These are the people I'm related to

This is a picture my sister-in-law took of my brothers and I at Oma's 90th birthday.  We are such total freaks.  If you call me weird at least you know I'm not the only one, and it's also probably genetic, though it could be nature as well, we'll never know.

More house photos

Female Friends

Okay, so i've been saying this for years but never blogged about it, mostly because I know my mom reads this and I don't want to deal with the "talk" that could come with it but f-it. It's my blog, right?

Years of dating and being out of college I've notice a few things.  It is easier to meet men than it is to meet women.  Why, I don't really know? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not easy to meet men, but you go on a date with a guy, and if it doesn't work out you don't see them again, and if it does you do.  But where is there a place to have same sex totally platonic dates? I don't need a match.com I want to friend.com.  I don't meet people though work, and who i do meet, how do I make that next step, that "hey, we should hang out?" without seeming desperate, needy, clingy.  

I've been fortunate enough to become close with several of the friends in Apple Jacks friend group.  They've slowly become both our friends and I hang out with them without Apple Jacks.  

Which is great, to have a new, different friend group than the one I had, but the one I had before has dispersed.  People have left, moved, faded away, and that's just how life goes.  So, there is a part of me that feels it's time to add more people to my posse, but how.... How do you meet new people? I'm not a go out there and do things alone type person... I don't have guts like that.  I took a writing class a few years back hoping to make some friends, but nothing came out of that.  I also had a book club with Ms. O and that faded and none of the friendships lasted from that.   Both a few years ago and with someone else recently, i also tried to rekindle a friendship with an old horse friend and both fizzled and faded rather quickly.  So.. how, i ask you, does a girl meet other girls?

So, The Ma and I are looking into doing a training thing for a half marathon and vowing to socialize with others.  I've been on Craigslist responding to people's book clubs.   

All in all, really.... how is it easier to date men than have a friend date with a girl!?!

Oma is 90

This fine women has lived on this fine earth 90 years!

Both Abbie and Grammy had a great time celebrating.

Here is 4 generation!

Abbie, me, cousin Summer, Grammy, aunt Marbe, and Oma

Here are some Pics

Family Room

Here is mom and Abbie playing with Legos on Christmas Eve

Kitchen

Across from the family room is the kitchen.  

Living Room

Here is my whole family enjoying cookies after Christmas Eve dinner.

I'm in

Okay,
I'm in my house. All in. I've spent two night and the heater is almost balanced... master bedroom is still a bit cold at night, but we're working on it. Things feel good. I have a Christmas tree up and am all ready for Christmas Eve. And i know i said I would show pictures but saddly i have no clue where my camera is. Not in the slightest. But as soon as I find my camera or take pics with someone else's I'll put them up.

Home Up Date

it's almost there... the house is almost there. The floors are in but still a bit dirity, I'm working on that. The carpet is in. The deck is done. The paint is done, I'm just in the process of the endless paint touch up. Pictures are coming soon, but not until I'm in!

That's right, I've transfered to the light side. I am the owner of a MacBook Pro. After my desk top died and my lap top died in the tech guys office, I put my hands in the air and desided that now is the time to go Mac. So far I like it. I haven't figred it all out but I-photo! is so cool. I also havn't had much time to play with it. I've been SO busy, but i did finally find time for shower, so that's a step.

The Jones Factor

This is The Ma and I playing Indiana Jones. She's in the back "holding up" the bolder and I'm running. It was fun.

Don't worry, we went up the other way, not this way

Bad F-ing Day

If you think you had a bad day, I think I get to trump that. I turn on my desktop after a week of being gone, casually chatting on gmail to Tasha and wroop my computer shuts down and I see the blue screen of death. I try rebooting it in several ways but nothing works. Safe Mode. Blue screen bats that down. Do the restart from previous date. Smack, blue screen. Oh, but that's the start. I am driving up a little hill to go tutor and my car turns off. "weird" I think. I turn the key and vroom, vroom, putter. Nope, it dies. I try again. Nope it continues to be dead. When he AAA man shows up he looks at me and goes "I bet you are wishing you didn't buy that car." Um, what booze smelling man? Oh that's right you, Mr. AAA man, showed up in a normal tow truck... I have all wheel drive. Not going to work so well. So after he lays on the ground hitting my fuel pump while I rev my engine we give up and roll it down a hill and lock it up. Oh yes, the day well, at least it's over.

