The full shoe story

So Richard and I were heading out on a date on Saturday night...

(we went to Newport High School's production of "Chicago"...a play I would NEVER guess that a high school would have the guts to do. I love high school plays. They are cheap and good-- like a Maverick ice cream cone).

We gave some last minute instructions to our babysitters, grabbed our shoes and headed out the door..

On the way to the theatre, I marveled at how my foot was suddenly WAY too big for my flip flops. My toes were hanging off the front of the shoe, and my heel was dragging off its end. I took off my flip flops and examined them, then I put them on again. They felt so small...

but I had just taken them to Mexico and they had felt fine, they had fit...then!

I took them off again and showed them to Richard

"I think my shoes shrunk....do these look like a size 11 to you?"

I started to hypothesize about what could have happened:

maybe I had gotten them wet and the plastic/rubber had shrunk?
maybe my foot had swelled up...

either way, there was no denying that my flip flop was now very small and definitely did not fit my foot any more.

I kept taking them off and then on again and looking at them for signs of what had happened to make them change in just a couple of hours. In fact, I had worn them that morning...how could it have slipped my attention how ill fitting they were?

and then Richard said the magic words:

"maybe those are someone else's shoes..."

and I realized that I had just put on the flip flops that were closest to the door, which happened to belong to our babysitter. I blame Old Navy, for putting a billion white flip flops into world circulation.

And yes, I wore them the rest of the evening!

Run Anna Run

Lately, Anna is obsessed with running shoes. Mommy's running shoes, Daddy's running shoes, and Anna's running shoes. When she gets these shoes on, she always starts running. It reminds me of that scene from "the Sandlot" where one kid asserts that new black Converse sneakers are guaranteed to make a boy run faster and jump higher.
but I think for Anna it is the color pink. Its like she becomes supergirl when she wears the color pink. Combined with her running shoes, she is a force to be reckoned with.
But when she is not running, she is content to sit and smell the foilage...

and to sit and play in the soil...
and to lay in the grass and serenade the bees...
and to hide in the grass with her lamby
and to generally show Dora the explorer that she's got NOTHING on Anna!

what a girl! She amazes me everyday with her spunk and energy and unique perspective and imagination. And she is SO incredibly intelligent. When it is time for her to be in school, she is going to be the one schooling me!

we have fun.

she is my friend!

Cocktails and Cake! My Happy Hour

You didn't think that I was just going to have a quiet but perfect birthday and call it quits did you?
I have been wanting to have a happy hour party for FOREVER, and my 30th birthday was just the right occasion to try my chops and mixing cocktails.

There is no reason why Tee-totallers cannot enjoy fun non-alcoholic drinks....but since I didn't know any, I had to look them all up on the internet. I found recipes for
- the pac man
-the shirley temple
-the pat cocktail
-the Pomola
-ginger beer
-virgin margarita

and since none of my friends knew how to make cocktails, I posted recipes for us all to follow
for the most part, all it took was some soda, some seltzer water, some grenadine (cherry syrup), some lime juice, and some margarita mix
and you couldn't have a happy hour without some great food! I made my buffalo chicken pizza of course.

you also couldn't have a great happy hour party without some good pub trivia ala Richard Rose. He crafted some incredibly difficult but punny categories and questions. (For example, one of the catergories was titled "Narrow is the gate, and Broad is the Way" about Broadway musicals, and another category was titled "Star Wars" and involved questions about Star Wars, Kenneth Star, and Celestial Stars) You are way to sophisticated for likes of us Richard...
and of course, the chocolate cake. Thanks Andrea. I ate two pieces. It was made with love...I could tell!

It was a fantastic birthday party. Everyone had fun. I tried out a Pat cocktail made with gingerale, 7-up, grenadine, club soda, and lime juice and loved it! I didn't end up singing Disney songs on a barstool or needing a designated driver, but I would like to think I had just as good a time!

More happy hours will definitely be coming.

Happy Birthday? Yes, it was!

I realized what makes a really good birthday...

Feeling loved. It doesn't matter what your presents are or how many of them you get, where you are living, how many friends you have at your party or how many candles are on your cake or how much you weigh. Its how loved you feel.

This year, I felt loved, and it wrapped around me like warm marshmallow.
Richard is probably the BEST gift giver in the world. Its like he saw into my SOUL! His first gift was downloading a running playlist for me of 31 songs, representing each year that I have been alive (the song from 1981-- "Your kiss is on my list"-- it was kind of a dud year, musically). I started my day with a 10 mile run, and each song was a surprise and a trip down memory lane.

