I Almost Pooped My Pants!

I burned this song on a CD and gave it to Patrick when we were new and lived 2 hours away from each other so he would know I was always thinking about him. This was even before we said our first "I Love Yous."  A couple of years later, he took me to one of their concerts for my birthday. This band brings back so many special and fun memories from our relationship . . . . . . .  and now we have one more to add.

 It had been a while since our last concert adventure, and when I discovered Blue October was going to be jamming at the House of Blues I almost pooped my pants! Not really, but I may have been so excited that I farted. Actually I didn't do that either, but it would have been gross hilarious if I did!

 House of Blues is the bomb diggity for several reasons. I love getting lost in the deep color schemes, the creative cluttered art, and watching the interesting people that gather there, while indulging in the delicious food, sipping on a spiked beverage, and rocking out to my favorite bands in an intimate style venue.

The only thing they could do to improve their rating in my eyes to to relocate to my side of town, and lower their prices . . . . . . but that's a little selfish of me. We only had to squeeze through the traffic of 3 wrecks to make it to downtown Dallas. And apparently HOB is now allowing the few tables and stools that occupy the general admission floor to be reserved for a fee, unadvertised, screwing the people that showed up early to run in and get a table, that would be us. Anything for some extra green, right? The panda-jerks that rented the prime real estate didn't even show up until right before the headlining band. I wanted to spit gum and their hair real bad. I never have gum when I need it!

 So I snuck into the reserved area for a little harmless excitement and was a having a grand time...until some guy ratted on me and got me kicked out. What are we, back in kindergarten?

The hottest girls in the venue!



I obviously had a fantastic time regardless, evidenced by waking up this morning wearing everything I had on last night except my shoes, including my makeup and earrings! Needless to say, I went to the dog park this morning looking like a fancy hot mess, feeling half dead, half hungover. I don't remember the last time I was so thankful the sun hadn't completely risen yet.

Jessica's shoes started out as wedges, had a malfunction, and converted to flats, all in one night!!! She's classic like that.

This little pursy went to the market, that medium pursy had roast beef, and the big momma pursy had it's owner's back screaming, "Wee Wee Wee", becuase it weight 40 pounds!! Jessica doesn't pack light for concerts!

Guilt-Free Extravagence

     The high temperatures yesterday were going to be a entire degree less than triple digits for the only day this week, so I decided to take the puppies for a solid run so I could sleep on the couch all day without restless-dog-interruptions. The morning sky was beautiful and there was just enough cloud cover and breeze to keep things tolerable.

Half way through we stopped for a water gulping break, indicated by the tongue hang-age. I decided to my tongue contained since rivers of sweat were streaming down my body and I didn't need any extra bug protein for the day. I think my short-legged company is out of shape though, because I basically dragged them the entire way.

Callie was LOVING the air conditioner blowing in her face.

Sumo was tuckered out for the rest of the day! Goal met.

     After my afternoon nap, I was feeling creative, so I got out my manicure set and painted my fingernails! It took hours. Actually they are just stickers and you just file them down to fit your nails; pretty cool, huh?

Crazy Chandelier

     This week is Restaurant Week in DFW. That means a large selection of the nicest culinary scenes of the society allows any public peasant to make reservations for an expensive 3 course meal, charging only $37, and donating a portion of the proceeds to local child food bank charities. Patrick and I thought it'd be an unselfish way of seizing the opportunity to dine at Nick and Sam's, a hoity steak house in uptown Dallas, for an extravagant date night. Let's be real, we'd never feel right about paying $50-100 for a single entree under any normal life situation (the cheapest chicken entree was $30!); heck, we won't even dish out the cash for sushi that isn't featured on the happy hour menu, and this isn't the type of place you go to split an entree and ask for a doggie bag! So when I discovered that we could consciously, in a guilt-free afford manner, afford a 3 course meal at a joint that serves caviar as a complementary appetizer and is famous for it's lobster mac and cheese, while helping feed the hungry children of our city, I didn't hesitate to click for a reservation! We had beef tenderloins cooked to perfect. When the meat was brought to the table, a guy came out with a flash light and shined it on our plate, asking us to cut the center and ensure it was exactly as we ordered. And it was. Everything was.



