Almost Friday!

Wow, busy week = no blogging! 

It is amazing how a short work week can turn into a crazy busy week in the blink of an eye and before you know it it is Friday!  TGIF!  I am packing up the "G" for camp tomorrow morning, I have never really felt to guilty sending her off to camp for a night or two so that I could do my own thing, but after I typed out an email to the manager at the Pet Suites with all of the dates that I will need to leave her there I felt bad, the poor dog is being shipped off pretty much every weekend this summer.  Thankfully she loves it there and they are giving me a small discount on her stays! 

I think my dog walker might strangle me, I totally forgot that I needed to drop Gracie off tomorrow and never told him that he did not need to come till 9:45pm tonight and I have failed to pay him for two weeks, ahhhh, that never happens!  OMG! Time to pull my head out of the clouds, holy moly!

Speaking of strangling me, I think I have finally met the first patron at the community center that I am actually scared of, this person comes in the form of a 50 year old woman.  Who would of thought?  She is freaking scary and probably has my photo on some kind of voo doo doll or something like that.  For a moment yesterday I thought she was going to go postal on me over a refund that I was happy to give her, but my boss had not processed yet.  OMG, kind of scary the way she talked, made absolutely no sense and made it look like we were a bunch of yahoo's running a community center.  I felt like saying here is your money, now run and  never come back!  She was CRAZY!  Then, when I thought things could not get any crazier I noticed that all of my business cards were gone, there was a whole stack of them in the morning and by the afternoon they were gone, I sure hope all of those people who took them do not call me. 

Proof my cards are gone!

The DOCC is back in action this weekend!  It was nice to have a weekend break from racing last weekend, but I sure did miss it and I am so looking forward to our race on Saturday in Marina Del Ray, if you are in the area stop on by, the cooler has been found/cleaned and margarita's will be on tap!  Here is all of the info you will need.......2012 Kahanamoku Klassic Race

Here is a video of the last race, not sure if I am in it, but it is a cool video.

And the best news of all.........I got an email from Mr. Pilot-Man this afternoon, he passed his IOE (don't ask me what that stands for, he only told me a hundred times and I cannot remember for the life of me), he is back from India and is getting settled in Dubai.  Woo Hoo, way to go leO!

Have a great weekend!

A little of this and a lot of that!

So Mr.Pilot-Man took off yesterday morning (sniff sniff) and based on no news reports of any plane crashes he made it made it there in on piece, yay!  It is about 2:00am in Dubai, so his body must be a mess right now and he is off to India tomorrow for his big test.  Mr. Pilot-Man, if you are reading this please know that we are sending you good thoughts and you will do great!

Old picture from his Skywest days!

A huge shout out to all of my readers of the last post for the hugs, phone calls, text messages, etc, they meant a lot and I am so lucky to have all of you as friends!

On a lighter note, I am happy to report the case of the missing cooler was solved, thankfully I did not have to post this picture on facebook.

It was placed in the back of our coach Tyson's truck, he did not know who it belonged too, so he kept it with him hoping to find the owner.  It was kind of ironic, it stored margarita's for us and I found it after having a couple of margarita's with the team on Wednesday night.  After repeatedly telling my Mom I would never lose it, I will now be taking my Mom's advice and writing our name on it before it goes out again this weekend, I don't want to have to buy her a new one!

In the midst of my Mr. Pilot-Man sadness I indulged in a little retail therapy, my friend Ann Taylor Loft was very kind to me with a great sale going on and my pals at the GAP where kind enough to email me a $60 off coupon, so I bought me some new workout clothes; the pants I got are call gfast, I am thinking I should put them on and go for a run, they have got to make me go fast, cause the name says so!

The new Whole Foods by my house opened last weekend, it was a freaking mad house so I stayed far far far away from it.  Yesterday, Curtis the dog-walker braved the crowed and took his kids there and happened to run into "Fabio" eww, gross, I want to barf, I can't stand "Fabio".  He was promoting some health food product.

I don't think Cleo likes him either!

