Written in the stars..or sidewalk chalk.

JJ and I were walking around doing that whole "looking at houses and picking which ones we'd like to live in" thing. We were talking about one we both liked and when when stopped to look, we were greeted by this on the sidewalk :)

Jersey Shore...

I have to admit that when we got the invitation to the Jersey Shore theme party, I had to look up costume ideas as I am totally unaware of this phenomenon. Even as I got ready, John told me I was too rock and roll and not enough Jersey Shore, but I think I finally got it figured out....
John's goal was to find an extra deep-V shirt to rock, however we found the clear winner with this bedazzled cross on the front with an eagle, and a Griffin on the back....

I didn't have to shop since I have the wardrobe of a thousand women. The skirt is actually a tube top that I started by wearing appropriately, but since nothing in my closet was short enough, pulling it down actually worked quite well. I think that actually helps my Jersey Shore street cred.
John was too embarrassed to be seen on the bus in his outfit and changed on the street on the way there. Although I don't know why it mattered, he looked like he was walking around with a hooker :)
The coolest thing is that EVERYONE got super into the theme and was dressed in their best douchebaggery. Gen-X should probably give Aaron commission for the uptick in Saturday sales on the day of his party.
so fun.

Fashion Friday

I had originally hoped to work from home on Thursday this week to give myself a bit of a break from the routine (and maybe clean my fishtanks). I had two important meetings though, so couldn't swing it. I wore jeans the first three days of the week and then decided to business-it-up for Thursday, to get me through my meetings. It's an easy outfit, but good. I don't think anything is a new item to these posts, except the shoes, which I just got this weekend, because I was wearing out my other tall, black and straw platforms. I get to work from home today :)
PS: a lot of my friends have posted pictures of their kids going back to school. I admit that I stole my pose from my friend Kam in Plentywood, MT who posed like this for her first day of school picture!

Inspiration

On Sunday after we buried our sweet LBK, we went out to toast her life and maybe pour a little out for our fallen homie. We went to Prost and took these pictures with our beers.
When I put them on Facebook, more than one person stated that it made them want a beer and it even inspired Mr. Mindy to go on a beer run.

Wordless Wednesday

Follow the Rules!

The sign says No Running, but according to the picture, jete's are perfectly acceptable.

RIP LBK

Yesterday morning, our Little Black Kitty died.

She had been acting just a little different over the past couple weeks, but she's done that before, so we just kept an eye on her and made sure to pet her every time we saw her. On Saturday, she didn't eat, which was definitely odd. On Saturday night, the neighbor lady brought her over (she hangs out at neighbor lady's sometimes as that was one of the houses that fed her before she moved in with us.) When she got in to the house, she was so happy. I picked her up and she wouldn't stop purring. She did it all night. JJ and I both saw her sitting on the floor giving herself a bath around 3:30 in the morning and stopped to pet her. She purred. A few hours later, when we went outside to go get coffee, she was laying under my car. I went to check on her, but she was gone. We knew she was old and we knew that this was going to happen. But we are selfishly sad that we don't get to see her anymore. She was the sweetest, most well-mannered, and adorable cat that I have ever met. We will miss you, LBK.

Things we love:
How we got our Little Black Kitty
Costume helper (here too)
Princess Kitty
Beer Kitty
Cancer recovery buddy
Workout Kitty and Hand Holder
Vacuum Kitty
Snack Sharer
that's so cute, let's also watch this one

Thank you for coming into our life, Little Kitty. We're so glad we got to be a part of yours.

Fashion Friday: Miss Match

Last week I was running late one day and had tried three different outfits and nothing was quite right. It was one minute after I was supposed to leave for the bus stop, so I left on my skirt (because I had on matching shoes), threw on a shirt from the pile, grabbed a pendant and a chain and ran out the door. (Ps: I'm thinking I should enter one of those high heel races for as often as I run to the bus stop in the morning). I realized when I left that nothing in my outfit matched and kind of thought I'd stay in hiding once I got to the office. Oddly enough, it seemed to work so I re-tried it this week on purpose. The skirt is navy and white with tiny pieces of light orange and even tinier pieces of light green. The shirt is black (I know, its a no-no because I look like I don't know my skirt has navy in it. That said, I think solid navy and solid black is a yes!). The necklace is turquoise and the scarf is red with some orange and black. oddly enough, I like it. I think it would be better if I had a navy shirt, but I'm still OK with it. I think the glasses help by bringing the white of the skirt up to the top of the outfit.
The scarf has shown up more than once. The sunglasses get a lot of attention (yes, they're hearts!) and here's a bit of a zoom into the necklace. It's an old pin of my grandma's and I simply put a chain through the bejeweled antennae. Random people on the bus/street have offered to buy it from me . I think it's gorgeous (and it's a bug made of jewels, come on..)
PS: Outfit trivia? Those are my wedding shoes.

I love the way you Tease and Tone!

This dance was outside of our normal comfort zone, but I love the song and every once in a while I like to throw these girls a curve ball to keep them on their toes and stretch their skill a bit. I am so impressed to see how it all came together. This was not an easy dance for everyone, but you sure couldn't tell by the video. I love these girls.