We decided Patrick's dessert looked like pink version of sausage, biscuit ,and gravy!





Mine was chocolate bread pudding with ice cream and mint! Yummy!



Oh yeah, you know I had to! I asked for a doggy bag for the tiny bit of left overs that we couldn't bare wasting!



Hand Over the Remote

     I like to be in control; I like it a lot, but not in a freakish manner. One of the ways I satisfy this part of my personality is with the Netflix Que List. Hardcore, I know. And every now and then, being the generous and pleasure-seeking domesticated wife that I am, my addiction to light-hearted romantic comedies is self-forfeited for substitutions of husband-pleasing flicks. Otherwise, complaints start streaming into my negative-adversed ear drum membranes, which I'd rather avoid. This method is how we came about watching a few interesting enough, but strangely plotted movies last week: The Heart Locker, The Ghost Writer, and Salt. They all had ridiculous endings that agitated me tremendously by killing off characters I liked or were vital to solving the plot!

Ever seen any of them?

Thoughts?

WEIRD ENDING! Don't worry about how I had time to watch all these movies.

Angelina's my kind of woman! I think she likes to be in control too. Sexy. Patrick said he had superb confidence that I could pull off all her bad-ass stunts in this movie.

Actually, I guess all these movies are about control freaks. Maybe my subconscious really picked these out!

Pizzalicious: Weekly Wal-Lah

     I once went through a phase where I ate Totino's Pizza about 4 nights a week for almost a month straight. I kid you not. That was a few years ago, but now-days I still crave pizza about 3 times a week. We try to change it up between different frozen brands, and Patrick has become extremely talented at making his own versions of New York and Chicago style home-made pizza, down to mastering the use of our Kitchen-Aid mixer for his on dough. With these things in mind, it's not often that I actually craft my own pizza together, but this time I did. . . . . . . . Kayla style . . . . . . .

Dish #1 Munch and Crunch Guacamole and Chips: Pre-heat the Canola Oil in your Fry Daddy to no less than 350F. Slice a stack of white corn torillas into 8ths and drop into grease until chips floating, golden brown and hard. (If the tortillas are dropped in before the grease is hot enough, your chips will curl up and fold up. You will not be happy.) Scoop chips out of grease and place in napkin covered bowl, season with Sea Salt and Uncle Julio's Chip seaonsing if availible. Continue this process until you have desired amount of chips. (This is the only kind of tortilla chips consumed at our house. It's way cheaper, tastier, and they keep for a long time without becoming stale if stored in a plastic container.) Next, de-skin and de-seed a few soft avacados and place in blowl. Drizzle with lime juice and olive oil, then sprinkle in Garlic Salt to taste. For a bit of a kick, add a few drops of Louisiana hot sauce (be very careful if you use Tobasco instead, because it is salty and it may easily overpower the flavor with sodium).

blistered skin

Dish #2 Mildy Peppered Cajun Shrimp and Veggie Pizza: Pre-heat oven to broil. Clean and place whole Pablano pepper in baking pan and place on bottom rack of oven. Cook until skin blisters, turn and repeat. When all sides of pepper are blistered, take out of oven and cover pan with foil while pepper cools. (This will loosen the skin from the meat of the pepper. This next part will thrill all you weirdo skin peelers out there.) When pepper has cooled, peal off the outter tough skin. You'll be left with a tender juicy pepper, remove stem, and slice remaining pepper into pieces (don't worry about the seeds, this pepper is smokey flavored. It's not spicy.)

after peeling the skin

Clean, slice and sautee orange bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, green chile pepper, and mushrooms in cast iron skillet with olive oil, fresh minced garlic, and dried oregano; then place in bowl and set aside. Use same skillet with left over juices and seasoning to cook the shrimp (I used a bag of cleaned and deshelled frozen shrimp, but you can do it the hard way if you like).

Season the shrimp with Old Bay Seafood Seasoning, cook until done, then place in bowl and set aside. Cut bacon and onion into small peices and cook in non-stick skillet until bacon crispy, drain grease.

