Category Archives: I did something Special

January 6, 2011 · 12:11 am

How It Came In.

A few months ago, the good Samaritan in the house (aka Tony) jumped his co-worker’s car for him. The guy, in an off-hand manner (everything this guy says sounds kind of off-hand, actually) told him, “Thanks, man, I owe you one.” And, as cool guys do, Tony said, “No problem.”

Fast forward to last Thursday, and I received a text message from Tony saying, “We have tickets to the Lakers game for New Years Eve.” My first thought was, “… and you’re taking me??? Yay!” My second thought was, “Are they real?” Ha! My thoughts are funny. Turns out, that was the guy’s way of paying back a favor. Which is how we ended up in Staples Center on New Years Eve, 7 rows up from the floor, center court, above the score tables.

Love the intense look on Kobe’s face. This was one second before he stole the ball, ran it down court and scored.

Pau Gasol is awesome. This series of pictures I took of him taking off his warm-up suit and running onto the court cracked me up… like he’s some supermodel or something, flinging his hair back…

You tell ’em, Fish!

Men In Yellow

Luuuuuuuuuuke!

Gotta say, nice biceps, KB.

We recorded the game, and I was glad we did because I’d forgotten how much I rely on being able to rewind stuff to understand exactly what happened and why the refs sometimes make the calls they make. Things happen so very fast during basketball games!

It was a close game… closer than it should have been. I don’t know what’s going on this season, but the Lakers just aren’t playing that well. But, for that game at least, the Lakers won (yay!) with over 100 points, and managed to keep the other team under 100 points. This is noteworthy because, since it was a home game, it meant that everyone who was there got coupons for two free Jack-in-the-Box tacos. Hooray for free food!

The next day, we were watching the recorded game and Tony goes, “Hey, there we are!!”

What? You don’t see us? Let me help you… that red spot is my jacket which I had just put on. To the left of the red spot is Tony’s purple jersey and beige shorts.

There we are! In the spotlight! We’d just been told that Staples Center was closed and we needed to exit the facility, so we turned around to gather our belongings and that there is our behinds. We definitely made the most of our 15 seconds of fame for the year.

Coming home after the game, we were traversing the opposite direction of massive amounts of traffic (imagine that, everyone going into LA to party for New Year’s?) and made it home just in time to watch the replay of the ball dropping in New York for the west coast.

And that’s how we brought in the new year. Oh, and they gave everyone those fun hats when we entered Staples Center.

Of course, I did other fun stuff over my four day weekend — highlights included a family dinner, organizing our tax book for 2010, sorting my vitamins for the next 4 weeks, water changes in the fish tanks (always), and weeding through the 500 pictures I took at the Lakers game (I discovered the rapid shutter feature on my camera a couple months ago).

With exciting stuff like that (and that’s just a small sampling), now you know why I don’t write more about the mundanities of my life every day.

(Love and Loathe is in the works, plan to post it Saturday-ish, but wanted to get this written and posted before it’s February. I would have had it up sooner, but instead I called my mom to wish her a Happy New Year’s. I knew you’d understand!)

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Filed under Best Husband, Entertainment can be Cheap, I did something Special, I Left Home for Awhile

October 30, 2010 · 9:17 pm

Unexpected Bounty.

Weird thing about last week, Thursday felt like Friday and Friday felt like a holiday. No one wanted to work on Friday and, shamefully, I admit to being part of that group. All I wanted to do was walk around and look at my co-workers’ festive creativity. Even our legal department went all out, they decorated AND dressed up like Indians — our head counsel being the chief… ha!
Legal Department…

When it got down to the deadline for voting, people were shuffling by my cubicle one right after the other. I was more than willing to give them a tour of my goodies, “Here is my wraith…” and press the button that made it eerily sing. “Here is Boney Barney, on a leash… leash law, you know.” They would nod, and I would press the button that made him talk. Then I would show them my eyeball ball, let them bounce it. Offer them some candy out of my skull cup, and add, “Don’t mind the rat, I don’t think he’s been able to get the wrappers off…” I would point out my pile of pumpkins, and then have them read the Batz Bar sign, ending with “We serve Boos, not Booze.” And then wave my hands about and say expressively, “BOOOOOO!” And as they walked around the corner I would say in a high-pitched voice that carried, “Vote for me!!”
A goofy video I made of my cubicle…

And I won. By two votes. I think it was the interactive tour. Apparently my win upset someone’s 6 or 7 year winning streak. Oopsie.

