fishgirl

February Photo a Day Challenge: 11 - makes you happy

2012-02-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

John, road trip, the middle of nowhere, cameras and sunshine. the happiest.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 10 - self portrait

2012-02-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

My mom's old swimsuit, circa the 60's. Updated with sequins (sewn, not glued!) for a performance last night.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 9 - front door

2012-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2004, in front of our new house with the worst cat ever to grace this earth.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 8 - sun

2012-02-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

Driving to North Dakota on what will become a hot summer day in July. 4:30 am rest stop outside of Ritzville, WA.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 7 - button

2012-02-07T11:05:00.001-08:00

My Dad calls me Button.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 6 - dinner

2012-02-06T15:40:00.001-08:00

By the time I get home from dance, I expect to shower, have a cup of tea and go to bed. This is the fuel to make that happen.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 5 - 10 am

2012-02-06T10:12:00.002-08:00

February sunshine.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 4 - a stranger

2012-02-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

This guy has been here for as long as I've been in Portland and I've never met anyone who claims to know him.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 3 - hands

2012-02-03T09:33:00.000-08:00

This is one of my all time favorite photos from this time. You are witnessing a very important burlesque conversation.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 2 - words

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Naked City on Hawthorne has the best window displays.

February Photo a Day Challenge: 1 - your view today

2012-02-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

This is the view from my office. John and I picked up these cute little solar powered dancing flowers after a hangover curing walk to breakfast one recent rainy Sunday. It's happy pink face makes me smile.

February Fun!!

2012-02-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

February blogging gets a theme! YAY!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-02-01T09:53:00.001-08:00

Date Night

2012-01-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

Playing darts on the tv. I love living in the future.

RnR @ TnT

2012-01-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to share this here last week! Sometimes when I do my choreo, I find myself either making up a story or to go with it or I envision a specific locale or outfit. This one stemmed from the boy in the song being 17 (which at 36, I find hilarious). So as I describe to my class the imaginary scene at the bar (I chose the bar in Top Gun) trying to get the attention of this young pilot (let's call him Val Kilmer). My favorite joke is that even if there were 2 of them, I'd be older than their combined ages. ugh :)

But without further ado, here's your regularly scheduled program of cute butts clad in Victoria's Secret pants. Also, this dance is super fun.

Fashion Friday

2012-01-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

ROWR!
What did you do to that poor cheetah?
Nice Leopard :)

It's kind of fun when an outfit solicits a bunch of comments, even if they're snarky. I recently got these boots in black and brown since my standard winter work outfit pretty much equals this look: skirt/tights/boots/hat. I have lots of hats and I like that, at least with long or longish hair, you can still have hairstyles (pony(ies), braid(s), down, up) and still keep your noggin warm. While I am comfortable in and like my winter dress code, I was just at the mall yesterday and it made me lust for the outfits of spring and summer (colors! dresses! no sleeves!). Until then however, I will cozy up in one of the best resale finds of all time. This Michael Kors jacket for $60. It's so soft, it's like wearing whipped cream.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-25T08:41:00.001-08:00

Li.bar.y

2012-01-24T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have a book club with a guy I met in a bar. It's a guy John and I befriended and almost immediately, he and John deep dove into smart guy stuff and I had to go shop for shoes to avoid sitting there and smiling politely for hours. However, after a couple times hanging out there and becoming FB friends, there was a time when he said something that made me bring him a book to read. When he returned it, he brought one for me. This weekend, I stopped by the bar after a FB message from him and asked "Did Nathan leave anything for me?" Behind the bar are two books (the last one I gave him plus a new one for me) with a sticky note and my name on it. I will read it and carefully select one for him, and send him a message when I've dropped them off at the bar with his name on them. It's pretty fun. I hope neither of us get a Kindle or stop drinking.

Minnow.

2012-01-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've waited a long time to replace my beloved Zu, and when I was finally ready, it was the off season and there were some regulations limiting how many could be shipped in. I was told that I should expect to get a call around March, but it cam a bit early! I was hoping to get a small one so that I could have the same bonding as I did with Zu. My rule with minnows is that you have to live a week before you get your name. Baby Ahzi has been eating worms like a champ since last Saturday. The little swimmer starts out the size of my pinkie, but I look forward to little buddy growing into a delightful big fish and being my pal for many years.

