A day in the life

The countdown begins

well......... the countdown begins... 7 days from today... on April 29th  - GASP........ this gal turns the big 40

so -I was thinking of signficant birthdays i really remember... My earliest that I remember is in Third grade.. turning 9... because my mom had a party @ home... with all my friends and cousins.. and she gave me this big poster and t-shirt of Fonzie from the TV show Happy Days.

I remember turning 16! - my mom threw me a surprise sweet 16 party! I figured it out when we pulled up to the church and so so many cars were there and I knew something was up! The only gift I remember is an ameythist ring from my sis Sue... I still have it to this day, altho the bottom part of the band broke finally after a bozillion years... hahah

I don't really remember 18 much... i was engaged to be married... that was about all I can remember, i have no idea if I had a party or not.. i am sure we went out to dinner or something..

I do remember 21.  I was attending DeVry... not so happy married... in fact I spent my b-day dinner with a few classmates ordering strawberry daquiris at Garcia's restaurant on Peoria! Right Charlie?! And Raj! and Jer? - fun times... LOL

I remember 25 b/c I knew I was a quarter of a century old...

I remember 30.. ugh.. i remember thinking i would wake up with some ephinany about life... and purpose,etc.. NOPE. woke up tired. LOL  Jeff decorated my cube @ work w. a bunch of black decorations and a bozillion pieces of confetti.. i loved the special attention! LOVED IT!

My 35th Birthday... Jeff threw a major surprise party for me... all my friends and family, a surprise visit from a gal pal across the usa... that was a GREAT GREAT party... i loved it -i didn't know i was having a party, but i had this feeling that things were "off" and so strange, i remember being upset about feeling "off"... then when I got home from drinks w. another gal pal - it all made sense! He put some hard hard work into that party..... it rocked!

and now.. 40.. i am taking the day off works... pamper myself... I have already received so many gifts - a gorgeous ring from my sis (peridot, my mom's birthstone), an amazing necklace from my mom.. a white gold cross... and then of course my digicam the D80... and all the accessories.... and that has jumpstarted my passion for photog and for rachelpetersonphotography...

so... i don't know how i feel about turning 40.. i feel as though i have earned every grey hair.. every wrinkle... my life is turning out how i planned it when i was a young girl... and basically i am just thrilled to be around for it! (i'd love to be skinnier... hahah but that is forthcoming...)

so cheers to 4-0-~

thursday blues

Thursday blues…

          Not quite Friday yet……..

          Tired!

          Trying to clean up the house and catch up laundry to avoid the Friday rush

          Tired…

          Behind in to-do’s….

My new grass project – grass is not growing yet, its only been since Saturday mind you but I am inpatient

Feeling blue for no reason really… life is mostly good… life is better this side of the dirt, as far as I can tell.. J

Tired

NEED more time.. where does the time fly………..?

Need to set a goal to stop time suckers… (tv, surfing the net, etc. hahah)

Thankful

          My checking account is not in the negative J hehe

          Payday tomorrow

          We are happy and healthy

          House will be clean by eod today

          Cancer free

          The list is endless…

Stand by me...

Stand by me…

  ok – if you were at all interested in movies in the mid 80’s – you have seen this movie… It came out in August of 1986 and is one of most favorite movies…  It is a coming of age movie for 4 “tween” boys…  Not to mention, I love the song by the same title… Well it all started a month or so ago… the neighborhood boys found this area in a wash up the street with a hill.. they dug out some “jumps” for their bmx bikes… and now the place is called “the jumps”… Hank has been asking to go to the jumps w. his friends.. it is off a main street and is just a little farther that I have been comfortable letting him go w. out supervision…

about two weeks ago, during spring break – the boys wanted to go… and they had a friend over who is allowed to go… so I decided to bring my camera and go check it out.. I took some great pics of the boys and their friends jumping bikes.. it is one of those places as a kid, is special… We’ve all had a place like that (mine, for another post!) when we were kids, especially boys right? Now I am torn.. it is a cool place for the kids… but it is also one of those places, where trouble can brew… idle time and all that… So the boys are not allowed to go alone.. Jeff and I have gone with them now and then… and another mom has also taken them… she took videos..

