Not Quite Nascar

Yesterday we made our way out to the speedway to watch the boat races. I've never been before, but have been dying to experience this amazing event. They started with the regular car races. Well, not really regular... They watered down the track so that the cars would fly all over the place. Probably not the safest thing, but fun to watch.

They also put pumpkins at the starting line.

Two hours later it was time for the real fun to start. They soaked the track again and then placed old boats all over the place. You know, for extra destruction.

And they're off...

Total mayhem. It was like the demolition derby on steroids.

Just Call Us Justin Bieber

My mom thought she'd be funny and send us some Texas Ranger shirts. We thought we'd be funny and pull a Bieber by wearing our Texas shirts and our Giants hats. Anyone know what I'm talking about?? Silly Justin Bieber. He needs to pick a side already. We didn't actually wear the shirts out in public because that would just be dangerous. And we don't want people to think we're actually rooting for the Rangers ;) We do appreciate the shirts though. They will be perfect for sleeping/lounging around the house. But this is how we feel about the situation:

Christmas in October

We are worse than little kids. Remember when I talked about "the gift"? It has been opened. Before November. I'm only taking partial responsibility for this though.

So I had this plan to get back at Jake for wrapping my present and forcing me to look at it in the middle of October. My plan was to wrap his b-day and Christmas gifts and force him to stare at them forever. Well, it just didn't happen that way. I was too excited and let him have his gifts as soon as they arrived in the mail. And then he had the same excitement about my gifts and forced me to open them the other day. Really, he forced me! I'd really been saying that I wanted to wait until Christmas, but he wasn't having any of that.

I'm so glad I opened it though! Look!!!

It's a grown up camera! I've been wanting one for so long, but assumed that I wouldn't have one for quite some time. I really have no idea how to use it, but it came with an instructional DVD that I plan on watching in the near future. I'm actually really glad I opened it so early, not just because it's so awesome, but because now I'll have time to become a little more accustomed to it before the holiday season arrives and all the photo opportunities present themselves.

And in case you're wondering, here are our justifications for giving each other presents so ridiculously early:

1. If we're going to be silly like this then we need to do it before we have kids. Children will force us to be more responsible so we might as well have our fun now. Not that kids aren't fun and all, but I'm sure that ridiculously early gift giving breaks all the parenting rules.

2. We still have small gifts to give each other on Christmas so it's not like we won't have anything to put under the Christmas tree.

3. We didn't actually give each other Christmas gifts last year so technically these are just really really late?!

Don't judge us.

Ebay Is My New Addiction

It's not quite as cool as the Salvation Army, but I'm still loving it. I already got a Christmas present for Jake (that I already gave him because I was so excited) and I'm currently bidding on something else that's a secret. I'm not going to get my hopes up though because it still has a few days to go and I've already pretty much given my max bid. Look at what I won yesterday though:

I was searching for Oklahoma State stuff, but stumbled upon this instead! I don't know why I like it so much and I definitely have no idea what I'll do with it. That's a lie. I have a long term plan for it, just not an immediate one. My future daughter will use it as her "something blue" on her wedding day. Maybe around her bouquet or pinned inside her dress. She can explain to people that it's where her mom and dad met and fell in love. And she wants to have a happy marriage just like them. Sounds good, right?

I also bid on a similar one that had California on it, but I lost. I looked for Texas and Nevada ones as well, but they were nowhere to be found on ebay. I'll continue to check though because I definitely need one from every state that I've lived. Or maybe I'll come up with a plan on how to use them before I purchase any more. We shall see....

"I'm Bored"

were two words I was not allowed to utter as a child. Should I dare to make the statement, I would most often be met with "I can find something for you to do" i.e. some type of chore. This was aggravating. I thought it was so ridiculous that I should be "punished" for being bored. I mean really, sometimes there's just NOTHING to do.

Well we know that's not really the case, but sometimes nothing sounds fun. Or sometimes it's a rainy Saturday night and the Giants are playing an incredibly aggravating playoff game and you're just going stir crazy from being inside all day.

Such was the case the other night so I repeatedly uttered the words "I'm bored." 1. Because I was really bored and 2. because I could utter the words. Nobody was going to order me to do anything around the house. Well I guess someone could have made a suggestion like that, but he knows better.

My boredom reminded me of the times when I was little and would be scolded for saying the words so I reminisced about it with Jake. He said his parents did the same thing.

So after sitting for a little longer, looking through picture albums, and yelling at the Giants, I got up....

folded my laundry

and cleaned the bathroom.

There mom and dad, are you happy?! You win.

ORANGE....POWER....

Kelseyville High School

(they used to be the Kelseyville Indians, but changed to the Knights a few years ago. How funny is it though that Jake was an Indian in high school and a Cowboy in college?)

Do I look like I want pictures of myself?!