Thanksgiving in Joshua Tree

This year I opped out of the family festivities and did Thanksgiving with Apple Jacks' side of the "family" (aka. his friends). For the past 18 years a group of people who went to college in Arizona have been coming out to J-Tree, as it's fondly called, to celibrate Thanksgiving with their substitute family. Most of them couldn't fly home for the four day holiday so they'd drove to Joshua Tree National Park to climb and eat.

It was a great trip. Some of the group came out on Sunday, Apple Jacks and I came out on Tues night while most showed up Wed. There were about 20 people who camped and about 2/3 of them climbed. The rest socialized and hiked. Everyone was really friendly and positive. You could tell the "old timers" were happy to have some new blood but that never pulled away from the fact they were really there to see their old friends. As some stated, "Most of these people I only get to see once a year. That's here so I take advantiage of that."



The climbing was sharp but I must admit I feel like I've been come a stronger climber in just those 5 short days. For those of you who aren't "up" on climbing terms I'll do a brief run down. Climbs are rated from 5.2 to 5.13. 2 is easy, like walking up a really steap hill, and 13 is like over hanging cliff that is smooth like butter. Some climbs have an added a, b, c, d rateing.

Here I am on a face climb that was a 5.10

Okay, the whole reason for that blurp is to brag. The first day we started with some easy climbs of 5.7 and 5.8, but we ended on a kick as crack. It's just what it sounds like, a crack going vertically up a rock face. At some points the crack was an inch and half wide, others it had a half centimeter lip. It was a 5.10d and I did it. It wasn't graceful or pretty but with some help and encouraging words I did it and I'm still proud of it.

Here's Jen on a different crack climb. This was a 5.9

Over all it was a good trip. I think all there had a good time. Thanksgiving was good, fried turky and stuffing and salad and potatos and sweet potatos. It was all great food.

The spread!

This is me at the top of Driving Limitations a fun 5.7

Hair

I went and got my hair dyed... I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I've been dark before... but this is a little red for me... we'll see. It's just hair right.

Las Vegas

This weekend I was in Las Vegas for a horse show. I did not stay any where near "the strip" and never left "campus" as we called the horse show and hotel facility. Anyway, the show went well. I rode constantly well. I won my speed class on Saturday and for anyone who knows me they'll know speed is not my problem.

Anyway, the thing that I notices most about being in LV was the people. It is the hubbub of middle class America. Being in California 90% of the time I see a lot of Californians. We are not fat people. Maybe 1 out of every 20 Californians are slightly obese. In Vegas I understand the grotesqueness of America. I saw more fat people and fat kids than i thought were out there. People who's fat over flowed over the slot chairs. People who's whole bodies waddled back and forth as they walked 'cause they couldn't bend their knees. It was amazing. No, it was appalling. I just... eww... i just don't really understand how you can get that way. How you can no longer see your toes let alone your crotch. Do those men even know if they have penises any more? It's disturbing.

The worst part is I wasn't even in the center of it all. I was at the out skirts. I'm not sure if that meant i got more morbidly obese because they wanted cheaper rooms, or less. I'm not sure if standing at the elevator bays of the MGM Grand that you'd wonder if those five people could fit in one elevator. I was recently in Vegas is April, on the strip, and i remember seeing fat people, but this weekend gave me a new level of understanding of the largeness of the United States.

Happy Halloween

This year I took a different path. I didn't do any glitter, just blood! It was fun.

Violet was a pea and Abbie enjoyed trick-0-treating and letting everyone know she was a fairy princess NOT an angel or butterfly.

Oh My God, who let the vampire hold the baby!

