Photo 365: January 5

Surprised to see these sitting in the waiting room at the acupuncturist today. I had a set in college and loved them.

Quizzical Wednesday - College

You Are Harvard

You are smart, ambitious, and hard working. Academic success has always come easily for you. You are responsible and conscientious. You don't mind hard work and never cut corners. You are very competitive and driven. You like to be the best at everything you do. And you also expect the best from any school you attend. You want to go to a top institution.

What College Are You?

2008 - The Top 10 Highlights

It’s hard to believe but another year is coming to an end. As a child I remember my folks complaining about how quickly the years went by; I was unable to relate because they seemed to just drag on for me. But at the ripe old age of 35, I get it. The years pass by in an instant and with each one that passes the speed increases.

When I began thinking about 2008 my initial response was negative, thankful that it was almost over. After all, my faced another fight against cancer, my brother Jimmy had one of those “one bad thing after another years,” my job was more frustrating and challenging than previous years, my birthday sucked and Thanksgiving was a family drama nightmare. But then I decided to list the “highlights” from 2008 and my list numbered 15 after only a few minutes of brainstorming. Feeling better about my outlook on 2008, I decided to create a Top 10 list of my favorite 2008 memories, and here it is:

10. Replacing my 13 year old mattress with the most wonderful mattress in the world, even if it’s so tall that I can barely get up on it.

9. Being able to see clearly following my eye surgery in June. I had no idea what I was missing and I love being able to drive at night again.

8. Having my mentor, Pauli Marr and my mom in town at the same time, we laughed until we cried, we laughed until it hurt.

7. Creating a wonderful birthday celebration for Jimmy’s 30^th in May.

6. Sharing Seattle with my Cuz (Karri) and her Huz (Dale). We soaked up the sun, ate too much, drank too much and had a wonderful time.

5. Getting to know Barney, the cutest Beagle in the entire world.

4. Rejoicing on Election Night with the rest of the country as history was made and the wave of change swept across the country.

3. Paying off my debt to Oregon State University and finally receiving my degree.

2. Celebrating my 5 Year Cancer Free Anniversary with laughter and tears and a trip to my favorite beach in the whole world.

And my top memory of 2008….

1. Surprising Don with tickets to Vienna Teng in San Francisco on his birthday. I’ll remember the look on his face for the rest of my life. And the trip rocked too.

Here is hoping 2009 is filled with as many wonderful moments! Happy New Year!

Thoughts on Benny

My Alma mater Oregon State University is the home of Benny Beaver. This is the Benny I remember from my college days at OSU. He's sweet, he's cute and he is much more likely to make you laugh with his goofy smile than cause worry about him biting you.

This is the Benny Logo they use today. He's a lean, mean, beaver machine. He charges at his opponents and causes tremendous fear of biting.

For the record I've never been much a fan of the "new Benny" but I am a fan of winning football games and smelling roses, and if "new Benny" means more success on the football field that I say, "Move over Sailor Benny, you've been replaced!"

Last week OSU introduced Benny Jr which they hope will appeal to "younger fans." He is sporty, sweet and fun-loving and reminds me a bit of the Benny of my college days.

Whichever Benny inspires the team to kick ass is just fine with me. I'll be cheering today and hoping that Arizona is terrorized by the Beavers!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Don and I went to Corvallis, Oregon for the weekend, the highlights:

• Spent Thursday evening packing and getting ready for the trip.
• Woke early Friday to finish up and be ready to go at 7:00 a.m.
• Endured constant rain for the entire drive to Corvallis but Don made excellent time and got us there safe and sound.
• Had lunch at American Dream Pizza (one of my favorite college hangouts).
• Headed to campus for a couple of meetings.
• Met Don at Clodfelter's (another one of my favorite college hang outs) and had a few beer to celebrate successful meetings.
• Checked into our hotel and got settled in.
• Had drinks and then dinner at Micheal's Landing.
• Slept in.
• Enjoyed a mocha at The Beanery and decided that they really do make the best mocha in the entire world.
• Enjoyed the fall colors while walking around campus sharing stories and taking pictures.
• Picked up a new t-shirt and sweatshirt at the OSU Campus Bookstore.
• Saw the Homecoming Parade.
• Played cards and hung out at McMenamins (yet another college hangout spot).
• Cheered as OSU beat Arizona State although I could have done without the craziness at the end.
• Slept in, again. Yeah!
• Had breakfast at Elmer's on Sunday morning.
• Traveled home via Port Orchard to pick up Barney who had spent the weekend with my brother and sister-in-law.
• Unpacked and settled in for the week ahead.

How was your weekend?

