Foo Fighters Live Stream

Paying Attention

I accomplished a lot yesterday.

First, I went to my dental appointment, even though the temptation to cancel was high for fear of missing good waves. Turns out the waves were bad. Yay! And no cavities! Double Yay!

The dentist was disappointed though, "you're no fun," he said.

Seems like a weird thing to say. I would never be disappointed if my clients felt so good they never needed another massage, again. I'd be happy for them. Besides, I'm one of the funnest persons I know!

Then I went for a hike with the dog and we didn't see any mountain lions. Yay! Not sure how the mountain lion felt about that...........

Next, I had to make a tough decision: go for coffee or go shopping at Trader Joe's. Hmmmmmmmm? Then I remembered TJ's coffee bar, and I thought to myself, "I love multitasking!"

After the grocery/coffee run, I went to pick up Gio from school. We hadn't been driving down the road more than a minute, when Gio says, "Mommy you went grocery shopping!"

The groceries were all stowed in the back, behind his seat.

"What, how do you know I went shopping?" I say.

"I can hear the food wobbling back there," says Gio with a laugh.

Where the Heck Is Matt?

Internet am I the last person to watch this travel around the world and dance video of awesomeness?!? Am I? Just tell me the truth, please. I promise I will only cry for a few minutes.

For more information on the making of this video click here. Or visit Matt at his website here

Otherwise, if you don't care about all the details about Matt and how he travelled around the world several times, and danced sometimes alone, sometimes with people, just watch the video and DANCE, even if it's just in your chair!

Camp Out

We will do anything to get the kids out of the house on a Saturday morning. Including promising a camp out, that night.

"So I wonder how long we'll last outside tonight?" asks Stefan.

"Until it gets dark," I say predictively.

Well, nightfall came and we had already lost one taker.

"It's too dark to camp now," declares Vinny.

"Are you really going to sleep outside tonight?" I ask Gio, hoping he will back out too.

"Yes," says Gio confidently.

And off into the night, into the tent my husband and my youngest son went.

Vinny and I couldn't stand it. We both went outside, at least twice each, to check on them.

According to Stefan, they were just about to fall asleep when I asked, "Gio, are you sure you don't want to sleep inside tonight?"

"Okay!" says Gio, as he flew into the house.

Of course, once he was in bed he said, "I want to sleep outside now."

But it was too late to go back out now. My husband was over camping out, thank goodness!

Yeah, I kind of ruined the whole back yard camp out thing. But what if Gio really liked camping in the back yard? I might have to go on a REAL camping trip! I don't like camping, unless it involves a hotel room and room service.

A Jellyfish Stung Me In The Eye, Probably

Yes that's me, but I can't remember the guy's name who took the pic.
(circa 2002ish)


"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I scream while paddling back out to the surf slope (line up).

"What's wrong?" asks Belinda, my surfing best friend forever.

"I think I got stung in my eye by a jellyfish ," I say.

"Nah, it's probably sand," says Belinda.

"I think I got stung," I say sticking to my story, mainly because jellyfish sting sounds way gnarlier.

My eyes were closed when I went underwater, so how could sand get in my eye? Therefore, it must be a jellyfish sting. Right? Probably.

I'd been stung in my eye by a jellyfish,once before , I believe. I was blinded for about twenty minutes. Then I was fine. This time didn't last as long, probably because I had protective contact lenses on.

"Let me check you're eye," says Belinda. "Ooooooooooo, yeah, it's all red."

"Did you see a jellyfish?" she asks.

"No," I say. "But I never see jellyfish when they sting me. Besides, we almost never see sharks, does that mean they aren't out here?"

Chicken Little

Internet I have given birth to an angel. I kid you not. See, last night was movie night at Vinny's school.

I told myself, "if he remembers it's movie night and asks to go, I am going to take him."

Movie night started at 6:45pm. He didn't mention it when he got home and I was starting to think I was getting off scott free. Then 5 o'clock rolled around and he remembered!