Aloha, Maui

2012-01-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

I am probably going to be a light poster this week because we have our big Sales Kick-Off. That means a week of meetings and events and general business-y shenanigans. But to appropriately wrap up our Maui trip, here's our last night of fun in the sun(set).

Sand raft!

?? :)

Thanks Maui, we had a blast!

until next time, lovely beach.

Fashion Friday

2012-01-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

On the second or third day we were in Maui, we woke up to a very rainy day. While the prospect of sitting in the open air bar all day and watching it was kind of appealing, we decided to make an adventure out of it and drive around West Maui. It was a beautiful drive. We were an hour or so into it when the road narrowed. and narrowed... and narrowed....

There were some pretty sketchy corners and thankfully the only traffic coming from the other way occurred when there was an extra couple inches and allowed us to get around each other without backing up. In some places, that would have been the only solution. After our spring adventure, we were both a little nervous.

After we made it safely back to town, we cleaned up and headed out for a drink. I have had this dress for years and although I don't wear it often, I absolutely adore it. Adding the hair flower made it perfect for happy hour in Maui.

After happy hour, we took a drive out through the sugar cane fields.. It was still a bit windy :)

Snorkeling

2012-01-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Snorkeling, and simply swimming in the ocean in general, is super fun.

One morning, at the best spot we found, we were simply surrounded by these black fish. It was so fun to swim around with a school that big.

We also did a snorkeling trip out to Molokini. I have to admit that we found better snorkeling on our own (Like right outside the hotel :)), but the trip was super fun. We got up early to board and whale watched our way to the site.

We snorkeled at two different places and had an awesome lunch on the boat while we looked for sea creatures. When we saw this dolphin, we also saw a mama and baby dolphin, quite possibly the cutest thing ever.

On the way back, we stopped at a popular turtle destination.

Speaking of turtles, we got to swim with one at our hotel beach. We saw him when we were out there one day and followed him for a while and then on our last morning, we decided to take one more swim around the reef and were lucky enough to see him again. Turtles are cool.
Also cool? This little lizard that just about made me jump off my bar stool when we landed on my shoulder!

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

A perfect day in Maui

2012-01-10T10:50:00.000-08:00

Thanks to some pro lessons from our visit a few years ago to ex-Hawaiians Nic and Kim, we had some tricks up our sleeves for days in Maui. We woke up early and went out for a beach jog:

Our perfectly placed hotel was on a strip of beach about a mile long, so a run to the end and back was just enough to get the blood flowing and start the day off right.

Plus, sand and warm water on your toes first thing in the morning is a pretty awesome way to start the day. Optional cool down swim in the ocean for bonus points.

After that, we packed our bags with our snorkels and hit Starbucks for breakfast and then a trip to Foodland and Subway to get snacks, drinks and lunch for the day. We packed these in an insulated bag (you know, to keep the vodka nice and chilled ;)) Then we'd drive out to explore. We did a bit of hiking.

When we got to a place that looked like good snorkeling, we'd stop and give it a try. More than once, we found that we had a little beach all to ourselves.

After a few hours of hiking and swimming and exploring, we'd head back to our car and have our picnic lunch and drive back into town to spend the afternoon at the beach by our hotel.

Here, we'd make some drinks and suntan and chat and people watch and swim and snorkel some more.

I have to say that JJ did an awesome job of picking our hotel. Out of all the snorkeling that we did, the second best place was right outside on "our" beach. The cool thing about that was that we didn't have to spend any more time than we wanted in transit to something cool. Something cool was right outside our door.

Even though it was cloudy, the temperature was delightful and the water was amazing.

After a few hours of lounging and a couple rounds of vodka and diet Mt. Dew, we'd go clean up and head into town for a snack or happy hour.

We'd usually come back to the little bar by our hotel for one last drink or a walk on the beach as the sun set.

Then hit the hay early, wake up and repeat. Perfection.

Maui

2012-01-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

So once upon a time in 2011, about the time I started ignoring my blog for a while, we went on a delightful little vacation to Maui.