Cutest moment of the day? Several co-workers brought their spouses and their kids in to see the decorations. The one guy had two little boys and they gathered around Boney Barney and were petting and talking to him like he was a real doggie. For about 10 minutes! Awwww.

When I got home, I opened the back sliding door. The air was so crisp and fresh — fall-like — it beckoned me to go outside and watch the sunset. It was then that I noticed several tomatoes were ripe, and no birds had pecked through their dark orange-red skins. Then I noticed two bell peppers were ready. Thrilled, I checked my blueberry plant and pulled a handful off. By that time, my hands were so overflowing with harvested produce that Tony had to open the door for me so I could come back inside!

It rained this morning, around 6am, pounding down on the roof. I thought for sure I would be swimming in the rain, and later driving in the rain, but when I went swimming around 9am, the streets were all wet, but the clouds were beating a hasty retreat, and the sun was out for the day.

But really, I just love that I won the Halloween Decorating Contest!

I’m fairly certain that if there’d been a costume contest, I would have won that, too, based on the looks of amazement I was given when they realized I was Barbie Doll for the day. Plus, it’s the one day a year I can wear leather pants to work and get away with it.

Happy Halloween!

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Filed under I did something Special, Money Hump Building, We Love to Decorate

August 23, 2010 · 11:32 pm

Up & Down the Hill.

While you were here wishing us a Happy Anniversary, we were in San Francisco having dinner, riding the cable car and walking.

We’ve been to San Francisco a half dozen times together and we’ve never had the time to ride the cable car. Thus, our main goal this visit: Ride the freakin’ cable car, already!

We walked over to the Cable Car Museum from our hotel, and caught a ride on the cable car down to Union Square. They emptied the cars of all passengers there and reloaded them. We’d been shooting the breeze with the brake guy, so he told us to walk a block up and catch it there to ride it back. Except all the cars were full. So we shrugged and just kept walking, following the cable car route, walking, all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, walking. If you’ve ever been to San Francisco, you can start smiling in amusement at us here. I’ll cue you at the appropriate time later for the laughter.

We got to Fisherman’s Wharf, and there were all the cable cars and the cable car guys taking their lunch breaks. The guy we’d been chatting with exclaimed, “Hey!” With a wave, he pointed at us, and then, “You didn’t WALK all the way from Union Square, did you?” We replied with much chirpyness, “Yep, it was great!” He was mightily impressed and we were pretty pleased with ourselves and our athletic prowess.

We walked over to Pier 39 and decided to grab a bite to eat for our own lunch. We were quite hungry given we’d just walked from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf. And then… we made the mistake of sitting down while we ate… (cue for laughter here) and all our muscles froze in place. After lunch, we barely made a standing position, and then limped and gimped and hobbled (note I did NOT say “walked”) back to our hotel, where we proceeded to take a two hour nap. I guess you could say we drowned the loss of our athletic prowess in sleep?

I would normally declare a two hour nap on a Saturday afternoon decadent, however, given the state of our muscles, this nap was downgraded to the status of necessary. In fact, we could happily have made it into a 10 hour nap, except that would have smacked of admitting our age (one of us had a birthday this week, not naming names, but I’m pointing at him). No one our age wants to say truthfully that they went to bed for the night at 4pm because San Francisco kicked their a**.

After our nap, we managed to make it out to the Golden Gate Bridge for the sunset. If possible, I think one should always see the sunset from the Golden Gate Bridge. If not there, then definitely from Alcatraz island.

Truly, though, we really had the best time. San Francisco is such a fun and beautiful place, and while our home was experiencing a summertime heatwave, the weather where we were was a perfect 70°F. Some drizzle/fog in the evenings, but warmed up right nice during the day. Awesome.

We also had a bit of warm reminiscent memories, for we stayed at the same hotel where we stayed the very first time we went to San Francisco together back in 2004. We enjoyed it just as much this time as we did then. They charge a bit more now than they did then and, personally, I think they charge more now than they should. Thing is, they have a great central location and they know it.

