Dear Monday

Monday, Monday.  Time to write some letters for the week with Megan!

Dear Monday, All in all - you weren't so bad.  Although, maybe tomorrow I will sleep until the alarm goes off... And not be awake for the 45 minutes before.  That would be peachy.

Dear Friends Episode - "The One Where Phoebe Runs," You are by far one of my all-time favorite episodes.

Dear 7:30 PST, I cannot wait for you to be here.  That will officially bring the end to my semester.  I bet that our neighbors will hear my excessive chanting of hallelujahs.

Dear Baby Alexander, Thank you for letting me hold and snuggle your tiny sleeping body on Saturday night.  I needed that.

Dear Chimpanzee, I really want to watch you... And am probably going to need to bring a package of Kleenex.  I can't get through the trailer/preview without getting weepy.

Dear Hubby, Why, oh why must you have a game tonight at 9:30?  Don't these people know we get up early?!!!  Don't worry - I'll be home waiting for you... And keeping the bed warm.

Take Luck,

LP

Fill in the Blank Friday

Oh, happy day - it's Friday!  Time to fill in some blanks with Lauren.

[1] When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is curse the alarm, feel around for my glasses, and give Ryan a kiss.

[2] I can hardly wait for Monday to be here and gone.  It will mean the end of my semester.  My group will present our project and I will submit my final exam.  Party time, people.

[3] The quickest way to my heart is by doing something thoughtful because it means you are putting needs of others before your own.

[4] A little known fact about me is that I am afraid of the dark.  The movie, Sixth Sense ruined me.  Bathrooms at night are the worst.

[5] The best part about my job is that I know I am making a difference and supporting our country.

[6] Something I just couldn't live without is Dole's Pineapple-Orange-Banana juice.  Enough said.

[7] Something useful that I wish I knew how to do is sew.  I do not own a sewing machine, and sometimes wish that I did... But also fear that it would just sit there collecting dust.

Take Luck,

LP

Dear Monday

This is going to be a short edition of Dear Monday, people.  At 8:30pm, this is the first opportunity I have had all day to type... And it's past my bed time.

Let's get it going.  Time to write some letters with Megan!

Dear Monday, Mondays without coffee are never a good sign.  Somehow, we made it through together.

Dear Family BBQ, I'm not sure how, but we managed to get, mom and dad, all four kids (and their respective spouses/boyfriends), and all four grand-kids together and failed to get a picture?!  I have failed a major photography fail.

Dear Spring Semester, Only 11 more days.  That is all.

Dear Plum Crisp, I admit that I intentionally cut (and set aside) a larger piece for myself yesterday.  I just couldn't help it.  But you are so delicious, you understand.

Dear Sonny, You wrapped yourself around my back while I was watching class this evening... Like a little, miniature-spare-tire-heating-pad.

Dear Honey Bunches of Oats, Sometimes I want to smack you a little.  Mostly when you are deep in fantasy baseball and ignoring me/my questions.  But then I just sing show tunes really loudly and you eventually pay attention... Even if its just to tell me to be quiet.  I love you.

Take Luck,

LP

Tulip Festival

Last weekend, I headed up north to La Connor with my Mom, baby sissy, and godmother, Lee.

We had plans to stay at Lee's sister-in-law Jeanette's house with some other fabulous ladies.  And that we did.

Bob and Jeanette had an amazing house on Shelter Bay.  I could have sat on their back porch and watched boats float by all day long.

Mom, Rachel, and I got to shack up in their motorhome together.  We all tried to "snuggle up" on the master bed, but due to the lack of room and the presence of Rachel's ever-moving-fanny in my face... I quickly grabbed an extra sleeping bag and hopped off to the spare bed.  The wind was howling and lord-knows-what was flying around outside, but we made it through the night.

Sunday morning we ate some yummy breakfast and set off to check out some tulips.

It was a really fun 36 hours.  There were times when I felt like I was in a different state, and not just a few hours from home.  Lots of lady talk took place - boobs, weight loss (or lack thereof), husbands, and shenanigan stories from days past.

I only hope I am as spirited and full of life as these ladies are when I am their age.

Take Luck,

LP

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's Friday and I'm filling in some blanks with Lauren!  Hooray!

[1] Today is great because it's Friday.  Duh.

[2] Tomorrow I will thoroughly enjoy sleeping in and relaxing.

