happy birthday, daddy! October 24, 2007

today is my dad’s birthday.
i won’t tell you how old he is,
but i do want to note how
handsome
he is. 

(ladies, he is happily married, so
just admire his dashing good looks
from where you are!)

it is so easy to pic out
birthday
father’s day
christmas
gifts for my dad because he
always says the same thing.
“I don’t need anything…cologne
is fine.”  and he means it, too.
i always reject the cologne and
and give him something else.
and if you can’t get a gift, he is
genuinely and perfectly happy with
a sweet meaningful letter.

dad, you are a considerate, helpful,
wonderful father
a kind and loving husband 
a generous and gracious boss
a loyal faithful friend. 
i am so very very glad that you
were born today and am
overjoyed
that you are my dad! 
you are special to many people. 

HAPPY

BIRTHDAY

TO

YOU!!!

please also pay attention to how lovely and young my mother looks.
she and my father are such a gorgeous couple, wouldn’t you say?

              

note: these pics are family photos taken in aug of
2005,  just before i moved away from oklahoma,
by my dear talented brother and friend,
dan morgan.  props to you, dan!!  the lighting is so
creamy and perfect.  he is a great photographer.
i can do a slide show for you of the other 100
family pics dan took for us… you just say the
word!!

gong show October 22, 2007

our batting average tonight is

zero!!

let’s get right to whining:

i slept all day thinking that i was
going in to work tonight.  well,
after 5pm they called to cancel
me…i was already in my scrubs. 

i interrupt this whining to tell you:
while julie was at her bible study
upstairs i listened to three (how many?) three
redeemer sermons and started my
laundry.

so, there is this one local dish that i had
actually been dreaming about…as in i was
eating it in my dreams all day today but when i
woke up i was still hungry so we went
looking for it. they call it furakaki chicken,
i call it heaven.

we had a semi-anonymous, semi-hot
tip on where to find it. 

it was bogus or we were, so we took off for
a local place a couple of towns away that
COULD have it. corrine bailey ray led
the way.

when we get to the place…it’s closed!!!
we stared into the window like two little
starving children in the window of a
bakery.  so we go into foodland to see
if they have anything. we continued to be
failures in our search for dinner but we
found some perhaps equally valuable items
25 postcards
a bag of dark chocolate peanut m&ms
a small bag of taco/ranch doritos
extra dark chocolate macadamia nut
cranberry candy bar milk chocolate
toffee covered macadamia nuts and
(in case any moms were watching)
some asparagus from the deli

friendly mcfrienderson behind us gave
us directions to the nearest kfc, which
apparently also serves chicken.  we get there….
it’s closed. 
picture more of us looking in the window
like hungry children. we made a drive through
attempt but the mopper turned a deaf ear to our
ravenous wolf-like yells of tauntiful greeting.

so we decided to go home and make something.
by this time it’s 9:30pm.  we turned up the
music singing “right now, he’s probably buying
her some fruity little drink ’cause she can’t shoot
whisky!!” while we cruised down the road.

so this is what we ended up eating in the end
of this all:

*doritos
*easy mac and cheese
*foodland asparagus (which was another strike
since it turned out tasting like sticks that had been
soaked in vinegar and foot fungus powder)
*extra dark chocolate bar (which tasted the same
minus the sticks)
*dark chocolate peanut m&ms (jokes on us)

do you hear the loud gong going off in your
head?

BONG!
BONG!

julie and i hear it loud and clear.
our search to fill our stomachs
was a bust!  no matter our efforts
they have failed us tonight.

p.s. as i used my cooking skills
to make the microwavable
mac and cheese julie read to us
from anne.  it was the saddest
part of any of the books so far…
even sadder than matthew’s death!
we wept, and julie had to stop reading
several times during the chapter, 
choked in tears. her chest was wet
from the tears dropping off her face. 
our hearts were broken as we ate our
unsatisfactory dinner.

sad and sandy October 18, 2007

on monday i put meghan on a plane
back home to new york city.  it was sad.

but before she left we had a full
morning/early afternoon at the

beach!! 

we couldn’t leave without one last
ride in the waves.  we woke, had
some breakfast, and zipped over to
kailua…our favorite beach.  mike
met us there.  we boogie boarded,
and rode the waves in the pink rafts.
it was perfectly sunny… but not the
clouds came out and covered a part
of the bright blue sky.

