Selling the Jeep!

Guess what?! When the Jeep sells, we get new carpet! Tell EVERYONE you know.

Here are the specs:

97 Jeep Wrangler - $7600

--BRAND NEW Top
--4" Body Lift
--33" Tires
--2.5L 4cyl.
--High flow Rechargeable intake
--Custom exhaust
--Low miles - 110,000?
--Chrome Nerf Bars
--Chrome bumpers, w/lights
--Chrome dress-up parts on: hood, mirrors, lights, grill
--Alpine CD player, w/ iPod/MP3 input
--Sound bar with 6.5" Orion components
--8" bazooka sub
--4x50 watt clarion amp (in locking trunk).
--Diamond plate body armor.
--Interior is in great shape
--Receiver Hitch for towing
--5-speed manual
--4X4
--Custom rims
--New battery

Jessie made it better.

I'm really going to try to go to this girl to get my haircut more often.

Dear Overly-Confident Hairdresser...

I am taking these pictures as a means of reminding myself why I do should not, and will not return to your place of employment. I realize that when most people say, "give me bangs," they have not researched photos for days on end to find out exactly what they want. I realize they probably have not uploaded a stupid picture of themselves on-line and "tried on" different hairstyles with bangs. But I did, and Josh can attest to it. I am a dork, and I fully admit it. So when I say, "I want bangs to 'here' and I want them to sweep to the side, you should not do this:


and then tell me that you don't want to cut it shorter because it will "bug the hell out of [me]." I'm pretty sure hair that covers my eyes will bug me more than hair that sits above my eyes. And what's with the uneven "bangs" bit? I don't understand. At least, for the time being, I can do something with it to hide the unevenness that you managed to create... but I think you owe me $14.00 plus whatever I end up paying to have it remedied at 4:00 pm today with a real hairdresser.

I might be willing to have a cat...

...if I could do this to it:

Dog and Beth, the Bounty Hunters

a blog with words

Alison said I should write a real blog - one with words. Really, I've been meaning to do it for awhile, but October has been hell. Pure hell. I spent almost 2 weeks working from home about 3-4 nights/week and even spent a Sunday evening writing a report that was due to Court 2 days earlier. I hate asking for help from anyone, especially my supervisor, because I don't want them to think I can't manage my time. This is totally not the case because I am awesome at managing my time. It's just that the Court is not always so great at giving me sufficient time to get my job done. So I just ended up working from home rather than asking for any sort of comp time. I hate that. Whatever. Finally, on Monday, I went to work and had 2 things on my calendar instead of 20. I had time to organize my files on my desk and file the inches of paperwork that I somehow managed to pile up on my desk. I breathed, and it was great.

That being said, the one awesome thing about October is that I was nominated by one of the Court clerks (I don't think I'm supposed to know it's her, but she told me) to be October's Employee of the Month. The funny thing about this is that there are many, many people who work for the Agency for years and years and never get nominated and selected, but this is my second time being selected in six months - April and October. There are some jealous and bitter folks around the Agency. Oh well. I am pretty much awesome, and I don't really care what they think. I will continue to be awesome at my job even if other people think they are more awesome than me. Even better is that the Employee of the Month gets to take 4 hours of flex time for the month. So tomorrow I am going with Josh's mom (in town from eastern Idaho) to Brooke's school to help decorate for "Wild West Night" and to go to the Halloween party and watch the parade. I'm taking the whole damned day off and I can't wait!

On a completely different note, Josh and I are going as Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth (the wife) for Halloween. I have the most spectacular costume EVER. I just finished "tailoring" Josh's jacket into a vest and convinced him he needed to buy some black pants and wear uncomfortable shoes for the occasion. I am hoping to win the iPod Touch at the party by having the best costumes. Photos to come, but probably without words. Sorry Alison!

I don't know what else to mention. Really, work has been so incredibly busy that my life has revolved around it and I can't seem to think about anything else. I am really, really, really hoping that my caseload doesn't shit on me over the next few weeks. Oh, and I am taking on a different type of caseload (well, 1/2 different caseload) soon and have to learn how to do work/supervise them all the while continuing to manage my current caseload.