I'm going to relive a bit of it this week. Even though my tan has already faded, I want to transport myself to the beach...

and remember the awesomely warm water...

and fantastic sunsets...

So awesome.

Jan. 6

2012-01-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

The timing of John's surgery date coinciding with the new year makes for a good time of reflection. His "second birthday" will always follow the ringing in of the new year and I think it adds to the mindset of starting fresh and being thankful for everything that we have. I'll never forget that very long day but I am glad that I took the time to write about it when it was fresh. Every time I read this, I remember the 'me' that I was that day: vulnerable, hopeful, scared. Remembering how quickly you can lose everything you love is a good impetus to align your gratitude and your goals and drive the course of your life instead of letting it drive you.

January 6, 2009

Happy 3, JJ. I love you. I'm glad we're still on this road together.

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T10:37:00.001-08:00

Baby, it's cold outside!

2012-01-03T17:40:00.000-08:00

The kitties have discovered where the warm comes out.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

For a couple who does not do a traditional Christmas ourselves, we got to partake in a lot of holiday spirit! First up, the second annual Santa visit to the Rock's.

Last year, I went as Mrs. Claus so I could witness the cuteness. However, Kerstin emailed us beforehand this year and said that recently Sophia had hinted that the only person as glittery as Mrs. Claus is Aunt Shannon, so does that mean she is Mrs. Claus? and if so, does that mean that Uncle John is Santa? OOPS! Clever little scamp. So I went over a little early to "grab a glass of wine before picking up John at the airport." This way I could still witness the encounter without blowing Santa's cover.

He is so good at this. He is funny and clever and has an answer for everything. Sometime you might ask him to do his "Ho Ho Ho" for you. It's awesome.

As we were walking to the car afterwards, slyly parked a few blocks away-the Hyundai is no sleigh and reindeer, we passed a little kid who pointed and gasped "ARE YOU SANTA CLAUS!?" John knelt down to say yes and the kid freaked out. "The lady today said that if you see Santa, he won't come to your house!" After a couple re-assurances, the kid was pacified, but I suspect he didn't have dreams of sugarplum fairies dancing in his head that night. After that, Santa needed a drink.

We nestled in for a cozy Christmas eve and woke up to head downtown for Christmas day, sporting our Santa hats.

We always go to the Heathman (because it's one of the only places open), where we sit at the bar and people watch with a couple fancy drinks.

Then we walked all around searching for another open bar (there has to be more than one, right?!). Our final attempt was the Benson and it was victory!

Now, properly lubricated, we headed back to our hood to go hang out at Noel's with some happy little elves.

As the boys watched The History of Boring Stuff and we snacked on delicious meat (Noel can cook, man), and we girls made our way through the presents.

We dressed up the dolls and made some fun little scenes. This one looks like Maddy and me on the horse.

Spittin' image, I'd say.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-28T09:15:00.001-08:00

Cavalia!!!

2011-12-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

My mom has been wanting to see this show for 3-4 years. When I saw it was coming to Portland right around the time they were planning to visit anyway, I knew she'd be thrilled!

We got downtown early to have lunch and wander around. Cheryl and mom enjoying our beautiful city:

Dad wanted to stop to get a new hat.

Heading to lunch at Jake's:

We're here!

The show was fantastic. The aerial acts were beautiful and if you like horses, it was fantastic. If you have spent time and worked with horses, it was just simply incredible.

The next day was my folks' last day in town so we made one more lap around downtown (this time with John! He's not a horse lover like us) and landed at City Grill.

It was so nice to spend the weekend with my folks (and Cheryl!). I think they had fun too :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Shopping with Steph!

2011-12-06T15:12:00.000-08:00

My tried and true shopping partner was in town this week and we had a few awesome days pounding the pavement of the resale and downtown Portland shops.

Plus snacks.

and coffee.

and beer.

My mom is great.

Go, go, go!

2011-12-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

We have had a whirlwind of busy-ness over he past couple weeks! John has been attending a bunch of training and my folks were in town. The ol' blog rolls off the back when that happens!
Once upon a time, it was Thanksgiving and we did a traditional jog around the waterfront with the Jens.

