I’m back from Louisiana. Dude, how do people live in that heat? I guess my problem was that I was working OUTSIDE IN THE HEAT. Yep, totally outside. Not fun.

I got in last night and am back at my office desk today. Sunday I leave (again) to go to Utah to visit my family. So yeah, I have today to get all my work done from this week and for next week.

FYI, not going to happen.

Instead of continuing talk about all the heat in Louisiana, I wanted to show you what I got for The King for Fathers Day. I may or may not have deemed this The Best Gift Ever.

For reals.

Check it out, it a watercolor painting that I had commissioned of my little family (including our lovely kitty). Of course this is not the original size. The thing is huge. I had it matted and framed and it will look lovely hanging over our kitchen table. We’re even wearing clothes that we really own.

The best part about this original painting in that is was super duper inexpensive. Seriously. (I paid for more the frame then I did for the original artwork!)

And since it was so inexpensive and so freakin’ awesome, I decided to have one done for my own dad for Fathers Day.

Yep, that’s my mom and dad doing what they love best; riding their 4-wheelers.

Of course my mom and dad are over the moon about their painting. And my mind is reeling with who else I can get a painting done for.

Who is the artist that painted these masterpieces? Her name is Jackie Aaron and I don’t know her from Adam. But dude, she’s good. And inexpensive. And QUICK. (It took less then a week to get my completed paintings.)

All I did was e-mail Jackie Aaron a few pictures of the subjects, tell her what type of background I wanted, and she was off and painting. (That’s even a precise duplication of my dad’s newest 4-wheeler, which he totally noticed!)

I’m totally recommending Jackie Aaron Impressions. And I swear, she isn’t a friend. (Okay, I heard of her through a friend, but yeah, I don’t know Jackie.)

Check out Jackie Aaron’s website for more details on her pricing (seriously, such an amazing price for an original painting!) and how to contact her. And think about all the paintings you could get have done.

(Would the interweb totally judge me if I commissioned Jackie to paint this picture of Rhett Miller and me?)

I take my music listening very seriously. That doesn’t mean I’m a music snob. It just means….I take my music listening very seriously. I spend no less then eight hours a day with ear bugs stuck in my ears.

Oh yes, muy seriously.

Thanks to my recent birthday I recently came into a windfall of iTunes gift cards. (Note to Universe: PERFECT GIFT!) Upon receiving these gift cards my first thought was:

RHETT MILLER’S NEW SOLO ALBUM!!!

Oh yes, Rhett Miller has a self-titled solo album that drops comes out June 9^th. (That’s next Tuesday.) But then I remembered that I had already pre-ordered a copy of “Rhett Miller”. (Pre-ordering got me a FREE autograph with my copy.) (It’s in the mail.)

I spent this week looking for The Perfect Summer Songs. I took suggestions. I reviewed my current iPod collection and as of this morning, I have compiled a new playlist:

I call this playlist “Summer Tunes”. (And you can see it HERE.)

I’ve covered all the bases. I made sure to include the two available songs from “Glee” (love!) as well as a Joey Lawrence song, a Justin Timberlake song, a New Kids on the Block song and a song that mentions New Kids on the Block.

I dare anyone to listen to any of the songs on this playlist and not automatically feel happier and more boppy. Seriously, it’s guaranteed to make anyone feel happy. (It’s been tested over the last few hours and it appears to be working!)

I admit this playlist is not completed. Oh no. I’m still up for suggestion as my iTunes gift cards STILL HAVE MONEY ON THEM. Please feel free to make any Perfect Summer Song suggestions to me.

Also, Monday is my mom’s birthday. What do you give the woman who has everything? You commission this:

After seeing my mom snuggled up to Mr. Edward Cullen, my sister commissioned her own copy:

My mom’s copy will be delivered on her birthday in a shiny new frame. Along with a sheet of wallet sized pictures she can hand out to her friends.

I’m not kidding.

So yeah, what do you think is The Perfect Summer Song?

(Just wait until I post a picture of what I got The King for Father’s Day. JUST WAIT!)

Every time I go to Utah to visit my family The King gets worried that I won’t want to come home to Seattle at the end of the trip.

