lxforever

“All those years you never knew / All the things that I could do / I keep them in a hidden place / So I can rub them in your face”

—Snake River Conspiracy

“But beware / all those angels with their wings glued on / ’cause deep down / we are frightened and we’re scared / if you don’t stare // who wants honey / as long as there’s some money / who wants that honey?”

—Smashing Pumpkins

“Jenny: i’ve been reading the same book for 1 year”

—via gchat 3/15/12

Beware the Ides of March and the feeling of stabbiness that permeates. Here are some LISTS.

A LIST OF REASONS WHY I AM FEELING STABBY TODAY:
1. Didn’t get enough sleep last night. I used to do this often. I am now glad that I do not. It is not a good feeling. And it wasn’t for a good reason. I just stayed up too late/got up too early. Dumb.
2. Had vivid, overwhelming dreams of living in a land of zombies the night before that and woke up incredibly anxious as a result. AWFUL. (No more Walking Dead, methinks.)
3. So I am not rested.
4. Yet I jam-packed my day. (NOTE: I realize my version of a ‘jam-packed day’ is a regular-sized day to everyone else, however, I have a pretty low tolerance for muchos activites…actually that’s not true. I like Many Activities. But I guess I am LAZY is what I mean.) Worked out, work, meeting with mentee, THEN go help Cassie coach her Parks team at their first meet of the season. AT THE TIME it sounded good…now, with two solid busy weeks ahead, it seems doubleplusungood. (No. It will be fine. And tomorrow is FRIDAY!)
5. Ask Not If This Is The Definition Of Narcissism, But If Narcissism Is The Definition Of You, Edition 1: hijacking a get-together by forcing your friends to do something completely different, then wondering why no one can make it? Um duh? (I feel as a [semi/pseudo-recovering] narcissist I can say this confidently.)(Note: this is not me.)
6. Ask Not If This Is The Definition Of Narcissism, But If Narcissism Is The Definition Of You, Edition 2: Being extremely possessive of your husband of 3.5 years. (Note: this one is me. Ha ha ha ha ha!! All in good fun.)
7. My tank top is too short.
8. This would not be a problem except my torso is too long…
9. …and my pants, which fit perfectly nicely at 7AM when getting dressed at the gym, keep falling down. A bare belly on the job is not a good scenario for anyone (unless, of course, you are a stripper…or a gymnastics coach I guess). GAH.

Alright that’s enough.

A LIST OF CUTE THINGS THE KIDS AT PARKS HAVE SAID/DONE RECENTLY:
1. Ella (3yo) telling us she had to ‘get home in time to take my vitamin’ while looking anxiously at the clock.
2. Ella (same one) telling us that she was going to Mexico but that ‘I’m going to wear my lifejacket so I don’t drown!’ LOL. OK. Clearly some adult has pounded this idea into her little responsible head…
3. Isabella asking us to choose our favorite between her and her mom (after her mom told us the insecticide story). Isabella pointed out “you’ve known ME longer!!” and then I retorted that without her mom, she likely wouldn’t exist. Isabella, much to her mother’s dismay (LOL!), shot back that she didn’t “need her mom! [she] could just live at a shelter and then have two dads!” HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh dear…

(GOD I love diehard liberal adults raising kids in Minneapolis. Warms the heart through and through. No, seriously, it does!)

A LIST OF EXCEPTIONS TO MY NEW DE/UNFRIENDING RULES ON FACEBOOK (like, I won’t defriend these people, probably):
1. people who live abroad
2. people who are in the medical field
3. people whose lives are extraordinarily bizarre to read about because they live the weirdest bourgeois life EVER (this is one person)
4. anyone who is an architect (this is one person)
5. almost ALL gymnastics people from my past
6. my ex-realtor
7. people who post gorgeous photos (this is one person)
8. people who might be famous actors
9. people who might be at/in Jenny’s wedding
10. people who might give me a job or whom I might run into ‘in the field’
11. people who live a life like my older sister circa 2001 (this is one person)
12. people whose updates are really sunny and are about how much they value really small but great things in life. they make me happy to read.

A LIST OF GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS DAY:
1. COLDPRESS!!
2. Great gchatting w/ Jenny!
3. “The Marriage Plot” came in at the library! Just in time for great outdoor reading weather! (Just as I’m finally getting some “Infinite Jest” momentum, too…ah, well.)
4. Jokey emails between me/Heids/Ange/Brig and poking (dear dear) fun at Jeff!
5. Jenny and Andrea randomly ran into each other AGAIN yesterday which is cute and cool. Kyute and Kewl. Kismet! Fate! Oh wait, that was 2011…but STILL.
6. GYMNASTICS TONIGHT!
7. Awesome weather tomorrow and I will be Working From Patio for some of it. Oh Yeah.

