31 Day Photo Challenge::Day 20::.

Day 20: A Photo of a place you would like to travel

I found this photo through google here: http://questionshaveanswers.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-were-galapagos-islands-important-to.html


When I was in the third grade, our class was assigned reports on random locations. It was all official like--we drew from a hat and everything. I drew Galapagos Islands, and I remember thinking what the fuck?! Ok I probably didn't use such colorful words, but you get my general point...Anyways, being the superb student I was, I did my research--found that there were giant turtles, and I was hooked. In middle school-ish I learned about Darwin and what a mind romp he was. Fascinating! I've been in love ever since.

One day.....one day I will have saved enough pennies and I will take my mini scientist there. You see, Haven is hooked, too. Example: While searching for this pretty photo above, Haven happened to glance and see a few photos...immediately she spouts, "HEY! GALAPAGOS! Why are you looking at The Galapagos Islands?????" She's six. Yep. She's going to get a wedgie or two......and then grow up to be a famous oceanographer (this is a real aspiration of hers) at which point she can give the wedgies. BUT I SWEAR ON ALL THAT IS HOLY, I WILL PUT GUM IN THE HAIR OF ANY CHILD OF ANY AGE (0-90) THAT HARASSES EITHER OF MY CHILDREN....AND PSYCHO RANT...OFF.

PS: Nope, I wasn't bullied. I was on the other side. I was that little bitch in class you wish you could have punched in the lunch line, went all Carry on at Prom, and prayed would get VD. Ok, I wasn't THAT bad, but being an adult and looking back---kids are assholes. I mean ASSHOLES. And I don't want my children to be on either side of situations like that. So in my blossoming knowledge of how to treat other humans, I've been extremely thorough on self-respect, respect for others and kindness when teaching my children. I think it's my job as a parent to prepare my humans for society---and I think we all can agree that we have enough fuck ups in the world without releasing a few more delinquents. So that's my parenting philosophy.

I've been Dirty::.

I have to share this. It's true I'm young-ish....I'm a damn good Mommy, but I know how to let loose once in awhile. I'm fortunate enough to have cool parents that will take My Humans overnight once in awhile. Well, for my birthday this year I bought myself The Husband bought tickets for a concert where my favorite band happened to be playing. Now I don't actually turn 24ish (again) until the 29th, but hey--when the Dirty Heads are in town, I will NOT miss them. "Dirty Heads?" you ask. Yes. The DIRTY HEADS. I'm what we will can a fan. I won't tell you that I listen to them every time I'm in the car. I won't tell you that I've seen them in concert twice in 3 months. I won't tell you that in those 3 months that I've worn skip spots in the cd that got me hooked. I also won't mention that I sometimes fantasize about following them around the country. Addictive personality remember? Anyways, this is what I wanted, this is what I got. The Husband, myself, The Best Friend and her Boyfriend(ish) headed out Monday evening. We were running late (of course) so I was a little anxious, but refused to lose my cool. We got super lucky with traffic during the 3 hour drive with only one directional error (F U google map for blackberry.). We checked into the hotel, changed, freshened and grabbed a cab downtown. Oh! And right before we left, I won 2 VIP tickets through the band's FB page. SCORE. I already had tickets, but if they were better seats--as in 2 of us got to hang with the band--The Best Friend and I were ditching the boys. It was just cold fact. Not because we're sluts. The guys were more interested in gambling--did I mention we stayed in a hotel/casino? So we get to the theater hand over our tickets and get access in. I can hear Cage the Elephant jamming...we had missed most of them. I was thinking DH would definitely be before them so I started having secret panic attacks. DRINKS! It was my recommendation and I'm glad I made it. I needed to mellow a bit AND we found out DH was next. The last part of Cage the Elephant's set was good..wish we would have caught more. We went to find our seats where we found out we were balcony. Hmmm, nope. That wasn't going to work for me. I asked the usher if we had access to the floor which he thought yes. The catty old hags at the door to floor thought otherwise. Hmmm! Maybe I can sweet talk the usher....it worked. Well, he tried. He failed. Actually his catty supervisor came over to see what was up. She recommended we talk to the box office about switching the tickets. The Best Friend and I handed our drinks to the boys and ran like fats kids after cake. We were instantly crushed by the mean ticket guy with, "No. We can't switch." Thanks dream crusher. AHAHA! The VIP tickets! I handed him my ID and he went to check "the list." I happened to look up the sidewalk and then I spot it. This dirty, unmistakable silhouette. The ticket monster was still on the phone with Lord knows who (probably his mother.) and I was worried the Cali boys were getting sick of being in the cold that is the Midwest. Their cigarettes (gross.) we probably about out, too. So I did what any freak fan would do--I knocked on the glass and told Dream-Crusher-McGee that we would be right back. We probably ran up the sidewalk like idiots, but I would like to think that we calmly strolled up to them leaving a "whooa--these chicks are cool" impression. I was so pumped and anxious about the ticket situation, meeting the front-men of the Dirty Heads about sent me into cardiac arrest.

