A shoutout to my girls
Do I have the most beautiful friends or what? The astounding fact of the matter is that each of these girls are more beautiful on the inside than they are on the outside. I learn so much from them. I am SO thankful for the blessing of friendship, and the freedom and silliness that friends allow. We laugh a solid 90% of the time we spend together, which I think is a good indication that we sorta like each other :) I'll miss Britz and McCallann, and I didn't get to hang out with them nearly enough this summer, but I know they'll have a great time in Chicago/Seattle. You guys are the VERY best! XOXO
It's all about the issues...
Well, it's officially here. TV ads for McCain and Obama, VP talk, conventions coming up. As I look at the political landscape and the decision to be made in November, I must contemplate the real issues; the ones that really matter in the grand scheme of the American presidency. First order of business: who's the best lookin?!
Winner: MCCAIN! Stuldy military man with a square jaw? Yes, please. It's just not fair to judge them in the present state because McCain is way older than Obama. Therefore, I will prove my point by displaying images of former presidents in their 20's and 30's. McCain would follow a long line of hottie Republican prezzies:
McCain:
George W:
George H.W:
Reagan:
Let's compare these Republican cuties with some of their Democratic counterparts:
Obama - OK, kinda cute, but not in an "I'm a Navy General" kind of way:
Clinton - Both of them....too funny!
Lyndon B. Johnson:
I would be remiss if I didn't include the obvious hottie Democrat. There are exceptions to every rule...
Kennedy:
Overall, I think I've proven my point. If you want a studly president, vote Republican. If you actually care about other silly issues, like the economy, war strategy, foreign policy, stuff like that...well, I can't really help you there! :)
The "Bear" Necessities
OK, this is a completely random posting that really has little to do with anything, but I had to blog this picture because it is the cutest. picture. ever.
I told you! Look at the boy bear with his legs spread apart! Total Boofiness :) When we were in Colorado, we went to the Denver Zoo (which is incredible, by the way...lots of diversity and great habitats). The Grizzly Bears were receiving treats from their trainer, and she made them do this trick...I was dying it was so cute! I was probably the obnoxious zoo goer that was annoying everyone around me with my squeals of "aww...look at em!"...but I don't care. It's hard to be scared of animals that are as plush and cushy as these. Don't get me wrong - I'd pee my pants if I saw one while hiking, but at first I'd think "aww...look at his big belly! I want to rub it!" before I would get to the panic phase. I'd like to think that the bear would sense my benevolence toward him and let me live. Maybe he'd even let me rub his belly.
So there we have it...my new bear friends, my random musings on bears in general, and even a hypothetical bear situation. More than you'd ever want to know, and more than I intended to write on the subject of bears.
Lazy Sunday
...That's what I'm having today. Justin is playing in a golf tournament, so I am left alone on a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do. Scratch that; I have plenty to do, it's just a matter of it being Sunday and I don't WANT to do anything. That's the truth of it!
Following are some pictures of two cards I made this week:
This is my brother's Birthday card. I like the way it turned out. It's very "him." The list on the right side is some of his favorite bands (Some are shortened versions of his favorite bands, because the stamps were too big for the paper, so I had to get a little creative there..haha).
This is my Brother-in-law's Birthday card. I severely messed up on the "Happy Birthday" pillar, so I won't be trying that again...
I hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday, and that you can be as lazy as me :)
Playing Catch-up, part 2
Welcome to Colorful Colorado!
Justin and I went to Colorado for vacation 2 weeks ago. (I told you...I'm really behind on my blogging events!) We had a great time. Justin's parents came as well, and we stayed with Justin's Aunt and Uncle. We had a fantastic time with the family - We don't get to see the Premo's nearly enough, and we had a lot of fun meeting our new cousin Sam Premo-Hopkins - he's cute and a half! :)
Don, Cheryl, Justin and I went up to Pike's Peak in a cog train, and that was so fun! It SNOWED while we were up there. It was incredible to see the "purple mountains magesty." Actually, the woman who wrote "America the Beatuiful" wrote it when she was visiting Pike's Peak! No joke!
