even lazy weekends turn out to be full weekends. after having beer stewarding obligations, a birthday party, and visiting in-laws last weekend, this weekend was fairly planless. and so far, it's still been packed.

last night we got together with friends for dinner, then spent the evening playing rock band, eating ice cream sundaes, and watching b movies. today, we went to a home and garden show, checked out the makings for an outdoor turtle pond, took naps, and then spent some time with our friends robert and gina who were visiting from LA. we've got plans to meet up with l and t for a motorcycle ride to julian tomorrow morning.

i've eaten way too much junk food today. kettle corn. l's homemade caramels. ice cream sandwich. now my tongue is totally cut up.

bah.

camilles (10:43pm, 2.28.09)

i've been surrounded by real europeans over the past month. so tonight, check me out in my bavarian t-shirt and vespa jacket!

this is about as close to euro as it gets. ha ha.

as unbelievable as it seems to me, we are mere days away from being entirely locked in and committed to the little house that felt like a fit the first time we drove by it at the beginning of the month. it's getting exciting!!!!!!

camilles (8:46pm, 2.25.09)

it's funny how things work out when you want them to work out right.

so say the guys from the nortec collective, whose recent album i listened to about 5 times today.

and it's true. things do seem to be working out.

when i was rounding home from my run (btw, forget that 10k. i'll never be ready in time, but that doesn't mean i can't keep exercising), a car that i recognized passed me going up the little hill past my house. i recently had been wondering if this particular gentleman still lived in the area, and apprently he still does.

there are very few people in this world that i truly dislike, and he is one of them. i guess because i just had a gut feeling all along that something wasn't right. this person ended up being a not very good person, and sometimes i think about how he came to my wedding and hung out with my family and friends...all the people that i care about. and ultimately, he was a fraud.

at the same time, i'm glad he came and went, because his moving through all of our lives makes us appreciate everything that came since then.

in other randomness, how do you like my rubber duckie pjs? my parents give us pjs every couple of years for Christmas, and this might just be my favorite set ever. and i am really due for a haircut and some color. i cancelled appointments for both last week, and now things are getting wildly out of control. it's crazy how long it can grow in just a month!

camilles (10:07pm, 2.23.09)

it's always fun when a birthday celebration spans more than a day.

for t's actual birthday, we headed down to north park to check out blind lady ale house for pizza and beers. and then last night, he and l hosted a make-your-own-sushi and exotic spirits night at their house. mmm. it was delish!

the piņata we had presented to l for her birthday last month proved so popular, that she picked one up to bash on for t's celebration as well. it met the same fate.

this has already been a hectic weekend, and we are expecting visitors in just a few hours. unfortunately, i don't think i'll be getting to ride my motorcycle like i had hoped. this is the first weekend that doesn't have a real threat of rain since the super bowl, but the traveling i'm going to be doing around town is going to be in a vehicle that has 4 wheels.

camilles (9:01am, 2.22.09)

so, i've referred to it a few times, and i've only openly discussed it with a few friends and my siblings, but i've been seeing a psychologist since september.

this is not my first time in therapy, but it had been a good 12 years since i had a tune-up. there were a whole combination of factors that got me thinking i needed some time for introspection.

call it a third-life crisis?

i've spent the last five months really looking at my life, the choices i've made, the direction i'm going, contemplating my relationships with the people i care about the most, and making peace with the fact that i am a very complicated person.

it had nothing to do with self-esteem, since i already know how awesome i am, but everything to do with trusting the little voice inside of me that wants to guide me.

tonight ended up being my last session. my therapist said that i had worked really hard to overcome some of my fears and worries, and that it was ok if i told her that i didn't think i needed to come back. so i said "ok! i don't think i need to come back."

it felt really good.

it also felt really good to ride my motorcycle home. REALLY good.

the weekend should be awesome. beer. friends. piņata. hopefully some nice weather for more riding.

hope your weekend is just as nice!

camilles (10:11pm, 2.19.09)

will this be what i look at while i'm washing dishes for the next 5, 10, 20 years?

or will i tear it out and replace it with a vegetable garden?

every day that goes by, we get a little closer to it being a reality. one terrifying step at a time.

we had a very laid back 3-day valentine's weekend. there was beer bottling, trips to antique stores, the architectural salvage store, home depot for paint swatches, the swap meet.

last night we headed out to one of the casinos to check out a local rockabilly band. it had been years since i'd been into this particular casino, and the only reason i had a vague recollection of where the actual "lounge" was, was because it was the only place i had ever been offered a drink from a complete stranger.

quick story...there was a time where my roommate was playing blackjack for profit, and i would tag along to watch and play the nickel slots. on the drive over the night of my story, i was complaining about how bummed i was to be single, and he was telling me that it's way easier to be a girl to pick up on dudes than it is to be a dude trying to pick up girls. anyway, while my roommate was occupied, i ended up losing most of my cash playing slots, only to triple it playing blackjack on my own. a young gentleman who hit his own lucky streak as soon as i sat at the table offered to by me a drink when i cashed out, and i graciously accepted. that was the one, and ONLY time, a guy i had never met before bought me a drink.

and it so happened, the rockabilly band we like was playing in the same lounge. jeff and i walked up and sort of peered in, and the guard at the door started waving us in saying "yes, yes! this is the place!"

guess we looked like a couple of people who were looking for a rockabilly band.

ha ha. and here i thought we were way toned down for the scene. but compared to all the normal casino patrons who made up 90% of the crowd, i guess we were pretty obvious.

