Simple Joy

You know what I love? Words that you can type with only one hand. I know, I know, that sounds simple and mundane, but it makes me happy when I come across them. Words like "stresses," which normally would be a word I would hate due to it's meaning and general existence in my life. But typing it, typing it is pure joy. Only my left hand has to work. My right hand just hangs out and sips a dirty martini while my left hand basks in the accomplishment of doing something all on her own.  It may only last for 5 seconds, but it's 5 seconds of heaven, people. 

I wish I could relay more one handed typing words to you at this point because it would flesh out my point as well as make me appear to remember things that make me happy, but alas, my early onset Alzheimer's has flared up once again. If you happen to come across some of these glorious words, do send them my way. I always need a 30 second one-handed typing break to bring a little joy to my day.

Wishing you a simple joy for your Thursday.

Cheers,
c.

Come Fly With Me

In 12 hours I will be on a flight bound for sunny Mexico (providing it doesn't rain. Mike "Sungaard" Headrick has determined that rain will most certainly be a part of our trip and is quite concerned. I on the other hand, couldn't be less concerned. As far as I know, they serve margaritas rain or shine). 

I am beyond jazzed for this vacation.  Work has been extrordinarily stressful lately (perhaps because I've been preparing for a week off? Who's to say?), so I am in need of an all-you-can-eat-and-drink week of fun in the sun - leave my mind behind, you might say.  Mike, in optimistic anticipation, has taken to naming our traveling team (comprised of my sister, her husband and two of us) Team Sandtoxication.  Here's hoping we live up to our name.  Hope all of you, my internet friends, have a fantastic week.  I would like to say I'll miss you this week, but no one likes a liar.

Cheers,
c.

The exotic lady

That's right, I'm on day 4 of my new perfume and it is STILL making me feel like a brand new woman. I call life changing, suck it, Mike. (Jum, I don't know how my hair smells, but I did wash it today, just for you).

Happy Friday friends.

Daily Thought

I love buying a new perfume. It makes me feel like I am a whole new, slightly more interesting and exotic lady the first day I wear it. Yes, this is a tall order for a fragrance, but the purveyors of et de toilettes always seem to come through.  Of course tomorrow I'll be all used to my new sent and go back to feeling like my normal, rudimentary, somewhat mundane self, but today I will revel in my amped up alter-ego. Hope you found a simple joy today as well.

cheers,
c.

Things that produce joy

1. The Avett Brothers live. Joy is maybe not strong enough. Euphoria? Nirvana? Bliss? Despite the necessity of viewing the show from the base of a stairwell due to my height ineptitude, it was one of the most incredible evenings of my life. Fabtastic.

2. Autumn is upon us. My favorite season for a variety of reasons including, pumpkin patches with great friends, hot apple cider and the best weather of the year.

3. New TV! New Girl! Good Wife! Parks and Recreation! Revenge! The Office! Dancing...WITH THE STARS! Man, I love tv. Should I pretend I'm more interesting and that I only read books? Nah... I'm currently watching my first episode of the Playboy Club, I'm somewhat interested 5 minutes in. Colbie Calliat is singing in her best Doris Day wig. She fits in well in the 60s.

4. Photography. My gal pal Jan lent me one of her fancy lenses for my camera. I'm enjoying tinkering and  learning new things.

5. In T-13 days, Mike, Cour, Drew and I will be in sunny Mexico! Arriba!

6. These words I learned from my new obsession, pinterest: "Whenever I get sad I stop being sad and start being awesome." Barney Stinson would approve.

cheers,
c.

An homage to Blossom:

WOAH, blogger is letting me blog again.  For a good 5 days it would not load a new post window. And now I have nothing to write. Blast.

Oh, Mike finished his Ironman. Go Mike! And now I should work...

Iron WHO?

Yep, it's that time of year again. Wherein my darling husband decides to exercise for the better part of a 24-hour period. Yep, you guessed it, it's Ironman weekend! A time for family and friends to gather, take pictures, play Frisbee, yell and scream at random strangers, make signs, chant chants (Iron who? Iron MIKE!), and for that select few crazies, become Ironmen. Good luck to all the lads and ladies out there this weekend brave and stupid enough to take on the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. I equally salute and pity you.

