (and not just any ‘ole water heater-- oh no, we have to have a special kind that costs 3x as much as a normal water heater). The guy just lost his balance and says he put his foot through the ceiling-- either he is a LARGE footed man, or a lot more than his foot went through.

I’m so glad that I paid a ton of money for that fine piece of workmanship.

And let me just fill you in on something. I am sort of anal about my house. I don’t like spots, holes, stains, etc. in my home. I sort of pride myself on the fact that I will sit on my hands and knees and scrub out a stain in my carpet until the dang thing comes out. So, yeah, this sort of bothers me. But, I’m going to get over it now. Yep, right now. I’m over it.

Sun-Ripened Tomatoes

There is nothing more satisfying then going out to your garden and picking sun-ripened tomatoes. I feel most sure that they taste better than anything you can get at a store (and much cheaper too).



Apparently, I am not the only one/thing that likes sun-ripened, homegrown tomatoes:

Here's a little bit about me

How to begin. I had a great childhood. I was born in Sulphur Springs, Texas. My parents owned a dairy farm down there. I don’t remember much during that time except for bright red and blue carpet in our living room and bedrooms (I guess I was learning to crawl) and a very large, dead, white cow on a dirt road with butterflies dancing ahead (so sad-- can we say traumatized till this day. And what a weird memory to remember).

We moved to Dallas, Texas when I was three. I don’t remember much about that time either (did I mention my memory is awful). Ask my sister- she can freakily remember the minutest details about our lives. Anyway, don’t ask me too much about this time, because I can’t even remember what color carpet we had in any of those houses. I do, however, remember when my dad came bursting through the door one night and told us we were moving to Hawaii!! We were watching Little House on the Prairie (which I still watch on Saturday afternoons at 11:00)!

Okay, so I was 5 when I moved to Hawaii. I remember a lot more about those days, but I won’t go into detail here. Great childhood memories. Lots of exploring, bike riding, underage car driving, clubhouse making, flower picking, boy chasing good times ensued. This is the time where I also started picking up on the natural/homeopathic/herbal approach that my parents used on us. More on that later. So, I was in the prime of my teenage years, 15, when the p’s decided to move back to the mainland (Hawaiian slang for the continental US).

So, now I’m here and wow, what a culture shock that was. Fast forward a couple of years. I finished out high school and college, met and married the love of my life (literally, we started dating when I was 15) and have embarked on a very simple, and sometimes blessedly monotonous, life together.

Why a blog now?

So, I’ve wanted to start blogging for awhile, but decided that there was simply nothing exciting to blog about. I pretty much stick to the same routine week after week after week after week (you get the idea). But, I knew that eventually things would change and there would be a time when blogging would become appropriate and fun. I think now is that time.

I’m hoping that this will be a blog about our adventures into parenthood and my idealistic but humble approach to growing and raising a baby in the most natural way possible!

(Now, don’t get too excited yet- I’m not pregnant, but we hope to be soon enough. So in the meantime, just hang out and read about our lives pre-baby!)

Now, I’m not completely crunchy. I’d like to think I am, but I’m not. So, please don’t criticize me too harshly when my homemade baby food doesn’t consist of all organic fruits and vegetables or when I use a disposable diaper on the little one every once in awhile (yep, you read that right- I plan to use cloth diapers)! But you guys get the idea. So bear with me on this adventure into a new chapter of our lives.

So, here we go . . .