Lesson Learned. Just Keep Driving.

What a stressful week this has been!  Monday, while driving home from work, the traffic on the freeway came to a dead stop.  Not that it was moving briskly before, but now it was completely stopped.  I should preface this with the fact that it has been really hot the past few days.  All of the sudden I see smoke billowing up several hundred feet in front of me.  Then I look in my rear view mirror to see a fire truck approaching.  "Great.  You've got to be kidding me" I think to myself.  Some yahoo's beater car has overheated and is now engulfed in flames.  "GAH!  This is such an inconvenience!"  I know that I should feel compassion for the poor schmuck whose car is on fire but I really have no patience for it anymore. There are so many beater cars on the road these days that its literally a weekly occurrence to sit in worse than normal traffic due to a stalled vehicle....Sorry.  I had to vent.  Back to my story.  So I notice that I'm right near the exit that will put me on a straight shot all the way over to I-205.  "Sure, this has got to be faster than waiting for the fire to be put out," I think.  So I take it.  I'm driving along when all of the sudden the car in front of me flips on her blinker to turn left at a green light.  I switch lanes to avoid having to slow down while she yields to oncoming traffic.  She slows down slightly and I see her car shake back and forth as if she's hesitating to make the turn.  I think to myself "don't do it.  Don't do it".  Then she does it.  She never stopped and proceeded to turn directly in front of the oncoming car.  SMASH!!!! She t-boned the other car and sent them spinning past me.  I quickly turned the corner at the intersection and pulled into a parking lot so I could run to see if the people were okay.  The driver was stuck in the car and there was glass everywhere.  His arm was covered in blood but overall he looked like he was okay.  By this time, his wife had gotten out of the car and was yelling inappropriate comments to the driver that had hit them.  I assumed it was just shock and I tried to calm her down.  Then I went over to the other gal who (I thought) caused the accident to make sure she was okay.  Her airbags had deployed and she clearly had a broken arm.  She was pretty beat up and completely out of it.  She was close to my age and I felt so badly for her.

Once the police showed up, I gave my statement.  To me, it was very clear that the gal didn't yield like she was supposed to.  Then, another witness who was sitting at the adjacent light comes up to me and says the light was yellow and the car that was hit tried to "beat the light" and ran a yellow.  "What?! The light was totally green," I thought and just responded by saying "I don't recall it happening that way."  Later that night, I got a call from the traffic police wanting my statement again.  So I recanted the details of the crash.

The officer responds by saying "not to discredit what you are saying, but I have another witness who says the light was yellow and that the BMW who was hit ran a yellow and was at fault.  You do know in Oregon that running a yellow light is the same thing as running a red, don't you?"

I respond.  "Yeah, but wasn't this other witness sitting at the adjacent light?  How could he have seen it was yellow?  I was not slowing down to stop because the light was green.  It never turned yellow because if it had I would have been slowing to a stop.

The policeman goes on, "well, just for future reference, I want you to know that it is illegal to run a yellow in Oregon".

What the crap?!?! Is this dingle-douche really giving ME, the witness, a lesson on what's legal and what's not? He's treating me like I did something wrong in this scenario.  Of course I know its illegal to run a yellow light.  Duh!  That's why I was proceeding through a GREEN light.  Is he really taking the word of someone who couldn't see what color the light was over mine, the person who was actually driving through the light?  AND I might add, this other witness couldn't even recall his own phone number at the scene because in his own words he was "so out of it".  Do you really think he was sitting at a red light, saw a huge accident occur before his eyes and then looked up and processed that his light just went from red to green?  I don't.

Seeing the accident was pretty traumatizing.  However, being questioned and talked to like I did something wrong was even more frustrating.  Its no wonder that people don't stop to help more often if they are going to be treated this way.  I learned my lesson.  Way to go Portland police.  You just lost another Good Samaritan.  Next time I will be sure to keep on driving.

Gray is here to stay!

I love gray!  Pretty much every color combination with gray is fantastic. Gray and yellow?  One of my favorites!  Gray and pink?  Of course.  Gray and red?  For sure!   Its a neutral color without being too neutral.  AKA boring.  I don't know what it is about this little shade that makes everything look a bit more sophisticated, but I'm happy to see that it's finally starting to catch on.  For the past two years, its been difficult to find any gray textiles or furniture.  I would go shopping and there would be no gray to be found.  Finally, about a year ago during one of my many trips to Lazy-Boy.....It's true.  One of my weaknesses is to visit the furniture and fabric swatches. They know me by name now. Nerd alert.  I know!....Anyways, the designer said that by summer 2012, gray patterned upholstery should start to show its face and retailers would start to catch on.  I just needed to be patient for a year or so.  It was on the horizon.

Finally, its now summer of 2012 and guess what?  Gray seems to be popping up everywhere.  Even Ikea is on board with their new Gray-Brown Collection!

