Suburbia Las Vegas

Drive Time Conversation

2010-02-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

"So Maddy... how was your day?"

"I had a great day!"

"Great days are the best, aren't they?"

"Word Mommy, WORD."

I love my influences. Just luuuuuurve them. :)

I Discovered Three Things Today:

2010-01-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

1. People who take up two parking spaces to protect their precious cars... Seriously? Park your fat lazy ass in the back of the parking lot where no one else parks, and walk. Really - everyone wants to run their keys down the side of your car.

2. Nearly my entire working life has been spent working for the gov'ment. I'm so far from private sector that I've completely forgotten what that pressure cooker feels like. Not that I don't have stress, cause I can assure you I do.... but it's a different kind of stress, and I find my situation the lesser of two evils.

3. I really need to figure out if I'm gonna do this blogging thing anymore. I know I've mentioned before that the instant gratification piece of my brain really loves Facebook and Twitter, so much that they've begun to dominate my online time. Can I find space for all of it? Sure, if I really want to.

What's On My iPod

2010-01-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

Dave Matthews Band - "You and Me" - DMB has really grown on me in the last couple of years, and their latest, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, is so far my favorite collection of songs from the band. If I had to describe the album, I'd call it a very sweet love letter.

The Game - "Westside Story" - I really dig 50 Cents' voice, he is the epitome of good time rap. This comes from his former gig 2005.

Jason Mraz - "The Forecast" - I just picked up his album "Mr A-Z" having only heard his one hit "Geek in the Pink" from it, but of course I wasn't disappointed. Jason Mraz has been added to my must-see concert list after having one of his shows on cable yesterday.

Diane Birch - "Nothing But a Miracle" - Have you heard this lady sing? She's like Amy Winehouse meets Carly Simon to me. A very soulful, bluesy sound.

Papa Roach - "Scars" - Have you ever been here? Yeah, me too. Love this band!

What's On My iPod

2009-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Whoa, it's been almost a month since I posted?! I'm knocking the mic, anyone out there?

I make a regular list of music I hear that sounds good, so I can download it later... and for this edition of What's On My iPod, I'm gonna give ya a sample from that list.

Creed - "Rain" - Yeah, I know these guys lost their credibility for awhile, but I'll say it, I like 'em. Here's the new single - and I'm digging it.

Alicia Keys - "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart" - Alicia Keys has one of the most amazing voices I've ever heard! I picked up her latest yesterday, and so far, this is my favorite song from the album. If you've ever had your heart smashed into a million pieces, I think you'll love this song.

Muse - "Uprising" - I know the author for the Twilight books rants and raves about Muse, but I've been pretty indifferent about this band. When I heard this song, I instantly knew I had to have it. I really expected to find this on the New Moon soundtrack, but it is not.

Qtip - "Vivrant Thing" - Yeah, bob yer head to this one... this is my turn it up, sing loud and car dance song of the month! Guys - the video has some eye candy ;)

Halestorm - "It's Not You" - This seems to me like one of those whiskey drinking, bar fighting, hell raising, angry girl bands, and I LOVE it!! This song was enough to get me to note I should download the whole albums.

First Creek

2009-11-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

Maddy and I took on a new trail today... First Creek at Redrock Canyon. It wasn't a strenuous hike by any means, but we saw quite a bit of wildlife today. Check it out:

We saw some wild burros today, who looked totally bored by our presence. We saw these two on the way up (the one on the right is showing us his best side, heh!). On the way back we saw a group of five, but my camera died, thus losing the photo op.

There were A LOT of lizards roaming about today, but this one was the only one who stayed still long enough for me to get a picture of. You can see him at the very center of the picture. :)

The weather was perfect, so there were plenty of other wildlife enjoying the great temperatures, including a few rabbits and several types of birds (all of which I didn't get pictures of). First Creek has a seasonal waterfall which we didn't get to see - partly because of the season, but perhaps also due to the fact that we haven't seen a decent rainfall in a very long time. This particular trail is prone to flash flooding, so it's not one to be hiking when it looks like rain out!

The following picture shows what a perfect day it was out... it just doesn't get much more beautiful in the desert than this:

Here's Madison and I at the end of the trail, relaxing and taking in the view:

The hike was a total of three miles, with a slight incline the entire walk up, but we hardly broke a sweat. We saw a few rock climbers heading up, there's quite a canyon walk to climb if you go all the way up (past the trail end). It's a great trail for young children and animals, check it out!

To see more photos check out my Flickr page here. Even Madison took a few of them today. My old Nikon Coolpix finally died today... but it just gave me the reason to buy a new camera. :) Hope your weekend was good, what were YOU up to?

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-11-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

I took Madison to see "Where the Wild Things Are" today. It was my favorite childhood story, and I've been reading it to Madison since she was about two years old, so we were both pretty excited to see it.

I was told several times in the last week that the movie isn't so much a kid's film. I don't agree, entirely. Realistically, the book doesn't have many words - much is left to your own imagination, and that's part of the beauty of the story. Spike Jonze was going to have to make quite an adaptation to stretch this book for more than half an hour, and I love what he did with the story. He added some real world elements to tell us more about Max; he's got a sister and a single Mom, who both have their own stories as well, and it gives some solid background and character development. After seeing the film, I can see where parents with very small children (i.e., under the age of 4 or 5) would not want to take their kids to see it. The movie is almost two hours long and the real-world situations might be a bit confusing. I'm sure there were some lessons missed by Madison, i.e. the parallels between Carol and Max. However, it kept her interested the entire film and she was quite sympathetic to the situations between Max and his Mom, as well as what was happening between the monsters.

This movie made me all teary-eyed at the end, I'll fess up. I adore Spike Jonze's interpretation of this beloved children's story, and by all means... go see it!!

What's On My iPod

2009-11-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tonight's list is right off the workout playlist, which rotates quite a bit. Since the weather is chilly outside after dark, I've been working out indoors much more. I've been doing this workout video, and while the workout is really, really good, I can't stand listening to these way-too-perky aerobic snobs talk. So I turn the volume all the way down and do it with the ipod blaring in my ears. It helps keep me from getting too bored, as well; the same workout every day is not good for my very short attention span.

Lil' Wayne - "Ready for the World" - My friend Adam introduced me to this song not too long ago, and I can't stop listening to it. I love this man's raspy voice! The song is NSFW, although the video is...

Weezer - "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To)" - This is one of those songs I'll hear once and sing all day, it's that catchy. I've heard all of Weezer's past hits, and they were good, I just never purchased any of them, but I pondered buying this whole album vs. the single. I read reviews online that mentioned how much Weezer has sold out, and although I wasn't an early fan, it made me pause. I remember how disappointed I was when No Doubt's Rock Steady album came out; I was so deflated, because they definitely sold out with that one. I'll wait and see if Weezer releases anything else from this album before I buy more.

Blue October - "Inner Glow" - It's so hard to pick a favorite Blue October song, they are definitely one of my favorite bands. This song is probably in their top 5. This is a live version - and most excellent. Speaking of live - I heard they rocked the Taste of Las Vegas, and I'm kicking myself for missing it. This song is also NSFW.

Ester Dean - "Drop It Low" - I Triple Dog Dare you to watch this video and try to sit still. This song is badass!!

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - "Everyday People" - When I was 12, I wanted to be Joan Jett. Now that I'm almost 39, I still do. LOL Have you seen this woman lately? She still looks amazing (mind you, she was born in 1958). I wish she was still putting out albums, I really enjoy her music (thankfully she still does shows) - but it seems like most rocker chicks have disappeared. At least we still have Pink, eh? I can't wait until the movie about her/her band is released, but Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett? I mean, Really?

Halloween '09

2009-11-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

How was your Halloween?

The whole family came over here, and we took the kids around the neighborhood; it has become a tradition. Here's a few pictures:

Madison was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween. This was a costume she took a great deal of time to decide on - she was considering Mulan and Snow White for some time as well. I think she made the best choice this year. :)

Seeing as I love dressing up, I was the evil sorceress Maleficent, who casts the spell on Sleeping Beauty. I wish you could see just how much purple eye shadow and eye-liner I have on.

We had a house full of kids, and I'm wishing I'd gotten pictures of them all! Here you find my nephew Jaydon as Peter Pan, my niece Breana (his big sister) as Tinkerbell and Madison. These three are peas in a pod!

The day was not without injury - Madison managed to burn herself with a curling iron. Here she's proudly sporting her bandage. Ah, genetics are cruel, she's as clumsy as I am.

A good time was had by all, and we have enough candy in the house to last until next Spring. I'm trying to pretend it's not there, or that it tastes like cardboard. :)

Donnie Darko

2009-10-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recommended the movie Donnie Darko to me, and I just finished it. Following are some rambling thoughts from the film - SPOILER ALERT- If you haven't seen it and don't wanna know what happens, read no further!

When the closing credits started rolling, all I could think was WTF just happened? So let me get this straight, he traveled time on purpose, to sacrifice himself and change the outcomes? Was he saving human existence? It makes sense that he believed so, since he repeats that it's all going to be alright several times throughout the film. But is it? Cunningham, the perv life coach - in the end, he's still a perv, and wasn't caught. So Donnie Darko did right a lot of wrongs, but wasn't it all just his own wrongs (which in turn, changed the outcomes of those closest to him)? I'm left confused about Frank - at first I was convinced he was the dead kid his parents talked about from high school, but then we see him again at the very end with the drawings of the scary rabbit and the crazy mask? What about all the references to God? It's almost like he defied God in creating his own destiny vs. accepting the path God has laid out for us. What about the teacher (played by Drew Barrymore...nice surprise), I got lost on her purpose in the film, unless it was just all some weird coincidence that she crossed paths with Donnie Darko. Perhaps she's the person who allows us to see his intelligence and lucidity despite the mental illness. Riddle me this, Batman - was it mental illness? Was he really a schizophrenic? Oh, and Grandma Death - did she still get the letter? I'm assuming so, it was a tangible he mailed to her before going back in time. There were so many factors that depended upon each other in the film to make it all fit, i.e. the bully waiting in the cellar for him near the end, which causes the girlfriend to get run over. Why would the bully have been there? I definitely need to watch this film again, it's one of those I'm sure I'll have "A-ha!" moments every time I watch.

If you watched the film - please, tell me what you thought, and by all means, enlighten me with your take on it. If I'm spending this much energy pondering a film at its end, you can assume I enjoyed it. The cast was phenomenal, the movie moved at a very good pace and I always love a movie that makes me think about it for hours after it's over. It was the mind screw I was promised!

What's On My iPod

2009-10-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

I received my 2009 digital remastered copy of "Rio" today - so this week's post is all DD, all songs from the album. You can really hear the difference as compared to my old CD - it makes me wanna pull out my old vinyl to really hear the difference (although I'm sure the albums would have some pops and hisses, having been overplayed and probably not cared for as well as I would now). The remaster includes a lot of bonus tracks, including B sides you only found on 12" singles back in the 80's. I can't help it, I still have a great affection for this band. :) I'm gonna have to go find them in the closet - I am sitting here trying to remember how many of those 12" singles I have. We used to spend all of our allowances at Odyssey records back in the day, looking for the rare vinyl and imports (not to mention posters, buttons, books, etc. etc. etc.).

Hold Back the Rain - Although it's near impossible to pick a favorite from the album, if I had to, this song would be it. So who was your favorite? Definitely, without a doubt, it was Simon LeBon for me, although Nick Rhodes was a close second.

Rio - If I only had a dollar for every single time I've watched this video, and I'm still not tired of it. Do Do Do Do Do Do Doooooo..... I love how the chick just flips Roger Taylor over like nothing, LOL!

Save a Prayer - This is an amazing song, even if you never liked DD a day in your life. Teenage girls swooned to this song like you would not believe, it was a total phenomenon! The location for this video was absolutely beautiful; if I remember correctly, it was Sri Lanka.

New Religion - That opening bass line, love it. This is a live version of the song, I'm not sure how old it is, but I'm guessing somewhere around a decade, because the lineup includes Warren Cuccurullo, who left the band in 2001.

The Chauffeur - When I was 13, this was my least favorite song on the album. It's a very good listen as I've gotten older, I find that funny. 25 years later, however, I still don't get the video! This video is censored, there's a black bar over some boobies, but guys - you're not missing much, she didn't have much to see, LOL.

Hungry Like the Wolf - You can't talk about the Rio album and not mention this song! Although I adore this song, it's now my least favorite from the album. I think because it's been overplayed a gazillion times over the last 25 years. The video is purposely similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I'm sure you'd know that without me telling you!

Painting... for the last time.

