[running: Mother's Day Chip.]

Some moms get flowers, some get lovely blue boxes with sentimental treats inside.  Some moms get homemade glass jars with a tealight in the bottom (yup - my grade one-er did just that), some get a poem or breakfast in bed.

My hubby is not a sentimental man ... in fact, yesterday at the Mother's Day lunch we held at our place, some of my sis-in-laws were talking about renewing their vows.  My hubby looked at them and said, "I promised God once, why do I have to do it again?"

Such a romantic *rolling eyes*.

BUT when it comes to gift giving, he knows me well.  And I got spoiled.   Maybe you won't think so - but that's probably why I married him, and you didn't *grin*.  He got me a Nike running chip for my runners.  The perfect gift for me. 

And today ... I ran.  17.14km in 1:36:02.  

I am CRAZY excited about that ... I will totally kick the 1/2 marathon in September.  And I'm hoping to kick it in less than 2hrs.  Looks like that's gonna be possible ... 

Ok ... so the chip was a hit - as was the Canucks hockey jersey.  He got me a blue one - which are a hot commodity right now ... and it saves me from having to shimmy myself into Mattias' jersey at the next game *grin*.  I actually prefer the retro jersey ... but he couldn't find one anywhere ... and I'm just hoping that me getting one of these guarantees me a spot at one of the upcoming playoff games *wink*.  

I've also posted some pics of my friend Nicole (and a few of her and I) at my RedHanded Photography blog HERE.  Can't believe that we've been back from almost a week already ... seems like a dream.

Hmm ... I think I need to shower *grin*.  Seventeen km kinda ... stinks *laughing*.  

Have a great one!

[talk: Short.Chick.Cop.]

Today I was reminded of something very, very funny that happened to me a long time ago.  And not only did it make me laugh (literally), it made me go crazy trying to find this ... 

"What on earth is that??" you ask.

And some of you may have JUST bust a gut looking at this ... 'cause you know exactly where I'm going with this.  Can you even believe I have this???

This, is a Super Chevy Novas cassette.  Yup.  A CA.SETTE.  I have the red one too ... the title has something to do with digestion *grin* ... Who are they?  Well - they were three guys, two were brothers - with one of them being a super close friend of mine.  We were in a worship band together - and he was also in this crazy band (the SCN) that was like none other.  THey wore muumuus when they played live.  Epic.  They wrote ridiculous songs, and died laughing as they recorded them ... and I was lucky enough to have a tune written about me.

Have you ever had a song written for you?  ... I've written a few myself - especially when I was a teenager.  Poetry became songs ... emotions became bitter words or heartbreaking "please come back to me" lyrics.  You know how it is in grade 7 *grin*.

But the song written about me wasn't exactly like that *grin*.  No lovey-dovey-wish-you-were-mine-kindof-a-song.  Nope ... this one was called "Short Chick Cop."

And the reason I thought of it today, was because I was subpoenaed for an incident that I witnessed last year and reported.  Obviously, I'm not going to go into that at all ... but this ridiculous song came into my head about when I helped catch some bad guys who stole my parent's vehicle over a decade ago.

I was actually with the worship band I was with at the time (the guy from the Super Chevy Novas was there ...), and we had just finished a gig at Club 3:16 ... My mom had left a message on my cel that my folks were stranded - they needed me to come and get them ... their jeep had been stolen.

I hadn't realized they called from a payphone ... 

Would you believe that all I did was try and call them back, and the brain-dead thieves answered the phone that was left in the vehicle?  I ended up talking to them - and actually got them to agree to meet me at a pool hall ... they told me where they were, the cops set up some tire spikes and BOOM.  Done.  So ... my testimony from that conversation helped convict them in court - and the song "Short Chick Cop" was born.

When you say the title you have to bang your head around like you're a crazy animal.

I hadn't thought about this in a long time ... and it made me grin from ear to ear today.     It really was a cool thing ... 

Felt like a ninja.

*grin*.

AND - let me mention that my lovely friend, CW, is being featured on my RedHanded Photography blog HERE.  If you're not sick of desert photo shoots, go on over and leave a comment letting her know how lovely you think she is *grin*.  Girls like that.

