Thanks

I really do have many things to be thankful for, so I will follow Lisa's lead and list 3 things I'm grateful for each day this month up to Thanksgiving. Good idea Kitty, good idea.

So, for today:
-The Temple
-Avocados

-Kip

Would You Like a Delicious Carrrrrrrramel Apple?

Had a BLAST on Hallween night- a BLAST!-with some beloved old roomies, a few other friends, and my ma! Too bad what followed was a week from HELL with all kinds of confidence slams, discouragement, and self-esteem busters...such are the ups and downs of life right? Watch out world cuz I will not let that happen this week!!!

Halloween in 4th Grade

I think when I was in 4th grade, I was a hippopotamus. A hippopotamus...a purple one. That's embarrassing. But I think I was one of those kids that was far from shy and very rarely embarrassed. Here are some current 4th grade costumes...

AND 4th grade Teachers..

My Boyfriend Dylan

I'm gonna go candid for a moment and say that this little guy is my favorite. He belongs to my great pal, Tiff, who I got to work with for some (now very missed) years. I absolutely love all my friend's kids, and I consider myself super lucky and blessed to have soooo many adorable little kiddos in my life. BUT, this one!!! Oh goodness!!! He loves me! And I love him!!! He's seriously hilarious! This is only one humorous experience with cinnamon toast...the kid is jolly and a goof all the time!

A Fairy Infestation!!!

Went to Orlando over Fall break yet again for the excellently fun "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party". Totally makes Halloween for me! Jam and her roomies made fairy costumes, so she hooked me up with one too and there were 7 of us flitting about all night. One fellow guest among the crowd said, "It's an infestation of fairies..." in a slightly perturbed tone. HA HA! Pretty much Jam and I love the parade and the fireworks and the music playing in the park, but man, the candy they are givin' out these days at the trick or treat spots...blechhh. It's not even all name brand anymore.

Speaking of fairies...or ferre's. Our buddy Rob Ferre and his girlfriend Annie auditioned for the American Idol Experience at Studios. We mostly made them since we aren't able, being Disney cast members. Rob got through to one of the shows! It was way fun to experience it with him and live vicariously.

Class of 1999 BABY!

Good grief, was that really 10 years ago? My mind reels trying to make sense of the fact that 10 years have passed since the Brea Olinda Wildcat days! What is even more boggling is the current state of my life and how it compares to what I thought it would look like by now. According to a questionnaire I filled out at Grad Night that has been sitting in a time capsule for 10 years, I'm supposed to have been married for 3 years now, among other things. A few other disturbing things on that survey are: at the time I weighed 117 lbs. (hmmmmm...wish that were still the case), and my primary concern was that "Satan is taking over the world" LOL I mean, I guess that's true, but...
Anyway, clearly I went to my H.S. Reunion. It was a couple weekends ago. I made the 10 hour trek to Orange County on a Friday, did the reunion (and Disneyland) on Saturday, drove back Sunday. Was it worth it? I.............dunno. I loved High School. We had a pretty dang fun class of people and the reunion had potential. However, it was a hundred bucks and because of that (in my opinion), only about 50 people showed. At least the Sweeny's were there and Erin provided some drunk commentary on the micropohone...it really wouldn't have been the same without the "it's sweater vest, not a cardigan" chant. Turns out it would have been loads more fun for me if a lot more people came! But, it was fun to hang with my pals Carrie, Lindsey, Sam, and Ryan. I really missed my Cameron and Sari. And since some of my best pals are a year older or younger, I think the ultimate joy would be a Show Choir reunion that would span the years of '97-'00...eh eh?! I will post a few pictures from the event, but first I will copy and paste Carrie's blog post about the reunion here because she makes me happy:
"HS reunion re-cap

I didn't do the HS reunion justice. I was just extremely embarrassed at how shy and awkward and scared I felt! I need to thank Shelley, for taking me w/ her & paying for half of it & for the fun time that we had. Anytime with Shelley is a fun time! :) We found the Alibaba motel...which is pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. We talked with strange boys in another car that wanted to know where we were headed- they didn't speak english so Shelley cleared it up "ESCUELAAAAA" that moment right there made the night, for me. :) She pulled a gang sign and everything. It was great. We looked through my old yearbooks to see if Melissa Lawless signed any of them. Nope. Not that we found at least. I might check more thoroughly another day.

So Shell, for the 20- I'll pay for 1/2 of your ticket & if you are married, great- go make out with your husband, whatever. :) If you're not, we can go cause a rucus together & eat some yogurtland. :) Love you SHMOOP!"

BY THE WAY!!!

For the first time in all my days of living, I pulled in to Anaheim on a Friday night to find the Disneyland traffic OUT OF CONTROL! What was going on? Disneyland was at full capacity! What? On a seemingly normal Friday evening in October. There was no explanation. My response is...recession???? I don't think so. It's a myth. Everyone is fine. I wanted to check out the craziness so I parked anyway...in a lot that I honestly didn't know existed. We had to ride a random hired Anaheim city bus to the front entrance (which was like 3 miles away).

Basically

Basically, not many people read my blog. I mean, I'm not perfect at keeping it super up-to-date, I know. But I seem to be a blogging creature motivated by the laughter and encouragement of others...you know, readers...or followers. I am more self motivated when it comes to archiving my pictures in albums on Kodak Gallery for some reason. Anyway, here is my latest creation:

It's Minnie with vampire fangs...AND there's blood dripping from them.

This next one was two years ago. You may notice a theme. And yes, I free hand these babies...no tracing stencils.

So, over Labor Day weekend I ran the Disneyland 1/2 marathon with my friend Jess. It was actually a lot of fun and not terribly difficult this time, until mile 10. I loved that Jess ran it with me though, and we did pretty well ;) The day before the 1/2 marathon I ran around KNOTT'S Berry Farm with Carrie & Fam, which was fantastically fun and brought back some major childhood and teen memories. It's been a while though because I was shaking with fear in line for Supreme Scream and I thought my body had disintegrated after riding Ghostrider...

Jamie and her cute family came to California too...they ran the 5k and did a great job! Jam and I after she finished:

I cannot even express the craziness and stress that occurred on this morning before the race started. Let's just say, there were tears. But here Jess and I are, looking happy and excited to start in the darkness:

The Jacobsen's were my cheering fans at the finish:

It's over!