Speaking of new stores opening, Hobby Lobby is opening across the street and I cannot wait!  A lot of the blogs I follow mention Hobby Lobby in them but they were all out of state, I am so excited!

As I mentioned yesterday, leO and I had a great time wondering around downtown San Diego, but my verizon navigator aka Carla did not, dude, she was all out of sorts on Thursday, Friday and today.  This morning all of a sudden as I was walking to Starbucks she turned on and started shouting out directions, it was soooo crazy, like as if we need directions to Starbucks, seriously I don't even have to order there cause they know me so well.  She kept yelling at me to turn left and I could not make her stop, finally I had to shut my phone off to get her to pipe down.

Now this is weird, last week my Facebook account got hacked into, a few days later my YouTube account was hacked and today I got some strange text message from verizon saying my account was put on hold, WTH, who does this?  So, it looks as if I am going to have to change all of my passwords to every account to keep people out of them. 

Check this out.....

Such a pretty little flower poking through the fence, but I bet you $20 that the owner of this plant will get a nasty gram from the association telling them to remove the flower poking through the fence, they are heartless like that. 

I got my first Punch Card check in the mail yesterday!

I am pretty stoked, this app is gonna make me a rich woman!

I got my Dana Outrigger visor yesterday, yep it is official, I am on the team!

I bet you are jealous!

I went on another 20 mile bike ride today, Jill, Ricki and I rode down to San Clemente, it was such a pretty day at the beach, we are so lucky to live where we do!

AND......best of all today was a "sunroof day", yep the sun was out and after a nice bike ride it just seemed right to roll down the windows and open up the sunroof, gosh I love those days!

Look at that blond hair, gotta love the dark skin and blond hair that the new hobby has provided me with! 

Whew, that was a long post, if you are still reading give yourself a pat on the back you deserve it!

Hope everyone is enjoying there long weekend!

A Happy Day & Sad Goodbye!

Not sure how to start this post, this is the second toughest blog post I have ever written (if you want to see the first one you can click here) and one I never would of thought I would be writing it in a million years, but in some ways I am so happy that I had the experience to write about!  Mr. Pilot-Man has been back in the picture for almost a month, he was allowed to come back home in between his training and his final flight exam that is coming up this Tuesday.  We have been hanging off and on this past month and it has been great seeing each other, at first I was really hesitant to see him but he kind of showed up at my front door and there was no way I could not let him in.  So the past few weeks we have been hanging, going to dinner, eating cookies & ice cream and waiting for the dreaded phone call that would be taking him back to Dubai.  I knew I was going to have a four day weekend this weekend and that I did not have a race this weekend, so we decided to go away for the weekend, we tossed around a few fun places to go but on Wednesday afternoon he got the call saying that he was leaving Saturday morning (enter in a lot tears), so that left us with very little time.  I have been wanting to go on this hike down in Poway to Potato Chip Rock at Lake Poway, so we decided we would go down to San Diego Thursday night, hang out down there and go on the hike Friday.  Leo being the awesome person that he is arranged everything, we stayed at this super cool/had to be super expensive hotel, had great dinner, a few cocktails and dessert down there, slept in, had breakfast, drove to Lake Poway, hiked a little bit, decided it was way to cold and drove home.  I hated how the day seemed to fly by, he dropped me off at my house, I cried my eyes out, wished him a safe trip back to Dubai, said goodbye and watched him drive off, to say that last part of my day sucked would be an understatement, I have been a hot mess ever since he left!  But, the best part of this whole thing is.......I am so glad I saw him again, I hated the way we left things back in December and it feels so good to leave things on a good note!  :)  So tonight I am going to indulge myself in some Trader Joe's break and bake chocolate chip cookies and some ice cream, remember the great time we had together and throw myself a pity party for one.  Thankfully, I have a great group of friends, a new hobby that I can't seem to get enough of and some retail therapy waiting for me tomorrow!  To Mr.Pilot-Man, thank you for a wonderful time yesterday, today and this past month, I can't wait to come visit you in Dubai!  To my family & friends, I bet you did not see this one coming and I don't want to hear I told you so or anything like that, I knew it would be hard, but I had to do it!

