Friday

I'm glad it's Friday. It's been a busy week.

Since our walk with Ginger, Brandon has been glued to the recliner watching Xavier then OSU play in the NCAA tournament. That means I retreated to the upstairs to do anything but watch basketball. (The only sport I can get into is baseball...and I definitely have a time limit!)

I decided to watch back-to-back episodes of Sex and the City. I love that show -- it's smart, funny and highly entertaining. I've been working my way through season 6 again. I cried at least three times tonight. That last season has some emotional moments.

So to summon my inner Carrie Bradshaw...I've been thinking about my own life and the way I react to things. Does anyone else let little things get to them? Are we so hung up on the little things that we begin to sweat the small stuff? I know I do. It seems to pop out of me unexpectedly -- like tonight when the darn Donatos line was busy for like 10 minutes. I got annoyed it was absurd looking back on it. Oh well -- I guess everyone is allowed a little irrational freaking out once in a while, right?

Back in the Groove

It's been a few weeks since we got back from Hawaii, so I'm finally back in the groove. Work is busy and changing--we recently took over media relations for University Hospital--and Brandon and I have been focusing on relaxing at home and not overbooking ourselves.

Last weekend, I had a great night with the girls on Friday. We were supposed to scrapbook, but we ended up just eating and chatting until midnight. Cat well checks were Saturday morning, which is a bit stressful. Leonard got away from us and scratched the heck out of Brandon. Fortunately, the actual vet visits went much better. Sassy was officially diagnosed with chronic bladder infections -- DUH -- so she got an antibiotic shot again. It's frustrating, but at least it's nothing something more serious.

This weekend, Brandon will be glued to the couch watching basketball. On Saturday, we're looking forward to dinner with Paula and Kirk at Brown Dog Cafe. It's local restaurant week, so there are some great specials going.

I finally loaded all our Hawaii pictures to Shutterfly. If you are interested, you can see them at: http://harpervacationphotos.shutterfly.com/.

Back to Reality

We returned from another great two week vacation in Hawaii last Sunday. It was rough work week -- lack of sleep and no Hawaii will do that -- but we made it to the weekend.

I haven't loaded all of our photos from the trip yet (they are organized on Brandon's computer and he is still sleeping), but I'll post them to to Shutterfly soon if you are interested in seeming them. We take A LOT of pictures, though, and the digital camera really took that to a new level. (Thanks, Jane!)

We did about 40 miles of hiking between Poli Poli State Park (redwood forrest), Haleakala State Park (volcano), Hana and West Maui Mountain. I loved it all. Tito also rented a car for part of the trip, so we were able to do two shuttle hikes. The first started at the Haleakala Summit (10,000 ft up) and we down to the crater floor then up the other side. We saw Nenes, the Hawaiian goose, and tons of gorgeous scenary. I'll post photos later. West Maui Mountain gave us sweeping views of the island. Poli Poli was an unusual scene for Hawaii. It's a redwood forrest like you would see in California. Here's a picture of me doing what I love to do: HUG TREES!



We also did a fair amount of sunning on the beach, playing in the water, snorkeling, TONS of greate whale watching (including a boat trip with Brandon's grandparents with the Pacific Whale Foundation) and a day trip to the island of Lanai exploring four-wheel drive roads around the island.

I'll post more later. Right now, I need coffee stat.

ALOHA