Not enough red

What have I learned from this little experience? I need to travel more!

create your own visited country map
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A fun and informative quiz that everyone should take

I found this quiz on one of my favorite sites, Hungrygirl.com, and thought that everyone else should give it a try too. It was very interesting. I didn't do very well becuase I kept guessing too low. It's just another nail in the fast food coffin. :) Give it a try and let me know what you learned.

Tabs

Roxanna and Sophia

Here is my good friend Roxanna and her sweet baby Sophia. Rox and I went to high school and college together (she was a year ahead of me). She moved to Japan to teach English as a foreign language for a year and ended up staying for almost 4. When Rox was home last fall she informed everyone that she was pregnant. It was a quite a shock, I admit, but also so very exciting! If anyone would be a great mom it was going to be Roxanna. She has the sweetest and most adventerous spirit of anyone I know, such a great combo. Well, little Sophia Mae was born on February 27th in Japan and those of us back in the states had to settle with checking Rox's blog to see just how mom and baby were doing. It was fun to see these two together in pctures the last few months but it was nothing compared to finally seeing both of them in person a few weeks ago when Rox and Sophia stopped in Portland for a few days on their way back to Montana (oh, how I wish they were living here, but Montana is a whole lot closer than Japan).

My parents love Roxanna as much if not more than I do so when ever she comes to town she makes it a point to come over and have dinner with us and this visit was no exception. As you can see, now my parents love Sophia just as much. I think she likes them too.
Apparently this is the only way I know how to smile when I have a baby in my arms. I don't really know why, just chalk it up to my weirdness about not being camera shy and loving the little ones. :)
And last but not least, here are Rox and me. It's so weird to look at this photo and think about how much we have changed and how much we haven't, where we are in our lives now and where we've been. I'm flouded with so many memories of hanging out with this wonderful friend over the years. She's been there for me to talk to about anything, someone I knew I could always go to when I needed to get away who wouldn't judge me but just listen. She made it known that her door was always open for people to stop by and hang out. And she was either planning a party or going to one. As my friend Kristin would say, she is definitely a "Go girl." She did my hair for several banquets, stayed up til wee hours of the morning for late night chats, made several covert hot tubbing trips (even when I had curfew, hehehe), and we were even bullfighters and teeth together (good ol' Spring Sing). She even listened to me talk about a guy that I liked even though she secretly had a crush on him. She was and still is great at taking my mind off of the bad and focusing on the good and the fun. She is sweet, spontanious, gentle, full of joy and loves the Lord with every fiber of her being. She has and will always be a great example of a Christian woman and I thank her so much for that and also for her friendship over these last 10 years. Wow...I han't thought about that, 10 years. Thats a long time. Okay, this ode has gone on long enough and I am getting too sentimental. I must stop before the waterworks start. Roxanna, you are a fabulous friend and I hope we never lose touch! I hope I have done an okay job of getting my thoughts out on here, although I'm sure I forgot to say something but oh well. I'm no writer, just a blogger. :) Anyway, I will be praying for you, dear friend, and your sweet little Sophia! Love you!

TABS

A few "fun" facts for ya...

I just found these and I thought I would share them with you...enjoy...

Billy goats do what to smell more attractive to females?
Urinate on their own heads










Most giraffes are bisexual.











How long is an elephant’s pregnancy?
22 months (YIKES!)

Which of the following females often eat the male after mating?
Scorpions




What only other mammal, besides humans, has sex for pleasure?
Dolphins








Male cockroaches are usually most attracted to female virgins. How do they know who the virgins are?
They secrete pheromones (cockroaches are gross!)

And a very interesting one, bats mate while flying. Hmmm....

Anyway, thats all I got for ya. Have a great day!

Tabs

Netflix is a beautiful thing!

