Day 36 ~ Children's Museum and a Spray Tan

Today we surprised the youngest two with a trip to the Children's Museum. They had the Clifford Exhibit out and the girls LOVED IT!! There were so many great activities and things for the girls to do. The Children's Museum was amazing, and the girls kept running from one thing to another.


Hailey always had this look of excitement and "NO WAY!" I swear you can hear her scream from a block away and her happiness is felt across the room.


Our youngest's expressions are a little different from those of her sister. She is little more along the lines of "What the hell?" "What are you looking at?" I think this is her permanent look at all times. It seems to fit in any situation she is in. She is sweet and loving, but she can give you a look like you have never seen before.

It was so nice being able to get out together, and although my oldest was in school and we missed her a ton, we all had a lot of fun, and it was a great new thing to do this afternoon.

A Spray Tan

My other new thing for the day was a spray tan. As most of you know, or don't know, I am pretty fair. I grew up in San Diego where the sun never stops shining, and spent way too much time sun bathing as a kid. Now as an adult with as much money and energy as I put into keeping my skin nice, I avoid tanning. I have heard about spray tans but have never had one. I have nothing against tanning beds, but I do have something against wrinkles on my face.

My very good friend told me about a special at a local tan and spa salon. The Ultimate Tan and Spa in Newberg offers 50% off on Fridays for spray tans. Sounded like a great deal to me so I decided to go in. I can not tell you how good it smelt in there, like sunshine and coconuts all wrapped up in one. Seriously, just hanging out in there made me feel like summer. The girl behind the counter was so nice. She set me up, and showed me what to do. I went in a room and rubbed lotion on my hands and feet to reduce any chance of crazy stains from dye, I put a hair cover on, and then stepped into the machine. I pushed this green button and waited for the spray... blink, blink, blink and then the spraying began. It scared the crap out of me and I gasped for air, which at that moment included a heavy dose of tanning solution. I felt like a white man doing the sprinkler dance as I tried to make sure I got my body covered, doing the things the nice girl at the counter showed me to do. Then it stoped and I turned to get my back side while repeating the crazy stances/dance moves.

Once I was done, I stepped out and dotted the excess, got dressed, and came out. I unfortunatley have extremely dry hands, and noticed a streak, so I go to wash it off. After my hands are washed I noticed something. OH NO! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!! I have washed off the mist on my hands and now they are soooo white, I look like I am wearing white gloves. I go out with this look on my face. The nice girl just smiles and fixes it for me. I guess I am not the only one who has done this before. I am to wait 4 hours before showering to help it set.

I am so glad I did this because it gave me such a nice bronze color, not too dark but still enough to make me feel great. I feel next time I will be a little better with my moves in the spray room, but other than that, it was soooooo worth it. I definitely will be doing this again.

I got a tan today and I am loving it!

Day 35 ~ Crazy Sushi

As I mentioned yesterday, it has been 10 years today, since I met my husband. He is the love of my life and through good and bad times, he is the only man I want by my side.

When he woke up this morning and saw the I Love You signs around the house, and all the stickies with funny memories, he couldn't help but laugh and smile. I even stuck them in the shower, so when he thought he found them all, he found a few extra in there. It was well worth the lack of sleep to get it set up for him.

We decided to go to lunch and try a new sushi place, for our new thing today. It is called Crazy Sushi. Crazy Sushi, heck yeah, I would say it was crazy good. HOLY @*$#! It was absolutely spectacular. The food was AMAZING and colorful and beautiful and each plate looked like a piece of art. The prices were very fair and the portions were very generous. We were so full, we didn't even come close to finishing it, and we ate the rest for dinner. It was AWESOME!!! Yes, I am using the word awesome because that is how dang good it was! We tried some new sushi including:

Spider Roll

soft shell crab, crab, avocado, masago

Lobster Crunch

crab, avocado, cucumber, asparagus rolls

Lobster tempura piled on top

Washington Roll

California roll base with fresh Salmon on top

This was the best sushi I have ever had. If you live in the Portland area I would highly recommend it. It is a small place but, is UNBELIEVABLY good!!

We tried a new restaurant today and some new sushi and I would have to say, IT ROCKED!!

Here is their website, check them out. They even have coupons for free appetizers.

http://crazysushi.net/crazy-sushi/index.php

Day 34 ~ A Surprise

Tomorrow it will be 10 years since my husband and I met. I use to think people were strange celebrating this day, but this year I really wanted to do something special for my husband. I can honestly say the day we met started a new and happy chapter in my life. We met, and that was it! I can remember calling my mom the next day to tell her about the guy I met. We met at a bar by chance and all I can say was it was meant to be.


Tonight I went and got him all his favorites at the store. Favorite candy, favorite breakfast, favorite beer, favorite food and I plan on decorating the house once he goes to bed. When he wakes up he will find all his favorite things, signs all over the house that say I love you, and little sticky notes everywhere with funny memories we have shared. I have been having so much fun today planning and searching out these items. I can't wait to see his face in the morning. I think the biggest joy in life is often the the joy you receive from doing things for others.


Today I planned a big surprise for my husband and I can't wait for tomorrow!!