         

our laughter hung thick in the ocean air as
julie and i tried to share a pink raft and ride
the waves in it together.  “whatever we can do
together, we will do together”… as close
together as we can.  that’s our motto!

the waves crashed violently onto the shore
and stirred up seaweed…more than usual.
so our swimsuits were filled with sand and
pieces of seaweed…not a comfy combo for
the skin.

our time at the beach flew by and before
we knew it we had to get out and leave!!

we had lunch at…can you guess??
yep, at teddy’s.  meg sort of fell in
love with the teri-chicken–add pineapple.
and don’t forget the chocolate peanut
butter shakes.  better than you can
imagine!!

meg and lisa enjoying lunch…our last meal together in hawaii.

julie texting as mike sat happly…his burger
already gone and filling his tummy!

we rushed home packed her up and got
in the car to head to the airport.  our
goodbye was a good one.  lots of hugs,
but the tears were under control.  it was
nothing like our goodbye on the subway
in new york.  that was ugly…prolonged,
tearful, and ugly.  brianne, you remember?!!

this one was not so pitiful, but sad.

need i expound?

i went back to my apartment…
s a n d y   a n d   s a d.

10-16-07 October 17, 2007

THE BAD:

1.       The recycling pile is larger than our apartment. Literally.

2.       We only have one more Oreo Cakester

3.       The making of peanut butter continues to be a stinging failure

4.       We can’t see our fish for the algae coated tank walls

5.       The sweet potatoes are unrescuably stuck to the aluminum
foil and cannot be eaten without consuming indigestible
elements of the periodic table

6.       Our apartment is such an inferno that we’re sweating off
2 pounds per hour

7.       We still don’t have a dishwasher

8.       Lisa and Julie have to go to work in T – 40 minutes

9.       Our library book is over a month overdue and now
we are too scared to take it back

10.   There are four uneaten Beard Papa’s rotting from
neglect in our refrigerator

11. Julie has no pre-boyfriends

  

THE GOOD:

1.       Lisa’s hair conditioner came in the mail so her hair
will feel less like a steel wool brush and more like
a little baby owl

2.       Jared fixed our lightbulb without any electrocution casualties

3.       Julie’s headband looks fine

4.       Will Rogers died before we were born so we never had to
miss him

5.       There’s a fork laying on our bathroom counter just in
case we need a snack when we’re you-know-where

6.       Our apartment is such an inferno that we are sweating off
2 pounds per hour

7.       Lisa is on her second cup of water for the day

8.       Our apartment looks less like Kabul and more like carpet
than it did earlier

9.       It’s only 3 days until the weekend

10.   The surfboard Julie broke over someone’s head is repaired
and ready to rock

11. It’s still football season 

sunday = funday October 15, 2007

okay, i know this title is pretty sorry,
down right lame.  i just couldn’t think
of anything better, so i kept it.  and
when meg read it over my shoulder
she laughed, as did julie when i read
it to her.  so, we will keep it and let
you all laugh too!!  blogging every
day has put a dent in my creativity.
i’ve read it over a few times and it’s
pretty dumb.  but the three of us have
decided to stick with it, commit to it
no matter how dumb it is.  so there
you have it

sunday = funday

this beautiful sunday morning meg and
i went to trinity for church and came
home to play with julie.  she and i had
on similar outfits, so we took a picture.

meghan and i went to the swap meet
for some shopping.  the swap meet
wraps all the way around aloha stadium.
we were very successful!

we decided to forego the beach for
the mall today.  we met julie for
a late lunch and more shopping at
the mall.  we sauntered and browsed.
it was nice and relaxing, except for
one thing…all the clothing stores are
now stocked with
sweaters
scarves
coats
pants
and many other winter things that
are not needed in hawaii.  it is
extremely puzzling to me that
these stores are filled with people
looking and trying on and buying.
what?!  what?! where are they wearing
these sweaters and corduroy pants?
i just don’t know!

after this we came home and got
dressed for the dollar movies.  meg
really wanted to wear her new lounge
pants.  we told her it doesn’t matter
what you wear to the dollar movie. 
then julie decided to match meg and
wear some sweat capri pants.  i said,
“well, what should i wear if we’re
crapin’ it up?!”  it was so funny that we
decided to wear the ugliest outfits we
could find.  well, not the very ugliest, but
outfits that we’d never wear outside of
the apartment.  julie thought she’d won
the ugly contest by pairing brown sweat
pants with a blue-ish tie-dyed t-shirt and
a gray flowered sweatshirt, just when
meg took the raincoat from the closet.
the raincoat trumpet us all…simply because
it was a windbreaker/raincoat.  i must
mention my “water babies” sleep shirt.
it’s the most comfy t-shirt i own and
a full theater of dollar movie-goers
got to enjoy it tonight!

