what dreams may come

I just had the most wonderful wonderful vacation.
First we went to Hailey, Idaho...otherwise known as the town of Bruce Willis. It was really beautiful and really hot! I met the boy's family and enjoyed spending time with them. My nervousness was in vain, they were really cool. And apparently the feeling was mutual, I have been branded a keeper.
After family time, we returned to Boise and hung out for a quick minute before heading up to Twin Springs and attending quite possibly the best outdoor festival/party I have ever been to. Seriously, it was glorious. There is just something about being outdoors, being surrounded by the majesty of mountains, a river, and hot springs that just takes the joy of a party to a whole new level. And this year (much like last year) there was awesome music, beautiful people, art...and FIRE. One of the Idaho-burners built flame-throwers to attach to the main dome. They shot flames over ten feet long, maybe even up to twenty feet. And the flames were controlled by a switch kept by the DJs' side. There's something quite spectacular about a massive flame shooting out at the exact moment that a beat drops. And there was a beach party too...music, food, friends, bloody marys, topless and bottomless sunbathers, cliff diving. It was as close to heaven as I've ever gotten.

swimmer's ear

Swimming suit shopping should be listed as a method of torture in the Geneva Convention. I am completely demoralized.
And to whomever invented the Miracle-suit...you sir are an asshole! Why you would think that any woman would want the fat from their bellies displaced until it becomes a massive fat roll spilling over the back is beyond me! There is a very very very bad place in hell waiting for you!

mimicry

It was inevitable. Knowing so many djs, bedroom and otherwise...eventually I would feel compelled to try and mix a couple of records. And I did exactly that...TRIED to mix records. Nothing will give you respect for somebody's skills faster than a little perspective on how some things are not nearly as easy as people make them seem. I only tried for about thirty minutes before I made myself stop. My stubborn streak is more like a stubborn gash. I'm the kind of person that thinks that "Bloody Knuckles" is more than just the name of the game...it's the final destination, the ultimate goal. So it was good that I stopped before deciding that staying awake for three days trying to cue a record was the thing to do.

potato head

I am, yet again, heading to Idaho this week. This will be the third time in a year that I have travelled to the land o' potatoes and skinheads. Let me tell you, that's three more times than I would have expected to have gone.
This time around though there will be more family introductions. I've already met the boy's mother and step-father, separately and during short meals at restaraunts. But this time it'll be the whole family and it'll be on their turf. Meeting the family includes the sister who I am most nervous about meeting and her husband who apparently likes to push people's buttons, of which I have many and they are incredibly molestable.
It's funny how, though I am now a woman in her thirties and have done this whole family dance...it still makes me feel like an awkward teenager. I've even thought that maybe I should go buy some new clothes so I don't look slobby. If there was overnight lipo, I might consider that as well. And I need my hair dyed. And I should get a manicure. And I have NO SHOES!!! It's all very silly.

family ties

I have just spent a long weekend doing a bunch of family stuff. My sister finished her undergrad degree, she got it just in the nick of time before hitting thirty. My brother got promoted to a higher rank in the military, he's so gung-ho that it really wouldn't surprise me at all if he ended up like Colin Powell one day. My dad came into town for my sister's graduation and he finally decided that it was time to acknowledge the elephant in the room, his girlfriend of five years. Now, that isn't to say that none of us knew about her. We all knew about her, even my mom, mostly because I decided to tell her about my dad's lady when I moved back here. I thought, "We're all adults, my parents have been divorced for years...it's not like my dad left my mom for this woman. It'll be fine." And so for a while it seemed like it was fine. Even when my dad first mentioned bringing Robin, it seemed like it would be okay.
But alas...it was NOT okay. It was very much not okay. My mom ended up being a slice of the bitterest fruit imaginable. She refused to sit with us at the graduation. Then later when she finally could not avoid a tete-a-tete with the new ladyfriend, she refused to look her in the eye, had the face of somebody getting a colonoscopy the whole time, and then proceeded to say some incredibly rude things.
It probably could have been a lot worse. My mom isn't always the most emotionally balanced person in the world. What kills me is the perception of it all. My mom thinks that what she did proved some kind of point, she probably feels some kind of internal validation. The rest of us are a little horrified that she could be so rude. And part of me really hoped that she would suck it up and act like the adult she is but then she didn't and I had to admit that in this instance, I gave her too much credit.
Ah well. That was the only "down" side of the weekend and it only took up about fifteen total minutes of real time. Everything else was great. My dad's new lady seems like a wonderful woman (I had not met her in person before this). We're all proud of my brother and sister. The boy met my dad and that seemed to go well. Next time maybe we'll get my mom on board with the whole happy family thing.