"Mom, can we please go to movie night, please?" begs Vinny.

"Well, I don't really want to go, but I will take you," I say. "Couldn't we just stay home and have a movie night here?"

"Yeah, sure," says Vinny in the most angelic voice I have ever heard in my entire life.

Cat Drinking Water

I can imagine what 8 year old Vinny will say when he sees this video.

"That cat is wasting a lot of water."

That's what he says to me when I brush my teeth with the water on, anyways.

Welcome to the new age, where the kids of today, effortlessly and easily, apply the ideals of the sixties, and scold their parents when they don't. Ouch.

Mercury Retrograde

I'm noticing a lot of people getting triggered, flying off the handle with very little, if any provocation, lately. Seriously, I saw two people get into a twitter fight, the other day.

People seem to be more impatient while waiting in line. I'm pretty sure breathing down the neck of the person in front of you doesn't make the line go faster.

Certain celebrities can't seem to wait until it's their turn to speak, people are dying, and a lot of folks are sick. Sirens are going off left and right.

What's going on??? I hate to go all astrology on everyone, but there a few more days left of Mercury Retrograde, which started September 7th and goes through September 29th. Mercury Retrograde lasts about three weeks, but has a shadow effect before and after it starts, like the gift that keeps giving.

For a traditional explanation of Mercury Retrograde click here.

Here's an nontraditional explanation of Mercury Retrograde, it's when the shiite hits the fan. The planet Mercury, governs communication, contracts, and travel. So things can go haywire in those areas.

It isn't as if I stop living my life, but I do try to lay low, get extra rest, and not engage people who are on the edge. I was born during Mercury Retrograde (MR) and we bought our house during another Mercury Retrograde period.

Life goes on, thank goddess.

I have a friend who explains MR like this:

"It's a pop quiz to see if you've dealt with your issues that glommed on to you the first six years of your life, aka homework. The first week of Mercury Retrograde represents the past, the second the present and the third week the future."

So Mercury Retrograde is really an opportunity for me to pay attention. To see where I am in my life's process with my past issues, my current issues, and a little look into my future.

The technique I apply during trying times, is to harness my inner peace and calm, by breathing consciously. Especially, when an emotional trigger gets in my face, taunting me to act like a crazy person.


Breathe in one, two, three, four. Hold one, two. Exhale one, two, three, four.

Ellen Can Dance!

When I first read Ellen DeGeneres is going to be the new fourth American Idol judge on Twitter, I didn't believe it. First of all, she already has a job. Second, I've seen her dance on that job. Well, I guess the joke is on me, because Internet, Ellen can dance.

I don't really have time to watch Ellen's talk show. But one of my all time favorite roles played by Ellen is Dory in Finding Nemo. There was a time in my life, where thanks to my hubby, we had the entire audio of the movie Finding Nemo, on tape. We listened it everyday in the car, for months on end.

As much as we listened to Finding Nemo over and over again, I never tired of it because Ellen is so funny. It isn't just what she says, it's also how she says things that makes me feel funny inside, as if every single cell in my body is laughing.

I'm truly looking forward to watching Ellen on Idol, after all laughter is the best medicine. And I'm probably going to need to good laughs since, historically all my favorite contestants get voted off too early, or they come in second.

Let's Get Organized! #2

Yes, this is the same suitcase from July!

"Hey I can sit on the chair!" exclaims Gio.

This post may not make sense unless you read this post.


I have to admit I was a little disappointed in myself for not being able to organize an area for 15 minutes a day. But then I realized I'm not that kind of girl. And I am going to have to accept myself for who I am, with all my intermittent organizing. Besides, something is better than nothing.

This was my second burst of organizational inspiration complete with before and after pictures. This momentous organizational fit occurred about three days after the first public display of organization. But it took much longer than 29 minutes. How long? Roughly three hours.

Unfortunately, I haven't organized anything since, but I have mostly managed to keep the areas I did organize, clean, which is HUGE Internet! I feel so happy every time I look at an organized area.

