Playing Catch-Up

As is the standard with my journaling...(because embracing the truth is sooo this week)...my performance is spotty, at best. (But what I lack in time I make up for in charisma, right?!)

In the past month, we've:

Welcomed a new baby cousin, Parker (born to J's sister, Katie, and hubby, Dan):

Kicked it Al Bundy Style:


(He's just missing the tiny feline pants down which to stick his uncivilized paw, but that's another day, another PhotoChop session altogether.)

Geeze, Buddha, I was only KIDDING about borrowing the remote. Seriously. Cats these days.

Celebrated our Handsome Man-Son turning seven.

(Sorry. Only good moms have a comprehensive shenanigans portfolio).

And to reward my favorite person in the world (I gotta hand it to me), I hatched one seriously sneaky birthday ploy. Yeah, there's just nothin' like the element of surprise...

• Drove to Flagstaff, leaving about 40 degrees Farenheit in the dust,


• Surprised him with an iPod docking station,


• Went out to a fabulous Thai dinner (Thanks for the restaurant tip, Mike & Jenny! Zagats my arse!),


• Caught a late movie,


• TAGALONG BLIZZARD @ DAIRY QUEEN (...Me? Obsessed with peanut butter-laced ice cream?! Surely you jest...),


• SLEPT IN (Only slightly lower on the Euphoria Scale than the Tagalong Blizzard),


• and enjoyed our time thoroughly.

Happy Birthday, Bubba. And good luck topping that. ;0)

Old Love...New Flame

I have a confession to make.

My name is Mandie, and I'm a Tunes-a-holic.

Now, I could sit here and type something witty about 'admission being the first step toward recovery,' but let's be honest: I'd be much better served by showering instead. (Praise Cisco Systems; you can't detect scents over the Web.)

Enduring this rather tricky (...yeah, that's the word...) time in our lives, I find I don't have the time for life's most basic functions. You know, like tweezing the six eyebrow-hairs I've got, or updating this mess.

One thing I made time for tonight, though, was the search for a Long-lost Love.

About five years ago ('cuz I dig ballparkin'), John Mayer (one of my all-time favorite artists) and Brad Paisley (an exceptionally talented guitarist/country artist...and alarmingly classy guy) got together for a performance. A performance I used to have on tape. But lost in the move. And cried about it. (How I wish I were joking here.)

But thanks to the JOYOUS advent of Youtube!!!...here's the audio! A bunch of their songs were keepers, but this was, by far, my favorite. I mean, c'mon -- cover a CLASSIC, soulful, positively chest-trampling song of Eric Clapton's and you'll get EVERYONE'S attention.

Hoping you're as in love as I am...or at least acquiring a taste...

Talent Out Their Ears

...my brothers have it...

http://www.wannaberacing.net/woutlaw.html

One stipulation: ABSOLUTELY no laughing at their best-bro-fros...

The Purpose-Driven Blog

And I sit here, digging in my proverbial heels, procrastinating the sleep I so desperately need to get through tomorrow. Yep. Tomorrow. The day that my "legitimate" medical education begins (though the practical one started 12 years ago this September). I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! I start PA school tomorrow! Geeze, this is gonna be like the Uber-Mental-Ultra-Marathon of Doom! What the heck. I say, "Bring it." Show me a challenge, then watch me rock your faces off in amazement. ;0)

My friend, Erika, recently had her entire blog bound for posterity's sake, and it got my wheels turnin' (faster than usual -- but with actual direction this time!). I've journaled faithfully(-ish) since I was about the age of the average Hannah Montana fan. Sadly, once I got married, though, that went pretty much out the window...or it's just been teetering precariously... with about a dozen entries in the past eight years. (Hubby Dearest brags that it's because when I married him, all my dreams came true. Eh, I'll give him that. ;0)

But around New Year's time, I got to really thinking about the purpose of my journal and how to make the most of my entry time. It was then I realized this: if I want it to be useful to me (or my poor, unsuspecting posterity), I'll need to cut to the chase about WHAT I'VE LEARNED!!! Recently. In the past. Vicariously and through sad/happy/hilariously ironic, personal experience. Not exactly Pearls of Wisdom...maybe more like Pumice. OOH! Insightful AND exfoliating!

So here it is, folks: Life 101.

