Rainy day joys

"Rainy days are few and far between here in Portland Oregon. I, for one, wish that it would rain more," said no one ever who lives in Portland, OR :) I have never been one of those people that dislikes the rain. I love the way it smells right before and after, the sounds during a good rain storm, how green and luscious all the plant life is afterwards and don't forget those puddles! There is also a refreshed, new feeling after a good rain. I'm pretty sure that in order to live a happy, non-depressed life in Portland, OR you must have a love for the rain somewhere deep in your soul :) You can't acquire a love like this over time...you simply have it, or you don't.

Today's blog post prompt is to write about your favorite rainy day flick. I'm going to add on some additional rainy day fun-tivities that I enjoy as well. As far as rainy day movies go, I have a few go-to ones that I like to pop in while I'm all snuggled up in my cozy clothes, slippers, blanket and hoodie on the couch while it down pours out my door. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a rainy day favorite for sure. I enjoy the plot of the second book in the HP series as well as how funny the
actors are in their younger years:) Rainy days also make me want to watch Mulan, Cloudy with a chance of meatballs or Spaceballs. You can't help, but laugh during each of these movies and laughing while it is raining just feels...downright good :)

As far as other things I like to do to occupy my time on rainy days (bear in mind that it has to be pretty darn rainy to keep me in as an Oregonian) I enjoy knitting, reading, napping, and writing (obviously:) I'm not too into baking, cooking or most crafts though. Often I simply enjoy lying on my bed with the window cracked just listening to the sound of the rain come down. It's like having front row seats to mother nature's orchestra! And front row seats are rarely something to complain about. Short of the long...I see nothing wrong with a bit of snuggling (preferably with Mr. Sapina) and movie watching while listening to the rain come down :)

This whooooole post being said, you better believe I'm going to fully enjoy this sunny, cool, FABULOUS Oregon fall weather while it lasts!

PUMPKINS!

Fall is such a wonderful time of year :) All the fantastically vibrant colors every where you look! I especially enjoy all the fun traditions that I have created centering around this time of year including
heading out to a local pumpkin patch to find my perfect pumpkin! This year marks Adam and my second year of pumpkin patching together :) Last year we explored Sauvie's Island with a few friends. However, since I'm a BIG fan of trying new places when ever we can, this year we ventured to Olson's Farms, a smaller, but amazing farm out in Damascus to find punkins! We were not sorry with our experience, how awesome this sunny, October day turned out or the FIVE great pumpkins we found today :) The pictures from our pumpkin outing below pretty much sum up how great a day Adam and I had! Enjoy friends :)

 

 

 

Pee on the floor excited!

To start this sunny Saturday off, Falcon and Panda had check-ups at our vet out by the beach...also known as Beaverton. With 9 a.m. appointments I was up much earlier than I usually am on a Saturday morning. Apparently you are supposed to take rabbits in for wellness checks every six months or so...well that hasn't happened and will probably end up being once a year unless either shows signs of stress. Both bunnies did quite well with the exams and poking/prodding! Our vet said she was impressed at how well-behaved they were! I know right. Myyyyy rabbits well-behaved? I thought she might have confused Falcon and Panda with two other rabbits :) Both had blood drawn to make sure that neither had E. Cuniculi, not that they are showing signs, but apparently often signs don't show up until it is a more serious issue and my vet said that most of the rabbits she has been testing lately have tested positive. Better to be on the safe side.
Your daily dose of rabbit knowledge for today: E. Cuniculi is caused by a parasite and affects a rabbit's nervous system along with other major organs.
Pretty scary stuff, but can be treated if it is present. I'm hoping that both Falcon and Panda are in the clear! They both received good bills of health i.e. great ears, teeth, eyes and no abnormal growths etcetera, etcetera. I was happy to hear that :) Falcon weighs a bit over 6.5 pounds and Panda is around 4 pounds. All in all a great wellness checkup! With the exception of the money I dropped...but they are worth it :) Falcon and Panda were super sweet and adorbs snuggling on the way home from the vet in their kennel :)