Thanks for being my witness y'all.

Spamalot The National Tour

"Spamalot is going to be in San Jose for a week!" says Stefan. "I want to go!"

"Wasn't I the one that told you about Spamalot?" I ask. "Didn't I send you a an article several years ago, about Spamalot saying, 'we should go!'"

"Yeah, you did," Stefan admits.

But it doesn't matter whose idea it was, because we had a great time. We laughed a lot. Spamalot is a musical based on the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The musical is full of silly humor, sexual innuendo, several inspirational songs, and in our showing there was a reference to Michael Jackson. Spamalot even made fun of Kanye West, man-child-fool.


Killer bunny.


I only have one complaint.

There was a lot of cleavage of the female variety. The female cast members either wore something resembling a bikini or lingerie, or some combination of both. Now I agree women are beautiful.

But I prefer men and it would have been nice to see way more bulging biceps or peppy pecs, y'all. Is it too much for a girl to ask for a little balance and foreplay, I mean fair play?

Happy 4th Birthday Gio!

Four years ago today, I woke up at two in the morning, to the sound and feeling of breaking water. And I'm not talking about waves, Internet. My labor ended at 9:17am with beautiful a baby boy, Gio, and as every parent knows that's when the real labor (of love) begins.

Though parenting is a lot work, (mild understatement) it's the funnest endeavor I have ever undertaken. But I do wonder, at times, how I'm going to get out of this alive (taking care of myself seems to be key).

Both of my kids have taught me the most important thing in life is, love and being together. The only way to do that is being in the moment. A lot of things that used to be important to me, such as what people think of me, just don't matter anymore.

Well, we're off to celebrate Gio's birthday, and the fact that I never have to be pregnant, again with a movie!

Breathing

Yesterday, was a very busy day. Seriously, it was wake up, get Gio to school, in the correct costume, surf, take a quick shower, pick up Gio, go to Vinny's school to play on the playground until he got out of school.

Then down to the school garden for a farmer's market with pizza and treats.

Then off to a staff party for my husband, where I believe I talked a lot, even for me, and the kids ate a lot of treats, even for them.

Go, go, go and more go, go, go.

Now I'm exhausted and in need of sleep. Because the next few days promise to be more of the same. Breathe in, one, two, three, four, pause one, two, Breathe out one, two, three, four..................................

Wow, that's amazing I just blogged myself into feeling better.

Clone

Who in their right mind would buy a child white clothing?

a. Someone who takes their dirty linens to a laundry service.

b. Someone who has a live in maid that does their laundry.

c. Someone who doesn't have children.

d. Someone who has a wife who does all their laundry.

Yes, these are just some of the answers that flew through my mind a few mornings ago when the issue of the CLONE costume arose.

"I'm going to be a clone today," states Gio.

"Great, well, you better go put your costume on, because I'm leaving in 15 minutes," I warn. "And if you don't come with me, the police will be here shortly to pick you up."

"I need white pants and a white shirt!" says Gio.

"You don't have white pants, pick something else, quickly," I say confidently.

"But clones wear white pants," he says slowly, so I can understand.

Then in a moment of complete and utter parenting illumination, I realize if I turn the grey pants inside out we would magically have WHITE CLONE PANTS.

Did I care that my son's wearing his pants inside out? Yes, about as much as I care that he's wearing his shirt backwards, for the second day in a row, which is not at all.

Day of Rest

Carlene Daniels floatin' it.

Now that Gio goes to school five days a week, I can surf everyday! In theory anyways. And as of Tuesday, I had surfed seven days in a row. Which means my baby belly is shrinking y'all! It also means I'm kind of sore, tired and surfed out. I'm not looking for sympathy here, I planned my life this way.

Some people prefer being rich in money, I prefer being rich in waves. And when it comes to surfing, I can't put a price tag on pure joy and utter happiness, now can I??? No.

