I’m free again

I got my motor running for a wild weekend

It’s finally Friday

I’m outa’ control

Forget the workin’ blues

And let the good times roll

I have been looking forward to this weekend get-away for a few weeks and now that it is finally here, I can relax!

No cleaning the house.

No laundry.

No waking up early to take Cali pee.

We took this same trip five years ago. We are visiting a lot of our favorite spots that we saw then and creating some new traditions this year. Hopefully this trip can be repeated in the years to come with less time in between.

I am really looking forward to meeting her in person in August when I return to New Hampshire for a few days before my mom and I head to Europe. Our family is planning on taking a day to celebrate their engagement and we will no doubt become fast friends. And of course, she is planning a wedding for 2011 and I just love weddings!

Now that I am 28, she is 8 years old. Last time I saw her, it was a few years it took her a while to figure it out–that the Nicki from the wedding pictures was the Nicki why just flew in from California and now has super short hair. Brianna’s mom and my mom (and probably all my Aunts now that I think about it) have done a very good job of talking about me with her so that my memory stays alive. Now that she is a bit older, she remembers me better and has even talked to me on the phone a few times. I’m hoping for a big hug and a kiss when I see her in August–we’ll see!

Sophie used to pee herself she would be THAT excited to see me when I would come home to visit from college. I think even if she does not remember me, she will still be happy to get a belly rub from me, no matter who I am.

This picture was taken a few days before I moved to Los Angeles. I was saying my goodbyes to my Sophe-a-loaf.

I recently had rainer cherries for the first time and was surprised how good they were despite their unorthodox color (compared to the red cherries I’m used to eating).

New Hampshire fruits of the summer that I loved to eat the most were blueberries by the handful from one of the seven bushes in the backyard of my house growing up. I was able to teach Sophie how to locate the berries on the bush and to avoid the leaves. Sunday mornings, my mom would walk outside with a measuring cup and pick what she needed to make blueberry muffins.

I can also remember my mom eating red raspberries in cream with sugar (like it was cereal). She said that if you were a very wealthy person, you ate that every morning. There were wild blackberry bushes in our backyard toward the woods and by our mailbox (before the post office moved in next door). You could eat them right off the bush they were that perfect.

Strawberries are another favorite of mine. We would cut them up, dip them in sour cream and then in brown sugar. So good! My parents had them for dessert at a restaurant one time and they have been eating strawberries like that ever since.

Whenever I came to to visit their house, I would hug and kiss them both, but would sit in the recliner next to Grammy. She would mute the TV and we would talk about things that you wouldn’t believe. Stuff that she genuinely liked to listen to me talk about. I did not tell her things to get her opinion, just to have an outlet and she was such a great listener.

Grampa could hardly hear us 100% of the time. I remember everyone nearly shouting at him so that he could hear what we were saying. Even if he didn’t, he would still nod his head and smile.

I love hearing stories from my mom about Grampa and how he is coping with his current living situation at the nursing home. Obviously it has got to be hard to go from living with your wife, to living on your own, to living in an assisted living facility because you need constant care, supervision and administration of medications. It is the best place for him given his age and what he’s gone through losing Grammy. But that doesn’t mean the ridiculousness that is his life has to end.

He asked my mother for flannel-lined pants this past April and being a sensible woman, my mother told him he didn’t need flannel-lined pants. It is springtime and we will be in the warm summer months soon. Grampa replied that he wouldn’t live that long.

Then in the same flannel-lined-pants visit, Grampa asked for popcorn that is butter-free, salt-free, good-for-you-taste-free because he needs to watch his weight. My mother replied that if he wasn’t going to live that long, then why watch his weight now?!

Being the old guy that he is, Grampa just did the old-guy-nod-your-head thing. Being the good daughter in law that she is, my mom got him what he wanted.

When I come home for a few days in August I plan on seeing Grampa and will answer the same 3 questions he always asks me:

• How is your car running and did you change the oil?
• Have you had many earthquakes?
• How’s the weather?

Ryan’s sole responsibility in regards to taking the dog out, is to make sure she goes pee before we all go to bed, and the later the better! If she pees super late at night, the odds of her sleeping in the next morning and not stepping on your stomach and licking your face at 7:00am are very good.

Since the World Cup started a few weeks ago, each night Ryan looks on the DirecTV guide and records the early morning game (4:30am) and then sets his alarm for 6:00am so he can watch it in bed before he gets up for work.

It is so rare for me to be able to talk to my husband in the morning hours while I get ready for work. So I like that a lot. But what I love even more is on the weekends when he is up at the crack of dawn and takes Cali to go pee without me even asking (more like begging) which is what I usually have to do. Some mornings I am half awake and lie still so everyone thinks I am sleeping, enjoying the fact that I do not have to sleep walk in my pajamas out the door so the dog can release her bladder. But other mornings I am fast asleep, practically dead to the world–and a jumping basenji–and slowly wake up around 10:00am, unaware that they even left the room four hours ago.