 

For some reason, this place make me think of the movie Stand by Me… I just love this movie, did I already say that? Yeh well… So I saw the movie @ the grocery store last week for $9.99.. I bought it.. it’s a classic, must have to add to our library of favs! We watched it last weekend w. the boys (fri night) – I didn’t even check the rating, it’s rated R…. As we started to watch it, the boys were riveted.. I swear they didn’t move a single muscle the whole time, except to hop closer to us on the couch as the scene where they find the dead body approaches climax… I did notice a lot of cussing…. And some other topics that probably were not quite ready for prime time.. but all in all, a great movie… the kids were surprised when they found it that it was rated R, as we never let them watch R rated movies.. great movie to open up life discussions.. and just to bring up childhood memories… here are some pics from the jumps!

the color purple

ok, so a new look... the color purple? why purple? Well - a little background... first of all... when I was in 7,8 and 9th grade - purple was the color, i went crazy w. purple... my clothes were purple, my jacket was purple... even a few of my teachers commented about it in my yearbook, one teacher Mr. Turski (a whole other post on innapropriate loser - will be forthcoming) wrote "wear more purple"! hahha

Now these days... and pretty much since 10th grade.. i have not liked the color purple... until last year! Last year we joined a Relay for Life Event here in Arizona and it was amazing! The signature color for the RFL is Purple! A new found LOVE for purple has sprouted!

We went to two RFL events last fall, one in Sedona (so gorgeous) and one in Anthem - our hometown both events, while different from each other, were amazing! i know there is a blog post somewhere in my past about it...

So - this fall is Relay season again. Hence the color purple!  We are not only forming teams for both relays, for the Anthem relay, we are chairing committees and partnering to shape the anthem RFL this year! Our entire goal for the whole relay is $100,000. We raised 72k last year!

So we are on mission... and my blog will remain purple until then! more info on relay to come...

I let Hank go w. a friend to another friend's house today... i know the both boys and boths boys' moms... the boys house who they are going to - is such a nice kid (and so is the other friend too..) this is a FIRST for Hank to be independant... and do some things w. out Will.. i know this is a real beginning... this is a bit farther then we have let him go in the past... he has a cell phone w. him... and i gave him strict instructions to be home at 5, which really at this moment gives him like 45 minutes... so - while we still have very strict rules and guidelines of where they go and who with... -we are letting up on the leash every so slightly... testing the waters..

Will is none to happy...  i am sure more seperation will occur and it will be hard for Will.. and he will miss his brother, but they can't be attached at the hip forever right? it is really sad in a way, and cute in a way...

 

 

baaaaad girl blogger! She's baaaaaaack

Life is busy…. This is the life I dreamed of as a young girl… a loving husband, happy healthy children, a job I enjoy…. I remember when Jeff and I were first dating, one of my girlfriends son’s (he was 8 at the time, I think or even younger) would have soccer games, Jeff and I would get up early on Saturday morning and go! We would comment to each other – how we couldn’t wait to be attending our own kids sporting events some day… and now – we have loved every minute of it! At one time, recently each kid had two sports, one team sport each, and one ‘lesson” sport… and add to that music lessons… So as I said life is busy, but GREAT…

Hank is our hockey player… he loves loves hockey… he is currently in a hockey induction training program… once he graduates this June, he will join a house league that starts in September…  He is also taking guitar lessons (acoustic) and just excelling beyond our imaginations.. his teacher loves him – and is thrilled to teach him and see his awesome progress. He can actually play full songs (by Poison and Green day) – he will be trying out for the talent show in a few weeks… Will is our gymnast… he loves gymnastics and has been taking fun gymnastics class for a year now – and we recently signed him for training at the local jr. Olympic training center – here in Phx.. it is the one sport he keeps the ultimate focus on and enjoys.. he has tried other sports and doesn’t care for them too much. He just finished a month of choir and has asked for individual voice lessons as he wants to be a pop-star! Hahah – as long as it remains in our budget, we will encourage them to try…… follow their passions right?!!   

Backyard:  ugh… it is a work in progress and actually looks great today as we spent the weekend doing yard work and project work.. we have big plans for the backyard… the wall is done… cannot wait for the finished project… I will update w. some pics soon!

p.s. as I am typing this, Jeff called me from the road (taking Hank to Hockey) to sing to me… one of our fav songs was playing “Kodachrome” by Paul Simon… we joke about it now cuz it references a Nikon Camera, which I am obsessed with! Hahahah I just love that song.

Photobiz: going GREAT!  I am building up my clientele and taking lots of pics.. I am loving it! There is rumor @ work that layoffs may be on the horizon… we are set up so we can survive short term on Jeff’s income.. AND  I cal always fall back on teaching and building the photog biz if that happens.. so for once, I am not stressed about it… seems strange to not be stressed… hahah

We had a great visit w. Jeff’s mom and Aunt Sandy a week ago.. I did not even take ONE picture w. them… no idea what my problem was… yikers… They stayed for almost a week and we really enjoyed having them. We even went to see Englebert Humerdinck and to my surprise, I knew just about every song! Haha

AIMS testing this week @ school… early to bed… big hearty breakfasts!   Off to a Relay for Life Committee meeting! Ciao