Well.....

Here I am- I forgot what I was even blogging about?? And then I saw cute pictures of the Bean and remembered that I was trying to post all the pictures from every month and I was about a year behind.

I think there will be no way for me to keep up and I would like to blog again. So against all the force that my OCD contains I am going to let go of this monthly photos and push forward. Not sure that any one reads this at all but will give it a try any how. And my OCD is forcing me to mention that all my pictures are posted on instagram.

So anyway, all that to say I am trying to blog again and I hope this attempt turns into something. But it is Monday and I am blogging so that feels ambitious.

Saturday and Sunday, lots of rain. Took two great naps. I am the type of person who remembers naps. I still think about a nap I took in the mid-2000s that was like five hours long. Can you imagine? And then there was one epic nap last summer that I still think of often. And Saturday's nap was great! I like to put on my Young Living "Sleepyize" and then just fall asleep. It's really quite lovely.

Napping, am I right?

And don't underestimate the importance of body language!

This is my declaration that I am going to start blogging more. It is something that I do really enjoy and I really do like keeping a record of things even if I rarely go back and read it. Don't even ask me about my several failed attempts at trying to make my blog into a book using Blurb. It just would never download. So frustrating- I get so upset when I can't figure things out with technology.

But I do want to blog more even if it is just about the mundane parts of life. I find writing to be a great outlet and it makes me feel good to get my thoughts out.







Right now is a great time for me to write my thoughts as I have had laryngitis for the last two days. For someone who loves to talk as much as I do this has been a challenge. I think I am on the mend but having phone conversations has been a real challenge and it's hard for me to get Kona to stop doing things when she can't even hear me.

It has been fun though to think of myself as Ariel- you know my favorite Disney princess. I really thing when my voice comes back I will swim up a rock and let my beautiful singing voice out.

Most days its hard for me to keep up with my house so when I am sick it is even worse. These wood floors get so dusty and when I am well I really love to sweep them. And I would like to blame the disorganization on Rodger but generally it is all my stuff that is splayed about. It will be my life's challenge to clean up after myself.

Well I finally washed my hair for the first time in like four days so it's time to go brush out the mane with my dinglehopper.

For every one's visual pleasure.

Thankful: Soda

Or as I like to call it sodi.

I love the first sip of the day. I like to wait until I am super thirsty for that first great drink. 

I especially love soda in styrofoam cups.

Thankful: trying new things

Today I am thankful that this year I finally gave Chipoltle a fair shake.

Now I know what everyone is always raving about. 

Since I have know Rodger he has opened my mind to trying new foods and for the most part it's always been a positive thing. 

The Less Exciting Things

I took a couple of pictures to show you the less exciting things I do.

But I only came up with two pictures. We are sans picture of me at work. Hard to take a selfie at work without getting some strange looks.

In my car (parked when taking this picture)

 

Lounging (notice US Weekly and clean laundry that needs to be put away, very representative of everyday life here) 

 

Also very representative of daily life here- me obsessing over this big furry baby. She has the softest neck. I invite you to come over and rub it anytime. 

  

  

Confession- I love the less exciting things.

The more exciting things

I suppose I will save you all for the usual "I don't know why I don't blog very much" and just get on with it.

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to lately. I mean I don't have any pictures of what I do with most in time, but it's probably not too hard to picture me driving in traffic, sitting at my desk at work, and laying in bed watching TV. So more accurately here are some pictures of the more exciting things going on lately.

Last weekend we went out to eat for Amy's birthday and they gave her a very large knife to cut the cake with.

 

Also last weekend we met up with Jenn and Jaime and their dogs at Huntington Dog Beach. Rodger's sisters and Pini also met up with us in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and much cooler than being at home. Kona loved the water and the dogs that were her size. The smaller ones not so much.

 

And when we got home Kona decided she wanted to read a book. Actually she was after Bo Obama .