Espresso has been sidelined.  Gray-brown is pulling ahead. Next time you aren't sure what color to go with, as a base or even an accent, I urge you to give gray a try.  Its classic, yet contemporary.  Modern, yet traditional.  Where we live, most people think that gray = gloomy.  When you look outside, you're right.  However, there are so many different shades of gray to choose from.  It goes with almost everything, and if done right, can give even the gloomiest room a cheery makeover.  

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99892233/

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90192047/

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Hand-tufted-Gray-Zandoline-New-Zealand-Wool-Rug-5-x-8/6578367/product.html

No more boats for me!

The last week of June we headed to Hawaii to watch two of our friends get hitched.  This was our second time visiting the beautiful island of Kauai and it was a week-long vacation that was very much needed.  The wedding was amazing and the bride couldn't have looked more gorgeous.  Aside from a little bit of tropical rain (which provided an amazing rainbow) the day couldn't have gone better.  The reception was a lot of fun too.  A little too much fun for myself and I have the scar on my ankle to prove it.  Apparently, I can't hold my liquor these days.  After one margarita, I tripped over some rocks and ate it pretty hard.  It was worth it though.  I forgot how much fun it is to let loose once in a while - especially if its good alcohol and you don't pay for it the next day.

We ended up staying in a house with the bride and groom and three other couples that we had never met.  I must admit, leading up to the trip I was worried that we had made a horrible decision to stay in the house.  However, to my surprise it worked out really well.  Everyone was so respectful of everyone else and we all got along really well.  We may even meet up with some of them in the future.

After the wedding was over, the rest of the trip was pretty low-key.  The only scheduled activity we planned was a catamaran snorkeling trip along the Na Pali Coastline.  I know what you're thinking.  "She actually got on another boat in Kauai?"  I did, and just like last time, it was a bad decision.  The last time we were in Kauai we went on the worst boating trip ever.  We went deep sea fishing on a tiny little boat in 20-foot swells.  For most of that outing I questioned whether or not we would return to shore.  It was horrible.  So why did I agree to go on another boat in Kauai?  Because I'm an idiot!  That's the only explanation I can come up with.  I guess I figured it couldn't be that bad.  After all, it was summer this time around so the weather was supposed to be better and we were on a MUCH bigger boat.

The first part of the outing was a lot of fun.  We spotted sea turtles, Spinner Dolphins and Bottle-nose Dolphins.  My friend and I sat at on the trampoline at the front of the boat so that we could have the best view as well as get optimum sun exposure.  It was a lot of fun....Until it wasn't.  All of the sudden we hit some rough water.  Not 20-foot swell rough, but rough enough that it wasn't fun anymore.  The captain told us that it wasn't safe to move around so we needed to lay on our stomachs and hold on tight with our arms in front of us in a Superman position.  Wave after wave began crashing over us.  I don't know how big they were but it felt like we were constantly under water.  After what seemed like an eternity of being pummeled by waves and getting rope burns on my knuckles, there was a small enough break that we were able to get up and run under deck.   Once we were safely under deck, I realized that everything was blurry and I had a massive headache.  I must have swallowed the entire ocean.  What I didn't swallow was in my eyes and ears.  It wasn't pleasant and I stayed under deck for the rest of the trip back to shore.

Aside from dreaded boating adventure #2 in Kauai, overall the trip was a success.  Kauai is a beautiful island, but not one I think we'll return to for several years. Next on the list for Hawaii is to check out Oahu or Kona.

Here's a little picture recap.  Enjoy!

Our tiny little car companion

The wedding reception

Ian's watching me stumble to my drink

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Nash

This is the house we stayed in as well as the reception location

The wedding rainbow

The view from our backyard

Cheese!

The hammock in our backyard.  I wish I had remembered this was here
so I could have actually used it

The guys chilling on the porch after a hard day in the sun

Looking down on the general location of our house

Our understated rental.  Could they have given us a more obnoxious color?
By the way, Mustangs are not at all comfortable

Spouting Horn at dusk

The dreaded boat.....Before it got bad.  We don't have any after pics. 

Ian watching the turtles

Yep, that's a turtle

Glass Beach

The sand was old beer bottles and metal that turned into soft glass rocks from the ocean

Of course I had to take some home

So did Jessica.  One of the many reasons we're friends

The lighthouse.  We didn't actually tour it.  If you've seen one,
you've seen them all, right?

Instead we decided to take a picture to make it look like we did. 

I don't remember which beach this is, but it was pretty

A little sunning after body surfing at Hanalei Bay - Our favorite beach.
Too bad we found it on our last day. 

Body surfing is hard work

See the waterfall?

These birds were so pretty.   We called them "Bryce" birds because our friend
Bryce (aka the Groom) is a ginger (aka redhead) so its fitting right?

Snot Rocket Wednesday

My husband and I always do things that amuse each other.  Completely unintentional of course, and sometimes gross, but funny nonetheless.  Today was one of those days.  I came home from work and like always, walked over to give my husband a kiss hello.  As I leaned in to give him a smooch, something caught my eye sitting on the collarbone of his white t-shirt.  "What the?  Is that what I think it is?" I say.  He looked down and started laughing hysterically.  I looked a little closer.  "Is that a booger on your shirt?!  You totally have a giant booger on your shirt!  Ewww!  How on earth did that get there?"