Pickles learned how to make the bed...

John got his fortune told...

I had to sit at the kid's table.

and we went through our anniversary of learning that John had cancer. We use this as our annual reminder to take care of yourself and hug the ones you love. You never know what will happen tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-30T12:49:00.001-08:00

Thankful

2011-11-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for my health, home, job, and happy life.
I am thankful that I have dance. It has given me so much in confidence, opportunities and friendships and serves as an outlet for anything I need to let go. When in doubt, I move, and I'm grateful that I can do so (mostly) eloquently.
I'm thankful for the life in my home: a happy little fish community, one giant eel, lots of plants, our adorable kitties, and the plants, birds, and squirrels that we see through the windows.
I'm thankful that even though I grew up in a small Midwest town, I was taught the importance of grammar and spelling.
I am thankful for my husband and that I was willing to take risks for love. It was, and is still, worth it.
I am thankful for my family, friends, co-workers, students and grateful that so many folks I know fit into multiple categories.
Lastly, in what is becoming my Thanksgiving tradition, I am thankful for Spanish coffees.

We should never have taught them how to use Netflix

2011-11-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

She's watched this like 5 times.

Surprise!

2011-11-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

Operation Bedroom Renovation While Husband Is Across The Country at Training was a success!

I am a notorious surprise ruiner, so I am just as proud of myself for keeping my trap shut as I am for the effort put into the room :)

Fashion Friday

2011-11-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

Brr. I took my coat off just long enough for a couple pictures, so don't let my nonchalant appearance lead you to believe that it isn't cold! This is the time of year I'm so grateful that accessories can make an outfit. I wore my legwarmers and scarf all day and was toasty warm and still felt cute.

Now showing at Tease and Tone:

2011-11-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

I have to give credit to husband for this sexy little ditty. Not only was he the one that played it for me as a class suggestion but while he was singing along, he did a flourish with the music that I totally used for choreography :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T08:43:00.001-08:00

How y'owl doing?

2011-11-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Baby shower pretzel-holding party favor re-purposed as candle. adorbs.

Has anyone seen Pickles?

2011-11-14T10:22:00.003-08:00

love.

2011-11-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

I was working on a project tonight, bopping around with my ipod and a couple love songs came on. My mind immediately went into fairy tale land, like most girls. The thing is, my fairy tales were times that I've had with my husband, and not some imaginary faceless prince. I've been in relationships where that is not the case and I'm pretty stoked that from the day we met until now, a dozen or so years later, I'm completely in love with my husband.

Fashion Friday

2011-11-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

Here's my take on the flannel resurgence. I rocked flannel in the 90s, usually open with a tank underneath. My grown up version is a little more girlie. This shirt is split up the side and back is gathered so when I added the belt, it flounced out into a cute little peplum. I decided to keep the lumberjack socks integrated to maintain authenticity.

As a side note, fall is beautiful.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-09T12:30:00.001-08:00

Um, there's wine in my wine.

2011-11-08T14:34:00.001-08:00

Don't forget cat food.

2011-11-07T12:15:00.001-08:00

Fashion Friday

2011-11-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Ponytail. uncomplicated jewelery, classic shirt, jeans, boots, red lipstick. Simple and chic. This look goes anywhere.

Happiness

2011-11-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

This guy lives in our neighborhood and will brighten your day any time you walk past. I mean how can you not stop and smile? Look at that tail!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we can't find the kitties.

2011-11-01T15:00:00.001-07:00

Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

We got excited last weekend when John found his costume...

I decided to be his devilish helper.

intentional photobomb.

Halloween tradition pictures in Pioneer Square.

Some brave young tourist was unafraid of our evilness and offered to take one of both of us :)

Fashion Friday

2011-10-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Socks! The trend continues to this week. Unfortunately if the weather from this week sticks, tights will be on the agenda for next week. I'm thinking about layering the socks though so stay tuned...

I just finished another month of teaching Body Blitz in the morning

2011-10-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a beautiful month to cross the bridge afterwards.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T10:55:00.001-07:00

Tradition

2011-10-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

This year's rendition of "Thriller" for Tease and Tone. Isn't this the cutest army of zombies rising from the dead?

