Thank you to everyone who entered and to Big Honcho Media for offering such a fun prize. Congratulations to Deb!

Yes, that Deb.

She offered to forfeit and have me choose another winner but I said no.
There were so few qualified entries it wouldn't have been fair to her, but I appreciated the offer.

PROMPTuesday: Friends

I'm fortunate to have lots of close friends. The many new people I've met through blogging, friends I've known since grade school, and some since high school and college. Today's PROMPTuesday from Deb is to write about a friend:

"Do you have a friend who makes you laugh, a guaranteed good time? Write about this friend. Tell us a funny memory, something he or she said, or some goofball thing you did together."


It would take me many blog posts to tell you about my friends Amy and Amber. I met Amy in fifth grade and Amber sophomore year of high school. Amy still lives in our hometown and I try to get together with her whenever we go back to visit my mom. Amber's sister lives in San Diego and I see her when she comes down to visit. I saw both of them a few weeks ago at our first adult sleep over (not like THAT! well, maybe a little).

There were cocktails, a little breaking and entering and cleavage sniffing (let your imaginations chew on that!).

Anyway, when I saw the PROMPTuesday topic for this week I immediately thought of my high school year book and all the things Amy and Amber wrote in it.

From Amy: "Melvin, I will never, ever forget all the good times we had... Conejo Cowboys (with that BABE R (Let's Smurf 2, 3,4), Chasing JH around town, Conejo Valley Days (the more you show, the faster you go!), getting jobs together, having scream sessions at Foster's, Los Tantos Favoritos, visiting T at the Red Onion... Geez, there's so much we've done! Excuse me, is this yours? Does it fly? La, la, la Prin-cess Bride!"


From Amber (who wrote one sentance along the top of the page for 30 pages): "Junior year was a blast but this year, WOAH BABY! We've had some record breaking experiences. I'll never forget our math chats. You've taught me so much. Not just about the nasty stuff, but you made me really take a look at me. I'm very happy for you and Phil (Regis, Philopean). I'm glad we took the plunge into Life Skills [class] together!"


None of that means anything to you. Most of the things we find hilarious with friends leave everyone else scratching their heads. But to me it represents good times, great memories and pee your pants laughter (see adult weekend above).The fact that I can read those words, look through my pictures and scrapbooks and instantly go back to that time and start laughing all over again is a true testament to how much these two mean to me.


We've been through high school crushes, first boyfriends, crappy jobs, losing our virginity, college stress, sending friends off to the military, marriage and divorce, pregnancy and babies and anything and everything in between. We've laughed, cried, been drunk and danced together (sometimes on tables). I love them like sisters and I'm so glad I have them in my life. Homie and Bub, thank you so much for all the laughs we've had and those yet to come!

X's and Y's

I haven't talked here about having another baby too often, but it's been a topic of conversation for a few years. Whenever Phil and I have talk about it, the discussion disintegrated into a mini argument. We'd go around in circles not really getting anywhere. The baby talk has brought up a lot of issues. Some are things that have always been speed bumps in our marriage that flare up every few years but there have also been a few new things that have developed since I've started getting serious about the blog.

It's been frustrating for both us of not being on the same page. In the end I think we both raised the white flag and agreed to permanently disagree. Phil got a vasectomy three weeks ago. I called Deb the morning of the surgery and tried not to cry. Since then I've had good days and bad. I mentally go over the pros and cons and Phil and I still talk about the "what if's" and the "maybe's."

I don't know if this was the right decision for us and I may never know. I know we needed to get out of the limbo we've been in. This has been hanging over our heads since we bought our house (probably before). It's hard to be present in and love the life you do have when you're constantly wondering about the life you could have.

Meet Me at the (San Diego) Zoo

This past Friday we were invited to the opening of the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit at the San Diego Zoo.

The exhibit is amazing and I can see why it took four years and $45 million dollars to create. I really liked the focus on conservation, recycling and saving the elephants.


The Odyssey spans 7.5 acres and I'm sure I walked all of them. Much thanks to my husband and Deb's husband, The Rock, for wrangling the children while we drank Pink Elephants socialized. The food was great, flowers beautiful, the costumes were superb, the elephant cakes (not made of, just shaped like) were amazing and the kids got to touch snakes, birds and alligators.


I can't remember where Jenn and Bridget were when we took this picture, but they were there too. It was nice to get together with the girls!

(left to right Sondra, Tonya, Sugar, Deb and Charity,)

Tyler and Toots (Deb's daughter, who has decided Tyler is her brother) got his and hers Grim Reaper tattoos. (sorry, Deb!)


Everyone got super cute bags to take home with one of the best pieces of swag ever: a picture frame made of real elephant poo!

(yes it's real poo, no it doesn't smell like poo and yes I'm enjoying typing the word poo)

Thanks so much to Drew and the zoo for the invitation!