That's me....

Yes, my friends.....Homegirl is 40 today. I hear it's the new 30. I am banking on that.
40th blowout party on Saturday night. Embarrassing and unflattering photos to follow, I'm sure.

Two. Years.

So what do you get the waiting parent for their 2 year LID-versary? Silver? Copper? Gold?

I would say a dull, rusty butter knife to the eyeball would suffice.

Seriously, this is brutal. And with no end in sight it makes for not very happy anniversary's. I think we will celebrate with some potstickers and a 55 gallon drum of Sake. Yeah, that'll take the edge off.

100 Things Bucket List

Copy/Paste and highlight the things on this list you have done.

Here's mine:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon (a half marathon)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke (unfortunately)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I tag anyone who is bored enough to do this.

It's shaping up to resemble Christmas

Tonight's festivities

Putting on the lights

Peace on Earth
(Yes, it was no makeup day)

Bro's

I have no idea what this is

Bling

My Favorite

Treasured family memories

Happy Holidays!

One down, one to go......

• My Thanksgiving was nice, thanks for asking. All I can say is Road Trip, and Homegirl is no fan of the road trip. Being in a car for hours on end not only makes me squirly and my booty ache, it is a sort of battleground for my Homies and me. Why does the car automatically cause a teenage boy to emit gaseous odors from his bum? Why does the car have to crap out at the Sonic parking lot, because I had to have a Cherry Limeade (a shout out to the dude at AAA for rescuing us). Why is it MY fault a certain 14 year old thinks I am the keeper of his ipod? Why does SoCal have to have the most people in the world traveling at the same time I did? Other than that it was great. Got to spend time with family and had a fantastic dinner, some shopping and a lots of movie watching. Good times. Next time we are flying, so you know. Well, now that Thanksgiving is in the bag, it's on to Christmas. Onward soliders!

• Speaking of Christmas. I just am getting around to thinking about shopping. You would think that the army of family members I have to buy for I would be more efficient in planning and shopping. Yeah, NO that would not be me. I did some ordering online last night. 4 down, 22 to go. I need to campaign for the "pick a name out of the hat" kind of Christmas. Nobody will go for it. Happy Christmas, A-holes (said with love).

• I have signed up to do the Breast Cancer 3 Day again. I really needed the year off to heal my battlewounds wounds and get through this house project. Now that it is finished I can focus on non-house related things, like trying to shed this Mycontractorisagiantdickhead 15 lbs I gained during this whole thing. I am looking forward to training again, the weekend walks and seeing my teammates regularly again.

• I really CANNOT stand that mom from John and Hate plus 8 show. It was on the other night when I was cleaning the kitchen and can I just say that that chick grates on every nerve I have? I mean, if I popped out a litter of kiddies, and got a show out of it where they send me on lavish trips to depict "real life". I would certainly have pulled the stick out of my ass.

• Do you see a trend of trend of surliness in this post? I do, and it is scary....

• I made homemade bread for the first time in my life yesterday. OK, who ever invented flour and yeast has my undying love and gratitude. Who knew I could bake bread? It was actually simple. I used the recipe from this chick and not only made the rolls but 2 loves of bread. And guess what? I didn't suck! And I wonder where that 15 lbs came from.

Well thats about it, for the mind of me. Nothing too exciting to report other than I must be PMS-ing deluxe by re-reading this post. Off to the drugstore for an economy sized bottle of Extra Srength Mid0l.

ENJOY. I did!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Beat Feet for Boobies

It is hard to believe that a year ago this weekend I was hoofing it 20 miles a day for 3 days to raise money and awareness for my family and friends who have battled cancer. To say that my experience was life changing would be an understatement. It was an incredible journey, meeting the people I did and proving to myself that I could walk 20 miles a day for 3 days and live to tell about it. This weekend I will find myself downtown cheering on the walkers from the sidelines. I think the memory of blisters, pulled muscles and migraines will fade by next year and I will gear up to do it again in 2009.

So this weekend feel yourself up, or better yet have someone else feel you up!

Walk on, walkers!

Twenty three

Hey, LOOK! I can see two years from here.

And it blows.

A night to remember.......

Yes we can. And we did.

My election night started off boarding the Disco Limo Bus and heading downtown for the Madonna concert. It was an amazing show. Twin Engine #2 was texting me the numbers on my cell keeping us updated on the election. They called the Obama the winner, and the crowd went wild. It was truly incredible. It was a special night for sure.

My girl M can rock it out.

Fast forward 15 years

A story of Us....

Fifteen years.

That is how long my Homeboy and I have been married. Today is our anniversary. Fifteen years.

