Dance or Sing

If you could choose between being a great singer or a great dancer, which would it be? 

Also, have you noticed I'm blogging more?  Must be the fact that it is windy, rainy and yucky a lot.

Dance or Sing

If you could choose between being a great singer or a great dancer, which would it be? 

Also, have you noticed I'm blogging more?  Must be the fact that it is windy, rainy and yucky a lot.

Beeping Sleauty

That's a nickname my Dad gave me years ago.  I love sleeping and hate getting up in the AM.  As a kid, this meant lots of prodding from my parents.  As an adult, it means I try to get to bed early and when not in session, save the work-outs for the afternoon.  But, this summer slight insomnia has hit me.  I've been discussing this with a few friends on Facebook and via e-mail and apparently, insomnia is common in women in their late 30's, early 40's.  Apparently, it's some sort of pre-menapausial thing.  Technically, it's called "peri-menapause" and if I had any say in this thing, I'd be too young for all this rubbish!  But, alas, I am not.  I cannot directly say the few incidents I've had with not being able to sleep are indeed caused by this peri-mena thing.  I can say, this is a new thing for me.  Two or three times in the last few months I've woken up in the wee hours of the AM and not been able to get back to sleep. Once, I even got up and ate a mid-night snack which is something I never do.  Other nights, like tonight, I am not able to get to sleep early.  I'm wide awake when I should be sleepy.

I've tried things like- don't eat after a certain hour (though I'm not so great at this one), exercise during the day (I'm good at this one), don't drink alcohol (haven't done that in a few nights and it doesn't help), etc.  Anyway,  this too shall pass and for that I am grateful.

Random Photo to Close The Post:  Fall in Cambridge, MA

Like Father Like Daughter

Dad

Debbie 1971 (most likely this is Dad's fish)

Debbie 1990's (my first fishing trip and my first salmon)

The Lazy Has Exited!

After my last post, I have not been very lazy!  This weekend was an off-weekend, meaning we didn't race.  There were two races happening this weekend but we decided we needed a bit of a break.  We've been racing every weekend since late September and the season does not end until December 12-13.  That means, a lot more racing.  So instead, here's what the weekend held:

• More scanning of old photos and finding a lot more yet to do.
• Cleaning of half the house (it's a big house!)
• Baking of some muffins that turned out awful.  Bummer!
• Cheeseburger pie for dinner one night, tacos the next- yup, homemade!
• Reading of a very good book and two Sunday papers.
• Running some errands:  Costco, Home Depot, Grocery Store
• Mountain biking in Cap Forest and then laundering of muddy and wet clothes
• I'll do some yoga tonight and finsih cleaning the bathrooms. 

A photo of the cold mountain bike ride and yes, that is snow!

The Lazy Has Settled In

I ordered pizza tonight so I wouldn't have to cook.

I only rode home from work, did not do a road ride at lunch as I had planned, did not make up for it after work.  Just rode home.

I folded the laundry but left it in piles downstairs.

I played with Murphy but took shelter upstairs inside while he fetched up the dummy.  He'd bring it upstairs, I'd step outside, throw it, step back inside.  Repeat over and over.

I decided to snuggle up with some DVDs, watch some movies or the Wire, eat pizza and drink wine tonight.
In doing so I'm putting off cleaning up some projects, making some muffins I've wanted to bake, cleaning the bathrooms and taking out the recycling.

I'm just lazy tonight and you know what.... I'm an adult!  I can be lazy for one night!

A Long Time Ago

I stumbled across some photos that were from way back in the day:

I am not sure what year this photo was taken of me, my Mom and my sister Michelle but I think my Dad took it probably around 1974 or 1975.  This is one of my favorite photos of the three of us.  As my readers know (particularly b/c most of you are family) my parents divorced when I was 5 or 6.  Michelle and I lived full-time with our Mom and saw our Dad every other weekend and for more extended periods in the summer.  Of course, when we hit high school, all bets were off and we mostly tried to coordinate visits around social events and such.  That meant we didn't see Dad as much as we all would have liked but, give us a break!  We were high school girls and couldn't miss a party, football game, cheer or drill team practice or an opportunity to hang with our friends.  Life would have simply ended had we not been able to do these things (note of sarcasm here). 

That said, this photo has a special place in my heart as we became very close over the growing-up years.  I have a big healthy dose of respect and love for my Mom.  She worked hard to provide us the best but did not prioritize material things.  Instead, she was all about being true to yourself and in order to do that, you had to first know yourself.  She always comforted me through those times when I thought no one liked me at school or Michelle was mean to me.  (Michelle could probably say the same about me!)  She provided us a warm home, lots of love, TONS of patience, and a safe, loving place to grow up.  And Michelle is no longer mean to me (nor I to her).  We are very different adults but despite the differences, I consider Michelle one of my best friends and love her to pieces!

Now, just ignore my hair in this next photo!  This is a shot of Deanna (she's probably 7 or 8) and I on the docks in Westport in the summer of 1988.  Isn't she the cutest little sister?!?  I remember when Dad and Jackie called to tell Michelle and I we had a little sister named Deanna.  We made a welcome Deanna sign and posted it at my Mom's house.  When visiting my Dad and Jackie, we used to travel around with her in her car seat in between us and she would crane her neck back and forth between the two big sisters.  I loved visiting my Dad and Jackie and having a new baby sister to play with and watch grow up.  Some of my favorite memories of Deanna are times like this- no parents around, just us sisters.  She used to come visit me in College and stay in my dorm or apartment.  We would watch movies, eat popcorn and ice cream and just hang out.  I hope to stumble upon some photos of those times but luckily, I pulled this one out of a box today.  It's funny, not long from now we could recreate this with her daughter and me. 