2009-10-18T20:48:00.001-07:00

I have had the busiest weekend - we decided to finally paint the last room in the house not yet painted, the master bedroom/bathroom. I'd put it off forever, and it wasn't so much that it was a lot of space as it was just a lot of work, it's not just four walls and a doorway, ya know? We have 5 doors in this area alone, if that gives some perspective. We started Friday night by just taping things off and moving things out of the room - here's a look at some of the before shots:

We did have one casualty from this experience - Karl tried moving the bed by himself, but apparently pulled on the frame a bit too hard, causing the frame to split, and it can't be repaired. I'll be heading out to buy a new frame tomorrow, but for now, we've got the ghetto bed (LOL):

Karl had to work on Saturday so I did the bathroom and master closet myself that day (minus the ceiling edging), and I rolled the bedroom today while he completed the ceiling edging in the whole space. Here's a view of the finished product (I tried to get the same angles as the before shots):

We learned a few things this weekend:

1. There truly is not a single straight edge in this house. It infuriates me the crappy craftsmanship in homes built anymore.

2. I am done painting rooms. I'm not a DIY person - I'm more than happy to pay a professional. My parents always painted their own house, so it was what I knew. Now I know I definitely don't wanna do that again. Ever.

3. Textured walls suck! I get the purpose, but wow it's a pain in the ass to roll paint over. I was doing touch-up forever.

4. Don't move heavy furniture by yourself. Our sleigh bed is gonna cost us about $500 to replace tomorrow. Thankfully it was the bed frame and not his back.

5. We definitely need to replace all the floor boards in the whole house. We're gonna wait a bit for that, it's gonna be costly, but it needs to be done. Our next big project is to replace the carpeting, so we'll probably do it then.

I still have a few things left to do tomorrow, but for all intensive purposes, the house is finally back to normal. I took this opportunity to organize the closet and filled 3 lawn bags full of clothes and "stuff" we don't need. That part felt sooooooo good, cause I'm very much a minimalist! I can't even wrap my head around how much was in that closet!

How was your weekend?

A Letter to Jerry Jones

2009-10-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr. Jones:

I'm no football expert, I've never coached a team - I'm just a fan. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see there's trouble in Dallas. Romo has moments of clarity, true, but they are so inconsistent you're never really sure what might happen. It's near impossible to recreate the Cowboys of the early 1990's - Romo hasn't the supporting cast Troy Aikman did. But he overthrows as a rule, he's too predictable, and he hasn't shown any improvement in his now 4th season.

We're damn lucky we beat the Chiefs on Sunday. They're one of the worst teams in the NFL, and sadly it was an evenly-matched game. We're all shaking our heads, Jerry.

What's On My iPod

2009-10-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Dave Matthews Band - "You and Me" - I picked up DMB's latest album, Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, I've been enjoying it quite a bit. The whole album as a whole is very sweet and schmoopy, this song definitely embodies it. :)

Third Eye Blind - "Don't Believe A Word" - So these guys released a new album in August - did ya pick it up yet? It delivers! This is one of the new releases from said new album, titled "Ursa Major". Stephan Jenkins, the lead singer, has been in the top 2 of my top 5 list for about ten years, but he still won't return my calls. Damn.

Keyshia Cole - "Trust" - I haven't heard much from this lady that I don't like... she has a very strong voice. this one takes the tempo down and little bit.

Mariah Carey - "I Want to Know What Love Is" - I am a bit surprised at my reaction to this remake of an original Foreigner song. I mean Foreigner vs. Mariah Carey? Right? But it's good. Give it a listen.

Mullage - "Trick'n" - Never heard this guy before the other day, but I find that a lot on Sirius radio... anyway, it's a great head-bobbin' song. I've been in an ultra r&b/rap mood lately.

Childhood Memories

2009-10-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

I marvel sometimes at how our minds work.

When I was a little girl, my grandfather on my mother's side was a pharmacist for Albertson's. When we visited them in Texas, we always made at least one visit to grandpa at work, and the bakery would give me a free chocolate chip cookie, every time. I used to love that!

I stopped at Smith's to grab lunch just now, and I smelled something in one of the aisles that took me right back to age 7, heading toward the bakery, thinking about that cookie.

Is It TMI?

2009-10-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

Question: Is it possible to update your Twitter and/or Facebook status too much? Are we sharing too much personal nothings with the world? Do people really care that we're too full from dinner?

I've seen satire and news articles alike who say we're "too connected", and underwhelming each other with a whole lot of information about nothing, numbing ourselves from real "news". (Personally, I don't see the media as a whole very credible anymore, just sayin'.) Still, I wonder if we're inundating ourselves with so much information...what's too much?

This post stems from a conversation with a friend, we were discussing gender differences in such behaviors as Twitter and Facebook. He had the opinion that there's some kind of man-card rules about Tweeting and changing your FB status too much. It's a girl thing. ? Is it? I think that generally women do reach out and touch the world more, but is it wrong if guys announce their whereabouts during the day? Are there gender specific subjects we should stick to (i.e., it's ok to tweet more about sports, but less about your feelings if you're male)? What do you think, Internet?

Weekend Update

2009-10-04T19:04:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a Maddy and Mommy day - I pondered going on a hike, but the wee one has swimming lessons mid-morning so that kind of blows it, so instead we hung out at the park for about two hours. We did make some tulips from an egg carton in the afternoon:

Dinner was Applebee's, Madison's choice - and I watched the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. Didn't they touch on the loss of his wife in the first movie, or am I thinking of another flick? Cause if I remember correctly, he remembered the loss... which wouldn't make sense based on the end to this installment. Anyway, it was entertaining, but not spectacular.

Today, I slept in! It was only 8am, but hey... it's 5am during the week, so 3 hours more? Heaven! I went to the movies with my sister Toni to see Fame, which was not that good a movie. I never watched the original movie, nor the TV show based on that movie, so I really had no idea what to expect. The movie never really developed any characters, it was just so broad, and it felt like they were trying to cram too much into one movie. I pondered too, if some of it was that I'm too far from my teenage years to get into it. Ugh, I was hoping that would never happen. On the same note it was a theater absolutely full with teenagers, one older couple, and us. The teens were pretty vocal during the movie and it didn't piss me off, so perhaps I'm not old yet. :) Anyway, it was awesome to hang with Toni but we could have definitely seen a better movie. Oh - and we got to see a new preview for New Moon (Yay!). Is it wrong that I am on Team Jacob cause Taylor Lautner is absolutely gorgeous, and he's only 17?

Seeing the movie meant I was going to miss the Cowboys game, and I'm pretty glad I did. Before the movie I checked NFL Mobile and Dallas was up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, and I saw Dallas lost 17-0. WTF? The first headline I saw on the cell phone was "Romo: Please go back to Jessica", and I threw up in my mouth a 'lil. I want to go watch highlights but I don't, cause I can only imagine how he may have blown it this week.

How was your weekend, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-10-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

I-Yaz - Replay - I can't stop listening to this song, it's definitely been my flavor of the week for like two weeks now.

Maxi Priest w/ Shaggy - That Girl - I heard this recently, and wow... hadn't heard this in years! I really enjoy this song, which is funny - because I'm not a big fan of Shaggy's voice, but it just works here? Maxi Priest is one badass mo fo.

Man Parrish - Boogie Down - This my friends, is wayyyy old school. Pull out the roller skates and get your groove on! You're welcome.

Skee-Lo - I Wish - It took me forever to find this song... I had seen the video once and didn't catch the same of the song, but remembered the chorus "I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good I would call her...". It didn't help me much! Finally it found rotation on Sirius radio. It only took me about ten years to find it. :)

Vixen - Edge of a Broken Heart - Ok guys, this one's for you. The all-girl metal band with big hair and small skirts. :) Those who know me know I have a total hair-metal side. These ladies opened for someone, I've seen them - Whitesnake maybe? I can't remember. ;)

No Flu Germs Allowed

2009-09-28T13:09:00.001-07:00

I got my flu shot at the pharmacy yesterday... and wow, they've gotten good with these needles. I barely felt it - which says a lot, I have a needle phobia. I couldn't watch, but Madison was fascinated! She's too young to get her flu shot at the local pharmacy, so I'll be making an appointment with her pediatrician to have that done. I know it's controversial for some - but we get them every year in my house, I'm a total believer in the flu shot.

Now the H1N1 vaccination will be available soon - but I'm not quite sold on that yet. I'm not sure I'll be getting one for myself or for Madison this year. I realize it's a very serious flu, but I'm leaning toward the media has way overblown it. What do you think?

Do you get flu shots? Why or why not? Will you get an H1N1 vaccination? Here's more information on the H1N1 vaccination.

What's On My iPod

2009-09-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going all Top 40 on y'all this week - but it's the Flavor of the Day, so enjoy!

Beyoncé - "Sweat Dreams" - Wow, that girl can dance! I really didn't care much for Destiny's Child, but I sure have a lot of her solo work. Makes ya wanna move or at least sing along loudly.

Miley Cyrus - "Party in the USA" - I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I downloaded this song, and I actually like it. LOL Once Madison hears it and I listen another 3k times, maybe not so much. But I dare you to not enjoy it.

Push Play - "Midnight Romeo" - there is a place for bubblegum boy bands. Really!

Black Eyed Peas - "Meet Me Halfway" - If you haven't listened to their new album in its entirety, you really should - this is the fun stuff....

Kelly Clarkson - "Already Gone" - Sad love song alert, LOL. Ya know I didn't even watch the first American Idol, and I only watched maybe 4 seasons after that - but she's my favorite. She's genuinely talented, and this is another example .

Weekend Update

2009-09-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

A nice long weekend it was, indeed. :)

On Friday I was off so I hung out at home... played some Mario Kart, did some farming on Farm Town and managed to get laundry 'n stuff done at the same time. It was just a nice chill day, and I got to drop off and pick up Madison from school (bonus).

Saturday Madison and I just continued the hang-out vibe and played some games after we played at the park and ran some errands. She was scheduled to have swim class, but they canceled for the holiday weekend - forgetting, however, to let some parents know. There were a few of us waiting for them to open. Oh well, thankfully it's not far from home.

Yesterday my Dad came over to hang out for a few hours... we BBQ'd and played some games. Madison whooped our butts at Memory.

This morning Madison and I went on a hike. This time I wanted something different from Mt. Charleston, and I'd come across a hike at Corn Creek that I didn't know was there before. Turns out there's a National Wildlife Range out there - there's a trail around a creek that flows through the area. Let me give you a view:

This is near the beginning of the trail.... there's a lot of green at this little desert oasis:

The best part of the hike was getting to see an owl hanging out in a tree. The lady from the visitor center pointed him out to us, and said they believe it is the same owl that visited last year. Apparently this range is a popular waterhole for migrating birds, year-round. He's very close to the center of the photo, you can see his eyes:

This would be Corn Creek, I assume... the creek itself was pretty impressive (water appears in the strangest places 'round these parts). We got to see some rabbits, dragonflies, frogs, and we got to see a roadrunner as well!

There were also some beautiful flowers:

I've lived in Las Vegas for over 27 years and had no idea this was here... and under 20 miles from where I call home! The hike itself wasn't long, in fact we did the trail twice and circled around some areas of interest, but it's definitely a great find in the middle of the desert. For other photos visit my Flickr page.

How was your weekend, Internet?

Weekend Update

2009-08-30T08:32:00.000-07:00

I had a weekend full of friends and good times!

Friday night Madison and I went to dinner with some of my dearest friends that I hadn't seen in a a long time...Kim and May, their kids. Someone missing from the group was May's sister Anne, but her daughter Natasha was in town and joined us - so while Anne was terribly missed, she was still sorta there, because Natasha has grown to be sooooo much like her Mom. I've known Natasha since she was about 4, but she's now 24 - she's all grown up and I feel old. We all met at Macayo's to get our Mexican food on and catch up. May just found out she's cancer free after battling breast cancer, so we had reason to celebrate too!

Saturday night Amy and I headed out for Town Square at the far south end of the Las Vegas Strip - I'd been there for lunch once but hadn't really spent much time out there, and had never been there at night. I'd heard the nightlife there is a good experience and there's a movie theater - so we decided to have dinner at one of Amy's favorite restaurants there and hit a movie. The Yardhouse, where we ate, has a HUGE selection of beer, and as the name suggests, yard beers are a speciality. We decided on some ciders and ordered, when I got a text from my friend Julie, she was there and was going to join us! I was sure she wasn't going to make it, so her arrival was an awesome surprise. The food, the beer, and the company were awesome... and after dinner we headed over to see the movie "The Time Traveler's Wife". The movie was mmmmm, pretty good. I am not sure why, but I never got sucked into this movie, although the story was certainly interesting. When the movie was over we walked around to some of the shops there (open til 10pm, yay), and observed some of the nightlife. Here's a look at the area where we had dinner:

Sunday was a total chill day - we couldn't do much outdoors, it was so hot and the air quality was horrendous due to the southern California fire. Madison and I had a picnic in the living room, baked cookies and played games. Good times!

What's On My iPod

2009-08-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

Jamie Foxx - "Digital Girl" - This is a good, catchy dance tune... Jamie Foxx delivers, as always...

Santana - "Winning" - I am drawing a blank on who is singing this tune? But I'm taking ya wayyyy back with this one... heard it on the radio a few days ago and promptly downloaded it, I'd forgotten this awesome tune.

Ester Dean - "Drop It Low" - Play this one really loud, and get yer freak on, cause this song is contagious!

