Sunday Night at Shakespeare Festival: The Comedy of Errors!

"It is thyself, mine own self's better part

Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart,

My food, my fortune and my sweet hope's aim,

My sole earth's heaven and my heaven's claim..."

Plus, I pack a mean antipasto picnic.

Guitars & Tiki Bars

We went to our first Kenny Chesney concert! One should probably see Kenny outside, but we wanted to see what was offered at the Boise show, so we went ahead and got ourselves some tickets!

The sets were pretty cool. The cowboy hats blocking the view of anyone behind the wearer, were not.

Kenny! Not bad for a cell phone pic!

Lady Antebellum actually signed pictures!

I just loved the hat on this little fellow in front of us. Around the hole in the back it said "she thinks my tractor's sexy." :)

Time with the Little Folks

While we were in PDX we got a good dose of kid time under our belts.

Despite being on the injured list, Uncle Jon played ball like a pro.
The authorities still haven't shut down Stacey's West Linn Underage Pancake Factory, but at least this laborer is a little bit older.

If you listened closely, you could almost hear Miss Ginger's screams of terror..."Dear God, people! Get these tiny hands off me! Help! HEEELLPP!!"

Despite my teasing, both kids were very respectful of Miss G. Highly attentive of her every move, but very gentle with her. She is 374 years old, after all.

Aunt Amy's nail salon was even open briefly.

"Tiny Tim" even let me hold onto him at Rainier Days. Of course it was like 50 degrees, so the extra warmth didn't hurt. :)

The Big Reunion!

After a good 10 days of running around like mad, one of our final events was the big high school reunion. To add to the weirdness of seeing folks from high school, the in-laws were off to Eugene for a few days, so we had the place to ourselves! We played music too loud and rummaged around for beer, for added effect.

Luckily, we were able to double-date to the event...with my sweet fellow grad, and her hunka-hunka burnin' love. Unfortunately he buttoned his shirt before we got to the hotel.

After the event we re-lived the good-old days by stopping at what used to be a Winchell's back in the day, where we would enjoy an occasional late-night donut. This time instead of talking about boys, we had boys with us. Which was good too, especially as they bought.

All the hot fashionistas are usually dressed to the nines at 12:30 at night at the Heavenly Donuts in Longview. ;)

Such a fun treat!

I Killed the President of Paraguay with a Fork. How've You Been?

So we were off to the big 20 year high school reunion! Imagine. 20 years! I was freaked that everyone would think I'd done nothing. So I told everyone that we invented Post-It notes. No wait...That was Romy & Michele's High School Reunion...


So there I was, practicing in a mirror before the event... Hi. I'm, uh, I'm an editor. Mm-hmm...and I...and I...test-market positive thinking. I lead a weekend women's group, we specialize in ritual killings. Yeah, you look great! God, yeah! Hi, how are you? Hi, how are you? Hi, I'm Amy Norred, you remember me? I'm married, I don't have any kids, but I'd blow your head off if someone paid me enough... No wait...That was Grosse Point Blank...

The big reunion was an interesting milepost, and I had a lovely time with my dates, but there weren't any great stories...no one pretended to invent Post-It Notes...to the best of my knowledge there were no assassins there...no one arrived in a helicopter... As my husband often reviews, "It was fun enough."

In honor of the big milestone, we went up to the old homestead and recreated our graduation day picture, sans green gowns. The little tree behind has been removed, but otherwise not much had changed.
Yea Class of '89! :)

I SWEAR you can't write this stuff. As we left our little hometown festival Saturday night, I spied this little bit of art.

I Survived the Big Public Hearing!

The public hearing was a great success. We had about 250 people come throughout the evening to examine the materials and register their official comments. Folks were quite civil and polite, even ones who knew they might have transition ahead.

The event was out at a suburban high school, which in itself was a bit of a trip. I spied this odd sculpture in the award cabinet. A coworker assured me it was a "Drama Award." Uhh. OK.

The best part? I actually had these boots in white a while back as part of my Princess Leia halloween costume.

The meeting was from 4 to 8, and we were packed up and ready to go soon after....when a couple of little old ladies (and landowners in the project area) arrived..they thought there was a meeting at 4 and at 8.

So the project managers got some materials out, and taped the big map to one of the cars for her examination.

We're just that "go the extra mile" sorta team. ;)

Coloring at Sister's!

I was able to squeeze in one night at sister's...what did we do? Hit the town? Do each others' hair? Spa night?

Naw. We colored. A $3.99 black velvet poster we got at Target.
It was awesome.

Garden Girls!

Part of our garden tour involved surveying mom's new greenhouse! Doors on the back are forthcoming.

The Spinach Harvesters. (That's the new name for my band.)

Examining the onion crop.
Trying to figure out why the basil doesn't thrive in its climate.

Sunday on the Nehalem!

On Sunday we popped down to the Nehalem to visit the 'rents and soak up the greenery and views. And potato salad.

We girls went out to Mom's amazing garden to survey, tour, harvest, and just plain eat. I was hoping to be voted "Miss Clatsop County Spinach Queen."

Little known fact: Sister is apparently a chicken whisperer. They sought her out, despite the ferocious lion before her.

The S.S. Social Security!

Independence Day, Birthday, and Great Cardboard Boat Regatta!

In the continuing vein of holiday birthdays in the fam, we were off to Longview to celebrate my mother-in-law's 65th!

First on the list: foolishly bring no money at all to the festivities. Next: shamelessly bum twenty bucks off your father-in-law. Thankfully, dads always have a big wad of cash on 'em. Finally, spend your windfall on the world's smallest shave ice!
The birthday girl!

And the great cardboard boat! The in-laws and their crack team of cardboard engineers spent weeks crafting the "S.S. Social Security." While their time wasn't finals-worthy, they did received an honorable mention for the spirit award!

The part of Uncle Sam was played by nephew Oliver, who drummed a cadence that kept the rowers in sync.

After a little parade watching, nephew Louis indulged in the festival's elephant ear offering.

The captain and part of her crew even made the paper the next day!

Weiser Festival Contest!

Such a fun little festival!

Sometimes you just wanna wear a pink tutu to a fiddle contest.

The finals! The fellow on the screen was last year's reigning champ...until he was unseated by a young lady!

The Weiser Parade!

So we took last Saturday and were off to Weiser for our first National Old-Time Fiddlers' Contest and Festival! First stop: The parade! You KNOW I loves me a parade.

Here are the National Old Time 'Twiddlers' Non-Precision Thumb-Twiddling Team.

Did you know I am a thumb twiddler? Sweet sister always points it out. I don't even realize I'm doing it!
The Weiser "Shcool" Dist. 431 representin'. I'm considering submitting this to failblog.org.

When I was in the 8th grade my friend Stacey and her family took me to the West Shrine football game in Baker. We rode over in their big black Bronco. We found a wallet full of money. We ate blueberry Belgian waffles with whipped cream at the motel restaurant for every meal. We got new hats. We had the best time ever.

That was the summer I went from parting my hair in the middle to the side. And I've never looked back.

Those sweet young Boy Scouts passed out delicious Otter Pops. Rarely does my husband indulge in "street food," but it was pretty hot out.

A baby pygmy goat on the 4-H float!! SOOOOO cute!!

Now there's a little slice of Americana for ya.

Sometimes...

Sometimes the stars align. Sometimes you are able to get an afternoon off, the sun is out, and you have a reasonably recent copy of People.

Sometimes. :)