I can't help it!

Are you kidding me, this will be my greatest accomplishment someday when I learn how to do it!  I am sorry, I just can’t help it, I say what I say when I want to say it and boy howdy do I always want the last word in an argument.  And of course, I am always right, lol.

Weekend & HB Fun!

Ugh, Monday is back again.  This weekend was way too short but I was able to do a lot of things, so I guess that made it ok.  Friday, my peeps Ricki, Jill, Meegan and I took our friend Louise out to dinner for her birthday at Sundried Tomato in San Juan Capistrano. We had such a nice time, not sure why we do not do that more often, so we made a vow to get together more often. Please send good thoughts Louise’s way as she is having surgery tomorrow to have remaining pieces of a tumor removed from her leg.  

Saturday was exhausting, paddling practice in the morning that focused on technique, so there was not a lot of paddling, but instead a lot of focused drills which provided a decent workout and a sore back later on.  After practice Gracie and I went for our normal walk and I even threw in a slight jog (wild I know), after three miles we called it quits and went home for lunch.  As I was about to chow down on my lunch April texted me to see if I wanted to go for a hike; sure why not so I logged another 4.5 miles on my out of shape legs and dragged myself home.  I live so close to several trails and I never take advantage of them, so this was the perfect opportunity to get outside and check one of the trails out.  Feeling lean and mean I got this crazy idea in my head that I needed to buy a new bathing suit, clearly I was a bit delusional from that days activities.  I bought my new suit from Athleta, apparently still delusional and thinking I was rich I bought a dress and a sweater from there as well, lol, cause that place ain’t cheap.   Lucky for me their website was not cooperating with me, so I had to call my order in and for the inconvenience, they gave me 20% off, SCORE.  

Sunday morning was a bit of the same, the Sheriff went to paddling practice and Mr. Pie and I rode scooters around Dana Point and went and had breakfast at Proud Mary’s.  After practice we headed to the parents house for an afternoon and evening of fun and games.  Mr. Pie was so excited, he could not wait to see Cole and Mari, he asked me all morning when we were going to go and if I was sure Cole and Mari would be there.  When we got there we pulled all of the toys out of the garage, Super Dad pulled out Cornhole and we played and played outside for hours.  Finally it got to cold out and we packed it all up and headed inside.  Super Mom made a really good dinner and finished things up with strawberry shortcakes for everyone.  

Someone's not happy with they way the red bag landed.

How do we go from these cute little girls to these boys…..

Oh my!!! 

Thanks Super Mom and Super Dad for a great afternoon.

Life As We Know It Right Now!

Another week of a quiet blog, poor blog, I really do enjoy posting on it but you know that small thing called “paddling season” has started and besides just reposting pretty much every blog post from last season since life is pretty much the same I don’t have a lot to talk/bitch/vent about.  So anywho, paddling season has started and it has pretty much zapped any and all free time that I used to have.  So I will try to recap what has gone on in life in the last two-ish weeks.

Friday Super Mom and I went to lunch together, I needed to pick up some meds for the Gracie-dog and the Vet is just down the street from the parents and Super Mom and I have not been to lunch in F O R E V E R, so it was a great excuse to go.  Our beloved Cheesecake Factory was calling our name, so we went.  After we went I introduced Super Mom to REI, we went with a purpose so we did not peruse the isles; instead I went straight for the Thule Racks and was in and out of there in 10 mins.  I bought myself a new rack system for the CRV so I could transport the OC-2 with a little more stability, to say I was excited was an understatement, I was thrilled with my new purchase, I am such a DORK.  I love the Thule catalog; I am always picking a copy up to see what new products they might have, I swear that catalog screams fun.

\

My new rack, fancy right?