Forget the Ides of March. Beware Batman.
ADIOS PARA AHORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ADDENDUM:

Without getting too new-agey if possible…and/or too emo AND/OR too oblique…

Basically this: one person can only take so much. Well, or at least me. This I’ve finally learned. More or less I have this Cup (metaphorical). It can be difficult to keep it Full (some times in life more than others). Certain things deplete it. These are things I want to do/people I want to see, and I am willing to make a sacrifice once in awhile for that. It’s tough but it must be done. I can be TOUGH. But. Doing it ALL = disastrous empty Cup. And so I have to pick and choose what I can/want to/am able to do but then say NO to the other things.

JUST SAY NO! Until the mythical/mystical Cup is Full again.

The End.

“And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears / And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears / Get over your hill and see what you find there / with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair”

—Mumford & Sons

“ME: Hey mom, what year is the eclipse? / MOM: No idea! Eclipse? Solar or lunar? I didn’t hear a thing on the news about an eclipse! When did you hear about this? / ME: Mom, you drive an eclipse.”

—WhenParentsText.com…no this is not my text, despite all evidence to the contrary

“It is a somewhat frightening proposition, but I am adjusting my frequency. I am going to let my heart want this with everything it’s got. The armor is down, the shields are put away. The hope is out and I’m not going to protect myself anymore.”

—Nat the Fat Rat…NO, I do not regularly read Mormon wife blogs

Weirdly it is already spring. It’s like we live in Ohio or something. I’ll take it.

I don’t give spring a whole lot of credit, which is too bad, but what can you do? But I realize now that it can be just as heady as fall, with so much like lighter longer and prom drama and hamjam and matching shirts and crashing economy and state meets and early season bike rides and driving the van to Nationals and crazy May babies birthday parties and finally being able to say “skyway or no skyway?” on the way to 6th + Henn and Texas and Parks meets and spring breaks breaks breaks and taking breaks and Version 2.0 and beaches and Chiyo Chiyo and tournament city and final projects and ice + tape and planting trees and crutches the glowing red interior in that new car smell and “little circle uprisings” and finding hope and Grateful Dead and basketball games and secrets secrets secrets and new skills in the gym and and info sessions and bundling down and and and and and. I know there was more but that’s all I’ve got.

Gorgeous day. Happy Pi day and happy 33rd anniversary to Barb + Steve!

” ’cause you told me that I would find a hole / within the fragile substance of my soul / And I have filled this void with things unreal / and all the while my character it steals / Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think? / And yet it dominates the things I see”

—Mumford & Sons

“You’re wearing THAT? That’s, like, your pajamas…”

—Anna, 3/10/12, to Stephie…what a little fashionista

Anna, to me: “Do you EVER get your nails done?” Mason, off in his own made-up spaceworld: “Sometimes there are meteors, so watch out guys!” Me: “Well, yeah, like for weddings and stuff…” Anna: “Like, for wedding showers?” Mason: “Oh yeah, there are meteor showers too, guys!”

—3/11/12…hahahahaha!

Me: “What’s the best thing about being 5?” Anna: “I guess, drawing on the computer.” Anna: “What’s the best thing about being 30?” Me: “ummmmm……”

—3/10/12…the same thing? I eventually told her “being able to do whatever I want” ha ha.

“To touch something real / will help your wounds heal / like the sun on your face / the dreams of starry nights // And we are homeward bound / And I / I want this more than life / I want this more than life / I want this more than life / I want this more than life”

—Whitley

2012…still The Year!

Great news for all, all around. May it continue for the next many many months!

Anyway. Hello readers, I see from my stats page that you are hungry for new content (rather, “content”, considering the contents of this blog), and you have had none for about a week. So! Here you go. We are back from San Francisco. It was a magical, smashingly wonderful time full of good weather, lots of playing, the making of a Person of the Week poster for a certain Kindergartener, tons of candy and/or caffeination, hilarious kid quotes, lots of running and shouting, excellent food, and, of course, dear family.

FOOD HIGHLIGHTS include: Blue Bottle coffee (I blame food blogs…), the most AMAZING EGG SANDWICH *EVER* (“should we go back and get another?” -Jeff), LOTS of candy (thanks Stephie!), eating on Mt. Tam again (last time I did this was August 2001!) out on the deck of that hotel, so great, and a fancy night out at The Slanted Door, AND much more I am sure. Quite nice.