I guess I should also mention that I’ve never been to Chinatown there. Now, I don’t know what exactly I thought Chinatown was, so my ignorance (or lack of aforethought), and Tony’s desire to please attributed to yet another long walk on already stressed leg muscles. So, we get to Chinatown and we’re “walking” along slowly, feeling all the while that we’re about a second and a half from being pick-pocketed and I turn to Tony and say, “I guess I’m not much in the mood for shopping?” And he’s all, “That’s pretty much what Chinatown is, babe, shopping.” To which I responded with a grunt. I put the venture to good use, though, because I was on the lookout for Thee Dried Plums. While there were dried plums aplenty, and I didn’t find Thee Dried Plums, there were the scariest looking dried WHOLE FISH and dried WHOLE other stuff that smelled really nasty. I’m still shuddering over those dried whole fish. After that experience, we came the conclusion that Thee Dried Plums must have been homemade — they were simply too good to have been purchased somewhere.

The flights were fairly non-eventful, memories bountiful and enjoyment of each other top on the list — just the way we like it.

P.S.1 — I didn’t even mention the most delicious strawberry cheesecake we were given for free for our anniversary, did I?
P.S.2 — Or that we saw Tony’s twin (everyone has a twin, right?) playing hoops Saturday morning. Tony even said the guy looked like him, which really means there was a similarity. So weird.
P.S.3 — There is a store called Chocolate Heaven at Pier 39 — it really is. They even have chocolate pasta in there.

P.S.4 — We walked past several enclosed fern gardens (glorious!) and a 20′ tall wall of wild blackberries (unbelievable!).

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Filed under Best Husband, I did something Special, I Left Home for Awhile, I Stimulate the Economy

August 3, 2010 · 11:12 pm

Not Fair Fair.

Over the weekend, we made our annual trek to the county fair. Our first order of business is always to ride an elephant, provided by Have Trunk Will Travel. The money spent for that ride goes to support the elephants, and since I love elephants almost as much as I love cats, I feel it’s money well spent. This year we rode Kitty.

Oddly, there weren’t as many people at the fair the day we went as we remember from previous years. We usually visit the petting area (goats and more goats) and we feed and pet the goats (did I mention goats?). This year, there were so many people in the petting area that there was a really long line waiting to get in. It was absurdly crowded in there, so I pointed and said, “Hey, that’s where all the people are!”

A highlight for us was a new exhibit called the “Ice Museum.” There were several sculptures on exhibit, all carved of ice! It was 20°F in the showroom (brrrr, cold!), so if in the picture I look a little tense (or like I have to pee) you’ll know why.

Outside the ice museum was an artist who was sculpting this statue out of butter. This here is his butterbutt, and if you look closely, you might see his butterhole.

That thing up front there? I’ll let you name that.

I overheard the butter sculptor tell someone that last week he sculpted a Venus out of chocolate. I’m sure there’s something Freudian in that, right?

We were going to eat bad Fair Food, but I just couldn’t do it. Corn on the cob, a chicken skewer, and Dippin’ Dots for dessert were my indulgences of choice. I don’t remember what Tony had, other than a really huge pretzel that turned more heads than I did as a teenager! HA!

Of course, there was the garden and livestock area — this little piggy and that little piggy — they look like toes! Born on July 18th. Awwwww. Little oinkers.

Not sure what the point of this was, and it’s kind of an odd picture. It’s a watermelon that was encased in a plastic box. May I point out that it’s outgrowing its box?

It’s just not fair that the Fair only comes once a year!

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Filed under I did something Special

July 20, 2010 · 9:02 pm

55th, 20th & 50th

You know how sometimes if you break up your routine by going out and doing something on a Thursday night, Friday just kind of seems like part of the weekend, even though you still went to work? That’s kind of how Friday the 16th felt to me.

Thursday night we went to Disneyland. Our annual passes have black-out dates throughout the summer on the weekends, so if we want to go, we have to go on a “school night.” It was fun and felt like we had snuck out of the house without asking permission from someone! Tony wanted to ride Star Tours before they redesign it. I wanted to pick up a special 55th anniversary map — 55 years ago that Disneyland opened in California. We managed to stay late enough to watch the fireworks, which I always enjoy.