Saturday, April and I completed another OC-2 race, this one seemed a bit more challenging then that last one, probably because I could not get my act together and paddle like a normal person.  My body/chest was extremely sore and every stroke hurt like no other.  We also hit every large patch of kelp in the Pacific Ocean, grrrr, oh well it is what it is and we still had a good time and that is all that matters.  For all of you that were hanging on the edge of your seat wondering what size t-shirt I ended up ordering (see last post) and if the Sheriff was going to be the lucky recipient of said t-shirt, well….I decided to order an XL and I gave it to him, yes, I guess it if official, we have taken our relationship to the next level, this is serious stuff. 

I love baby beach in the morning, it is so pretty.

This is how I feel every Saturday after paddling practice, such a dilemma.

Sunday the Sheriff went to paddling practice (this sport has seriously taken over our lives) with the novice, due to work and Mr. Pie’s schedule with his Mom the Sheriff cannot not go to the Men’s team practice, so I stayed behind (I have been helping out the novice here and there) and watched Mr. Pie while he was out on the water.  Mr. Pie and I brought our scooters to the beach with us and rode down to Proud Mary’s for breakfast.  After breakfast we rode around the island and watched the novice come back in, we cheered the Sheriff on and took some pictures.  In the past Mr. Pie has wanted to ride and ride and ride and ride and ride and ride scooters (I swear he is trying to kill me, lol) and dang I am 35 years old, I am tired and I can’t ride F O R E V E R like he can, so this was my perfect excuse to sit and relax a little.  That night the Sheriff, Mr. Pie and I had dinner with the parents, poor Mr. Pie was the only kid there, he played with Lucy the whole time, but I think he was kind of bored, but he was a good sport and never complained.  We had a good laugh at the dinner table and realized that we need to teach him appropriate things to say while sitting there, I will let your imaginations run wild with what you think he might of said, cause I cannot not do it justice retelling it on the here. 

That's my guy standing up, I love that he is waving to us.

Another work week came around, lately things have been so busy that the minute I get there and I hit the ground running, or at least I think I do, my ADD has been on fire this week and I have been having trouble concentrating.  Myself and a couple others are planning an April 1^st potluck because wouldn’t you know it but April 1^st is International Have Fun at Work Day, so I sent out an email to all city staff about it and I have already received a couple emails asking if this is a joke.  NO people this is for real. 

I miss seeing the Sheriff, I only see him on Sunday’s due to our work schedules and Mr. Pie and it kind of sucks.  Shift change happens this Friday and he will be getting off work around 7 pm for the next month, so perhaps I will get to see him a bit more.  I need more facetime (not the iphone app) and less text time, insert sad picture of girlfriend.  I feel like I am constantly making excuses to my friends as why I don’t see him and I swear they all think we have a jacked up relationship.  I am not gonna lie, I wish he had an 8-5 work schedule for selfish reasons (on a side note:  I have never dated anyone with a normal work schedule, I must of seriously pissed off the work gods, however they always seem to be men in uniform, so I guess that is the tradeoff).  Thank goodness, I have paddling and a dog to keep me busy otherwise I would be a hot mess. 

I am on week three of clean eating, I decided to stop eating all breads, pastas, packaged food (never really ate a lot of this), etc.  I was having serious uncomfortable gut issues after eating (like my stomach looked like I had gained 20lbs. after a meal) and it was not fun.  I am not sure if it is a gluten issue or a food allergy/sensitivity, but man oh man do I feel better.  So for now, until I decide to take the time to figure out what my issue is I am just going to go with this new way of eating.  I did have a breakdown a few days ago and I had a Twix bar and I paid for it later a couple hours later.   I am not gonna lie, I am going to miss all of those yummy carbs and bad for you foods, but feeling better outweighs the momentary satisfaction of the taste.     

My favorite right now, spicy poke and avocado.

Now if you are still reading this, give yourself a high 5 because that is a lot to get through!   I feel like I just lost 5 lbs. of brain information.  

Until the next brain dump, erin. 

Just Like Old Times!

