My Favorite Things: Summer

The things that stop my heart, bring tears to my eyes, a smile to my face or just feel damn good right now:

1.  Ice cream.  So good after a long walk/run/car ride/sleep...YES, PLEASE.

Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone has the BEST ice cream.

2.  Finishing my 2nd half marathon.  Even though I was sick with sinus/ear problems, I busted out a 2:02:30 in my hometown's July 4th race.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful morning and the course took us over rolling hills through farmland and valleys with amazing mountain views.  Love.

Main Street, Lander, WY

 
3.  My better half.  He is my favorite person ever.

Sunset at the Madison river junction in Yellowstone

4.  Watching my son enjoy the same things I did when I was little. Like throwing rocks in a river with cousins and yelling so loud your own voice echoes off the mountains.

Love.

5.  Adding to my summertimelove soundtrack.  How is it that I JUST discovered the Wailin' Jennys?????  Beauty.



What's making your summer?

Playing hard.

My Monday morning Facebook posts have had a similar theme so far this summer...something along the lines of "I need a weekend to recover from my weekend."  This weekend was no different and while it was fun as all get out, I'm now gritty eyed and pretty sure I still smell faintly of charcoal smoke and bug spray.

On Saturday, I did something completely reckless in that I attempted an 11-mile trail run up at Happy Jack BY MYSELF.  Every other time I've done a long run up there, its been with a girlfriend and those who know me know that I don't have the best sense of direction and find it nearly impossible to keep the image of a map in my head.  (What is this?  Lack of spatial memory?)  But the night before my run, the Husband and I sat down with a printed out map of the trails and a magic marker and carefully mapped out a route.

I was slower than I would have been on the road, having to stop at junctions and make sure I was turning 20 yards PAST the huge rock that looks like a foot etc. but I totally rocked that shit and made it back to the parking lot just in time to meet the Husband to do kiddo-swap so he could get his mountain biking miles in.

Otto brought his biking stuff and for my cool down I walked beside him as he mountain biked on his Strider on a short trail.  He did a muddy water crossing all by himself!  It was a day of firsts.

Here I am, post run, so very proud of myself for not getting lost:

Basking in my own glory: I'll check for ticks later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Word.

 That night, after we'd showered and packed our car completely full of gear to spend JUST ONE NIGHT ON THE GROUND (!?) we headed back up for some good old fashioned car camping.

All the campgrounds were full though, so we ended up kicking it old school in the middle of nowhere.  (Read:  no toilets.)  It was fun, even if the spot we found was full of broken glass and shotgun shells.   Oh, and I found half a dead elk when I was peeing behind a rock.  This IS Wyoming.

It'll do.

Waiting on dinner.  Which took forever.

Nice butte.

Gorgeous views.

The Kiddo and the dog slept awesome and the Husband and I laid awake trying not to breathe too loud or move too much and dreaming of the day we can afford one of these to eliminate the need for a tent.

The next day, we rocked out some bacon, eggs, bagels and cowboy coffee on the ol' Coleman stove before heading back into town.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and pretty typical of summer weekends for us.  But holy shit, I'm tired.

Ah been fixin' to...

As they would say in Texas, where I just spent the last five (hot, humid) days, I've been fixin' to update this here blog but ...sidetracked?  Let's just say that some semblance of Summer has FINALLY crept into our lives and suddenly there is so. much. to. do.

-At work, I got a new office.  Yay!  It's the first one I've ever had all to myself and I'm really enjoying the privacy.   (And the rockin' view of the parking lot.)  I don't have much up on the walls but I'm kind of enjoying the non-cluttered feel of it. 

I need some bobble-heads a'la The Office, no?

-Over Memorial Day weekend,  the Husband and I got a much needed weekend away thanks to his kind parents who stayed with the Kiddo.  We ran, biked, ate sushi and mexican (not at the same time) and drank WAY TOO MUCH tequila.  We got a nice hotel and just really enjoyed eachother's company if you know what I mean wink wink.  It was the first time we'd both been away from Otto overnight but everything went without a hitch.  It's all to easy to become disconnected from each other during the day-to-day grind and we needed some time to remember WHY we're in this crazy boat together.  Yes?

-And as I mentioned, Otto and I just got back from Cemetery Day in Texas.  The flight out was infinitely better than 2 years ago which was the last time we went.  There was food, visiting, lizards in coffee cans (see below), cousins in kiddie pools and general merriment.  It was HOT, though.  I busted out a 10K race on Saturday morning and it was 82 degrees when the gun went off at 7am.  Ouch.  (Got 3rd in my age group though- 52:35!!  Another medal for the rack!)

It's a REAL LIZARD, Mom!

And now, we're back, facing mounds of laundry and full in-boxes.  Fortunately, we've got another week off scheduled for around July 4th.  Summer, I love you!!

Bottoms Up

This summer, so far, has turned out to be all about self improvement and feeling good. Not on purpose, mind you, at least not in the sense that it was premeditated. But the husband and I have just shifted somehow, into a place where it genuinely feels good to be exercising daily and eating well.

I'm now able to jog 3 miles at a reasonable pace- I won't be winning a 5K anytime soon but I'm still pretty fuckin' stoked that I can do this. My body feels leaner and stronger. I have more stamina and the occasional sleepless night that still seems to be plaguing our lives feels less onerous. I don't know if I've lost weight (I simply have not checked) but my clothes are fitting better and I don't feel as jiggly, so...probably?