Whitesnake - "Here I Go Again" - Ooooooo, 80's Metal! A little Tawny Kitaen for ya too, so you can remember her when... LOL

Annie Lennox - "No More I Love You's" - Saved the best for last - I love the theatrics in this video. Annie Lennox would be fabulous on Broadway, I wonder if she's ever dabbled? Anyway, this is one of those really powerful songs, melody and lyrics.

Robber's Roost Trail - Mt. Charleston

2009-08-23T12:23:00.000-07:00

Today Madison and I got up early and headed up to Mt. Charleston for another hike... this time we went to Robber's Roost. It's a very short hike, a one-mile loop - I found information online that called this a "moderate" hike, but it was actually pretty easy (probably because it's so short). There's a legend behind this trail, it was supposedly a place where horse thieves and trail robbers hid out after gaining their bounty from travelers on the old Mormon road sometime around 1885. I can see why, there are lots of caves and areas to corral and hide horses. We also saw a lot of squirrels along the way, I did manage to get a couple of photos, and you can see them over at Flickr. On the way back we stopped at the Mt. Charleston lodge for a snack... it was such a beautiful day on the mountain!

Here's some pictures:

Here's one at the very end of the trail before it loops back - if you're brave there's a lot of rock climbing to be done up here, but we weren't even gonna try.

This one is the trail on the way back. You can't tell in this photo, but a good portion of the loop on the way back is very narrow and high up (with a huge drop-off to the left). My fear of heights was messing with me a bit here, and it made me a bit nervous with a five-year-old, but some coaching to keep her to the right and take slow and steady steps did the trick.

Here we are at the end of the trail... it was an awesome hike!

How's your weekend been, Internet?

American Psycho

2009-08-18T14:35:00.001-07:00

SPOILER ALERT - if you've not seen this movie and might want to - don't read more!

So I got this movie via Netflix via a recommendation (thanks Adam!), and it's not something I would have picked up for myself ... it looks like a horror film, right? I am not a fan of horror films anymore, in fact I think the last real horror movie I watched was "Event Horizon", and that was back in 1997. Anyway, I digress - The beauty of friends making recommendations is that you experience things you might not have otherwise, and this was certainly the case. If you've seen it, you know it's more of a twisted mind screw - a psychological thriller set in the 80's. It's very basically, a story about control-freak and self-obsessed Patrick Bateman (played by Christian Bale), and his journey into complete madness.

I really liked this movie - It made me think, it brought a lot of questions to mind, and I see it as an excellent conversation piece. So riddle me this, readers. Did he really commit all of those murders? He'd fantasized quite a bit, so I believe that line started to blur. Were there really any murders or was it ALL fantasy? I was totally confused at the end with his lawyer saying he'd just had lunch with Paul Allen?! What about all the bodies the prostitute had come across? How about that scene where he's chasing her through the apartment building wearing nothing but socks and a chainsaw? When his secretary found his appointment book with all of the drawings, did she really figure it out or just realize he was one sick dude? OR, was she just crushed because she wanted him so badly, and that confirmed him emotionally unavailable (as she'd noted she was always attracted to)? Ladies, did you catch all the gratuitous naked Christian Bale scenes? WOW. Just Wow.

The portrayal of the 80's was great, I loved the exaggerated tones of excess and how people around him were portrayed as so apathetic and selfish. Do you think that's the decade where it all really started? I wonder. Oh, and WTF was the deal with the business cards? They were all so obsessed, I was wondering if there was more to that. Did you notice they all said "Vice President"? I was told I might find parts of this movie funny even if I didn't want to, and it was true. His diatribes about Huey Lewis, Genesis and Whitney Houston? Priceless. The dance he does before hacking up Paul Allen? I was cracking up.

I am floored by how many times he gave all the right hints to his madness - the constant quips, the drawing he was doing when breaking up with his fiance, the CONFESSION? Did they all just know he was whacked but didn't say anything because his family owned the company they all worked for?

A nice bit of trivia - the book was written by Bret Easton Ellis, who also wrote "Less than Zero". Having come across that I can see the similarities.... stories about excess in the 80's, rather dark - there's sex, addiction, at least one very messed up male, club scenes; I could go on for awhile here. Both really good flicks!

What's On My iPod

2009-08-14T20:04:00.001-07:00

Evan Taubenfold - Boy Meets Girl - Have ya heard this song? It's a love song with bands/songs/pop culture from the 80's riddled in the lyrics. Okay, it's catchy... catchy enough to get me to download it. Then, I watched this video. I'm probably old enough to be this kid's mom, sheesh - and I thought how odd, cause well, maybe his parents get the lyrics, but how could he?

Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever - What a cute song! This came out sometime in the late 90's, right? Anyway, I loved it then and came across it again in the last week. The video, meh...

Kid Rock - Cowboy - So truthfully the only reason this song is here this week is because it has "Cowboy" in it. NFL, BABY! I looked at some of the Dallas Cowboy videos on You Tube and the best I found was the Toby Keith song "Shoulda Been a Cowboy", which somehow became the theme song for the Cowboys in 1992. Yeah, I know, it makes perfect sense. But it's a country song, and I did listen... and yeah, my ears are bleeding.

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me - This video is an entire teen movie wrapped up in 3.5 minutes! (Seriously, but it's pretty cute.) Yeah, I know, I followed up my country bashing with Taylor Swift, whose songs are on the country charts too. I really don't see her as a country singer, but if you do, I get it... she's not the twangy, IMO.

Van Halen - Love Walks In - One of my favorite Van Hagar songs - interesting video, as Sammy is playing guitar and Eddie is on keyboard. I have good memories attached to this song. :)

Drive-Time Conversation

2009-08-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, do you know what it means to be separated?"

"Well it usually means 'to be away from', Madison, why?"

"Like being separated from your friends, right? To be away from your friends."

"Yes, that would apply. Were you separated from your friends today?"

"Yes, I was separated."

"What does that mean, Madison?"

"Well it was circle time, and I was with N. and B. We were talking. So the teacher separated us today."

And so it begins. My elementary school years were riddled with report cards that read something to the effect of "Lora does very well in school, but she is always talking to her neighbors." I do believe Karl was much the same way. Uh oh.

Uh Oh, I Found the Add-ons

2009-08-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned lately how much I lurve my Palm Pre? Today I started browsing the app catalog... which is an automatic hour waster for me... I downloaded a weather app called Accuweather, you can read a review about it here. I had this app on my Palm Treo 700wx and it was awesome; it's nice to have the weather at your fingertips.

The other app I installed was Infopedia, a mobile version of Wikipedia, and you can read that review here. I did a few random searches and yup, it's fabulous. Very easy to navigate so far, I'll let you know how it goes.

I can't imagine not being so connected... and I grew up in the days before cell phones!

Cathedral Rock Trail

2009-08-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

Madison and I went for another hike today... this time we decided to take on the Cathedral Rock trail up at Mt. Charleston. I read this is a "moderate" hike, and honestly, it is... but the entire trail up is literally uphill, so it's pretty strenuous. Madison was a trooper and only whined a little bit, LOL. Actually we ran into a couple of other hikers on the way up, one of them had to be in his late 50's, and he was agile as hell - and he was very friendly to Madison, so she was motivated to keep up his pace and get to the top. There were a lot of other hikers on this trail, and we got to talking to quite a lot of them today, as Madison felt it necessary to wish every single person we saw a good morning, and some even got an entire conversation, LOL.

Here are some pictures:

This is a view from about halfway up:

This is a good open view of the trail, but it had a good mix of forest trail areas too.

This is the payoff, right here - we got to the top of Cathedral Rock! We promptly sat our butts down for a few and had a snack, with this gorgeous view:

Maddy and I at the top... we made it!

I posted a bunch more over at Flickr, and added some over at Facebook as well. How was your weekend, internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-08-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

Sweet, this is my 1000th post! Holla! How perfect that it's an episode of What's On My iPod:

U2 - Better Than the Real Thing - Heard this one the way home today, and I'd forgotten how much I like it. I need to dust off my U2 albums.

Full Force/UTFO - Roxanne Roxanne - Yeah, I just went old school on your ass. This is the good stuff, right here.

Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two - I was listening to the Backspin channel on Sirius this morning, obviously.... I know all the words to this song and will not hesitate to sing it, LMAO. If you've seen The Proposal, you'll know one of my favorite scenes from the movie, involving this song.

Kool Moe Dee - I Go To Work - OMG, remember this song? Wow. This one seriously takes me back! This is the cheesiest nod to 007 I've ever seen, heh!

Garbage - Cherry Lips - Totally threw you off, huh. :) Shirley Manson kicks ass... Garbage is a band on my list of must-sees.

New Gadget!

2009-08-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

I did it... I went and picked up a Palm Pre. This is what my new friend looks like:

I have so many good things to say about this phone, so I'll start off with the short list of what I don't like, starting with the camera. It's got zero customization with the shots (i.e., no zoom, no predetermined brightness or that "burst" feature that takes several shots rapidly in a row). Also, the camera is only a 3 megapixel device, which is a bit behind the times for a phone that has so much fabulousness about it. Still, the camera is much, much better than the one in my old Palm Treo 700wx. (So I am still somewhat happy in the end, LOL.) The only other problem is the lack of customization for menus - I do so much text messaging and it's not a main menu item. BUT, I'm sure there's a hack or third-party software that will let me customize to my heart's content, I just haven't looked. Yet.

So what's good? The Palm Pre has a Web OS, which eliminates much of the proprietary junk from Blackberry and Windows. Google has some pieces integrated, so if you use Gmail or Google Talk, you're gonna like this phone. Facebook also has itself integrated as well, i.e., an app to post your mobile photos, and a mobile version of Facebook is a pre-loaded bookmark. Overall setup was a breeze. The fact that there is this amazing touch screen for applications, but I still get a qwerty keyboard for my texting/email/Facebook needs. I got used to the touch screen very quickly, this phone is very user-friendly. The menus are simple and there isn't a lot of clutter on this phone!

Here's the deal maker - Palm figured out how to trick iTunes into believing the Palm Pre is an iPod. All you do is this: connect the phone to your PC, choose "Media Sync" when prompted, and iTunes opens automatically saying it's found an iPod. Badabing! Sync a playlist to it, and your ready to listen to your music (8 GB of storage for the Pre - not quite the 32 GB the new iPhone offers, but hey). You like ringtones? All you need to do is choose one of the songs you just copied over from iTunes, and it makes it into a ringtone. Done. Sweet, eh?

I love this phone. LOVE this phone.

It's a Beautiful Morning in the Desert

2009-08-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

What's On My iPod

2009-07-31T21:49:00.000-07:00

Jody Watley - Still a Thrill I dare you to tell me you don't get the urge to get up and shake your groove thing when you hear this song. It's an extended music video, but she's such an amazing dancer, I couldn't not watch it. I have great memories attached to this song!

Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight The first time I really listened to this song, all I could think was "uhhh... Wow." What an intense story about the end, and the video is an excellent compliment.

Third Eye Blind - Losing a Whole Year - 3EB has been in heavy rotation again in my ears. This is not my absolute favorite 3EB song, but this is definitely a good one. Stephen Jenkins, the lead singer, has been no lower than #2 on my top 5 list for at least 12 years, heh. They've got a new album coming out 8/18...

Mase - Feel So Good - Definitely a head-bobber. Nice shots of downtown Vegas, baby!

Rehab - 1980 - This song is sooooooo catchy! I can't help but sing along, loudly!

Zappos.com ROCKS

2009-07-28T22:01:00.001-07:00

I think some free PR is always a good idea when I get really good customer service...

I ordered some school sneakers for Madison today on Zappos.com, and not really paying attention, I found that I'd opted for $25.00 overnight shipping... but too late, I'd confirmed the order. So I call the customer service number, and talked to this really nice lady named Marilyn, who noted I live in Vegas (Zappos.com is centralized out of Vegas). Not only did she refund me the $25.00 shipping fee, I'm still getting overnight shipping. Also, since I live in Vegas, she put me in the VIP club for Zappos, which always guarantees overnight shipping (if the order is placed before 1pm, but hey, even 2-day shipping for free is good). She was helpful, and pleasant, and she even giggled when I told her what a distracted dumbass I was when placing the order.

Yeah... I'll definitely be shopping at Zappos.com again!

As a sidenote, commercials on Nickelodeon are the devil and the downfall for all parents - your kids want EVERYTHING they see. This is how I got roped in to buying Madison Sketchers for school (I got them pretty cheap, but this is the most I've ever spent on a pair of shoes for her). She's pointed out on a daily basis that I own oodles of Sketchers, myself; in fact, 6 pair. Some have lasted me years, she also noticed. She's gonna be on the debate team, I think.

What's On My iPod

2009-07-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody - I am watching Nickelback's Dark Horse concert on Vh1 right now... I was actually looking for a video to "Something in Your Mouth", but alas... there isn't one. Probably cause it would be hard to do anything but a performance video, but even that sounds dirty! This song though, it's a sweet one. They have a good balance of naughty and nice, dontcha know.

Jesse McCartney - How Do You Sleep - I don't get tired of this song... the preteen girls can have Jesse, but I want the classic Charger he's driving in this video!

