30...Going on 12???

At the end of this year, I'll be celebrating the big 3-0. I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to be in my 30's, but it doesn't really matter because it's inevitable. There are so many things that I have done in my 20's that I'm happy about and in other ways, I thought I would have done more. I've heard people say that the 30's are fantastic. I hope that I can say the same.

I have noticed over the last 6 months that I have had a real problem with breakouts on my forehead. What the heck is that all about? Nobody ever told me to expect that at my age! Sure, I occasionally get a pimple here or there, but a full on breakout??? I brought it up to my mom today when I was at her house and she casually responded with, "Oh yeah. It happens." WHAT??? I've been told by a few people that I have really nice skin and yet recently I feel like my skin is exactly the way it was back in junior high. I also have very fair and sensitive skin so finding products to use on my face is not always an easy (or affordable!) task. I guess I'm going to have to get a bit more diligent in my search for successful products.

So, my readers...I ask you...is there anything else I should know about?

Fun, Fun, Fun!

We got back yesterday from our cruise and it was so much fun! We're pretty exhausted today but we had a great time. Oh...and the patch that my doctor gave me for sea sickness helped! I didn't get sick at all. Thank goodness...

Catalina Island was a blast. We can't wait to go back! It was a bit cloudy in the morning but it burned off pretty early on, so we were able to enjoy a beautiful day. We decided to tour some of the island on Segways. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the week! Our tour guide, Joe, was fantastic. He was super patient and encouraging with us as we each took turns getting a lesson from him on how to ride them. It took a few minutes to get the hang of it but once you did, it was pretty easy. We got a lot of stares from people as we drove them around town. Too much fun!

Ensenada was also nice. There wasn't a lot to do there, so we tried to make the most of it. We signed up for a tour that took us to the Convention Center and to La Bufadora (the blowhole) which was about an hour away from the ship. There were A TON of vendors there trying to sell us stuff, yet they all pretty much had the same goods. We didn't have very much time there and there wasn't really any time to shop. We did walk through downtown Ensenada for a while when the tour was over. Lance found himself a bottle of hot sauce and we headed back to the ship.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love playing games. I played quite a few of them on the ship. I played Win, Lose or Draw, Bean Bag Toss, TV Theme Show Trivia and a few games of Bingo. Lance ended up winning the TV Theme Show Trivia game. It came down to a tie-breaker and Lance ended up winning. I, on the other hand, ran into some good luck while playing my first game of Bingo. I ended up being the only winner (out of a few hundred that were playing against me) and took home the ultimate prize....a free cruise!!!!!! So, now I have to decide where I want to go and when. I told Lance that he better be nice to me if he wants to go with me. Ha ha! Lance and I also did Karaoke on the last night of the cruise. We did "Love Shack", which is what we usually do at Karaoke. I think we were a hit!

I picked out the best pictures of our cruise to put on my blog. I took so many pictures that there was no way I could have posted every single one of them. So, here are the highlights. Enjoy!

Furry Friends

Lance reminded me that I needed to post a couple of new pictures of the pets...especially the one with Willy and Oliver in what appears to be a cuddle fest. It is really hard to get them to take pictures. Willy is the hardest because his reaction is to run as soon as he sees me with a camera. With Oliver, it is hard to get a picture of him with his eyes open. I'm sure it has something to do with my camera and the fact that it doesn't zoom far, so I always have to get pretty close to him to get a good one. Here they are!

Oliver and Willy

Oliver

Willy

Argos

The Half-Assed Hug

I posted this on my MySpace site a while ago and for some reason I never got around to posting it here. I always intended to, though. Enjoy!



Everyone in my family will agree with the fact that I'm a hugger. Hugs make me happy. If you ask my mom (and probably my husband), I can actually be somewhat of a cling-on at times. Actually, if you ask my sister, she will probably roll her eyes and smile in agreement, too. This is how I've always been. I have always liked touch and I've always been very affectionate. I'm not exactly sure why I'm like that. My sister was, and still is to a certain degree, the opposite. We were both loved and held just the same by our parents when we were little. Affection was always present in our household.

Because I'm like this, I have always felt awkward when someone goes to give me a hug and it ends up being half-assed. Every single time I ask myself why the person even bothers. It feels so empty and yet so forced. Do people feel obligated? Believe me, I feel no obligation to hug people, but if you're going to go for it, do it right. Act like you mean it. Nobody will ever receive a hug from me that isn't firm. When I give a hug, I mean business.

I was at a party recently where there were a lot of people that I didn't know. Most of them I had never met before. Yet most of these people were kind enough to give me a hug when saying hello. I got all different types of hugs...strong hugs, the "I'll lightly tap your shoulder blades" hug and the "I'll put my arm around you but try not to let it touch you" hugs. It was interesting. These people felt confident enough to get that close to me, yet some of them acted like they didn't want to touch me.

My point is, if you're going to give a hug to someone, give a real hug. They won't bite and they don't have cooties.

You may just make someone's day.

A Little Road Trip

Last week, Lance and I headed up to spend a couple of days with Lance's dad and his wife. It was the first time I had seen their new house since they completed it a couple of years ago. We had a lot of fun! We had some really yummy meals, went swimming and they took us up to Mt. Lassen. Aside from me getting extremely car sick on the way up, and even more so on the way down, it was really lovely. It was a really beautiful day and the temperature was perfect! It was really nice getting to spend a couple of days with them since we don't get to see them very often.

We're leaving for our cruise very early on Monday morning. I'm so excited! I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and he gave me a patch to wear while I'm on the boat so I don't get sea sick. I'm crossing my fingers that they work! I'm also going to be bringing some ginger related items with me, as it worked for me the last time I got sick on a boat. We're bringing ginger snaps, ginger pills and dried ginger. I also plan on drinking quite a bit of ginger ale while on ship. Hopefully it will work.

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip up to Lassen. Enjoy!

Manzanita Lake

Kings Creek Falls

Lance enjoying the scenery and falls

There was snow on the mountain...in August!

Emerald Lake. I hiked around this in slip-on flat shoes...not a good idea!

There were butterflies everywhere!

A geyser...it was pretty stinky!

Need I Say More???

A Lucky Night

Last night my bowling team (which is supposed to have 4 people but instead has only 2) beat the number one team in our league. How did we do it? We're not sure. We're completely shocked that we pulled that one off. Not only did we beat them, but we beat them at all three games and we won the series. When we saw that we were playing against them last night, we basically just told ourselves that we were just going to have fun and not let their skills intimidate us (even though they're very nice people).

Man, am I going to miss bowling when the summer league is over.

Don't ever doubt yourself! You just may be surprised.