Friday night we hung out with Tony’s Little Bro, and a long-time friend. Later we went and saw the movie Grown Ups. It was silly and goofy and I laughed and laughed.

Saturday was a double-decker event day. We started by going to Mazda Miata’s 20th Anniversary celebration at Mazda’s Research & Development Center. That’s where it all started over 20 years ago. I remember when I first saw the Miata, a blue one… someone had parked it, and left its top down. I wanted one but figured I could never afford one. Then one of the ladies in my office bought a red one, and she made so much more money than I did, which affirmed my assumption. It took me 6 years, but I finally saved up enough money to buy a used 1992 red Mazda Miata. Oh, how I loved that car…. with its pop-up headlights and chrome fingerpull door handles.

Six years later and over 200,000 miles on the odometer, I was devastated when a truck blew off a stop sign and pulled out in front of me. I t-boned him, and my poor little car was totaled. The guy’s insurance company settled with me, which provided a hefty down payment for my next car: a red 2002 Miata. The one I currently drive.

So the 20th Anniversary celebration was like a trip down memory lane for me. They had clay design models, time line pictures, various concept models, and also the design team who imagined it and brought it to fruition were there, talking and answering questions. It was just a really fun event for me. Plus they fed us and gave us goody bags.

Concept models…

One of the clay models…

The design team…

The Starship Enterprise version (Tony’s favorite)…

Saturday afternoon, we attended the 50th wedding anniversary mass and reception for some long-time family friends. The mass and ceremony when they reiterated their vows was, simply put, quite lovely. They must have spent months planning and practicing (their adult “kids” provided the music). Every detail was attended to, the food was delicious and the reminiscing was touching.

I know the food at an event is not supposed to be the main focus, but I didn’t get permission to post any pictures of the grown-up people (I take liberties when posting pictures of my nephews), and the caterers were truly artists… so just imagine that everything else was as imaginative as the food and you’ll have a small taste of it. So to speak.

Everything in this basket was created from vegetables and fruits…

Yes, please…

Just a small taste…

I spent much of my Sunday enjoying the plants in my back yard — pruning them, splitting their roots and re-potting them. The rest of the time, I spent in the pool swimming — my hour long lap marathon in the morning, and then our nephews (and their parents) came over for some pool time in the afternoon. It’s remarkable how hot it’s been here, given how cool it was just a couple weeks ago. It’s been hot enough that I was dripping sweat while outside working with my plants (ewwww!) and the pool is running nearly 90°F.

In other news, my mom is off traveling in China. My cartoonist friend is traveling in Europe (and blogging about it), and a guy at work gave me one of the biggest zucchinis I’ve seen in about 10 years (since I grew my own).

It’s a good thing he gave me one, because I think it’d be wrong to covet thy co-worker’s zucchini.

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Filed under I did something Special, I have Family, I have Friends

July 3, 2010 · 11:26 pm

Ping Pong, Fairies, Balloons, Bikes & Pirates

With a title like that, why bother writing anything else?

Right?

The month of June is over, marking the fact that a whole bunch of kids are now a year older!

Nephew Milo has had a love of ping pongs and ping pong paddles since, well … I remember him just learning to walk, wobbling around with a ping pong paddle. Not doing anything but holding it. Then when he started talking, he would say, “Ping pong paddle!” clear as day. Just one of those things where everything lined up in the universe when he first saw them and he fell in love with ping pongs and ping pong paddles.

Given that love, his mother decided the theme for his 2nd birthday party would be ping pong. All the food was in the shape of a ping pong — even the cake. Mini pita bread on popsicle sticks were the ping pong paddles and every adult had to play in the “tournament,” with the winner being judged by the kids — and bribing of the judges was encouraged.

Somehow Uncle Tony “won” the tournament. We were all so surprised.

The next birthday party was for my friend, Grace’s daughter, Mia, who turned 4. (Can someone tell me how all the commas are supposed to go in that sentence? Nina?) For the most part, Mia has had an undying love for all things that are bug related. Snails, roly-polys, ants, flowers, spiders… they’re all her friends. Much to her mother’s chagrin. This past year or so, she’s also developed an affection for Tinkerbell. Who knew Tinkerbell also loved Mia?

