afternoon adventure

when i get off work this afternoon, i think i'm going to throw the puppies in the car and take them here. its a local fish hatchery, located on beautiful and historic property along the columbia river gorge. i need the drive - i need to sing at the top of my lungs with the windows rolled down and feel that sense of letting go!

need a laugh?

super hilarious post here . . . involving a grown woman in a bib . . .

frye boots

i absolutely looooove these bitchin' teal buckle boots by frye. although they are more than half off right now at piperlime, they are still $240, which is more than i can afford on my government salary. sigh.

day of smiles

so many things to smile about today - so take that grumpy bastards! the sun came out after a stormy morning. the cherry blossoms are out! and i just couldn't help but laugh at the mess the puppies made of themselves this afternoon. the romped and rolled in the post-rain sogginess, and i didn't mind the mess for a second.

my favorite things

when the hubs and i bought our house, we both had wonderful treasures we'd accumulated over the years, and were so excited to FINALLY have a home to decorate. i'm going to post some of my favorite things over the next month or so.

to begin, here is my favorite rug. the hubs bought this authentic, hand-woven silk rug while working in the middle east. i wish the picture did it justice.

meet me

i realize my profile is rather enigmatic, so i'm dedicating this post to getting to know me a little better. and i'm doing it uncle buck style . . . remember the scene where miles (the young mccaulay culkin) peppers uncle buck with questions? no? check it out here . . .

anyhow, here we go:

Miles: Where do you live?

in rainy portland, oregon.

Miles: You have a house?

yep. i'm really lucky - the hubs and I have a beautiful 4 bedroom craftsman.

Miles: Own or rent?

own, baby, own. but we bought before the market crashed. shit.

Miles: What do you do for a living?

i work for the government. my job was exciting, once-upon-a-time. now, I'd rather have a root canal than go to work. the hubs works for the same organization, but he has a super-sexy-I'd-tell-you-but-I'd-have-to-kill-you job.

Miles: Where's your office?

downtown.

Miles: How come?

because the government is too cheap to put it somewhere else, somewhere safe.

Miles: Where's your wife?

i'll replace this with husband. he's prepping for a trip to the Olympic Training Center.

Miles: How come?

because he's groovy. and in excellent shape.

Miles: You have kids?

not of the human variety. yet. but we have the two best dogs. ever.

Miles: How come?

we want to be married a bit longer before we add the littles to the clan.

Miles: Are you my Dad's brother?

what's your record for consecutive questions asked??

Miles: 38.

i'm no one's brother. but i'm sister to two . . .

Miles: You have much more hair in your nose than my Dad.

well, thank you. if that's true, i imagine your dad waxes his nose.

Miles: I'm a kid - that's my job.

not so much

a little note to the mommy i saw at the grocery store this week:

i know you want to be trendy when it comes to naming your kids. i don't blame you, even though i'm more of a traditional baby-name kind of girl. i'll admit - i think it is kind of cute when all the names in a family start with a certain letter (think the Duggars - all Js). theme names can even be tolerable (faith and hope), although i wouldn't encourage it in humans (i did want to name my puppies salt and pepper, the hubs intervened. thank goodness). but naming your kids rhymey-rhyme names is just awful.

as we each pondered our cereal selections, i heard you call out to your oldest - jaden - and inadvertently rolled my eyes because that name is just everywhere (sorry to the moms of jaden, but its true). when you told jaden to be good, like his brother caden, i had to stifle a giggle. but when you cooed at fussy toddler aaden, my jaw almost hit the floor. i quickly put my honey bunches of oats in my cart and started to head out of the aisle. that's when i noticed that you are pregnant.

please, grocery-store mommy, pick a good solid name for baby number four. here are a few suggestions: john, samuel, benjamin. despite my recommendations, though, i fear the pattern will continue. what's it going to be? braden? hayden? heck, why not zaden or naden or paden?

springtime

this is my life. and i did it all to myself. you see, i've been on a quest to find the perfect place to plant roots, nest, and live the plan. i've lived on both coasts, outside, and in-between, and have firmly decided i am a west-coast girl. but with the brutal cost of living, taxes, and crime rates in so cal, the hubs and i packed our bags and moved to the pac nor (pacific northwest - that abbreviation sounds so much more lame than so-cal, right??).

everyone warned us about the rain. "do you really want to be in a place where it rains ALL THE TIME?" i thought about it, and imagined myself falling asleep to soft thunder. i imagined myself cozied up by the fire with a wonderful book. i imagined romantic moments, walking in the city just as the clouds decided to open up and dump on us, and running sloppily for cover.

turns out, that's not the way it rains in the pac nor. it drizzles and sheets. and when its not drizzling, the sky remains a consistent shade of dull gray. not a dark enough gray to create a dark, moody atmosphere that feels almost electric. nor a light enough gray to feel hope that the sun just might grace us with its rays. nope. i can count on one hand the number of true thunderstorms - the kind i envisioned - we've had in the past year.

so, spring, i welcome you. i hope your april showers are sparse and your may flowers are abundant. because i'm over the gray skies and the drizzles.

do you feel better?

so, i'm driving to work - a term i use loosely - the other morning and am waiting to make a right on red. cars are whooshing by on the expressway, and I decided that rather than turn into incoming traffic and risk death, I'll wait until a break in traffic or the light turns green to go.

turns out, this is completely unacceptable with the fat man driver behind me. he lays on his horn for a good ten seconds. when I finally do pull out, he pulls out right on my tail and gets up next to me, rolls down his window, and is screaming and shaking his head. i just ignore him. and let it go. sure - a little road rage affects us all now and then, but fat man has got a screw loose. clearly.

fast forward about 20 minutes. i hear a blaring horn, again. and i'm pretty sure its fat man, even though he fell behind me in traffic, oh, about 19 minutes ago. i look to find the honking culprit, and guess who?!? its fat man. he has both hands off the wheel, giving me a double bird. 20 minutes later? really, fat man? does this power trip make you feel better than i didn't risk death for you?

so, i gave him the appropriate response. no, i didn't honk or give him a double bird back. instead, i smiled, waved, and blew him a kiss. if i thought he was rageful before, i was mistaken. face turned purple. veins bulged. his steering wheel looked like it was about to come loose from his death grip. at which time fat man literally almost drove off the bridge into the river. and i felt better.

looking at things a little differently

it's a little awkward starting a blog, isn't it? i mean, you are basically writing to yourself until others decide your thoughts are worth their time. and the until part is a bit iffy. old rikki would have had a plan to lure you in. new rikki just wants to be out there. LIVING THE LIFE. instead of the plan.


that's the sun, in case you were wondering. (nasa)