Happy Halloween!

Cuddly Halloween greetings from Sam and Max. . .

And a cute Halloween greeting, from the Lord Of Cuteness himself:  Des!

 Scary Faces!

 

 And Happy Faces!

The anticipation is palpable!

It's pumpkin carving time (which is serious work)

The finished products!

The boys approve!

My hubby is 'Da Man'! (The Husband Song)

Well, today is dear hubby's birthday--so I decided to dedicate this post to him and found a song that I'm SURE he'll 100% agree with. . . after all, he's DA MAN!

Enjoy sweetie--this one's for you (and all the other manly hubbies out there)

 

Happy birthday Dear Hubby!

There's Parkour. . . and then there's 'Office Parkour'

Unless you've been living under a rock or perhaps only visit this planet on occasion, you've heard of 'Parkour'.

The Frenchy French thought this one up.  It simply means the art of moving.  And what a way to move, eh?

The participant runs along a route and tries to navigate obstacles in the most effecient totally cool way possible by jumping, spinning, tumbling, leaping, flying, defying gravity and the laws of physics in every way possible.

I am a die hard fan of the sport--and am currently trying to get my body in shape just to navigate the coffee table and couch in my living room without breaking my toes.  (which, alas, I have done TWICE before)

And just as there are 437, 984 coffee combinations at Starbucks--there are many subtle and not so subtle rankings of Parkour. . . from the novice to the not so novice.  (I'm still working up to the novice level)


Just to give you an example--here is a guy whom I will dub 'The King Of Parkour'   His name is Damien Walters.  This is on the 'Hardcore Parkour level':

And then there is the 'Office Hardcore Parkour'  which is in a category by itself and should not be attempted without an 'idiot meter' present:

I'm not going to say 'don't try this at home'--because face it, you can try it ANYWHERE.  Just be sure you look really cool doing it and either give the 'thumbs up sign' when you've mastered a particular tricky move--or shout 'HARDCORE PARKOUR' for effect when you look like a total moron.  That way, everyone will totally understand and think you're amazing.

I will be attempting to hurtle from my parked car into a shopping cart and careen one-legged all the way up to the sidewalk, whereupon I will leap through the automatic doors into the Target store this morning.  Wish me luck. . . .

Beach Dance at Cannon Beach. . . Amazing!

Cannon Beach is such such a beautiful place along the Oregon coast and one of my favorite easy access quick getaway places when I need a  bit of beach time.

On my recent 'gal's getaway' one of the most amazing things we did was participate in 'Beach Dance'

the last Saturday of  September--AND it happened to be the last beach dance event of the season.

Only one of the gal's in my group had participated before and she talked the rest of us into giving it a try.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning--and I had absolutely no  idea of what to expect or how I would feel--but I was willing to just live in the moment and let the music and the ocean and waves and sky and sun and nature take it's course.

I picked my spot over by these cliffs--because there was an inlet (opening) among the rock face where I could go and be alone if necessary and not worry about anyone else watching.

The instructor gave us all iPod Shuffles with an hour's worth of all types of music and we all turned them on at the same time and just went and 'did our thing'

There were no rules, just complete freedom  to move and feel and just BE.

 

 

I didn't know how I would feel or what I would end up doing--but the music flowed, my body moved and lo & behold! emotions started pouring out of me. . . so much so, I had to take a break halfway through and get a grip!

It was WONDERFUL.  It was freeing.  It was exhilarating.  It was empowering.  And I ended up using every muscle in my body and performing moves I hadn't done since I was a kid.  (the next day I was sore in places I didn't even know I had!)

I absolutely LOVED it--and I think the other 15 participants that day felt the exact same way.

I talked with the 5 women I came with--and we all agreed we want to make this an annual pilgrimage and participate next year. (although secretly I'm hoping I don't have to wait that long)  I'm now tempted to get an iPod Shuffle of my own and get out there somewhere in nature and start moving and grooving amongst the flora and fauna and birds and bees.

A big thanks to Lisa our fabulous beach dance instructor---and to my friend, (whom I'll call Elaine) for suggesting this idea in the first place. . . and a big thanks to the friends who participated with me that amazing day.

If any of my blogger followers want to try this out for yourselves--just click on the beach dance link I provided in that second paragraph and perhaps you can find a location near you. . .

Hope to see you dancing on the beach--I know I will be!

Another Oregon Coast getaway. . . Life is GOOD!

I absolutely LOVE getting away to the beach. . . something about the waves. . . the water. . . the cliffs. . . the sand. . . the sun. . . the seagulls. . . . the sky. . . and the SOLITUDE.

OK--maybe not so much the solitude part (since I rarely go alone) but the IDEA of solitude is pretty cool.

 

Besides. . . the Oregon coast is just breathtakingly beautiful. . . .

The last weekend in September I got away with one of my crazy gal pals and we headed off to the coast for a long 3 day weekend. 

 

Just for fun we invited another friend and 3 other women we didn't even know.

To find out just ONE of the antics we came up with--you need to read my previous post on 'THE NECKLACE'

 

Besides the sight seeing and shopping, which are always favorite activities for gal pal and me--we decided to really go out on a limb and try something different.  One of my friends had suggested we participate in  'Beach Dance' on Cannon Beach.   (I will be posting more on that experience later)  But we were a pretty game bunch of women and up for anything--so we ended up giving it a whirl.