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk - Jiggins introduced me to this band over at one of his blogs, Splitting Tens. I really liked this song - it has a Stray Cats meets the Clash sounds, if that makes any sense. The guitar sound definitely has something to do with it. This is one of those videos where you should be altered in some form to appreciate, LOL.

Musiq Soulchild - So Beautiful My friend Jose recommended a song by this guy, and I ended up buying an entire album. This is mood music, if you know what I mean! This particular video is an extended version of the song, it's one of those "story videos" (and a gooooooood love song).

Donell Jones - U Know What's Up - This song is off the "Save the Last Dance" soundtrack, has a nice groove to it. You'll notice Left Eye doing some vocals, and in the video...

What's In My Head

2009-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Jiggins inspired me to spew a few things from my brain tonight...

I'm currently reading Nicholas Sparks' The Lucky One. I picked it up because he wrote "The Notebook", which is one of my all-time favorite movies (although I did not read the novel). It took me 100 pages before I actually got hooked; there's so much character development that I was wondering when the story started. However, now that I'm on page 200, I'm totally sucked in. I have 5 more books waiting for me to caress the pages...

Over the weekend I saw The Proposal with my friend Julie. That was such a great movie! I think Sandra Bullock has great comedy talent... and she with Ryan Reynolds makes for some fantastic entertainment. Oh, and Betty White! She steals so many scenes, that lady is a riot! Oscar Nunez, who you might know as Oscar Martinez from The Office, has a hilarious character in the film. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I won't say anymore... wouldn't want to spoil it. :)

Madison started swimming lessons over the weekend - and she took to being in the pool with the teacher very quickly. She did awesome, and can't wait for her next lesson. Learning to swim is fun for her... but to me, it's a set of life skills!

Work is absolutely insane right now!! I can't imagine what it would be like to have nothing to do. This is a good thing, it means I'm still employed, ya know? But it would be nice to breathe once in awhile.

My bike rides are starting to get easier... Yay! I've almost mastered a hill that was kicking my ass for months. I'm gonna be looking to expand my ride pretty soon. I've been riding about 5-6 miles in just about 30 minutes, so I'll easily be able to ride more as this trek gets easy.

Exploring the Moon From Your Sofa is Now a Reality!

2009-07-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Google Earth Adds Moon to Celebrate Apollo 11 Landing

Have you seen this? If you ever like browsing Google Earth, you'll love it. It's no secret I have a love for our moon - it's mysteries, it's beauty, it's purpose. So I promptly downloaded this little update for Google Earth and started checking it out, and there's all kinds of landmarks, fun-facts and geographical landmarks to see and read about. Oh, I almost forgot! There are videos, too... Guess what I'll be doing for the next week? :)

What's On My iPod

2009-07-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

John Waite - "If Anybody Had a Heart" - Seems John Waite had a few of his songs end up on soundtracks in the 80's - this one's from About Last Night... (which starred Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, and Jim Belushi). I watched it again recently - love the 80's romantic comedies. :)

Matchbox Twenty - "Girl Like That" - This is my favorite song from their debut album Yourself or Someone Like You (which is still their best stuff, IMO).

Aerosmith - "Crazy" - Remember when Alicia Silverstone was this young? Doesn't it seem like forever ago? Yeah, cause it was. LOL Love this video!

Tool - "Stinkfist" - Ok, so I'm not a big fan of Tool, this guy's voice just doesn't do it for me in general, but this song, this song is goooooood. Well, except the title. heh

Yaz - "Situation" - This is one of those songs back in the 80's and early 90's that you'd easily hear in any dance club. Miss that! Now that I'm in my late 30's, I've resorted to chair dancing to it. LOL Love Alison Moyet's voice!

Milestones of My Own

2009-07-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

When I was pregnant with Madison, I gained 76 pounds. Yeah... that's no typo... 76 pounds!

I was never one of those lucky skinny girls that just breathes and loses weight. If I look at a piece of cheesecake long enough, I absorb it, LOL! Plus, losing the weight was something I just didn't take seriously after her birth, so I carried quite a bit of it around with me for a long time. A little over two years ago I decided to make a real change - for my health, for myself. I'm not a spring chicken anymore, so it had to be a real commitment - I had to do it the right way, and change my lifestyle for good. I have always been an active person, but not nearly enough. So I started with walking every night, which felt so good! This inspired me to start hiking, and I try to do that as often as possible (there are so many beautiful trails in Nevada), and it's now something Madison and I enjoy doing together. Back in March I bought a bicycle, and I've been riding that more and more as well, which breaks up the walking and keeps it all interesting.

As far as my "diet", I don't really consider it a diet anymore - I've been avoiding refined sugars and flour for the most part, and it's become a lifestyle. Sure, I do eat some carbs every day (sometimes bad carbs too, just today I had a Wendy's chicken sandwich for lunch), but as a rule I stay away from breads most of the time. Hell, just avoiding sweets in general and sticking with the daily exercise has allowed me to eat things I really miss once in awhile without gaining any weight back. But, since this has been a two-year ordeal so far, and a habit, I find I don't miss those foods much anymore (except the sugar, who wouldn't miss sugar?). I also don't drink much alcohol anymore - but I do still keep a good beer in the house and enjoy it once a week if I feel like it! (It makes me a cheap date when I go out hell-raising, LOL, I've lost all of my alcohol tolerance.)

I still have 13 more pounds to go - and it may take a month, or three... but I'll get there!! I was at a plateau for months until I really started cycling more, so I'm thinking that's making a difference. I have one more size to go!

Distractions

2009-07-14T21:52:00.000-07:00

I will just come right out and say it... I am addicted to Facebook. LOL! It appeals to my short attention span and my tendency to be visually stimulated, it's very "busy" and it's sooooo easy to connect with old friends, acquaintances, family (pretty much everyone!). If you're interested in connecting with me via Facebook, send me an email here.

What I am doing, however, is spending more time over there than I am over here. I could blame it on Farm Town, cause damn that is time consuming when you don't sit down and do absolutely nothing very often. But that's not entirely true; I am enjoying the chatting, writing all over walls and looking at everyone's posted photos too. I also haven't been watching much TV (especially the news), because well, it's depressing, and I get most information from the Internet when I want it. I'm missing current event topics that I used to write about all the time. Maybe I need to just scan Google news a bit more. :)

Twitter is also a bit of a distraction from my blog, as well. Instant gratification is what that's all about. I post many of my day's events over there, sometimes taking away from what I might write about on the blog. BTW, my Twitter page is here

It really is all about finding balance, isn't it? Surely I still have plenty of interesting things to talk about, and I have no intention to stop blogging. :)

What's On My iPod

2009-07-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Go-Go's - "Our Lips are Sealed" - I remember the first time I heard this song...isn't it funny how our memories work? I mean damn, that was 1982? This song can be found on Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion's soundtrack. Gotta love movies about high school reunions... might be a reason I never went to my own, LOL.

John Waite - "Change" - I picked up the soundtrack from Vision Quest recently, and I'd have to say this is my favorite track. I'd almost forgotten about this video - ahhhhh, the 80's.

Angels and Airwaves - "Breathe" - Although I'm happy Blink 182 got back together, Angels and Airwaves was a band that kicked ass. I wonder if they've officially disbanded since the reunion?

Montell Jordan - "Get It On Tonite" - Guess I'm full of soundtracks today... this one is from the movie Save the Last Dance. I finally saw this movie last night - excellent feel-good film. I love happy endings!! Whatever happened to Montell Jordan - cause he put out some seriously good tunes. The movie was full of good music, and there's actually two soundtrack CD's... so I picked them both up used on Amazon this morning!

Metro Station - "Control" - Metro Station has a nice sound... a get up and dance sound. So check this one out and Move!

I'm Double-Fisting PDA's

2009-07-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's no secret I don't care for Blackberry phones. They're a bit awkward to use for me - the qwerty keyboards suck (the keys are just too close together and I find the font on the keys difficult to read). They also come with this awful proprietary OS - you can't make the choice for the Windows OS, they force their Blackberry crap down your throats.

I'm due for a phone upgrade for my personal phone in the next month or so, and all of these phone companies are pushing these Blackberries in a big way - but I've had my eye on the new Palm Pre. Palm hasn't been doing all that great financially and it seems they're banking everything on this new phone, which concerns me a bit. But I have a Palm Treo 700wx currently, and it's been a pretty good phone to me, my only real complaints are the camera and the media player - the camera takes horrible pictures and the media player has been buggy since day one, so I hardly use it for any web surfing whatsoever. So I've been looking around and this new Palm Pre has some pretty sweet features, but I need to go actually handle one and see if it holds up to the hype.

We did get new phones for work yesterday in the mail... apparently Karma is getting even with me for something I've done, because here's what I received and will probably be forced to use for the next 5 years:

Argh. I'm being punished for something. I just know it. :)

Sunshine on a Stem

2009-07-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Found some sunflowers on my walk tonight. Isn't this one beautiful? Tulips are my favorite flower, but these come in a close second!

Weekend Update

2009-07-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

How was your 4th of July weekend, Internet?

Mine started Friday, I was off - so Madison and I went for lunch and bowling with my sister Toni and my niece and nephew Breana and Jaydon. We bowled one game, and I don't even think I broke 80 points...LOL! Madison won the game with a score of 99, she kicked serious butt!

For the 4th we spent it with the family - there was sun, food, fireworks, and fun! I was forgetful in taking photos the whole day - but here's my favorite:

We'd spent so much time in the sun on Saturday - on Sunday I don't think I even opened the windows! The only time I went outside was to take a walk... after the sun went down. Surprisingly, I didn't even burn on Saturday - I got a little pink and it was brown by the next morning (and yes, I had sunscreen on).

Hope you had a safe and happy 4th!

What's On My iPod

2009-07-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Colbie Callait - "Falling For You" - This is a live version of her new single - she's got a really good voice live, too! I didn't pick up her debut album, although I do have a couple of the tracks - I may have to go pick up this sophomore album!

Chickenfoot - "Oh Yeah" - Yay, there are Chickenfoot videos! I just love me some Sammy Hagar! Wouldn't it be awesome to just hang and have some Cabo Wabo tequila with these guys?

Timex Social Club - "Rumors" - This one popped up out of nowhere on the iPod the other day, can't say I remembered having it, and noticed it was on a compilation CD I'd bought some time ago. I had a bad memory attached to this song, but that was so long ago - that it was actually a not-so-bad surprise to hear. :)

Johnny Kemp - "Just Got Paid" - Now this one, is a whole different story. This song came out when I was a senior in high school (1988), and I remember cruising the Strip with this blaring.

Spice Girls - "Viva Forever" - Yes, I own a Spice Girls CD, LOL. I had never seen this video before - and when I started watching it, it had a nice fairy tale feel to it, but when the giant Rubik's cube appears, it starts to get fuzzy. By the end of the video you're left thinking WTF? If you can decipher it, please let me know...

Tiny Beauty

2009-06-30T14:15:00.001-07:00

Can you see the bird in the middle of the picture? That's a hummingbird! She built a nest in the tree right outside my window, and I hadn't noticed until the lady in the office next to me pointed it out (I face away from the windows unless I'm daydreaming, LOL). So one of the guys in the office took a picture of her - isn't she beautiful? I don't know that I've ever seen one that wasn't in flight!

I'm going to have to gaze outside a bit more, I think. ;)

Weekend Update

2009-06-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

If I sit here and think about all I accomplished this weekend, I'm tired. :) It was a bit of to-do list things, but mostly being the entertainment director to my 5-year-old. She's at this age where she's so fun, we just go and do - even errands are entertainment if you let it be.

Yesterday was Madison's last t-ball game of the season! We had great coaches (my sister Toni being one of them), and Madison enjoyed herself a lot. Here's a picture as she hit the ball:

After the game was over the coaches had the kids sing a song to the spectators...it was so cute! Here they are singing:

After the game we took her to Red Robin for a celebratory dinner, and she passed out before she hit the pillow.

This morning she and I got up really early, she wanted to help me wash my car. She's actually really good at it, she is very concerned with all the bugs on the front and getting them off, LOL. So we headed outside at 7:30 before the sun got too hot. After the car was done she and I took her new bicycle up to the park so she could get used to it, and that was much easier than I anticipated. We decided to put her training wheels up a little high so they're really just a safety belt, and that went well.

This weekend went by sooooo fast... summers tend to do that. But it was a good weekend, indeed. How was yours, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-06-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

Big Punisher - Still Not a Player - Ok I think I was under a rock for a bit, I keep coming across music from the late 90's I missed... This one is from 99, and it's one to bob your head to. :) Big Punisher is one pretty uh... big dude.

Vanessa Carlton - 1000 Miles - I lent out this CD the other day and remembered how much I love this song. She is an incredible songwriter.

Kings of Leon - Notion - I downloaded their whole album a couple of weeks ago and can't stop listening to it. The lead singer's voice is that perfect kind of raspy/rock/soul for me. I dunno if this song is getting much airplay yet, but there's an official video, and it's got fire and explosions! LOL

Fabolous - Young'n (Holla Back) - This one's on the workout playlist, it'll get you to move. This is one of those songs that makes me wanna go dancing!!