While Paper Pocket Edward and I had a blast in Utah with friends, family, bloggers, and….

…. The JONAS BROTHERS…..

I still wanted to come home to Seattle to see my boys.

Pocket Paper Edward was sad to leave behind all the religion in Utah.

Edward feels like the state of Washington is full of too many heathens.

Edward misses spending time with Heidikins shoes in Utah.

Some of you might have believed that Heidikins shoe collection was nothing but an internet legend. Edward and I are here to tell you THE SHOE ROOM DOES EXIST.

And it’s glorious. So glorious. (Too bad Heidi isn’t the same shoe size as me.) While Edward wanted to spend most of his time in Utah praying….he also wanted to make love to all of Heidikins shoes.

Oh-la-la. (I admit to wanting to make love to her shoes too.)

(Monica, Marci, Heidi, ME, Becky, Britt and Christar)

Crap, Edward is not in this picture of me with the Utah Bloggers.

So, The King asked me last night if I “ruined” all the pictures of my trip to Utah by putting Paper Pocket Edward in them.

As is this picture of Paper Pocket Edward BBQ’in some meat would be considered “ruined”.

(I guess that means “yes, I ‘runined’ all of my pictures. Whatever.)

So tell me, did you and Paper Pocket Edward do anything fun this weekend?

Hola Isabel Fans! Isabel’s best friend who deserted her and moved to Reno (otherwise known as May) here, guest blogging while Isabel is visiting her lovely family.

My birthday was last week and it kind of sucked. I have no one to blame but myself. I dragged my little family on an eight hour road trip so that we could go to my cousin’s wedding. So four-in-the-fraking-morning we loaded Lil May & The Gretch into the car (the grand plan being that they’d sleep for at least half the drive. Not so much. Instead they slept approximately 2.5 minutes each). So that started the suckage. Then I got a “Road Trip Migrane”.

When we finally rolled into Salt Lake City, I was in a mighty foul mood.

But then I remembered that Isabel sent me a mysterious package! When I opened it, I found my OWN MINI POCKET EDWARD, purchased with love on etsy. So in homage to our favorite Pocket Edward, I took some photos of him and our journeys.

Look, he’s totally pondering the homogenization of our society!

Here he is on my brother-in-law’s side of the bed…

Here he is with my brother-in-law’s pretty wife…

Edward was glad the weather cooperated. Nothing like overcast skies to bring a smile to a felt-mini-vampire’s face…

Sniff, this is the last time I saw Mini Pocket Edward. I tucked him carefully beside my seat, in easy reach so that I could keep him photo-ready. We stopped at the Salt Flats…

…got back on the road, and I haven’t seen him since. I’m feeling an empty hole in my chest, ready to rip apart. I’m sitting all angsty in front of my computer, pale and withdrawn. If Jacob doesn’t get here soon to piece me back together, I might not make it. Maybe I’ll get the scooter from the garage and do some curb jumps so I can hear his sweet velvet voice in my head…

Till I find my dear Mini Pocket Edward, I made a PAPER POCKET EDWARD to tide me over! Look! He’s ready to start back at Forks High with his Pee Chee folder AND a trapper keeper (he likes fast cars). Also, I gave him some cleaning supplies because a hot guy cleaning my bathroom is pretty much the pinnacle of existence, right? Or, if need arises, a pirate costume.

Do you know what would be awesome? If you printed out Paper Pocket Edward, on sparkly card stock paper, of course, and took him on some adventures.  You also might want to laminate him prior to cutting him out.

Till then, Be Safe.

xoxo

May

Today is my birthday. Yep, I’m one year wiser older. Not much has changed from how I spent my second birthday to how I’m spending my thirty fourth birthday…

I’m still pushing around a stroller while wearing bad pants and a scowl of my face.

Although my third birthday was pretty sweet. My mom made me the much coveted bunny cake. Plus, I had a smile that year. Hooray for no scowl. (I can tell by the awesome wallpaper in this picture that we celebrated my birthday that year at my Grandma’s house.)

My fourth birthday, again spent at my grandma’s house, was rocked with my new Dorothy Hamill Wedge Cut.