camilles (10:25pm, 2.16.09)

on march 25, i'll be embarking on what amounts to a second shot at doing the most fun thing i've ever done before.

i was wondering if i was going to get the opportunity to go. i'd be lying if i said i didn't drop a few well-placed suggestions with the powers-that-be, but it wasn't until this morning when i saw the list that i knew i was going for sure.

the plane tickets have been purchased. i'd say that's pretty good confirmation.

camilles (9:38pm, 2.12.09)

day 1 of a 30-day escrow.

is that some kind of record?

jeff has been joking with me lately about my ability to be able to predict the future. just random little things will happen every now and then that kind of freak him out.

while we've only officially been looking at houses since sunday, we'd had our eye on listings for the past month and a half or so. when i knew we were getting close to officially being able to look, i decided i wanted to drive by this particular house (with jeff protesting all the way because he didn't want to start getting his hopes up about being able to buy a place)...just because.

we only drove by the outside of it, and it was at night, so we didn't see much, but we at least satisfied my curiosity.

we looked at many, many houses on sunday. of varying sizes, quality, and location. but THIS house, the only house that i had been compelled to randomly drive by one random night, was the one that just happened to meet every single one of the bizarre little requirements we had for a house we'd even consider making an offer on. so we made an offer on monday. and they counter offered on tuesday. and we countered their counter tuesday night. and tonight, they accepted.

granted, there are still a ton of things that could kill the deal. we're scheduling an inspection in the next few days, which will obviously tell us a lot more about the place.

but wouldn't it just be odd, if it ended up working out?

THEN i might be a little more convinced that i have special powers.

:)

camilles (10:19pm, 2.11.09)

no real purpose for this photo, other than i think it's cool to see two of my favorite mad scientists making magic in my kitchen.

the final product is gurgling away in an ice chest at l and t's house. it has the potential to be very strong. tasty, but strong.

it's raining and hailing like nobody's business today. i was chatting with a visitor from michigan yesterday afternoon about the gloomy weather, and i told him that when it rains 2 or more days in a row, we are pretty much beside ourselves with having to find indoor activities for entertainment. he had no pity, as he was flying back home to 10 degree weather.

for some reason, my math was totally off on calculating how many weeks i have left in preparation of the 10k. it's FIVE weeks away, and this rain is definitely putting a damper on my desire to go out and run.

but i picked up a little bit, we did some morning dog watching, grabbed some smoothies, and drove around looking at possible new abodes.

that's right! as of today, we are officially house-hunting.

like, a real house, with a real yard. we should actually be seeing the inside of some houses tomorrow. it's very exciting. very, very exciting.

the other exciting thing i've discovered is that i may actually like oatmeal. not the instant stuff, but the slow cooked stuff. i am thinking i might try making some for dinner, just to be crazy. because i'm a grown-up, and grown-ups can eat whatever they want for dinner. :)

camilles (6:13pm, 2.7.09)

i've been called a lot of things over the years.

the weirdest. the nicest. the meanest. the funniest.

but i'd like to think that all around, i'm one of the coolest girls you'd ever be lucky enough to know. not THE coolest. but one of the coolest.

cruising around through the ghost town known as sears essentials last night, we were following a young couple with a little girl out of the store. the mom wasn't unnattractive, but she just had that mom look going on. i had to poke jeff and whisper:

"i promise you that when i am a mom, i will not look like that. i will still be one of the coolest girls you know."

today was the third night in a row that i went for a run. people out running and walking seem to smile or wave at each other as often as people riding motorcycles wave at each other. it's kind of fun.

i've got a goal of running a 10k in march. 7 weeks or so to go, and i'm hoping i'll get back into the habit of exercising.

a buddy and i were discussing the finer points of facebook etiquette. specifically, the topic of unfriending.

he brought up the good point that facebook is very passive aggressive in the way that it doesn't bother to tell somebody that you've unfriended them.

i guess it's better to just try to sneak it through. but if you had the option of sending an unfriending message, i'd imagine the most popular one would have to be:

so don't take it personally, but since we aren't friends in real life, i've decided to end our virtual friendship.

or maybe:

i only accepted your friend request because i wanted to see how fat and ugly you've gotten since the days you were picking on me in high school, and now that my morbid curiousity is satisfied, i'd rather not be associated with you.

camilles (10:24pm, 2.4.09)

today was a beautiful day, and while i was driving around i was filled with a kind of peace i hadn't felt in a long time.

it wasn't that things were going particularly well at work. i wasn't even all that excited at the thought of having to go in.

but the air was warm and the sky was so blue and the music on the radio was good, and i started thinking about all the wonderful things that have been going on and how lucky i am to have the opportunity to do so much.

i also went running after work. i despise running, but was in such a good mood, actually looked forward to coming home to do it.

the vespa is out of commission at the moment, so i joined l and t on a motorcycle ride yesterday while jeff puttered around the house.

it was my first time on the freeway, and let me tell you...clinging to my bike as it travels 80mph on a wide open road was quite a thrill.

ok. so maybe it was 70-75mph the majority of the time, but i alternated between thoughts of "woo-hoo!" and "i'm going to be too weak to hold on any longer and i'm going to take off like a parachute and the bike is going to keep heading down the road and i'm going to fly off the side of this giant bridge into the ravine below!"

the rest of the ride was a lot less thrilling, and was leisurely and beautiful. i conquered some of my fears and made it home in one piece.

granted, my inner thighs are a little sore today from the death grip i had against the tank for 25 miles. :)

camilles (10:30pm, 2.2.09)