I probably came off as a complete creep, but I met two of my favorite dirty boys, got pictures and hugs and small chit chat--and even though I barely remember due to adrenalin rushing through my body--I'm still smiiling. So we floated back down the sidewalk to the box office where I'm told they don't have the list yet and it would be 10minutes. I'm pretty sure he said that just to get rid of me being that DH was getting ready to take the stage. We decided that after that experience and the promise of a wave to the balcony, we were good. We headed back in to our drinks the guys. They didn't believe us of course. Thank goodness we had the camera. I would have hated life if I couldn't prove it. The Husband made jokes of tour bus activites, affairs, rockstar babies, etc and we headed back to our seats where we were greeted by the same usher...and he was smiling. He had wrist bands just for us to get to the floor. I peed a little. With jumping and random hugs we bracelet-ed each other and headed down to The Floor Hags. Haha, bitches! We we got to the back of the crowd, this is what we saw:

Don't get me wrong, we were gratful just to get to the floor and meet the guys, but we thought we could do better. The Husband and BBF's boyfriend(ish) wasn't interested in getting to the stage, so we took off. We used the, "Our friends are right up there, we need through...excuse me, excuse me" approach. We weaved in and out of people until we got to this douchebag who says, "Which friends? The niave ones??" Points to you smelly dude. Roadblock. But we decided this was good...there were only two people infront of us before the wall, so we made pretty good distance.

I'm sure a lot of you are not a familiar with the Dirty Heads, but for me this was a moment. And for spank's sake--check them out. You know how to use google, do it! And if you don't, click here for a taste. If you are farmilar you've probably heard this one. Anyways....

We jammed out, had a blast, danced like fools, spilled our drinks, sang with strangers, pretty sure got a contact high from the crowd, took lots of pictures, and at the end of it all...I caught a drumstick! This is my second DH drumstick in 3 months! I have a Matty set and that makes me cool. Right after the DH set we left. We hung out by the tour bus thinking they may come back out, but it was pretty cold by then so we took a near by cab to the hotel--which was AWESOME.

It was of course appropriate for us to hang out and drink in the tub. Who wouldn't?

After a little winding down and grooving, it was time to get our gamble on. We're pretty much broke, so we definetly went with tight pockets. It's not always easy to maintain in a casino, but we did fine. We gambled all night long and came back about even. No big.

This mini vacation will be remembered forever. I still cannot believe I met Jared & Duddy.

And I understand being this excited and starstruck makes me a nerd--I'm okay with that. At least I'm a Dirty nerd.

Oh and those VIP tickets I didn't get?? I contacted the tour manager and the next show in my state I'm on the guest list +1...they are some cool dudes.

So what have we learned? I'm still good at the whole Woman role, I'm a sucker for musicians, and I like reggae music---because I'm cool.

Thanksgiving Runaway....I Mean Getaway : )

Thanksgiving is due up in a few days. I'm REALLY excited this year! Honestly, I usually dread it. I know that's awful. Sure, I'm thankful--I'm a person who tries to be thankful everyday though. No Debbie Downer here. But...Thanksgiving usually consists of running constantly. Either in my own kitchen--which I don't really know what I'm doing, so there's smoke, pots boiling over and lots of crying--or Mom does the cooking even if we're at my house for dinner--and what's the point of going to someone's house to cook? So usually it goes like this:

• 45 minute drive to my parents' house.
• Spend a few hours laughing, eating, maybe arguing, crying, time-outs, maybe apologizing, hugs, miss yous, see you laters.
• Another 20 minute drive to Husband's parents' house.
• Spend a few hours laughing, sitting, eating, yawning (by now it's late and I'm beat), time-outs (kids are tired too...), and then we're on the road again.
• Now it's an 1hr+ drive home filled with whining because someone (I'll probably blame Husband) forgets car pillows. Diva Haven can't get comfortable to conk out so we can listen to her snore for the duration of the trip. 
• Both fall asleep so when we get home, they either wake up wired or cranky. Either way, I usually want to lock myself in a room for them to fend for themselves.
• Then by the time I do get to bed, I'm so tired that I sleep like the dead--but not long enough, because you can be sure Ashton will be up bright and early ready to rock the Ironman. The dogs will whine, because they think they need to pee.

...and by this point I swear off all holidays. At least leaving my house for them.


Not this year. This year we'll be relaxing, smiling, laughing, remembering, hugging, probably a little a lot of drinking, EATING and sleeeeeeeeping. We rented a vacation home through one of my clients and we are spending 3 (count them 1, 2, 3!!) nights down on the Lake. We arrive the 23rd and come home the 26th! Plenty of time to prepare before and chill and clean up after. It's going to be....what's the word???.......FUCKING AMAZING! No it's not the beach, palm trees and tequila...but I'll sell one of my children one day and be able to experience such things :) However, there will be fishing, a hot tub, a dock, and lots of amazing photo opportunities. My Mom, Dad, and brother are coming down to stay with the four of us. I'm so excited--If I didn't say that already!


So on the down side of the getaway, we will miss dinner with The Husband's family. It's a bummer, but there's always Christmas. I will miss seeing everyone, but there's a billion of  them--dinner will go on. We went back and fourth before making the decision, but you know what--we deserve this.
We so deserve this.

..and this.

So I sort of need a favor. We are menu planning for the week--including Thanksgiving dinner. Yikes. What are some of your favorite meals--breakfast, lunch and dinner--and what is your favorite dish at Thanksgiving dinner? Recipes would be cool, too.... I know, I know... I'm an information whore. Give it to me!!! Ahhh..thanks :)