In honor of July 4th.
What's Good In America I found this article paticularly insightful because it's written by a foreigner who has now made his home in America. I also love that he concedes that there are some things wrong with America. He's not looking through rose colored glasses. I'm tired of feeling "evil" because I'm an American and tired of feeling like I have to be grouped with the ideals and beliefs of a political system gone crazy. I want to remember that being American defines where I live not how I live. I'm thankful to live in a country that affords me the freedom to be an individual with my own ideals and beliefs and still be considered part of the whole.

Erin came home from my sister-in-laws yesterday. It's nice to have her home again. I really missed her while she was gone, and she confided in me yesterday that she had been homesick for us. Isn't that sweet!
She and I watched "Little Manhattan" last night. It was a really cute movie. We laughed, cried, and laughed some more. We give it a solid four thumbs up and if Patches (the dog) had thumbs we'd put hers up too. The movie did make me feel the tiniest bit of regret that I didn't allow myself to act on any of my childhood crushes. Boys scared the crap out of me! I always felt ugly and odd around them. I did have a "boy friend" in headstart who pushed me on the swings, but then there was no one until I met David.
I reserved a canoe for our trip on Monday. I am really excited. It's a 10 mile ride through red wood forest. It should be spectacular!

The Perfect Birthday Present For Me!

For the past few weeks I've been living with the dread of knowing I would have to work on my birthday. I know it sounds very spoiled of me, but I HATE working on my birthday! Normally I have Mondays off anyway so having to work a Monday on top of it being my birthday made things even worse not to mention the fact that the co-worker I'm covering a shift for is going to be in Hawaii! Who wants to work on their birthday knowing they are covering for someone who is lying on a beach sipping pina coladas?
My boss just sent me an e-mail saying we should close on the 3rd! I'm so beyond happy. It's the little things. :)
I'm trying to plan a last minute canoe trip.

This is how California rolls...

This weekend I discovered a new love, California Rolls. I have seen them in the deli section of the super market wedged between the sushi, something I'd never buy from a super market, and the roasted chicken. I'm always enticed by their mix of colors; orange, green, white, and red, and their round shape. After all, good things always come in the round; cookies, doughnuts, scoops of ice cream. Usually I contemplate the purchase for a few minutes and decide I probably won't like them because nothing is ever as good as it seems. This time, I threw them in the cart before I had a chance to think about it. Unable to stand the suspense, I tried one as soon as I got home. They are delicious! Imitation crab, avocado, and carrot surrounded in a protective coating of sticky brown rice rolled in toasted sesame seeds is a combination just about anyone could love. I love them so much that I put a sushi roller and recipe book on by birthday list. David will probably laugh when he sees them, but I don't care. I need a seasoned sushi professional to walk me through ordering my first actual sushi roll. Raw fish is nothing to be taken lightly.

Further proof that I've been in California too long..

Your Linguistic Profile::

60% General American English

25% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

This is hilarious because I was born and raised in the midwest!
Thanks Kristen!

Just thought I'd post a little something here before the blogger police close me down. Of course, now they'll get me for use of a blog with nothing to say.
I went clothes shopping today because that's what I do when I'm on my period. Why I do that to myself is beyond me! The good thing is, I never buy anything because I'm too bloated to fit into anything. So, I save money and get the shopping bug out of my system all at once. The bad part is that I am usually depressed for a few days afterwards.
This was a good weekend. Erin and I went swimming, bike riding, and roller blading. Today, I also went for a 20 minute jog on the good ol' treadmill. I can really tell the difference lifting weights is making in my legs. They feel so much stronger!
For the past week or so that Country Time Lemonade commercial with the family at the lake and the kids swinging over the water on a tire swing keeps running through my mind. If only life could be like that for just a week. It sucks being a country girl in the city. We live our lives cramped in this apartment with no yard to sit in. Heck, we don't even have a porch to put a chair on. Cars whiz past in a steady stream a mere ten feet from our front door making sitting outside undesirable even if it were possible. I suppose we could mosey on up to the roof with our lawn chairs. If only the person who put in the hatch hadn't put it in backwards so that the ladder is on the same side as the hatch. We literally have to jump the 2 feet from the ladder to the open side. It's a little scary. Maybe I'll just turn on the HGTV and pretend I'm sitting outside.
Well, for a person with nothing to say, I've rambled on long enough. I'm sorry you had to read this.

For your viewing pleasure, a video clip from Erin's talent show performance yesterday.



Get this video and more at MySpace.com

It seems like to much to hope for; this house with it's five bedrooms and two and a half baths. I'm in love with everything about it, and for the past two weeks it's been all I can think about. It sits on a half acre just north of no where and right in the middle of everything I've ever loved. A part of me already sits on the front porch swing sipping coffee and watching the sun rise over the sparkling blue grey water of the river I canoed as a teen. We've taken the first few steps in the long arduous process that is almost maybe considering buying a home. It's nothing solid, but it's a step in the right direction. It may not be this home and it may not be this year. There are too many what if's to say anything with certainty. I can only say that we've taken the first step, and for now that feels like enough. While the larger part of me remains here in reality doubting, questioning, and complicating everything the smaller part of me is dreaming about all that could be.

In order to supply you with your daily laugh, please allow me to recount the following 100%true story.

I was talking with an African American customer about men, dating, and the crazy things that men say without thinking when she said "That guy was so crazy I wouldn't even give his number to a cracker."
And she was making fun of him for talking without thinking? Maybe she was color blind?!?