And to tide you over until my next blog (which, facing facts, may not occur in the next decade), here are some images from exactly 2 years ago this weekend:

The Contender


The cutest fan

The Finish

Good luck, IronMike. You are my favorite Ironman ever and I am proud of you! (Sappy, but true).

Challenge:

Find me someone or something cuter than my niece. I dare you.

Because I know you were wondering...

The Airborne Toxic Event is my new second-favorite band. They just released their second album (and just is a relative term, I don't know when they released it, this year sometime, maybe. Why do I write about music ever? I don't follow it closely enough to have an opinion, but, it is my blog and I'll do as I please.)

If you've not heard them, here's an introduction that is not necessarily indicative of their music as a whole, but is a video that I really like. What can I say, any video that involves playing crystal water glasses, handsome men dancing and a most adorable lead singer is something I can get behind.

Yeah, I still have a VHS player...

In the latest edition of 'c. is behind the times,' I have just started watching the Sopranos. My reasons for my tardiness are three fold:

1. I am cheap and refuse to pay for HBO.

2. Despite many glowing reviews, I have never felt compelled to invest my precious netflix limited discs on hour-long series.

3. It has taken this long for one of our friends with the entire collection to find out we've never seen them, be repulsed and deliver them to our door.

I have always wondered why Jamie Lynn Siegler was famous outside of playing Turtle's girl on Entourage and I'm about to find out. Review to follow.

Who acts like a jungle cat and turns 30 today???

This guy!

Happy birthday to my hilarious and handsome husband. I like being married to you. A lot.

Weekend plan: Don't Die

First (and hopefully last) marathon ever this weekend. We depart later this morning for beautiful Duluth, MN and the 35th running of Grandma's marathon. I am in no way ready for this race. My last substantial run was 6 weeks ago before my right leg decided it hated me and all exercise. At any rate, I have some irrational need to run a marathon and I'd prefer not to train for one again and thus, bring on the pain and agony. Old plan for the marathon: Enjoy the race, run the majority, try to run it in a reasonable time. New plan for the marathon: Don't die.

If you remember, think a happy thought for me on Saturday morning.

Cheers!

Life in photos.

A host of activity has happened since my last post, and in lieu of a large, rambling list, here is a review in the form of some of my favorite photos.


Boston: Our kind of town. Here Mike is demonstrating the dangers of large lobster claw revenge if you enjoy your lobster roll too much.



Skates and Alfonso got married! A celebration of love and commitment, one night only! What a fantastic time. Particularly because I got to see these hooligans:


As well as these pretty ladies:


We visited Rock and Jonas where we quickly discovered that Rock has a penchant for maternity modeling:


And rooted for the Tigers in one of my Dad's last games as head coach. They won and secured the conference title against our arch-rival, Minnewaska. Way to go, Coach! (Side note: I have a ton TON of smiling photos of my dad from that day, but I love this one the most. You see, L.C. is a mild-mannered, happy, running-for-mayor kind of fellow, but from time to time while coaching, he may get a little fired up. Here's him giving the Waska coach the business. Awesome.)


We attended our first game at Target Field, and even though the Twins blew a 5-run lead, at least we got on the Kiss Cam (cross that one off the life-list) and I got to see Mike bust out his fashion-forward rally hat look:

And that, my friends, is all I have patience for at this time. You see, google blogger's photo uploader is the bane of my existence. Why oh WHY, google blogger, do you insist on placing every photo at the top of the post despite my perfect curser placement where the photo ought to be? Am I doing something wrong? Help me out here, kids. Hope you all are well and enjoying the start of summer.

Cheers!

Good Morning, World

Sunrise this morning on Jackson Street after a nice run. Nothing like starting the day on a good note. Happy Friday, friends.

cheers,
c.

Sigh...