p.s. we couldn’t close our little clutch
purses because they were stuffed
with junk food.  we laughed about all
of this almost until we were in tears.

then, to allow more people to enjoy
our outfits, we went to walmart for
some late night shopping.  there meg
got the most ridiculous $3.00 t-shirt.
it was made for the tasteless tacky
tourist…and now it’s her very own.

the outfits do not look so bad here, but close up, in full color it’s ugly.

hard core playing October 14, 2007

meg’s trip to hawaii
day six:

today we played extra hard and
probably burned twice as many
calories as we ate…although we did
eat well today and had ice cream.

our day began at 7:00am!!

yikes!

we headed over to kailua for

   k a y a k i n g

meg
julie
lisa
jared (sorry…jared! i’ve been spelling your
name wrong)
mike
james
(the same crew from day one in kailua)

jared and i were in the same kayak.
julie and james were together and
meg and mike were together…for some
reason the two freckled people got placed
in the same kayak. 

we headed out to an island right off the
coast where we started.  it’s flat, so you
can’t see what’s on it from the opposite
shore.  it’s a bird sanctuary, covered in
green grass-like growth and……birds.

                 
“ouch!  eeeee!  ouch! oooo!” “why didn’t we wear slippers to walk
around this ‘flat island’!!?”

then we went out to an island far from
where we started.  we had to paddle through
coral and beautiful, teal, bright blue waters!!
it was hard to believe that i was really there
in that water seeing what i was seeing.

we finally arrived at our destination and
pulled our kayaks up on the shore. 

   

we put on our slippers and went on a hike
around the back side of the island.  it was
incredible.  lava rocks and crashing waves
and blue sky surrounded us.  it was
challenging to scale these rocks in only our
flip flops and wet ones at that!!  but we made
it to the back side… and were rewarded for
our efforts.

the island we were on created a canal with
the rocks nearby.  the tide swiftly rose up and
down filling the space between the rocks.  the
waves crashed and created pools on the side
of the rock we were on.  in these pools fish
on other things grew and lived.

   

so, here comes the best part….

there was a rock we climbed and
j
u
m
p
e
d

off of into the water.  we had to
wait and time it just right with the
tide and jump in just the right place
…as not to dash ourselves into the
rocks!!  (my mom would have killed
me if she were there…meg and julie’s
moms too!)

       
meghan, julie, and lisa jumping off the rock.
aaaahhhhhh!!!  splash!!  “i wanna do it again!”

don’t mind the girl sticking her head out behind lisa…she was a
cute redhead, but not with us… we talked…no pressured her into
jumping.

the view was out-of-this-world!!!

we hiked back around and got back
in our kayaks.  we got back to our
starting place just in time. 

the warriors have returned to camp victorious!!

mike took us to a fav place of his for
lunch.  on the way home we had a
candy fest.  it’s been a while since we
chowed down on twix, reeces pieces,
and chocolate caramels. we had tummy
aches by the time we got back home.
..but when we got home…

we were w i p p e d ! !

so after a short nap we got up, changed
and headed out the door for some

u l t i m a t e   f r i s b e e

we played hard for three games
and almost two hours.  meg’s team
won all three games…me and julie’s
team…….did not.  but we still played
hard and had more fun than should
be allowed in one day!!  meg did so so
great!  after proving herself to one particular
boy on the team the frisbee was thrown
to her often.  julie and i fought hard to the
end!!  i made some sweet catches and julie
moved the frisbee down the field very
well.

      
this is lisa dishing out some serious defense on meghan!! 
or is she dancing??!!

post-game was a picnic with julie’s church.
yummy food and lots of nice people to
talk and eat with.  after eating meghan
played volleyball into the night. 

then…no, it’s still not over…

we took meghan and mike to experience
their first mochi ice cream.  they liked
it.  meg’s fav was guava.  my fav was, of
course, pumpkin!! 

now we are blogging upstairs and
bringing home the day with catching
up on the days football, courtesy of
julie k repass and espn, and bring it on.
you know the cheerleader movie?!  i
sort of can quote half of it by heart.  a
sad confession.