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough - Of course I was gonna include an MJ song. I am more a fan of his Off The Wall album, Bad is also in my collection. (but honestly I didn't care for anything he'd put out after Bad). The media is already dishing out all kinds of dirt - and I'm just changing the channel. It's true... as long as there are people out there wanting to watch the train wreck, the more of it the media will give. Those celebrating his accomplishments and the history he made, good on you!

That's My Little Football Fan

2009-06-23T21:31:00.001-07:00

Today was wear your sports fan gear to school day. They're talking about sports all over the world this week, so they asked the kids to wear something that represented any sport they are a fan of. Well you know what Madison wore, right? I mean, this can't be a surprise:

You might ask what she's holding - it's an alligator with a chicken in it's mouth. At least she's getting this whole food chain business, right? LOL Oh, and don't laugh too hard at her hair. I'm growing her bangs out, and her hair looks a bit, well, creative at times. All my hair-tard doing!

But When?

2009-06-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

My daughter is obsessed with losing her first tooth. Nearly every day I get a full report of all family and friends who have lost teeth, and more teeth, before her.

"But Mommy, when am I gonna lose a tooth? Breana lost another one. I think I feel this one is loose. Really, look, see!?"

"Your teeth will fall out when they're ready. Don't worry... you WILL lose your baby teeth."

"But when Mommy? When?!"

I can't even wrap my head around why - she isn't talking about the tooth fairy or the money that tooth fairy leaves behind. I think she just wants to look cool with a hole where her tooth used to be.

I remember when I put together I was getting paid for losing teeth. I couldn't wait to lose more... and when I was about 8 years old, I had 7 teeth pulled at once. My parents felt so bad, I think I made 50 dollars. I had too many teeth for my jaw to fit, so they pulled teeth in hopes I would avoid braces. Actually, it was an awesome thing they did, because it worked - I never needed braces.

Ahhhh... Some Fresh Air

2009-06-20T22:10:00.001-07:00

Maddy and I went on a hike this morning... we headed up to the Old Sawmill Trail again at Lee Canyon. The weather was beautiful up there, despite how windy it was in town today. We took in the clouds, the fresh air, and the green trees!

Here we are just as we started the trail:

This was our view from the highest point... over 7000 feet!

This is us just after we finished the trail - We did it!

What's On My iPod

2009-06-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

Jessie James - Wanted - This is one of the best play-loudly-while-driving-and-sing-along I've heard in a really long time. Guys - you'll want to see this one (but it is SFW, heh). The scenery in this video sure looks like rural Nevada!

O.A.R. - This Town - The is the second song I heart from this band, guess I need to check out the rest of the album. This is a feel-good kind of tune. :)

Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You - I don't care what you say about American Idol - but Kelly Clarkson rocks. This is a pretty cute video, bet anyone can relate to it just a little bit.

Pink - Please Don't Leave Me - I think one of the things I like best about Pink is her sense of humor. If you just listen to the song without the video - it's pretty serious, an apology to her significant other for behaving so badly and begging him to stay. The video, however, puts quite a different spin on it, LOL!

The All-American Rejects - The Wind Blows - Kinda ending on a sad note - but give this one a listen, it's good.

The View

2009-06-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here's my view of the mountains way out on the eastside of Las Vegas. My phone camera doesn't really do it justice!

Playing Tourist

2009-06-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today I took the day off and hung out with Karl's Aunt Shannon. I always get a kick out of calling her "Aunt" Shannon, because she's five years younger than we are. Whenever she comes into town, she and I take a day and play tourist. Although I live here, I enjoy getting down to the Strip and taking it in once in awhile... so I always look forward to Shannon's visits!

We started the day out at Caesar's Palace... this is us outside the Forum Shops:

We stopped at Serendipity 3 for drinks and lunch... the food was awesome, BTW (and the drinks... yeah, gooooooood). In fact we were so full from lunch that we went back later in the day for dessert. I can't eat a single carbohydrate for like 3 weeks now, I now have plenty in storage, LOL. The service could have been a bit better, they were not on their game either time we visited today, but overall, it was still a good experience.

From there we hit the Bellagio to visit the Conservatory, check out the shops and watch the fountain show:

From the Bellagio we headed over to the Paris and had more drinks... we played a little video poker at Gustav's bar while chatting it up with the bartender. I had a couple of free martinis and lost only one dollar at the poker machine - I'd say I was ahead! :) From the Paris we hit the Mirage to buy tickets for the Beatles' Love show. I'm not going with the family, but decided it's a show I really want to see. I've never considered myself a Beatles fan, but whenever I hear them, I remember how much I do actually like their music. We were discussing their music catalog in the show's gift shop, when the nice lady working there let us know that there's going to be a new Cirque show at the CityCenter opening this Fall, and it's going to have an Elvis theme. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to see that, as well! The picture below is me in front of the showroom area... pretty psychadelic. :)

I had a day off work, drank some martinis, enjoyed the beautiful Vegas weather, all with good company. I'd say it was a pretty kick-ass day!

For more photos from the day, visit my Flickr page.

No Longer a Phantom Noob

2009-06-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday night I had a new experience... I saw Phantom of the Opera with friends Amy and Jennifer. Girl's night out - not a new experience, but this type of show? Definitely a new experience. I'd like to think I'm not all that culturally sheltered - but I've never seen a Broadway show or even the Los Angeles equivalent! (I do believe I can hear Vegas Princess gasping in horror.) I'm almost ashamed to admit I didn't even know this particular storyline, I had no idea what to expect (I guess that made me a Phantom Noob).

So the Venetian Hotel and Casino here in Las Vegas built their own theater for the production, and I found it gorgeous! The stage was very ornate but unlike other Vegas productions I've seen. Hey, I grew up here with the magicians, the cheesy lounge acts... the showgirls. This is soooooo different. I think I had an advantage in not having seen it before - I hadn't those Broadway expectations? I don't know that Vegas has truly proved itself worthy to some. (Personally, I think this town is big enough for it all - the magicians, cheesy lounge acts, showgirls AND Broadway productions, not to mention all the kickass concerts we get.) I loved the stage mechanics - the scenes were seamless, the sets were beautiful and the costumes were breathtaking!

I do enjoy a good musical, but honestly it's not my favorite genre. The singing was very well done and for the most part I caught all the words, and if there was a little I missed, I got the gist of the scene. But the words - the words are so important to me. I'm the one who reads all the lyrics in the sleeves of my albums. :) So during those scenes were they're singing over each other? I had issue with that. You can't tell what one of them is saying! So I've ordered the paperback edition from Amazon, because now I feel the need to know this story.

In the theater you see the famous chandelier in pieces, hanging from the ceiling - and they make this big deal of it when the show starts, and I remember Amy noting the chandelier more than once, so I had this sense that the chandelier played a large part in the story. In the end, not so much? I kept waiting for this crescendo taking us to the point of the chandelier... and if it came, I missed it. LOL

Don't get me wrong, I was entertained, and I am always up for new experiences. It was girl's night, besides - and you just can't go wrong there. After reading the story I should see it again; perhaps I'll get more out of it. My favorite scene? Definitely the masquerade!

What's On My iPod

2009-06-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

White Tie Affair - Candle (Sick and Tired) - This one is pretty catchy, and the guys in the band? Pretty easy on the eyes. :)

Akon, Snoop Dogg, and Lil' Wayne - Speaker - Bob yer head to this one... it's the SFW version. :)

Day 26 - Imma Put It On Her - Keep moving with this one... I had to crack up when I saw Diddy in the video, I see he's still in just about every damn hip hop video out there. I didn't remember hearing him sing in this song, but apparently he does. It's still something good to bounce to.

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody - Everything I hear from these guys is pretty damn good, I need to just buy the album vs. downloading singles. I'm seeing a trend anymore... everyone is so pretty in music anymore. Whatever happened to the ugly guy who beat the crap out of the drums, and made his millions because he's talented? Do these peeps get recording contracts anymore?

Chickenfoot - Oh Yeah - There is not one single video from the album out there yet... but here's a live performance on Conan O'Brien, dated 6-6-09. The album rocks - go get it!

5 Going On 15

2009-06-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

Now that Madison is the big number 5, she's had some changes at preschool - she's moved into a new classroom. This is the we're-starting-kindergarten-and-we're-way-cooler-than-you room. Or that's how she and her other recently 5-year-old friends feel about it. All the other kids? Babies now. The activities she did when she was 4? She's just WAY too old for that stuff. That's including the phonics class she takes twice per week (that we also pay an extra $100 per month for). I had to have a talk with her about that this evening, as she told the teacher she's not 4 anymore, and doesn't want to do it, it's "baby stuff". She is associating the phonics class with the pre-kindergarten room, and I see why, as the music class she took when in the 3-year-old classroom ended when she moved up. The phonics class, however, has been an incredible experience for her, and has done so much for her preparation to read. So I'm hoping she understood, cause I really want her to do it through the summer.

There are two really awesome things about this new classroom, and my favorite is that she doesn't take naps anymore. YAY! We really struggled with the naps after she turned 3, as she didn't want to go to bed at a decent hour. We tried working with the teachers to either not let her nap or to just let her have a catnap (no more than half an hour), but it never seemed to work out that way. Bedtime was a battle most nights during the week - but no more! She gets to bed on time and is out in no more than 15 minutes. I am still working on the right bedtime, because during the week she gets up early, and I think she could probably use a teensy bit more sleep at night.

The second bonus is that now that she's 5, she can take field trips. Here in NV it's illegal for the kids to have field trips any younger. So she's got a summer program full of activities, and a field trip every single week through August. This week they kicked the summer off with a small trip - a picnic at a nearby park. Next week it's the movies. There are museum trips, special shows, etc. How cool is that!?

Being 5 rocks, that's what Maddy says!

Weekend Update

2009-06-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

It was seriously just Friday, wasn't it? This weekend is all kind of a big blur behind me.

Saturday I got some hang time with Dad, he was getting a new deck installed in his truck (he's gonna be rockin' to some Sirius radio now). Best Buy really didn't do well with the whole purchase/install, so it took WAY longer than expected, and although the new stereo looks great, it was quite the endeavor to get it in. Kinda surprised me, I've always had good luck with their installs... But whatever, we got to hang for the better part of the day, and in the end, that was awesome. I picked up the new Chickenfoot album while we were out... Sammy Hagar, I'd missed you!

I had some errands to run, a t-ball game and a walk before I relaxed last night, and I watched Smokin' Aces. Why hadn't I heard of this movie before? There is some serious star power in this movie: Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and Jason Bateman, to name a few! Anyway, it was pretty violent, has a lot of "Vegas" themes to it, and an ending you will NOT expect. I seriously loved this movie!

This morning Madison and my nieces Breana and Taya had some portraits done - and my sister Toni came over early to do Madison's hair. (I have all this hair on my own head and do absolutely nothing to it - I'm very much a hair-tard.) Madison had her first hot roller experience (I do actually own hot rollers? LOL), and Madison was very unsure about it:

But once she saw the finished product, she was sold. Here's one of my favorites from today:

After portraits Maddy and I did some shopping, and we headed to the movies to see Up. I've heard it's not what you expect, and they're right - for once, the previews didn't show all the best parts. We really enjoyed it! I was warned I might cry, and surprisingly, I only teared up twice. LOL

How was your weekend, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-06-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

Depeche Mode - The Love Thieves (remixed) - This is some random remix I found of an already good song - but it's got a really good sound. This is a song that didn't get any attention from their Ultra album - but I like it!

LL Cool J - Big Ol' Butt - OMG, I had no idea there was a video for this song. Classic LL - love it.

Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing) - Remember this song? Yeah, Lauryn kicked ass with this one. You can't help but sing along!

Foreigner - Urgent - If you don't have this in your rock collection... you need it. What are you waiting for? This is an extended live version, really good quality. These guys are obviously still rocking!

Matt Nathanson - Car Crash This guy reminds me a little bit of Rob Thomas, a little bit of Jason Mraz. I haven't heard anything yet I haven't liked.

Happy Birthday, Maddy

2009-06-04T09:02:00.000-07:00

My baby is 5 YEARS OLD today! Every year, I wonder where the time went. She's starting kindergarten in the Fall, already! It feels like I just brought her home... I'll probably still be saying that when she's asking me for the car keys.

She was just over a year old here:

They grow up so fast.

Cloudy Skies = Lack of Motivation

2009-06-03T08:23:00.001-07:00

I think it's gonna be hard to concentrate today...

Titillating Question for the Day

2009-06-02T15:55:00.001-07:00

I think it's safe to say we've all done it... Googled old friends, coworkers, even old boyfriends/girlfriends - maybe you've even looked them up on Facebook or MySpace. Maybe you're just curious what they're up to, maybe you want to reconnect in some fashion, or maybe you just want to see how kind the years have been? Likely, in some cases, all of the above.

