Monday, January 29, 2007

6th monthiversary

carrie over at drawcircles had mentioned on friday that her 6 monthiversary was coming up. it put me to mind of our (rob's and my) 6th monthiversary. That would have been february 28th, 1992 (apparently, it was a friday, but i had to look that part up on google). rob was still a manager at petaluma cinemas (man do i miss free movies) and i was still in college. rob had to work on friday nights, but i had no classes on fridays (i was a smart college student! for the most part, i was able to NOT have friday classes OR monday classes!). so, we decided to go out to the coast and walk on the beach then have a nice lunch, then me back to my apt and rob back home.

We went to Goat Rock in Bodega Bay. here's a picture
we were down below on the beach where you can see beach and the smaller rock (still very tall, but not as tall as the one in the back of the picture. i had my fabbo ricoh camera that i'd taken with me to spain, and rob had a camera as well. he climbed up onto the rock (b/c he's tall and it's fun to climb rocks). i stayed down on the beach which is filled with lots of little rocks and was looking to find a good rock to take home as a nice memory rock. well, if you know about bodega bay and actually a whole lot of that coast, there are sneaker waves...there is also quite a rip tide and under toad (world according to garp anyone?). well, as i recall, i'd just taken a picture of rob up on the rock and then went back to looking for rocks. a sneaker wave caught me. it knocked me over. i remember holding my camera up hoping beyond hope to save it from the saltwater. the wave passed. i got up. rob was looking down at me. and i just started laughing. it really was very funny. even more funny was the fact that we'd not yet had lunch! rob took a picture of me in my wet pants laughing.

we stayed a bit longer at the beach - then we went to lunch (rob will probably remember the name of the place we went - i can picture it, i can even picture where we were sitting, but i can't remember the name of it!). soaking pants and all. we drove home as it was getting close to sunset (rob had to work, remember?). i probably fell asleep in the car b/c there's something lovely about the warm sun and windy roads in the afternoon that lulls me to sleep. plus, i was with the man of my dreams and feeling safe and cozy - even though i was wet.

i can't imagine being the person who'd have gotten upset at the sneaker wave in that situation - though i know and knew several people who would have been. it was surprising, but boy oh boy was it also funny.

oh - and rob has some video and pictures posted from this weekend - i took the video and the kid pix and the rob pic. he took the bone/hoof pix.

Monday, January 22, 2007

the best and the worst

here is last tuesday's installment of Getting To Know You as brought to us by the delightful and beautiful DebR.

This one is called “Best and Worst” for reasons will be rather obvious. :-)

if you decide to do it, please put the link in the comments and then go over to create a connection and put it in the comments there too :)

1. What’s the best place you ever lived? the worst?

the best place I’ve ever lived is Madrid, Spain. It was wonderful and alive, and special and I will never ever forget it. everyone should, if at all possible, live in a foreign country. it gives you a different sense of the world and it gives you another view of your own country. I lived in Spain during the first gulf war under the first president bush. the antiamerican sentiment during that time was pretty palpable. I’m sure it’s similar now.

the worst place I ever lived? hmmm...that is more difficult. there have been upsides to all of my living situations. maybe my first apartment in rohnert park. that was mostly b/c I didn’t know my roommate and while things started out okay, they went downhill rather quickly...we both survived the year together and then I moved in with judy, a sorority sister. from the summer place we had, we moved to a house on barbi lane with a few other sorority sisters. man was it wonderful and fun. it was a teeny tiny house with only 1 bathroom to 5 of us. judy and I ended up in bunkbeds in one of the rooms. it was funny and also fun. I lived with some of my best friends in the world – and they still are some of my best friends – even though we live farther away from each other and I don’t get to talk to or see them nearly so often as I would like to

2. What’s the best place you ever visited on holiday/vacation? the worst?

heh heh — the best holiday. at first I was going to say kona, hawaii with rob, but truly, The Elk Cove Inn is the most divine and romantic and wonderful and relaxing place ever. hopefully we’ll get there again. we’d hoped to go for our 10th anniversary, but that didn’t work out.