Getting back to the title of today's post... :) On our way out of the vet, I was paying up at the front desk and a dude came in with his kennel with what I would soon find held a good sized golden retriever puppy. A very excited one at that :) To my own, the dog's owner and front desk lady's surprise the puppy (who would later be named as Juliet) busted open her kennel- literally broke the thing in two halves, top and bottom, and sprinted to see me at the front desk! Puppies are like little rays of sunshine...I adore them. Any and all, no question. Of course I was going to reach down and pet this sweet girl! She half ran, half slid over to me and landed right on my right foot, where she proceeded to wiggle/waggle her entire body while I pet her. Next thing I know, the floor under her is soaked with a GIANT puddle of puppy pee! It was pretty dang funny until I realized my right foot was also soaked with puppy pee. Hmm...not as funny... Question..how can you get mad at a sweet, little pup who was SOOOOOO excited to get pets from strangers that she peed herself, the floor and your right shoe?? Easy answer...you can't :) My gym shoes needed washed anyways :) When was the last time you were honestly SO excited you peed yourself?? I bet it would happen more often if it was as socially acceptable as it is for cute puppies;)

It's Friday, I'm in love.

I know I love many things. I share many of these in my blog:) Can you ever really love too many things though? One especially wonderful thing I enjoy is finding and falling in love with new music. I like to think that I do a pretty decent job of keeping up with new music, but in reality, I'm usually a step behind in what is new and awesome in the music world. I don't download music, I don't have an ipod with all my favorite tunes or tons of music on my phone. I never have. I have songs and artists that rock my socks off thus, I listen to my Pandora stations at home and *GASP the radio in my car to get my fix. I'm often blown away when I hear new songs in the most random places, in the background while watching my favorite tv shows or during a workout. I become easily hooked on songs. Two recent songs on my radar for favorite tunes are I Choose You by Timeflies-whom I had never heard of before I danced to this song during a jazzercise workout, and Life is Better With You by Michael Franti, whom I've enjoyed for awhile now :) It's always good to have a large list of feel good songs for those days when you aren't feeling your best. These two songs definitely make my feel good list! The non-acoustic version of I Choose You is phenomenal for workouts btw!

I Choose You Non-Acoustic

 

It's Thursday, the 3rd day!

 

Today was a good day :) Got through Monday-one day, Tuesday-two day, and Wednesday-what day?? It's Thursday! I had the day off so I got to sleep in with my babe! Well, I slept in until 9 a.m. then was awake so I read my new amazing-can't-put-it-down book for a bit and decided I could sleep more:) I fell back asleep until 11:30 a.m. and then decided I couldn't sleep anymore because I had ish to do! Adam working 12s this week means he sleeps until about 2 p.m., which is totally understandable. I got up, dressed, made my Thursday to do list, fed the bunnies and gave them some pets-they sure like morning snuggles! I then made some delicious coffee to go and headed out to run some day off errands as I like to call them. My list consisted of stopping at the bank and picking up more "bunny supplies," which I did at Walmart because it was close. I also squeezed in an afternoon stop at my parent's house to see my dad and of course the pups and Toby! Tilly and Brutus and I even went to the park for a quick run around. It's always nice to spend some time with my dad and the pups, they have such fun stories and face licks to share. That's the pups, not my dad :)

On my way home, Adam texted me that he was awake so I thought I'd be an awesome girlfriend and stop to pick him up some coffee and breakfast to have in bed at 2:30 in the afternoon:) I have ZERO groceries or I might have made food instead... HA! I think I may have made his day :) We had our "breakfast" in my bed and while Adam got ready for the day I let the bunnies run around, paid some bills, vacuumed, and cleaned up a little around the house. I have trouble sitting still on my days off if you couldn't tell.
One of my favorite parts of today, however, was a delightfully fall walk around the neighborhood with Adam before he had to leave for work. We took Capone, held hands, talked about everything and nothing at all and just enjoyed the beautiful weather! Fall walks our one of my faves :) I'm a sucker for sunny, cool weather with colors that pop! Shortly after we finished our walk Adam headed off to work and I drove to see Racheal K to drop off her (late) birthday gift on my way to jazzercise. Days off mean I have the energy for double jazzing! I stayed for two hours of class! Lots of cardio and strength training means that Rachael will sleep well tonight :) Now I'm waiting to fold laundry (getting a jump on tomorrow's to do list :) and writing this post. I nearly left out my hilarious dinner! Swiss grilled cheese panini and hotdogs on wheat bread! Yep, the grocery store is on my list of things to do tomorrow:) Enjoy your evening friends!

