Apparently it's not just me

Time for me to take a moment from my regularly scheduled blog and rant.

I got this today and I thought, "That is SO me!!"

O.K., so I know I have lots of "issues". You know, my own personal neuroses. I guess we all do, but most everyone else seems to do a better job of hiding them.

A biggie for me is feeling left out. With so many activities going on this summer, it's bound to happen that I'm not invited to all of them. Or even most of them. And when it's a big event that lots of people are invited to, well... let's just say the anxieties go into overdrive.

In my mind I know these things happen. It's not practical to invite every person you know. I don't invite everyone I know to everything I do. And some of the people who have not invited me to join them, I can look back and see that I haven't invited them to anything either.

And forget talking to Tim about it. He's so rational and... maddening! He points out a million reasons why I have no right to get my feelings hurt. In my head, I know he's right.

Still, that second grader inside says, "Doesn't anyone want to be my friend?"

So this is one of my perpetual struggles. (I've been told I need therapy, but I say it's cheaper and easier just to go out with friends! See why the Starbucks ad is perfect for me?)

The only reason I bring this up is because of recent conversation where someone confessed to feeling the same way.

It was something I never imagined. Some people seem to be in the center of everything. But I guess even they have their names fall off the invitation list once in a while.

So, I have no answers.

I just know it sucks to be left out.

Maybe a blog is better than a therapist. But just so I don't take any chances, I think I'll head over to Starbucks with a friend and get a Blueberries and Creme Frapuccino!

Birthday Bowling

Jenny called me in Hawaii in a panic because we had not finalized plans for my birthday. So she told me to think about it and come up with something... dinner... girls night out... shopping...

So as I lay by the pool, I had an assignment. When we came back, I still had no idea, but I knew I didn't want to go out for a fancy dinner (I didn't need the calories after Hawaii) and a girls night out always makes me nervous (What if no one shows?). What I really wanted was to DO something.

So upon reading my mail, I saw an ad for a bowling alley and that sparked an idea - let's go bowling! We decided to head to Lucky Strike at the Block with our husbands.


We had pink and purple balls. How fun is that!


Jenny started off great right away!

Darrenn followed up nicely, but Jenny was still in the lead, where she would be for the next couple of frames. She stayed in second until the 8th frame.


Tim bowled in high school, so I knew he would have no problem, despite getting only 1 pin on his first frame.

I, however, SUCK at bowling. I always have. But I do enjoy it! So I led off with a big zero! It could only go up from there. I joked I wanted to break 50.

As you can see from the score, I didn't do it! But we had a lot of laughs, mostly at me! I was so bad, it really was unbelievable.

So the second game, I had them put up the bumpers. MUCH MORE FUN!!! I banked a few shots for a much better score! That's the ONLY way to play! Even Jenny bowled with the bumpers about halfway through.

What a really fun birthday adventure! We finished it off by reading books at Borders, eating at Corner Bakery, and then shopping. Even Tim shopped! It was a birthday miracle. He came home with 4 shirts and 2 pairs of shorts. What a great day!

I can't forget to mention it was Emma's first trip to a bowling alley. She slept through most of it! Honestly, she probably could have bowled at least as well as I could. If only she could fit into the shoes...

Celebrity Mugshots

After seeing Lyndsay Lohan's mugshot, I wanted to see how many other stars have booking photos. Appparently quite a few, since there is a website devoted to just that.

Here are some of my favorites:

And the most famous of all...

MouseAdventure Announced!

You all know what Disney freaks we are! Twice a year we participate in MouseAdventure, put on by MousePlanet.com, a website for like-minded Disney freaks.

Well, they just announced the date for their next event - Sunday, Oct. 14th. So Tim and I and Darrenn and Jenny will be doing what we've done since Oct., 2003, teaming up to try to claim the title of the biggest Disney nerds. Believe me, there is a lot of competition. Those "Parrots of the Carribean" people are INTENSE!

What is MouseAdventure you ask? Well according to their website:

In a nutshell, MouseAdventure is the signature community event for MousePlanet.com readers. Part scavenger hunt, part road rally, part trivia challenge, MouseAdventure is a team-based competition that guarantees you will never look at the Disneyland Resort in the same way again. You'll notice buildings you usually walk past (do you know the address of the Main Street Music company?); colors you might not notice (how many purple cars are there on the Sun Wheel?); and little details you don't even acknowledge (cannonballs on City Hall? You bet—we've seen 'em).