On our way, please ignore our wardrobe, there was some serious miscommunication about this!

mmm, looks good!

Yep, they were good!

Dinner!

Dessert!

A little sightseeing!

Check out those two huge zits on my chin, can you say stress!

Good Luck leO, I will miss you tons!

Early Detection is Important!

The SCAN Van came to work yesterday to do bone density screenings mainly for the seniors, but it was open to anyone who wanted to have it done, so I hopped on board and had it done.  I must confess I NEVER take calcium supplements (my stomach and them do not get along), but I am active, do a lot of weight bearing activities, eat pretty healthy, take prenatal vitamins (no, I am not pregnant, they are good for you that is why I take them) and consider my white mocha and ice cream consumption a good source of calcium (kidding), so I figured there was really no need to worry, boy howdy was I wrong!  I sat down in the chair, put my foot in the machine and was kind of surprised with the results I got.  The machine showed that I was in the Osteopenia stage and headed towards Osteoporosis if I did not act now and I am only 33.  Good news for me is that I am on the border of normal/not so good and that I can reverse this by adding more calcium to my diet.  Coincidentally, I scheduled my annual exam today as well, so this is good information to take to my doctor so that I have a baseline number and can be monitored more often in the future.  Moral of the story, take your calcium and get your bones checked often, your body will thank you! 

A new set of wheels!

A couple weeks ago Super Dad got himself a truck, not just any truck, but a truck that he has now purchased twice!  Not too many people that I know buy they same truck twice, but you see Super Dad has been wanting a small pick-up truck for quite awhile but he could not seem to pry his wallet open and buy himself a truck, so as luck would have it, my brother bought a new car to cart around lil miss Caroline a couple weeks and just so happened to have a truck for sale and you guessed it Super Dad bought it from my brother.  In case you were wondering or already shaking your head, the Super Parents bought Ryan this truck when he was in high school, gave it to him when he moved out therefore it was his to sell someday and that's what he did, he sold it right back to the person who bought it for him, SMH!  I am pretty sure that was the worst financial decision Super Dad has ever made, he paid approx. $11,000 for it originally, $3000 for it two weeks ago and has spent more on that truck then it was ever worth brand new and to top it off it has close to 200,000 miles!  Oh well, I guess if there is a bright side, Super Dad knows the service history of the car, how many speeding tickets were acquired in it and the best part is he does not have to change the registration into his name, cause my brother never changed it.  SMH!!!  Super Dad, don't worry I still love you and I see your reasoning behind this, I just find it really funny (I think I laughed for probably an hour the night I found out about his big purchase)!

Blah, Blah, Blah, ya that's what we think too!

Dear Action Property Management,



In the four years I have lived here, I have never had anyone complain about my barking or being a nuisance to the neighborhood until now.  In the past two months you have sent me two nasty grams barking dog letters from our association, well this is what we think of those letters around here......

Me with the letter!

and......

Ya, take that Action Property Management, your not gonna stop us from tearing up your letter!  Ha, whatcha gonna do now? 

RUFF, RUFF!

XOXO, Gracie

Kindergarten, here I come!

Holy Mother of Cuteness! 

OMG, can she get any cuter?  Seriously, send this girl to kindergarten stat, she is ready (in her mind and is probably smarter then me!) and the teachers will LOVE her!

I could watch this over and over again!

Rig Run - Santa Barbara

This weekend was the Rig Run in Santa Barbara and it was a blast!  After a 4 hour drive up the coast I met up with a bunch of peeps at our hotel and then we all headed out for a team for dinner.  The next morning we were up bright and early for our race!  My boat came in 3rd place this week, Cherie, Wennie, Dori, Ricki & Jill paddled with me and they all did a great job!  Here are a few pictures of this weekend (I am hoping to get some more pictures that include me paddling), the weather was perfect and the company was great.

This was the view we arrived too!

Go TEAM!

