hammock time

i have learned today that taking a few days off from work work work helps clear the mind. imagine the picture above but with a laptop on my lap. it is where i am right now. i hope you are having an equally as nice day.

$2.00 can buy you happiness if you are at Lake Tahoe.

you see those pink rafts? they are $2 at raley's in south lake tahoe. i want to go back. i will post more pictures later this week, but for now, please know that my face is pink, i am happy, i am sore, and i am extremely tired.

ready for another busy week at work? maybe not.

big deal.

michael jackson dying is kind of a big deal. i also think that uzi coming to town for a weekend is kind of a big deal. we are going here:

i wish that i were going to tahoe with a little less stress in my life, but hey - i'll take it when i can get it. tonight i went to dinner at a friend's house and chatted for a while, which was needed after another tense day at work.

bring on the mountains and the lake. bring on the pink raft.

long day.

i didn't have a bad day necessarily, but the thing i am most proud of today...

taking out the trash.

do you remember this video??

the truth is...

...that in my wildest dreams, I would quit my job and have babies instead. with relations like the ones below, can you blame me?

that's what i'm all about here on my blog. keeping it real. and with that, i'd better go to bed since i get to be at work at 6am tomorrow.

oh yeah. the blog.

Ahem. Just a second ago, I caught a bug in my bare hands. Have you ever done that? Caught a bug in your bare hands? Do you run to the door or window and let it out or hold it for a second and then decide that you don't know what to do with it and then let it go? I let it go. And then caught it again a few minutes later and killed it. Do you think PETA will be mad?

I have been a little busy with - you know - life. Work has taken a larger-than-usual chunk out of my daily life these days and to be honest, the blog has been the last thing on my mind. Well, that. And laundry. And maybe vacuuming. I don't want to complain about work on my blog because this is supposed to be a refuge from all of that and I don't really want to bore you more than I already have.

Let's talk about some of the other things I've been doing.

Lately I've been watching a lot of movies in my spare time. One of my favorite things to do these days is unwind with myself after a long day at work. Just in the past few weeks, I've watched:

• Confessions of a Shopaholic
• The Proposal
• UP!
• Last Chance Harvey
• Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist
• Kiss Me Kate
• Annie Get Your Gun
• Calamity Jane
• What's Up Doc
• Serendipity

I went hiking with some friends a few weeks ago, which was great fun. We went to University Falls, north of Placerville. I love that place. I want to go again soon. The four of us girls had a rockin' dance party for over three hours in the car on the way home. We should hire ourselves out for road trips. Maybe you should tell me that you want to come to University Falls the next time I go and then I will invite you. Ok, I am glad that is settled.

Let's see - what else?

I bought a hammock on Saturday at my favorite store - Target. It cost me $25 and I used some rope that has been sitting in my car for three years to tie it up on my porch. Can we talk about how I am in love with my hammock instead of why something was in my trunk for three years? I daydream about the hammock when I am at work and then get sad that I usually get home too late to really enjoy it. It folds you in like a taco. Perhaps the hammock shall be named The Taco. I would recommend that each of you buys a hammock. I think we'd have a lot more happy people in the world if everyone had one in their room instead of a bed.

I start training in a few weeks for another race. If I thought I had no time now, I may have been kidding myself. Isn't it funny how that works with life? You think you have no time and then you decide to train for a marathon. Oh don't sit there and pretend like you've never trained for a marathon before.

life is too short to not do things like run marathons.

Mallorca is an island off the coast of Barcelona.

Prepare yourself for a little bit of Mallorca overload. I have kept you waiting and you have been patient. And the people must not wait any longer. So in one post, I give you...

Mallorca.

For those of you five people out there who took my "How well do you know Stephanie?" quiz on facebook, only one person knew what my favorite food was. Yes, I enjoy tacos immensely, but nothing beats my mom's tuna casserole. Yep - that is weird, but it is the truth. Since my mom was the only one to get 100% on the quiz, my dad encouraged her to make my favorite food as my "Welcome to Mallorca" meal. Nothing quite like tuna casserole to make a girl feel like she's at home.

And then I went outside and took some pictures of the backyard. Yep, that is a pool.

And here are some of the sheep that roam around the front yard. And seriously - what is wrong with that sheep? Personally, I think it is a cow/sheep hybrid. Maybe rivals the ugly cat?

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and Kristine got there a few hours after I did. The next morning once we were able to get a little rest, we headed towards Valdemossa. We took the scenic route, of course, and this was on our way.

So Kristine and I climbed to the top of the tower.

And the view did not disappoint.

Once we got to Valdemossa we just walked around and shopped a bit. Here are a few pictures of our walk around the town center.

...stopping to smell the roses.

Day 2 was spent doing things like:
Touring the Bellver Castle...

Enjoying the view from the roof of the castle...

And here is the only picture that I took of my parents on my trip.

Based on a friend's suggestion, we went to the Camper outlet and got some shoes, which are not pictured. For those of you who have been to my Mom's kitchen in Utah, you will understand why my dad wanted to buy her these. Too bad they didn't fit her well. Hilarious.

That evening we went to dinner with some British and German friends of my parents. We did meet a fair amount of British people in the five days that we were there, which surprised me more than it should have. They really are everywhere there. Here I am with Kristine in Alistair's backyard. I couldn't get over how quiet it was there. So peaceful everywhere you went.

