"Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time." - Leo F. Buscaglia
It's important to live life to its fullest. So I've created this blog to keep track of "my list" and blog about my personal adventures - as trivial or as extravagant as they may be! Inevitably, the list will continue to grow as I think of crazy things I'd like to do. I plan to document it along the way, camera by my side, and hope you'll join me in enjoying the (small and big) adventures in life!
As I opened my banana-flavored yogurt this morning, I was reminded of something a long time ago... I would only eat banana-flavored yogurt when I was a kid. And since many years ago, the yogurt makers of the United States stopped making the banana flavored kind. What a pity, it’s quite delicious.
You're probably wondering the point of a banana-flavored yogurt blog? Well, it got me to thinking about all the other things I haven't thought of since childhood. Here are some of the highlights from the 80s.
Banana flavored yogurt (although, Banana CREME is way different and not nearly as good...)
One of THE best quotes of all time.... are you ready to be inspired???
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did do."- Mark Twain
I try to remind myself of this as often as I can (or rather, as often as I remember...). And usually, it's the things that are hardest to do that you probably need to do the most. Picture the 90 year old version of yourself and ask, "Would I wish I would've done it while I could?" Whatever it may be, so often people make themselves victims in their own lives and believe they can't do anything to change it. And it's so WRONG! You really do need to "dream as if you'll live forever and live as if you'll die tomorrow." What is it that you fear to do? Why don't you do it? What's stopping you from LIVING???
I’ll leave you with some equally inspirational quotes to chew on...
"Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think." - Benjamin Disrraeli
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got." - Larry Wilson
"If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney
This weekend I ventured across the Puget Sound to Silverdale, WA on the outdated but trusty Washington State Ferry system. The Liver Bean and I visited Scenic Beach this morning and what a scene it was! The sun peaked out and the temp was great (for the Northwest in January, that is). The pebble and oyster shell covered beach looked out over the peaceful Hood Canal water and the cloud covered Olympic Mountains. Definitely recommended!
View of the Hood Canal and the Olympics coverd with clouds:
Liv & I on Scenic Beach:
Awesome tree in Scenic Beach Park:
An ocean of millions and millions of oyster shells:
Over the weekend I visited the Bodies Exhibit in downtown Seattle. What an educational experience that was! I went with my very dear friend Olivia and her husband, Oz, and we spent a good couple hours wandering the exhibit filled with real human bodies and parts.
Here are some things I remember (quite an impressive list, even for my memory!):
20-30% of total calories burned is burned by your brain.
Scientists say that lack of oxygen isn’t the reason you yawn. But they cannot confirm why exactly you DO yawn… hmmm, helpful.
Your brain accounts for 2% of your body weight.
Everyone is a single cell for about a half hour after being conceived.
The female heart typically beats faster than a male’s heart.
The female tongue has more taste buds than a man’s therefore we can truly appreciate the taste of yummy food that much better!
We shed approximately 1 ½ pounds of skin each year. Ick!!
The production of a man’s baby-makin’-material starts to decrease at the age of 35.
The exhibit as a whole features about 10 whole bodies and uses about 10 more for various parts/organ displays.
The picture below is somewhat of an optical illusion. The left figure is the skeletal figure of the muscular figure on the right. It’s amazing what scientists can do to extract and re-group all the bones in a body!
One of the most interesting displays was of the body’s blood system. Using some type of chemical, they pumped all the blood vessels, arteries and capillaries to highlight and preserve. Then they use another chemical to dissolve the mass around it and the result is below… a view of ALL out blood flowing throughout our body. CRAZY!
Here is a picture of the fetus display they had. Interesting to see how much they grow in such a short period of time.
Several interesting displays included various examples of healthy vs. diseased organs. One that stuck out most to me was of the lungs. Here is a picture showing the difference between healthy lungs and lungs of a smoker. Booo! Everyone should stop smoking!
This isn’t really on the list so I technically can’t check it off, but it was a very amazing experience to learn so much about the human body. It really is one of the most complex creations and it’s amazing to think that it all works so seamlessly without us being aware (most of the time). I don’t think I’d pay to see it twice (just because I’m not a science-nerd) but I would definitely recommend everyone go at least once.
After approximately two weeks of a left eye twitch, I believe I have discovered the source! Ha! In hopes to help out anyone who may have this same, uncontrollable and absolutely irritating issue: there IS an answer. More SLEEP!!! Mine is triggered by looking at a computer screen. Which is quite unfortunate since that is what I do all day, every day of the week. But getting around 8 hours of sleep a night seems to keep it at bay.
