No one man should have all that power...

Busy fall/holidays/winter

Jim and I started doing spontaneous weekend trips, and it's been a blast. November took us up Rattlesnake ledge to Snoq. Brewing in the pouring rain, then to Walla Walla for an extended, expensive weekend at Abeja, to Bainbridge and Poulsbo for wine and baked goods, and finally to San Francisco for some shopping, a Huskies game, and Thanksgiving in the East Bay. It was a blast, and something that our DINK status makes super easy.

My boys at Rattlesnake

Jim and I in Oakland

My two favorite girls waiting for Santa on our Annual Gebow/Nisbet family outing.

Me and Moo during our XMAS sleepover at my house. Matching jammies and pizza.

Mom wearing Jim's "Cock" hat at our family XMAS eve at my house. I like this photo a lot. I have a wonderful, funny, non-judgmental mom.

Of course the biggest event of the past three months was our soggy, stressful trip to Kauai. Notice the progression of Jim's facial hair through the vacation. I prefer #2.

A "nostalgic" photo on my new camera. Jim drinking Mai Tai's at the Honolulu airport. Facial hair #1 - full beard.

Day 1, I wake up to the Sundance Kid. I love this photo of Jim, a true smile, which you rarely see in photos. Facial hair #2 - handlebars

Prolly the most stressful point in the trip, harrowing hike along the Na Pali coast - torrential rain, severe wind, flash flood warnings, slippery trails 500 feet of cliff from the ocean, and a whole lotta drama.

Post hike, befriending the locals. If you haven't been to Kauai, chickens/roosters are like pigeons, but cuter.

We went on an unplanned hike that led us to a nude beach. Nothing to see but old, overweight men with saggy junk. Needless to say, me, Jim and his conservative parents never actually set foot on the beach once we realized where we were...

The core component of our, really MY diet... Volcanic Eruption Shave Ice: rootbeer, cherry and vanilla syrup over ice, and mac nut ice cream. It's even better covered in sweetened condensed milk. YUM. Best thing ever.

These signs were everywhere. The worst was coming down the hill to the beach on the Na Pali hike, tons of lives lost. So sad, but really? I would totally add a "1" to it, just to make people more scared.

On our way to the airport, looking just as white as we left. Notice the shave. Facial hair 3#: clean, better than beard, but not as cool as the handle bar.

In other news, wanted to share my favorite things from the past 3 months.

A MUST HAVE: Laura Mercier gel eyebrow color. Shapes, darkens, and holds crazy Norwegian eyebrows like mine without looking "filled in". The color sticks to the hair, not the skin. YEAH!

Kanye, Kanye, Kanye. His Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is easy the best album in a LONG, LONG time. Download this: Power. The best run song, serious.

On the opposite side of the spectrum... Found this sweet little Feist, Ben Gibbard cover. I am a sucker for Feist though - Train Song

Oh, and have you ever heard of Bruno Mars? Really. My brother, who has HORRIBLE taste in music said that he was terrible. Don't know how I want to interpret that, but I LIKE it. Maizey does too. :-) Grenade. Jen - you will love this, I promise. Teen pop at its best.

Anyway, boring updates, but thought I would update anyway.

We break ground on our Kitchen Remodel next week. I'll blog the progress. It's bound to be interesting.

Love

Epiphany

Epiphany

On the plane, writing my first blog post in over a year, instead of working as I should be. Why? Read.

I started reading this book the other day, “The Happiness Hypothesis” (HH), a book on how to strive for balance in your life. It was recommended. I know, you’re asking yourself, “WTF? I thought she only read bodice-rippers?” It’s true, when I am not reading romance novels; I read books on the other side of the spectrum – non-fiction. I prefer books on why religion is bad; books that provide another way to lose weight by reducing sugar and carbs, while going to the gym; or, books that help a driven, more than slightly ADD career woman navigate the split personality of her social and career lives.

Anyway, the opening chapters of the HH are focused on discussing early medical research on the brain. Whoa! A little different than learning all about Lizzy Bennett’s home life before she meets Darcy. This section also presented a number of both modern and ancient theories on how the brain has evolved, and why we are the way we are. Interesting. This is as far as I’ve read, maybe 3 chapters, but I’ve learned something: at this point in my life, I am a rogue elephant.

The HH asserts that the emotional self is a huge elephant, and is the rider is self-control and reason. Without a rider, the elephant just roams, survives. With a rider, the elephant has direction, rules, and constraints. They are dependent on one another. This is a relatively ancient theory, but HH crystallized the metaphor. HH believes that if you find a metaphor that will help guide your decision making, you need to grab on to it. Let’s just say, I’ve been intimate with this theory in the last 48 hours, it’s taken up permanent residence in frontal cortex, or whatever.

Right now, I don’t have a “rider”, I am rogue elephant.

Did you ever see those Discovery channel documentaries on teenage male elephants that went MIA from their herd? Without a parental figure, these elephants are extremely dangerous and wreak havoc in their environment. “Rogue” elephants usually roam alone or with one other teenage male elephant, and operate like 14 y/o boys with piss-poor parents.

You’re asking yourself: “In other Discovery channel documentaries, elephants are presented as an intelligent, highly-evolved species.” Forget that. The elephant represents my emotional self, not an actual elephant. Although, swim suit shopping under the glare of the Nordstrom fitting rooms in preparation for my trip to Kauai (YAY me), assured me that maybe I am closer to an actually elephant than I originally thought.

I may be enlightened by this theory, but I am still rogue. I am waiting for the point when the little man in the bright circus costume and tall hat, come at me with one of those electric prods to keep the elephant “under control” under the bright lights of circus tent. Heaven forbid the captive, barely domestic, elephant attacks the cheering crowd. Grrrr!

Anyway, the little man appeared on Tuesday and prodded me not to have dessert after three cups, okay four cups of Lee’s Asian (Chinese food), and half bottle of wine. I did it! I went to sleep without dessert. I always eat dessert. Always, and sometimes two desserts. If my elephant could just eat dessert for dinner, it would. My rider would tell me that it’s not worth it, but I am riderless.

You know what else my elephant does? It consumes. A lot. Expensive clothes, spectacular wine, good food, unique shoes, Open Heart Michael Kors watches, pedicures, manicures, massages and glycolic facial peels – out damned brown spots! It also travels to Hawaii twice in one year to laze about on the beach for days at a time. It’s the “champagne tastes” of my riderless elephant. My little circus man would call those bad decisions, put me in my cage, and lecture me about the importance of conservatism, and long-term financial planning. BORING! The little man prodded me to return a big chunk of what I called my “birthday” presents to myself. This will of course have to wait until I get back from 10-days in Hawaii, and have a chance to get all of the sand out my swimsuit. Sad, my new boots are so cute. Damn you little circus man, elephant charmer or whatever you are...

I mean, what if I die on my way to Hawaii? At least I’ll have a chance to enjoy all of my new things. HH says that a weak little rider, let alone a circus man, can barely reason with a big, strong elephant like me basking in the afterglow of money poorly spent.

It’s taken me years to cultivate my elephant, train her to make choices that provide instant gratification at the expense of long term happiness. Oh well, I guess that’s why my elephant decided to read this book. Ugh.

Wish me luck getting my rider on my back, allow her to break me of my rogue tendencies, and teach me self-control. It’s an uphill battle, that rider is going to need some serious upper-body strength; my emotional self has been rogue for years.

“Epiphanies can be life altering, but most fade in days or weeks. The rider can’t just decide to change and then order the elephant to go along with the program. Lasting change can come only by retraining the elephant, and that’s hard to do.”