I found my smile today! It seems that this day is the opposite of yesterday...there has been much productivy and much happiness. Actually it started late yesterday afternoon when I watched the Youtube video of Miss Teen USA - S. Carolina's answer to why only 20% of Americans can point out the USA on a map.

Ok...so no offense to anyone from S. Carolina, but I had tears rolling down my face and I had to watch the video about 8 times before I'd had my fill. That was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. She just threw out buzz words in random order as she attempted to make a complete sentence.

If you haven't seen this video then I highly recommend watching it just to see if you can make sense of what she said.

Just thinking about it makes me smile and so I'm crediting her for my positive outlook on life right now.

So forget the increase of a pound from my emotional eatfest a few days ago...With the jolly mood Miss S. Carolina put me in I'm bound to lose it plus the extra three I'm gunning for this week.

And if I don't make it... well...all I have to say is,

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uhmmm, some people out there in our nation don't have SCALES and uh, I believe that our, I, education like such as, uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should, uhhh, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for us.”

Well said, Miss S. Carolina...Well said.

Elvis and the freeway...

So...I was driving down the freeway this morning and had a huge dose of nostalgia watching two cars filled with teens...

We (the girls) had just got back from a rousing night of cruising Broadway in the city downtown. You had to be sneaky because if you cruised up the strip more than 3 times then the police would ticket you so it was a game to take as long as you could and then park and walk and you could jump in cars with boys as they were driving by if you wanted...(I know...insanity)

Well, this evening in particular this group of boys were "following us..." I admit that there was some flirting happening on both ends, but not only did they follow us as we cruised, but they followed us out of Portland and onto the freeway where we rolled down our windows and passed notes back and forth to each other as we sped down the freeway at 55 MPH...(wouldn't you just KILL your daughter if you knew she did stuff like this?)

And of course we then decided to pull over at a gas station and hang out for awhile...and that was an invitation to a party they knew about which led to more parties and more hanging out and well...the friendships of a lifetime.

Now these guy friends were an actual dance troup...well, they called themselves a gang or a posse...not the literal meaning of gang as you think of it today, but gang as in homeboys hanging out...they called themselved Flips-n-Effect...and they danced a mixture of techno, 80's and breakdance moves.

Us girls always pictured ourselves as the backup dancer/singers. Many a night I'd be in my bedroom singing ooohs and aaaahs to some late 80's/early 90's hip hop song while shaking my bootie around...(I can only imagine what my mother thought. )

And I'm telling you all this because today is the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's "mysterious... maybe it didn't really happen" death. Elvis is best known (at least in my opinion) for his dance moves...the man could really shake his bootie. And well...if I think of bootie shaking in my life it all leads back to that one fateful night on the freeway...

Spiders and weight loss

I love being in my garden. I love green trees and plants and flowers. I love the smell of dirt and the feeling of the wind through my hair and sun on my shoulders.

I even love to pull weeds, rake grass, trim shrubs, and mow the lawn.

What I do not love is spiders...spiders are creepy looking...they move way too fast and if they were big enough you KNOW they'd want to beat us up, wrap us in a web then eat us. Thank goodness they aren't big in Oregon, cuz then I'd never be able to live here again.

So, I'm out in my yard today after about a 2-week haitus from working on a remodel project inside my house and wouldn't you know it but almost the entire yard, garden and flowerbed is covered in spiderwebs...Darn little buggers work so fast! So, off I went looking for a spider stick...(no way I go after those with my hands...even if they are gloved.)

As I was diligently destroying all their hard webmaking work and transplanting them over my neighbor's fence (shhh...don't tell, but I'm convinced is where they all come from in the first place) I decided that instead of cursing them I would use my big brain to think of 5 reasons why spiders are good for weight loss...here is what I came up with...

1. Spiders get my adrenalin going thus increasing my metabolism and the rate at which I'm burning calories.

2. Spiders demonstrate a persistant nature in that they always come back...no matter how many times I move them, ruin their house, stomp on them or spray them...

I should have this same persistance with exercise...no matter how much it pains me, bores me, or I don't want to do it... (you get the idea)

3. The urban legend about the lady with a brown recluse in her bunch of bananas from the grocery store that bit her and killed her has made me diligent in washing, cleaning and examining my food so I only get the best...thus ensuring I'm eating healthy wholesome fruits and veggies.

4. Fear of spiders is called arachnaphobia....thats a pretty good movie and I like that part where he sets the mother spider on fire with the flame thingy...and that has to do with weight loss because they live on a farm and that reminds me that being active like milking cows and stuff will help build muscle and make me stronger and thinner...? ( a bit of a stretch I know...especially since I live in the burbs...)

5. When I looked up the username spiderman on MySpace its a 35 year old male in Boston...which reminds me of the Boston Marathon and that is something that really fit people run...oh and he's a dance teacher and I like to play Dance Dance Revolution and that helps me lose weight.

So there you have it...once again...I'm looking on the bright side of things. :)

At the beach with grumpy

I went to the beach with grumpy this weekend. Yes...grumpy the dwarf...only he was disguised as a 38 y/o woman that absolutely REFUSED to have fun.

Now...don't get me wrong. I also *hate* the beach. I hate hanging out with all of my best friends. I especially hate spending money on adorable clothing, eating seafood at an incredible restaurant and walking along the sand while dipping my toes in the cold Oregon surf.

In fact, if anyone ever invites me to their beach house for a weekend again I will absolutely refuse to have fun. I will NOT laugh or snuggle with my best friend in the entire world and I will NOT eat a single chocolate and I will NOT enjoy the beautiful weather and sunshine. Bah humbug!

So, in reality...I had a BLAST...as did 5 of my other friends...it was just that grump sitting there with a humph scowl on her face that really made me wonder how in the world you can be unhappy with your best friends while on vacation?!

Peeps...let me tell you that life is WAY too short to be grumpy...next time you can't seem to make that frown go away I want you to call me. Dial me up and I'll do my best to put a smile back on your face because smiles make people so much prettier and really...can't you think of one wonderful thing that life has to offer?

Like pickles. YUM. How can life be bad when pickles are part of the equation. Or the color orange. Its my absolute favorite color (with yellow and blue close second and third picks) but whatever color you love...its so wonderful. And how about tulips...if tulips didn't exist then MAYBE I can understand a day or two of grumpiness because then you couldn't write terrible poetry like, "Roses are red, Violets are blue TU-LIPS are for kissing Woo Woo!"

So today...smile...make someone else smile...be happy. Love life...enjoy your time here with family and friends...talk to someone you miss today. Tell that special someone you love them. Give a dollar to a panhandler...close your eyes and just feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair or smell the earth and trees around you.

And next time...just stay home from the beach if you are gonna be such a grump!