And the balloon artist? This guy was really good. Not only with his balloon creations, but with the kids. I found myself entertained by him, and could have watched him create balloon creatures for hours.


After Mia’s party, we headed over to get gas, and on a whim, decided to stroll through the strip mall in which the gas station was located. As we rounded the corner, we spotted Tony’s brother, who was hanging out with a bunch of bikes. Also known as working (for him). We had nothing on our calendar, so we decided to sit and visit with him.

This is actually Tony in the picture, but trust me when I tell you, all those bikes are NOT Tony’s…

Who should stroll by, but Captain Jack Sparrow! And the balloon guy had a gig down at the end, so we went to get the nephews some balloon swords and surreptitiously watched Sparrow pose with random kids. It was weird; we felt like it was just a continuation of Mia’s birthday party, except Mia wasn’t there and our nephews were. Weird.

This weekend, we get a holiday from birthday parties (don’t worry, we have two next weekend to make up for the time off). To kick the weekend off, we went yesterday and saw Eclipse. Something always goes wonky when we go to movie premieres and yesterday was no exception. The movie started, but the sound died and switched to playing the radio, and the curtains in front of the screen didn’t open all the way. They couldn’t fix it, so they upgraded us all into the IMAX theater. Oh my, IMAX. Can you say LARGE SCREEN with dizzying proportions? I can now say with certainty that even vampires have pores and nose hairs… and Taylor Lautner has very nice abs.

How big does a screen need to be anyway? See that guy way down there? That’s actually a concession stand.

Today was a relaxing, but busy day. We were on the go from the moment we got up. But it was relaxing because it was stuff we wanted to do… you know, like swimming (for me), basketball (for him). A deep tissue massage (for me), and another movie (for him). A drive in my convertible and working on a garden (both of us). Gaming (for him) and blogging (for me).

Just a nice day of freedom. Happy 4th of July.

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Filed under Entertainment can be Cheap, I did something Special, I have Family, I have Friends, I Left Home for Awhile

May 31, 2010 · 10:16 pm

The Long Weekend.

The sun had slid silently, without drama over to the other side of the house, casting the porch into lengthening shadows. Pine trees surrounded the house, the tips of their branches opening like candelabras reaching toward the heavens, standing straight, tall and green, like silent sentinels to the weather changes. Last week there was snow, this week there was sun.

A soft breeze flirted with the skirt that covered the white wicker furniture on the porch. The breeze, combined with the lengthening shadows encouraged the woman curled on the wicker couch reading a book, to pull the blanket closely about her. The book she was reading in peaceful solitude had distanced her to the passing of time.

Her back was to me, her aged white hair pulled up into a bun, the entire essence of her that I glimpsed in the 30 seconds it took us to pedal past her house, gave me the sense that she had enjoyed the sun and was enjoying the shade just as much, but the book she was reading took priority to her comfort.

I enjoyed that moment of imaginary and, despite a 5 hour journey (2 hours normally) to get to the mountains on Friday (due to this), then coming down with a nasty cold early Saturday morning and getting the first period since my miscarriage (a helluva doozy, if you’re curious), there were lots of good moments that more than made up for the pain and inconveniences.

We BBQed chicken skewers and spontaneously invited friends who happened to be up there to join us. We talked late into the evening and it was such good fellowship.

On one of our bike rides, we stopped and visited with the donkey who lives a couple streets over from our mountain cabin, and when we left I received a rather loud serenade of sad donkey hee-haws… “DON’T GO, DON’T GO!” He seemed to say.

Taking my coffee out on the back porch in the early morning hours and listening to the squirrels “chaw-chaw-chaw-chaw” at each other from the tree tops, while they performed a strange dance of hops and runs from one tree top to the next, fearless of heights, sounding for all the world like a strange bird.

We had breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, and one of the waitresses, hoping we would be up this weekend, brought me a dark chocolate candy bar with almonds. She was so excited to be able to give it to me, and I was so touched at her thoughtfulness.

The cook at our favorite breakfast place cooks two nights a week at a fancy restaurant. He’s always encouraged us to come by, with stories of deliciously prepared food. Sadly, we’ve never been up there on the nights he works there, but we were this trip, so we made a date of it.