What can I say? She has great taste, like me. I will have to blog about my dream about having an affair with the president and then becoming pregnant with his baby. It was crazy! I don't know why I have these dreams. I haven't even watched "Scandal" in months.

Also, let's ignore the fact that I still haven't unpacked my office completely. I probably just need another bookshelf. I just can't get rid of books.

This weekend (Friday night) Rodger and I went to the fair with his mom, sisters, and Pini. There was the usual food, exhibits, and people watching.

I tried to tell Pini that Baby Bear doesn't drink.

 

I am still laughing at the Bear family portrait.

Also, it was quite timely that I had a bowl of chocolate-covered strawberries that looked like I was holding porridge.

 

Last night I babysat for Olivia. We had a great time. So much so that she didn't even go to bed. She is such a sweetheart. She had a bit of a cough and was crying a little and in between cries she asked for her Mommy. I thought that was pretty cute. We played, read, and took pictures. It's always a treat to get to spend time with my adorable little niece.

 

 

I will see what I can do about getting some pictures of the less exciting times.

 Just so you have the full picture.

From the mixed up files of Mr. Rodger T Long

I was looking through the dozens and dozens of picture folders on Rodger's computer and came across some I hadn't seen in a while or at all. Here are some I enjoyed.

I have seen this one before. These are the mushrooms we found in our yard after the first rain when we moved here. I hate mushrooms and these make my skin crawl. But I still wanted to share the picture even though we have shown pretty much everyone.

These three show Kona's growth. And she is even bigger now.

Pictures of us in Maui (2012) when we "Mike Rowe".

 Splash Mountain on a trip to Disneyland. That's our friend Ryan behind Rodger.

Olivia and me- November 2012. Oh the baby!

The Illusion of Productivity

I felt like writing but I really don't know what to write about. I am sitting here watching the Oscars and thinking that I should be doing something productive and blogging seems productive although it probably really isn't. But it gives the illusion of productivity. 

And there are things I want to blog about. Like my fun birthday. It was a great one but I want to upload the pictures from the celebrations so I will do that blog later.

And I have a bunch of pictures of the house and the updates that we have made but I don't have those pictures uploaded either.

I guess I will just ramble on about the goings on. Like right now Barbara Streisand is singing "The Way We Were". I have enjoyed this Oscar show which is kind of ironic as I haven't seen a single movie nominated besides "Brave". In my defense "The Dark Knight Rises" should have been nominated. Other than that I saw "Ted" and "Magic Mike". And I think that's pretty much it. Really I just like the pagentry and reading along on Twitter as funny people live tweet the show. And I love the dresses. Loved Amy Adams dress, and Jennifer Lawrence's, Jennifer Aniston's, Halle Berry's, and Nicole Kidman's. And Adele's hair and make-up. And who doesn't want to see Bradley Cooper in a tux??

And small critique on Anne Hathaway- WTH are you wearing?? You know you are going to win an Oscar and you pick a bad bridesmaid dress that you can't wear a bra with? She could have had a major fashion moment. If I was Rachel Zoe I would literally die. Those last two sentences are for Vickie. Let's see if she is reading.

I mentioned that I picked the book club pick this time and I chose "Plague of Doves" and I am afraid that I chose a stinker. It's a semi-interesting story but should it really take a hundred pages to get into a book? I know my Mom hates it. Jenn, thoughts? Also, what does one do when their choice sucks? Do I still go to the meeting? Or just hide?

Even though I just turned 31 my acne is far worse than it ever was during puberty. Why???? It's pretty much just in my chin area. I think its dry then I think it's greasy. What's a 31 year old girl to do? I am hoping coconut oil might do the trick.

I lost my glasses, my specs. And my eyes freaking hurt because I am on the computer all day at work. For a few weeks I have been hoping that they would turn up but they haven't so I guess I will have to suck it up and buy new ones. And then five minutes later I will find my old ones.

That's it. I am going to watch the rest of the Oscars and then have a big bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. It's not dinner but it's the illusion of it.