I've touched on this topic today with several different people, and I've gotten some very different answers... so I thought I'd see what other answers I might get. I was going to ask if you'd actually looked up an old flame, but I doubt I'll get many honest answers, LOL. So let me get all hypothetical on your ass. IF you found an old flame on the internet (to include photos), and the years were very unkind to them (they'd let themselves go, have bad skin now, a combover, whatever), how would that make you feel? Would you:

a) Think Karma caught up with them and have a giggle

b) Not think anything of it, who cares

c) Think that it reflects on you somehow, i.e. they represent your past dating choices and therefore should have kept themselves presentable

d) Feel pity toward them, what a shame

e) Other (please explain)

Now I know we're not all so shallow to wish ill on others. I'm talking your gut reaction - the first thing that pops in your head. It's human nature, I think, to have that fleeting thought! Doesn't mean you necessarily judge from the picture alone.

Something For My Sweet Tooth

2009-06-01T22:07:00.001-07:00

I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I stay away from sweets most of the time. However, I so do luuuuurve me some ice cream when it's hot outside...and Breyers makes it so that I can enjoy some ice cream without guilt. What a beautiful thing! In fact, I just had one. Holla!

Birthday Party

2009-05-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty eventful weekend, but today was pretty much the focus. We had a birthday party for Madison and Breana at Bounce U this afternoon. Bounce U is a pretty awesome place for a party - it's pretty much just a huge warehouse with several bounce structures for the kids to play on. You pay a flat rate for the whole deal for up to 25 kids, and you can add ten more kids for $8 each - they feed the kids, serve up the cake, and do all the cleanup. My kind of deal! I think the only thing that wasn't great about today was that they weren't prepared with the number of staff. We had 35 kids. 35! They should have had two staff members for us, but we had only one who really struggled to keep up with us. So we ended up helping her out a lot, but it worked out in the end.

The kids focused on this huge slide for most of the party. Here Madison and her friend Cayla are going down backward for some added excitement (you're really not supposed to do this):

McKenna, Madison, Cayla and Reina posing for pictures while enjoying some pizza:

While the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves, this was their last year having their birthday parties together. It has really worked out well, because their birthdays are only 6 days apart - but they're both making a lot of their own friends, and the parties are just getting too big. So we've agreed this was it. 35 kids was a bit on the crazy side today - but the fun you can see on all their faces was worth it! You can check out more pictures from the party here.

Madison's birthday is coming up this week... I still need to wrap her presents!

How was your weekend, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-05-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Safetysuit - "Someone Like You" - Safetysuit is a new find for me... these guys are fabulous! They also sing a song "Stay" that's getting a lot of airplay lately. I just downloaded the entire album "Life Left To Go", I can't wait to listen to it.

Dan Hartman - "I Can Dream About You" - This song is badass! I was so jazzed when I heard this today - a loved yet forgotten song for me.

Katy Perry - "Waking Up In Vegas" - I'll admit it, I love songs, videos, movies, anything about Vegas. I'll even go one step further and admit this song is in fact, on my iPod. I've made no secret that I think Katy Perry is the flavor of the week... but hey, it's a good song, I bought it! This video was really well done, BTW. Enjoyed the interpretation that is a crazy time in Vegas. ;)

The Matrix w/ Katy Perry - "Broken" - LOL - and here she is again! I caught this song a couple of weeks ago and I've got it on my "To Download" list, I couldn't find it on Amazon then, so I'll have to look again tonight. This is a really cute song - ok, maybe I'm gonna lay off Katy for awhile. :)

Carl Carlton - "Everlasting Love" - What a classic song! I caught this on the Sirius 70's on 7 channel last week, and promptly added it to my collection. Definitely worth a listen...

Exercise With A View

2009-05-28T20:13:00.001-07:00

I love it when the sun sets later, I have views like this when I walk!

My Two Cents - Obama's Visit to Las Vegas

2009-05-27T22:04:00.001-07:00

So President Obama spent the better part of two days in our fair city. As you know, I'm not political, but yeah... I have an opinion on this one.

Do I think it was irresponsible for our President to damn Las Vegas as a frivolous place for businesses to spend their money? Absolutely. This city is full of reasons to have your conventions, business meetings, etc. (and I'm not talking about the topless bars or roulette tables, but hey... if conventioneers want to spend their own time and money here before and after hours - where's the problem?). Do I believe that the over 400 conventions canceled per the Las Vegas Convention Authority were in part to his statement? I'd say that's a fair assumption. But we can't blame it all on him, let's be realistic. Our city is hurting for more reasons than the President's speech. However, I do believe, that in his own way, President Obama delivered the proverbial olive branch today. His short stay was even on the Strip, at Caesar's Palace if I'm correct. In a speech at Nellis Air Force Base, he had this to say:

"You know, it’s always a pleasure to get out of Washington a little bit. Washington is OK, but it’s nice taking some time to talk to Americans of every walk of life outside of the nation’s capital. And there’s nothing like a quick trip to Vegas in the middle of the week. [This got applause.] Like millions of other Americans, we come to this beautiful city for the sights and for the sounds -- and today we come for the sun." (Quote is from the Los Angeles Times, and it's entirety can be found here.)

Our Mayor, Oscar Goodman, was there to receive the olive branch. I have been reading rumors that he may be throwing his hat into the next gubernatorial race, and WOW, would I vote for him in a second. The current Joker, errr... Governor, Jim Gibbons, snubbed the President's visit. He felt this was not enough to make up for Obama's statements about Las Vegas. Maybe he should do less pouting and more planning for what he's going to do when he's replaced as Governor - because no matter how much game he's playing right now, we'd be crazy to re-elect him (nor do I think he has a chance in Hell). Can't we all just get along?

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

What a long weekend! Saturday morning we met the family up at Mt. Charleston for a day of fun. We had a picnic, did a lot of walking, and sat around a campfire roasting marshmallows and just shooting the breeze. The morning started out a bit cold, even for Mt. Charleston - clouds and rain threatened our day for a bit, but they quickly moved on and we were there pretty much the whole day.

Here's a family photo:

This was Madison's first time roasting marshmallows, and as you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed the experience:

Sunday was a chill day. I'd been talking recently about how I'd evolved out of hay fever with my allergies, and the pollen Gods got a bit pissed, I believe. I've had a stuffy nose and itchy eyes since Saturday, and on Sunday I just didn't feel like doing much. Madison and I have started watching the Harry Potter movies - I'm a big fan of the series, and decided to watch them with Madison when she showed some interest to one of the movies while flipping through channels. We made it through the third movie today - and while there are certainly pieces of the films Madison doesn't quite grasp at her age, she still really enjoyed them (and thinks Harry Potter is the bomb diggety).

When we were on our way to Mt. Charleston on Saturday, we passed the Sawmill Trailhead in the Lee Canyon area. When I checked it out online, I discovered it is a scenic, yet easy loop trail, and decided Madison and I would do it this morning (despite my allergy issues). Wow, it was beautiful up there! It was a very easy trail to do through the woods, and there were so many beautiful wildflowers blooming... and although I couldn't smell the fresh air, I could feel it. Some of the views were breathtaking! Here's a couple of pictures from our hike:

Check out more photos from the weekend here.

How was your weekend, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-05-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Cameo - "Candy"
I picked up an Old School album yesterday and this song was on it. OMG, this video is so damn cheesy 80's, it's fabulous! I remember seeing these guys live once, they opened for LL Cool J once back then. WTF was up with the brightly colored cup the lead singer wore, anyway?! Good song, I'd forgotten all about it.

Blink-182 - "Dammit"
I just picked up their Greatest Hits CD yesterday, I LOVE this song! I was a late adopter to this band, and I have no idea why... This is one funny song, and I think we can all relate to it, no matter how old you are. They look SO young in this video! Doesn't even remotely look like Travis Barker on drums.

Mariah Carey - "Shake it Off"
I'll admit it, I like Mariah Carey. Her personal life might be wacky sometimes, but I don't care... the woman can sing. This is one of my favorites from her, nice video (it's a chick power song, IMO). I was pretty happy when she moved away from that whole adult contemporary genre back in the late 90's. I wasn't watching Vh1 yet, back then, LOL.

Johnny Kemp - "Just Got Paid"
This is on the same Old School album that the previously mentioned Cameo song is on. Do you remember this song? I remember cruising the Strip my senior year in high school, listening to this very, very loudly!

U2 - "Wild Honey" I'm a U2 fan, although not a big one. The album "All That You Can't Leave Bhind" album is one of my favorites - this is a sweet song, reminds me of the freedom and sometimes innocence of love.

I'm a Blippin' Fool!

2009-05-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Do you use Blip.fm? It's a music site where you can listen and share what you're listening to. What exactly is a "blip"? According to the website FAQ, a blip is: "a combination of 1) a song and 2) a short message that accompanies it. The way you create a blip is to first search for a song that you want to hear (or a song that you want your listeners to hear), then add a short message (under 150 characters), finally you submit it. "

I've been using it for a few months, and I love it! They did some updates last night, and I noticed today you can now blip music videos! It's taking some getting used to - while I love the music videos, it makes searches more crowded, because it's pulling items from more places. I'll need to refine my searching abilities a bit more - hmmmm, I'll have to see if you can incorporate search operators.

You can also set Blip.fm to automatically update your Twitter status with your blips. That rocks, because I'm sharing with my Twitter followers, and they don't even need to be using Blip.fm! Sharing music... yeah, that makes me smile. :)

You can find me on Blip.fm - http://blip.fm/Loraloo

Legendary!

2009-05-18T21:41:00.001-07:00

I just finished watching the season finale for HIMYM. OMG! That was awesome!!

So... what was your favorite part? Did it live up to the hype for you? Please note: Spoilers may be in comments!! I can say this (no spoiler) - the goat story was fantastic, I am so glad we finally saw the whole story!

Ok - go forth and discuss. :)

Vacation... Over

2009-05-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Day three at Disneyland was really short - we arrived at 9 am to see that half of America was there... lines were already at an over 45 minute wait, so we chose three rides, stood in line, and got the hell out of there by 12:30. Madison was pretty much done with the walking bit, as well, so it all worked out okay. We were so ready to get out of there, we didn't even buy souvenirs this trip.

The van turned out to be an awesome idea... there was so much room, it had all the right gadgets (stow and go seating, satellite radio, auto-close side doors, to name a few). I think I'd definitely do it again - driving something that big doesn't intimidate me in the least, considering I drove only trucks for about 16 years. Hell, I took it all over town shopping today! BUT, I'm still not ever buying one. I can't wait to get rid of the Mommy car I have now...

My farmer's tan has reached new crazy levels - I don't burn, I get really, really brown. My arms are so damn dark, holy cow. It's soooooo NOT hot! LOL

Madison's vacation finally caught up with her today, she was in bed and asleep at 7:30 p.m. She'd been on such stimulation overload since Wednesday. You know, Disneyland is soooo much fun, no matter how old you are, but seeing it through the eyes of a child is a whole different show. She was so amazed at all the rides, the characters, the little things like the horse shoe tracks in the pavement in Frontier Land, and the flowers blooming everywhere. Soon enough she's gonna grow up and not want to hold my hand or cling to me on roller coasters, so I ate it up! Speaking of roller coasters... that girl, she is a major roller coaster junkie! Definitely gets it from me.

My work email comes through on my cell phone, so I already know what's in store for me tomorrow. It's really not such a bad thing, cause I won't be in shock when I arrive tomorrow, I've already been able to plan some things out and respond to some email needing my attention. On the other hand, I do know what's in store, and I'm not wanting to deal with it. Just a no-win situation. Heh!

So, Internet... how was your week? I feel like I missed a lot around here. Gonna have to catch up on my blog reading.

Disneyland 2009. Day Two

2009-05-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a little more mellow, and that's a good thing, because the parks got a lot more crowded. It seems like after lunch about 500 buses full of people just walked in... We stayed at California Adventure until about 2pm then made our way back to Disneyland to catch a few more rides. Madison did way better having had a good night's sleep... but we still weren't able to talk her into doing the Tower of Terror (and we were hoping, cause that's one amazing ride). By 7pm we headed back to the room and she is currently snoring behind me, I doubt she was conscious as she hit the pillow.

Tomorrow we have passes to the park and will probably head in to hit a ride or two, have some breakfast, grab the souvenirs, and head home. We've really seen all we wanted to, but we're in no big hurry to get home early tomorrow. Of course, the alarm clock isn't set tomorrow, either - YAY!

We'd purchased the Disney dining option with our hotel package - they give you a buttload of coupons to use to pay for your meals. I thought it was a good idea because you're pretty much prepaying for meals, and I got a good price on it (I paid less than the coupons are worth, but I can't remember the exact percentage in savings). While they made it easy and I really spent nothing out of pocket for the last two days in food... you're limited somewhat by them, as you can only use them in the park and there are a couple of coupons for character breakfasts and breakfast in the park. I'll end up giving away some, as we aren't able to use them as designed, so I don't know that I'd do this again. Maybe I'll be smart next time and pack more food - cause WOW are prices insane for meals here. It's just so convenient, ya know? I'm all about ease on vacations...