How's that for an update?

Heeeeey

Ti-red.

I'm tired of working.

On a completely different note, I'm about 93% sure I'm going to run the 10k leg of a triathlon relay in San Francisco next September. This also means that I now have to juggle the following:

1) finding a gym that is cheap and will give me what I need (98% there)
2) time to sufficiently work out
3) time to work on my grad project (oops!)

and

4) time to be at home and relax (aka drink wine and be lazy).

I am unsure of the times that any of this will actually happen (sigh).

(thanks for the link, Alison!)

someecards.com

Hippies

it rained...

...actually it poured, and the wind blew, and it was kinda cold. BUT WE RAN ANYWAY! Hooray for us! An extra special HOORAY for me!!!

my 5K

The 5K I've been working toward is on Saturday. I've been pretty worried about it because my knee has been hurting about 1.5 miles into every run. I've been icing, and resting, taking glucosomine, stretching like mad, and doing pilates to build a bit more muscle in my legs. It didn't seem to help because this week when I was in Lewiston, I was completely unable to run without feeling like my leg was going to snap in half. I figured I would just run as much of the 5K as I could, walk the remainder, and vow to run a true 5K at a later point in time. Anyway, I decided to give myself one last shot at running 3 miles tonight, AND I DID IT!!! I can't even begin to tell you how proud I feel right now. Even if I do end up walking 1/2 of it on Saturday, I know that I managed to run 3.1 miles tonight in 35 minutes. Hooray!!!

Don't loose your temper!

Oops, I got lost.

I got up at 5:45 Friday morning so I could be out the door running at 6am and back by 6:40 to get ready for work. I stretched more than usual because my knee has been hurting about 2 miles into every run, so I left the house at 6:10. I still figured I would be home by 6:50 to get Brooke up for school and make us lunches. To make a long story short, I changed my route and (surprise!) got lost. I jogged for about 45 minutes (longer than EVER) and when I finally figured out where I was, I was 2 miles home, had an aching knee, no cell phone to call Josh (as if he would have heard his phone ring anyway!), and had to walk the remainder of the way to the house with all of the high school kids on their way to school. I got home at 7:40. Oops!

I mapped my route on google maps and figured out I went a minimum of 6 miles. Overall, I think I ran a total of 3 miles, then walked another 3 to eventually end up at home.

I will never, never enter a neighborhood of which I am unfamiliar without a map in hand ever again...at least, not when I am expected to be somewhere shortly after my run.

Weekend Update

We went to Idaho Falls and Rigby this weekend to visit Josh's friends and parents and because Josh really wanted to take the new FJ out to the Dunes to test out the action. My parents went to Josh's parents' house too, and a big BBQ took place on Saturday afternoon. We had a good time, despite the following:

1) Josh and his dad wanted me to make bloody marys for everyone on Saturday (12:30-ish) before the BBQ. (FYI - I make the best bloody marys EVER...well, maybe not better than Zeitgeist in San Francisco, but close.) I'm pretty sure Josh's mom is never going to let it go that I got her drunk off ONE of them. Josh and his dad had 2 of them and promptly took 2.5 hour naps afterward.

2) Everyone at the BBQ was convinced that they were attending some sort of engagement party. I do not have a ring, we are not engaged, and I'm pretty sure that I we were, they would have found out long before some random BBQ on a Saturday afternoon. Blah.

3) On Sunday night Josh and I were walking out the door to go hang out with his buddies (and mine, I suppose) in Idaho Falls and I fell on the stairs in the garage. I'm not sure if it was my grogginess or the fact that it was dark in the garage and I really didn't see the steps, but I fell and completely twisted my ankle. It hurt like a bitch, and instead of going to IF to see Skinner and Michelle, I was laid up on the couch at Josh's parents house all night icing my foot and taking Aleve. Ugh. I'm so incredible upset about this because in 3 weeks I'm supposed to run my first 5K and now I'm scared to run, for fear that my foot (which feels ok right now) will flare up and I won't be able to do it. Stupid clumsiness.

On a completely different note, I FINALLY finished New Moon today on the drive back! Hooray!

I am not invited...