While my sixth birthday was not spent at my Grandma’s house (we lived in Oregon by then), I still had the awesome wedge cut and white tights with open toed shoes. Also, THE SCOWL HAS RETURNED.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be eating a bunny cake today. And that’s okay. I will be lucky enough to spend my birthday with all of my favorite people. I was able to spend some quality time with The King (white My Sweet Babboo watched his shows) this morning before work. After work I’m flying to Utah to spend the next four days with my family and friends out there. Thanks to Southwest for having such sweet deals right now, and thanks to The King for buying me a ticket for my birthday present.

I promise to not scowl at all today. Yep, that’s my birthday present to the world.

Edited to add: In case you don’t follow me on Twitter you might have missed this:

rhettmiller@holaisabel there’s a song on my new record called “Happy Birthday Don’t Die”. Today I dedicate it to you.

Dude, do you see that?  RHETT freakin’ MILLER!  Be cool like me and pre-order  Rhett Miller’s latest solo album HERE.  (Pre-orders come autographed.)

(Also,  follow me on Twitter!)

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I have a super duper awesome spectacular guest blogger lined up for tomorrow. SO SUPER! I promise you that you WILL WANT TO READ THIS POST. For reals. I don’t want to give anything away before it goes live tomorrow, but I will tell you that it’s written by my best friend May. And based on the awesome, and homemade, birthday present she sent me (see below), tomorrow’s post will knock your socks off.

For reals, May hand-painted each individual card in the greeting card set she made me.

So, come back tomorrow to read May’s guest post.

(Okay, here’s one hint: EDWARD!)

I celebrated my first Mothers Day in 2006. I had been an official “mom” for about three weeks and I was far from knowing what in the crap I was doing. (I’m still far from knowing, let’s be honest.) Not only was that my first Mothers Day, it was also my 31^st birthday. Oh yeah, and I also was asked to give the sermon in church that day. Topic: Being a Mother.

Dude!

Anyway, that first Mothers Day was kind of hard for me. The selfish person in me was still adjusting to having NOTHING be about me anymore and EVERYTHING be about the new baby. I think I expected the world to acknowledge that I WAS NOW A MOTHER and was an angel for doing everything for him. I wanted breakfast in bed. I wanted to sleep all day. I didn’t want to have to change any diapers or get up for any feedings. Come on….birthday + Mothers Day = Free Ride.

It’s not that my previous two Mothers Days haven’t been special. It’s not that The King and Babboo have forgotten them or not given me gifts and praise on those days. They have. They do. It’s just the selfish person that I am that messes it up.

This year I decided Mothers Day would be different. I would make it different by using the day to ponder on my blessings as a mother. I wasn’t going to expect to sleep in or eat breakfast in bed. The only thing I wanted to do for Mothers Day was to maybe snuggle in bed with The King and Babboo and enjoy being part of a family.

Not only did I get a day spent with my two most important boys and so much love, but I also was the recipient of the most perfect gifts for me, Babboo’s mom.

For Christmas and birthdays this year Babboo has received some awesome Playmobile pirate ships.  These pirates ships and pirates have been a very fun addition to our family and home.

We have a couple of pirate ships.

We have a pirate fort and a little treasure island.

We even have a huge pirate ship.  It’s HUGE and awesome!

And now, thanks to my Mothers Day gifts, I can play along with Babboo.  See, take a closer look at the pirate climbing up the mast.  (Is it called a mast?  I have no idea.)

It’s a GIRL PIRATE.  (You’ll note she has a pink feather in her pirate hat and a sassy pink sword holder thingy.)

Seriously, how cute is this girl pirate?  And she’s just as tough as the boy pirates.  AND SHE’S ALL MINE.

You might have noticed another sassy lady on one of the other ships. That’s right, I got a PLAYMOBIL PRINCESS for the pirate ship.

(The King says she the princess was needed for all the “raping and pillaging”, but I’m going to pretend to have not heard him say that.)

And then because no pirate Treasure Island is complete without a wedding party….

I got my own set of bride and groom.

And Babboo promptly named them The King and Isabel.

It was the Best Mothers Day Ever.  Thanks to my boys for making it so special.

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