On Sunday, Fort Day, we ventured out to the post office to get the mail. While we were out we decided to go get something for dinner. We didn't want to get out of the car because we both had pajama pants on, but we also didn't like any of our drive-thru options. We opted to get deli sandwiches from Bruno's, a local grocery store.

Not only was I wearing pajama pants, but my frizzy mess of hair was pulled back in a ponytail, I had my glasses on, and no makeup on my face. Not my prettiest. I ventured inside the store though because I was hungry and to be honest, it's pretty common to see people in their pajamas at the store. I've tried to refrain from this practice since graduating (because in college it's perfectly acceptable to go anywhere in pajamas), but decided to break the rules just this once.

Mistake.

Chatty McChatterson happened to be in front of me in line. I've actually met Chatty before, several times, but she obviously did not remember meeting me. That's not her fault though because I usually look more presentable.

Chatty started telling me about how she just returned from a spa weekend with her husband. She then asked if I've heard of T.A.C., a salon in Lakeport. I said yes and then she handed me her card and mentioned she does professional photography.

Umm...do I look like I want pictures of myself? No. I'd like to pretend I'm invisible right now. Thanks.

I was polite though. I smiled, took her card, and said thanks.

She then proceeded to make the same business spiel to the cashier and the people in front of her in line.

I found this to be annoying, but was relieved that I wasn't the only one that got the spiel because I would have taken it as "Wow, you need some help. Come into my salon so I can make you look a little better."

I understand her drive to make her business successful, but I thought that it was pretty inappropriate to announce her services to everyone she made eye contact with. She might as well have been standing outside the store with a table and signs like the girl scouts.

Oh, by the way, the girl scouts are the ONLY people that should be allowed to solicit outside of the store. They're the only ones that don't annoy me.

End rant.

The Gift

It's taunting me.

Jake is taunting me.

We have over two months until Christmas, yet I have this package staring me in the face.

And a husband that is ridiculously excited for me to open it.

I have no idea what it is.

And it's killing me!

2 can play this game though.

His birthday presents should arrive any day now.

And his b-day is over a month away.

They too will sit on the counter and taunt him for several weeks.

(cue evil laugh)

Lazy Weekend

This was the first weekend in a long time that didn't involve about a million different things. It was nice to relax and enjoy doing nothing. Okay, maybe nothing isn't the right word. We attended the Kelseyville High School homecoming game on Friday night, went to a birthday party for Hayden (Jake's second cousin) on Saturday and then watched the Giants win in Philly. But today has been the best day so far. We built a fort! And ate split pea soup! It was a cloudy day and we definitely made the most of it.

Friday

the homecoming court nominees and their escorts

(p.s. there were no mums at the game and it was not cold enough to wear Jake's letterman's jacket so it wasn't really homecoming)

Saturday

The party was carnival themed! It was so cute. I swear there were kids there too, but I'm not sure how parents would feel about me putting up pictures of their kids on here, so just enjoy the decorations.

Sunday

The Charles Schulz Museum

I was reading an article on msnbc.com the other day about the best museums in the country for children and this one made the cut. We've been talking about going here for a while, but the article sparked my interest so we squeezed it into our busy Saturday. Since we were in a time crunch we were only there for a little over an hour, but you could easily stay for a couple of hours with all there is to see and do.

They don't allow pictures in the museum galleries so I can't show you the really cool things, but they had plenty of other picture opportunities at the facility.

This is made up of a bunch of comic strips!

Not just any bird bath...it has holograms!

Jake made one of those pressed pennies. It was too hard to photograph, but it's really cute.

I'd definitely recommend this place. I want to go back when we have more time. They also have an ice skating facility next door that we have to go to in the near future. Jake has NEVER been ice skating!

Busy Weekend

Besides the race yesterday, the weekend was packed with fun activities. On Saturday we had to go to Santa Rosa to pick up the race packet, but on the way there we stopped at the Salvation Army. I found a tank top from Banana Republic, a fleece sweater from Lands End and a little tray to use in the kitchen. Sorry that I don't have pictures.

We then headed to Healdsburg to find City Hall. That's where the race started so I wanted to make sure it we'd be able to find it before the actual race. Well I'm glad we did because we drove around forever trying to find it. We missed a street we were supposed to turn on at the very beginning and ended up driving all over downtown Healdsburg. Several times. It's an adorable town though. You should go.

Next we headed to Santa Rosa for the packet pick up at Kendall-Jackson Winery. This place is so beautiful!

They have a huge garden where they grow all sorts of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Jake likes the smell of mint.

We then went to lunch with Jake's grandma, the Charles Schulz museum (post on that tomorrow), Hallmark to see Jake's sister at work, Old Navy (where I found 4 shirts for $12!) and then to Costco.

I'm tired just replaying the day in my head.

Video of the Habanero Incident

Feelin Hot, Hot, Hot

Worst Decision Ever:

Best Decision Ever:

The Side Effects: