Beat that Shay!

It's exactly two months to the day until my birthday!

This is a picture of Shay and I on my birthday at the beach.

Camping is intense or in tents?

Cliffside Pictures of Montano De Oro

So funny. Shay's arms behind me.

Casey aka Bear Grylls

I think they both need a shave!

My favorite camping group ever! Oh how I love thee(s)!

So, we(Casey, Shay, Elijah and I) went camping at Montano De Oro this weekend. I think we all, with the exception of Casey who apparently thrives in this kind of condition, discovered that we aren't much of the adventurer slash campers that we thought we were. Nor are we as experienced as we thought. Lets just say there were raccoons involved as well as a tent that just wouldn't quite cooperate with the wind.
We saw snakes and ticks and crabs, OH MY!
I pretty much already knew I wasn't a camper, mostly because of my love affair with all things technological. Even on our hike, I had my iPhone attached to my head. I also have a hate affair with sleeping, so windy, raccoony conditions aren't my ideal. I am such a wuss, I had to sleep in the car. I have an amazing boyfriend who slept, and slept uncomfortably, I might add, in the car with me. I don't think he wanted the one armed maniac to bust through the window and grab me =). Suffice to say, I don't like camping. I like taking pictures and leaving. That's about it.
The others, I think enjoyed it. Well, I think Elijah and I feel the same way, but Shay and Casey are good and happy campers.

Getting Me Through My Day!

It's been so hot in Bakersfield that I can't handle the heat at night! And sadly, I can't get out of the kitchen. So, in conjunction to it being miserably hot, I haven't slept well at all. Here are all my "get me through the day" tricks.

Does it to Me Every Time April 17, 2009

Exactly 8 months until my birthday today, just in case anyone needs to start making any monetary saving arrangements. One would think that my birthday excitement would fade as I age. But no, apparently I’m like a little kid that likes to make everyone aware. On the actual day however, I just like to sit back and see how many people remember. I know all this because my darling brother-in-law Ryan told me this past year how I make my birthday a “big deal”. Well, excuse me for wanting to celebrate life, jerk. To make matters worse, he forgot to call me until the evening to tell me happy birthday. Seriously, how rude. I’m hoping to heal from my bitterness by the time my next birthday arrives. 8 months from now (please make note). (ps No brother-in-laws feelings were hurt in the writing of this blog)
As far as reading goes, I have read a bit more in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’ll be honest, I think I probably would have stopped reading it by now if I weren’t blogging about it. A big turnaround from my brownie comments, I know. Where was the collapse? It’s non-fiction! It does it to me every time. Anyway, I’m not giving up on it yet. Kingsolver still has a beautiful way of putting words together that I do enjoy. So I will continue on, although I may need to find some other novel as my reading escape. I am so a nerd.

-Shay

First. Vlog. Post. Ever

Don't judge me. This is my first vlog ever and it literally took 10 minutes. Look for new and improved vlogs soon.
PS...don't laugh at my voice.

Just Wanna Take a Bite 4/13/09

I know that nobody wants to hear about how I accidentally threw up on myself today in the car, but for humor purposes, I must share. Imagine driving next to someone, you look over, and they are throwing up. Ugh. Gross and funny. My life is drawn to these predicaments. Blog fodder. Anyway, I got a day off work because of it, so I think it was worth it.
I started reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Kingsolver today. I was a little hesitant because I thought it just might be some hippie BS, (semi-related to an episode of 30 Days called “Off the Grid” about some Vegans) but the first chapter has been enjoyable. I have read two other books by Kingsolver called The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer. I immensely enjoyed both of those novels. She has this way of putting words together so richly that reading her work is like taking a bite of a delicious freshly baked brownie that is actually good for you. Although this is my first time reading her non-fiction, it has the same feel. Mmmm…brownies.