Day 33 ~ Variety

Today I did a variety of things that were out of the ordinary for February, and I am ready for bed!

Where I live we get a lot of rain. We spend too much of the winter indoors, and it is pretty gray. This morning I woke up singing Tonight's gonna be a good night, sang it all day long, and I think the sunshine had something to do with it. Today was BEAUTIFUL. The sun shined all afternoon and my husband and I tried to suck up as much sun as we could. We ate outside, played outside, worked on our yard, planted some bulbs and just sat and watched our youngest play. It has been months since we have been able to sit and enjoy a beautiful day together. My husband normally works a 65 hour week, so just having him here today to hang out all day was new in itself. I have to say there is nothing better than a beautiful sunny day in February. That was definitely something we haven't had for a while.

All I have is one word for you, LOST! LOST is finally back on and in its last season. I love this show!!! I wish it would never end. Enough of that.... OK one more thing... LOST is the best show ever.

Today consisted of a variety of new things for February. I wish the sun always shined like this. I would never come indoors. One thing I did realize is my legs have not seen the sun since October, and I think my new thing this week will consist of a spray tan.

Day 32 ~ Eye Doctor

Now my new thing today stinks!!! In fact, it was horrible. I was up until 3 am last night because of my eye. We decided this morning I needed to see an eye doctor. This is not how I planned on spending my day.

Well, I will say that the doctors were great, friendly, and nice. They tried to be as comforting as possible as they poked my eye and flipped my lids looking for something in my eye. After a good 20 minutes and 2 doctors later, they came to the conclusion that I have a scratch on my eye and that I have a swollen gland under my eye lid. They are not connected, just happened to happen at the same time. Are you kidding? Guess what else? There is nothing in there, it just will feel that way for a week. A WEEK? I was getting ready to take my eye lid off myself last night. My eyes have been killing me all day, I am wearing a warm compress aka pirate patch, and I am on the verge of puking, but there is not a dang thing in there.

All kidding aside, I have lots of eye drops to apply every hour that really help, and I did get to spend the after noon with my husband which was very nice, so I am very glad I went. I haven't been to the eye doctor since right after high school. There is something about someone getting that close to my eye that freaks me out, but I realized with a quick eye test she gave me, that I probably need some reading glasses too.

So there you have it, my new thing for the day was the stinking eye doctor. Lets hope tomorrow will be a lot more fun.

Day 31 ~ Homemade Valentines

Valentines Day is fun. The kids love it and so do I. Every year we get cards for all their classmates and they address them and stuff them with candy. This year I wanted to make a little change. I decide that instead of spending so much time and energy on Valentines for our classmates, we would focus more time and energy on those we love. Isn't that what Valentines is really all about? Besides, kids will be delighted with any card that holds a sugar treasure.

My day started out a little off. I got something in my eye that would not come out and I walked around this afternoon like a one eyed pirate. I would hoot and holler at any random minute when the pain would just bug me enough, and yes, I even was yelling ARRRRR! My eye was so red I didn't even want to open it, and kept it closed a good part of the day. My daughter pointed out the fact that I looked and sounded like a pirate with my eye all scrunched up. If I had an option of an eye patch, I swear I would have worn it!



I had a plan to start our Valentine's cards today, so we made our way to Micheal's, the best store in the world. We got our supplies, came home, and got started. I sat down and made my own Valentines for my nieces and nephews, and the girls made some for all the family they could think of. It ended up being not just fun for them, but for me. So often I have a project for them, and I am so busy helping I don't get to sit to have fun myself. I can't wait to get these sent out and to see how our family reacts.

Today our new thing was homemade Valentine's cards, and although my eye is still driving me a little NUTS, I had a lot of fun!

Day 30 ~ The Magic of Ordinary Days

Tonight I watched a wonderful movie titled, The Magic of Ordinary Days. I thought it was the perfect title to my day.

As this month ends, I am so happy to say I have made it this far on my journey. 365 days seems like a big task to unfold but it is the magic in the ordinary days that keeps me going. I would love to go to Paris, Hawaii, travel the world but it is the magic I share every day with my family that keeps me happy. It is the little things we try together, like bowling, and movies, puppets and even a new treat that make our days special. I sat and wrote down 100 things I would like to do this year and I am hoping whoever reads this will also give me some great ideas of adventure, or even some great grubb to get my hands on. I plan on taking a hot air balloon ride, and I am sooooooo terrified but I am going to conquer my fear. I want to learn to swing dance with my hubby, and even finish a few things I started years ago, including a song and a tattoo.

Today's ordinary magic was teaching my girls 3 of my favorite things as a child, two square, slam ball and how to pitch a softball. I wish I would have recorded it. My oldest was laughing so hard she could barely hit the ball and when she pitched her first shot it nearly went over the fence. As for my 5 year old, I just about died laughing when playing two square. I threw the ball to her and she grabbed it, took it, and chucked it out in the yard. I asked her, "What are you doing?" "I am getting you out mom," she says, "I thought I was suppose to keep it away from you." For the rest of my life I will remember today. I will remember their laughter and smiles and how much fun we had.

It is truly the magic in ordinary days that make life special and I plan on making each day count. So hears to you and hears to another 335 days of Living, Giving and Laughter!