...to a wedding I thought I would be invited to. I guess I shouldn't be as offended as I am. I also should not end my sentences with prepositions.

Ouch

My mouth is on fire. I went to my favorite Thai place to grab lunch on my way home today. I ordered Pad Prig King (chicken) and ordered it a 2/5 on the spicy level. 2/5 is good enough for me over there - I like to taste my food and not just the spiciness. Anyway, I'm kind of a cheapskate when it comes to tipping if I'm not eating there. I didn't wait around and get soup like they offer to people who order take-out. If fact, I walked over to the bank to get some cash while it was made. So, I didn't tip. I'm pretty sure those $*&@ers made it more spicy than a 2/5. My mouth is on fire and I hardly even tasted the food because it was so hot. But I was SO hungry that I couldn't NOT eat it. Ouch.

Oh well, we are taking Brooke to the Fair today. It's not my favorite place, but it will do. Plus, it's not like 100 degrees outside, which is nice. It's more like 82 and that is much more pleasurable that being a sticky, sweaty mess. I'm going to go get myself to looking cute and head out the door. Oh, and I'll probably have another beer, in hopes that it will calm my mouth a little bit.

FYI - it's Thursday and at 2pm I had already worked 40 hours. So I got the rest of the day off. I have to show up for Court tomorrow at 8:30 and then I get to leave to go rafting with teh fun folks from Josh's office. And we don't have to buy the beer! Yippee!

ok, I'm a slacker...

...and I haven't really blogged regularly. Oops! Here are the happenings:

--I am running a 5K on 9/20/08 with my neighbor, Lisa, and a bunch of co-workers/friends. I organized the group, so I figure it's enough to make ME not back out. Lisa and I started week 1 of 9 of the Couch-to-5K plan this week. Not too bad....yet! I'll try to fill you in next week. In the mean time, I started this blog for the participants. I like to think I am clever.

--I took a few weeks off from going to Weight Watchers meetings and felt like I gained a whole crap-load of weight. Really, I gained about 6 lbs. Not too bad, considering the amount of crap I ate. I guess 20-something days on the river actually DOES counter-balance SOME eating of the junk food. Anyway, I joined Weight Watchers online because it was too difficult to get to the meetings every week. I think I like the online stuff better - but really, truly believe that I'm at an advantage because I went to the meetings first. -3 lbs last week - go me!

--We are going to Josh's family's reunion tomorrow. I will attempt to report later.

--We got a new dishwasher. And table and chairs. And we picked out laminate flooring and carpet for the WHOLE house. And I am excited about ALL of it. It will be like we have a brand new house!

--We might need some muscles to help move our furniture into the garage for the new carpet. I will keep you posted if I need your help.

--Alison is moving back to Minnesota and I desperately want to go visit and go sing karaoke and attend BBQs. But we just bought all of that stuff and I have to finish my semester and I can't afford it. Sigh.

--Vegas in October!

i used to be good

Josh is out camping this weekend with his high school buddies and I am home alone for the weekend - by choice. It's been really nice. We've been running around like crazy for the last 2.5 months camping, rafting, and visiting with family, etc. and it's really, really nice just to sit around. Even cleaning things out of the closet is relaxing...how pathetic is that? Anyway, I decided to take out my guitar this afternoon and played for an hour and a half. I sang all of my old songs, which aren't quite as fun as they used to be, mostly because all of my old songs are angry and mean and sad. But I sang them anyway. And after awhile I realized that I have a DVD of a performance that I did at Java Jim's Music Theater in Indiana back in January of 2005. So I popped it in and it kind of made me sad. I mean, I watched it and I realized that I used to be pretty good. I used to sing and play like crazy - like it was my whole life. And it was. And now, my guitar comes out every now and then and when I play it's nowhere near as good as it once was. But it's weird because it doesn't necessarily make me want to go out and play those songs again. It just makes me want to show it to everyone to prove to them that I once did that and I was really good.

So....anyone want to watch it?

goal

I've decided that when I reach my goal weight I will let myself get a new tattoo.