The excitement BEFORE the event was much like a kid awaiting Christmas.  The anticipation of what it would be like had us coming up with our own inventive versions. . . (and notice how there is always a handy pole nearby when you need one)

 

 I think this name aptly describes our little group of wild women:

Notice the point made about 'keeping off'.  I think it goes without saying when you come upon this bunch :

Among the 'sights' that we saw was this PERFECT CAR!  Methinks the theme had something to do with flamingos:

And of course it was parked in front of the PERFECT HOUSE!

Now if I posted every single 'shopping find' we found and JUST HAD TO HAVE, it would exceed the bandwidth for this blog . . . so I'm just gonna say that the finds were AMAZING and INCREDIBLE and FANTASTIC (and didn't set our finances back too much)

Besides finding 'the necklace' and meeting 3 fabulous women---I'm thinking the cream on the top of this latte was participating in 'Beach Dance'. . . And I will savor that moment and share it in my next blog post--because it deserves a post of it's own.

Thanks for the memories gals. . . what a GREAT coast weekend!

My practical and perfect answer to 'The Necklace'

Absolutely EVERYONE who is ANYONE is all a-buzz with talk of this book entitled:

THE NECKLACE By Cheryl Jarvis

And on my recent get-away to the lovely Oregon Coast with friends old and new, I learned of this little gem of a tale and the journey of 13 women who invested in a $37,000, 15 carat diamond necklace (which of course they got on sale for $16,000 so it was a STEAL) and how it transformed them.

Now I'm all for sales. . . and getting together with fabulous women. . . not to mention owning luxury items that I really can't afford or don't really need.   So OF COURSE, I was intrigued by the story--and the idea of sharing with others and bonding--and TELLING all about it in a public setting.

That  gave me a crazy idea.  Here I was with 2 friends that I knew and 3 more that I had just met and we had shops galore at our finger tips--a beautiful sunny day at the beach--and all the time in the world. . . (well at least that afternoon)  soooooo. . . why not do a smaller, more economical version of our own?  

There were 6 of us all together--which meant we could wear 'the necklace' for TWO months out of the year, instead of just one. . .AND we didn't have to invest in something so expensive.  I mean, after all we could be really cheap practical and go in for just a buck a piece and get something for six dollars!   And truth be told--we didn't have to go for classy or even pretty.  We could really make a statement by finding the most hideous thing on the planet and clasping it around our neck and see where life took us.

So when I presented my BRILLIANT idea to the gals--it really didn't take much convincing.  They were all IN and ready to experiment.

The only rule I laid out for our little half-baked group was:

If it was a 'no, not on God's green earth' for one of us--it was an 'absolutely not' for all of us.  We either had to totally love it or completely hate it--but we all had to agree it was worth the purchase price. . . whatever that turned out to be.

We were fairly giddy with excitement as we began our shopping spree to find that ONE NECKLACE that would make a statement and that we could actually live with wearing for a month without needing a trip to the psychiatrist. 

 

After checking so many shops (and being kicked out of a couple) we finally found a shop with some promise:

The name of the shop was 'Rare Discovery' and we knew we were in for a real treat when we entered the door.  HOLY MOLY!  We found the perfect necklace too!

We dubbed it 'amoeba guy'. . . because. . . well. . . just look at that amoeba of a pendant hanging off it!

This little beaut only cost $129.00 so we each had to cough up $21.50 which was extremely affordable and nothing we would have to guiltily hide from our husbands later. . . We diplomatically figured out who would have to wear 'amoeba guy' first--and since 'Karen' was in the bathroom at the time--naturally we picked her to do the honors when she returned.

Upon leaving the store my new friend, (who I will call 'Karen') was approached by this really old lady.

Karen:  (to the rest of us)  I wonder what kind of experiences I will have wearing this thing?

Really old lady:  (coming up to Karen and looking with disgust at the necklace)  My God, what are you wearing?

Me:  Look!  You are already being worshiped!

Karen:  (all smiles)  You know, you're right. And I haven't gotten 3 feet from the store!

Rest of the gals:  AMAZING!

Really old lady:  You people are sick.

Now this is 'Karen'.

  She will be wearing this little gem through the month of October--then my friend 'Heidi' will tackle the beast in November--and then it will fall upon the neck of yours truly during the month of December. . . the rest of the gals will be fighting over it next year. . .

And oh YES INDEEDY!  I will be updating you of the amazing journey of this little guy--month by scintillating month--  (that is if any of these gals ever speak to me again)

It just goes to show you what six amazingly desperate, certifiably insane, devil-may-care, and willing to settle for the mediocre, women can do on a weekend binge. . .

Remember when it rained?

Well, if today is any indication for the great northwest (where I reside) the rainy season is upon us. . .

But I actually welcome the fall--and even the rain (to a certain degree, of course)

And when you have a brilliant artist like Josh Groban who can create and perform such a beautiful song about those little moisture droplets. . . then what's not to like?

This is just BEAUTIFUL! Bring on the RAIN!