Then, the hike. Oh where to begin? For Justin's 30th birthday last year, I got him an adventure package, and he used it to get a mountain guide to take us on a hike up a mountain. Not just a leisurely stroll up a path, A MOUNTAIN....I was not too excited about this, but Justin wanted me to come with him, so what's a loving wife to do? ;) We had to get up at 4:00 AM to get to Boulder, and we started hiking at 5:00. It was hard - that's it in a nutshell. It was uphill, through snow (which was killer on the legs). At one point during a break, I told Justin "this is the worst thing I've ever done in my life...I hate this." When we reached the top, I softened a little bit. I know it wasn't the most challenging summit in the world, but for all I cared, I was on top of Everest. It was IN-credible. Beautiful. The best view I've ever had. Rewarding sense of accomplishment. All of the things you hear, but don't really know until you do it.
We also went on a hot air balloon ride. Neither of us knew what to expect on this adventure, but it was surprisingly relaxing and chill. It was another 4:00 morning (yeah, I got a little sick of those). It was interesting to watch them get the balloon ready, blow it up, etc. The basket was a little cramped; there were 5 of us in it, so there wasn't much moving around. We had stellar views, a soft breeze, and a nifty floating sensation. I highly recommend a hot air balloon ride, but only in a scenic area, because looking around is pretty much all there is to do. (i.e. do not take a hot air balloon ride in Oklahoma City, because it would be pretty boring)
Welp, there's the Cliff's Notes version of the travel journal...we had a great trip, but there's always something great about coming home, seeing a happy pup at the door, and crawling into your very own bed.
Playing Catch-up, take 1
I realized that alot has happened in the few weeks that I was on blog-hiatus, so I should probably make new blog posts about old information - put it online for posterity's sake. I figure this will work, since I only talk to about 5 people about my day to day life, which is kinda sad, but true. Then again, those same 5 people are more than likely the 5 visitors to my blog....sad realizations that I'm making while going completely off topic...reign it in, Erin.
I'll start with my fabulous father in law and my fabulous new landscaping. If you don't know my father in law, he's basically the Energizer Bunny. He has limitless energy, and he is nonstop. Don and Cheryl accomplish in one day what I accomplish in 3. No lie. So when he was coming to OKC and wanted to help us with our backyard landscaping, we were pretty pumped. I wish I had HGTV quality before-and-after pictures, but I wasn't that with it. I'll just preface the pictures by saying that we had a perfect blank canvas before. Like nothing. At all. Well, we had a lovely patch of green grass and a fence. Needless to say, the landscaping transformed our back yard!
Thanks a ton Don! We promise we'll water them like crazy :)
The Grind
Well, my Blog-a-day mission has gone terribly awry...I have to start setting smaller goals for myself, rather than my usual unrealistic ones like "I'll blog EVERY DAY until eternity," or "I'll be as good a housewife/cook as Martha Stewart," or "I'm going to finish one book a week for a year, so that I can read 52 books a year." While all of these things are great goals individually, combined they conflict with each other, and make a scrambled mess of unreached goals.
So my goal for this week....ironic, I know....is to set small goals. I will not be mad at myself if I don't blog with regularity. I will laugh at the notion that I could attain Martha Stewart levels of perfection...she practically invented perfection, and it didn't get her too far, since she's a divorcee and an ex-con. I will not finish a book if I don't like it for the sake of finishing a book - it's a waste of time, and it will make me hate the book even more than if I just quit reading it.
Meanwhile, I've got lots of catching up to do with my class. Taking an online class and going on vacation sounds like a great idea at the time, but in reality, not so great. I had to sit up in a bedroom and read and post a response about a mother who lost her son in Vietnam, while Justin was playing croquet with his family. Not cool. I was hearing screams of laughter and teasing while I was reading screams of agony and proclamations of "I have NOTHING..." it just doesn't work well. (Also, in a mini-movie review, I had to watch Full Metal Jacket and write a report on it...and I hated it. With passion. Horribly sad and depressing, which I know is the point of the movie, but still, that doesn't mean I want to watch it.)
Happy Tuesday in July!