-Shay

Brsinger Ends 4/11/09

Trip to Santa Monica today with Tash and Casey. I was the third wheel, but I never really felt like it. Especially when we all held hands together. Hehe. Driving was fun, talking was fun, taking pictures was fun, and buying new pants for 12.50 was really fun. I missed my Elijah though. He had to work and couldn’t go. Looking at all the interesting people made me forget about my sore throat somewhat…
I finished Brsinger today. I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed. I thought that this 3rd installment of Eragon was the final one. I was wrong. There will be a 4th book. So all of the loose ends that I wanted tied up, weren’t. Despite all this, it is actually a good thing I suppose. Now I have another long book in line to read. This time it is the last one for sure. I am so impressed that Christopher Paolini is so young as he writes these books. I would like to know what his childhood was like that he developed such an imagination and skill at writing. I’m sure he has made a buttload off of all these books too. Anyway, it was enjoyable. Now I must move on to my next victim. The book I ordered online for 1 cent came in, Making Peace With Food by Susan Kano. I’ve already read a few pages. It was written over 20 years ago, but I think it might be nice to have an anti-dieting perspective in my life. I also received my first 2 books from Paperspine (book version of Netflix) this week, the Other Boleyn Girl (by Philippa Gregory) and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (by Barbara Kingsolver). Apparently I’m obsessed with food. See! I knew it.

-Shay

Brsinger Thighs 4/9/09

Oy, my head. It aches. Ah, but that is neither here nor there. Today I felt like I looked nice at work. I wore my pencil skirt. And boots. I was unstoppable. Little did everyone know that I was having difficulty walking up and down the stairs because the skirt was constricting my leg movement. Don’t even get me started on the leg chafing. Fortunately, I have worn this skirt before, so I remembered to put on leggings this time. My thighs are very much grateful. It’s not like I’m huge or anything. Just an average girl with average thighs. Now that we’ve got that straightened out…
So I think Tash and I are really going to do this blog thing. I thought of 2 names: The Adventures of Tash and Shay (and after Tash reminded me about Casey’s contribution), Two Girls, a Guy, and a blog. I think its cute. Then Tash busted out this awesome design for our page. I told her that we really have to do it now. My area of expertise shall be on books. I love me some reading time. Right now I am reading Brsinger, the 3rd book in the Eragon series. It was slow going when I started the first started them, because I don’t usually read fantasyish type stuff. But it really caught ahold of me. I really like the escaping part of reading. In Brsinger, the author creates a whole other world with creatures and customs that are unfamiliar to this world of ours. I am really in awe of his imagination. Paolini I think, something like that.

-Shay

Conception of the Blog 4/7/09

Food obsession, anyone? I think I have problems with this. It is almost embarrassing, okay it legitimately is embarrassing how predictable I am when it comes to food. I am always dieting, dieting, resisting the good stuff. And then nighttime comes. Or an emotional/stressful situation arises. Chocolate is my comfort, my happiness. I will attack some delicious carbs in bread form just about any day. Agh, then the guilt, followed by a promise to be “good”. See, I have problems. So I ordered a book online today for 1 cent about overcoming food obsession. Hopefully in two weeks or so I should have that problem nixed.
In a completely unrelated manner, Tash and I are contemplating the creation of a co-blog. She will write about music and I will write about books. Casey may write about movies, and Elijah about WOW. Well, we all know Elijah probably won’t do any writing. I just need to build up my confidence of other people reading (and perhaps critizing) my writing. Maybe I should buy a confidence-building book online…

-Shay

Crick: Blessing or Curse? 4/5/09

26 years old is still young, I think, but I am beginning to feel the effects of age. Maybe I was too hard on my body in my tomboy years. Agh, it was worth it though. Perhaps it doesn’t have much to do with age at all. I woke up this morning with a crick in my neck. Stephanie has been telling me not to pop my neck, but I would like to think that my crick is in no way correlated to my daily popping habits. I followed the textbook solution of heat and then ice and so on and so forth. Tylenol. Muscle relaxor from friend. The hot shower helped the most I guess. Damn sleeping patterns. I blame it on the pillow. One positive aspect of the whole thing is that I am just about guaranteed an Elijah massage tonight and those are always enjoyable.
Did I mention my filling fell out of my cavity today? But I was so relaxed from the muscle relaxor that I didn’t mind. Feels weird having that hole in your mouth. Perhaps if I work it right I will be able to miss a day of work. Ah, I can’t be that lucky.
Elijah came by after work and massaged the crick in my neck for a long time. It made me cry. So sweet and selfless. I love him quite a lot.

-Shay

There is a light that never goes out

Anberlin did a remake of The Smith's classic "There is a Light that Never Goes Out." I actually love how Anberlin always adds a cover song in each one of there albums.
There are quite possible one of my favorite bands. Anberlin always comes through for me. Fun, poppy and heartfelt.



Or the original by The Smiths