"I was wondering where that went."  He responded.

"You were wondering where that went? Okay, you have to fill me in.  How do you misplace a booger?  And then how do you not realize that its stuck to your shirt?"

He goes on, "Well you see, I blew my nose and I knew something came out, but then I looked in the tissue and nothing was there.  I looked around the floor and couldn't find anything so I thought that maybe I just shook it loose but nothing came out."

"Wait, wait, wait.  You looked around the floor?  Oh my gosh.  If there was enough force to make you think it was on the floor, you'd think you would have checked a mirror too!  That must have been quite the blow to fly out of the tissue and onto your shirt.  That's so disgusting."

"I'm gonna go change my shirt" he said. 

The booger saga kept us going all night.  We couldn't stop laughing.  We were watching TV and I would just start busting up out of nowhere.  "I still can't believe you blew a booger onto your shirt" I said.  "I can totally picture you wandering around searching for the missing booger".  Then five or ten minutes later he would start snickering and shaking his head.  Even while writing about it I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.  Maybe you had to be there. Or maybe we just get amused by little things.  Either way, let this be a lesson.  Always check a mirror if you misplace a booger.

Timberrrrrrrrrrrr!

This marks the first of our planned yard projects for 2012.  It was kind of a sad day I must admit.  My husband and I have been contemplating removing the maple tree from our front yard for the past few years.  Why?  Because it never should have been planted there in the first place.  It's a beautiful tree and looks great now, but give it a few years and you wouldn't be able to see our house anymore. Since we are planning on installing a sprinkler system, we decided it was now or never to get the tree out.   Our neighbors aren't that excited about it but they'll come around in time. 

Farewell ole' tree.  You were pretty to look at but your positive attributes ended there.  We won't miss your sun-blocking, leaf-dropping ways.

BEFORE

AFTER - But before grass was filled.
I started to have a bit of an "Oh crap, what did we do?" moment.  But once the grass was filled in........

AFTER AND COMPLETE
It looks like the tree was never supposed to be there.

UPDATE: Okay, so I kind of miss the tree. Not the tree itself, but the privacy it provided in front of our giant window. I realized how much I missed this when I ran downstairs semi-clothed and noticed that I was on display for the entire street.   I took the tree for granted.  I know it wasn't a cloak of invisibility but I like to think that it shielded me slightly from the neighbors when I was running free.  I guess I better think twice before doing that again. That aside, I'm pretty happy with the overall look of the yard sans the tree.

Since when do we live in the Midwest?

This is seriously delayed as are most of my posts these days.  I've decided that most posts will be at least a few weeks to a month after the fact.  Partially due to a busy summer schedule but mostly because of forgetfulness.  The posts are already written, but I'll forget my memory card at home, or I'll leave the photos saved on another computer, or I'll just forget to post it entirely.  So we can just pretend they are current day.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had some crazy weather.  I mean crazy.......Well, crazy for our standards.  Friday was a huge thunder and lightning storm that hit a tree down by my old high school.  This was by no means a small tree and what was left behind was a huge pile of firewood.  My husband and I decided to go take a look at it and man, am I glad we did.  This was something I would've been bummed to miss.

The lightning hit the tree in front as well as part of the tree still standing

This was a couple hundred feet from the tree, speared into the ground

Saturday was another thunder and lighting storm.  This time, there were huge hail pellets and rain like I haven't seen in quite some time.  We have a green space behind our house and it had literally become a river. The pictures don't fully do the storm justice.  I took video but I thought it would be cool to provide narration while filming.  Bad idea.  Apparently, I thought I needed to talk like a robot.  As a result, no video for your amusement.  Sorry.

 

The green space......

Became a river

Sunday I was visiting with family and my nephew pointed up at some rings that had formed around the sun. I've never seen anything like it.  He said he learned that the rings were ice crystals and that it meant either rain or snow was imminent.   I think he was probably full of it and trying to pull one over on me.  Either way, it was neat to see.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

This was the theme I chose for a good friend's bridal shower on May 20th.  This post is several weeks delayed seeing as how the wedding is in one week, but better late than never I guess.

I wanted to make this day special for the bride-to-be and I had a lot of fun planning and preparing for the party.  I planned a brunch and like I always do,  made way too much food.  I asked all of the guests to bring their favorite "old" recipe for the bride to "borrow" to start her collection.  My gift to her was a personalized recipe binder to hold the recipes from all of her guests.  I received one of these at my shower and every time I look at it, it makes me smile and remember all of the people who attended my bridal shower.  Hopefully it will have the same effect on her.

Everything turned out exactly how I wanted it to and it was a wonderful day!

Blue mason jars inspired the color scheme

Party favors and place setting

Who doesn't love a mimosa bar?

Personalized water bottles to reflect the bride's future name

Dessert bar

Not to toot my own horn, but these were SO GOOD!

The recipe tree