The story of us began in early 1987. I had 'known' my Homeboy for a while. He was older. He was cool, he had a VW bus, he surfed, he had been to college out of state, he could drink beer. I was none of that, I was a punky 17 year old, fibbing to my parents about spending the night at my best friends house so I could go out and experience real high school parties (my strict father was in Law Enforcement. Yay me.). He had no idea who I was. Fast forward to age 21. My friends and I would go to a club and watch our friends' band play. My Homeboy was there, he said "You look familiar". We did tequila shots. We became friends. Fast forward a year, I had dated this guy I met in Palm Springs during spring break. He had just dumped me, I was heartbroken. Mr. Dumper happened to be in town one Saturday night and wanted to see me. I had already made plans to go out with my girlfriends that night, so I said "Sorry, I have plans". The plans I made were to go to a Going Away party for my friend, my Homeboy who was leaving for a 5 month surf tour through the South Pacific. I am so glad I didn't out with Mr. Dumper and I went to the party. In between tequila shots, I had a chance to talk to my Homeboy that night, really talk. We grabbed our beers, took some beach chairs and headed to a spot overlooking the lagoon. We talked for hours. We talked about life, our families, our friends, our likes, our dislikes and kids. He wanted KIDS. Bonus. I sent him off that night with a hug and he asked for my address. He said he would write. I said, "Yeah right." A few weeks later my mom came into my room (Yes, I still lived at home. Hey! WHO wouldn't like the 6pm dinner time and no cost laundry facility?), with a post card postmarked from Australia. He WROTE me. Every month for 5 months I would get a postcard postmarked from New Zealand, Fiji, Tasmania and Tahiti.

This photo was taken the night he returned 17 years ago and we haven't been apart since.



To my Homeboy,

Thank you for 15 amazing years. Thank you for being the best father two boys could ever ask for. Thank you for always carrying my paddleboard. Thank you for being you.

I love you.

Business Time

Home sweet home

Thanks for all of the kudos on the new kitchen. It turned out exactly the way we imagined it. The process however didn't. We (well, M is the 'we', but I DO all the painting and knob installing) are normally do it yourselfer's, but realized quickly that this was going to be out of our league so we decided to hire a contracting company. Big mistake. We went with a company who does alot of homes around here. We talked to some of them and they seemed to be satisfied, and without any major mishaps. The beginning of the project started out smooth. Demo of the kitchen started and everything was ripped out to the studs. YAY. Right after everything was ripped out, the crew didn't show up for three days. On the third day M called our contractor to see what was up. Our contractor acted surprised and said he would see what was up and would call me right back. Two days later he finally me calls back. Supposedly the forman on our crew was ill, and he would resume work the next day. The next day turned into two weeks of no crew (he was not ill afterall we found out). Enter the second crew. They were on the job, however our contractor would not have the materials here for them to get the job done with. They get sick of it and walk off the job. Elapsed time 6 weeks and a demo'd kitchen/living/dining room. It took a very heated, read SCREAMING ARGUMENT BETWEEN M and our contractor for him to get his shit together and get crack-a-lakin on our job. In the end M told him either he stap on his bags and personally get his ass out here to finish our job or he was fired. Miraculously, he was on the job the next day with bags on. Problem after problem incurred and many a heated discussion later we ended up basically finishing the project ourselves by painting and installing the sink fixture, the garbage disposal and air switch, which were going to take weeks for him to finish himself. I JUST WANTED TO COOK IN MY KITCHEN is that too much to ask? In a nutshell our contractor was clueless, hotheaded, incapable, and a straight up DICK. It got to the point where I could not deal with him because he was so rude and condescending towards me, therefore I would dish it back twofold and I hate talking to another person that way. I didn't need that stress so I had to have M deal with him, which wasn't even better.

Anyway, it is done and he is out of our hair. Believe me I have letters drafted to his company, the BBB*, and the state licensing board along with pictures of some of the work that was shotty and unacceptable (that we fixed because we couldn't trust him to fix).

In a nutshell we are staying do it yourselfers, as sometimes you think you are paying for knowledge and you end up with someone CLUELESS.

Oh, and to answer a question about the countertops. I really wanted soapstone, but with the plumbing and electrical being twice as much because of their age and condition had to be completely replaced, the extra cost ended up coming out of my countertop budget. So, I searched for something less expensive but would still give me the look of soapstone. I went with C0rian and I am so glad I did. The dark grey on the island is called "Earth" and it totally gives a similar look of soapstone. The white C0rian around the perimeter of the kitchen cabinets looks like a natural marble (I forget the name of it). I was afraid of it looking fake or plasticky, but I was pleasantly surprised that it looks amazing.