the worst? kauaii. it was a family trip. I can’t imagine how long the money had been saved because we all went – mom, ken, jolie, ted, jer, and I. all of use, except for ken, had essentials packed in a carry-on b/c lost luggage is the norm (or at least it was) when visiting hawaii. ken’s bag did not come along...we went looking for the black sand beach and got this odd sort of grey-ish fine dust. we went for a hike that was supposed to put us at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall...we ended up at the top and it was an icky looking pond kind of thing. ken lost his sunglasses in the surf. ted lost a wad of money that he had in his snorkling gear (I can’t remember if his snorkling gear was stolen as well or not). but with all the crazy everything going wrongness of it all, we *did* have fun and we laugh uproariously about it now when we think back on it.

3. What’s the best job you ever had? the worst?

best? besides being a wife and mother? the job I really loved was working at the preschool co-op in Point Reyes Station. I was a toddler teacher and a preschool teacher and I loved it. I loved that the kids could get dirty and the parents wouldn’t care. I loved that we got to go outside in the back (where the playground was) and play in the puddles in bare feet. it was really fabulous. and the best thing? I got to have irene in my class. this was especially good when I was doing the toddler room daily – I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day and didn’t have much in the way of creative juice when I got home with her, so she got me at my most creative daily from 8:45 – 1:30.

worst? working at a level 14 group home (not so affectionately known to me as Willow Hell). I was the overnight ___ hmm, I don’t even remember what my title was...but I needed to do bed checks every 15 minutes. we weren’t supposed to watch tv, talk on the phone, listen to music. there was little to no support for us on the overnights. and I was bad and evil and DID watch tv – I’d watch quantum leap for 1 hour.
level 14 is just one little step away from CYA (county youth authority) and Napa State Hospital. so, this was these kids’ last chance. I got almost NO training whatsoever. I don’t LIKE knowing how to take a child down into a prone position. one time I was throwing up. I’d called earlier in the day b/c I was throwing up. my supervisor told me I had to come in anyway. I spent almost the entire time puking in the bathroom. if any of the kids had wanted to switch rooms or run away, or anything else, it could have happened b/c I was heaving my guts out. god. the whole thing was awful. soon after I quit, the whole place (there were many houses all under one group – I wish I could think of the right words now) got into some pretty serious trouble. supervisors were sleeping w/their underlings, odd things were happening, overnighters were not getting respite that they needed.

4. What’s your best talent or ability? your worst?

ugh – best talent? uh. um...i’m a good listener? I am fluent in spanish and passable in sign (not ASL, but rather SEE), if I were stuck in italy, I’d get back my passable italian. I don’t know. maybe my best talent is that I’m fairly adaptable.

my worst talent? I am an excellent burper. not really something you want to take home to the folks. okay, so some people see that as a good talent? how about I’m not as organized as I’d like to be. I always dream of being the perfectly organized person – always knowing exactly where everything is. I’m MISERABLE at that.

5. What’s the best decision you ever made? the worst?

choosing to go to Sonoma State University – I was accepted to several places (I’ll never forget that first acceptance letter! it was to Chico State. just to know I was accepted ANYWHERE was a HUGE GIGANTIC relief – not that I got bad grades or had any reason to think I would NOT be accepted somewhere, but, wow! such a load lifted off to know I was going *somewhere*), but chose SSU. The final deciding factor was a billboard by the Clover Stornetta folks. I talked about it here. anyway, because I went to SSU, I met some amazing friends who are dear dear dear and best to me still, I also went to school in Spain for a year through SSU, and, I met Rob who’d already graduated from SSU the spring before I met him, but he was the boss of two of my best friends when I met him (josh and chris). while I still probably (hopefully) would have ended up going to spain, even if I had gone to chico or san diego, I might not have met rob.

edited to say - now that i think of it, maybe rob wasn't chris' boss as chris was a projectionist. but they DID work together.

the worst? hmmm. that’s harder. I suppose it would have been working at willow hell.

Bonus (so we can end on a positive note!): What’s one good thing about you that isn’t covered in the questions above, but that you’d like to share with the world?

I am a fierce friend. gosh, that doesn’t actually sound good when I write it. but, what I mean is that I will support my friends and stand up for them. if they need me and I can be there, I will – no matter what.

Friday, January 19, 2007

irene

Hathor had this comic posted the other day. it's one of those things that totally rings true for me. irene is such a hugely creative young lady, and she has been since she was quite small. she can make anything of anything. i love her ideas. i love her creations. i don't always enjoy the aftermath of such things, but she gets huge joy out of making things. sometimes i'll be looking around trying to find somehting fun and delightful to do with the kids - i'll look online or in one of my many many resource books, and in that time, irene will have created a fairy house or a costume for rhys or her own oven and microwave. it's really a thing of beauty. i wish i were better able to foster it. so many days i feel like she and i are clashing/butting heads on so many things. she doesn't remember how i let her play for hours or how we created some valentines/books/cards/whatever for a reallllly long time that morning. ah well. it's okay.

she and her best friend rose can now do the video iChat occasionally. it is really wonderful and i wish we'd thought of it earlier. sometimes it's not so wonderful as the occasional inappropriateness pops in, but last saturday, they were on ichat for several hours - not just chatting, but both creating. irene made a fairy house w/a cardboard box here in sparks while rose was creating a fairy house in a basket in novato. on the actual chat video, you could just see the tops of their heads - and sometimes not even that. but they were talking to each other and creating and discussing different ideas of what they'd do with their houses. and during that time, i was able to do some things with rhys, fold some clothes, and listen to the chitchat of the girls. it's such a cool thing to help them connect even though they don't see each other live and in touchable distance very often anymore. irene has known rose since rose was born (rose is 6 months younger than irene). in so many ways they are kindred spirits. tanya (rose's mom and one of my very best friends) and i can often say "irene is doing xyz" or "rose is doing zyx" and the other of us will say OH THANK HEAVENS!!! I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST MY DAUGHTER!!

anyway, something else that has been fun to watch and listen to is irene selling her girl scout cookies. she LOVES going door to door (no, she DOES NOT EVER WILL NOT EVER GO BY HERSELF!). she's darling as she says "hello, my name is irene from brownie troop 14, would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?" she practically dances from house to house. it's a delight.

she's a special little girl and i'm so glad she's mine.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

SCRUBS!!!!!


scrubs – god I love it. I just love it. tonight they are doing the musical version – you’ve gotta truly appreciate something that has a song called “it all comes down to Poo” hahaha!!! truly FABULOUS! this has been one of my very favorite shows since the first one. it’s fun, it’s funny, and it gives me an insane amount of joy.

have you not seen it? you realllllllly need to see it. and if you don't like it, don't tell me. because i love it. L.O.V.E. it. french kissy love it. yeah, that much.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

cranky in the air?

so first i saw that carrie is feeling cranky - then i was reading about debR feeling ranty (cranky). what is in the air?? *I* am cranky for no good reason. not as bad today as it was yestrday. and yesterday i could only be cranky for x amount of time b/c i needed to take irene and put on my brownie smile for the COOKIE rally! yes, boys and girls, this is the time. girls will be headed to your doors soon if they haven't gotten there already.

anyway, i just don't know what's going on with me - i just feel out of sorts. a bit left of center (yes yes, i'm always left of center politically and socially, but this is more feeling not quite in my correct space).

ah well. this too shall pass, right?

it's been cold here. yesterday when i woke up, it was 5. five. apparently at some point it was -9. the high? 27. irene and i went out so she could sell cookies and my toes took a LONG time to get warm after we got back home. this morning it's a balmy 28 already. practically short sleeves and shorts weather - heh heh.

oh! rob and irene went out last night (rob had to run briefly into work and took the bean for company) and found rob's 200th geocache! that's pretty cool, huh? actually, i think they're up to 203 now. irene was asleep for the last one. so YEA YEA YEA ROB!