it was a long long long

fun fun fun

day in hawaii.

hawaiian sunsets October 14, 2007

meg’s trip
day five:

this morning (and by morning i mean
11am) we started off by going to
waikiki to look for uncle tommy, a
surf instructor my golf coach recommended.
we did not find tommy, but we found uncle
gill and had a nice stroll through waikiki.

oh, before we went to waikiki i had to comfort
julie.  she has had to work most days and has
missed out on the fun times being had by me
and meg.  she was sad, so we had to pause and
give her some love.

then we drove to kailua for another
afternoon of fun on the beach. we
picked up teddy’s for lunch and ate
it on the beach.  it was dreamy,
but windy!

we played with the pink raft, we rode
the waves on the boogie board, and
then we body surfed! i hadn’t ever
really body surfed.  meg gave me a
quick lesson and by the end we were
body surfing like pros! 

then we zoomed home to get ready for the
luau.  the luau was beautiful!  the sun was
setting and an orangish pinkish glow hung
in the sky and illuminated all the faces of
those turned toward it.  it was breathtaking.
meg and i had to step out of the crowd, go to
the edge of the water, and just stare at it for a
while… silent…in awe.

the food, the hula, the hawaiian music,
the beautiful lagoon where the luau was
set, and the fun traditional hawaiian
activities…..
it’s all so wonderfully hawaiian and so
wonderfully dreamy. 

           

i love luaus!!!

high and low October 13, 2007

meg’s trip to hawaii day four:

we started the day with a “hike” up
to the top of diamond head.

reasons why this is not a hike:
1) it’s paved 1/3 of the way
2)hand rails all the way up
3)old old old ladies were partaking
in the “hike”
4)we saw some serious “fashion shoes”
worn.  (i.e. gold wedge heels, to name
only one)
5)people were eating snow cones at the
bottom.
6)no muddy feet or clothing by the end.
7)no fear of contracting a deadly
flesh-eating bacteria. (see day one)

reasons why it was a hike:
1) a man was selling
“i survived diamond head” t-shirts
half the way up.
2)we were sweating by the time we
reached the top.
3)we climbed 239 steep steep steps…
doesn’t quite make it a hike, but still
exhausting.
4) the view from the top was breathtaking…
there is always an amazing view at the end
of a hike.

at the top is a view of the city of honolulu
and a some of the eastern coast.

    

after this we went to hanauma bay.
it’s a big tourist attraction for snorkeling.
i was hesitant to go to this tourist place,
for good reason…but it was on our way and
ended up being worth it.

lisa got slightly lost prior to entering and 
accidently jumped a fence…well, they saw it
as “sneaking” in and gave lisa a fierce lashing
with their tongue…by more than one person.

o o p s

i sheepishly apologized and jumped back
to where i was supposed to be.
then we were forced to watch a 9 minute
video telling us to “look don’t touch.”

  

we got on our snorkel gear and went
out for some sea life fun!!

nope…we’re not afraid of this picture…this is lisa and meghan in the full
glory of snorkel fashion!!

highlight:
we saw a seaturtle!!  not just a glance,
but we saw it and hung out with it.
meghan swam with it!!!  as meg was so
caught up in the moment she ran into
the coral!  she bonked her head and cut
open her shoulder.  i hope that some sort
of weird fungus doesn’t grow in the cut…but
it was all worth it. 

SHE SWAM WITH A SEATURTLE!!!

after this we set out on the road east.
we sat at sandy’s for a while watching
the big powerful waves crash in and
violently thrash the brave souls in the
water.  it is mesmerizing…i could have
watched for hours. meg and i were both
happy that we didn’t need to use our
nursing skills.

around the bend in the road a bit farther
east we saw four parachuters floating
through the air.  the blue sky, ocean,
and the mountain with a light house were
the background for the parachuters.  we
pulled over and watched them for a while.

        
can you see the tiny guys floating through
the air and the lighthouse?? (pic on the right)

then we got a call from a friend and found
ourselves with tickets to a preseason lakers
game!  they were playing at the university
stadium.  it was super fun.  we ate dip n’ dots
like people do at sporting events.

after two hours of watching the laker girls
we have a deep deep dislike for all that is
NBA “cheerleaders” if they are anything like
the laker girls.

the 4-10 year olds that make up the
hawaii drill team danced at half time
and put the laker girls to shame.