Twenty two

A pair of twos and pair of waiting parents who think this is never going to happen.

Trying to stay optimistic.

At least there is a new season of ^My Big Redneck Wedding^...........sigh.

The After

Alright, looks like we have damn near finished this project. I am a lazy bones jones and don't feel like locating and uploading the BEFORE PHOTOS so, just click and have a look see, take your time, I'll wait.

Excuse the crappy photos, they were taken with the worlds WORST camera ever known to mankind. It is an OlymPUS Stylus -aka-a total waste of $289+tax. DON'T buy this camera you will hate every photo you take. I had to use this camera because I can't find the cord to download from my Canon SLR.

Here is the center island, it ended up being over 9 feet. Sometimes I feel like dancing on it.

Another shot of the island

The range hood flange still needs to be fabricated and the pot filler installed

I LOVE my faucet. This thing has super powers. Serious. There will eventually be a glass tile backslpash when the tile guy gets here.

The Beast

Mi casa es su casa

This room used to be the jacked up 'sports den/music room'. Now a formal dining room. Me likey.

My Homeboy and his new toy.

This is the third, yes, THIRD 40 yard dumpster of demo waste. I have no grass left but guess what? I have a killer kitchen!!!

My horoscope for today.....

The power that you want so badly right now will come to you -- just keep waiting.

Twenty one

The least you could do is buy me a drink.

Bananas

Check out the bananas growing on our banana trees

Yeah, my life is pretty much bananas. I am really busy with driving my boys around to all the different places they need to be and getting this house whipped into shape. It's coming along and I should be sharing the finished product soon. The best part is watching my agency go down in a ball of flames. First we get word on being non Hague, then the closing of all branch offices, now info on a contingency plan with another agency "if" they close. This blows, but all I care about is that I see my daughter at the end of all this.

Now do you have
"The shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S"
stuck in your head??

I know I do.

I'm a bonafied grown up

That's right. A GROWN UP. I have high schoolers. Back in the day you were an old hag in polyester pants and a bouffant hairdo if you had kids in high school. Well, bust out the poly's and Aqua Net, 'cause I'm one of them now. They are in high school. I am tripped out in every sense of the word. I think today was even harder than the first day of kindergarten. At least in kindergarten they would let me walk them to class, slap some mom spit on their freshly combed hair, and even let me plant a little kiss on them before sending them into the classroom into the arms of a loving teacher with colorful butterflies on the walls. Sending them off to high school is very different let me tell you. Your kid muster a "I already said good morning, mom. Can I have some lunch money and I need a check for PE clothes".

Then it's off to the car where I had to bribe the kid with his lunch money for a picture of he and his brother together on their first day of high school. This is the best I could get and I wasn't in the mood to get a better shot at 7 am in the morning (and if you will notice Twin engine in the yellow The Clash tee is glasses free. He got fitted for his very first pair of contact lenses on Saturday. The kid is uber stoked) So, we get to the school and the parking lot is gridlock. Seniors in their beat up VW's, Toyota's and pop's cast off Buick Le Sabre's and new 9th grade moms in gigantic SUV's such as myself, effing up the drop off line. Good times. We get up to the head of the line, the boy's jump out and yell "Later, Mom!". Soon they are swept into the sea of mangy high school students. They're gone. It is anticlimactic. They have walked into young manhood in a split second. This is much harder than I expected. I am certain sending them off to college will take me to full breakdown mode complete with me holding on to their ankles as they enter the school.

Now, onto Mi Casa.............. (a GROWN UP'S casa, may I add)

Cabinets are in
(Kinda hard to see but, check out that sunset!)

Another view

Flooring is going in right now as I type. Appliances should go in this week as well and countertop will be going in the week after that (hopefully). Nothing ever goes as planned, so I will see a finished kitchen when I see it. I am SO ready for this to be over. My contractor is a dick. He messed up a cabinet and refused to replace it. That's OK, I am taking it out of my last payment. So there Mr. Dickhead. Other than that we should be on the home stretch with this project. We have another phase to do (the master bedroom) and we have decided to put it off for a while.

Aye Dios Mi.

Twenty

20 months under our belt.

Argh.

Love, sweet love

Our cute hotel, The St Lauren. We were on the 6th floor with a HUGE partio (yes, I meant PART-IO). See, up there with the umbrellas. Good times.

Our view

Monkeying around. Literally.

More monkeys. More fun.

My diet for the weekend

Modes of transportation an the island. Only a few cars are allowed, so golf carts, mopeds, vespa's and bikes are the best way to get around.

Darling little row homes

Walking to the site of the wedding

The site of the ceremony

The view was breathtaking

The reason we were all there.......pure love