he's also got a picture of irene finding the 200th cache as well as video of rhys at gymnastics - go and check them out :)

okay - off to shake off this mood! hopefully i'll be less cranksalot tomorrow...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

look who's coming for dinner!

for deb's 2nd blogging gig on Create a Connection she's created a Dream Dinner Party. if you decide to do this, please let them know over at CaC - and let me know too :)

The Instructions:

Imagine you’re going to organize a dinner party for yourself and seven guests. You can invite anyone who ever lived, whether they’re world-famous or someone whose name only you would recognize. If you choose someone from the past, they will be magically alive and present for this one day. But here’s the twist - in order for the magic to work, each chair will only hold a guest who fits into a certain category. Tell us who you would invite and, if you like, tell us a little about why. What do you admire about that person or what would you like to learn from him or her?

1. Guest one must be someone who is/was creative with words - a novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, journalist, etc. Who would you invite?

this was really a hard choice...it's between katharine holabird and madeleine l'engle. the first because she was such an important part of irene's life with her sweet angelina ballerina books (no, not the ones based on the tv series - those are fine easy reading books, but NOT NEARLY so wonderful as katharine's actual angelina books). i'm delighted that ms holabird (to whom i'm connected by only 1 degree - if i have that right...i know one of her very best friends!) has written a few chapter books now w/angelina. anyway, all that said, i think that i'll have to go with madeline l'engle. i can't tell you how many times i've read her wrinkle in time trilogy (well, quartet including Many Waters)...and almost every other book she's written. she's magical and spiritual and has a deep understanding of people and children.

2. Guest two must be someone who is/was creative with images - a painter, photographer, sculptor, fabric artist, collage artist, etc. Who would you invite?

this is the easiest question on here!! none other than DebR her very own self. i've wanted to meet her for a long time now, but it hasn't worked out yet. but she is lovely and hugely creative. have you been to her website? NO!??! why not?!? go and SEEEE her art! and look at THIS and THIS - both of these wonderful works of art are residing in my house. one in irene's room and one in our dining room. the dining room quilt ALWAYS and WITHOUT FAIL gets oohs and aahs. then our friends go up close and look at everything - the quilting, the beading, the fish of all sorts. it's wonderful and i am so so delighted and overjoyed and whelmed over to own it. i think she'd be a fabulous person to have at my dinner party (and i'm not trying to be a kiss ass either - i really do want her at my dinner party).

3. Guest three must be someone who is/was a performer - an actor, singer, musician, comedian, acrobat, etc. Who would you invite?

i am stealing this right from deb b/c i agree with her. Katharine Hepburn. She had such a long career and aged so gracefully! I’d love to hear her memories about her life, and about the legendary people with whom she worked and socialized.

4. Guest four must be someone who is charting/charted new territory - either in the physical sense, like an explorer, adventurer, or astronaut, or someone like a groundbreaking scientist or inventor. Who would you invite?

For this one I would like to invite Margaret Sanger . she was born in the late 1800s and was the founder of the group that eventually became Planned Parenthood. what an amazing woman. can you imagine what it must have been like for her during those times? can you imagine what it would be like without planned parenthood? she also truly helped to revolutionize birth control for women by starting this. so that *we* could have some control over our reproduction. i think she could be considered the first woman in the pro-choice movement.

5. Guest five must be someone who is/was a leader of other people - perhaps in the area of politics, like the literal leader of a country, or perhaps a leader in the area of religion, military, business, or even a great philosopher or teacher, or an inspiring athlete. Who would you invite?

I think that i'd like to invite Indira Ghandi. I don't know enough about her but would like to find out more. I remember when she was assassinated.