                

we returned to the apt for a much
needed night of sleep.

it was a full full day for these two
girls!!

p.s. no one has been sunburned yet…
4 days on the beach/in the sun and no
burns…this is miraculous!!

road to the north shore October 13, 2007

meg’s third day in hawaii with lisa:

we packed our beach bags and loaded
the car…
*boogie boards    check
*beach mat          check
*towels                  check
*beach snacks      check
*camera              check
*water                  check
*cheryl and rick  check
(our ipods)
*suits                     wearing

we took the most beautiful highway
in america…through the mountains
and along the ocean. (see pic below)

most of the drive through the mountains the clouds kissed the tops of
the green mountains…beautiful!!!

halfway there we stopped for lunch.
we ate at the shrimp shack.  meg, who
does not eat seafood tried ,for the second
time in her life, my coconut shrimp…  

SHE LIKED IT

i’m pretty sure that the heavens opened
up and i heard singing…but i can’t be totally
sure.  it may just have been brianne and erica
singing proudly.  it was covered in coconut, deep
fried, and dipped in guava jelly. 

see!!  it’s true!!

we continued on the road, ooing and awing all
the way.  we stopped at a park right across
from chinaman’s hat, an island off the shore.
after soaking in the view and the breeze we
submitted to the little girls within us and
climbed a tree.  we laid in the tree enjoying
the moment to the fullest!!  it was heaps of
fun!!

    

onward and upward…we parked ourselves at
waimea, the beach with the jumping rock. 
we absorbed the sun and tossed with the waves.
the water was so clear we could see to the
bottom, even when it was so deep we could
hardly swim to the bottom.

highlight:
we saw two people on surfboards who
floated in from their sailboat.  on the
end of the board was…are you ready???

a   c a t

yep, a kitty.  they put it in the water and
it swam from board to board.  it was so
weird and yet, so adorable at the same
time. 

on our way home we stopped off at the
dole plantation.  i’ve been dreaming of
pineapple soft-serve ice cream from this
place for ages.  so we get there and
excitedly bounce through the front doors
when the security guard says
“I’m sorry ladies…we closed at 5:30.”
watch check…
5:31pm
“really!!!??  it’s one minute past!!
can we please please go in!!!”
“no, i’m sorry.”

so we sadly drag ourselves around the
back and see through the windows that
there are still people inside buying and
eating their pineapple ice cream.

so, like the true new yorkers that we are,
we rush…no run, around to the front
ready to lay down the law and get our
way.  we plead with the officer and explain
to him that others are still inside enjoying
the ice cream that we’ve been waiting and 
longing for this.  he cannot resist our charm
…or is it his fear of us, i’m not so sure…and
i don’t care because he let us in and we got
our ice cream.

don’t we look happy and triumphant??!!

we saw baby pineapple too! 
it’s little and red…who knew?!!

we ate dinner with julie and jarrod at
california pizza kitchen where we saw
the best two she-mullets i’ve ever seen
in my life.  unfortunately we were unable
to get a clear picture…it was too dark.

it was a long and happy day!!

day two October 11, 2007

Tuesday:

today we slept in late because lisa had
not slept in days…literally. 

we packed lunch and headed to
ko’olina.  we ate lunch there and i
went to a golf lesson, not so far from
where i left meghan. 
(p.s. i had a great lesson and improved
my chip shot. it’s my favorite thing i’ve
learned so far!!)

i was afraid that meg would be a little
lobster by the time i got back.  but she
had responsibly reapplied her sunscreen
…and i was glad.  who needs a blistered and
purple guest in pain?!! 

i returned to her side for some sun.
we swam and played in the sand of
the calm still lagoon.

    

after an hour on the road (traffic) we
met julie for dinner.  i have been planning
this dinner surprise for meghan for weeks.

dave and busters

was our destination. julie had never
been, and meg loves it!

dinner was delicious, and the
gaming…well…

we spent some good times on the
horse racing game, which i almost
always win.  we are attracted to the
classics…basketball (which i also won every time)
and skeeball.  i tried the dancing game
thing, so fun, but julie is so much better
at that, and the trivia game, that meg
won every time, save one…to julie.

        
here julie and i are about to face off on the danceatron!
julie and meg are s e r i o u s  about skeeball (am i spelling this right?)
this is julie gloating about her ONE win in the horse race game.

we made friends with a worker there
and he gave us lots of free tickets.