KID HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: Working on Anna’s Person of the Week poster, Mason dressing as a fireman (“I want to put on my firesuit!”), Mason’s terribleness/adorableness at playing hide and seek (“guys where are you??”/”guys I’m in here!!” LOL!!) AND the hand-slap game (just puts his hands on top of yours nicely; Anna is FIERCE!), playing “mother and baby” and Mason wanting to be the Mom…ha, Anna having a fake English accent and being a Queen in Mother and Baby, playing with the gas station and Jeff pretending to be Yoda the gas station owner (ha!!), getting nails done with Anna and playing I Spy while we sat there, and runningrunningrunning on Tiburon, Mason burying me in trucks and using the ‘remote control’ to ‘attack’ Jeff, joining in on a marine class randomly out on Crissy Field, and YELLING and RUNNING like crazy around the house. Also Mason’s obsession w/ getting the toy soldiers (“when I get my toy soldiers”) and playing with them. Also Mason putting away the chairs in the table when he hid under them (such a neat freak, and only 2…). Also Mason/Anna on scooters “Captain Anna!” hmmmmmm….. Hilarious/adorable/of course. Love them like crazy. I never knew why my aunts were so darn nice to me until I had a great little niece and nephew.

We also had a fun night out w/ Stephie/Mike on Saturday which was great. We are all basically ‘oldest’ children which can be good or bad. It was good/fun on Saturday!

We also love SF! Just not the pretentiousness. But, so gorgeous. Smelled SO AMAZING and springlike to boot!

I ALSO loved traveling with Jeff. SO HAPPY he came with!! He was a HUGE hit with the kids. “Uncle Jeff! Uncle Uncle Uncle! Watch me Uncle Jeff! Uncle Jeff, watch me!” HA!

I ALSO loved having yesterday off to sleep/catch up after the redeye with Jeff. Lazy and lovely.

I ALSO love Jeff! Duh.

Nowwwww I have 29307509467543 things to catch up on, Jenny’s wedding to plot (24 to-dos in my Todo app and counting…), a bracket to fill out, a last parks class and then a first Parks meet to help coach, and amazing weather to enjoy so I need to jet. BUT just wanted to get something out there. Happy Tuesday the 13th!

So way way long ago when I worked at Midwest, the wife of one of the twin-brother coaches (who is now head coach for Arkansas – how cool) was pregnant/had a baby. I remember they named her Kyla. Anyway…I follow said coach on Twitter and today he was wishing his daughter Kyla a happy 10th birthday. WOW!!!

My, my, time flies.

Anyway. Here’s what’s been going on:

– I woke up with the song “Amazed” in my head. If you know this song, you know this is a terrible development. STILL it remains.
– I just acquired an ICED latte as it is a low of 30, high of 50 today…WHAT UP SPRING! Weirdest weather ever. I’m predicting massive snowdump in April. Still, I’ll take it. Planning on sneaking in an afternoon bike ride…
– Republicans HATE women
– Texas HATES women
– Most men HATE women…OK this is not true, but an awful lot of them do. I have to remind myself that most of the men *I* know do *not* hate women.
-Still. What TF is going on in this country? Are we SERIOUSLY debating birth control??
– (going back to Texas) are we SERIOUSLY forcing THIS on women (HT Andrea)??: When States Abuse Women
– I need to learn HTML5. STAT!
– Jenny-wedding-planning in full swing!
– I had an amazing night home alone last night, this never happens anymore…while I do love hanging out with Jeff, I DO love having the house to myself, too. I made myself dinner, filled out some refi forms, plotted for the wedding, ate a lot of cookies, and watched the end of Shameless (and shamefully cried a little bit, ha ha ha…what can I say, I love Fiona/Steve). Reminds me of my living-alone days, oh yeah! And Jeff had a fun night at the Wolves game. AND we shall Hang Out tonight. A Win all around.
– Gophers beat Badgers in the final period of the last game. Split the series, but we’ll take it! Excitement.
– (as you can tell by my previous post) gymnastics was also on TV this weekend…OH YEAH! Olympic year! Gabby Douglas!! (You can tell a gymnast is a sensation when even MY DAD, who NEVER emails, emails me an article about Gabs…wooooo!)
– I also did a lot of drawing this weekend. Very fun.
– I ALSO had ANOTHER Total Confessional Hour at Barrio. That place, man!!
– Houses in our ‘hood are selling like hotcakes. Recovery, it is Happening!

That is all. Time to work.

So solidly on the Gabrielle Douglas train, she has come so far it just blows me away. Gabs for AA Oly champ 2012!!

Also way into John Orozoco after seeing the Scam Cup fluff on him. What a sweetie, and straight outta the Bronx. I could be a fan of men’s gymnastics after all?

Assuming Sac and Nast don’t have it together (wild guess) and Shawnie does (wilder guess), what about a team like this??
-Gabs
-Aly (still love her)
-Maroney
-Wieber (I mean…she is pretty badass, and has really cleaned up)
-Shawn?? OK probably not…I’m sure I’m missing someone…?

^ I guess this team has a serious bars hole then…hmmmmm. Maybe Nastia. Who?

GYMNASTICS!