Showtime!

2011-10-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Nic put on this amazing show as his Hawaii developed alias, Nicky Croon. He asked a couple of us girls to dance for it. He gave us simple recordings of our songs and turned us loose to each create our own showgirl style for the show. I took the day to work on my choreography, put together my costume, and take my time getting ready. It was fondly reminiscent of our old Sugar Q days.

We arrived early enough to hang out back stage and get costume-ready together.

We set up a little dancer table full of bubbles, champagne, sparkly and frilly things and it was our job to sit up there and be cute.

Posing and silliness ensued...

The show was so much fun. Nic had the entire room dancing and laughing and generally just having a blast. It was super fun to dance on that little stage with a live band and to have an audience full of party people.

Speaking of dancing, John also made the rounds....

Everyone did a great job and it was exciting to have such a great turnout for this first event.

When we got home Toki helped me unpack my stuff.

What a fun night, I can't wait to do it again!

Fashion Friday

2011-10-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

My theme this fall has been knee high socks. I wear them with boots and heels, and with my tennies and booty short for Saturday morning coffee :)I am not ready to start the commitment to tights (although I know it's coming soon). The weather this fall has been so beautiful that it still feels good to have a little bit of bare skin. This particular day, I walked across downtown to visit Char at her new office.

oh yeah, and I wore my wolf skirt.

(i know, right? totally awesome.)

Work fridge

2011-10-20T09:03:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-19T10:38:00.001-07:00

Getaway!

2011-10-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know why we aren't clever enough to spend more Fridays at the coast. John had a meeting Friday morning and then we grabbed a rental car and headed west. We landed here:

Where as we had hoped, we ran into handsome Chris!

We also got to see his lovely bride-to-be, Sam and do a brief catch up with this couple we love. After a stop at the store for some supplies (including champagne and chocolate covered pretzels), we headed back to our hotel for a super enjoyable night of hanging out with the ocean out our window.

In the morning, the obligatory walk down to the beach.

We then packed up and hit the road back to Portland. We stopped along the way to ~~shop a bit at the outlet mall~~ ride this bull.

Since it's such a long drive back to Portland (really, it isn't), we stopped by Ponzi for a little wine and cheese for lunch.

Since it was only early afternoon on Saturday when we got home, we continued our fun by heading downtown to see what we could see...

We walked through the little park areas and crossed through the protest parade.

We saw some art and rode the streetcar.

We walked..

We found sidewalk faces.

and finally found ourselves having snack on top of the city.

When we got home, we nightcapped our delightful journey with a bottle of wine and some Kinect bowling (I totally won). What a delightful weekend.

At least it wasn't my face....

2011-10-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was jogging along Friday morning and felt a sharp prick in my leg and looked down to see a bee! I quickly pulled my pants away from my leg to shoo him, but it was too late. My mom had recently been stung and had mentioned a remedy for immediately after and I followed her advice and rubbed it with baking soda and cold water. We were leaving for the coast that day, so I made a pack of it held on by a couple bandaids. It ached all day and swelled up. By the next day, the pain had subsided and turned into chronic itching. It was huge. So huge that my pants were tight around the knee. and I could feel it jiggle when I walked.

Looks like I'm not going to be rocking any skirts this week.

Smokin' hot.

2011-10-13T15:05:00.001-07:00

and I have to admit making up this dance made me think of this awesome ad from my youth...

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T09:16:00.001-07:00

Intern

2011-10-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

It has been coming for a while, but we finally experienced Bob's last day. He had a nice life living up on the 14th floor and looking over our beautiful city. I rummaged through the work kitchen to find an alternate vase to change up the decor for my handsome new cubemate. Meet Trippy McWire.

Back in action!

2011-10-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

Hi! Did anyone even notice that I didn't blog last week? oh well.

I was super busy last week and decided to not add blogging to my list of to-dos. But I like my commitment to this little online diary so I am resuming with the stories that I missed telling!

John and I were walking to coffee one morning and saw a guy wearing this ridiculous shirt with two arrows. I made fun of him. Later that day, we were at the Buffalo Exchange and John came up to me holding the exact shirt and said "I'm buying this and wearing it and you can't stop me."