 

Well THAT was embarrassing

You have to love those random times in life when things don't go your way and you feel... embarrassed beyond belief by your actions or the outcomes! I've had my share of these special moments in my 30 years, some much, much worse than others. However, I don't think that it is necessarily a bad things to be embarrassed. Being embarrassed means that I opted to a risk or a chance in my life whether required to or by my own choice and over the years I have learned to embrace and laugh at my embarrassments because with each one I grow a little bit more.

Today's writing prompt asks me to list 10 of my most embarrassing moments :) This should be fun and not at all traumatic. Can I only choose 10??

10. That time I slipped on the stage left curtain mid leap during a dance recital. We were dancing to
      Madonna's Ray of Light. It.was.fast and with a spin on the floor out of the leap. I made that fall
      look goooooood.

  9. When I got so nervous during my choir midterm solo that I forgot an entire verse of Time After   
      Time and let my teacher take the fault in his piano playing my freshman year of high school.

  8. The summer after 4th grade when I went to summer camp and asked a cute boy to slow dance
      with me to Boyz 2 Men's Wait Til the Water Runs Dry and he said no...*insert sad face here.

  7. In 8th grade, when I was so bad at laser tag (the worst out of my entire group of friends
      actually) that I was offered a free game to practice.

  6. When I won sophomore homecoming princess (yay!), but was running late getting changed
      from class before the assembly so I missed the announcing of my name and one of my friends had
      to come find me in the bathroom. I walked into a packed gym with the entire school watching and
      waiting for me. Awkward!

  5. Every single speech I ever had to give in my college speech class! Public speaking was a learned
      skill for me.

  4. That time while I was tubing on Lake Billy Chinook. Jessie's grandpa was driving and he
      whipped us so hard on the tube that we flew off, skidded across the water, I lost my shorts and
      cried from pain. I never cry during water sports! We weren't even going fast, there was just too
      much slack and then to quote the great Chandler Bing..."WHAAAAPAAAA!"

  3. Pretty sure it was the same camping trip as #4 above, we hiked South Sister and I was so  
      dehydrated, hungry and tired that I cried from frustration during our hike. Always fun to cry in 
      front of people out of frustration.

  2. When I rear ended someone and called my friend Leah to pick me up and she brought the guy I
       had just started seeing. Awesome, now he thinks I suck at driving lol.

  1. Ok, this last one doesn't really embarrass me, but I'm pretty it might embarrass the people I go
      with :) When we go to funny movies and I laugh at ev-er-ry thing! No joke, I love to laugh and
      don't hold back in a movie theater. I also have a very unique and awesome laugh :D

There you have it! 10 of my most embarrassing moments:) I actually was quite entertained while remembering and writing all of those down. I hope I provided some of you with a laugh :) As I look at my list I realize just how many occurred before my late 20's. The reason I have less embarrassing moments now? I have grown to care less about what people think about me and what I choose to do and just enjoy living, errors and hilarity in all :) I look forward to being embarrassed my whole life as well as embarrassing my kids some day!

Couldn't stop the eye roll

I'm not especially proud of it, but today at toddler music class when the teacher put her hula hoop around me and tried to make me twist and shake more than I already was...I eye rolled her. I know right. I'm a horrible nanny. But I mean honestly?? What was the purpose of this? This class is not for me, but for the wee one I have in toe and he was dancing, grooving and socializing away! For the record, I was singing all the songs and dancing all the dances she demonstrated like a good nanny. I don't despise going to these classes. I realize how important they are for the kiddos developmentally and socially as well as for the sanity of the parents;) If the kiddos are enjoying it than I'm making an effort to enjoy it as well. I'm pretty sure that my eye roll was caused by the teacher choosing to single me out-without child mind you, he was running around with his hula hoop having a splendid time, in order to encourage me to give more to this class. I basically felt like she was calling me out saying, "Hey you! You don't look engaged enough so I'm going to put my hula hoop around you and dance with you." Maybe I'm being a bit crazy here, but I would rather her focus her efforts on getting the kids excited and motivated more than on me. Is this a weird thing to think? Perhaps. I'm not a mom yet, but feel like I do a pretty good job of making a boob out of myself in front of kids with no embarrassment. I don't feel that I was slacking in my effort today. So for future music classes, please don't try to hoop dance with me music lady.
*The picture of Tina Fey above sums up how I felt at that moment in time perfectly:)