Thursday Randomness

I had a very detailed dream last night and woke up completely disturbed. It was my wedding day and the majority of the dream consisted of me preparing for the ceremony. I was in an old mansion on what looked to be a southern plantation, in a third floor bedroom where I tried on and walked around in at least 10 dresses finally settling on a off the shoulder 2-piece dress with a white top and black skirt (it's not a JA story unless you know what I was wearing). While this fashion show was going on my family and friends were continually wandering in and out of the room. In the dream I was marrying a very old Texas Oilman who was shorter than me. It was clear to me that NOBODY thought my impeding marriage was a good idea but still came into the room and shared their best wishes and rendered their opinions on my dress choices. The final and last person to come in the room was the only one to tell me that I was making a huge mistake, told me that I was only marrying "Tex" for money and that I deserved better and asked me if I was sure that I wanted to do this. I nodded, unable to speak and my friend left the room. Moments later I started crying which lead to sobbing and then the decision that I couldn't marry the Texan. So I locked the door, opened the window, removed my shoes and threw them to the ground below and began climbing down a trellis. When I'm outside the window and begin my descent my mother begins knocking on the bedroom door, telling me that it's time to go and demanding that I unlock the door. Upon reaching the ground I put my shoes on and run as fast as I can down the driveway.

I woke at that point and was so pleased to find myself dressed in a nightgown in my bed in Seattle.

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A few weeks ago during a trip to the Seattle Premium Outlets I purchased a purple and white striped cotton blouse (similar to this one). I don't wear a lot of purple and picked it because I'm trying to expand my horizons (mostly away from wearing black and/or red, everyday). I'm wearing the blouse for the first time today and in the past 2 hours two of my colleagues have commented on it followed by proclaiming "but you hate purple." See I shouldn't wear purple after all!

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The mud has been slinging between my family members all week thanks to this evenings football match-up between the University of Utah and Oregon State. My mother and youngest brother Jimmy are graduates of the "U" and die-hard Ute fans. Dave (middle brother) and I bleed orange and will be "Beaver Believers" till the very end. The teams played last year in Corvallis and the Beavers were triumphant. This year the Utes are ranked 15th and having a good season, but the Beavers just beat USC last week (previous ranked #1), so I think it's going to be a really great football game. But I really hope the Beav's win so I can remind my relatives of it over and over and over and over and over again for the next year!

GO BEAVS!

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Today is my Friday and I'm go glad as this week as dragged by and I'm ready for the weekend. Happy Thursday!

The day is done

I, like many others, went through tremendous changes during my college years. Trying to figure out who I was and where I fit in the world presented many a difficult day, or two. It's when I first discovered the power of music and its ability to help me find words when there are none. One of my very favorite bands during college was The Samples. Their songs soothed me, made me happy, made me sad and gave me a voice in many instances. The catchy melodies that accompanied those lyrics didn't hurt either. Some of my favorite songs/lyrics:

From Streets in the Rain

"I'd promise the changes
I'd never change me
No matter how distant
We seemed to be
We used to be children
And I'd never forget
When we played in our circles
But that game's not over yet"

From Little Silver Ring

"Growing old, watching silver turn to gold
Snowing cold, why aren't you here for me to hold?
In a dream somewhere finding my way home
Then a change of scene
The rest took place in Ancient Rome"

From Weight of the World

"Was life too heavy
Will you be free
You may never get older
It no longer hangs over
So let go of the weight of the world
The weight of the world"

From Did Ya Ever Look So Nice

"if we make it through these changes
find that nothing was in stone
but the glance of our exchanges
did they ever look so nice?"

It occurred to me today that I hadn't seen anything about The Samples in my RSS feeds of late. So I went to their website and found that it didn't exist anymore. I pulled up their Wikipedia page (cause Wiki knows everything) and found out that on April 7, 2008, The Samples came to an end. Sean Kelly, lead singer, front man and solo remaining original band member announced, "The Samples will be no longer."

So sad.

I never got to see them live. :-( Thankfully I have my albums! Another favorite song is When the Day is Done. I found this video featuring the song and think it's fitting as the days end for The Samples.

QotD: Worst. Hairstyle. Ever.

Vox Question of the Day - What was your worst hairstyle decision ever?

When I decided in college that I would look really cute with a short, pixie, Katie Couric inspired bowl cut. I did it and it looked horrible! Absolutely horrible. I wasn't cute like Katie Couric, not even close. I don't show many pictures from that phase of my life cause they are OH SO BAD!

Originally posted on my Vox site. Full post moved here September 7, 2010 in anticipation of Vox's closing.

QotD: Happy President's Day!

Vox Question of the Day: Ever run for office? (School, club, organization, politics, etc.) Did you get elected?

In high school I ran for Women's Association Representative and lost in the primaries. It was really quite a pathetic attempt.

In college I ran for student union Vice President and won. Some of my best college memories are from the year that I served as VP. I learned a tremendous amount about myself and many thing that have stuck with me to this day.

Originally posted on my Vox site. Full post moved here September 7, 2010 in anticipation of Vox's closing.