Also, I'm selling my car. One of you should buy it.

old bfs

This has happened to me twice in the past 6 months or so...and it's kind of fun. Last night an old boyfriend contacted me via facebook. I thought Mike was pretty much awesome. We dated on and off for about 8 months, and HE broke up with ME about 3 times throughout that time period. Last night we got home from a weekend of rafting, of course, and I had a message from Mike. It was something like, "I'm reevaluating my life and was thinking about you." Does that mean he was thinking about me and how much he fucked up? I kind of hope so, to be honest. Mostly because I am so so so so so happy and content with my most fabulous relationship now and hope that he sees that I am awesome. Am I a bitch because of this?

The other time was when I was at POST Academy in March and Justin contacted me to ask why he was "doomed to be single." I quickly reminded him that HE dumped ME. It was the epitome of "High Fidelity." And I liked it.

Honestly, I think the only reason I am writing this is because I drank a few beers and made pina coladas...and when the pina colada mix ran out, I made strawberry daquaris. Soooo...I am a little intoxicated. But it's still fun to think about how awesome I am :)

Another addiction

I can't stop watching these videos from a The Weepies Video Challenge. Some of them are really cute. Claire, I think you'd enjoy watching these....

http://www.imeem.com/weepiesvideochallenge

I am jealous of Alison's tattoos...

...and now I want a birdie. It's my sister-in-law's fault. She said, "I think we should commemorate my trip to Boise by getting new tattoos!" I said, "I have enough." Then my mom said she is thinking about getting one. WTF?! Now all I've been able to think about is getting a new tatt. And all I can think about are Alison and her fab birdie tatts on her arms. I want one above my hip and am thinking about a combo (somehow) of the three of these:




Ideas, anyone??

Miranda = Bad Ass Rafter (part 2)

I went swimming. It wasn't a long one, but I went swimming.

We went up to Riggins the weekend after Memorial Day for another river adventure on Salmon River. Josh's sister, Adrianne, and our friend Marti came with us and we all vowed to try to plow through four cases of beer throughout the weekend, which ended up not being a problem, even with my ONE beer that I drank on Friday. We rocked Shorts Bar (campground) on Saturday night, more than you can ever imagine. We deserved it though.

Saturday morning we awoke and made our way up to Spring Bar to get the rafting day started. We scouted Lake Creek and Ruby along the way and determined the best route through the huge rapids. We put in a little while later with Josh rowing the blue boat with me on the back, and Marti rowing the yellow boat with Adrianne on the back. The water level was super high - I think it was around 48,000 cfs or something crazy like that, so you can only imagine how big the rapids were. We came up upon Ruby, and Josh managed to hit the sweet spot. We rowed through the biggest waves I've ever seen - I felt like I was on the ocean. (Marti and Adrianne missed the big waves but still had a good ride.) Josh and I celebrated our magnificent run through Ruby with a beer, and the grins on our faces didn't cease....until we turn the corner and saw Lake Creek, in all its glory. Holy shit. HUGE.

When we got closer, Josh questioned his line. I never knew exactly what the plan was. Josh went for the right run, in hopes that we would skirt the gigantic hole under the bridge. Every few seconds, explosions of water would erupt - like grenades hitting the water, right on our line. There was no backing down. I placed my half-drunk beer in the pocket of my life jacket, which has always been a safe spot for such drinks. For a second, it looked like we would make it on the right line, then one of those explosions happened right underneath our boat. One moment we were in the line and the next moment we were headed right for the biggest hole I've ever seen. It made Lochsa Falls look like nothing.

Josh gave two big pushes, and the boat went straight to the wave and then to a 45 degree angle. I knew where I needed to hi-side....straight to the oar stand. I made another Super Woman leap to the oar stand, and suddenly, I was under water. I was only under for a few seconds, but couldn't figure out how, when I had leapt toward the right oar stand, ended up on the left side of the boat when I came up. The boat made it over the wave and Josh began celebrating. Then, he looked around and noticed I was gone. Somehow, I managed to come up out of the water right next to the boat and my go-go-gadget arm held the side of the boat and the spare oar while Josh looked around for me. He grabbed the throw rope and looked again. Haha, I was right there the whole time. He pulled me into the boat. Adrenaline pumped through my veins so hard I probably could have run a marathon....or maybe a mile. The funniest thing to me is that when we reviewed the pictures taken by a lady on the side of the road, it turns out that I didn't fall off the right side of the boat at all. My only explanation is that one of those explosions happened next to me and a wave shoved me to the left side of the boat. I'm including my favorite pictures. You'll notice that it looks like I'm trying to bring Josh down with me. Neither of us remember that.