[3] My favorite time of the day is the morning because that's when I get to decide how I'm going to make the most of the day ahead.

  [4] Sometimes you just have to sing it loud and proud.  It's more fun that singing quietly... Even if it annoys your husband.

[5] A song that I just can't get enough of lately is Addicted by Morgan Page (feat. Greg Laswell).

[6] My favorite accessory is my wedding ring(s).  I'm not much of an accessorize-r, otherwise.

[7] My favorite thing about this week was celebrating. Our friends welcomed their baby boy, Alexander James on Monday, and my Daddio turned the big 6-0 yesterday!

Take Luck,

LP

Pet Peeves

It is no secret that I have pet peeves... Just like everyone else. Sure, I have some odd ball things that irk me, but don't we all?

I don't get on Facebook too often, and when I did today - I was immediately reminded as to why my logins are getting few and far between.

I cannot stand people who share every single, minute detail of their lives with their "friends."

You know who these people are. 

I kid you not I read two status updates about poop. These statuses were not referencing babies and they were not posted by dudes. What the what?

The details people share aren't even the worst part. I love (can you feel the sarcasm crawling through your computer screen?) people who get all hot and bothered by their "friends" being all up in their business.

Uhm, hello. If you don't want people up in your private business... Don't write it!

I also get quite a chuckle out of those cryptic status updates that leave readers chomping at the bit to hear the rest of the unfolding drama. I know a few girls who are particularly good at this and my guess is that they are literally dying for attention.

It's like a soap opera. "Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of when Susie dumped Billy..."

Finally, you gotta love the lack of sentence structure, punctuation and grammar. I just want to slap these people with an English book. I went to school with a lot of these people - I know they are educated!

I just tried to write a giant run-on sentence with poor punctuation and grammar... And I just couldn't do it.

Maybe I'm being overly critical, but this stuff just bothers the you-know-what out of me. I am certainly not perfect and am likely guilty of sharing stupid status updates too.

The easy thing to do would be to deactivate my account, but then I couldn't check to see the photos my sister-in-law posts of my ever-growing nephew.

Maybe a good, hard reevaluation of "friends" is in order.

Tell me, do you have any Facebook pet peeves?

Take Luck,
LP

Dear Monday

Weekends go way too fast.  Monday is here again.  Time to write some letters for the week with Megan!

Dear Monday, I totally had to shift my brain back into technical thinking mode today.  Strategic thinking and analytical/technical thinking are two very different things.

Dear Sonny, I love that I can tell how much you missed me by the amount of pee that comes out of you when I return home.  Your squeals and cries of happiness melt my heart.

Dear iPhone Auto Correct, Sometimes you are super helpful, while other times you are super not helpful.  Although entertaining...

 

Dear Rachel, I forgot how horrible it is to share a bed with you.  I was quickly reminded on Saturday night when you, Mom, and I all tried to squeeze together.  I think we all know who lost the battle for room and covers.  Me.

Dear Tulip Festival, I have never seen so many tulips in my life.

Dear Hubby, Yesterday I came home from a night away and found that you had vacuumed, unloaded the dishwasher, did the laundry, and did half of the preparations for making Brock's food.  I cannot thank you enough or tell you how much those little things mean to me.  There's hope for you yet, mister!

Take Luck,

LP

Fill in the Blank Friday

Hooray for Friday!  Time to fill in some blanks with Lauren!

[1] Today is a good day because it's my regular day off work!  Nothing says "good day" like sleeping in and being lazy.

[2] The best thing I did all week was finish my final rotation at work.  Come June 15th, I will no longer be dragging the "intern" connotation around with me.

[3] The current weather is sunny and it makes me feel happy, happy, happy!

[4] The best thing about spring is the blooming trees and flowers, warmer temperatures, and blue sky.

[5] A fashion trend that I am dying to try out for spring is wearing bright(er) colors than I would normally wear.  This goes for patterns too.  I need my best friend Tiff to come style me.

[6] A person who made me smile this week was our families.  We all did a lot of smiling and laughing this week.

[7] The most delicious thing I ate all week is a tie between the chocolate chip cookies and the Chicken Parmesan I made.  Both were highly delicious... And I'm really wishing I had some more of them cookies right about now!

Heading up north this weekend with my Mom and baby sissy to a tulip festival.  Hoping to return with lots of photos and stories to share!

Take Luck,

LP

Dear Monday

The glorious weekend flew by and it's already Monday again!  Time to write some letters with Megan!