He also got me a sweatshirt from Oxford University to replace the one that got stolen when I left it on park bench during a morning run. The cookbook, "Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute of America. A pair of yellow shoes. A kayaking trip for two. And the best gift, a compilation of memories he collected from friends and family members sharing their thoughts about me. I kind of felt like Sally Fields when she claimed her Best Actress Oscar-- "you like me, you really really like me!"

my birthday was capped off by one of the funkiest, coolest meals I have ever eaten at a restaurant called "Staple and Fancy Mercantile". It had a gazillion courses.
we were joined by our friends Brent and Andrea.
and this man who I love, who is the reason behind so much of my happiness.
and made me feel like the most cherished woman ever born in 1981!
and then there were these olives...
and chilled asparagus soup
and some kind of spread on toast things...
and fried oysters with roasted red pepper aoli
and soft boiled eggs with anchovies..
and some other kind of fish...
and scallops on peas
and linguine in a nettle pesto sauce
and gnocchi in a creamy gorgonzola sauce
and halibut
and roasted chicken with fingerling potatoes and chorizo
and chocolate cake
and panacotta topped with balsamic vinegar with an amaretti cookie
Making a birthday wish: (nope, not telling).

Am I exactly where I want to be as a person? No. But I like who I am and where I am going. 30 is awesome, and as Sandra Cisneros would say-- I still have a 29 year old inside of me, and a 21 year old, and a 15 year old, and a 7 year old. Heck, sometimes Anna and I are not that different after all.

I feel loved. I feel content. It was the best birthday ever!

I finally got my license!

So I lost my wallet in February.
So after replacing all of my credit cards, mourning the loss of my Cold Stone Creamery gift card, and memorizing my library card number, I found I had only one last card to replace...
My drivers license

Unfortunately, I had never gotten a Washington driver's license, so when I went in to get one, they informed me that I would need to take my drivers test again...along with the rest of the 16 year olds.

There was both a written test and a practical driving test. To take the written test, I had to brush up on the Washington driver's guide. My favorite part of the 116 page guide was the section that talks about special situations to watch out for. Here it is verbatim:

"There are certain drivers and other road users that you should give extra room. Some are listed here...
people who may be confused-- People who are confused may cause an unsafe situation. These people may include: tourists or others who do not seem to know where they are going; drivers slowing for what seems like no reason; drivers looking for street signs or house numbers."

I don't know if it was the night, but I laughed for a long time after I read that one.

The other interesting thing about Washington law is the Implied Consent Law, which literally states:

"when you operate a motor vehicle, you have agreed to take a breath or blood
test to determine the alcohol or drug content of your blood.
If a police or traffic officer asks you to take a BAC test, you
must do so. You will lose your driver license for at least
one year if you refuse to take a BAC test."

Now, it doesn't take a first year law student to recognize that IF this indeed represents current Washington state law, that it violates basic fourth amendment rights to privacy. A police officer must have reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation (more than a hunch and be supported by evidence) in order to require a search of your person or property, otherwise, you have the right to refuse such a search. And that right to deny consent to a search is constitutionally protected.

So, just interesting!

I didn't practice for the practical portion of my test. I figured that driving every day for the past 14 years of my life was practice enough. Until I showed up and my instructor started quizzing me on hand signals...
luckily, I guessed and got 2 out of the 3 correct! (apparently just waving around your hands does not mean "slow down or stop")
I also got to show off my parallel parking skills (I rocked that one) and backing out of a driveway skills (I actually panicked for a minute because I couldn't remember how I normally back up and if it is the "correct" method for backing up).

But, I passed with an 86.

So now I am officially legal. the photo didn't come out so well, but...whos looking.

Wednesday Workout Women

(Hopefully, my friends forgive me for this post and the photos I am posting of them)

On Wednesdays, the ladies and I rock out at the gym....
of the church.
We bring our kids, our workout attire (i.e. our pajamas...at least for me), and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get those booties in shape!!
Most of the time we have 6-7 women, and about a dozen or so kids, and these photos were taken on a "calm" day.
Our fearless leader, Kari, never takes it easy on us. She is the inspiration behind these workouts. She works at some local gyms and decided to give us all the benefit of her expertise. I have trained and ran 5 marathons...but there is nothing that exhausts me more than this woman's routines. I literally cannot help from letting out tribal growls of pain.
But I think Kari is superhuman, because she has frequently come out with me on an 8-9 mile run AFTER she has taught one of her kick-butt classes.
Everyone brings toys for the kids and then we borrow some from the nursery room. For a long time I was bringing our portable dvd player and setting Anna up with an Elmo movie, but then she began getting really territorial and possessive and riots were erupting. Since I didn't want to have to bring out my police academy skills on the toddlers, I just took out the volatile element.

At any given time during the workout, about half the women are carrying their kids and doing the best they can to modify the workout to accommodate carrying an extra 28 wiggly pounds.
This weeks workout happened to incorporate the usage of white paper plates....which were surprisingly effective.
Anna is unpredictable. I have found that if I change my expectations...i.e., if I plan on carrying her for half of the workout, then I won't be disappointed when she refuses to be entertained any other way. And when you do endless repetitions of squats carrying a kid...wow....
these workouts have also proved that you don't need a fancy gym or fancy clothes or a personal trainer to get a great workout. All of the moves that Kari forces us to do are things that I can do at home, and can be done without weights or armbands.
I can't say that I look forward to these workouts... but I do look forward to seeing my friends, and I have to admit my backside is looking awesome!
This was Anna telling me that she was done. And I have to admit, I was done too.