On Saturday, Kristine and I requested some time at the beach. The one closest to my paren't house is St. Elm's. Only 20 minutes away - from walking out the front door to being on the beach. I can't even do that anymore here in San Francisco! Plus, Ocean Beach doesn't really look so much like St. Elm.

The water was just so crystal clear - quite unbelievable.

Kristine was swimming around in the ocean when she noticed a jellyfish about 10 feet away, swimming around. For some reason, it wasn't very scary being in the water right next to a jelly when you could see it so clearly. Also, it wasn't moving very fast. Please don't expect me to ever get so close to another jellyfish for the rest of my life. Just looking at the below picture makes me question my sanity.

On Sunday after church, my Dad took us up to the top of the mountains on his boss's property. The logo for the ranch we were in has a picture of the mountains with this one tree on the top. You might need to click on the below picture to see the lone tree better. When you are top of the mountain, the perspective changes and it doesn't look so strange, but driving into Andratx, you can see this one huge tree, all by itself.

And here is what it looks like from the top of the mountain.

At the top was this old Mallorcan house. The house seemed rather large for an old home, but this is only the entry way that I took a picture of. Tip for my next trip: bring a photographer.

After a quite bumpy ride back down the mountain, we were able to visit the horses. What is not to love about a horse?

And here is "the boss's" front yard. Seriously? Those aren't bushes there either - they are large trees. I'm trying to find out how my dad's boss can put me in his will so that I can inherit this place. Yikes.

The last day we were in Mallorca, my Mom, Kristine, and I decided to go into Palma and see what there is to see. Of course since we were in Europe there were some castles...

and some cathedrals...

Me and Mom.

And Me and Kristine. In front of another geyser. It only seemed appropriate, you know.

I am fairly convinced that if I take weekend trips every weekend this summer, I can keep my tan up. So far, so good. If only it didn't take about 24 hours to get to Mallorca or I would go again this summer when work stress slows down a bit. Then maybe I could get a more relaxing vacation. Still though, it was all wonderful. Incredibly peaceful and just nice. I love playing cards and dominoes with the family - and fighting off bugs while I am trying to go to sleep.


**Just as a note in case you don't know why I went to Mallorca. My parents live there for five(ish) months currently in the summer for my dad's job. My dad's boss lives there, so they live in one of his homes. My parents also met in Spain over 38 years ago and lived there for quite a while before I was born, so it is kind of not a big deal that they live in Spain right now. Also, Kristine was coming home from France around the time that I was planning my trip, so she met me there. Hearing Spanish with a French/American accent is quite hilarious if I do say so myself.

My Life Would Suck Without You - Part 1

Ok so I hope no one thought I was having a personal crisis or anything the other day with my semi-cryptic message. Just a little (haha) stressed out with work. I'm fine though - or at least I will be in the near future, and I think it will help my stress levels if I tell you about my awesome vacation that happened a few weeks ago.

I started off my travels in the Outer Banks, as I do most years over Memorial Day. This year I was really looking forward to spending quality time with good people - and when it comes to my friends, let's be honest; I was also looking forward to the food. Scott made some type of sauce for the corn on the cob. I think the main ingredients were mayonaise and parmesan cheese. Yep, seems right up my alley. And also - the caption to this photo is "Get that corn outta my face!"

And in no particular fun-ness order, we played pool Pit/spoons. If you don't know how to play Pit, click here. Rules for a slight variation on spoons are here. Our variation is that we put the spoons in the pool and then play Pit. Once someone has Pit, you have to go get a spoon. If you don't get one, you are out.

Playing Pit with wet cards gets a little tricky -

And they're off.

And here is more of me than I thought I'd ever post on my blog. I had some pretty awesome tan lines going on on my back, didn't I? My favorite part is the hand. Who hugged me with sunscreen on???!!

The last night that I was there, we went to a karaoke bar. Apparently Scott and I can't live if living is without you.

Scott, Me, Mauri, Brandon.

And I guess with pictures like the one below is how Duck Beach gets a bad reputation. Alicia, Steph, and I were having 'pillow talk' before bed and before we knew it, bam - 10 other people were on the bed with us. Can you even see my face? Kind of hard to make out, isn't it?

And these people - I love them. Too much to talk about in detail. The title of this post and my new favorite Kelly Clarkson song is dedicated to all of you.

And now, I will picture myself on the beach, holding hands with my dear friends before I go to bed. I had forgotten until I arrived there this year just how much I love being there. The scenery, the ocean, the laughs, the cheerwine. Ahh, bliss.

Until next year, my beloved Duck Beach.

i am alive.

this week has been rough. i'm ok, and i will be back to blogging soon. please excuse my absence.

in my mind, i'm going to carolina.

i am getting my pictures together from duck beach. i'm hoping to get our dance party video up here for you before the weekend. pictures from spain will be coming next week, so hold your horses. i just got chills thinking about how cold it is here in san francisco compared to the beaches of north carolina. please send me back as soon as possible.

bienvenidos a mi vida ocupada

Until I get myself back in line with work and other stuff, here is a minor update of what I did tonight. For the 3rd year in a row, I ran the Dusk Busters 5k in Golden Gate Park to benefit Multiple Sclerosis. Yes, I am a little jet lagged, but this was for a great cause - and for a great friend. So glad I got out there - and I am ready for my lungs to be back in full working order any day now. And oh yes- I am back from my double vacation. Pictures to come soon, so stay tuned.