Saturday Drive

This morning I woke up at 7 am and decided to pull my hair back, head to Starbucks, and go for a drive. It was a beautiful California morning. I rolled my windows down and headed to this secluded area that reminds me of where I grew up. It's crazy, you take one turn and it feels like you just entered Tooele!

I expected to be put in to a good mood with my radio turned up loud and the cool breeze on my face, what I didn't expect is the memories that came rushing back when the song "Grandpa" came on. You see, this song holds special meaning to me. It has been a part of my life since I remember. My mom listened to it when I was young and always told me how it reminded her of my great-grandfather. When my grandma was dying, she would listen to this song on her portable CD player over and over.

I've always loved the words to "Grandpa", they touch my heart and unlock memories of my childhood that I seem to forget until I hear this melody. They are not just memories though, it's the feeling that comes along with the memories ... the way I felt back then, like I have stepped back in time and nothing has changed.

I have to admit, this morning I had a severe cry spell. I always hesitate to write blogs like this and admit to anyone that I am a very sensitive person. Through the years, I have put up walls and it takes a lot for me to let people in. But as time goes by, I realize that being this way is not a bad thing. I truly value what I believe, matters in life ... people, relationships, love. If someone judges me for being what they call, preachy, self-righteous, or overly sensitive, so be it; to each their own.

I am writing this blog because I want to share some of my favorite memories; the ones that mean the most to me. The ones that came along with the song I heard this morning. If not for my friends, but for my beautiful family that I know shares them with me. I'm so glad I took that drive. It's been awhile since I've counted my blessings and truly, I have been given many. Here a few of my best memories:

*Neighborhood garage sales on Crest Circle. Our parents trying to get rid of clutter by getting rid of our old toys, only to come home with more because we wanted all of the toys at the other people's sales. The hot sun on grandma's driveway and the big tree with funky fuzzy maroon flowers.

*Picking raspberries at Grandpa Harvey and Grandma Alloween's, the big field behind their house where we would steal peaches, and the mean boys that lived next door.

*Grandma taking me to Penney's when I was a kid and buying me those little plastic purses with sunglasses.

*Allen's foods in Tooele, the old stools at the counter and the smell of cake.

*Grandma Alloween's roses.

*Grandma Carla eating her bowl of cherries or fresh tomatoes with salt.

*Grandpa Howard and his popcorn and westerns. Oh yea, and his numerous complaints of "stink pretty."

*Laying out in the backyard with Grandma while she tanned, ONLY HER LEGS FROM THE KNEE DOWN.

*I remember my mom writing the words to "Grandpa" down, I believe it was either when my great grandma was sick, or my great grandpa had died. She was sitting in the living room and kept pausing the song over and over to get the exact words.

*I remember how this song seemed to put grandma at ease in her finals days. It's the one she asked me for multiple times. Even the look on her face changed, I could tell that it was her escape.

Finally ... here are the words to the song.


Lyrics | Judds lyrics - Grandpa (Tell Me 'bout The Good Old Days) lyrics

On a Lighter Note

On a lighter note, following my previous entry, I have decided to write a funny story afterall. No need wallowing, right? Right. Okay....

With Seif visiting his family, I have had plenty of time to myself. In fact, I have had too much time to myself. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to go to L.A. with a friend of mine. After a long day at Universal Studios, I left her house and shortly entered my small little town. Traffic was backed up worse than I had ever seen it. The street lights were green and the cars were not moving at all! I looked ahead and saw police lights so I decided to go around, through a parking lot, and cross the street to my house.

As I drove through the parking lot, I looked out in to the street and saw that there were TONS of police cars, vans, news vehicles, etc. I thought to myself, "Wow, what the heck is going on?" With many crazy things running through my mind, I carried on my way home. Once I got in, put my purse and keys down, and sat on the couch, silence ensued. "Bag this" I thought, "I'm going to go see what is going on. I've got nothing better to do."