Place pre-made thin crust pizza of your choice on greased pizza pan (I prefer Boboli), apply thin layer of Tomatoe Pesto, a thin layer of Marinara Sauce (Newman's Own is the best!), and then sprinkle desired amount of artichoke hearts and fresh basil leaves.

Cover with Mozzerella cheese, thinly sliced Roma tomaotes, halved yellow grape tomatoes, sauteed peppers, pablano pepper, shrimp, and bacon. Pre-heat oven to 450F, place pizza in oven until crust golden brown.

Wal-Lah! It will be crispy, fresh, and filling! Slice, top off with graded parmesean, and dig in!

P.S. Don't worry if you have left over sauteed peppers. You can use them this week to make gyro's, tacos, quesedillas, or even another pizza!!!!

It's That Kind of Day

     NEW FLASH: Plano has a 50% chance of Thunderstorms, and has been blessed with cloud cover all day. It's currently 89F, feels like 92F, with bursts of magnificently refreshing winds, and I can't believe my skin. I actually took the dogs out for a mid-afternoon run for the first time in months and I didn't start sweating until I was actually running. As opposed to being drenched immediately after stepping foot outside. Be happy for us, very very happy.

     I've struggled with motivation today, or the lack there-of to be precise, but got dressed anyway, hopped in the car, and forced my arms to steer the wheels into the direction of the gym parking lot against my body's will. Usually when I walk into the gym, I become energized by all the skinny strong people surrounding me, but today I still had a nagging voice inside my head repeating, "The couch is waiting, the couch is waiting." My muscles felt like they had been injected with a paralytic and my eye lids remained droopy even after 12 hours of snoozing. My guardian angles must have been by my side, because they told me to go to Yoga instead of the Pump class next door, like I had originally planned, and they were right as always.  As I focused on "opening my heart" and setting my class "intention", taking in the soothing music as the instructor filled our minds with encouragement to "do what feels fun to your body today", I overheard the Pump instructor next door yelling at the attendees, "LET'S GO ATHLETES, SHOW ME WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF". I probably would have kicked someone in the shin if they said that to me today.  

     Have I ever mentioned that Sumo LOVES squeaky toys? Sometimes it feels like we have a toddler in the house with all the toy squeaking that goes on. He wore out the one my Nana had sent him in the mail, so I went to the Dollar Tree today and found him a new one for $1! I live for a good bargain. He's been breaking it in since I got home. Cheap entertainment is always a bonus too!  I also mosied over to Half Price Books and found they had several Yoga/Pilate's DVD's for super cheap, AKA less than $5! Sometimes it's just nice to not leave the house for a little exercise.
     Speaking of cheap, I took the Corolla in to the dealership today to have the oil changed and tires rotated and felt extremely weird walking out and not paying a cent. It's just the "norm" these days to leave a dealership feeling raped, isn't it?
     What wasn't cheap? While I was waiting on the Corolla to be serviced, I walked over to Panera Bread, since it was the only eating place within walking distance. $8.29 later, I received a tiny bowl of soup that tasted like it was poured from a can, soggy croutons, about 4 chips, and 1/4 of a sandwich with chicken that looked and tasted like it was also from a can! I could literally taste the sodium. Hey Panera Bread, why don't you grow up and learn to cook like Corner Bakery if you want to charge an arm and a leg for your lunch!  
    

Celebrity Whispers!

First and foremost, I LOVE Jimmy Fallon. (Someone deleted the video I had here, so click the link to watch my crappy home-made video. The quality isn't great, but it's still funny.)

In honor of Heather, remembering how shark week was more or less the apple of her eye in recent past, I came across this card a Target (pronounced Tar-jhay), laughed out loud, and then proceeded to transform into the weirdo people watched as I took pictures of cards in the aisle like some kind of Hallmark plagiarizer. If the cops come to get me, I'll assume that's what it is for.  

"It's" back! Very funny.

Sleeping with Patrick

Our weekend was pretty low key. It included a heck of a lot of sleeping, laying around, eating, watching the tube, and cuddling. Friday night I couldn't sleep since I had prepared to work extra, but was placed on call, so from 1:00am-5:30am Sumo and I layed on the couch and watched movies. He's my cuddly-wuddly-bear.