On the way down the mountain this morning, for the first half of the drive, there was no one in front of, nor behind us. If you’ve ever driven a twisty mountain road and been stuck behind someone, you know what a blessing that is.

And the Sweet Broom is blooming — the fragrance is amazing. We rolled our windows down, things a-flying about in the car, the bird chirping away at the havoc of it all, but the fragrance, oh, the fragrance!

The snow has melted (this is one of my favorite views on the drive down, in case you hadn’t noticed).

It was one of those weekends that made you believe that if you could just blow a dandelion in one deep, long breath, that maybe, just maybe, you could have another weekend just like it. Starting now.

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Filed under I did something Special, I have Friends, I Left Home for Awhile

March 29, 2010 · 10:47 pm

Peering Through Pain.

Tony is a little amazed that I just seem to keep going, pain or not. He says most people would just stay home… I suppose he’s right. But the thing is, I learned a long time ago that if I let pain control my life, then pain becomes my life. I’d rather have a life and deal with pain, than to isolate myself because of my fear of pain, or fear of showing others my pain.

As with most life altering things, I’m learning that having a miscarriage is one of those things that silently twines itself around the daily happenings of a person’s life. Of my life. It’s weird, because it’s like this quiet grief of which no one ever speaks. No one I meet on the street has any idea that at the moment I’m telling them “I’m fine,” in response to their standard greeting of, “How are you?” I’m actually losing a life I’ve nourished for 2 1/2 months, and a dream for which we’ve prayed for 3 years.

Today would have marked the beginning of my 2nd trimester.

The dreams are hard, and I’ve awakened more than once the past few days because I’ve been crying in my sleep. ~~ I felt like I’d been punched in the gut the other day when I saw a woman holding her newborn close to her cheek. ~~ I wanted to punch someone in the gut when, within the first five minutes of meeting him and his obviously pregnant wife, he made more than three comments about his wife being pregnant.

Irritable. Sad. Sensitive. Tired. Impatient. Cramps. Bleeding.

Yet, despite the pain — emotional and physical — I’ve been able to carry on a semblance of a normal life. I’m able to go to work, learn new things and practice my craft as an assistant. The people I work with are cool and hip. There are fun perks at this company, like free breakfasts every Friday, sponsored by the company.

Tony and I were able to have a great weekend together. Friday night, we went up to the local mountains and, Saturday morning, visited our friends (the cook & waitresses) at our favorite breakfast restaurant up there. Which also means we’ll think of them and our time up there for most of the week, because we have breakfast leftovers.

We drove down Saturday afternoon to attend a Honda-sponsored dinner event for the people who rode on their float in the Rose Parade. A dinner at a ritzy steakhouse, with appetizers, salad, main course (filet mignon for us, please) and dessert. The representative from Honda said they’d stayed away from having riders on their floats in years past, but now might reconsider that policy in the future because all the float riders this year were so wonderful. As a thank you, beyond the experience, memories and dinner, they gave all the float riders photo albums and DVDs. I continue to be so impressed with Honda corporation.

This weekend was also Marigold’s birthday and the Steve/Marigold/Huck/Milo Show invited us to join them at Disneyland. Our schedules meshed up, so we spent the afternoon at the happiest place on earth, riding kiddie rides with the kiddies and getting our picture taken with Mickey Mouse.

The best ride of the day was the Jungle Cruise, because I got this picture of nephew Huck just after we saw the hippopotamuses get “shot at” by our guide. He wasn’t pleased.

Grateful. Blessed. Loved. Grace. Amazed. Miracles.

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Filed under Best Husband, Entertainment can be Cheap, Health/Endo, I did something Special, I feel Sad, I have Family, I Left Home for Awhile, Kid Quest, Money Hump Building, Sometimes I Dream

March 14, 2010 · 9:10 pm

Green Dinner & Stuff

On my way home from work on Friday night, I was in stop-and-go traffic behind a guy in a silver Miata with a black top. It was the earlier version of the Miata, the version with the plastic window, which he had unzipped. It made me smile, because I remembered that I used to do that, too, sometimes when I had mine. Yes, before the 2002 Miata I own now, I owned a 1992 Miata. What can I say, I love those little cars.