Back to my point. Which is, even I need a day off from surfing. Only it's hard to do that when the waves are good because I'm a crackhead when it comes to good waves.

When I got to the beach yesterday morning, the conditions were junky. There was a new swell forecasted for today, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to take a day off from paddling.

As I was walking on the beach, on my surfing day off, I took a few videos of my friend surfing. It was almost as fun as surfing myself! Yep, that's me cheering in the background. Did I ever mention I love surfing? Because I do.

Let's Get Organized! #1

Sometimes the only way to change is to be really honest with the world. Yes, it's embarrassing, but it works. My natural inclination, when the house is a mess, is to hide it from the everyone. But, sadly, those days are over.

Last week I got inspired to devote 15 minutes to organizing my laundry. Normal people call it putting away the laundry. But whatever.

Anyways, I figured if I tweeted my organizing intentions, there'd be Twitnesses (twitter witnesses) and I'd have to make a commitment to getting all the disheveled, but clean, clothes to their rightful drawers. So I tweeted this:

Goodmorning! Ok I'm timing myself for 15 min of organizing laundry. go!

Then I tweeted this picture with the caption:




Before so U can see what I'm dealing with




After Voila! took 29 min instead of 15 minutes.

Anyways, I got all the laundry put away, though it took double the amount of time I anticipated. Organizing was fun because it was a challenge and a few tweeples (twitter people even thought it was funny. Then I started thinking wow, I could do this everyday with Twitter as my Twitness.......

I would be multitasking by making people laugh, and getting organized all at the same time! But the next day came and went without any organizing, on my part. And the next day.....

I was starting to look and feel like a unorganized person, again...........

Child Actor

If I had a million dollars for every time Gio found a stage and danced on it, my son would be a famous child actor and a future burden to society. Da da da daaaaaaaaa!

Carmel Sand Castle Contest 2009

My personal favorite!


Hey look a sand castle!

I remember going to the Carmel Sand Castle Contest as a child and loving it. But I must admit since I started surfing I've pretty much missed it the last 21 years or so. Yes, surfing takes up a lot of time. And I'm okay with that.

I'm posting these pictures for anyone who might have missed the sand castle contest this year. The theme for 48th Great Sand Castle Contest of Carmel Beach was Carmel playhouses and dog houses.


Who let the dogs out. Who, who, who, who, who!


My, what a big doll!



Too tired to fetch?


Snoop Dog is on the house!


The Gold Shovel winner!


Grainy marketing by the Cypress Inn.


People, please follow the rules!


Does anyone recognize this face?


Mermaid guard dogs, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"


A whale of a tail.


Hey look another castle!


"I swallowed the FLY because I was hungry, duh!"


"Hey that's cool!" says Vinny.


"Did someone say hay? Nom nom nom."


Sand Castle Contest Contestants and Fans.

Does This Bed Make My Butt Look Big?

"Are you sure my this bed doesn't make my butt look big?"
asks Nadia the Dog.

"Shure, I'm shure, you look purrfect, darling," says Nay Nay the Cat in her sleep. "Now be quiet and go to sleep."

"Well, I'm not shure, and I want my bed back," barks Nadia. "This isn't a fair trade, and it's making me feel fat."

Enjoy Life Now

Soberanes Point. (Photo by Belinda Jasmine)

One of the motto's I live by, but some times forget is: Enjoy life right now, exactly as it is.

Even if the house is a mess.

Or I'm 20 loads behind on laundry.

Or no one can remember to use their inside voice, in the house, EVER.

Or my husband is making fart sounds causing Gio to laugh, while I'm trying to get him to go to sleep.

Or Vinny doesn't want to be in the GATE program because he doesn't want EXTRA homework.

Or the waves are junky, and I brought the wrong surfboard to the beach.

Sometimes I'm so dedicated to mastering life on planet Earth, I easily forget perfection lies in the chaos. And, besides, perfect would be so boring and quiet. After all:

"Life is a journey, not a destination," Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Balancing Act

Every time I look at this picture I see an angel balancing a rock on her head. I'm happiest when my life is in balance.