I'll leave ya with a couple of pictures. The first has Maddy hammin' it up for me at Toon Town, and the second is from breakfast with Goofy and friends at Goofy's Kitchen. Of course, you know there's more at Flickr!

Disneyland 2009 Day One

2009-05-14T21:56:00.001-07:00

Today was some serious power walking! We got to the park at 8:00 a.m. and left at 8:00 p.m., and did pretty much everything except Toon Town today (and we rode several things 3+ times). The key was going during the week, while school in California is still in. We got A LOT in today. I wasn't sure how it was going to go today - we left the stroller at home, I feel Madison is really too big for a stroller, but little kids get tired, ya know? We'd had very little sleep last night, so she started a little meltdown around 4pm, but nothing a little 20 minute catnap didn't fix. She was quite a trooper and we didn't carry her around at all. Tomorrow we're heading for Disney's sister theme park, California Adventure, after some breakfast with Goofy and friends.

I was Tweeting the whole day's events - are you following me on Twitter? You can catch our Disneyland events here.

Of course you can find more pictures over at Flickr - but here's a couple:

Here's Madison and I waiting for Disneyland to open this morning:

Here's Maddy with Tinkerbell at Pixie Hollow:

The... minivan. (Please, hold your applause.)

2009-05-13T14:41:00.000-07:00

Awwww come on, even I can make this van look sexy. Right?

Ok, maybe not. LOL But it has A LOT of space, and a pretty good ride. Much better than my little Tucson. We're off soon... Madison is bouncing off the walls. :)

Vacation!

2009-05-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

I'm on vacation. Did I mention, my friends, that I'm on vacation? Vacation, vacation, vacation!!!

What am I doing, you ask? Disneyland! We're leaving tomorrow and coming back Saturday. Disney offered me such a great discount to come back and stay at the resort, we just couldn't pass it up. All Madison can talk about is leaving tomorrow; she's so excited she can hardly contain herself. There's a new Tinkerbell attraction, called Pixie Hollow, where you get to meet and greet Tinkerbell and her friends. I have a feeling, based on the photo at the link above, that I'll be seeing a lot of Daddies in there, LOL. I crack up whenever Jasmine does meet and greets in the park, cause the Daddies LOVE getting their picture with her. I also heard Sleeping Beauty's castle is going to be open for tours... but I'm not seeing anything about it on the website. I just read that Peter Pan's Flight is closed! Damn, I love that ride!

It's only going to be 80ish degrees while we're there. Yay! Nights will still be in the 60's. Not that it's all that hot here in Vegas yet - we're still around 100 during the day, and it's gonna get to 115 before you know it (still beats living where it snows, IMO).

We always rent a car when we head out of town, Karl and I both have smaller vehicles. I couldn't get an SUV this time, so I'm driving a... wait for it... minivan. ME?! Driving a minivan? I will have to take a picture as proof.

I'll definitely be posting around here and adding pictures to my Flickr page... and you know I'll be Tweeting, so stay tuned!

I Have To Know How It Ends!

2009-05-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

I am 50 pages from the end of the last book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn. Of course I'm feeling the strong need to accomplish this before I fall asleep (which will probably happen before my head hits the pillow). It was an incredibly busy but good weekend... I hope it was for you as well! I hope that all of you Mommies out there enjoyed your day!

So, Internet... how was your weekend?

What's On My iPod

2009-05-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Parachute - "She is Love" - A perfect example of good, indie rock. But if you watch the video, they're right on the fringe of pretty boy band status, LOL. Don't hate them because they're beautiful?

Switchfoot - "Meant to Live" - This is a song I've just downloaded and listened to a couple of times, this band is new to me... this particular video is from AOL Sessions, it's a live performance.

The Script - "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" - What a chick video (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but the lead singer's facial expressions grate on me a bit. I'm loving this song!

Velvet Revolver - "Slither" - This is a driving song for me... aggressive, loud and fast.

Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl" - OMG, I can't believe I found this video online! What teenage girl didn't have a crush on Rick Springfield in the 80's? Damn I must have listened to this song ten billion times.

My Political Rant (of sorts)

2009-05-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of a political rant, so let me start by saying I have never claimed to be politically savvy, nor do I particularly aspire to be... But I sometimes get an opinion, and here's where I share it.

The legislature approved mandatory furloughs for all Nevada State workers over the next biennium. Basically I'll have to take an extra day off without pay every month for two years. This equals to about a 4% reduction in pay to help balance the state budget without doing some damage to programs or layoffs. There was concern about losing bailout funds/federal dollars too if we lost salaries outright, and I'm not entirely certain how that relates to my paycheck, but ok. In the big picture, I'm alright with this. At least I get a day off and we don't lose positions.

What infuriates me is the game our Governor played to get this (IMO). This guy is actually considering running for reelection, and I'm amazed at this. So, his original campaign promise was NO NEW TAXES. He started the new biennium budget war with trying to steal six percent from our paychecks. When most legislators and employee representatives blasted him, he started panic...programs and services will go barren, layoffs would be on a gigantic scale, blah blah blah. Yes, NV is in trouble. But we are a no income tax state. Ok, that's worked for us in a lot of ways. I get it. However, our school system sucks, public services are already in trouble, and nobody wants to pay taxes to fund any of it. I'm a bit opinionated when it comes to to talking about my salary, as well. If you look at private sector, county and city governments for jobs that do what I do? I'm paid the least. The one thing I have on private sector are the benefits...but many are paid on a higher scale with less benefits. I believe it gets close to a balance.

When Gibbons' smaller scare tactics weren't working... He went on a huge media campaign, stating any taxes would be catastrophic to Nevadans, and he's gonna have to take 11-16% of my pay now, and he's still holding the layoffs card. Gibbons is no dummy. Now that extra day off with 4% less in pay sure doesn't sound so bad, does it?

I didn't vote him in, my conscience is clear!

Why I am Sans Tequila - For Good!

2009-05-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

I promised a drunken debauchery story, and I'm here to give it. But I have to say that I received some awesome stories!! If you haven't read them... go back and check them out, here.

So I was barely 21... myself and three girlfriends went out to hit the town. We started out at a local casino for dinner, and while we waited for our table, I had a couple double shots of tequila. During dinner? A margarita. After dinner? More tequila. There was supposed to be a male strip show at this casino (remember, this is 1992 - there's no Thunder Down Under, yet). The show was in one of the banquet rooms, and they'd oversold tickets, and the guys... were not so much to look at. So we moved on to some other place and you guessed it - more tequila. I was not driving that night, so obviously I was on a bit of a mission.

The next thing I remember was being at a nightclub. I remember it being called Utopia at some point, but it may have had a different name back then (I do believe either the Paris or the Venetian stands where it used to be). I started to feel pretty woozy, and the Mexican food we'd eaten for dinner wasn't feeling so good. I remember my girlfriends getting me to a table on an outdoor balcony for fresh air, and it didn't last long. I barely made it to the women's restroom at the club, and promptly threw up in every single stall in that bathroom, repeatedly. I remember them being quite concerned that I might throw up in my friend's brand new Mustang, LOL. I also remember the security guard at the club - he was concerned I had alcohol poisoning (he was right), and he asked if they wanted him to call an ambulance. I remember thinking "Wow, I look that bad?". After I'd thrown up things I'd probably eaten three days prior, they got me home.

I spent most of the night in the bathroom with dry heaves, and I think I ate only saltines for two days after that. The funniest part... I still lived at home when this occurred. My Dad found some serious amusement in my state the next day, and kept asking me if I wanted a greasy pork sandwich! He loves telling this story, cause I was on the bathroom floor in quite a state for hours, giving that inevitable "I'll never, ever do this again" mumble. To this day, I can't stand the smell of tequila!

First T-Ball Game

2009-05-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

Madison's first T-ball game was yesterday, and I do believe she had an ah-ha! moment once the game got underway. T-ball is really all about getting the kids exposed to the game... whether it be softball or baseball later, this is where the fundamentals start. They don't even keep score; it's just about the fun, learning good sportsmanship and getting some basic skills. The kids had a blast, and Madison did awesome! Here's a couple of pictures:

Ok, the girlie ribbons on her shirt were not my idea... let's just clear that up now... but hey, the girls looked pretty cute. Their official uniform shirts haven't arrived yet from Little League.

Her first time up to bat in a game! She tried stealing second base too... she was on a mission to run those bases, LOL.

You'll find more T-Ball pictures over at Flickr (they're up, but I need to get back to add descriptions). How was your weekend, Internet?

Share Time

2009-05-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Tell me your best drinking story... and somewhere in there I want to see "I was so drunk that I..."

I have one I'm gonna share too, but I want to hear some of yours first!

What's On My iPod

2009-05-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

Third Eye Blind - "Losing a Whole Year" - 3EB is in my top five all-time favorite band list, and they hail from San Francisco... which happens to be my favorite city! Been thinking about that place, it's been way too long since my last visit.

Blue October - "Should Be Loved" - The first single from their new album, Approaching Normal, and it kicks ass... seriously. Give it a listen!

Injected - "Faithless" - This song is from the Fast and the Furious soundtrack, awesome song, I hadn't heard it in quite some time!

Dave Matthews Band - "The Space Between" - By far my favorite DMB song, even though I find it to be a bit on the depressing side. Can you say lost love? They're going to be here next week, and I am not going. Tragic!

Billy Idol - "Hot in the City" - I was happy to see this video up on YouTube! Billy Idol has so many songs in his catalog that I dig, and this is definitely one of them. It's an oldie, but a goodie!

Nothing Better Than an Old Friend

2009-04-29T21:47:00.000-07:00

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~Laurence J. Peter

Yesterday I got to catch up with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jennifer. She's been in town to stay with her Mom for a bit, and I went over to the house to visit. Her Mom still lives in the same house Jennifer grew up in, and I hadn't been there in WOW, quite some time - but as soon as I walked up the driveway, I remembered being 13 or 14 and standing in that very same driveway, posing for a picture, and I sure wish I could find it. Jen and I have been friends since the 7th grade, so that would be 27 years! (I feel really, really old, having just done that math.) Somewhere in high school we migrated to different groups of friends, but we always remained close. We reminisced yesterday about some of our crazy antics - like the first time we got drunk, sneaking out of our houses, our first boyfriends, our mutual Duran Duran obsession... LOL. I hadn't seen her for quite a few years now, and I'm so glad we got to hang out, I'd really missed her.

There's something special about those in our lives who have seen us through all our failures as well as our triumphs - and is still around to laugh with you (or at you). :)

Weekend Update

2009-04-26T19:55:00.001-07:00

Saturday was pretty quiet, it was too windy to do much outside, so we hung out at home... but we did make it to Fuddrucker's for dinner. Have you eaten there? It's just a burger joint, but it's a pretty amazing burger joint. Of course, I had a salad... but it was awesome!

Today Madison was off to spend time with the in-laws, she's actually staying overnight for a visit, so what to do with all this free time? I'll tell you! I took a really long bike ride, I painted my toenails, got more than 100 pages read in Twilight: Eclipse, and watched Run Fat Boy, Run. Right now I'm watching the TV Land Awards. I don't watch award shows, so why would I be doing this? Neil Patrick Harris is hosting! He's so entertaining, that I'm watching... Besides, they're giving the hero award to Tom Selleck. Heh! I think the cool thing about this award show is that it's actually relevant to me, it's about TV when I used to actually watch TV.

What's On My iPod

2009-04-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

Beyoncé - "Halo" - Total sticky sweet love song, with an excellent video to match... I'm digging it. Check it out!

Electric Light Orchestra - "Livin' Thing" - These guys had a lot of hits when I was just beginning my violin lessons, and I wanted to play a violin in a rock band too! What a bonus I actually found a video for this song, since it was released 5 years before the birth of Mtv.

Rob Zombie - "Living Dead Girl" - Nik blipped this over at blip.fm and I love this song! What's blip.fm, you say? Why don't you check my page on Blip.fm!

Akon - "Beautiful" - I am not sure why, but Akon reminds me of Seal? His voice is amazing...maybe that's the connection.

Geto Boys - "Damn It's Good To Be A Gangsta" - This is from the Office Space soundtrack, I believe it's where they're in the middle of nowhere beating the crap out of the fax machine. If you haven't seen that movie, you're missing out. That's one I can watch over and over.

What's In My Head

2009-04-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Madison's t-ball is going really well so far! A few of you have asked, but I don't know what position she's going to play yet. I think we may get an idea of that tomorrow, because practice is on the softball field instead of the park. Madison is not understanding just yet that you have to move to catch the ball, that there's no magnet in the glove that brings the ball to you... but then again, they're all just about 5 years old, so a lot of them are learning the basics just like her.

I got my iPod back! Actually, they couldn't fix mine, so they gave me a refurbished one. That's not the ideal resolution, but I'm good with it, since you can't buy the 160GB model anymore. If they were going to offer me a brand new 120GB. it wouldn't have worked.

I'm so tired...and I debated back and forth about not working out tonight and crashing early. Being lazy and getting some good sleep wins!