in trading in our tickets we almost
came home with a giant stuffed sponge
bob, but decided on the more practical:
playing cards
a farting pen (for the boys)
and D&B flip flops

i was disappointed because the star trek
voyager game was broken! (thanks mom
for my schooling in all that is star trek…
including my extensive borg knowledge!)

we stayed up late and went to bed

h
a
p
p
y

NYC meets HI October 11, 2007

meghan came in on sunday…
we had a glorious reunion in the hall
of my hospital.  i ran… she ran… we
crashed into each other in the middle!

she and julie bonded that night while i
worked myself into the ground…okay,
not really.

official day one:

*we went on a hike to monoa falls…some
waterfalls in the valley near my apt. 
we did this after i had my first pumpkin
spiced latte of the year…don’t worry, we took
pictures of it.  it was wonderful!  how can
starbucks take it away for so many months,
do they have a heart at all??!

so, the hike.  it was fun.
me
meg
julie
jarrod
mike

jarrod thought that going barefoot would
be a local/hawaiian thing to do.  it grossed
me out. the path was muddy and his feet
made a sticky, sloshing sound.  the hike
was easy but we got very muddy.  at the
top of the hike where the big waterfall is
we saw a little boy in a lei dancing and lip
syncing for a video.  there was a big camera,
lighting equipment, and a director telling
the boy to wave his arms and look at the
camera.  it was as so funny!!  so strange.
the boy’s entire family seemed to be there
with him, proud as can be. we stared and
took pictures of the whole thing.

can you find the 5 hiding people??

    
this waterfall was at the end of the path.

thankfully not of us contracted leptosirosis
…whatever that is! some flesh-eating
bacteria in the water, i think. 

*we came back here, showered off all the
mud, changed, and packed the car for the
beach.  we stopped for lunch on the way.
once we got to the beach it began to downpour.
but thankfully in true hawaiian fashion it only
lasted 5 min.the beach was the most fun
beach day i’ve had yet!  the pink rafts and
boogie boards are key to spectacular beach
fun. we convinced the boys to try them and
they loved them.  the waves were big and powerful.
we laughed and squealed in happy elation.
it rained on and off the whole time, but we
played on.  i love playing in the rain, but
playing at the beach in rain trumps all other
rainy day fun i’ve ever had. over our head
stretched a huge rainbow.  it was more than
picturesque.  at the end of our playtime i got
sting on the neck by a portuguese man of war
and james got stung on his back, the tentacles
wrapped around his back and side.  he got it
worse than me.  that ended our fun…but we
were satisfied with our day.we returned to
the apt showered and changed and zipped
off to the dollar movies.hairspraywe thought i
t was great.  a trip to the grocery store ended
our day…our long day.

it was a fabulous day of mud, waves, sand,
and friends.

    
the girls hiding from the rain in the back
of my little pony, the boys “hiding” from
the rain under mike’s truck.

fun in the waves.

    
a shower full of suits, an entryway full
of muddy shoes… this is what the end
of a perfectly fun day looks like.

meghan is here!!! 

hip hip hooray!!! 

a beautiful sea of crimson and cream October 7, 2007

G O  S O O N E R S ! !

today julie and i watched the
ou vs. texas game.  it was a
good morning… we won!!

the red river rivalry is

fierce

it’s good that you all were not there
to hear julie and i talking superbad
trash to texas. 
they are just so….
they have such….
it just burns me when they….

well, never mind!  i’m glad we put
them in their place…under our cleets!

(sorry nancy!  i know you don’t love
texas, you just have to live there  for
now.  i won’t hold it against you. you
are a sooner fan to the core!)

really, texas is fine every other day of
the year except for today…well, maybe
i might need to take that back.

yes, julie and i wore matching red
tank tops, and yes, we did keep them
on and wear them to the mall this
afternoon!  embarrassing?? not for
these two ou fans! 

touchdown  ou!! 

    

this is julie and lisa entangled in each other’s arms
reenacting the excitement of the first ou touchdown!! 
and this is us kissing our fists at the beauty and
grandeur that is ou football.

p.s. i’m wearing red and white scrubs to work
tonight.  go big or go home, baby!!

nkotb October 6, 2007

a few days ago julie and i received a small
package in the mail from our friend, scott.

inside was a VHS tape of…

are you ready for this?

new kids on the block
hangin’ tough LIVE

yes, that’s right!
now, i was never a big nkotb fan,
but i can appreciate this gift for a few
reasons.