Working a bit, playing a bit, having a little of this and a little of that. Spending time with family and friends, and spending quality time alone. Being active, yet getting proper amounts of rest. Staying focused when I need to, and taking time outs to day dream.

When I'm out of balance in my life, my body tends to get tired and sick, and I feel uninspired. The strange thing is I should have my balance point dialed by now. I suppose I am a perpetual work in progress. And I do have the rest of my life to figure this out, besides, what else do I have to do?

Kleeman and Mike Go Surfing

I love this video because it captures the essence of surfing, surfers and their cats. Otherwise if people keeping asking me what surfing is like I will have to start writing nonsense such as this.

Today I checked the waves. I was expecting, knee high waves, but it was more like chest high waves.

"Ahhhhhh, I brought the wrong board!" I wail, at no one in particular.

I'm at the beach might as well paddle. I pull on my neoprene suit of armor to protect me against the attack of freezer water. Hide my car key in my suit. Make sure it's the right one, five times. Lock the doors. Make sure they're locked, three times.........

Anyways, you get the point, watch the video, please. Besides, the boys love it and so do their parents.

Comedy of Errors

Staged photo: "You can only do this when Mommy says it's okay."

Note: Sunday, I staged some photos for yesterday's blog, in the bathroom sinks. I didn't bother to clean up the messes, right away.

After going to the bathroom Vinny runs down the hall yelling, "Mom, my toothpaste is on the counter! With the lid off! And someone smeared it in the sink! It wasn't me! I think Gio did it!"

I didn't have to say anything. Innocent people were confessing left and right. Well, just one person.

"I did it because I was spitting the toothpaste out," Gio confesses, falsely.

Then my husband got into the mix, upon waking from a drunken, benadryl-induced coma, "Gio's been finger painting in the sink, with toothpaste!"

I love it when I make a mess, everyone takes notice and freaks out, as if something out of the ordinary has happened. Maybe I'm not as messy as I think, after all?

Self Help Therapy

I have this little rule I put into practice, when I remember, and let's just say I forget a lot:

Everyone is a mirror of me.

Therefore, whatever advice I give to someone, I am really giving to myself, because everyone is me. Hence the adage, "follow your own advice."

That's not difficult to follow, right? Plus, I usually give pretty good advice so I don't mind following it myself.

But what about when someone is irritating me with an annoying habit? Such as, putting clean laundry in the dirty bin. Or failing to rinse the toothpaste out of the sink, minutes after I finish scrubbing the sink.

I'm pretty sure I never do those two things. And even if I did, it doesn't count, because I'm the only one who does laundry or bothers to clean the sinks.

But, seriously, is there a point where the concept Everyone is a mirror of me, really doesn't apply, to me? Yes, I believe so.

That's when I follow my own advice.

I take a few deep breaths, right before yelling, "please, for the love of servants everywhere, stop the unnecessary messes and clean up after yourself, now!"

In conclusion, I'm very messy and often don't clean up after myself.

Wardrobe Meltdown

Harry Partner

Gio is a different person everyday. One day he's Dora's cousin Diego. The next day a clone from Stars Wars. The next day a Jedi, who uses the force, The next day a Western Harry Potter.

Generally, we pick clothes from Gio's closet to build costumes. Last week he had a complete melt down because I couldn't get Diego's costume quite right.

"He wears a blue shirt with a pocket!" he wails.

"This is what Diego was wearing for the picture, but he doesn't wear that outfit everyday," I explain rationally. "Do you wear the same clothes everyday?"

"It's not right!" he protests.

There was no use trying to reason with him. He was at the bottom of downward spiral, and he needed time and space to recover his senses. So I waited until later that day to talk to him.

"You need to figure out your own costume from now on," I say. "Mommy doesn't like screaming, and you don't get to scream at her anymore."

Now he's picking out his own clothes for his costumes, thank goodness. But every once and awhile, he still asks me for help.