There. I know you all were very concerned. Now comes the challenge of getting 8 hours of sleep... or 7... or 6...
Who would have imagined the things you would see and hear in an evening with the natives at a Tacoma dinner and Monster Truck Show. Last night we ventured down to Tacoma, Washington for dinner and Monster Jam 2010. Little did we know quite what to expect.
The evening started out with the task of finding a place to eat. First stop was at an interesting establishment named Acme Grub Cage Tavern. This was the epitome of a hole in the wall restaurant. Yes, this was a place that only served microwave dinners. However, this evening they happened to be out of all microwave dinners except the spaghetti. Mmmmm, how ever did we turn this place down?
From the advice of a man missing all his teeth, we ended up down the street at Tacoma's finest, Malarkey's. This place was quite… “used”… and had some worn booths, a long potent-smelling bar, a row of pool tables and walls covered with banners/fliers. To give you an idea of the type of people that frequented the place, here’s a list of quotes and notes I kept on my handy phone while eating a large plate of various fried foods.
**Reader discretion advised**
- While looking for a place to sit, a creepy old man at the bar said, "There a beauty contest in town?"
- Within minutes of sitting down, a girl followed a man through the front door – “No. $20 is too cheap for a blow job.”
- From the lady with a big booty in too-tight velour pants "…and it went straight to my ass!"
- Man and woman on the way out the front door – "Did you see my wife smack my ass! Hahahhaha. She just smacked my ass." [creepy chuckle out the door]
- Old, rotund man staring at Rachel for several long seconds with his mouth open – "Oh, I thought I knew you. Hmm." [stared several seconds longer before shuffling away]
- Our Malarkey's waiter very excited, with a toothless smile, "You girls got all your teeth!" [chuckle chuckle]
- Our waiter while processing our check "I guess I don't know how to divide."
- "mmmm, you smell good." "It’s ranch."
After arriving at the Tacoma Dome, we found our seats and enjoyed the scenery. All the AWESOME monster trucks were there: Maximum Destruction, Grave Digger, King Krunch, Captain’s Curse, King Kong… Here is some footage for you to enjoy!
Maximum Destruction before it caught on fire!!
Monster Jam Truck Race (before the American Flag truck took the big ramp and flipped):
Motocross Flips:
Here are some notes from Monster Jam 2010:
- A little boy to his dad, "Daddy, why do I only have one shoe on?"
- Teen girl to her friend "I think I'm pregnant."
- Monster Truck-shaped hats for sale
- The very serious guy sitting behind us closely analyzing every move of the monster trucks on the course.
- Men dressed with patch-covered denim jackets with rat-tails and/or mohawks.
- Monster Truck fans with Grave Digger tee-shirts and others chanting Monster Truck’s names.
The girls at Monster Jam (Michelle, me, Rachel):
All in all, my first Monster Truck Show was a really fun experience! People get super excited about their favorite truck which makes it that much more entertaining. I'm mean, how often can the normal person get excited and scream about oversized trucks crushing cars! Earplugs or not, it should be a must on everyone’s list.
Found this and had to share.... This wife has started keeping track of what her husband says when he talks in his sleep.... simply HILARIOUS!!!! It's a MUST.
It's always been important to me to live life to the fullest, see as many places/things as possible, experience as much as I can - heck, life is short! So I've created this blog to keep track of "my list" and blog about my personal adventures (as trivial or as extravagant as they may be)! Inevitably, the list will continue to grow as I think of crazy things I'd like to do. I hope to document it along the way with my pictures and various bits of information I find.
To get started, I thought I'd get one out of the way – (1) Create my own blog. Check. (2) Keep it updated.
In pursuit of checking another thing off my list, I just signed up for the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon today. Which is quite the feat considering I really don't enjoying running that much... well, as much as being curled up in my bed. :) But who doesn't love that? Granted, it does help that there's quite the group of first time half-marathoners signing up as well, which will be a good support system. Lord knows I'll need Britt to kick me out the door in the morning to train for this.... (sorry in advance, Britt). But there's nothing like a musical group and cheerleaders at every mile marker and a concert at the finish line to keep ya going! My goal is 2 hours 5 minutes, but we'll see how realistic that is as I start training more.