*he found it at a library book sale while
looking for a copy of cat care naturally.

*it is VHS!  i like antiques.

*with the tape came a typed letter
explaining how he happened to acquire
the rare jewel from jonathan knight, himself!!
here is a quote from the letter:

“…so, i bought it off of him  for 7 hugs, 11 cents, and a slap bracelet that i just happened to keep in my trapper keeper for just such instances.  anyway, he quickly vanished…into my car…and asked if he could crash at my place for a few years…. sorry if you’re still rockin’ the beta-max.  you really should break down and buy a vhs recorder.  i mean, you had the same reservations about new coke and that turned our just fine!!”

scott is a good friend, always looking out
for his pals.  this was a surprise and blessing
to both julie and myself.  who doesn’t want
to get transported back to the days of bad
hair, bad clothes, and shall i say it?…bad music.
the answer is NO ONE!  so thank you, scott!!!
we will watch it soon and maybe download
some of the songs onto my ipod so we can
rock out to it in our apt. we need some new
tunes to fuel our spontaneous dance parties.

so scott, i want you to know…you got the right stuff,
and i hope that tonight you  … and jonathan are

H A N G I N ‘   T O U G H ! !

oklahoma+hawaii= good times October 6, 2007

julie’s parents were in town last week!
so we had a dinner party at the place
where they stayed.

30+ people were invited, many
of them international students.

the menu:

*bbq chicken
*chicken fried chicken
(carol, you’d be so proud of me!)
*baked beans
(the best i’ve ever had!  props to heidi)
*cornbread
(thanks to sally, julie’s mom)
*mashed potatoes
*white gravy
(steve, you’d be proud too! i stirred so hard
with the fork i had muscle cramps)
*corn
*sweet ice tea
(this is a M U S T)
*dessert:  julie’s famous peach cobbler
and ice cream

to protect my clothes from the splashing
oil and flour, sally pinned a dish towel to
my shirt and i wrapped a towel around my
waist…i was an inferno by the end!!

the dinner was a huge success!!
the room was filled with the buzz of many
happy conversations and later groans of
those with overfilled bellies.  the food was
a big hit.  there was nothing left…well, we
did force some doggie bags on a few folks.

this is angle from spain, ecaterina from romania, and diego from columbia. 

    

the next morning (monday)

jarrod
matt
james
and me

went     s u r f i n g.

the last time i went it was a BUST!!
i caught no waves and had nothing but
a killer shoulders, back, and triceps
workout.

today was a different story!!
the waves were a bit better and my
arms are a bit stronger.
(thank you p90x!!!)

i’m still not so good, but i did catch
two really nice waves.
it’s like golfing: when you get a good
hit, when you hear the club make perfect
contact with the ball and it soars through
the air, just like you want it to… you’re hooked!

in the same way when you see the wave
coming, you’re perfectly positioned in the
water, you start to paddle your heart out,
you feel the wave begin to take over, to grab
your board and push you along, then…
push up
      step forward
              stand up
                      balance
                           and ride it out….
oh how good it feels!!!  i’m hooked!

post surfing we ate teddy’s in the grass
under a tree next to our boards. 
oh, the fun! 

this is mike, jarrod (julie’s co-worker), james (the best surfer of the four of us), and me.
i, the one who needs it the least, chose to wear a rashguard….and boardshorts are  mandatory.

high tea October 6, 2007

 julie, me, and monica went to
high tea today for monica’s birthday.

the management is encouraging their
customers to wear pink when they come
…remember it’s breast cancer awareness
month.  so julie and i did.  monica, being
pregnant, had less wardrobe to choose from.

we had tea sandwiches, salad, scones,
cheesecake, and

pots and pots of tea.

there are hat racks filled with hats and
boas that are available to wear.
the table next to us, with at least three men,
were all wearing hats and bead necklaces.

i, of course, had to choose a pink hat to
match my outfit.  julie chose a nice sensible
hat that anne and marila would approve of.

we also got to choose our teacups.  julie chose a
blue pattern, monica chose a pattern with one
simple flower on it, and i chose a cream cup and
saucer with brown lined flowers filled in with light
pinks, blues, yellows, and greens.  if it were
material and made into a dress, i’d wear it!! 

our conversation was easy and smooth
filled with what many conversations are
filled with when three girls get together…
b o y s

it was a wonderful time together in a sweet
place.

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y

           M O N I C A