Dear Monday, Mornings out of the office are the best.  If only every Monday could start out like that... And with a hot breakfast buffet, to boot!

Dear Favorite In-Laws, Not only are you my favorite because you are my only in-laws, but you truly are wonderful people.  We had such a good time with you last week and appreciated all you did for us while visiting.  I will always be grateful to you for raising such a wonderful son.

Dear Patience, Please come to me in mass quantities.  I'm going to need you!

Dear Muscles of my Body, Please. Stop. Hurting. Me.

Dear Easter Sunday Service, You by far surpassed any and all expectations I had.  Thank you!

Dear Spring Semester, Please be kind and make the next three weeks fly by.  And if you magically complete my team's System Engineering Management Plan project - I would be more than grateful.  

Dear Rachel,  I am getting so excited to take some senior pictures of you.  You are so beautiful, and I cannot wait to put my creativity to work and capture your beauty in pictures!

Dear Hubby, Today I fell in love with you all over again.  You fill my heart and my life with joy.

Take Luck,

LP

Getting Old...

Today I reminded that I am not 14 years old anymore.

OK, I am very well aware of this and have been for some time... But yesterday served as a true kick-in-the-britches kind of reminder.

There was a time in my life (between the ages of 8 and 18) where I was fully capable and used to playing multiple softball games in one day.  I think a personal record is seven or eight.  I could do it then because my body had a little thing called resiliency, and trying to win your way out of losers brackets was just apart of the game.

Yesterday, Ryan and I played in our first slowpitch tournaments for the year and each played four games.  He played with his men's league and I played in my women's league.  The weather was amazing (hello, blue sky and 60 degree temperatures!) and my team had the attitude that this tournament would be one to "get the rust off."

We got the rust off alright, and got whomped in the process.

I felt pretty good during the first game. I hit well, ran the bases without any searing pains, fielded cleanly, and was easily making the throw from shortstop to first base.

As each game went on, those things I was doing well... Kind of, sorta stopped.

My body was aching and getting tighter and tighter.  My hitting stayed decent, but me sprinting became jogging, crisp throws turned into lobs, and I stopped fielding the ball so cleanly*.

*I have big old knots and bruises on both of my inner ankles/shins to prove this.  Thankfully my glove deflected these hits before my shin acted as a barricade.

We both came home and just laid on the couch - not wanting to move.  I almost didn't want to go to bed because I knew what would be waiting for me this morning.

Today, every inch of my body screaming, "WHY?  WHHYYY did you do that?!"  Sitting, standing, and even walking are a challenge, and probably entertaining for passerby's to see.  While grocery shopping after church, Ryan tried to throw a bag of sunflower seeds into the cart and missed.  I bent (OK, I tried to bend) over to pick them up and got stuck.  My quads could not muster the strength to push me back up.

In case you are wondering... The answer is yes.  Ryan stood there laughing at me and refused to help me in my time of need.  Jerk.

Laughing, coughing, and taking deep breaths are all things that I am trying not to do today - simply because they cause pain.  Even my fingers hurt trying to type this.

I must sound like a real wussy, and I am OK with that.

I am just thankful that I have a month until our next tournament and will have some league games under my belt before then.  

Not only can I hone my "skills," but I may need that whole month for my body to recover.

Take Luck,

LP

Dear Monday

Monday, again.  Time to write some letters with Megan.

Dear Monday, You flew by.  Marathon and back-to-back meetings will do that to ya.

Dear Hair, You have been seriously cooperative the last few days.  Let's keep it that way.

Dear Daddio, I will try not to hit you in the balls during batting practice tonight.

Dear Slowpitch Season, It is really hard to believe that you are upon us already.  A one-day tourney is scheduled for Saturday, and a part of me is hoping it gets rained out.  My body just isn't ready yet.

Dear Kennedy, On Friday you tried to remove my tattoo by licking your finger and vigorously rubbing it on the top of my foot.  That didn't work (shocking) so you tried using friction, in the form of Riley's hot wheel cars.  Needless to say, the tattoo remains.  Good try, little one.

Dear Tiff, Thank you so much for introducing me to Birdy.  She is just lovely.

Dear Hubby, Thank you for volunteering me to take you and Mat to the gym this morning.  At 5am.  You are a butthead, but I just can't say no when you turn on the charm.

Take Luck,

LP