Now?  I finished a new Jillian DVD ... 50minutes of ridiculous exercises that I'm pretty sure are going to bring me pain tomorrow ... hopefully I can hold my camera for tomorrow's wedding *wink*.  Exercises called, "surrender", and "squeemers" and "row planks".  I.WAS.DRIPPING.  And shaking.  Definitely different from a 10km run ... 

Ok ... Katia will be up soon ... better down my shake and get cleaned up!

Have a GREATone.

Really.

*wink*.

[redhandedphotography: My Friend Tracy.]

... today has been RE.DONK.U.LOUS.  However you spell that ... CS, I expect an email on that *grin* ... 

I have been repeat driving and redoing everything ... apparently I'm a bit overwhelmed by all that I have to do today, and thought it would be smarter to do everything twice.  And then miss half of what needs to be finished ... 

Nice.

So.

I told you that I'd let you know when I was putting up the series of "Desert" posts of my friends ... head over to my RedHanded Photography blog HERE to see my friend, Tracy.

Ok.

Enough.  I'm late ... 

Have a good one!!

[redhandedphotography: SO.MUCH.STUFF]

HEY!

Ok ... I'm running out the door to take the kiddies to the park ... but gotta cross this off of my list *grin*.  You know me ... I live in blogging bondage *wink*.

... wanted to let you know that there are a couple new posts - a family and newborn shoot - at my RedHanded Photography blog ... you can check them out HERE.  

And ... got a LOT of comments about my last post.  Texts, FB messages, comments here.  It was so fun to hear that I'm far from the only girl who likes to dress up and play pretend.  I've finished up two of the posts from that session - working on my third.  There's one on each of my girlfriends ... I'll let you know when each of them is up.  I'm figuring that most of you know these girls, and you'll be interested *grin* ... 

Oh - and that skirt I was wearing??  So many questions on that ... *laughing*.  I got it at the Gap for $ 7.99.  We decided that if I only wore it once, it was worth it.  And so I've worn it, and I think it's going to go into retirement now ... it's ok to have a midlife crisis on vacation in the desert where there's only scurrying of field mice laughing at you ... but that's over.  Into a bag the skirt goes ... 

Here are a few of us with the camera on "timer", and some poor unfortunate desert walkers that we convinced to snap a few too.  At the second session, Imagine me running back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.  The girls are all relaxed, perfecting their pose, adjusting their hair ... and I'm sweating.  Nice *grin*.

Ok ... time to GO.

Have a great one!!

[talk: Happy Birthday to Me.]

Ok.  I have had the most amazing few days ... ah.may.zing.

My birthday was on Saturday, and my hubby (and my friend's hubbys) let us head down to Scottsdale, AZ for a few days.  It has been full of sleeping in the sun, shopping and trying on clothes that are crazy, dinners out with small surprises ...  perfection.

And one of the most ridiculous things we did was have a photoshoot - actually, a couple of them - out in the desert.  I love photos (duh) and I thought it would be a nice thing I could do for them - taking portraits ... when do stay-at-home-moms get to do that??  Awe come on - what could be MORE "mid-life" then acting like models while people walk by thinking we're just a bit odd.

*grin*.

And let me tell you how much you laugh when you're trying to pull a "vogue".  It's ridiculous.  But my friends are so beautiful ... 

I'm going to do three separate posts on each of my girlfriends on my RedHanded Photography site over the next few days ... but not now.  Now, I have only a few more hours of sunshine before I have to deal with repacking my bag and setting the alarm for 5am to catch our early flight tomorrow morn ...

Wanna see a couple of pics??  ... don't worry - the girls are sunning beside me and have given me permission *grin* ... trust me - they're checking what I put up on here *grin*.  I think they have their own favourites.  Only a few million to choose from when you look like this:

... see what I mean??  Ok.  More.

... we had so so so much fun.  And I was up early editing the pics.  Like 6:30am.  I was happy to have some creative juices flowing ... and seriously.  How lovely are they???

... and I really wanted pics with my friends too ... so the camera got passed around and it became a bit of a tutorial on photography.  THAT was fun too ... 

... um.  Yeah ... and there were a few of me taken too.

So.  Not really what we've been doing the whole time *grin*.  But such a crazy, girly thing to do.  These images will remind me of  some of my most favourite memories of my bday weekend.  

Thirty-seven isn't looking so scary right now.  A loving family, lovely friends - how I wish I could've included everyone - , Jesus becoming more of my everything, a job that breathes life into me ... 

Happy birthday to me.