I pretended not to know him for the rest of the day.

Fashion Friday

2011-09-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Themes! couple weeks ago, it was Pendleton Round-up week. I wasn't there, but to show my support for a town I love, I wore my Pendleton whiskey shirt and cowgirl boots.

Add fun cowgirl belt and go!

The next week was homecoming week for my hometown and one of my BFFs wrote to me mid-week and challenged me to participate in the remaining Spirit Week outfits. In great anticipation of Nerd Day, I accepted! Little did I know that first up was Toga Day. This is hard when you are going to work, but no one else is aware that you are taking part in a costume party 3 states away. So I opted for a Grecian style outfit and think I came pretty darn close. (I did bring a wrap to wear to meetings so I didn't rock the bare shoulders)

I even had fancy piled hair and braids!

and of course the last day was Blue and Gold Day, the colors of our Mighty Warriors. I would have worn my old cheerleading outfit to work if I had it, and just gone for it. I have to find a way to get that back... Also, Judd, I'm in for the whole week next year!

PS: you can tell by the random sombrero and party balloons that our little cube area is the cool place to be :)

This makes me super happy

2011-09-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T10:43:00.001-07:00

The latest from Tease and Tone!

2011-09-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

"Hey Shan, love your legwarmers!"
"Thanks, I've had them since 6th grade... in 86"
Amanda: "Should I tell you that's the year I was born?"

Office tradition

2011-09-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Birthday cube!

Fashion Friday

2011-09-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is one of the simplest outfits, but oh so perfect! I was comfy all day, but looked like a million bucks. This tank dress from Target is a perfect work dress for spring, summer, and fall. (also, hello, pockets!) Simply accessorize for the season and go! I will wear this with a scarf and boots and tights and be just as adorable in a month but while it's warm, I threw on my heels and a headband and was ready to go. I like to imagine that I am going to hop in this cute little car and drive off to happy hour.

While I love the dress, the best part of this outfit are those shoes.

yep, you saw that right. Zoom on in.

OK, the VERY best part of this outfit is the total price.
Dress: $29.99
Headband: $3.80
Awesome, adorable, super comfy, in-my-size at the resale store Coach shoes: $30 (OMG!)

As hard as it is to get up at 5:30 to run...

2011-09-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

it's totally worth it. I ran around the reservoir this morning under starry skies and yesterday, this was my walk to the bus stop.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-21T08:40:00.001-07:00

If only we got to keep our costumes...

2011-09-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, I get inspired for a flash~~dance~~ back to the old days of my youth and I go through my albums and scan pictures. I recently had one of those moments and so I think I'll craft a few posts dedicated to them. I mean, come on, how awesome is this?

Have you ever seen so many glorious side-ponies?

We were awesome.

nothing. perfect.

2011-09-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

After finding ourselves completely exhausted by the end of the week, we spent the weekend taking it easy. We slept in on Saturday and walked to coffee. John took a nap while I ran a couple errands. We bussed downtown with simple goals: John wanted a hoodie, I wanted to replace my wine glass that I had broken the night before. After a couple hours of shopping, we hunted down some espresso-tinis before heading home to don our sweats and with the windows open to let the smell of raindrops mix with the fall candles, cook a simple dinner and have a bottle of wine with a movie. I love my husband and this little life of ours.

Fashion Friday

2011-09-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's the process of mentally changing seasons or if I'm fighting off a cold or something, but all week I've been battling being too cold or too hot and all I want to do is climb into my giant sweats, sip a soup bowl-sized latte, and read a book. (PS: I subbed the latte for wine last night and did that. It was divine!) Since I really don't have any business-casual sweats, I've been wearing jeans most of the week. I have had these forever, and although it's pretty uncharacteristically cutesy for me, I kid of love the hearts on these pockets.

I matched the tank with one of the colors on the pockets and layered the navy tee,and then tied it all together with these wonderful drab green and brown slip-on heels that I have had for a eons. They only have a 2 1/2 inch heel so while it wasn't the same as kickin' it in my tennies, they were easy to wear all day and helped dress up my comfy-casual outfit.