I finished the book "New Moon" this morning. Ooooooooo! I think I read more than half the book in 3 days, I simply couldn't put it down. I am very lucky in that I received the next book "Eclipse", as a gift - so I get to start it tonight. Hmmm... if I actually want to get to bed early, maybe I shouldn't. I'm so excited to see what happens next!

The season for summer reruns on television are quickly approaching - May sweeps are just a week away! I only watch one whole hour of television per week...LOL, but I'm actually looking forward to total freedom from television for a bit. You know, if we canceled cable all together I wouldn't even flinch (unless you're talking about my cable modem, and you'd be prying that device out of my cold, dead hands!).

Speaking of May sweeps... when did the end of April get here? Didn't we just ring in the new year?

T-Ball Practice

2009-04-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a few photos from t-ball practice tonight... they did some throwing and catching practice:

Now I hope this isn't what she does in the outfield during a game:

Share Your Mobile Photos

2009-04-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

A fellow blogger, Jiggins, started this new project called "On the Go Photo Blog"... where anyone can upload their mobile photos to share with the masses. I think it's brilliant! More photos are being added every day - so why don't you join us? You can send your photos - whatever you find interesting, beautiful, something that speaks to you - from your mobile phone to otgphoto.onthego@blogger.com - it's really that easy! Come check it out! :)

Weekend Update

2009-04-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

This was one busy weekend!

Madison started T-ball on Friday... she is pretty excited, and that makes me pretty excited! My sister Toni is the coach, and she happens to be one of Madison's favorite people in the whole world, so I'm hoping this will be the beginning of a real interest for Madison.

Madison stayed at Toni's house Friday night, so we got to see the latest Fast and Furious installment, and it was definitely entertaining, but still doesn't quite live up to the first movie. Personally the second and third could not exist and I'd be alright... without Vin Diesel and the rest of the original cast, it got pretty cheesy, so this was refreshing and very action-packed.

Saturday I cleaned house. OOoooooooooooo...

Saturday night, however, I was off to Amy and Ken's house for girl's night. We had dinner - it was fabulous (as always), and we watched "Twilight". (I ate way too many carbs, but it was really delicious...I went on an hour bike ride tonight to try to undo some of that!) The acting was alright, just alright for me. A few of the cast weren't quite what I'd pictured when reading, and I'm not quite sure about Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen (hmmm... wonder if I'll get hate mail). However, two things they absolutely got spot on were the locations and sets. The forest... wow, their homes (her kitchen looked exactly as I'd seen in my head) and how about the last scene at the prom? I'd have to say the last scene was definitely my favorite, followed by the baseball game. They left a few things out from the book that I would have liked to see, but overall, it was a good schmoopy teenage/vampire love story. Everyone else last night had already read through all four books, I'm only in the middle of book 2 (New Moon), so they were trying not to talk much about things I haven't read yet, LOL. It was a great night out with friends, and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon!

Today was crazy with errands for much of the day, but Madison and I found a couple of hours to hang out at the park... Tomorrow starts another busy week! How was your weekend, Internet?

Like, OMIGAWD!

2009-04-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

I started watching "Valley Girl" on the treadmill tonight... have you seen this movie? Below is the movie cover, but it's been so damn photo-shopped that it does it no justice.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe this was Nicolas Cage's first leading movie role - and uh yeah, I totally had a crush on him. Like I'm so sure! I mean, like, just look at him:

I was talking with someone about this very movie earlier today, and I pondered if time was kind to this movie. You know there are some movies that were damn good back in the day, but the story isn't quite as good two decades later. It's as if you just can't relate to the storyline anymore. Sure, the language in this film is wayyyyyyyy dated. But the storyline? Still works. It's just like so many other 80's teen flicks - a twisted love story, youth angst and a happy ending. I daresay this movie is better than "Say Anything"... and that's big, considering I'm a HUGE John Cusack fan. So, if you haven't seen it, but you like that whole 80's cheesy love story, this is a must see. The female lead to this movie is Debra Foreman, who you might also remember from the movie "My Chauffer" - another 80's love story, but has some seriously effing comedic genius in it.

Oh and Randy... don't even start! LOL

iPod Meme

2009-04-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Randy tagged me with this and I couldn't wait to do it!! Music memes rock. I couldn't pass one of these up if I had to. So here's the deal with this one:

* Using the shuffle feature on your iPod (or other MP3 player), write down the first 10 songs that play.

* Don't be a PUNK and skip songs to find something better. If it pops up, it's in the 10

* Justify, defend or explain why those songs are on your iPod.

* Tag someone else to complete the meme.

If you don't have an iPod or similar device: You’re a loser.

1. Nancy Sinatra - "Boots are Made for Walking" I have no idea where I got this song. But last year I did a mass cleaning on every single one of my mp3's and discovered it. I had no idea she sang this song. Who doesn't love this song, seriously?! This is just one bad-ass song.

2. The Outfield - "I Don't Need Her" I had a cousin come stay with me from California once and he flew out from here, leaving me his truck for a week. I found one of The Outfield's CDs in his truck and couldn't stop listening to it. I picked up their greatest hits CD recently... they weren't one-hit wonders!

3. Smashing Pumpkins - "I Believe" This band is definitely my favorite band of all-time, and my iPod, and I have more than 240 SP songs loaded into iTunes! As you can imagine, they show up in many playlists on my iPod.

4. Nocera, "Summertime" I love the freestyle music genre. It's been lost, and I sure wish it would come back!

5. Pat Benatar - "I Need a Lover" Who doesn't have Pat Benatar in their music collection? I love this one because it's a remake of that famous song, you know the words: "I need a lover who won't drive me crazy..." I like that this version is from a woman's perspective. :)

6. Sting - "Epilogue (Nothing 'bout me)" I do believe that Ten Summoner's Tales is by far my favorite Sting album. I saw Sting open for The Grateful Dead of all bands. I went to see Sting for his music, I went to see The Grateful Dead for the experience.

7. Cinderella - "Somebody Save Me" Ok, I'll admit it. I had a mad crush on the lead singer for Cinderella, Tom Keifer. Saw them open for Bon Jovi way back when. I have good memories attached to this band, and I do have quite a bit of hair metal in my collection.

8. Sugar Ray - "Aim for Me" Uhhhh...have you seen Mark McGrath? I kid - I don't have any music based solely on how hot a band member is. But seriously, have you seen him? LOL

9. Nelly and Justin Timberlake - "Work It" I think Nelly and Justin make an awesome duo, this song just makes me wanna move! I heard it on the radio and promptly found it online.

10. Blue October - "Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek" Blue October kicks ass, that's all there is to it. This is a darker song, but all of Blue October's albums have a nice balance of dark/light songs. This was not a song I was all that fond of the first time I heard it... but it definitely grew on me.

Well there you have it. I'm not tagging anyone, but you should totally do it... this was actually very easy (and fun!).

I thought I broke my crazy guy beacon

2009-04-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

I was on my own for lunch today... so I decided to grab a low-carb chicken club over at Carl's Jr. and head back to the office. As I was waiting for my sandwich, a homeless man walks in and orders something to eat. He turns, spots me, and stops. He begins to stare... and stare... he had to do that for at least a solid minute, from about 5 feet away. He moves to get his drink, glances at me again, and mumbles something. I'm panicking just a little - during my short work experience at Wendy's when I was 16, I'd had food thrown at me more than once by homeless people (yeah, it was a great neighborhood, LOL). Since I'm not reacting at all, he goes to sit down. The manager starts watching him, cause he beginning mumbling to others on his way to the dining room, but he sits by the only open exit. Damn. As I walk by to leave, he starts talking to me, but I can't understand what he's saying - so he starts talking louder, as if I can't hear him. Just.a.few.feet from the door! Almost free! He's still calling after me, but I get outside. Man, that was strangely very stressful.

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a weekend!! Saturday we had the family over to color eggs and bake cookies... good times! Here's a sample:

We colored 36 eggs, then stuffed somewhere over 120 plastic eggs with candy and prizes, and somewhere in there I baked cookies with the kids.

Madison and I had really fit a lot into yesterday... but she still woke me up at 5:30 this morning to see what the Easter Bunny left, LOL. We had the in-laws over in the morning, then we headed out to my Dad's for the annual family BBQ. Now mind you we had more than 170 total eggs to hide for the Easter egg hunt, but it still only took 9 kids something like 10 minutes to find every last one of them! Here's a picture of Madison showing me her loot:

She must have spent more than half the afternoon blowing bubbles:

I uploaded 50 photos from the weekend's festivities on Flickr, check 'em out! I rode my bicycle two other nights this week... but after my ride tonight, I'm a little sore, and a lot tired. How was your Easter weekend, Internet?

What's On My iPod

2009-04-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

Phil Collins - "You Can't Hurry Love" - This is a live video version... I have to admit I really didn't appreciate Phil Collins until I was in my mid-20's.

Drowning Pool - "Bodies" - This is an ultimate angry song. Total aggression without being death-metal-ish. It's got a pretty catchy chorus, too - heh.

Vanessa Carlton - "A Thousand Miles" - Vanessa Carlton opened for Third Eye Blind and the Goo Goo Dolls back in oh, 2004? Amy and I went to this concert and we missed Vanessa's performance, and I'm sorry we did. At the time I didn't really know who she was.

The Cars - "Let's Go" - The Cars were an awesome band, weren't they? Every time I listen to their greatest hits I'm reminded how they really had so many great songs. This is a live video, it's one of my favorites from The Cars!

Pat Benatar - "Shadows of the Night" - Pat Benatar put on one of the best concerts I've ever seen... This just might be my very favorite song from her catalog.

1970

2009-04-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

It was a good year...

Lunch and Some Music To Go

2009-04-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with my friend Julie today (Hi Julie!) at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. She's a reader around here and noticed a recurring theme - I don't listen to country music. Well... Julie? She does listen to country music, so she brought me some country music CDs to give a listen to. If you give me music, I will listen. I started with the artist I actually know, Keith Urban, and started listening to his CD "Golden Road". You know what? It's not bad. There's a couple of songs that I'm gonna add to the iPod, definitely - and I've only made it through the first 7 tracks! So thank you, Julie - for lunch, and for expanding my musical horizons!! I promise to listen to ALL the CDs. :)

I have an update on Dallas - his doctor's office called today, and what he has is a lipoma, or a fatty tumor. I've just got to keep an eye on it to see if it starts growing, but it's totally benign and he's a healthy cat.

What's In My Head

2009-04-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Long John Silvers for lunch... and while we were eating, I whipped out one of their paper pirate hats, and promptly put it on. The looks on the faces of the guys at the table with me, and the table full of people next to me? Priceless.

Madison has started storytelling in a way no adult could possibly wrap their heads around. The creativity of a child is one of the most amazing things.

I have no idea where this day went? Once I got back to the office before lunch, it was suddenly 4:30. I love days like that, cause it means it was probably time well spent.

I got tagged for a 200 Things meme last week (Nik... Holla!) and I've been working on it for days, LOL. I really want to finish and post it - but I tend to I overthink these things. I am still working on it!

I follow some celebrities on Twitter and some of them have way too much time on their hands. I am gonna have to turn off my device updates so they'll stop flooding my phone... it's crowding up the tweets I really want to read!

How was your day, Internet?

Waiting is the Hardest Part

2009-04-06T15:09:00.001-07:00

We're in the waiting room and Dallas is pacing nervously! My poor baby.

Weekend Update

2009-04-05T17:52:00.001-07:00

Madison picked these for me in the backyard yesterday, I love daisies!

Although I went on the four-mile hike yesterday, I still went on my three-mile walk last night. I hate to admit it, but my body was kinda tired after all that. Thankfully a good night's sleep was all I needed, I wasn't stiff at all this morning!

Madison and I got up this morning and went to the park...

It was SUCH a gorgeous day outside today! We outlasted all the other families at the park, we must have been there for almost two hours.

This afternoon my iPod saga continued... I had called Best Buy's customer care number who told me I can take my dot.com purchase in for service at the store, so I went back to try again, except to a different Best Buy location. I did have to stand in two lines, so it took a bit, but hey, they figured it out and took it in for service, without giving me an ounce of trouble. I'm doing a whole lot of finger crossing that Apple can fix it since this large hard drive model isn't available anymore!

The only down part of this weekend was that I found a squishy mass on Dallas. It doesn't seem to be hurting him, but it clearly doesn't belong, so I have to get it checked out. I know my veterinarian personally (and he's great, if you live in the west end of town at all), and I got an appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully it's no big deal... but you never know.

I think it's going to be the perfect night for a bike ride! How was your weekend, internet?

Hiking at Lake Mead

2009-04-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Madison and I took my in-laws to Lake Mead this morning for a hike. We headed over to the Historical Railroad Trailhead, and had a four mile hike, which Madison actually finished - without really whining about being tired until the last half mile or so, LOL. The weather was beautiful, and the scenery was perfect! This trail was really easy, and bikes as well as dogs are allowed... I really want to take the new bike back out there, it would be a cake little nature ride. There are plenty of pictures over at the Flickr page, but I'll leave you with a couple.