I love Netflix, it's just a wonderful creation. I had it for awhile and then stopped to save money but I'm back into it again. I was renting movies on a somewhat regular basis and foudn that it adds up way fast (so I wasn't really saving any money at all!). So, if you are a member please let me know and I can add you to my friend list. I love seeing what other people have rented cause then it gives me ideas, which (I know) is the whole point. :)

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Tabs

Good book

My dad and I are reading this book called The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. I think it's a pretty good book, but I am only on the 3rd chapter. I read the 3rd chapter, A Life Defined, and thought it was so good that I had to share it with all of you. I think it is something that all Christians deal with at various times in their lives (or if they are like me, all the time) and so I thought it would be good for you to read if you see fit. If you read it please let me know what you thought. Oh, I should probably give you an idea of what it is about. This chapter discuses completely surrending our burdens to the Lord. We have a tendancy to take our burdens to foot of the throne and give them to God to take care of but when we get up to leave we put them right on our backs again and leave, not really giving them up which is not what He had in mind. I've never been a great summerizer so I'll just leave it at that and hope that you enjoy it and learn from it as much as I did.

Tabs

America got it wrong!

I don't even want to make this post today, it makes me very sad. Last night, Ryan Seacrest stunned us when he told Chris Daughtry that he was going home. I almost cried...and for two reasons: 1) because I just love Chris and thought he was going all the way and 2) because he looked so stunned and shocked himself. The silver lining in all of this is that I know that Chris will go on and have a fabulous career in the music world because he is just that dang good. So, Chris, it is with a very sad heart that I say goodbye to you today. May you grow from this experience and have great success using your God given talent.

This post can't be very long because I don't like to dwell too much on this very sad situation that we American Idol fans have been left in. Now I don't know who I want to win. I do know, though, that Taylor has to go home next week. I want it to come down to Kathrine or Elliot. Let me know who you think will be the American Idol come May 24th.

Tabs

Good-bye Paris!

Sorry this is so late but I missed the show on Wednesday night and completely forgot about it until today. So I felt I should make a shout out to our dear young Paris and wish her well. She has an amazing voice and I know she will do well.


I think this week we will be saying good bye to Mr. Taylor Hicks. That's my vote, you heard it here first folks.

And just so we are all on the same page, I am voting for Chris to be the next American Idol. He's cute! Oh, yeah, and he sings great too...I guess. ;)

The race is over

Well, everyone the Hagg Lake 10 Mile Run race is over and I feel pretty good. I got lost on the way there, was late, basically told two cops to shut up and was allowed to start 11 minutes after everyone else (I think everyone was so nice because I had tears in my eyes and would have kicked some butt if they had done otherwise). It made for a very interesting race but I also think the adrenaline helped me out a bit because I ran the race in about an hour and 19 minutes (which breaks down to about 7 minute, 40 second miles, something I didn't even know I had in me). The race was on a road that went around a very beautiful lake called Hagg Lake (doesn't sound like it's going to be pretty but thankfully it didn't live up to it's name) and was quite hilly, though that isn't a bad thing because when you go up you must come down and those down sides feel pretty darn good. I came in second in my age division again, which is fun, but I think I'm going to have to find that girl and have a little chat with her, Tanya Harding style if I get second again. ;) Oh, yeah, I can't forget to mention that my knee has been killing me since last weekend and on Saturday did fine for most of the race. However, when I finished and the adrenaline started to faid, the pain started to swell and it became difficult to walk on my left knee. I've been icing it, putting some ointment stuff on it and taking aspirin. I hope this isn't a big thing because it would really put a damper on my running future. But I have a whole month to recoup and get ready for my next race. June 10th is the Helvetia Half out in Hillsboro. I'm a bit nervous about it because, as the name of the city where it's located indicates, it's supposed to be super hilly which makes for a killer run. It just means I'll have to get out and train a bit harder, and like I said, with every up there is a down.

Oh, and I should mention that my dad took me out to eat at my fave pizza place, American Dream Pizza for lunch on Sunday's (now if only they would make whole wheat crusts). I think that their pizza is my favorite post race meal (well, sometime during the same weekend at least). I choose not to eat pizza very often since it isn't one of the most healthiest of options but after a race I think I've earned it. I think this needs to become a ritual. I mean, I do have a pre-race meal and a particular food of choice for the actual run. It only makes sense to have a post meal don't ya think? My pre-race meal consists of oatmeal with yogurt (maybe a little peanut butter mixed in for some protein), a banana and lots of water (gotta be careful, though, and not drink too much or I'll have to pee during the race and that is absolutely no fun, trust me) and I eat jelly belly's during the race (tasty, small and just a nice burst of energy, not super fun to chew though) so I think I do need to have a post race meal. In fact, I like the idea of it being the next day meal becuase I don't think I'd want the grease that inevitably comes on all pizza right after I've run a long way and my body is trying to right itself. Actually, my favorite post race thing to eat is a PB & J sandwich and baby carrots ... YUM!!! It's a great combo of carbs, protein and fat ... very satisfying to the body and the taste buds. :)