Growing up I remember the excitement of going to school a couple days before school would start and finding out which teacher I would have for that school year and then there was the excitement of the first day of school and the gathering of friends who I had not seen all summer long.  Now that I am all grown-up there are no more first days of school and going to work is the same everyday and I am not to excited to go, but today was like a first day of school, it was the first day of the 2014 paddling season and the gathering of friends who I had not seen since September.  There was that excitement in the air, it was so good to see and get caught up with everyone and it was equally as great to see new faces; people that we well surely become fast friends with in the near future.  The whole club is in the process of learning a new paddling technique, getting rid of bad habits and becoming a faster paddling team, it is kind of nice to start off fresh and know things will only continue to get better.  I am off to register for the Dana Ocean Challenge happening this weekend, hopefully I will see a lot of my Dana peeps out there.  Now for some really serious talk, when I register for this race, do I get the t-shirt in my size or do I get it to fit the Sheriff and let him have it?  I mean for reals this is a tough decision, this could indicate that we are in a new chapter of our relationship if I give him the shirt, right?  Lol.  

And don't forget…..

Life is SO Much Better on the Water.

Last Days of My Free Time!

The blog has been pretty quiet this week, not much blog worthy going on I guess.  I spent this week soaking up all of my remaining free time cause wouldn't you know it but my part-time job aka paddling season starts tomorrow!  Yesterday was spent cleaning my house, I did some serious cleaning, tackled all of the dirty laundry and mopped the floors.  I must confess, I am not a huge fan of mopping, it takes way too many steps if you ask me and I hardly ever do it, I know, I am a baaaadddddd person, but whatever.  I do sweep the floor weekly to get all of the dog hair up and I have one of those fancy microfiber swiffer things so it picks up a lot of dirt and then I usually vacuum the floor so it stays sorta clean, but ya I still hate mopping it.  However, yesterday I mopped and I used Mrs. Meyers floor cleaner for the first time and holy mother of clean floors that stuff smells so good that I might mop again this month.  Daylight savings day occurred today and I know a lot of you with small children hate it, but I am seriously stoked, I love that it is lighter out later and and that Summer is right around the corner, however losing that hour of sleep kind of messed with me today, but I am still glad we sprung forward.  The Sheriff and I took Mr. Pie to the Fred Hall Fishing Show, it was a lot of fun.  Awesome boats that we will never be able to afford, little camping trailers that would be perfect for us and we might be able to afford someday and fishing gear that I could careless about but it was fun.  They had duck races for the kids, Mr. Pie and I participated, I was a tad bit nervous cause I do not like to hold birds or small creatures, but I took on for the team and held a duck so that we could compete in the race.  There was a lumber jack show and a dog jumping contest into a pool which was a lot of fun and I would really like to take Gracie to, if only she was not so spastic cause I think she would do great. 

April and I went paddling last Sunday and made it back to the beach right as it poured down rain.

This is what my front seat of my car looked like until I got a garbage bag and cleaned it all out.  I mean really, who has a step stool in the front seat along with a backpack, purse, towel, sun visor (cause that is needed when it is raining), clean/dirty clothes under the pile along with who knows what everywhere else?  

Fred Hall Show, Mr. Pie got in for FREE, that was nice!

Lumber Jack show, got to love the suspenders.

Me, Mr. Pie and the Duck, it was fun and we lost the race.

Dinner, we went to Good Choice again, YUM YUM.

And now it is time for bed, goodnight everyone.

Frisbee, Storm Watch, Paddling, Cookies, Shoes & More!

What can I say, but it has been a busy week around these parts!  I took Wednesday and Thursday off this week cause the Sheriff and I were planning on taking Mr. Pie snowboarding but due to the lack of snow we did not go, so instead we stayed home and tackled more projects around the Sheriff's house.  We started our time off with a trip to the park for the pups, Gracie is quite the frisbee dog, so it was fun to get a few shots of her in action.

After the park we hit Home Depot, grabbed a few items along with some flower and grass seed to spruce up the Sheriff's front yard.  We planted Iceland Poppies and Snap Dragons and it turned out so nice.  We then spread some grass seed in the bare parts of the lawn and we are currently praying that it will grow, cause we have no idea what we are doing and neither one of us was blessed with a green thumb, so we are flying by the seat of our pants with fingers crossed for grass.