As for the beer can, it was squeezed together so tightly in the middle that it made a perfectly flat center. The ends, however, were still perfectly round. I wish I had a picture of that....these will have to suffice....

Miranda = Bad Ass Rafter (part 1)

These posts have been a long time coming. If you don't care about my rafting experiences, the next few months will probably not be worth reading.

Memorial Day weekend I went with Josh, another friend, and the friend's cousin (and douchebag) up to the Lochsa River in Northern Idaho. The boys all ran the Lochsa River at a crazy high water lever (~14,000 cfs) while I drove along the river and video taped their adventures. Jealous that I didn't get to ride along on that trip (we were all worried about the level), I explained that I wanted to ride on the back of the boat the next day. Josh said I could, and the next day was sooooooooooooo fun. The waves were HUGE and Lochsa Falls was even bigger. The ride on the Lochsa River on Sunday went something like this:

Josh rowed while I sat on the seat at the back of the boat. I was decked out in my new dry top, dry pants, and fancy helmet. Though the river is not generally the place where you try to look like a fashionista, I looked pretty cute. Really, that doesn't matter, but I thought you'd appreciate it. Josh and I were able to launch with 22 other Cataraft boaters, including guru, Ted Day. It was pretty cool to look up and down the river and see only Cats! We started coming up to Lochsa Falls (at that level, the water is HUUUUUUUUUGE....I cannot reiterate this enough) and Josh turned to me and the following conversation ensued:

Josh: "I think I want to run it." (Translation: "I want to hit the guts of that gigantic hole down there that is flipping 1/2 of the boats that go through it.")

Me: "Ok babe, just do it."

Josh: "If I do, we're probably going to flip."

Me: "Go ahead. No one is really ever ready to flip, but I'm ok with it."

Josh: "Don't make me regret my decision."

Me: "DO IT!"

So he did. But when we came up to the Falls and Josh realized we were a bit too close to the raft in front of us and couldn't push as much as he would have if there were no one in front of us. It felt like slow-motion as our two Cat tubes punched the hole and jerked us around on our seats. The, the boat started to turn 180 degrees. Josh was out of his seat and his legs dangled in the water below. The current was so strong that it sucked him right under the boat and he went swimming. He was gone and I knew I had to do something....but what??? I took a flying, Super Woman leap to the front bar of the boat, near the place Josh had just been sucked under the boat, and held on for dear life. The gigantic wave rocked the boat back and forth for what seemed like an eternity, until suddenly, the boat turned back around and, ever-so-gracefully, spit me out over the wave. The boat was upright. I was still on the boat. Josh was nowhere to be seen. (Turns out the camping douchbag was good for something - throwing the perfect rescue rope to my man.) I managed to get into Josh's seat while an observer held the boat on the shore. I returned the oars to their proper place, and after securing the spare oar to the side of the boat (it was hanging by one tether), I rowed through the next rapid and found Josh waiting in another boat for what he thought would be a flipped boat and a swimming girlfriend.

For some reason, I can't figure out how to embed the video within this post....so follow this link and watch our adventure in the yellow Cataraft at 2:27 and in slow-motion at 7:02.

Parts 2 and 3 soon to come!

Officially on vacation!

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I'm pretty much a badass

At least, I feel like one. I think/hope that Josh will back me up on this.

You may remember that at that end of last summer I rowed my first class III rapid and was very, very proud of myself. Two weeks ago, I ran the Main Payette (all but 2 rapids) with Josh in the boat with me. So when last week hit and Josh asked if I thought if I was ready to run my own boat down the Main, I was scared shitless. Thankfully, Josh had a lot more faith in me than I did of myself. I randomly told my co-worker, Vanessa, that we would be going that weekend and invited her along. At first, I thought she'd be running her own, new, inflatable kyack alongside us. However, her IK is with her dad elsewhere. For some strange reason, she decided she'd be OK riding in MY boat (with my new b-day oars, btw), even though I'd never run the entire Main by myself.

