Ode to my lost chum

My dearest chum, Amy, has left. No she isn't dead, she's off to New York for her Master's Degree. Yep, she's a smart cookie.....and we always have fun together. About 10 years ago we founded the

Antiquated Daft Chum Society of Giddy Noodle-Users..... ADCSGNU......"The" Society

We have a handshake, a mantra, and a commitment to being fabulous in every way.....tehe.....we both love cooking, traveling, funny accents, acting, reading, music and other wonderful pastimes. Can you believe we've been friends since 1st grade? Destiny, I tell ya.

Every year we go to "our spot" on the river, to sunbath, jump in the water off this big log, rampage through orchards, play swamp monster, and have a picnic....with a side of home-canned pickles.

Sadly, we could only do it once this year, and we had to fore-go the picnic, and the sunbathing, and the swimming.....but we still made it!


It was an absolute MUST to have High Tea at Ruthie Bee's before she left......total no brainer

One lump? I'll take 4!
How dare you steal my scone!
Tea cozies double as boxing gloves......I think I could totally take her....well....maybe.
Where's the next course?


These are pics from the river spot. It's a killer to get there (probably a mile walk, but we have to climb over barbed wire, shuffle past blackberry bushes, and nettles, and then we have to cross this marshy area, sinking knee deep in mud and algae (that's where swamp monster comes in), but it's always worth it.


Sad, our only trip for the WHOLE summer. : (
I had to borrow Amy's OLD jeans from when she was more curvy to avoid getting my legs scraped, so I thought I'd try to make myself as ugly as possible in this pic....I think it worked....... : ) Hey good lookin'! We're so cool.....geez......I think we're like the coolest people we know. (Say that last part in a Napoleon Dynamite voice (that's how I intended it, like when he's talking about the picture he drew of that girl.....or the liger.....I think its like the best drawing I've ever done....lol.....something like that)

PICTURES!!!! finally

The Outdoor room.

BEFORE........well, we had started deconstructing after I took the pic....so it wasn't quite this bad, and it wasn't full of rubbish either. But it was originally for storing wood for the fireplace....but they replaced the fireplace a long time ago.....so we thought we could use the basic structure to create a patio/porch area.


AFTER

After tons of work.....buying sand, leveling it, laying heavy concrete pavers, priming, painting, putting on a new roof, attaching new 2 by 4's, attaching 52 railings, (after priming and painting those) installing lighting, laying down bark, and some more things I'm glad are over....here's what we got. Thanks so much to Chad's dad for helping. Their family is always so willing to help with any project, and we're so grateful. We try to return the favors, but I think we'll never get out of the red with all they do for us.

THE DINING ROOM

So, I had already gotten to work by the time I took this pic, so normally it was cleaner and there were some gold frames and pics on the walls.....but this was basically it. The yellow was just wrong....dirty.....too much.....subconciously driving me crazy for a long time.

AFTER

All I did was paint the walls, paint a small piece of furniture, spray painted frames and filled them with creative, cheap, home-made art.......and ta da. OOoooooddddles of improvement eh? Well......I like it anyway.


So, I painted this. I felt bad about painting it, cuz it was really unique, but the colors had become dingy.....and dingy=bad vibes. If something is constantly dirty looking, even if it's clean, it drives me bonkers. So, hello clean white......Mmmmmmmm.....we likey! The piece itself was interesting enough, it didn't need all the crazy painting anyway. (Chad found this at a garage sale and surprised me with it....way to go hubby!)


This is a Rome shadow box I made. Super cute. I went to the U of O bookstore and found super cheap, decorative papers....like this map, and threw some stuff together. The pic at the top of the post are some other things I made.
This map is so cool. It's shows all the big monuments in Paris. Why Paris and Rome? Because they're known for great cuisine! Plus I took a renaissance architecture class about Rome, and it's cool to find all the things I studied on it...Porta Pia, Piazza de Colonna, St. Peter's ....and what girl doesn't love Paris?
THE RACE

Yep, I started at the very front. The girl next to me was a speed demon....she won (among the females) and she was really nice. Nice people rock!
My cheering section! (minus Chad and my Dad) Thanks family! At about 2 1/2 miles, they were waiting for me, and when they started cheering I couldn't help but run faster, and I passed the guy ahead of me, and stayed ahead of him the entire rest of the way. All thanks to them. : )

Before the race......fun fun.