Please try not to pay too much attention to my fabulous home hair style

Saturday after after getting my hair cut and running a few errands, we had a home-made authentic Indian dinner at our friends Michelle and Jonathan's apartment in Uptown.  Nice neighborhood! I wanted to contribute by bringing some Naan bread, but Wal-mart was fresh out, so I happened to drive by a place called Hot Breads, and thought to myself, "Hmmm, maybe if they serve hot breads, they will also have fresh Naan." As I walked in, I was pleased to find I was the only white person in the building and the air was thick with curry. "SCORE!" It was delicious, convenient, and stuck true to the root meaning of irony. We accidentally stayed up until about 5:30am Sunday morning talking, playing board games, and listening to music, so that afternoon consisted mainly of naps, eating, and more naps! Oh the life.

That cute face gets you NO WHERE Missy

We have a recent problem on our hands. "The beggar". I'm baffled of when and how this actually began, but Callie has been completely wedged up my butt for about a week now. She is constantly in a state of begging for something. On my shoulder, scratching my head, lifting her paw, performing her "stand" trick out of the blue, squeezing her head between my legs. . . . . . .basically anything to get attention for a treat or for BBR time (Bowel and Bladder Release). She's always been so independent, I don't know where this new found neediness has sprouted from. It started out as cute, but now it's just starting to annoy the crap out of me.

Sumo can't stand it when he thinks Callie is getting more attention than him!

I have a pitiful confession about myself to make. Today I woke up early for work to hit the gym, immediately jumped into my workout clothes, took the dogs out for BBR, and upon taking them back to the apartment realized how desperately starving I was. After short contemplation, I decided I was beyond a snack-bar-fix state and ate a entire dinner instead (consisting of gravy, fatty meat, butter biscuits, eggs, cheese, and jelly. . . . . . basically a total turn-around) while sitting on the couch in my workout attire. Ooops. Atleast I had good intentions, right?

Warning: Politically Incorrect

WARNING: The easily offended should not engage in reading the following post, including listening to the video.

     I'm a huge fan of politically incorrect humor. I'm not racist, prejudiced, or hateful. I just think it's hilarious to poke fun at how ridiculous the species of man-kind can be. First of all, I appreciate individuality, including but not limited to accents, varying cultures, shades of skin, size/shape, levels of intelligence, babies and geezers. Without different types of people, our world would be boring, colorless, mundane. I believe being able to take a step back and laugh at our up-bringings, shortcomings, and naive education not only poses as a healthy method of stress relief, but is also a friendly reminder of how human we really are, bonding us all together by our differences. 

     Patrick and I are religious Family Guy followers. A recent episode scene that made me laugh out loud was: Peter laying in bed, and Louise walks in all sultry-like with a Grimace Costume on, ready to get kinky, pulls down the sheets and notices the locked contraption on Peters genitals. "What the hell is this?", questions Louise. "I'm practicing Abstinence," explains Peter,"I learned sex turns straight people into gays; Gays into Mexicans. Everybody goes down a notch. It's all here in this manual," he says as a-matter-of-factly as he offers her the abstinence manual.

     Dave Chappelle is notorious for making genius skits about prejudice subjects. The Nigga family? White people only being able to dance to the sound of an electric guitar? Two of my favorites.

     Lets not forget that South Park also loves to laugh in the face of real life situations. And I love to laugh with them.
     Yes, I am well aware that 2 of the 3 examples I gave were cartoons, but let's face it: A) if you ever think your undies are too mature for cartoons OR B) if you ever let your kids watch either of those cartoons THEN C) I don't think your my type, so it's best we not see each other anymore.
     If you are still on my page after reading those things, then you may want to check out this blogger: http://www.flourishinprogress.com/  I think she is hilarious, real, and clever. . . . . Oh ya, and not to mention politically incorrect on a regular basis.