I ran out of the house with no shoes on and no purse and headed through the parking lot back out to the street. (Stupid I know, but boredom will do this to a person.) It turned out that the craziness was a sobriety check and here I am, no license, no shoes, and NO way to get out of it. Needless to say, the cop asked for my license and when I told him I didn't have it with me, he made me pull over to the side. Fate turned out that this guy didn't make me leave my car. Can you imagine me standing on the side of the road barefoot, at a sobriety check all because I was bored and wanted to see what was going on? He joked around with me and told me to go home and get my license. My stupid ass was like, "Okay!" My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Lucky me, he just ran a background check and let me go.

Curiosity can be a funny thing sometimes. I almost told him what I was doing there, but caught myself and made up some lame excuse about picking up my books from school. Meh, he fell for it. I'm so lame.

My Cup Runneth Over ...

Every so often I have these days where I am just extremely grateful for the people I have in my life. Although I live miles away from some of my favorite people, I still think about them all the time. I try hard to keep up on how they are doing by reading their blogs, myspace, etc., and I hope they know that the ways in which they have touched my heart have not been forgotten.

I feel that we all too often get caught up in our daily lives and we fail to tell others just how much they mean to us. It's not intentional, it just happens. As sappy as this blog may be, I want to give a shout out to some people who mean a lot to me. Call it what it is, I call it being real.

Seif-You are my best friend. You have taught me so much. You have been there for me through good and bad, you have supported me through my hard times, and you have helped me to grow in so many ways. Every day I find myself loving you more when I never thought that was possible. Thank you for encouraging me to get back in to school and thank you for believing in me. It means more than you know. I love you.

Maja-I miss you! You are like a sister to me, a kindered spirit. We are so alike in so many ways and yet, so different. I can always count on you for a good vacation and as the one friend who will tell me the truth, even if it hurts me. That's so hard to find and so valuable in friendship. I so miss Millcreek and hanging out at Barnes and Noble. Heck, I miss you! I hope to see you soon. It's been too long! Loves.

Mardele-Miss Mardele. Life is just not the same without you here. I miss our Mexican dinners and random road trips. You and your family have been my family away from family and I love you all dearly. You have supported me no matter what and have stood by my side through thick and thin. I will always be here for you and I hope you never forget that. Please come and visit me soon sister! There are many a sand crabs to be captured!

Beckyloo-My partner in crime! You bring out the wild side in me and I have no idea why. Some of the best times I have ever had have been with you, "boot camp", 5950, "I'll kiss you if you drink this!" I don't care what price we paid, I am glad we became friends. I seriously cannot imagine you not being in my life. I am so glad that we got back in touch after I moved to South Carolina. Regardless of my disappearance, I missed you. I can't wait until you get here! Hollywood here we come! Love you!

Selma-Even though you are now Selma G. you will always be Selma J. to me. I just can't get it out of head! Although .. you are much happier as Selma G. and I would have it no other way. What can I say girl? I love you. You have created so many happy memories for me and not only were you responsible for them (showers, going away parties), you captured them on film and gave them to me! Lord, I watch those DVD's and laugh and laugh. We have gone through so much together, we understand each other and as Maja is the friend I can count on to be honest with me, you are my "lock and key" friend; the one friend I can tell ANYTHING to and know that you will never tell a soul. I wish we talked more, but I have not forgotten you and never will. You and your kids are my family and always will be.

Emily-What do you know? We meet on myspace and become friends. Lucky for us we have mutual friends in common, otherwise both of our shy butts probably would have dogged out. I love how I can vent to you and you never take it personal. I also love that you know you can do the same with me. Something tells me that we are sure to be traveling buddies. I still have not given up on Ireland woman, we are going! It's just a matter of time.

Callie-We have been friends for so long! Who would have thought, right? I have to say, you are one of the strongest people I know. I totally love our MSN group chats/gossip sessions, they rock! I miss you and hope that when me and Emily finally get to Ireland, you come with us. That would be a blast! Just imagine, chocolate faces, marshmallows, and non-alcoholic beer. The Irish folks would love us. Thank you for being you. I'm truly blessed to have you in my life.

Holly-Friends since 5! Not many people can say that. We have so many memories together that I can't even begin to list them all ... among a few that stand out are childhood Halloween birthday/costume parties, Wheeler Farm Easter Egg Hunts, being a couple of bullies, sneaking in to the church to eat salt on snow, running home from school to watch Punky Brewster, Marshall Bravestar, and scaring the crap out of your poor baby sister. No one comes closer to being family that isn't actually family than you. You truly ARE my sister. Friends for life baby! Love you!!!!!!