Wordless Wednesday: Super Dog!

Good times at the Dodge City Motel

After our super fun day of fishing, we headed back to town for some dinner and to rest up for the next day. But first, a couple beers and some pool time!
Here's where I try my favorite Mexico trick of carrying a beer in my bikini top. either I wear different suits in Mexico or grow more cleavage...
Carl shows his poolside physique...
Finally, we were starving and headed to Lynard's Spud Cellar for some pizza. Then a post dinner snack at the local ice cream shop...
Unwilling to give up our evening without a visit to the Longbranch Bar, JJ and I headed out for one last stop. We could not resist the truckstop photo shoot on the way back to our room.



It was cool to be out in the open sky and see all the stars and the perfect banana runt-shaped moon. and while it looks like we were all bad-ass late night, we were in bed by 10:30. The key is starting early, people.

"Remember that time that Shannon caught the fish with Johnny's pole?"

That's how this weekend will be referred to for all posterity.

We met up with John's folks to do some fishing on the gorge.
We started out with amazing weather, a calm river and caught fish right away. We assumed our regular positions: Carl, Kathy and John fishing, Me as the jig and worm picker and general deck hand, and Arnold and I fighting for the best spots: mine in the sun and his in the shade.
As Kathy was pulling in a fish, John grabbed the net to help her land it and handed me his pole. I have heard them talk about slowly reeling it in after a cast so that's what I did. "Um John, I have a fish on..." that fish turned out to be the biggest catch of the day!
John was flabbergasted and bound and determined to beat me. He was going to have to do better than snagging this tire....
Sorry Carl, if we put that one in the live well, mine might eat it!
We decide to try a new spot and John has a beer for luck.
it worked! He managed to catch one (slightly) bigger than mine.
We just kept catching nice fish all day long....
John is pleased.
My tan is getting awesome.
We decided to call it a day and headed out to mid-river to clean our catch.
A final comparison to see who had the biggest fish....
Taking this poor fish to Carl and the cleaning board....
final thoughts?
and then a nice ride back to the dock for an evening in town... Stay tuned...

Fashion Friday

I love it when rushed mornings when I don't know what to wear result in something quickly thrown together that I end up liking. I grabbed Kim's hand-me-down jeans because I wanted something comfy. They have brown on the pockets so I tried the brown tank top and belt... getting there. The shoes slipped on easily and I looked boring. hmm, scan jewelery...did that... same 'ol... meh.. scan dressing room....not going to wear cowgirl hat to work....scan back..AHA! I got this hat at a recent Buffalo Exchange trip for $4.50 and it was the perfect topper (pun intended) for this outfit! I added my mom's old gold and silver Wonder Woman bracelet (it doesn't really have anything to do with WW, I don't know why I call it that. ) a necklace my grandma made (the other grandma this time, she made it with agates) and earrings I made!
This is my new fave photo spot. It's where I catch and get off the bus and I love that the clouds reflect in the windows. I had a bunch of good shots from this streetside photo shoot, except that my face looked dumb :) I'll practice a bit with future outfits and try again! Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday

Inspired

Portland is pretty. I love the summer.

Forty-Fun!!!

John's 41st birthday was on Saturday and to celebrate, we planned a motorcycle trip to Pendleton to do all of our favorite Pendleton-inspired activities! We left Friday after work and had a relaxing ride in the sun and landed at our hotel and then hit Hamley's for a light dinner and couple beers..
John on his last night as a 40-year old.
On Saturday (his actual birthday), he had a goal of doing a really good run. (either 4.1 miles or 41 minutes, whichever felt right) As both goals neared, he realized that he had a little more left to give and so we completed the whole path. He's been working really hard on getting back into running and so it was really awesome to conquer those 5 miles. ba-bam! After a giant success there, we went for a quick coffee and apple fritter at Starbucks and came back to our room to change for the day (and he wanted to log in and see how many Facebook "Happy Birthdays" he got :)) and then we went to our favorite lunch place for a couple mid-morning beers that inevitably turn into lunch beers and a sandwich. (we've done this before :))
Then, pool time! John joked that he was having a perfect birthday day fora 7-year old: running around the park and then going to the pool. We pretended everyone there was there for his party.
After a few practice descents on the frog, we hit the big slides. It was perfectly hot and there were literally no lines for the slides!! We went down, ran back up and went down again! over and over and over. It was so fun.
After about 20 times, we swam across the big pool and busted out a few dives...
John goes Superman style...
I am a cheerleader.
After swimming, we hopped back on the bike (parked not very legally on the high school steps, but in the shade!) and went for a post-swim drink and then to clean up for dinner.
We were back at Hamley's for dinner and the very nice bartenders had a present for John for his birthday!
After another delightful dinner and being treated just fantastically, we went over to the Rainbow, where the bartenders there had some birthday shots ready for him....
It didn't last much longer after this :) Happily enough, John woke up feeling fine the next morning and we had a perfect ride home where we coasted back to normal life with some more yummy food and a nice bottle of wine.
Everything that could have gone right went even better than we could have hoped and we were really treated well by the fine folks in Pendleton. What a great way to start off the year. Forty-fun indeed.