Gourmet Worthy: Weekly Wal-Lah

     Have you been mentally mouth watering in anticipation for your next flavor packed tastyness for your buds? Well get ready for a new rumble worthy combination. This dinner will make you think you just dropped an easy $100 at a fancy steak house. You'll soon notice I use seasoned cast-iron skillets A LOT. They are one of the best kept secrets of the south. You can cook virtually anything in them, and the difference in flavor between them and a non-stick skillet are huge. Non-sticks, stainless steals, and cast-iron's all have their place in life and knowing how to use them is an important part of flavorful cooking.
Dish #1 Chilli con Butter Corn on the Cob: Fresh corn is so cheap right now, so let's take advantage of it, while preventing it from the being same-o same-o by spicing up the topping. You know how to make corn on the cob. I don't doubt it. But just for kicks, I'll start of the begining. You should always prepare it first, to give it pleanty of time to soak in the water for a much more juicyer result. Peel off the husks and the silk and place the corn in a pot of water. I let it sit for about an hour before dinner and then bring the water to a boil, allowing it to cook until the rest of dinner is ready. In the mean time, get out a small dish, placing a couple of spoon fulls of soft butter (I only keep soft spread butter), blend in some chilli powder and cumin until the butter is nice is colorful---don't be scared, it will change the consistancy of the butter a little bit---- and then add a spoon full of minced garlic (I always keep a large jar minced garlic in my frig. I use it weekly!). Mix it all together and place to the side at room temperature. You will spread this on your corn when dinner is ready!

Dish #2 Sweet and Heartily Fresh Lamb Shoulder: Season your lamb shoulder with Lemon Pepper and Montreal Steak Seasoning, then place in a container to marinate, coating the meat with honey, sprinkling on a generous amount of fresh mint leaves and fresh rosemary -----be sure to cover both sides in everything---- and finish by pouring in enough lemon juice to cover about half way up the thickness of the meat chops. Halfway through the marination process, don't forget to turn your meat. Preheat the oven to 500F and place the cast iron skillet in until it's the same temperature, take it out of the oven and sear the chops on both sides for 1 minute each side, then place skillet in oven for 3 minutes each side, or until the meat is medium rare (varies slightly for thickness of meat).

Dish #3 Stand alone edible Caramelized Onions: Quarter a large yellow onion and place in a large baggy. Pour in the Balsamic Vinagarette dressing we made last week (Mix Balsamic Vinegar and Extra Virgin Olive oil 1:2 in a shake-able 4oz container, add about 1 Tbs of brown sugar and mix the heck out of it), then slosh around until onions are completely coated and let marinate, sloshing every so often. About 10-15minute before dinner is ready, pour entire baggy contents into a cast iron skillet (I'm sure it would work in a regular skillet, but cast iron makes everything taste better and if you don't have one, you are missing out!), cook on high until the onions are good and caramelized. Don't be scared to let them burn a little, it just adds more flavor (but if they are burning too much turn the burner down to medium heat).

Dish #4 Undescribably delicious Asparagus with Holladiase Sauce: Place 4 egg yolks and 1 Tbs of lemon juice in a small pot, preferrably stainless steel, and whisk rappidly until it's about double it's original size (Get out your big muscles ready for this, it takes a few minutes). Then hold it over a larger pot of simmering water (like a homemade double broiler) and drizzle in 1/2 cup of melted butter while continuing to whisk until your arm falls off (or until your new combination is about double it's size). Make sure your mixture doesn't get too hot or you'll have scrambled eggs. After your sauce has formed, set it to the side in a warm place, and sprinkle in Cayanne Pepper to taste and a tiny bit of Sea Salt. Wash your fresh asparagus, cut off the fibrous bottoms, and place in a cast iron skillet after drizzling olive oil on the bottom (or non-stick if you're still stubborn about purchasing one). Sprinkle with Montreal Steak Seasoning and cook on medium high until tender but not mushy. Now it's ready to be drizzled with the Holladiase Sauce, topping it all off with some sliced almonds!

     The small preparations required for this meal may seem like a bit of work, but when a fork full of this dinner hits your lips and proceeds onto your tongue . . . . . . . . you wont regret the effort. This, my friends, has been your Wal-Lah moment worth stuffing yourself for!

Mutlitasking, Delirum, and Intellect. OH MY!

