I Have a Crush

If you have a significant other is it wrong to have a crush? I think I might. Have a crush. According to one online resource I probably have a crush if I:

• Try to find reasons to spend time with _____
• Feel nervous or my heart skips a beat when around _____
• Talk to  my friends about _____
• Think about _____ at random moments
• Remember incidents or moments I've spent with _____
• Act differently with _____ than with any other
• Get jealous or upset when someone else spends time with _____

Oh dear. It's true. I think I totally have a crush on my minivan. Yup. I love it. I love almost everything about it. 

Admittedly I was doomed from the start. It has automatic doors that open at the push of a button! I'm dead serious! It has a fancy little plug-in for my iPod. It has 8 re-positional seats--a dream for a picky/indecisive gal. The interior is grey. Not. Tan. Yummy.

I could go on. And on. But I swear I didn't know about the crush. You're right. I probably should have figured it out a long time ago. When you find yourself doing things like this, you're most likely whipped. 

Now, the question is, what do I tell my husband? He might get suspicious and wonder why I am spending all this time with the minivan...or why I made that mix CD...

Oh SNAP!

Every once in a while I am caught off guard and surprised by the kindness of others.

Tonight (or, to be more precise, this morning) for example: At midnight Ian flies into the airport finishing up a tiring 3-day trip. He is anxious to get home. It is at this point that he realizes he has left his jacket on the airplane he swapped out in Los Angeles. No biggie, right? Oh wait...his car keys just happened to be tucked safely in the pocket of said jacket. Crap!

He calls to tell me that he won't be able to make it home tonight because, let's be honest, why in the world would we wake up three little ones to take them on an annoying ride to pick up their (surprisingly) air-headed father? We wouldn't. And, thankfully, I'm not dumb enough to leave them.

Random First Officer to the rescue: As Ian is lamenting his situation and vainly searching for other pilots driving south he is offered a lifeline. A fellow pilot who lives in Seattle just happens to have a car at the airport. "Hey Ian, why don't you just take my car?"

Seriously? We are saved. I can almost hear the grateful snoring of friends and neighbors ignorant to the fact that I almost made the call...even at midnight. 

Thank you, whoever you are! We're going to have to be creative to pay this one forward.

Outside

Little Curtis has recently discovered the outdoors. His curiosity for the big world on the other side of our door has been piqued and, I'm afraid, there is no stopping him. No matter what I do to distract him he still knows that somewhere there are rocks to be eaten, grass to be eaten, bugs to be...well, you get the idea. 

Today while the older kids played "movie theater" in the house I decided to let Curtis loose in the yard. He was in heaven. First question: What's with boys and rocks? First thing he did was grab one in both hands and smile like he'd hit the big time.

Once we made it to the front yard he somehow figured out that there was a dog just around the fence...and he made a break for it. Luckily he isn't too speedy yet and I was able to stop him before he crawled through heaven-knows-what and got scared by our slightly protective neighbor dog. Here he is trying to ditch me again...he knows the camera slows me down a bit.

I have a feeling we are going to be spending a lot of time outside this summer. Oh boy.

Wedding Photography Take One

I did something crazy! With ulcer-like clenching of the stomach I agreed to take my neighbor's wedding pictures. Just a few days shy of the big day her previously-arranged photographer had to back out. Someone out there (Kristin!) apparently decided that since I had new camera I must know what I'm doing. Ha. Ha. I repeat: Ha.

Upon giving Mandi the "okay, I'll do it" I made the mistake of calling my brother (an extremely gifted photographer) and was soon overwhelmed and shaking in my boots. Luckily I was able to talk Holly C. into bailing me out and playing the role of Photographer # 2. (Between you and me, she was actually Photographer # 1...I've always made a better assistant than anything else.)

With an amazing lack of knowledge we set out to do the impossible. It was a lot of work, but by the end of the day I felt it was possible we weren't taking the worst pictures in the world and might even have one or two that turn out. 

Here are a couple of my favorites. It helps when your subject is beautiful and photogenic. 

 

Congratulations Mandi! Thank you for trusting us with such a responsibility. It was such a learning experience for us and we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Freedom

A quick update: This afternoon I went to the grocery store BY MYSELF. I have to be honest and admit that I wondered aimlessly for several minutes enjoying the peace and quiet (it's all relative) of a shopping trip sans children.

Oh, and my fat lip has returned to normal. Phew!