A Hat Trick

I saw the Portland Winterhawks beat the Chilliwack Bruins on February 19th at Memorial Coliseum with my Grad and Career friends. For those of you not in the know, I am talking minor league hockey.

I like hockey. If you have only ever watched it on TV, you are probably not a fan. I think it is more fun in person than on TV and, once most people have seen it in person, they are fans. In fact, on the night I went I got to see Niederreiter pull off the hat trick. (If you look closely you can see the ref cleaning hats off the ice in this pic!)

It was complete with all the fun gimmicky/promotional things they do to get people to come to minor league events.

For one, it was "Pink the Rink" night, for breast cancer awareness. There were a number of components to this with the most obvious being that the ice was pink and there were pink ribbons on the shoulders of the team's jerseys. You couldn't really tell the ice was pink until the Zamboni came out.

There was a 7and 8 year old match during the first interval. It was entertaining. They play hockey like I played soccer at that age... all bunched up. The match was refereed by the Winterhawk mascot (Tom-A-Hawk -hehehe).

Then there were the Rosebuds; shiny girls with pompoms. I am not sure if they were technically considered a dance team or cheerleaders, but I found it completely random. Who wants to put on special non-slip shoes to dance on ice while scantily clad? It just seems cold.

I think the most shocking part for me (while researching the team) was that the oldest player on the roster was born in 1990. Dag. I am going to take a nap now.

A Little Slice of American Pie

I was driving through Corvallis yesterday when Don McLean's American Pie came on the radio. I love this song.  I know this song is older than I am (released in 1971), yet it is one of those songs that speaks to my childhood. My dad liked this song. And, we are talking about the days before everyone had their favorites downloaded to mp3 players, loaded into playlists, and at the ready when the mood struck. We would just be surprised that it shuffled on the car radio. And, then you had to wait and see if it was the full 7 minute version or the more "radio friendly" 3 verse version. Pure bliss when you would hear those elusive verses.

And, of course, it always conjures up the trip to the White Lake FFA Center where we played it (on a cassette tape) over and over and over and over. Those were good times!

Think you know all the words to the full length version: Play the game here and test your lyrical knowledge.

Or just enjoy the tune (the long version!):

Bluegrass Goes Pop

I love bluegrass music. Seriously, a third of the of my mp3 player is Sara Watkins, Mountain Heart, Cherryholmes, The Del McCoury Band, The Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Time Out, Nickel Creek, Dan Tyminski, and, of course, Alison Krauss. I even have some bluegrass versions of other artists' catalogs (i.e. "Pickin' on John Mayer" or "Pickin' on Coldplay").

The other 2/3rds of my mp3 player is pretty eclectic: Taylor Swift, Johnny Cash, Avett Brothers, Frank Sinatra, Cat Stevens, Brooke Fraser, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Metallica, Eminem, Janis Joplin, Page CXVI, Simon and Garfunkel, Better Than Ezra, Norah Jones and about 10,000 other songs.

For those of you who aren't bluegrass fans, I thought perhaps you would enjoy some bluegrass covers of popular songs. Here are two I highly enjoyed:

The Cleverlys covering the Black Eyed Peas "I Got A Feelin'"

Nickel Creek covering Britney Spears' "Toxic"

(I saw Nickel Creek do this cover live in Chapel Hill back in 2005.It was my second favorite part of the show. My favorite was their cover of "Short People".)

And, I'm done....

They say hindsight is 20/20. There is a lot of truth in that. Looking back I can see all of the attempts God has made at teaching me to be patient. To slow down. To enjoy life... rather than conquer it.

I can also see that I am pretty hard headed. I continue to go all-out, all the time. Now, with multiple back surgeries behind me, it is like God has installed his own little stress barometer. It is like a turkey timer for my life. When I am paying too much attention to work/others and not enough to my own life, it pops. Well, it went off this morning. That's how I know I am done.