The thing is that I really do like to blog

I just don't do it as often as I would like. Having a house and a dog in addition to a husband and a cat has taken up a lot of my time lately.

But I like to write, it makes me feel good and I like the idea of recording events to look back at later. I am even toying with the idea of making a blog book to look at, but think I would take out some of the things I blogged about (like celebrities).

The house is coming along. We love it there. It's so nice to have a yard, especially with the dog. We painted the third bedroom and did the floors and I am setting it up as my office. Last weekend we had the kitchen redone and it is beautiful. I am excited to post before and after pictures.We still need to do the back splash and paint and so I will post them after that.

It seems it is going to be a very blustery weekend. It will be kind of nice to bundle up and maybe start reading the book club choice I got to pick this time, "Plague of Doves" by Louise Eldridge (not sure on the last name). It's also Chinese New Year this weekend so we will be spending some time with Rodger's family. We gave Olivia a red envelope this year, which I thought was a lot of fun. I love cultural traditions.

This post is basically just to say that I really do want to blog more. Because I really do like it.

What up?

I really need to start blogging more. I enjoy it but as with most things I procrastinate and then I forget about what I was going to blog about in the first place.

So this is what I have been up to. I have a very high profile, social life.

I have been very busy stalking my niece via visits, emails, instagram, blogging, and Facebook. I cannot get enough of her. I love talking to Vickie and hearing Olivia in the background. I am head over heals in love with her. So that takes up a bit of my time.

I also like to follow Sushi around and take funny pictures of her. I have taken to calling her "lover" which gets some strange looks from Rodger. But Sushi knows what's up. We have a symbiotic relationship that way.

I have been hanging out by our pool more. It's been nice weather and the pool is really nice. Sometimes it does feel like Monrovia "rec swim" with the amount of people in there. I have to try not to think about the bacteria that is in the water. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming".

Rodger and I went to Disneyland a few times in the past month. Disney California opened their new Cars Land so we have had fun looking around that. They also redid the main street of that park and opened a "Clarabelle's Ice Cream" which is so good! I love the mint chip ice cream in a waffle cone. Supposedly the ice cream is just "Dreyers" but I don't know, it tastes so good. Maybe everything at Disneyland tastes better. Or maybe you enjoy it more because you have to pay so much to buy anything to eat there. We have only gone on one ride at Cars Land because the lines are so long. We still need to go on the racers ride. I do like the rides at Disneyland and Disney California but mostly I just like walking around and enjoying the shops and atmosphere.

Something that does take up quite a bit of my time is watching crappy televison and some good televison. I have been watching "Virgin Diaries", holy moly is that a great show! You really coulnd't make that stuff up. What other crappy stuff have I been watching? Let's see, right now I am switching back and forth between "Wife Swap" (an old classic) and "Piers Morgan" interviewing Mitt Romney. I really don't like Piers, really wish Larry King was back. He truly was the king of bad interviews. Oh and I am watching the crappiest of it all, "Bachelor Pad". I have even recruited my Mom to watch. Rodger records a lot of the shows for us to watch, "Pawn Stars", "Hotel Impossible", "Restaurant Impossible", "Storage Wars". Also, "Shipping Wars" is coming back so we are pretty excited about that. We watched the first four seasons of "The Big Bang Theory". Love that show. I really enjoying watching shows on DVD or BluRay. It really takes all the suspense of out it because you don't have to wait for a week or all summer to watch the next episode. Let's see is that enough about tv? Did anyone even read this paragraph. I am pregnant. Just checking to see if you were reading. I am not pregnant. Oh wait, we also started watching "Breaking Bad", that would go in the good tv category.

I am taking this awful antibiotic for my bladder infection that makes me feel so sick so I am excited to take the last of those pills tomorrow.

So that's what's up.

Lovin....