FRIDAY NINE:

1) Jeff is THE BEST!

2) F*CK the HATERS!!!!! New motto fo sho!!

3) LOVE the LOVERS!!!!!!! OTHER new motto!

4) I accidentally wore blue and yellow on Leap Day (apparently a Thing w/ 30 Rock, though I don’t watch that show anymore…but the barista that AM concurred that this was true), so Diana took a photo of me and submitted it to 30 Rock on Twitter and they posted it on their site/in their gallery, HA HA HA! Check it out here, I am #44: Leap Day Yellow & Blue.

5) Things I intend to/have ingested today looks something like this: coffee, oatmeal, vitamins, grapefruit, free coffee (yes more), free yogurt, quinoa bean chowder, carrots, grapes, un-free yogurt, tequila, tequila, tequila, huevos rancheros???, and cookies and/or candy.

6) Where is Sven?!

7) < 100 days to Jenny's wedding! 8) I am wearing GOLD today 9) HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

March.

MARCH.

February was good…too good. I am very very very suspicious of March.

Suspicious too that my belief in 2012 could be fleeting. HOPING it is NOT! I can’t take these swings.

Anyway…March. Historically decent…but now, a suspect. For no reason other than a good February (yes, I know this makes no sense).

Vamos a ver. Birthday cake Oreo lunch with Anna P to start it off, though.

“Remember when I told you about how I went to Jazzercise?” “Um, NO…”

—2/29/12

“Finally!”

—Erik, 2/29/12, re: “Happy Leap Day!”

So. For a little while in 2011 I went through this strange-ish thing where if I thought of a person/thing/whatever, she/he/it generally appeared/happened. (NOTE: this happened a couple weeks ago too, but just normally.) It was bizarre and gave me a strong feeling of FATE and KISMET. Anyway, this week has a little bit of that going on.

KREPI. Wormholes.

Moving along. Happy Leap Day! I noticed that in 14(?!) years of ‘blogging’/whatever-ing, I have only ONCE updated on a Leap Day, and then I did not reference the coolness of the day (ETA: I guess I did, but in an incorrect and oblique way). WTF? That is pathetic – wasted opportunity, man! Nevermore! Let this mark the beginning of a new era. Or something. Not really. I am going to honor this day by (a) doing leaps (b) brainwashing I mean entertaining several 3-year-olds (in my parks class) with the excitingness of LEAP day (c) making the 5-year-olds also do leaps (d) having $2.29 beers with Diana. YEAH!

I also celebrated by overcaffeinating, which was a TERRIBLE IDEA because now I am all wacko. More than usual, that is. I also left for work EXTREMELY early thinking that it would take a very long time to get in (we had an ice/slush/snow thing going on here). Instead, it took only 5 minutes longer than usual and I wondered what I’ve been doing wrong on other/normal commute days? Hmmmm.

Time for some RANDOMNESS:
-yesterday I had a passive-aggressive fight about batteries
-yesterday I also met my cousin Mike for a few drinks. It was as lovely as I had anticipated
-Jeff and I are attending an amazing symphony event in September and I am already excited for it!
-tomorrow is March!

In Conclusion: today is the first day of the rest of your life.

In Conclusion: no I guess I cannot have batteries.

In Conclusion: the storm was not real and this makes Jeff very sad :(.

In Conclusion: Gopher-Badger hockey this weekend OMG!

In Conclusion: even if you think you need a maple-syrup whole-milk latte…you probably don’t.

LEAP(triple!!!), LEAP, LEAP!!!

“Yeah, like the naked pool party…wait, I’m sure I told you guys about that?”

—2/27/12

“do you want to be the mouse in Cat Jazzercise?” / “I wanted to be the mouse but I didn’t want to be selfish” / “if everyone plays their role, the mouse survives”

—also 2/27/12

“I say you the bestest / Lean in for a big kiss / Put his favorite perfume on / Go play a video game”

—Lana Del Ray

What’s better than suburban community-ed Jazzercise?

Suburban community-ed Jazzercise taught by a MAN.

Oh, Ned!

Anyway. NO TIME but a few observations must be made:

-Through a series of internet wormholes(/stalking), I discovered that someone I sort-of know is connected to someone one of my friends was once connected to. If this sounds insane it’s because it is. Either way it (a) really really freaked me out (b) made me realize EVERYONE MIGHT KNOW EVERYONE OMG. AAAAAAAAAH my mind is blown.

-We have an AMAZING NEW MATTRESS. I am dreaming (ha! ha! sort-of pun! OK not really…) of it right now…

-WHY when we finally seem to be in a Recovery do gas prices need to rise? I mean, objectively it is good that they are rising but dudes, come on! Hoping this Recovery is strong enough to withstand $4-$5/gal gas.

-Fakest winter ever.

Adios.