PS: I feel like I look white-white already! What happened to my tan from 2 short weeks ago?

Sunkissed.

2011-09-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

So glad I stopped to take these shots on a beautiful early morning last week.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-14T08:39:00.001-07:00

Corn Maze!

2011-09-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

One of the things we love to do every year is go out to Sauvie Island to make our way through the Corn Maze! The magic trick is to get there before the masses come out to pick their pumpkins. This year, it was a happy accident that we were out on the bike on Sauvie Island when we realized that the Maze was already open!

and, we're off!

Everything was so fresh and beautiful.

We had the place basically to ourselves to we took advantage of all of the fun photo opps. ..without worrying about scaring anyone's kids.

whoa, creepy!

It's beautiful looking out above the maze..

and zooming in..

Afterward, we went through the barn of farm animals because really, you can't miss this.

Such a fun day.

Fashion Friday

2011-09-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

I pulled this dress out a couple weeks ago to go meet up with John for happy hour and he really liked it. This means it has been on a bit of a rotation since then. I have altered the look each time by wearing different accessories and carrying a different purse. I wore it Friday night in Pendleton, the perfect excuse to add the hat and rock it one more time before the official no-white-after-Labor Day cut off.

I bought this dress a few years ago because it has a beautiful fit and is made if strong, non-wrinkle fabric. Case in point, it was in my suitcase all weekend and I came home and simply hung it up. It came to an awkward length right below my knees, but a simple round with the scissors made it perfect!

Sunrise

2011-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

On vacation, I can't wait to wake up with the sun, grab my camera and head out for a jog to explore...

Wish I would have brought the SLR..

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

The lost motorcycle keys...

2011-09-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

We were excited to spend Labor Day fishing with John's folks. Like last year, the weather was gorgeous and we were planning to ride the motorcycle to Pendleton, hit the town, and then join the 'rents on Saturday morning. On Thursday night, we packed up the saddlebags and John left to fill the bike up so that we could zoom out of town as soon as the work day allowed. I was in my room putting my bandana on when he hollered up "Shan, I can't find my keys." This usually is because he "man-looks" (looking where you expect something to be and if it is not there, surely it has been hidden or lost and never to return again). I typically come down and find said item in three minutes, often by looking one foot away from where he was looking. Not this time. We tore the house apart trying to find those keys. After two hours (i'm not kidding) we were super frustrated. John called in to work to let them know he was too angry to come in and I called in to let me boss know that I wasn't able to leave my house for fear of John burning it down. We gave one more round of searching and then John called it off. We had a replacement key for the bike, but not for the saddlebag brackets (that which hold the bags to the bike). We called around and found a couple leads on locksmiths who could create our new key and went to have coffee while we waited for them to open. We both got our work done before heading off to the locksmith's. After dropping off our bag, John decided that it must have been an omen and we decided to rent a car and go that way. Once that decision was made, everything was smooth sailing for the rest of the weekend. We had a blast in Pendleton and spent the rest of the weekend in the boat.We drank a couple beers.Cap'n John...We went to a different part of the river for Day 2 and caught about a hundred small fish.We counted trains.I love this picture.

and then finally, back to the hotel for a swim and a drink. Perfect.

Fashion Friday

2011-09-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

I admit that I bought this top solely because it has gray straps. From the moment I saw it, I was excited to pair it with all black and wear gray shoes. I chose pants for it's maiden voyage but look forward to trying it with variations of gray tights and boots as we move into fall.

Summer dancey hotness at TnT

2011-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-31T10:46:00.001-07:00

False Advertising

2011-08-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

I was going through my pictures and also forgot about this fun little story. We were looking for a bottle of champagne and thought we'd give this little grocery store a try. Small town grocers usually have a couple bottles of wine type products, right?

Aisle 1: beer.

Aisle 2: beer.

Aisle 3: wine!

Aisle 4: mixers.

Not shown: the liquor shelved across the entire span of the 4 aisles. We did find a couple bottles of champagne but contrary to the sign, there was not a speck of food in sight.

We always find awesome things when we walk to coffee.

2011-08-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

Maybe next week we'll find a cassette player.