Enter: Party on Friday night. OMG, it was insane. The party was very impromptu, and we grilled hamburgers and had a helluva time with our neighbors. Multiple bottles of liquor and several cases of beer were consumed. When I woke up to Josh, sick beside me, in the morning, I was worried that we wouldn't actually go. He assured me that we would. Vanessa arrived, and a few coffees and sandwiches later, we hit the road. Josh and our buddy Jesse ran the South Fork (despite my extreme nervousness) and we met them at the put-in for the Main. I was SO nervous about the river, and even more so because it wouldn't just me me to get wet or dumped - Vanessa would have to survive through my lack of experience. I have since adopted Vanessa's motto: "If I weren't in it for the adventure, I wouldn't have come."

And that's what it was. Josh neglected to inform me of the size of the river we would encounter; it was FREAKING HUGE!!! BUT, I did it! I managed to run the entire river without dumping myself OR Vanessa, which made me so so so so so so so proud!!! And I still am. I even threatened to call Josh's dad (rather than my own parents) to tell him about my accomplishments. (I let Josh call first the next day.)

To say the least, this was pretty much one of my greatest accomplishments over the past few years, and it makes me very, very, very excited for the rest of rafting season! Plus, I just got some amazing new semi-dry gear for the season, and it is awesome.

(I must mention that I was in charge of getting the car to the take-out. 4/5 of the way there I realized that I forgot the keys at the put-in. I am a big dork. Thankfully, our buddy Travis took the initiative to hitch a ride to the put-in to get the keys and meet us at the take-out. Part of me likes to think that Travis just really wanted to stop rowing through the slow parts. Whatever. It gave Vanessa and I the chance to run one more rapid, and Vanessa rowed, magnificently, through it. Hooray!)

Cutest thing ever

My friend Jamie sent this to me. Apparently, one of her kindergarten students has a crush on her (she's a Spanish teacher in Chicago) and wrote her this note.

Here's the translation:

"Miss Perry,

You are a great teacher, but why don't you speak another language?

Love,

Toby"

When Jamie asked him what language she should speak, he said "British."

Round two. Delicious!

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Vacation is awesome!

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Uh oh - here we go again!

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Another b-day dead and gone...

And now I'm 29...yippee! The day itself was pretty nice - my coworkers did a little number on my door, I went shopping for myself (and bought some super hot jeans), turned in my final paper for one of my classes, played golf, tennis, bowling, and guitar hero on our new Wii whilst drinking wine and beer, and admired my new oars from Josh. Nothing huge to report. Just thought I'd check in!

I'm....graduating?

Not yet. Don't get ahead of yourself.

Anyway, I had a run-of-the-mill meeting today with our graduate coordinator about the things I need to do to get my graduate project underway. After a little discussion and me proving information about my topic and what I would like to look at for my project, I received the information I needed. Not only that, I walked away from the meeting with a committee chair set in place, names of two other people to contact to be on my committee, and an expected graduation date of December 2008. Holy crap! I expected it to take a lot longer than that, but my "chair" told me he firmly believes that I can complete everything by October, to defend my project in November, and graduate in December. Not only that, he told me he would love to see my project published and that he is confident that my project will get that far.

It's funny because I remember starting grad school in the fall of 2006 thinking this whole thing is a popularity contest and it would not be fun, in the slightest. But now that things are starting to come together and I'm starting to see the end, it's kind of fun to see that the graduate faculty are looking at my ideas and projects as something worthwhile, worth pursuing, and worthy of publishing....even without seeing any sort of outline for my topic. It's honestly nice to know that my "chair" is confident enough in me to tell me these things with minimal information.

That's all, really. I'm just really excited to have a start on things and to know that I am fully supported.

