dont be jealous....

but my job today entails cutting a small corner out of a piece of paper 500 times..

no i'm not kidding. and yes there is a reason for it. if you really want to know. or just go right on ahead thinking - wow. that sucks.

unfit for tv

well i never said my life was ready for prime time. or even a late night reality show. though we do joke about doing an installment of "the housewives of morrisville".. now that might be good. lots of wine drinking, dog discussing and well we do know how to gossip. ha! but lately things have just been good and well thats not really noteworthy... i did spend saturday morning volunteering at the junior league's Shopping SPREE fundraier, a required shift, otherwise i might be inclined to decline.. too many cooks in the kitchen if you know what i mean.. and not surprisingly i spent the time wandering around the show floor looking at all of the stuff for sale. $12 cake mixes, $50 kids over alls, $5 monogramed toothbrush holder... not really my kind of stuff... but duty called!

that afternoon we watched the UT game.. skipping to the end i will say that i was on the trainer during the second half (it was dark out by then and i had succombed to a post volunteer shift nap... ha) and anyway i hate to admit but i am one of those superstitious game watchers.. as soon as i stood up to pedal UT went down the field to score. they needed to recover an onside kick - yep i was standing up for that to happen. and it did.. then they needed to make a 40 yard field goal to win and beat the number one team in the nation. i stopped peddaling to watch. it got blocked and they lost. sorry UT. blame me. i wasnt in the proper position.

i did score some great flat black boots sunday morning on an impromtu shopping spree. and i also decided i needed some cotton knit tights. yes for all of the super cold days here when i decide to wear skirts. ha. (see neither of those things would ever actually happen, together or seperate.. )

anyway.

my 15 minutes: quest for the pig queen!

It comes to NC once a year. And it doesn’t disappoint. The state fair. People drive in from all over for this thing. Some come for the rides, some come for the shows (Kelly pickler!), but most come for the food. “if you can eat it, we can deep fry it”. And they don’t mess around.

A few of us headed off to the fair yesterday (after a pregame of chocolate cake at home...! thanks BG!) Temps started out in the 50s but quickly dropped. Definitely not October weather. i think it might actually be warmer in pittsburgh right now...

Anyway after a few mishaps with meeting up with some friends .. “we’re by the ferris wheel” . 10 minutes later… “we’re now by the swings…” 10 minutes later.. “oh there are three ferris wheels and 2 sets of swings.. ugh!”….

Then the eating began! Items consumed included – but in no particular order..fried buffalo chicken rangoons, fried oreos, fried mac and cheese, fried cookie dough, fried snickers, philly cheese steaks, fried reeses cups, gyros, kettle corn, and perhaps some other culinary perfections I’m forgetting. we did get an eye full of the chicken fried bacon, and folks its exactly as gross looking as you think it is. we tried to follow alysia's "food guide to the fair" and not eat anything not covered in grease, smothered in butter or "natural". i think we did pretty good.

The main focus of the day – besides the food – was seeing the pig races. This is a huge draw, and we made sure to get there early to get a seat. It was well worth it. Long story short, the marquee event was of course the pig race (after goat, duck, baby pigs, pot bellied pigs all raced..) and the pig announcer man put on “lets get ready to rumble” and said he needed 4 lovely ladies to “ride these hogs” to victory. I of course jumped at the chance to represent a fine animal around the track. (see video part one).

When he got to our side to pick the 4th lucky lady, both bri and I shot our hands up and were literally on the edge of our seats. He looked at us and pointed ..”I want you, college girl!”.. surely he cant be talking to us?? But bri started down the bleachers and he was like “nope, her”. I was like OH YEA ME, but oh no bri!!!i mean, at least she eats bacon!

Anyway I trotted down and proceeded to watch my pig come in last place. After being mildly insulted by the pig announcer man for “not knowing which side of the pig to put in a pan”. Hmmm if he only knew! So anyway I didn’t get to be crowed pig queen of the fair… bummer.

Off to see some rather large sized prize winning rabbits, a cow showing, some vintage farm equipment and of course ride the worlds largest slide.

Outstanding day.

when it rains..

yes its been raining for several days now. no worries though. not like i have a bike ride to go on or anything! its funny (well to me) to read the ramblings from "up north" where toe warmers and fleece hats are now necessity. especially when here, under the mason dixon, the same attempts at getting warm are taking place. though temps here are just barely dipping into the 50s. and yes i do beleive there was a run on milk and bread at some point.... ha! i just laugh because i continue to wear my flip flops. though i do crave the day when the UGGS can actaully be pulled out - unlike the neighborhood tweens who have been wearing them since late august...

but alas with changes in weather comes the dreaded sniffles. (or swine flu as i've been telling everyone i have!). waking up at 4 am to barf for a few hours is really not so fun. nor is staying home all day when you only feel well enough to flip thru hideous daytime tv.