Fashion Friday

2011-08-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a week! After 4 weeks to teaching 4 days a week, working to create a new position for work, doing my job, and subbing for Work Kim while she is on vacation, I am beat! But as I type this, I am sitting at the coffee shop after a jog around Tabor and a shower and working from here this morning. Later, I am off to get a massage to thank this ol' bod of mine that works so hard for me. I have to admit, yesterday I wore jeans and a tank top and my running shoes since I knew I'd be tied to my desk all day. But I did manage to look nice earlier in the week. I just the heavens were shining on me in approval :)

This was a great hot weather work outfit. It was comfy, simply a tank and skirt, but the drapey vest added some coverage and flow. Man, I love those shoes. I also love how this picture makes our yard look so green and luxurious. I'm not going to show you the rest.

I love pairing black and brown and this was a great way to showcase this cute little amber colored glass seahorse necklace my mom brought me from Hawaii.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T10:23:00.001-07:00

I knew Tracy would come through!

2011-08-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

and I knew there would be some gems in her collection...
Bros.

Bring it.

ah.

Schemers.

Love this. Love him.

BFFs.

lol :)

and these are from my camera, post party, back in our hood.

Thanks Portland, for our summer day!

Party!

2011-08-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend, we went to a super fun party at Nick and Kim's. We got there early so Kim and I had to be the brave ones to test the bouncy house.

and John manned up for the dunk tank.

Ha!

Man circle.

The dunk tank was awesome.

Something cute is that John loves Tracy and Trevor's little boy, Thatcher. Here they are bonding in the bouncy house.

That's a happy little boy :)

and then all the other kids joined them. Here's poor John trying to escape.

Resistance is futile.

What a perfect day for a great party!

This is probably going to be part 1 of 2 because I'm just waiting for Tracy to post her pictures so I can steal some :)

Fashion Friday

2011-08-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

I just don't have the right pair of blue shoes.. I have a shiny navy platform and a pair of sequin pumps (Hi, 80s!), so I had to get creative when I wanted to wear this blue shirt.

I love when my hair can be an accessory so I decided to just go all the way and added a red headband, bracelet and shoes. To complete my all-American look, I put on my festive cherry earrings (George Washington chopping down the cherry tree, get it?) and giant white purse.

America, Fuck Yeah!

...and it opened up my eyes.

2011-08-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a yearning to be waking up somewhere in the middle of nowhere and riding for the day to land in the middle of another nowhere. On those fantastic days on the road, we see a lot of signs. This one from Fairview makes me happy.

Budweiser Clydesdales?

Hubba hubba

Something about Montana is that they are serious about their meth warnings. We passed about a hundred "meth..not even once" signs that ranged from billboards to homemade signs nailed to roadside fences. Then we ran into meth truck...

whoa. They also like their anti-abortion signs, so there's lots of pro-life signs. This creative sign maker tied the messages together in one giant barn painting!

This looks like the best lunch place ever! it was someone's house.

Cute.

We had to drive past this one twice to take it all in. I like imagining the person who came up with the idea busting our their stencils and paint to create this flag uterus sign to display in front of their house.

This is kind of scary. When I was in 7th grade, I'm pretty sure our art competitions were about recycling and I kind of yearned for that to be the case again when I saw this.

Wait, what? Why?

Oh.

At least they are using all the parts after they kill it..

Clever, those who make church signs.

Jesus is totally going to want his picture by this wall when he comes back.

"Hey"

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-17T09:49:00.001-07:00

Kitty in a box

2011-08-15T10:11:00.001-07:00

So cliche, Toki.

Fashion Friday

2011-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

New boots! Well, new used boots from the resale shop in Pendleton anyway. The great thing about this type of outfit is that it draws attention away from my face... :) which means that one is less likely to notice that I didn't fix my hair after Body Blitz. If they did look up, they'd notice my awesome red heart earrings. I spent the day hearing "Nice boots" and "What's up, Cowgirl?" and one lady told me she couldn't stop looking at me because I was so bright! I love this type of outfit, simple and comfortable with accessories doing all the work. So easy.

Tease and Tone was made for Sporty Spice songs

2011-08-11T09:50:00.001-07:00