See the brown parts, there are more of them and we need grass.  I am hoping with all of this rain we will have grass soon!

Speaking of rain, there is nothing more bonding for a paddling team then a good paddle in the rain.  Thursday morning a dozen of us headed out for a morning sunrise paddle and instead it was a morning soaker paddle, it was tons of fun and no one caught pneumonia.

All my wet clothes and gear and why yes, I did wear a sun visor, it helped keep the water out of my face.

After a hot shower and yummy breakfast with the Sheriff (take your minds out of the gutter, we just had breakfast together not the shower, I took care of that at my house by myself), we went on the search for rubber boats for the Sheriff, he needed them for work, so after several stops we landed at West Marine.  Poor Mr. Pie thought it was some type of Aquarium place where he could visit with all of the critters from under the sea and we were mean enough not to tell him it was a retail store, he was so disappointed when he realized he would not be seeing any sea life.  I however left very happy with my much prettier than the old pair new pair of Keen's.  My last pair were UGLY and a lot $$$$, but were the best paddling shoes, but they were really UGLY and a lot of $$$$ and they broke, so anyone who works for Keen that might be reading this, I am very disappointed that your product did not hold up very well.  I am hoping these hold up better, they seem to have a different backing on them and they are not as ugly as my other ones.

After West Marine the Sheriff took us to Mario's aka Gina's and I had my salad, YUM YUM, their dressing is amazing!!!  They are located right across the street from Hoag Hospital, so when Super Dad was there, I would go get my salad before visiting him.

Friday it rained all day, so Gracie and I stayed home except for a couple errands before the down pour. We literally did nothing but lounge around the house and nap, it was a much needed recovery day for me.

We had a tornado warning, crazy!

The worst part of rain and owning a dog……a wet dog.  Gracie stinks and she was soaked because she likes to find the perfect place to poop, seriously that makes me crazy, just poop dog.

The Sheriff got to hang with Vicki Vargas from channel 4 news and he was spotted on television later on.  Yep, he can pump out a boat like no other, that's my guy, lol.  The Harbor Patrol is like AAA, they do it all; rescue boaters, pull out dead bodies, write tickets, arrest people, put out fires, carry guns, fight crime, pump out boats, etc.

A screen shot of him, he looks good in yellow, it is a nice change from the green.

I went to the gym this morning for the first time in probably a year and a half, only because it was raining and April and I were unable to go paddle, so instead we went to the gym, let's just say my legs hurt bad right now.  The weather did clear and I helped out with the novice paddle practice so technically I got two workouts in today.

Since I went to the gym, I bought myself some new shoes.  Wow, two pairs of new kicks in one week, what is the world coming too?

Since I went to the gym and paddled with the novice the devil made me buy these, please make cookie season go away, I have a weakness for Thin Mints.

I made it home from all of my errands just as it started to pour again, we were hit with thunder and lightening which freaks Gracie out and killed my smoke detector (weird I know).  Not sure why it jacked my smoke detector, but lets just say a huge bolt of lightening came followed by thunder that shook my house and at the same time my smoke detector started beeping and then died, coincidence, I think NOT.

Gracie, HATES thunder and tries to hide under me, but after 30 mins of her hiding under me I am done, so she sat next to me for another 30 mins just making sure that bad thunder was gone before she left my side, this happened this morning at 1am too, I am done with thunder, I do not need her barking/crying/pacing anymore.

And here we are now.  Not sure what Sunday has in store for us, but I am sure it will be a good day as well.  

Funny Stuff!

I have been saving these silly little pictures on my phone for months now, I see them on Facebook and Instagram and usually laugh and agree that they are so true or apply to my life somehow.  I never really had a plan or a reason for saving them so I thought I would share some of my favs of recent with all of you!

=Paddling in an outrigger canoe