Last but not least, to my family:

I love and miss you every day. There are often weekends that I would give anything just to come home on a Sunday and have a big family dinner. There are even more days where I would give anything in the world just to throw my arms around you and tell you that I love you. Each and every one of you mean the world to me. I may not say it enough, but I love you with all my heart. I would never want anything more than what I have. I was blessed with the best family I could ever ask for. Thank you for everything. You truly make my life complete.

Always the Designated Driver

I'm always the designated driver ... I don't mind it so much, I love to people watch and there is nothing better than people watching drunks. LOL This weekend we went to a BBQ at our friend, Matt's house. He's a great guy and is traveling to Jordan with Seif this month while making a stop in Egypt. I love people who aren't afraid to get out and see the world. I don't know if it's just me, but history means so much more when you get to see where it took place.

Sorry, got off track. I love to travel and when I start talking, I don't shut up. Anyway, the BBQ was a lot of fun. I always like meeting new people and everyone at Matt's house was really nice. The fun thing about Cali is that when you meet people, you never know where they are from. It's a melting pot of people. Everyone there was from somewhere else in the U.S. and we sat around talking about the cultures in different states. It really is crazy that even when you travel inside the states, the cultures are so different. I lived in the South for a time and I must say, there were many times that I didn't even feel like I was in the U.S., but that's another story for another day.

After the BBQ, we went to a little dive in Pacific Beach and played pool. I am terrible at it, so one game was enough for me, but it really turned out to be a good time. I've attached a few pics. Please don't pay much attention to my TERRIBLE haircut. I hate it and I cried to the point that my hubby in all his sweetness, bought me my favorite, orange flowers. Again, that's another story for another day. Enjoy!


My bad haircut sympathy gift. LOL


The boys.


Me and Seif.


Clearly demonstrates my s#$^% haircut.


Too bad we only got half of Yasmeen ... she is really beautiful and seriously one of the sweetest people you could ever meet.

Ode to the 80's

Okay .. so the fashion was terrible, but oh my, the music! I love music from the 80's and early 90's! It is so upbeat and happy. I don't know what it is, but I think emotion was expressed more in the music of the 80's era than it is now, something about the high pitch maybe? Then there are the mullets. LOL Mullets rock don't they? I think I want to have a girl mullet. Check out the one on this guy. I could pull that off! (so kidding) Does anyone remember this song? One of my all time favorites, I could listen to it over and over again. It brings back so many childhood memories. Wow-I'm old. Seriously, I love the 80's ... the music, the cheesy movies, the memories; everything but neon colors and big hair ... we can leave those there.

Electric Blue, my all time fave!



Wishing Well ... another great one from the 80's.



One more ... Paula Abdul's hauntingly beautiful Rush, Rush. This is from the 90's, but still one of the best old school songs.

A Night Out on the Town

I met Seif's cousin from San Francisco tonight. He was out here visiting with his beautiful family. The night turned out to be so fun minus one little hang up. We met them at Seaport Village and went for coffee and witnessed the crappy side of corporate America as we were kicked out of Starbucks when they closed, WHILE his wife and baby were in the bathroom. We asked if we could wait for them and they said we could wait outside. As we walked out the door, a woman was banging on the bathroom door. Can you believe that? Man, the rudeness fails to surprise me these days.

We decided to go to dinner in Little Italy and it turned out to be the best idea. I really had a great time. The restaurant we went to had a band singing old Frank Sinatra songs, the food was great, and all of the ladies (me, Seif's cousin's wife, and 2 daughters) all went home with roses. I really like my husband's family. These guys were just wonderful. What an awesome night. Sometimes you get caught up in the every day chaos of life and forget about the small things that make you smile. I'm still smiling. Here's to great people, good times, and memories.

I Heart California

It's been awhile since I last blogged. As always, school keeps me busy, but that's a good thing. We have also had a lot of company lately and have been out and about entertaining the fam. I decided to post a few pics. Have I said how much I love living here? California rocks.