September 04

If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?

 

Three months?  That sounds like a dream.  

 

You know how I am a tad obsessed with alpacas?  Well, I am also really into puffins.  Yep, puffins.

via

And since Iceland is their breeding ground, I would pack up Bobaloo and the pup and spend three months hanging out in Iceland.  Chilling with the birds isn't all there is to do, here are some other ways I'd spend my time...

1.  Northern Lights / 2.  Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa / 3.  Icelandic Horses / 4.  Glacier Tours / 5.  Whale Watching /
6.  Hiking in Landmannalaugar / 7.  Gullfoss (Golden Falls) / 8.  Capital City, Reykjavik


 If you had three months off, would you stay home or travel somewhere exciting?

 

Smack Talk, Shuttlecocks, and Ducks

I enjoy games. Not a whole lot will make me happier than playing Yahtzee on the patio on a summer day. I also really like Jenga.

I am by and large not a competitor as I do not have an athletic bone in my body and never really get psyched for the big game. Badminton is about as badass as I get. Plus, shuttlecock is a hilarious word.

Invite me to play a board game, cards, or trivia though? BRING IT ON.

My trash-talking, ready-for-action self is ready for the cut-throat competition. I turn into a different person. One who uses phrases such as IN YOUR FACE! and PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT! There are other phrases loudly expressed but I can’t really think of them when I am not under pressure during an intense game of cribbage.

My best girlfriend Jillian is similar. She’s even more competitive and also has a knack for talking smack. Our cribbage games are interesting to overhear. We almost got into fisticuffs once over a game of Trivial Pursuit. If Jillian ever reads this: I am still right. Luckily, our friendship survived and we were able to carry on with our games.

Camping and Cribbage

Bobaloo is awesome and will play Yahtzee with me. He’s not such a fan of the trash-talk so I keep it to a minimum. Cooperation, not competition.

We also have had a two-year rock-paper-scissor tournament going on. He has consistently won EVERY game for the last two years up until a couple of weeks ago. I won, and the smack talk began. It went on for a good half hour or so. Yep. He wins 100 times; I win once and won’t shut up about it. He reclaimed the title last Sunday so my victory was short-lived. He is a quiet winner. Never bragging, never rubbing it in. Dignified.

Then something happened. Something unprecedented. The 4th of July duck races.

He won the first race (well his duck did).

He cheered his duck on.

Pictures were taken of the winning duck.

We even held a ceremony for the duck: Bobaloo won a tee shirt. We celebrated the duck victory hard (with a pitcher of beer).

He was a proud champion.

He was happy as a duck in water.

Summertime

Summer is coming and I could not be more excited. It’s supposed to be in the eighties around these parts this weekend and I cannot wait to sit on the patio with my book and bask in the sunshine. The pool opens next weekend and I am eager to blow up all of the pool toys and get to some floating. Bobaloo has offered to provide me with some swimming lessons this summer and I think I am going to take him up on it despite my wariness of being a difficult student. I will have to check the attitude at the door. I don’t like to learn things that don’t come easy to me. Ouch, that kind of hurt to admit.

A big part of why I love summer is because there are a ton of free or cheap things to do like fishing, gold panning, camping, festivals, basking, etc. I am thinking about doing some patio gardening although even with my efforts, plants seem to die on me. I try not to take it too personally. Do you plant anything on your patio that is a success year after year?

I have a couple of big plans for June which I am psyched about. A week ago, I booked a plane ticket to the Twin Cities to go to my little brother’s high school graduation party. It’ll be the perfect time of year to visit and I am glad to be able to celebrate his big day. I don’t know about you, but high school graduation was one of the best days of my life. I cannot believe the kid is eighteen and will be heading to college in the fall. It seems like it was not long ago that I was announcing to my third grade classroom that I now had a little brother. My, how time flies. I am already thinking about fun and interesting things I can send to him to adorn his dorm room with. I didn’t do the whole college thing for more than a week so I am not really sure what the essentials are these days. Any ideas of items you can’t live without as a freshman in a dorm?

The other big event is of course, Widespread Panic. They didn’t play Red Rocks last summer and it felt like I was missing something. I am pretty stoked to be amongst all sorts of people having all sorts of fun.

I now work at a job where I get holidays off again. Bring it on summer, with all of your paid holidays. I can’t wait!

Mussels, Mollusks, and Movies

I have not been feeling very creative as of late. My thoughts have been a gumbo of mumbo jumbo recently. Having life be absolute disarray might have something do with it. I have been doing a lot of reading though, sometimes it’s nice to sit back and read about the drama in other people’s lives.

I leave San Diego at the end of the month and am very excited to be going back home. This little adventure hasn’t been a total loss though, we’ve missed three blizzards in Denver and the pool at our apartment complex will open up at the end of May.

My husband brought up the idea that we’re pool kind of people. Not ocean people, not lake people, on occasion river people, but for the most part pool people. It’s totally true. I am not quite sure what to make of that information. I prefer to be a big fish in a small chlorinated pool? I guess if I am wearing my shiny swimsuit, I look more like a mermaid or a shiny mussel shell. So I guess I am a shiny mollusk in a chlorinated pool. Hmmm... Anyway, I am looking forward to the summer and getting all of our pool toys out and enjoying the sunshine.

I have been enjoying my time out here a lot more. Now that I know we’re going home it is easier to be worry-free. I have given my two week notice already, and have never been so happy to leave a job in my life. Seriously, it’s that bad. Last weekend we went out to dinner and a movie which was fun. We go to the movies once a year, so it’s a big deal. We also took a drive up the coast stopping at a fun little bar called, Dini’s By the Sea in Carlsbad where we drank cool drinks in the sunshine on the patio and met some interesting people.

Lord Hornblower

So, this last weekend my little bro was in town for spring break. This kid has seen and done everything by the age of 17 due to my older bro and me living in awesome locales. I was kind of stumped on what to do with him and also a little short on fun money.

For $25 apiece, I booked tickets for us to cruise the 26 miles around San Diego Harbor. When we got on the boat we found chairs for the three of us on the left side of the boat, or port side if you will, for all of my pirate readers. Ahoy, by the way. The whole tour was of everything on the right side of the boat. Oops!

We saw Diego the whale’s shadow. The poor thing is stuck in the harbor. Who gets to name the whales anyway? I have to say, it is kind of a lame name for a whale. If I had a whale, I woud probably name him Walter. What would you name your whale?

Halfway through the tour, we found a table on the sun deck where we were able to indulge in a beer and some chips. Some awesome chips. Chips in the shape of a whale’s tale. I took pictures. And as soon as I find my camera cable I will upload them. Anyway, we proceeded to get sunburned, which was awesome. Because it was March.

After the boat ride, we topped the day off with some pizza, frozen yogurt, and the movie Anchorman. I think my bro got a good taste of San Diego.