This morning I was running and "I Wanna Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd came on my iPod (yes, I have Color Me Badd on my iPod - shut up). I could barely run I was laughing so hard. I remember when this song came out. We lived in Chicago and I tried to keep it a secret from my Mom that I liked the song because it said sex.

Things are so boring around here lately. Russell had to work on Saturday so I got everything all cleaned up Saturday morning. If anyone has some good hardwood floor cleaning tricks, let me know, will you? The dust bunnies around here are insane!

I talked to the owner of the Great Harvest around the corner from my house and he offered to work around my school schedule when the State isn't willing to anymore. It would be pretty sweet because it's about a block away from my house plus the perks, hello free bread!

I am finally unpacking my bookcase tonight. School is starting soon (well, 4 weeks) and I've got to get that stuff out of the boxes. I've been putting it off because my bookcases are wood but they don't match my entertainment center wood and I really, really hate that but my front room still echoes. Echo, un-matching wood, echo, un-matching wood. It's a tough one. I need some pictures on the walls or something. That would entail me driving around and looking in stores, shopping. I don't want to. Man, I am really rambling, aren't I?

So, my friend Paola is coming to stay with us for a semester. I'm excited for her to come and check out Boise. I don't know what it is but it's like Boise is some big secret that I can't wait to tell everyone about. I like it. Anyway, Paola is coming up and going to BSU for a semester. I told her that I'm so glad she's coming because now I won't have to eat leftovers anymore. Do you know how hard it is to adapt recipes for just 2 people? Impossible! Speaking of recipes, I'm trying two new ones this week from Real Simple magazine. I'll let you know...

Brown flip flops. How I love thee. I think it is time, ladies and gentlemen, for me to retire and replace my brown flip flops. Exhibit one: $30 leather Ocean Minded flip flops. I think they lasted about 4 years and I love them. Exhibit two: $8 J.Crew flip flops. Yes, that is a hole worn completely through the bottom. These ones lasted about two summers. How can you live without a good pair of brown flip flops? I don't think it's possible.

I don't have anything good to say but Russell and I watched Desert Wars last week. You have to try to catch it, especially if you live in Vegas. Very interesting. Did you know that only 2% of all the water consumption in the valley comes from the houses? Did you know that Treasure Island and the Bellagio recycle the bathroom water from their hotels for their fountains? Don't worry they filter it. Yeah, it was a good show.

Me if I were on The Simpsons.

I bought some sweet new earbuds last night. I busted the ones that came with my iPod and then bought some cheap $10 ones. Let me clue you in here - waste. Total waste. If you need a new pair, you may as well just cough up the thirty bucks. I did and I don't feel bad about it. My new earbuds are so sweet, I can't even hear myself whistle. Does that mean I have the music turned up too loud? Is there such a thing as too loud? If you don't know, the answer to both of those questions is no.

Also, check out this conversation I had with Russell this week:

me: I can't wait for school to start. (pause) That makes me sort of dorky, doesn't it?

Russell: (distracted by some stupid show like America's Got Talent) Yes.

me: You are the one that married me. What does that make you?

Russell: (still distracted) A dork lover I guess.

Looking for a laugh? Here you go:

I love going to the market on Saturday mornings but the fruit and veggies are too expensive there. All summer long, every day, this guy opens a little fruit stand and we went this morning. I just wanted to get berries but when we saw all the tomatoes we had to get everything for salsa. I'm going to make it right now.

I've been so terribly unmotivated this week. It's bad but I totally have a legit reason. I have started a little journal. It's a food intake and exercise journal. I wanted to take my picture in my bathing suit (you know, like they do for the makeover in InStyle) and also weigh myself. I don't have a scale at home but they have two at my work, one in the break room and one in the women's bathroom. So, I weighed myself and wrote it down. A few weeks went by and I happened to be walking by the break room and I weighed myself again on a whim. I lost 10 pounds! How sweet is that? We were even on vacation last week and I didn't run at all. I went home and told Russell and he gave me a pat on the back and said good job and asked me what I was doing. I told him I didn't know. Then I started thinking. Did I read the scale wrong? Did I have my glasses on at the time? Wait a second, which scale did I weigh myself on initially? I can't remember. Crap I think it was the bathroom scale. It was. I haven't lost anything. I hate this week.

I cut up my first whole watermelon this morning.

My dog loves watermelon. Does anyone else think that is weird?

My throat hurts (dang you, Russell!).

We are back. The first night we met up with a friend of Russell's who is fighting fire just outside Salmon, Idaho. We found a camp spot but it was all out in the open so we opted to get back on the road pretty early. We drove through Montana and found another spot to camp. Otis kept getting back in the truck and finally settled down on top of our bag. What a wuss.

It was close to the Flathead river and it was the same story as the first place, no shade. Not a good camping spot for the middle of the day. So, it was Monday and we drove through Glacier. It was a totally cool place. This was the sign just inside the entrance to the park - they have grizzlies and black bears in these woods. We weren't allowed to take Otis on any of the trails so all we could really do is drive through but it was worth the extra $25. This was a supposed to be a view of three peaks, but I only got two of them in the picture. The water in this place was insane! It was so clear and blue. This picture here is St Mary Lake.










We got to Payne Lake early. We followed a gnarly 4 wheeler trail up to a sweet camp spot. We stayed at this one for two nights. Otis finally realized that it was okay to go ahead and lay down on the ground but he would really rather have one of us let him in the tent.

We were killing time and decided to check out this Bison Paddock close to Payne Lake. It was totally cool. They keep a small herd of buffalo in this little fenced off area and they let you drive through. This sign made us laugh (easily entertained) - it says, "Bison may attack you." They came right out into the road and they were crazy huge.

I realize that I may be in a bit of trouble here but I didn't take any pictures of the actual family reunion. I left my camera in the truck and just didn't think about it. There were a lot of people taking pictures so I'm sure it will be fine. My Dad has the funniest cousins. Every time Grandma wanted to say something she would yell out, "okay everyone listen to me." Russell was cracking up over it. There was also an argument (all in good fun) that included some licking followed by a small water fight. Entertaining.

Glad to be home.