Cute

I was supposed to read all day and finish this stupid book for my Management class. Brooke even went to her great-grandma's so I could get some stuff done (Josh went rafting again). I read quite a bit but eventually pulled out my guitar and jammed out a little bit. I picked up Brooke and brought her home to chill. Josh came home for a brief second and then we took him to an awards thing for work. Eventually, it came time for Brooke to go to bed. I still had my guitar out and I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song. Of course, she said "yes" and plopped down cross-legged onto the floor to listen. She told me I could make a lot of money if I wanted to. Then, she asked if I wanted her to massage my back. Of course, I said "YES!" and she sat behind me on the couch while I played guitar and she rubbed my back. I started making up a stupid song about how I like it when Brooke massages my back. I stopped and said, "your turn!" and we took turns singing made up lines about each other. It went something like this:

M: "Man, I love it when Brooke rubs my back. It feels pretty awesome like that."
B: "Yeah, Miranda is the coolest."
M: "Brooke is a pretty cool kid"
B: "Miranda likes to sing."
M: "Brooke has some shoes that are a little bit too small."
B: "No they aren't."
M: "I think it's time for Brooke to go to bed!"

It was pretty much the funniest/cutest moment we've had in awhile. That and the time last week when we were eating dinner and she said, "Miranda, you know, over the past couple of days, you've been really acting like a mom." I kindly said, "Well, I'm not your real mom but I take care of you like a real mom should." She quietly responded with "ohh."

Anyway, our impromptu songwriting session was sooooo cute.

The girl won't eat anything I make but she'll make a mayo, mustard, ketchup, and peanut butter sandwich and eat the whole damn thing! I'm getting played!

I am paranoid...

...because I work with offenders. Granted, people should be cautious when someone knocks on the front door at 11pm, but I think I am overly cautious because of my job. Case in point: I was sitting around posting an ad on Craigslist (I need to get rid of these gargantuan dresses in my closet!) and watching World Poker Tour on TV when there was a knock on the door. Silly me freaked out! I wasn't sure if I should actually open the door or not so I took a peek through the blinds. Silly me couldn't see anything but a silhouette, yet I opened the door anyway. WTF? If I was that freaked out, I shouldn't have opened the door! Thankfully, it was just our neighbor, Jordan, wondering if Josh was home because he needed something only Josh can provide. Wait, that sounded dirty and gay and that's not what I meant. He needed something that I would not have in my possession. Anyway, I am safe, but still a little concerned that I am so paranoid.

Losing that "fat girl" mentality

I was watching "What Not to Wear" last night (a guilty pleasure of mine) and there was a girl on there who had lost 120 pounds and she had a hard time shopping because she still saw herself as the "fat girl." Anyway, I have come to realize that I still see myself that way sometimes and I get irritated when I gain even the slightest amount of weight when I weigh in every week. I love the fact that I am not limited by only shopping at Lane Bryant or Torrid (i.e. the "big girls stores") and that I can step into the GAP and buy size 10 or 12 pants (oh my gawd, did I actually wear an 18 before???) and have them fit. I love the fact that I've lost nearly 50 pounds (I am SO damn close to that award at Weight Watchers!). I love the fact that I can walk up the stairs to my third floor class and not be out of breath. But I can't seem to get out of the mindset that my thighs are big and I still have a pouch of a belly. There's something about me that strives to still fit into Lane Bryant bras even though soon I will have to settle for some other place the next time I have to buy bras. And what will I do without my "buy one, get one 1/2 off" standard?! I guess I don't really have a point to this, other than the fact that I've become obsessed with losing weight and I'm a little bit scared that once I hit my "goal" (that's in about 6 pounds) I'm still going to thrive on losing weight instead of maintaining simply because I won't see myself like everyone else probably does. Does this make sense? Has anyone else felt like this?

With all that being said, I want desperately to post before and after pictures for you - maybe I'll edit this later and add pics for people who haven't seen me in awhile....

(Ok, it didn't take me too long to add pics...)

Spring 2003?

January-ish 2007

February 2008

Spring 2003?

February 2008


January-ish 2008

it's been awhile...

...and I don't really have anything interesting to say.

I went to POST Academy for work and graduated last Friday, so that was nice. It suuuuuuuuucks to have to stay in dorms, with a roommate, without the ability to leave campus (except for the weekend) when you only live 15 minutes away. Oh well, like I said, it's over and I got an "awesome" sweat suit with my name on it for future use.