One last photo for today.  This is my Grandpa Driver and I on the Koffee Kup in Westport.  Sadly, he passed away before I got to know him.  Regardless, I can tell in this photo that he must have loved me and all of his grandkids to pieces.  He just looks happy on the boat with a little one in his arms.

Photo Nerd

All my life I have loved taking pictures.  I'm not good at it but I really love the concept of snap shotting a memory or moment in time.  Over the years I've accumulated boxes of photos full of awesome memories.  The other day I finally got a new scanner (the old one was not compatible with Windows XP and HP didn't bother to upgrade the printer software).  I started scanning.  Here are some photos with some of my personal memories.  These are in no particular order.

Here I am as a little toddler hanging on the docks at Westport with my Grandma Pauline and Aunt Doll.  This photo foreshadows a lot in my life.  After graduating from high school I moved to Westport to live with my Aunt Doll and Uncle Dave and work in their Charter Office.  Grandma Pauline loved it in Westport and prior to my move, I used to carpool with her from Seattle for many visits to this place.  I spent 4 (or 5) summers working with my Aunt and Uncle.  Grandma Pauline often visited us there and eventually moved to Westport.  I became very close to my Aunt and Uncle and their children during that time as with my Grandma.  Sadly, she passed away but not without leaving me with great memories and a deep understanding of how important family is to each of us.  My Aunt and Uncle are still in Westport, running the Charter office (and Kite store).  Things have changed a lot down there but they have remained two of the hardest working, most generous, loving human beings I know.  This photo obviously means a lot to me.

Here Michelle and I are with our Dad at one of our High School Father Daughter Dinner Dances.  I don't know if I've told this story to my Dad or not, so if not, this will be new to you!  I'm older than Michelle so that meant my freshman year in high school I went to this dance solo with my Dad.  I didn't hesitate to ask him to the dance and was excited about the night up until about an hour before he came to pick me up.  During that last hour I started to get really nervous.  What would we talk about all night?  Would I really have to dance with my Dad?  Was I wearing a hip enough outfit to not look nerdy in front of my friends?  Who would we sit with?  The realization that my Dad may not know any of my friends' Dad made all this worse.  What if he was bored and miserable and just wanted to leave?  Well, Dad showed up, we went to the dance and I don't think I stopped smiling the whole night!  I was proud of my Dad and got to show him off to my friends.  Plus, I had him all to myself for an evening.  I remember looking forward to that dance every year and being so jealous after I graduated that Michelle got to go one last time with him.  In my Senior yearbook, there's a picture of me and my Dad line dancing at that year's dance.  It's one of my favorite shots in the whole yearbook. 

This last photo is one of me skydiving in Canada in 1991.  This was my Junior year of college and if you knew me back then, you knew I was pretty much conservative and did what I thought were all the right things.  Graduate from high school... check.  Go to college.... check.  Get a job and work while in school.... check.  Get good grades.... check...well most of the time!  Anyway, I started meeting a lot of great people in college and wouldn't you know, I started to challenge myself in new (and safe) ways.  I started running with a friend (I never really exercised before that), tried out being a vegetarian, found challenging and rewarding work, volunteered in the community, applied to be a Residential Advisor.  You get the picture.  One day, the dorm I was living in was planning a sky diving trip up in the Fraser River Valley.  I had never wanted to sky dive and thought I would never, ever do something like that.  But, a little voice deep down inside started toying with the idea.  I decided to give it a try, saved a bunch of money, signed up and joined a group of friends to jump out of a plane.  Once we got there we had two choices:  jump from 10,000 feet with an expert or jump from 3,000 by yourself.  The 3,000 foot choice required a 2-3 hour class.  I figured I would probably be too nervous to do a jump by myself and opted for the 10,000 foot jump.  They asked for volunteers to go first and no one raised their hand.  So, I did (might as well get it over with).  When we arrived at the 10,000 foot mark they opened the door and I just about puked!  Suddenly I thought this was a dumb idea.  Why would anyone purposefully jump from a moving plane?!? My expert partner told me to step out onto the ledge (ok another moment I felt like I'd puke).  I yelled back at him asking if anyone had thrown up on him before?  He answered but I couldn't understand him.  On the count of three we jumped and my heart stopped for a split second.  Next thing you know I'm free falling for a good long time.  Suddenly he pulled the parachute and we were floating.  I've never heard such quiet before as I did while we floated down to the ground.  We meandered here and there and I was flying up there with the birds.  The views were amazing and the experience fantastic!  I had a bit of a hard landing but since then, I really have tried to push myself farther and further than I think I can go.  Here's one thing I did do which I won't do again:  I called my mom the day before all this to tell her what I was going to do.  She was scared, nervous and I think a bit excited for me.  I remember her saying to me right before we hung up the phone:  "Now Debbie, next time you want to do something like this, tell me AFTER you are done,  not before you do it." 

My new looks

Went to a Halloween party as Velma (you know Velma from Scooby Do?) 

Bought some footie pajamas