 This song

So catchy

*Of Monsters and Men "Little Talks"

 This song

So country, and sounds so Willie Nelson

*Eric Churc "Springsteen"

This picture

 

 From Vickie's baby shower (post to come). That baby bump! Ah! Love! Love! Love! Love!

This picture

 

 He was sleeping. And then he was crying. And we are the worst because then we were laughing.

My SUMMER CUP. So many great times already! Can't wait to see what other kind of trouble we get into. And I am helping the environment. Win! Win! Love! Love!

More InstaFun

Recent Instagram pictures.
I know I am tardy to the party but I really can't get enough of Instagram.

Rodger's new radio system in his car, it displays the songs available by artist. I liked these particular selections.

Enjoying some outside time.

Wedding present

Read this for book club. Couldn't have been a better title for this book. Very bittersweet story.

Cato and Rodger

Cato and me.

Blogging from my phone

What up?
To prove it here is a picture of me laying in bed.
I am getting so technology savy. I'm starting to scare myself.
But alas I know I am still late to the game.

Crabby Pants

Since I got off work this evening I have been crabby and irritable. Which is strange because leaving work usually has the opposite affect on me.

The problem is that I don't know why I am so easily annoyed tonight. But I am.

Annoying things include-
Forgetting to give the photographer our apt# in our address so our disc was not in the mailbox as I expected today. A little disappointing. I think I even said the "F" word.
My jeans were too tight on my stomach. Nothing makes a girl feel better than that feeling.
My boobs hurt.
My cell phone glass cracked again.
Some guy almost backed into me and then kept driving around me as if he had no idea I was even there. I stared him down. Not like me at all.
That's all I can think of.
Not real problems but like I said I am irritable.

I am going to chalk it up to hormones. Why not?

Poor Rodger. Probably wished he hadn't come home tonight.

I think the thing to have done after work was to have gone and worked out or done something constructive (well I did put my laundry away). Get some energy out. But that didn't happen. I did have a drink to try to calm myself. Which I also never do. Don't worry Mom, I only had like two sips. I don't want to be the girl who drinks alone.

Well enough of my bitching and complaining because as I look over this list I know I have nothing to bitch and complain about but you know hormones, right?

I think I am going to bed now and wake up with a better attitude.
Maybe I will listen to Monica's "Just One of Those Days" before I nod off.

InstaFun

As previously mentioned I have Instagram. It makes all pictures so pretty so I had to post a few here for those of my readers who don't have Instagram (Mom).

Mom's Easter cake

Baby Eggplants (cute)

Baby Cato (Cuter)

Stir fry- we do a lot of this these day. We got a Wok for our wedding, so you know.

My new glasses
My vision has gotten worse in the last three years in case you were wondering.

My right eye, in particular.

Photo A Day , Day 31: You Again

Day 31- YOU, AGAINI mean how much do you love the look on Sushi's face? No one does pissed-off as well as her.
And this completes the Photo A Day Challenge. It's been fun.

Phot A Day , Days 27, 28, 29, 30

Day 27- LUNCH

One of my favorite workday lunches.

Day 28- LIGHT


Bedroom

Day 29- INSIDE YOUR FRIDGE

This picture could also be titled "Wedding Leftovers"

Day 30- NATURE

Quite the rainy, blustery day here.
So thankful the weather wasn't like this two weeks ago.

Photo A Day , Days 25 and 26

25. SOMETHING YOU MADE

I made this collage frame for Rodger shortly after we started dating.

26. COLOR

It's that time of year. I declared to Rodger the other day that if we have a daughter I want her to be a Girl Scout. They get a discount on the cookies right?

Photo A Day , Days 21-24

Day 21- REFLECTION

At Ikea

Day 22- YOUR SHOES

Vickie bought me these for dancing at my wedding. I call them my Michael Jackson shoes.
Day 23- SOMETHING OLD

My Great-Grandma Lahti's crucifix.

Day 24- GUILTY PLEASURE

I don't really feel that guilty about it.