As you can see, I am calculator dependent, so obviously I'm no where
 near as smart as that guy. (My Brain featured above. P.S. No identifiable
patient information was compromised by the making of this photo.)

     Remember the movie A Beautiful Mind? Russell Crowe, back in his sexy days, too smart for his own good, adequately equipped with enough charm, yet tainted with enough 

schizophrenia to create a lifetime of confusion for himself and his loved ones. Remember how he would write out his in depth complicated mathematical equations all over the walls and windows? Though I'm confident I'll never qualify for a schizo diagnosis, sometimes it scares me a tinsy bit when I look down at my "brain", a nickname nurses give their cheat sheets for charting purposes, and see the resemblance of how my work brain functions and how Russell Crowe's brain functioned in that movie! It's disguised organized information clutter.

     My contradiction is the constant evolvement from scary smart characteristics, to the short-term presence of absent minded actions. Never at work. Never when it counts; one of my strong points is being able to make quick decisions in a smart and calm manner when under pressure, while keeping my to-do list constantly generating in the background. But today I parked on the wrong level of the parking garage without realizing it, walked to the elevators, to surprisingly find they weren't there (because I was on the wrong level), found the elevators, got in and went the wrong direction (the elevators were broken), had to ask directions through the ER, unaware now of how to find my way to the NICU, at my very own work place. What a disaster. A contributing factor could have been that I was trying to listen to an audio book, drink my iced mocha, and talk on the phone to my mother simultaneously while driving to work.
     Men are always curious about the mentality of the female species: What kinda of looney-toon wheels are rolling in the mind of a woman? Multitask, multitask, multitask!

Remember those ribs I mentioned a couple of days ago? The result was phenomenal. This is how a finished rib bone should look, also an essential for at-work-eat-ability: Fall off the bone good. Eat your heart out. (Once again, my phone's camera macro setting un-capability just blows me away with astonishment.)

Crying Skin, but Laughing Face. Sound Chinese?

     I like this song. I was pretty impressed with how kick-butt he played after his crush showed up, and reading through the lines of the lyrics, I was pretty sure she was lying about how much she liked him . . . . . .that is  until she let that dude kiss her! What a panda jerk!

My car dash after the early movie!

     I'm going to pull my complaining card and go ahead and suggest the weather-man's warning "extreme heat advisory" doesn't even come close to capturing what this actually feels like. Oddly there's nothing even remotely refreshing about the wind.  I'd compare the feeling to standing directly in front of a standalone heater that's fanning out air, which feels nice when you’re surrounded by cold air, but nothing short of miserable when surrounded by this outdoor sauna. I merely walked from the theater to my car and already had rain drops of sweat dripping off my face. It was my skin crying; desperately seeking a source of relief. Dear fall, please hurry back. I've missed you.

     Yesterday Jessica, Krystal, and I enjoyed a much needed relaxing day at the pool. Our downstairs pool is shaded most of the day by the sandwiching buildings, so the water was nice and refreshingly chilly! Then I went upstairs to start making homemade pizza and Patrick got home for work and asked if I wanted RA. Ugh.....that was a no-brainer; he always knows how to read my mind. I had been craving sushi for days. So I abandoned my kitchen art and got dressed. We almost died from heat strokes on the walk back home, so we cooled off our insides with Red Mango. I love my days off!

Viva Los Vegas Rolls are our favorite! We save them for last.

It definitely made me feel peaceful!

     Krystal and I had a girl's date today and met at Global Peace Factory Coffee House in Frisco. If you live in the area, it's worth going to. Such a cute and inviting atmosphere, with ridiculously nice employees. I may make it a weekly stop. I paired a Chai Latte with my pomodro panini and it was exactly what I've been searching for. "She just complained about the heat and she drank a hot drink? Isn't that contradictory?" I'm aware that I may be considered crazy by some, but it WAS indoors and I HAVE been hunting a decent Chai Latte for 4 years and finally found an amazing one! It was worth it.