The thing I noticed about him beyond his car, was that he had a tick. I don’t know if he had Turret’s syndrome or what, but every 30 seconds or so, his body forced him to turn his head to his right, bobble it a couple times, while he mouthed a few words, and then he faced forward again. Over and over it went.

At first I thought it was kind of funny, then as time passed and we all slowly crept forward together, stuck on the freeway in a proximity closer than any of us wanted, I couldn’t help but think how exhausting that must be for him. Time after time I watched his head turn quickly, bobble, his car would mildly swerve in sync, and then he regained control, faced forward and acted as if everything was normal. It was normal for him. His normal.

Isn’t that what we all try to do? Move forward with each of our versions of “normal?” Whatever that may be?

Yesterday was the annual Green Dinner event at Tony’s church. It’s an event that we start talking about when we put our Valentine’s decorations away and bring out our St. Patrick’s Day decorations. It’s an event I always enjoy, where they serve delicious corned beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and cake (CAKE!!). This year, while the venue was a bit smaller and there were no Irish dancers, I still immensely enjoyed everything that was offered. Plus, visiting with the Seniors (Tony’s parents), and the Steve/Marigold/Huck/Milo Show made for a perfect evening, as far as I was concerned.

Today I got back in the pool for the first time in a month and a half. I felt like I needed to for my own sanity, but I was scared to do so, because I thought for sure I’d miscarry right then and there. The doctor tells you not to do something and suddenly it becomes Bad. Yet in a “normal” pregnancy, swimming would be Good. The mind is a funny thing sometimes.

The act of swimming felt weird to me after so long of a break. Although they knew what they were supposed to be doing, my arms felt like uncoordinated noodles. I was also ultra-aware of what muscles I was using to accomplish what came so easily to me not that long ago. The most surprising thing to me, though, was that I didn’t get winded at all… my stamina and endurance hadn’t changed much. Which is to say that I didn’t find myself huffing and puffing at all, and I was pleased with that. I guess I was in better shape than I had thought.

It was such a beautiful day here today. Tony refilled the bird feeders in our back yard and the sun was so warm and bright, I went outside and thought, “Wow, I bet it would feel wonderful just to lie down and look up at the sky…” And so I did. Then I fell asleep and ended up taking a 45 minute nap, lying on the warmed concrete in our back yard, with the sun shining warmly on my skin and a slight breeze stirring the leaves of the Eucalyptus tree behind me. I had a nap in the oasis, such as it is, of my own back yard.

Then I had to get up and do chores.

Normal. My normal.

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Filed under I ♥ My Miata, I did something Special, I have Family, Kid Quest, Who I am

January 3, 2010 · 1:27 pm

2010 Rose Parade Recap.

It all started sometime in November, when Big Brothers of Orange County contacted Tony and asked if he and his Little, Michael, wanted to ride on a float in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.

They attended a publicity photo shoot at the Rose Parade Mansion in November, which is also when they first met representatives from Honda America, as well as the other float riders, and saw the float model. Then they were given t-shirts with the Big Brothers’ logo, then the realization that it would be cold the morning of the 1st, so they were also given logo jackets. Then, a couple days before the parade, they were informed that the fire marshall was requiring all the riders to wear hats, because there were fireworks and other pyrotechnics on the float. So they were given hats with logos, too. Almost a full wardrobe of things with the Big Brothers’ logo!

Michael & Tony & the Honda float model.

On 12/27, we attended the “VIP float decorating event,” where we viewed the Honda float from a catwalk, and then decorated pieces of the float that were laid out on tables. We noted on judging day (12/31) that, in actuality, the only pieces we decorated that showed up on the float were the Honda side pieces, and they were re-covered with flower petals.

My mom putting seeds on the Honda logo

The Honda float, sails down and being decorated. Visible is the rear of the float and the “fireworks boat”

On the 31st, they required the riders be present for the float judging ceremony, so we headed up to Pasadena bright and early (around noon). Seeing the float fully decorated and fully functional was an awesome sight indeed. To see my husband on the float made it spectacular!

In front of the Honda float

One thing I’ve learned in life is, if you walk or drive like you know where you’re going and act like you’re supposed to be there, more often than not you’ll get to go there whether you’re “supposed” to be there or not. That served me well several times through this event. Particularly since I have a case of laryngitis, thanks to this nasty cold I’m battling.