Tasha's Visit

I know I'm a week late for this post but I've been busy. The next posts will put it into perspective.
Anyway, Tasha was here, we shopped, drank, got massaged, sailed, and hung out. She sent me some pictures:

check them out

The ending

I'm not sure why I picked that title but hopfully by the time you reach the ending of this post you'll have some sort of understanding. Ms. T came out to sunny california for a visit. We haven't seen eachother for over a year. If you look back on my blog and her blog you'll see that we've both changed a fair amount in that year. Change is good, healthy, & normal. We both lead lives that are not only drastically different than eachother's lives but also from the life we shared in college.
Having not seen Ms. T for so long I wanted to make sure we had a good time, did everything she wanted to do, enjoy eachother and give her a view and possible an understanding of my life. I'd worked hard over the past few weeks looking up craft shops, bars, spas, ect for our activities. I recruited friends to join us and apple jacks to participate, taking us out on his sailboat to watch the blue angels. after all of that planning... its done. Ms. T is on a plane home. I'm back to small children and mailing packages. Part of me is happy to have some time too myself (all of 36 hours). Another part is exhausted and wants to go to bed. yet, there is still a part of me that feels empty. dispite some drama and stress that started off the trip the end of it all feels heavy and anticlimactic. I want to be wrapped in a big warm hug... I want hot coco with marshmallows... I want to sit and read and knit... I want to wallow in this heavy blanket of self pitty, doubt, lonlyness, emptyness, and anticlimactic drama. But I won't. It is the end of Ms. T's visit but there are 6000 things I have to do. Teachers to sub for, kids to tutor, people to see, legs to wax, toes to paint, stuff to pack and wash before NY on Wed. An end always make the beginning of something else... right. I just want something Obama, that's the name of my Drama Llama, free.

My House

Okay, so I've been remodeling my house, well my parents and my house. I've been avoiding going down to it for several reasons, time, time, time. That and I wanted to see a CHANGE not a slow progression. So tonight I stopped by. Last time I was there, walls were up and the roof had just been put on, no skylights, no windows, no doors.
Tonight, I stopped by. Now, I don't have children, but seeing this house is like watching a child grow up. I'm seeing it become, go beyond my expectations. I walk through, looking at the closet, looking at the skylights, the sliding doors, the bathtubs, and I'm proud. I'm excited. I can't wait until the next step is done! I can't wait to see the Sheetrock go up, the floor go down, the kitchen cabinets go in. See it grow and change into everything I imagined it to be.
For anyone who's an artist, who's poured their heart, tears, anger, (and parents' blood sweat and tears) into something to see it become everything you've hopped. I'm so excited! No Pictures! Not until it looks like a house and no longer a construction site!

Class

I've spent my first day back in a classroom. I was lucky it was only a half day of kindergarten class of 15 kids. It let me ease in. I have a few more days books to sub already. Back into the swing of things I guess. Schools back in and summer is gone. I now no longer tutor kids in the ease of mid morning, I now have kids from 3:30pm until 8pm three days a week. For most this is not a long day, but were talking about me here. I still have one other job to fill in those 6 working hours, it's going well, and i time suck of a hobby. I'm not bitching here, I'm just writing.... the season is changing and busy is back. And it's hopefully going to be less of train wreck then Britney.
Ah well, the day went well. My voice is horse, my back aches and it's all a good feeling again. The information about kids that sits in my head that I don't use that comes out when I'm in front of kids amazes me. I'm glad I've still got it. I'm glad there is a small part of me that misses it. I'm glad I didn't apply to jobs this year. I think that would have burnt me out. So hopefully it will be a good year not too full of subbing but just enough to keep me busy.... busier.

Violet Urban

NEWS!!!

Lots has happened.
Apple Jacks and I have been dating a year! Who'd a Thunk. We had one of the best anniversaries I've ever had. He took me to a great dinner and surprised me with tickets to the one and only Silversun Pickups! He even bought them early (having to sign up on a radio website) so they wouldn't sell out!!! Thank You Babe!
We Urbans welcome Violet to the world. That's right, my sister-in-law, Amy, popped and the baby. This one was born when she was due and not three days late and three pounds heavier like Abbie.
I went to a track event and it was wonderfully uneventful! I've realised I can't make my car go any faster without putting more money into it. Ugh, too many expensive hobbies.
I went to Iowa and came back. I saw Emily and Steve. Meet their dog Rudra. I saw a lot of corn and sadly no glow bugs, but all my back east friends say that's good, 'cause I'd only see them if it was humid.
I think that's it... but the first two are big, not to under cut the last two.