I wake up with intense pain in my butt (medically, I believe the term is sciatica, but it just feel like a sharp shooting pain in the butt) and no feeling in my right leg. Yup, it is as terrifying as it sounds! My back isn't injured (anymore than it already was) I don't think. It's just angry with me. That is my little alarm, installed by doctors, but controlled by God.

It means I have let my stress level get too high. (And, it has been a stressful, emotional week.) The only "cure" is to take it easy. That is why I spent until 11am today in bed and the rest of the day on the living room floor. (I have learned that while I like my couch when my back is happy, it is not so great when my back is angry). The floor was my friend today and might be tomorrow at work as well.

My back seems some better by this evening and my foot is full of that "pins and needles" feeling you get when it wakes up after going to sleep. I still won't be running a marathon tomorrow (or ever, for that matter). However, my noon water aerobics does sound particularly appealing.

Kinsley Marie Lambert

Welcome to the world, Kinsley Marie Lambert.

Here are the stats: 6 lbs 15 oz 

20 inches long 

arrival 1:55pm Eastern Time

February 17, 2011

I will get to meet her in person in 14 days. Until then, yea for Facebook and text messaging and email!

Disclaimer: I think all newborns look like slimy space aliens the same. However, as the proud aunt, I am required by law to post a pic. Hopefully soon they will shine her up with a nice bath and a cute outfit so I can post a picture you can "oooh" and "ahhhh" over. 

Wordless Wednesday

I Have No Words...So I Am Sharing Someone Else's: Read Here

I Have My Moments!

I know I appear to have it together most of the time. Here's a secret: I have my moments when it all falls apart. So here's the story: I park in a fairly tight parking space... my assigned parking space is between a full-sized pick-up truck and a pole (for the covered parking).

Coming home from work today, I misjudged while parking. That is the only way to explain it: misjudged. I wasn't distracted by the radio or my phone. I was just parking. I was watching what I was doing. And, then I heard it: SCRAPE. Ugh. I knew immediately what I had done yet I sat in the car going "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Not my beautiful Murano! It has only been mine for 7 months (this week).

So, I did what I do in these situations: I called my mom. She was full of perspective like "it happens to the best of us" and "don't be so hard on yourself". I wasn't mad or hurt. Just annoyed with myself. She also reminded me that she backed into my dad's car in the driveway. I guess it could be genetic?!?

Now comes the fun or figuring out whether to file an insurance claim or just handle the cost of repairs myself.

While we are on the topic of me doing dumb things... I was told I needed to blog the results of my little tumble on campus last Tuesday afternoon. It made for a number of nice, colorful bruises - like this one. No worries. They have already started to heal.

Side note, really difficult to take a picture of your own arm with a camera phone :-)

Another Stupid Grin

Back in November, I had a stupid smile on my face when flowers showed up at my office just because. And today, these arrived. What can I say: The boy makes me smile :-)

Now, if only he wasn't 3,000 miles away. Happy Valentine's Day, y'all.

In honor of Valentine's Day

Despite the fact that I think this is a bogus, commercialized holiday and that it is a sad state of affairs when people need a date on a calendar to let them know they should show love to the ones around them, I thought I would jump on board and share the song in my heart.... My iTunes Genius mix knew to play it today. It is one of my favorites.

Thought I would share

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Yippie (said sarcastically). Thought I would share a video that was posted on one of my favorite blogs today:  PostSecret

(The author of PostSecret (Frank Warren) is going to be speaking on OSU's campus Wednesday night, but I waited too late to try and get tickets.(Sad face))

Current Feeling: like going to church. I missed Pastor Pete last week and the whole week felt off.
Currently Celebrating: A loss at my WeightWatchers Weigh in yesterday. I woulda swore I gained.
Current Anticipating: Sunday Lunch Out with the NW Hills Grad & Career Group
Currently Reading: Redeeming Love (a retold version of the "love story" between Hosea and Gomer. So far, it's great.)
Currently Watching: Valentine's Day on DVR... I missed it this time last year because of all the dissertating fun so HBO was kind enough to catch me up.