Then we went to see this movie:

         "Horrible Bosses" was so funny. And I'm pretty sure the only reason it's rated R is for the brief use of cocaine and of all of the "F bombs". Collin Farrel is in it, and Krystal wouldn't believe me that it was him, because they made him look so ugly! Someone else who was out of familiar character? . ? . ? Jennifer Anistan! That was the first time I've been to a movie in ages. When the heck did they start charging $7.50 for matinee?!?!? Now I remember why we only watch Netflix movies!

     As if I don't elaborate on why I love my husband so much often enough., here's one more reason; it made me laugh when I got home from work:

"Caution, Ribs may fall out. Open slowly w/one hand ready to catch."

     I love coming home and knowing that he's been up to something extra good! He cooked those ribs while I was asleep for work. I woke up to an fantastic dinner. Meat falling off the bone good. He takes good care of me. I hope he's not lying when he says he thinks I take good care of him too. How do we keep an amazing marriage? Do things for your partner that makes them feel well taken care of. If each person in the relationship always feels that support and thoughtfulness, the love grows deep; like the ribs that I soon devoured and found themselves deep in my belly.

I have these two ridiculous faces stalking me right now.

Theme Parked Life

     You know that feeling that happens when you're on a roller coaster and it plummets down with gravity, causing a flipping sensation in the in the pit of your stomach? I live for that feeling. I like fast elevators for that very reason and if airplanes would grow some balls to make it happen, I would consider changing my career to become a pilot. Actually come to think of it, I bet Air Force jets do that, I was only limiting my imagination to commercial flights! In high school, I used to love when I got to drive my Mother's suburban to school because there was a residential road in town that stooped in a way, that if I drove over it fast enough, it created that thrilling sensation (Mother, please forgive me if you didn't already know about that! *kiss kiss*).



"Life's a roller coaster. Just gotta ride it!"

     I think our lives mimic the course of a rollercoaster, except when you are plummeting down in life, it's not as fun. Whether its emotional or physical, there's bound to be some hills, summits, and valleys along the way. The only thought about a valley I take comfort in, is knowing that it will make the summit that much sweeter. Just like in a rollercoaster, the momentum of the downhill, gives you the umph to climb your way back to the top. It helps develop the mental strength and endurance to conquer life. And when the day arrives that you reach the peak, look around, take a breath; glance back at what you've surpassed and allow yourself to absorb the beauty of the view. 

Just like tribulations and highs in life, roller coasters come in all different sizes, lengths, and forms.

     It's an all walks of life pattern that Patrick and I jokingly refer to as "Happy, Happy, Happy, Sad".

Hold on to your wigs, this one's a doozy!

     Last year we found ourselves hanging on for dear life. We had a mortgage and Patrick couldn't find a job; I was working out extra hard to prepare for our trip to the mountains, and when a much needed opportunity arose for me to make extra money, I seized it. Then suddenly, with an already planned vacation within reach, I broke my foot; not only further inhibiting our financial state, but also limiting my mobility with the worst timing imaginable.  But with the support of our close family and friends, finding strength in each other, and many prayers later, we overcame the challenge and now have an unforgettable experience to help us fully appreciate what we have today.

Ever feel like this?

Now that's what I call team work!

     We watched a true story featuring a little terrier dog that was blissfully happy, leaping off the pier and swimming in the ocean to fetch the coconuts his owner tossed to sea for his daily exercise fun. Things couldn't have been better, until one day the pair didn't make it to the dock until late afternoon (a time that the sharks knew as scrap dinner time from the fish boats), and a shark attacked him, tearing through his lungs with ruthless teeth, clenching down and dragging him below water. The owner risked his life diving in to save the 14lb canine; with blood and guts everywhere, looking death in the face, he fought for life and now lives as a legend of true heroism to his owner.
     Remind yourself, when another valley inevitably works it's way into your life, that just like with a roller-coaster, brilliant sublimity is on it's way.

     I'm pep-talking my way through these hive break outs. . . . . What? . . . . . .You think I'm being dramatic? . . . . . . Maybe so, but after working 4 stressful days in a row, watching a patient's parents deal with an extremely strenuous time in their life, having withdrawals from my husband after spending so many days with him, and dealing with this new mystery problem in my life . . . . . . perception is everything. Now I need want to go to Six Flags!