That cannonball thing really tripped us up one year - but that's another story.

So if anyone wants to join in the fun, assemble a team of 2-4 people and go to the website to register. It would make a much more interesting race to be competing against friends. But don't think that means we will take it easy on you. We'll be waving at you from the winners circle!

We're HOME!

It's a long story and involves agriculture, but for many reasons, we missed our flight home. So, at the airline's expense, we stayed an extra day and visited the USS Arizona memorial.

I've never been before. Every time I've been to Hawaii, there were always beaches, pools and stores to conquer. But this time, we had time, so off we went on the CityBus Line 42 to encounter history up close. It was very touching.



But this was my favorite thing there - this is from a newspaper the day the Japanese surrendered. It says:

Let Us Thank God

To Almighty God, for this blessed peace restored to a war-torn world, a grateful people offer devout thanksgivings.

Thank God, we say, the war is over at last. The guns are stilled. The bombs plunge no longer on their missions of death. Mothers and wives and sweethearts can breathe with unfettered hearts. Our loved ones will be coming home. An evil enemy has been crushed.

But there are many who are not here to rejoice with us this great day - because they gave their lives so we could have this day. Give them our prayers, our undying gratitude, our promise to cherish forever the ideals they freely died for. And for peace with victory, let us thank the All-Merciful God.

It's hard to imagine ANY paper today printing something like this. What a different world we live in!

We survived the Road to Hana

On the next to the last day, we made the famous trek to Hana. It's a small town on the other side of Maui. The town in itself is not the point of the trip. The trip is the point of the trip. It's about 45 miles of 600 hairpin turns and 52 one-lane bridges past gorgeous scenery. Because of the twist and turns, however, it is an all-day affair!




We first stopped at this small beach and took some pictures. With my dad around, the point of the trip is the pictures!!



Here is the same beach from the road up above.


We had to get at least one "pose in front of a beautiful waterfall" shot.


This is my favorite part of the trip. Just before you get to Hana, there's a state park called Waianapanapa. You would never know from the insignificant sign marking the road's entrance that a place this gorgeous existed! It has amazing black sand and turquoise water.



The girls immediately did what they do best at the beach, play in the sand. And not just any sand - black sand that doesn't stick to you. It doesn't turn the water an icky brown. As the waves swell onto the shore, the water is a crystal gray color. It's amazing. We bottled some to bring home and in a clear bottle, you would never know it came from the ocean. It is sparkling clean!





Off to the right is a cave, about 4 feet high at it's entry, but about 20 feet when you get inside. This is the view! Hard to tell in the photo, but that's turquoise water behind Chandler.


We wanted to make it to the end and see where Charles Lindburgh is buried, but the approaching evening, one-lane roads and rain made it a little scary to continue. So we turned around and headed back, catching the scenery one more time. It really doesn't get any more amazing than this!

Gorgeous Sunset

I just had to share these gorgeous sunset pics from tonight.



This one is looking towards our condo lobby from the beach and the other is looking towards the ocean from the condo lobby.

Birthday Dinner

Since my family normally celebrates birthdays by going out to dinner, we had to continue the tradition even in Hawaii. So I picked my favorite Maui restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was perfect for a birthday because even though it is a "just" a burger place. IT'S IN MAUI!! And it sits right on the ocean. And it is famous for the sunsets right out front. And it's burgers are called "five-napkin burgers" - YUMMY! And it is in a quintessential Hawaii beach town, Lahaina.




We got a table right by the water. The windows were open (I think permanently. After all, this is Hawaii!) and the waves were crashing about a foot from where we sat. The breeze was blowing. It was perfect. I ordered a Black and Blue Burger - my favorite!! No diet at a birthday dinner.



After dinner, we hung out and waited a few minutes for the gorgeous sunset we knew was coming. There were probably over a hundred people with the same idea! It was hard to squeeze in for this shot.



Finally in true birthday dinner tradition, we had some ice cream at a small parlor on the main drag. We walked around and window shopped. I LOVE Lahaina. It's a gorgeous small town. I could live here!