6. Guest six must be someone from any field who you believe is/was underrated and under-appreciated by most people, but whom you admire. Who would you invite?

i think that almost any teacher, social worker, people that work with children would fit here. so, i think that i'll pick Bev Bos. she's an amazing woman who is all about children and child centered learning, learning through play, being in the moment and letting children be in the moment, and helping teachers/parents/social workers be better at what they do. she, tom hunter, and michael leeman have recorded and released several cds for children and parents. what i love about this music is that so much of it is stuff upon which CHILDREN can add. does this make sense? she asks the children to pick things to sing about in the songs. we went through a period of time that all we listened to was bev bos (special thanks to my sister in law, debbie, who sent us several of their tapes). it's music that adults can listen to without going slowly insane. my girlfriend and i went to see her speak when i was pg w/rhys. it was inspiring. she gave out her own personal phone number to us so that we could call her if we needed help or had questions. how many speakers do that?

7. Guest seven is a wild card - your choice! Is there someone you’d like to invite who didn’t seem to quite fit into any category, or was there a category where you’d have really liked to invite two different people? Then this is your chance to add the person you missed to the table. Who would you invite?

that i'd like to invite as a wild card but i think that i'm going to go with my dear friend Lydia. she's smart, funny, wild, outrageous, beautiful, delightful, and i think she'd add a lot to the conversation. plus, she'd have to fly out w/her children - and dan could come too. so they'd be out here and the kids and dan would go geocaching w/rob and my kids while we all whooped it up. *AND* because this is taking place in sparks, a mere 2 miles from mom's house, she'd be invited too. yes, it's against the rules, but oh well :)

Bonus: Uh Oh! The dinner party is just about to end, and all your guests are about to disappear, and you realize that you’ve forgotten to ask one important question of one of your guests. You just barely have time to squeeze in that last question, so quick! - what was the question and who did you ask?

I think that the question would go to Margaret Sanger. I'd like to know what it was like to be going against the social norms for a HUGE amount of people and to make such a difference. I wonder what she'd think of what is going on today w/so many rights being slowly removed...

Monday, January 08, 2007

meme of twos

i lifted this off of debR's blog. she always has cool memes.

Two names you go by:
1.. krickie
2.. mama

Two parts of your heritage:
1.. scot
2.. scandinavian

Two things that scare you:
1.. war
2.. nightmares

Two everyday essentials:
1.. a kiss and love from irene and rhys
2.. an I love you from rob

Two things you are wearing right now:
1.. purple socks that say alaska on the bottom
2.. a grey california highway patrol sweatshirt

Two of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment):
1.. neil finn
2.. cake

Two things you want in a relationship (other than love):
1.. laughter
2.. joy

Two truths:
1.. I cuss like a sailor
2.. I can outburp a whole lot of people

Two favorite hobbies:
1.. reading
2.. doing art with the kids

Two things you need to do this week:
1.. mail some of the thank you notes we’ve written
2.. BROWNIES!!! Tuesday, Tuesday night, and Saturday!

Two stores you shop at:
1.. borders
2.. wild oats

Two favorite sports (for me? or to watch?):
1.. live baseball
2.. gymnastics (especially when the commentators keep their traps shut!)

Two shows you like to watch:
1.. scrubs
2.. my name is earl

Two things you’d buy if money were no object:
1..a large piece of land in the bay area which would have our main house and then several “pod” houses so that people could come and stay whenever they want and stay for as long as they want and still have their own space.
2.. travel around the world with my family

Two wishes for 2007:
1.. Continued good health for my friends and family (This is of Deb’s answers that I’m keeping – and actually, before that, it was another Kristen’s answer)
2..that we are able to foster peace in our home and that it will hopefully spread outward from us – just like others are fostering peace in their homes and hopefully it will spread out from them as well.

if you want to answer this one for yourself, go for it :) you can let me know in comments and i'll go check it out.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

TV shows

i got this in an e-mail - i'm sharing it w/y'all via this bloggy blog. it's long, but kind of fun.

Instructions: Bold all of the following TV shows which you've ever seen 3 or more episodes of in your lifetime. Bold and Italicize a show if you're positive you've seen every episode of it. If you want, add up to 3 additional shows (keep the list in alphabetical order).

i added more than three - so sue me ;) several of these i have never even heard of.