Our cooking has taken a largely vegetarian, vaguely middle eastern turn- lots of tabouli, felafel, hummus, grilled boneless skinless chicken breast (which yeah, I know, NOT vegetarian, but pretty different from the constant tacos, chili, and baby back ribs of last summer)...I love summer and the charcoal grilling. No soda this summer, with the exception of the ginger ale in the Moscow Mule because HELLO? Best summer drink EVER. Beer is still in the equation as well, because a life without it is simply not worth living. All things in moderation, holmes.

And so here we are, nearly to August, my birthday month. I gotta confess, I DO feel a little bit older and wiser this year. And that's a good thing. The wiser part, anyway.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm kind of dreading my birthday. Not for the reasons you'd think- 32 doesn't really scare me any more than 31 did. It's just that it marks the 1 year anniversary of the day we lost McHann. It was such a horrible, sad, sad day, my birthday last year. It's going to be hard not to think of what we went through on the floor in that vet's office...holding her, speaking softly and watching the light leave her beautiful brown eyes. Afterwards, we went to a park on the edge of town, sat side by side and looked at the mountains thinking about and agonizing over what had just happened. Then we went to the Buckhorn for Jager shots.

Maybe if I flesh out all this stuff before my birthday it will not be as crappy? Worth a (Jager) shot, anyhow.

Hello! Its Tuesday Morning! (Can I PLEASE Go Back to Bed Now?)

Some observations, in no particular order or importance:

1. Microwave s'mores are sort of like nicotine gum - will satisfy a strong craving but are no where NEAR as good as the real thing.

2. I found myself looking in the mirror this morning wondering if instead of making feeble attempts to hide my dark circles with concealer, I should rather embrace them and start a whole new pale, dark-circled beauty trend. Sort of a 30-something mom meets heroin chic look?

3. WTF is up with the rule that says my hair/make-up/outfit that looks super cute in the bathroom mirror at home, looks shitty and half-assed in the mirror in the Ladies room at work? Seriously.

4. True Blood is completely, totally fucking ridiculous. And I still watch every week. "Sook-eh...Ah em Vampahr!" " Oh, Beel! Ah ken hear people's thowts! Eet sucks but ah'm so horny!" So awful, but so entertaining.

5. Why is the health care thing so contentious? Maybe I'm naive but what we have is OBVIOUSLY not working and yet people are digging their heels in, crying "socialism!" and generally being obstinate little shits about it. I don't know...I don't have any brilliant commentary...I just want Washington to work shit out so that people, ALL people have access to quality health care regardless of their financial status. My little brother having to declare bankruptcy because of his skiing accident is fucking ludicrous.

6. I can't stop listening to Bad Religion. Its the soundtrack of my summer. Especially this song.

BubbububububububWha?

Haven't been posting here much because Hello! Summer! Vacation! Fun! Which is all very well and good but it makes me tired. In a pleasantly coma-riffic way.

So rest assured, that no news is good news and we are off busily building campfires in the mountains, going to the zoo, playing cowboys and generally laughing like bastards.

Carry on.

Summertime

Glimpses

Above: Lunch after a hike.

Left: McHann enjoys the shade on a hot summer day.














Above: Playing

Left: Don't let the sweet pose fool you- Daisy is the DEVIL.

NewsBrief

* It's warm. Supposed to be 80 degrees today. Naaahsss.

*There is some exciting news to share: I got a promotion at work! This is good because a) we could DEFINITELY use more money and b) I was getting a little bored and it will be fun to shake things up with some new duties etc. So GO ME!

My interview was nerve wracking in the way that interviewing for good friends that you work with while pretending that you are not all good friends who work together can be. Yeah. Confusing.

*On the home front, we're having lots of company in the next couple of weeks: the husband's folks, my folks, my folks again, the husband's folks again...I daresay Otto will be grandparented- out after so much consecutive ooooohing and ahhhing and OMGHE'SSOADORABLE-ing.

The husband's folks were actually here last weekend and babysat so we could go out. (What is this you say, "go out?" I had pretty much forgotten the meaning of the phrase. ) I was, however, quickly reminded and also reminded that I've been over "going out" for quite some time. Hanging out with totally wasted retards slurring their words and sloshing booze all over someone's nice hard-wood floors is not really a good time. Well. I guess is can be, but I was NOT in the mood. And the husband and I had been fighting before we even left the house. That and we got a call at 11pm that Otto was up and royally PISSED so we had to go home. All in all, it was not the best time.

* Today is our 8th anniversary. We are going out to lunch. Romantic, I know.

* Otto is 9 mos. old today. He's been out as long as he was in. Heh. Letter to follow.

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

...and I have to admit I'm just a leeeetle bit nervous. We are leaving tomorrow to spend the long weekend at my parent's house in Missouri. The Husband is staying here because he has band obligations (they are playing a biker rally, of all things). So its just me, the boy, and the good folks at United Airlines.

True, its only a 2 hour flight from Denver to St. Louis BUT. There's the 2 hour car trip to Denver. (And the getting through security, blah blah blah...) Then the 2 hour car trip from St. Louis to my parents house. So it will be a looooong day of travel.

I do, however, think I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. The game plan is this: I will wear Otto on my front in the Ergo, have a backpack serving as diaper bag/purse, have our rolling duffle in one hand and the car seat in the other. Oila! A one-woman traveling circus.

Wish us luck and bon voyage!