This weekend will be more of the same: me lying in bed, enjoying the sleep and Ryan leaving the entire bed to my limbs that stretch out. I can not wait.

One of the stations I frequently land on while surfing is KISS FM 102.7 with Ryan Seacrest.

He is usually pretty comical and has stories from the industry (movies & TV) and I always find that kind of stuff interesting so this station is saved on one of my car radio’s pre-sets. This morning, he was telling a story about going to a hotel near their radio station in order to get a work-out in between meetings. I guess he usually goes to the same gym every day by his house, but he was busy all day so he didn’t have time to go home to work out.

As he was walking into the lobby of the hotel, he saw a tour buss pull up and out walked extremely tall men dressed in green–the Celtics. As all of you should be aware, the Celtics are about to play Game 6 of the championship tonight versus the Lakers. And being from LA, Seacrest is a Lakers fan.

He’s actually a pretty good story teller and he keeps referencing what is going through his mind as he’s riding the elevator with about six Celtic players. He doesn’t know who these guys are because he does not follow the team, but he comes to find out that the guy right next to him is Rasheed Wallace.

Wallace looks down at Seacrest and says, “Aren’t you on TV? You’re on that show.” And Seacrest replies, “Yes.” Rasheed looks at his fellow teammates and says, “Hey, this guy hosts Star Search.”

I burst out laughing at the top of my lungs. Being the host of American Idol, Seacrest didn’t really know what to say. He was confused if Wallace actually thought he hosted Star Search or if it was a joke. When the elevator dings! on the work-out floor, Seacrest steps off of the elevator and totally misses his opportunity to trash-talk the Celtics by saying “Have fun!” Now believe me when I tell you I was dying, DY-ING!

Seacrest said that the Celtics camera guy was also in the elevator with them and got off on the same floor as Seacrest. The camera guy is laughing as they walk away from the closing elevator doors and when Seacrest asks what’s so funny, the camera guy replies, “That Star Search thing–Wallace knows you host American Idol.”

Rasheed Wallace was trash-talking Ryan Seacrest. AWESOME!

As I mentioned before my friend Joyce and I had a deal. She would start to watch this season of The Bachelorette so that we can discuss at work and I would watch Twilight and New Moon so that we can both love the story and see Eclipse together

Well, now that I have watched these movies, I am now granted full immunity and have the right to totally speak my mind. I did not like these movies at all.  I understand that Twilight was super low budget and it was only after the movie studio saw how much bank they were making off of this vampire story that they put a whole lot more into New Moon.

Granted, New Moon did look better than Twilight, but I was super bored with the second half of this movie. Twilight was able to keep my interest for 90% of the time mostly because it was the introduction to the entire story and one of my favorite things about a movie/story is how it all came to be, in the very beginning. New Moon did nothing for me–it just left me constantly checking the time, asking myself, “When will this movie be over!?”

I felt like New Moon was trying to end with a cliff-hanger (if any of you have seen this movie then you will know exactly what I mean) but it just made me shout “Finally! I can turn it off!” The movie did not do what I think was their job: to make me want to see more of this Twilight Saga.

In no way am I anxious to see what happens next in Eclipse. And I definitely do not want to waste time reading these books. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t mind if one of my freak friends Joyce or Tanya just straight up told me what happens in the next few movies. However, Tanya did tell me who Bella chooses in the end–I guess everyone already knows that because they have read the books– so why would I bother watching more of this trite story that does not satisfy or intrigue any of my vampire fantasies?

Joyce, believe me when I say I mean no offense. You are a freak and you love this crap (but mostly Edward) so I feel like I did my duty as your friend and gave it a chance.

The way I see it, I have to find some kind of peace with soccer because it is such a big part of Ryan’s life. He is on two soccer teams, one indoor and one outdoor, and he has been hanging out socially with his soccer buddies more and more in the past few months. I have even tagged along when I know 100% that I won’t be the only female attending.

Tomorrow morning at 11:30am, we are heading to one of his soccer buddies’ house where we were invited by him and his wife to watch the USA v. England game. I know at least one other female will be in attendance (the host’s wife) so that’s good news. Plus they just had an open house because they recently bought this house in April so I know that it will not be a man’s cave with dirty carpets and food on the couch cushions.

I would be rooting for my boyfriend, David Beckham (I mean, come on, look at this picture, wouldn’t you be rooting for him as well just to see him take off his jersey when they won the game?!?!)

But he is not on the roster due to an injury so by default, I will be rooting for USA.