Oh, jeez...blah, blah, blah, can I get anymore boring? Seriously, sorry I'm not writing about anything a bit more interesting today. Oh well...you know what your getting into as soon as you see the name of this blog so you can't be mad at me. :)

Hope your weekends were great and this week is even better! It will be for me cause I get to see my dear Roxy and her sweet baby Sophie!!! I can't wait!!!!
Tabs

Hagg Lake 10 Mile Run

Well, I'm just about off to go participate in a 10 mile race this morning. I'm excited and nervous for it. I always get this way before a race, even a 5k race. Why is that? I know why I get excited but I'm not sure why I get nervous, especially when I'm running a race that is shorter than a 1/2 marathon. This 10 miler sounded great cause it is shorter than a 1/2 marathon but longer than a 10k. And 10 miles is about where my thighs start to get mad at me in a 1/2 (which is fun when you still have 3 miles to go). I'm nervous for this race because it's in a part of town I've never been to and I'm not entirely sure of how to get there so I'm a bit worried about getting lost. Oh well, that's the adventure of the whole thing. It's supposed to be cloudy and overcast this morning too. Surprise, surprise....not really. Every time I run a race (EVERY TIME!!!) it's raining and overcast and yucky. I'm praying that I will be pleasantly surprised and it won't rain or even be overcast and the sun will come out to watch us run. Anywho, I gotta jet. Still gotta make some food and get my water belt all ready to go. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tabs

2 items: one good, one terribly horribly bad

The first item is for runners or walkers. I, like so many others, like to get out of the gym and run in my neighborhood when the weather is beautiful. However, running outside can be a bit hard for someone like myself who likes to keep track of how many miles I've run since it's not like the treadmill which tracks that for you. Well, to keep this post short I won't go into much detail but I found this great site that lets you map out your running route, marking each mile along the way and giving you exact mileage you've gone in your little excersize excursion. It's at the USA Track and Field website and it's great cause you use it no matter where you are in the US. So, have at it all you runners/walkers!

The second item is that the gas station by my apartment complex has gone up to 2.93. 2.93!!!!! All I can say is WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!?! Soon we'll be handing over our first born to gas station attendants just to fill our vehicles. This is ridiculous, folks, and I wish there was something that we could do. I won't bore you with anymore ranting since I'm sure you're all hearing it from other friends and family. But if you have any opinions, thoughts, ideas...please share, I'd love to hear them.

Well, hope everyone has a great day and doesn't go broke filling their tanks.

TABS

Early morning hot tubing

I did something on Sunday that I would like to recomend to you all (and is something that I hope to add into my weekend schedule on a more regular basis). At around 8:30 am yesterday morning I went out and sat in my apartment complex's hot tub. It was so wonderful because in place of the screaming and splashing kids there was calm waters and birds chirping. I also was able to enjoy the wonderful early morning sun that can so often be missed by late sleepers. The sun was just coming up over the tall trees that are on the East side of my complex and there were few clouds in the sky...it was gorgeous. Granted, it wasn't warm outside but the water was nice and hot making the contrast very nice.

Now, I know not everyone has access to a hot tub but if you do or if you ever do in the future, remember my words and give this a try. It is very calming and is a great way to start a day. It gives you time to relax, recouperate, and reflect. It would even be nice with a friend (if you have a friend that would get up and come over that early). Oh, and you get some sun, can't complain about that. And did you know that sun exposure for fifteen minutes three times a week gives you all the vitamin D you need? What a great way to get it.

Well, that is all I have for you now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Tabs

Oh, I forgot to mention that I went and saw United 93 on Saturday with the fam. It was a very well put together movie except that pretty much everything was filmed with a hand held camera. I got so motion sick that I had to leave my seat and sit on the floor by the exit door so I could still hear the movie but make a quick get-a-way to the bathroom should the need have arise. Besides my churning insides, the movie was very well done. It doesn't add any extra stuff to the movie like love stories or anything like that. It just gives the bare bones of what happened that day, showing us just what they saw from the ground and I think they did a great job of showing us what probably happened on the plane in those final minutes. I recomend it.