The semester is coming to a close, but is sooooooo busy, yet again. And this time, I really didn't procrastinate. I really just haven't had enough time to get everything done, especially since I had to be gone at POST for 2 weeks.

Josh is taking his first rafting trip this weekend and I'm jealous. I'm staying home with Brooke and will be going crazy reading research for my presentation on Tuesday.

Wow, this is such a boring post. I'm really, really sorry that I have nothing better to write about. Maybe something exciting will happen soon and I can tell you about it. For now, I'll just head back to watching Idol and studying for my test tomorrow.

Jogging suit for POST...lame!

playing guitar...

I just played guitar for the first time in months. No really, MONTHS. I don't think I've played since October...and it felt good, friends, GOOD. I think I played for 2 hours in the house by myself, then put Virginia away for a few minutes. I made bloody marys for myself and Josh, then serenaded him in the garage while he played with his RC cars and attempted to put them back together. I know it seems weird, but we both seem to have remembered that we like to do different things and we are both getting back to doing the things we really love to do - separately - and I like that. Silence is golden sometimes. We never really seem to talk about our hobbies, but we have been great about respecting those interests. I like that...a lot.

On another note, I have to go to the POST Academy for Probation Officers starting tomorrow at 2pm. I'll spend two weeks away from home (except weekends) at the Academy learning how to do my job in a better fashion (at least, that's my hope), but am sad that I have to be away from my "family" for such a long time.

And lastly, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, I have perfected my bloody mary recipe. They are soooooo delicious! Man, thanks to Zeitgeist in San Francisco, I have learned that adding horseradish into my mixture has really improved the recipe. Yum!!!

a few things I am very excited about!

1. Friday night's white-trash-bar-extravaganza was pretty entertaining. Josh's cousin's band played at Mr. Lucky's here in Boise. FYI, Lucky's is known for their NASCAR Sundays (all you can drink for $20.00). I'm pretty sure they are also known for the extreme amount of Special Olympics Dance Team members....in the most unofficial sense, of course. Anyway, the band was pretty good for firing the lead singer a week prior, which surprised the hell out of me (the fact that the band was pretty good surprised me, not the firing of the lead singer - that should not surprise anyone, really).

2. Saturday night I went to a concert at the Big Easy to see Joshua Radin and Ingrid Michaelson! They were incredible! I wasn't too familiar with their stuff before heading out (except for Ingrid's song, "The Way I Am" which is on an Old Navy commercial) but I am fully convinced that they are worth listening to over and over and over again in my office. Yay! On top of seeing the phenomenal concert, I ran into two of the guys who were in my youth group when I led the group at my church in college. They are old. That makes me feel old. BUT, it was super fun to see them and I think they even convinced me to pick up my guitar sometime soon.

3. I spent the majority of my time sleeping and laying on the couch this weekend and it felt awesome.

4. None of our immediate friends or family members drew a Middlefork of the Salmon rafting permit this summer, which made us pretty bummed out. Thankfully, a friend of a friend invited us on his trip! Hooray! I'm pretty sure I'll be dreaming of this for the next few months....

5. I think I have become addicted to Crystal Light Energy. And Spicy V8 (not just for my perfected bloody mary recipe - I like it plain, too). And Laughing Cow cheese with celery. And sushi. (I never thought I would say that). And steamed broccoli (WTF?).

6. I made my first official meatloaf last night and it was really effing good. Oh my god, when did I turn into a housewife?

7. San Francisco was fan-freaking-tastic. Next trip: Vegas on April 26!

Overheard by one of the Marshalls this AM:

Kid: "Man, she's tight." (not in a good sense)
Mom: "Yeah, just be glad she's not your PO!"

(Man, I love being a hard ass sometimes.)

My cute new jacket from h&m!

Smug and awesome at kilowatt in the mission!

Doble vodka tonics in the mission!

Chianti in North Beach.

Oops forgot the pic on the last one. This is us eing smug and awesome.

We are soooo smug and awesome. The weather is beautiful this weekend and we are having soooooo much fun!

Sunday morning in Union Square.