Our boat crew!

The score sheets.

Margarita's!

Bottoms up!

Cheers!

3rd place medal

The afternoon view!

Great weekend & great people, next race will be on June 2, in Marina del Rey, hope to see you there!

My bags are packed and ........

I ain't looking back!

Bright and early this morning I loaded up the “G” dropped her off at camp, got my coffee, ate a little breakfast and loaded up my car for a weekend of fun in Santa Barbara!  WOOHOO!  The only downer is that I have to suffer through work for 4 hours before I can hit the road.  I am so excited for this weekend’s paddle, we have a team dinner date set for 7pm tonight, an interesting boat launch tomorrow, Margarita’s on tap via the trusty blue cooler that is ready and waiting to be filled up in my car, now if our coach would just email the boat assignments we would be all set! 

The back of my car looks rolling “REI trunk sale” and I love it! 

Have bike, will ride!

Gracie in the back all ready to go!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, catch ya back here on Sunday!

Gone Viral!

About a month ago the OC Sheriff's Department was putting together a video for the Medal of Valor ceremony and needed people from RSM to act like they were filing a police report, Rhonda and I were the only ones around that afternoon so we were selected to "star" in this widely anticipated and viewed video.  You can see us 5minutes and 55seconds into the clip, you will mostly see my extremely large backside, so please ignore that and focus on our amazing Oscar Award winning performances!   

Below is a video of my nephew's friend Harlow and her little friend (no idea who he is), they along with their parents put together this clip and have had over 1 million hits on it, after watching it you can see why I put them after my video, they are way cuter!  Congrats to Harlow and friend for going viral, we all expect to see you on Ellen soon!

And.....We are off to the races!

Words cannot even describe the amount of fun I had yesterday, seriously, soooooooo much fun!  Yesterday was my fellow novi and I's first Outrigger Canoe race EVER, OMG, so much fun!  It is so crazy, I cannot tell you how much I love hanging out with these people, we all drug ourselves out of bed at 0 dark 30, got in our cars, were bright eyed and bushy tailed (well, those of us who manage to find an open Starbucks), were down in San Diego by 6am (OH good morning) and on the beach putting boats together.   Our amazing coaches Rich and Tyson and our Team Mom/Support Staff person Leslie set up camp for us on the beach near the finish line complete with ez-ups, a BBQ and all the community food any hungry paddler could desire, it was a picture perfect set-up and made for a fantastically fun day!  The novice women's race began around 8:45am and lasted about 40 minutes, my boat did AWESOME to say the least, we paddled hard, steered off the competition and if it weren't for a pesky boat from San Diego we would of won the race, but 2nd place is still GREAT and I am so proud of myself and the gals who paddled their hardest, way to go Ladies! 

Ski Beach in Mission Bay

Getting the boats race ready!

My "job" getting the sponsor stickers!

 The front of our jersey's

The back of our jersey's

Borrowed photo from Facebook!

Three of my peeps!!

The sweet note that fellow paddler Josie sent us last night after the race!  I'm telling you, these people are so nice, so glad I found such a great group of new friends.  Needless to say, I cannot wait to go to practice tomorrow and our race next weekend in Santa Barbara should be just as much fun if not more, see you all out on the water!

DANA, DANA, KILLER DANA!

4 years already?

Today is my sweet puppy's 4th Birthday!  Wow, where has the time gone?  She is still as crazy as she was the day I brought her home, thankfully we have not had to have any more foreign objects surgically removed from her gut and all of our furniture is still in one piece, knock on wood!  I decided this year Gracie needed a gift, so in honor of her 4th birthday I booked her a room at the Aliso Viejo Pet Suites for tonight night along with a full day of camp play with all of her four legged furry friends, ya not really, it was more like I am headed out of here all day Saturday and I need to pawn her off on someone except she is so wild she is not welcome at the grandparents house too often without me being there and usually there is some kind of begging involved on my part and that is not cute!  Oh well, she will have fun and I could use a little time to myself, so she will be dropped off promptly at 7am when they open!