• Everyone needs an advocate. (This cruel world has enough critics, thank you very much.)
• Life is too short to own a David Spade movie.
• As a man(die) thinketh, SO IS (S)HE!
• Speak kindly. You never know who's defending you at this very moment.
• New razors are NOT my friend.
• Don't fear the mob. (Or the reaper. But a cowbell in the hands of Will Ferrell? Now that's something to fear.)
• The chance that your 3-year-old will splatter an entire Costco-sized vat of a greasy, smelly substance all over your house is inversely proportional to the number of minutes since you scrubbed that house clean.
• An experience is only bad if the lesson(s) went unlearned.
• Practice makes permanent.
• I run exactly like a lumberjack with a rash.
• Feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and self-defeat are nothing more than a jealous Satan working overtime.
• Swimming is fun...unless you're a cell phone.
• While we're on the subject, Bella Dunkerella, electronic devices do NOT get thirsty. Ever.
• Never underestimate Satan's craftiness.
• It's not old people's fault. Sometimes they buy the car with the signal already on.
• If less is more, think of how much more more would be.
• Shampoo your carpets and you'd best prepare to clean up the ensuing pet barf.
• The hardest climbs often bring the greatest perspective.
• Journaling is cathartic. So is burning the bad parts.
• We are REQUIRED to forgive all men.
• Wanna serve the community? Avoid creating or perpetuating drama!
• The only people who can be trusted 100% are immortal.
• Before you despise someone for something about them, make sure you don't share that quality.
• I don't care what Disneyland attraction your head is shaped like: Bic'n it is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS superior to a comb-over.
• If you can only find one person in the world you can trust, make sure it's your spouse.
• Time only heals what you let it.
• Become a mom and you'd better be prepared to become a milk factory, a deflated off-road tire, late to everything, a binky, a broken record, a road hazard, a Nazi, a 24-hour on-call maidservant, a buzzkill, a sounding board and a launch pad. Often simultaneously. (Oh, and the happiest, most joyous, most eternally fulfilled person in the world.)
• If a liar tells the truth in the woods and no one is around to hear it, would anyone have believed it anyway?
• Satan can mimic everything but peace.
• Hair growth follows gravity along the path of least resistance, old dude in the line at the grocery store. If you're missing it on your scalp, plan on mowing it out of other orifices.
• There is no limit to the power of positive reinforcement. (This works as well for 4-year-olds as it does 49-year-olds.)
• Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.
• Good music is just as medicinal as laughter.
• Wouldn't you rather love someone more than they deserve than short them where they earned it?

Yeah. That sounds like a decent running start for now. So, lay some of your gems on us!

"It's okay, Mom..."

"...I'm dus' covering my moles wif my hands."

DOH!!!

Does This Drag Boat Make Me Look Fat???

• Screaming across glassy water at downright irresponsible speeds, risking (at the least) imminent bodily harm.
• Anchoring myself to the steering wheel like a hostage wired to a bomb clutches the motion-sensitive detonator.
• Snickering at the epileptic tach needle as it mirrors my uncontrollable bouncing over even the slightest trail of "lake lice" (you may refer to them as jet skis).
• Wondering how effective "racing shoes" really are at being life-saving flotation devices. (Yeah, still not buying that one.)

All for a rush that makes my cheeks burn with excitement, my abs sore from uproarious laughter, and my dreams ring with the sound of a surprisingly throaty little 350 that packs a punch.

___________________________________________________

What's not to love?!?

___________________________________________________

Plus I giggled like a school girl in pigtails...wait a minute, I was wearing pigtails...when I stood up out of the carbon fiber sliver, unstrapped my helmet from my harness, pulled off the helmet, peeled off the "sock" (more sweat-net than anything), shook my hair out -- and a boat full of boys, their dad, and their grandpa, stared until the youngest boy shrieked:

"WHOOOOOAH!! That's a GIRL drivin' that thing?!?!"

Believe it, cutie. Mission accomplished. :0)

Mad props (Haha!!! Get it?! Props? 'Cuz boats, and, um, yeahhhh.....) to my brother, Paul, who's teaching me (select bits of) everything he knows, and for my brother, Buzzz, who slaved with Paul over the Money Monster for more months than they care to count.

Seriously. Nothing says love like letting your little sister race your prized possession.

Plus I think the family had fun chillin' on shore.

Now THAT's my idea of a Friday.