24
3rd Rock from the Sun
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
Allo Allo
Ally McBeal
American Idol /Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
The Ben Stiller Show
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Common
Boston Legal
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle's Show
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
China Beach
Cinncinnati WKRP
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Cupid
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new Who)
Doctor Who (series 1-26)
Dragnet
Due South
Dungeons and Dragons (old cartoon)
Earth 2
Eight is Enough
Ellen
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Eureka
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Fantasy Island
Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Acres
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Happy Days
Head of the Class
Highlander
Hill Street Blues
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
Iron Chef (Japan)
Iron Chef (USA)
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Jeopardy
Joey
John Doe
Kath and Kim
LA Law
Laugh-In
Laverne and Shirley
Law and Order
Law and Order SVU
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Magnum P.I.
Malcolm in the Middle
Married... With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission Impossible
Monk
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Family
My Favorite Martian
My Life as a Dog
My Mother the Car
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
Mysterious Cities of Gold
NCIS
Night Court
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs

One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pirates of Darkwater
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psyche
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Samurai Jack
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Sliders
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Square Pegs
St. Elsewhere
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis -- New season
Stargate SG-1 --New season
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titalns
Teletubbies
That Girl
That 70's Show
That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Bionic Woman
The Brady Bunch
The Colbert Report
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Prisoner
The Real World
ROAR
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
thirtysomething
Three's Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Upstairs, Downstairs
Veronica Mars
Vicar of Dibley
Wings
What Not To Wear (US)
What Not To Wear (UK)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Witchblade
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls
Xena: Warrior Princess
Young Hercules

Thursday, January 04, 2007

glimpses

we need to get some new video of irene and hopefully put together a first year video of rhys - but here are some youtube movies that rob has posted on his blog and on our youtube site as well.

enjoy :)

this first video i love and adore - there is a quick snippet of her 1st year w/the first song, then you get to see the longer bits. it's funny b/c i can remember some of the very exact dates of these things


this is a fun video rob did when irene was 7 months old. this is all pre-final cut pro and the really super groovy editing programs that rob has now. so as cool as this is, he can do even cooler now!


here is rhys talking about pac man...it's a little embarassing...he talks nonstop about pacman and sonic. i just keep telling myself that video games are good for eye hand coordination...it's really funny to listen to rhys' jibbah jabbah about these games - often apropos of nothing.

Getting to Know You (er, me?)

DebR from Red Shoe Ramblings (who i love and adore and am so pleased to know), was the Wednesday guest blogger for the first month of Getting to Know You posts at Create a Connection. She posted some questions/fill in the blank statements and there will be some every wednesday there in an effort to get to know folks better.

If you have a blog, post the questions and your answers there and then post the link in the comments at CREATE A CONNECTION (you can do it here too, if you'd like). If you don't have a blog of your own, you can post your answers in the comments section over there (and, again, here too if you'd like

So let's get started!

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks to each of these statements - it's as simple as that! These don't have to be one-word responses. Use as few or as many words as you need to fill each blank, in order to tell your story.

1. I have never wanted to jump out of an airplane or bungy jump ; but I've always thought I might like to write a collaborative book . (i know these are supposed to sort of go together, but i can't think of anything jumping out of something high that i want to do -- i HAVE parasailed - i actually really LIKED that...)

2. When I was 10/11 years old, I believed that the world was going to end. my 6th grade teacher showed us a nostrodamas documentary and had me - and maybe others - convinced of the imminent destruction of the world as we knew it. i still worry about it, but in different ways.

3. If I was my own best friend, what I would enjoy the most about spending time with Me would be listening to each other, sharing and bouncing ideas off of each other, creating different fun things w/our kids; while what I'd find the most irritating would be my occasional lack of follow through - i general do follow through, it just takes a while. very irritating.

4. If the story of my life up to this point was being published tomorrow, it would be titled "oh my dawg and other sillyness in the life of kristen" (the alternative title would be "it's kristen...with an E", and it would be dedicated to rob, irene, and rhys - the ones that make my heart leap for joy .

5. When my time on Earth is over, and the people who loved me are remembering me, it would please me if they said in her time here, she made a difference .