I just spent the better part of an hour writing a blog post. Then firefox freaked out when I tried to add a photo and I realized I hadn't saved in a half hour. I have no energy to recreate 1/2 of that post, so...sigh. Perhaps someday, friends.

Until then. Here's a song I like, listen to it if you feel so inclined (this is in no way directed towards those music connoisseurs, j.lay and kos. In fact, please don't listen to it.)

Cheers.

family

Allow me, if you will, to be a tad indulgent. Not exactly 'fun, break from work' reading, if you will, so skip at your leisure. A hem.

At the tail end of January, I received an early morning phone call from my mother. I have not come to expect good news when my mom chooses to phone before the 8 o'clock hour and this was no exception. It turns out that, at the very fortunate age of 27, I had lost my first grandparent. My dad's father, Grandpa Gerald, passed away peacefully in his sleep at the age of 85. His was a life well lived, full of good food, laughter, hard work, love of family and lots of baseball. It's an incredible thing to reflect on the life of someone who played such a strong roll in forming your identity and shaping the way you think about the world. I have been incredibly blessed to be the granddaughter of Gerald Rambow.

The services were equally wonderful and difficult. I am always grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my extended relatives as the occurrences seem to get fewer and fewer the more years we spend away from Minnesota. The amount of support we received was overwhelming and yet not unexpected in the same rite (small town living certainly has its advantages despite the trouble of having to drive 45 minutes to the nearest Target).

The most difficult part, of course was watching my father deal with the passing of his. My dad displayed his normal chipper 'running-for-mayor' demeanor. Throughout most of the memories he shared at the funeral, he kept his composure and a smile on his face. But in the quiet moments, the moments we allowed ourselves to remember the man who could remind you that you had to get your bunt down with a twinkle in his eye and who was buried in the suit he purchased for your wedding, those were the moments I was reminded of the precious gift of life.

I was lucky to be born the granddaughter of a man who won't be remembered in many record books. He didn't make millions of dollars, play professional sports, win the Nobel Prize or even run for mayor. Instead, he raised a family with my grandmother, ran a grocery store and then a county park. Focused on making memories and supporting his grandchildren and always treating others the right way. He was a man of character in a world that lacked it and I will miss him always.


This past weekend Mike and I traveled to see my sister's family in South Dakota. My baby niece, Lyla is now almost 10 pounds, up from 1# 6 oz. at birth. We just found out she can slowly be weened off her feeding tube and oxygen. She is a darling girl, full of smiles, and wouldn't you know it, a twinkle in her eye. My grandpa Gerald was only 2# at birth and had to be kept alive by placing old Montgomery Ward catalogs in the oven and switching them halfway through the night. Ours is a resilient and incredibly fortunate family. And I am grateful.

3.9.11

A day of days, you might say.

Life is good, my friends.

When I woke up this morning, you were on my mind...

Here is a short list of things I am currently excited about (in no particular order) as a way to ease back into blogging:

1. knitting.

2. Colorado Bulldogs.

3. Seeing the Avett Brothers live this weekend in South Bend.

4. Seeing the 'Touchdown Jesus' and other assundry Notre Dame related sites before said A.B. concert.

5. Training for and subsequently running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth in June (also falls under the category of things I am dreading/terrified of, but nonetheless, excited).

6. Kate and J.Lay's nuptials. I now have my bridesmaid dress. It is pretty, though it must be said: there may be some cleavage happening.

7. Our trip to Bozeman in 2 weeks to see the St. Aubyns and ski with K and J.Lay.

8. Potential shift which may result in me actually liking my job. Keep your fingers crossed for this one, everybody.

9. The birth of Jacob Keith Weidenbach to our dear friends H and Sam. He is cute and snuggly.

10. The David Wax Museum (thanks b.schne). If your question is, "Would you like to play the donkey jaw?" then my answer is "Yes."

10 ought to do it don't you think? You think we need one more? Okay we'll get one more.

11. The Oceans movies only get better with time. (Except for 12, 12 was marginal at best. I mean, I still own it, and I'll still watch it, but 11 and 13 are superior.)

Cheers, friends. Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful wintertime.