and of course i must mention the adventure that began my day. much to early. at 630 am i had BOTH dogs jump on top of me in bed. not totally unusual, but more likely to happen on a saturday when i've slept in until 10 and they are bored. so looking around - and it still being REALLY dark - i was like WTF and told them to go back to sleep. but they would not get down and started whining and shaking and pawing. Ruh Roh..... since bobby leaves for work so early i knew something had to be sorta wrong since they usuallly bug him, knowing A: he is more likely to actually get up to see whats going on and B: more likely to know how to fix it. SO - after rousing myself from sleep (and one CRAZY dream... OK if you must know.. i was in second place in a huge duathlon - coming into T2 i could not find my bike nor remember which pair of shoes i was supposed to wear and changed back and forth about 3 times. then the line to get over the timing mat was longer than the one for tickets to MJ's memorial...) i start to hear a beeping sound. smoke alarm. no, not going off but wanting a new battery. ugh. so off i go to find the step ladder -the BIG 8 foot ladder from teh garage and haul it up stairs to reach the high ceiling. then WTF who in their right mind keeps D batteries around. so after searching thru every junk space i finally locate one and WHAL-A fixed. just in time to go to work. sweet.

tales from the crypt

so i opened up TP for the first time in over 2 weeks today. crazy. and lo and behold its time to get back into the pool after a month + long hiatus. not sure how i'm feeling about that. i cant imagine my stroke has improve much while not swimming. ha. its been a pretty up and down few weeks off training. when you dont have mega hours of work outs to think about or participate in your mind starts to entertain new things and well you get wrapped up in other stuff that maybe you've been letting go by for the past few months. it seems lately alot of people have been showing their true colors.. some which are quite ugly i must say. and well the adult thing is to end those associations, but the act of severing isnt always so easy. but i will say it really makes you appreciate the good things.

she's alive!

Yep its been a while. I just don’t have the writing spirit I once did. A lot of things going on, some noteworthy, others just taking up time. I rode the high from worlds for a day or two then took my snarky little self out to LA for a few days of work. We did manage a night out on sunset, starting at a dive fish taco stand, which served up the best $1.50 tacos ever. And ended with a stop at the famed IN and OUT burger, at which I ordered a shake and fries. The same one frequented by paris Hilton. Guess she was not in the mood for grease that night. Trips out west totally screw me up. That little three hour time difference is a pain to dive into. I never really get adjusted, well that is until its time to come home. Convenient.

So Friday afternoon I took the Amtrak down to san diego. I had a few cringe moments when I booked my ticket. Anyone on the east coast would probably rather walk or not go, if Amtrak or greyhound was the alternative. I’ve had my share of scary experiences here, when during college I was car-less and in desperate need to get somewhere. But in CA when mentioning the train, I didn’t get any scary gasps or stern warnings so I figured I would give it a go. Turned out to be OK. Granted it was a mad house trying to find a seat, and with a rather large suitcase not the easiest place to negotiate. I ended up sitting next to a teenager and her gaggle of friends. They were having a sleep over that night and hoping to stay up until 8 am. WOW. Goals. Gotta love that.

My friend mark picked me up at the station and we headed out to his place in Pacific Beach. He and Maureen live literally 8 steps from the beach. Not kidding. Saturday we got up and walked 15 steps to a beach side bar and I had an egg and cheese sunrise sandwich. So good. Next stop- the beach. Wow. The weather was perfect. The surfers were out. Does it get any better? We took a long LEISURELY bike ride that afternoon around the bay and down to mission beach. There is a bar there with a huge wave pool that you can ride boogie boards or surf. Super cool. All while having a beverage. Again – this place is heaven. I did have a bit of an adjustment riding the beach cruiser. Remembering to push the pedal backwards to break and using one gear to get up over the causeway was interesting. Also for some reason I could not start. And I ran into a fire hydrant. Ha. But how great is it to be able to bike or walk everywhere. And wear flip flops ALL the time. This is my kind of place. Sat night we headed out to one of the plethea of bars- called the DOG where I met some more of their friends – we left and went to see a great local band- when the first song I heard was “send me on my way” I knew I needed to change my zip code. Sunday morning came quickly as we joined a few hundred local bears fans to drink down a bloody mary and begin a non stop day of football. PS I didn’t know the bears had a song. Yes a song. They sing after every touch down. I was hoping for a cue card or a bouncing ball on the screen but no such luck… later that night we went to the steelers bar (HOME!) and granted we don’t have a song but we sure can be loud. Especially when you are creaming the local team. Good times. more fish tacos to end the night.

Great trip and great reminder of the important things in life. Friends and fun. It was a much needed break and reassurance of the things that really matter. Its all about what you can control and letting go of what you can’t. staying true to yourself and getting rid of the negatives that can only lead to disaster. It’s a process. But you don’t get a do over.