"I will help you, but if I do, you have to take the clothes I give you, no complaining," I say.

"Okay," says Gio.

Phew.

Happy Ending Sugarland

One of my favorite bands of all time is Sugarland. Not because I'm a huge country fan, or I'm addicted to twang. But because Sugarland writes great songs. Some are fun, some are sad, and my favorites are inspiring and speak volumes of truth regarding the human spirit.

This particular song, "Happy Ending," has some of the most inspiring lyrics of any song stuck in my little MP3 player mind.

"We're all lookin' for a happy ending," really applies to all of us. "We come here with nothing and take it with us the day we leave, first and last breath don't matter it's all the ones that are in between."

Oh and let's not forget the Martin Luther King and the first astronauts to walk on the moon references. Those are some of this country's most inspiring leaders ever. Yeah, I could go on and on, but I need to go surfing. And I know y'all are smart and get what I'm saying. Even if you don't like country, listen to the words, they're inspiring.

Scuba Steve

I know my kids both love school. And sometimes I wonder what they do while they are there. I'm pretty sure they don't have tantrums while at school.

They save their personality abnormalities for Mommy and Daddy, thank goodness. Honestly we wouldn't have it any other way.

The other day, Gio's teacher showed me this picture of Gio on her phone. She refers to him as Scuba Steve. I love it! And I love knowing my kids have awesome, creative, brilliant, fun, amazing teachers who care about them.

What more could a parent ask for? My husband is a teacher, and every now and then a parent of one of his students comes up to me and says, "My son loves your husband. He's the best teacher ever."

I'm happy to say I know exactly what they're talking about.

Here's to all the great teachers! Next time you see a teacher thank him or her. Besides, imagine what life would be like without school to give us parents a break.

"Cuckoo, cuckoo!"

One Sick Daddy

I'm so mad. Here's my husband and he's sick. But from looking at this picture I can't tell, can you? If anyone even so much as thought of putting a sick picture of me on the Internet I would cry, in fact, I'm crying now.

"Wah, boo, hooo!"

Seriously, though, I know my husband is amazing, and if I ever did forget my Mom would be there to remind me, "be nice to him, he's such a good husband. Way better than your Father......."

"Yeah Mom, I know thanks, now mind your own business, please," I say. But my words fall on deaf, meddling ears.

When I came home from work around 7ish on Wednesday, he'd fed the kids and they were jammied up. All the dishes were on still on the table, so I got to work cleaning up the mess.

"Where's Daddy?" I ask the boys.

"He's sleeping," says Gio.

"What?" I question. "Where?"

"On the couch," answers Gio.

I walked out of the kitchen and there he was passed out on the couch. Turns out he wasn't feeling well, but he still got up Thursday morning and went to work.

"Honey didn't you read the district wide Swine Flu Policy memo?" I ask. "It says, 'if you're sick stay home.'"

Around 9:30 am my cell rings.

"Hey sicko," I say.

"I'm coming home," says Stefan. "Did you just call me Sicko?"

Anyways, my point is even though I know my husband, aka Saint Stefan and Jesus, does a lot. When he's sick, I get to see exactly how much he does. And it's always way more than I am consciously aware of.

I love you honey. Get well, soon. Please for me, for you, for everyone. Pray, people, pray!

Birds That Read

The other day Gio and I had lunch with one of our favorite friends. Gio was entertaining himself by reading his lunch.

"Mmmm iiiii llllll Kkkkk," says Gio. "Milk!"

"He's sounding out words!" she says in surprise.

"Yeah," I say unenthusiastically.

I'm not so much surprised by his beginning reading skills, as I am expectant of them, because we work on that sort of thing. He's been sounding out words for a while, now. And I look forward to the day when he can read his own books over and over and over again, on his own.

I wonder what my friend would think of this Gull's sign reading skills? I know I'm impressed. But this bird probably decended from a long line of readers, just like my boys have.


Birds can read.