I’ve also learned that laryngitis sucks.

New Year’s Eve … blue moon

New Year’s eve found us staying in a 4 star hotel, courtesy of the Big Brothers organization. Unfortunately, all four of us were in various stages of battling colds… imagine, if you will, trying to cough, snort, hawuck, sniffle, etc., all quietly because you don’t want to wake the others in the room who are trying to sleep, while worrying about the 3 AM wake-up time looming over your head. I ask you to imagine that because that’s what everyone was doing in our hotel room on New Year’s eve.

At midnight a text message on Tony’s phone blared. Michael sat straight up in bed and exclaimed, “What?? It can’t be 3 AM yet, I haven’t gotten to sleep yet!!” It was the ice breaker that allowed us to give up the pretense of sleep. We opened the drapes just in time to see the last bit of fireworks off in the distance… well, I did. We laughed, chatted (some chatting was more annoying than others) and rearranged ourselves. When it all sorted out, we all ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep and mine happened on the floor of the closet in a 4 star hotel. That’s right. I stayed in a 4 star hotel and slept in the closet!

My closet bed

Beyond seeing my husband on a float in the Rose Parade, a couple highlights for me included meeting Captain Sully on the 31st. Yep, the Hudson River flight navigator himself! He said to me, “Hello! How are you doing?” I gave my standard answer that I give to all strangers who put me on the spot, a quiet “Hi!” and a big grin. This particular “hi” had the bonus of being a bit froggish, given the status of my laryngitis. I did manage to take his picture, though.

Grand Marshall for the 2010 Rose Parade, Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger

Another highlight involved coffee and donuts! The morning of the 1st, I desperately needed something hot to drink. One of the white suited fellows directing people said he had visited the VIP/media area for his coffee. He said I could probably get in there if I smiled at them like I was smiling at him, and that worked great the first time. On my way down for a refill, I offered to get him a refill, too. He was so surprised that someone had thought of his needs! Sadly, the pretty smile didn’t work, so I explained my intentions (getting the white suited guy a refill) and as it turned out, my good intentions were my VIP pass the second time.

Me and my “boyfriend”, the Farmer Insurance Group’s “Salute to the Bands” float. We stared at each other for a good 2 hours the morning of the 1st. I was glad he left me when the parade started.

And my final highlight was that I somehow managed to avoid all vehicular traffic. I kept thinking I was lost or on the wrong road, because I made it to all my destinations with zero traffic. I think my drive to Pasadena was just early enough (I got there before my parking lot was even open) and when leaving the parade, I took lightly traveled streets which paralleled the main thoroughfare, which was terribly congested. Whatever the trick, I was glad for it, because I hate driving in traffic at events. Everyone drives like they forgot their brains at home, and that annoys the crap out of me.

The Rose Parade was spectacular. When I was a teenager, I went up 2 or 3 times with family friends and watched the parade toward the end of the parade route. This year, Honda gave the families of the float riders complimentary grandstand seating just before the media/VIP area. Our grandstand got extra time with each float and band because they paused for several seconds in front of us to wait for their turn in front of the media. Being at the start vs. the end of the parade makes a difference — the floats are up, and everyone is fresh and perky, including the flowers. At the end of the parade route, everyone is tired, hardly anyone is waving or smiling and the floats are down (from having gone under the bridge) and many of the floats are being towed. Also, being there in person is a far better experience than watching it on TV. This year was really a special experience.

Honda’s “Ship of Dreams,” with Michael and Tony on the rear balcony

Michael and Tony

When we finally got home the afternoon of the 1st, I took a shower and crashed. I slept from 3:30 PM through to 9:30 AM on the 2nd. I think it’s safe to say we were all exhausted.

I’ll let pictures and video tell the rest of the story. Happy New Year, everyone!

Float Decorating VIP party pictures: Link to pictures

Photo album of the 2010 Rose Parade: Link to pictures

2010 Float Judging Ceremony, the Honda float was awarded the “Tournament Special Trophy”: Link to video

ABC’s coverage of the Honda float (about 2 minutes): Link to video

Welcome to 2010!

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Filed under Best Husband, Entertainment can be Cheap, I did something Special, I Left Home for Awhile