The King likes to tease me about my blog. He really doesn’t get blogging and sort of feels like it’s just this little thing I do on the side. Of course I (and the rest of you) know blogging is much more then that. Dude, I am consumed by my blog.

He teases me by asking me questions about HTML and then laughing at me when I give him the answer. And, you know, he calls me a nerd. (Which, I am. I know.)

One of the biggest things he does to make fun of me and my blog is to refer to any readers/commenter as “fans”. I’ll tell him about something that someone online told me and he’ll be all “who is that one?” and after I explain “she’s the one that lives in Kansas City and is remodeling a loft. And makes robots. DUH!” And he’ll be all, “oh right, she’s one of your fans.” And the he’ll roll his eyes at me.

Dude, he makes it sound so nerdy and lame. When really, I’m more of the fan around these parts.

Anyway.

If you were to ask The King what the mission statement of my blog would be he’d probably say something like “Isabel is so awesome and pretty and awesome! And her blog is so awesome”. That’s when I roll my eyes and remind me that I’m a nerd and not awesome at all. And then he’ll roll his eyes and talk about my fans again.

I think he’s just jealous.

If, by chance, I’ve written a particular post that I feel it’s imperative for him to read I’ll ask him if he’s read it and what he thought about it. He’ll usually come back with something snippy like “all I got out of it was how awesome your fans think you are.” I admit this can hurt a little as I feel I put a little more thought and preparation into the majority of my posts. It really isn’t all about “hey am I awesome, or what?!”

I’ll be the first to admit that it is nice to hear someone validate you and your thoughts. That need isn’t exclusive to blogging. Blogging just helps to facilitate that, I guess.

On a recent extended car ride with The King we started talking about my little blog and I shared with him my dreams and goals and hopes for my blog. I told him that I felt like I could make the (blog)world a nicer place, one post at a time. I told him I tried to be a good example to the interweb. Even if I maybe don’t come off that way, it really is my plan. I told him about how I would like to share my message of Goodness around the (blog)world.

Of course I usually end up blogging about my kid, my house, my job, my family, my friends. Um yeah, pretty much what I talk about is Me.

Squee!

This morning I read the following comment that the lovely Bethiclaus left on a recent post and got instantly excited:

Dear Isabel,

Thank you for being awesome and pretty. Also, can you please tell me more about the Seattle area as we are contemplating a move.

Signed,

Your bestest fan ever (or something), Beth

First off I got all giddy. Bethiclaus (and her adorable family) might be moving to Seattle! Yippee. I am all about cool bloggers taking over Seattle. I excitedly wrote her right back and asked for more details of this rumored move to my neck of the woods.

After hitting “send” on my message to Bethiclaus I read over her comment again. And then I died. Dude, it was basically the exact comment that The King is always teasing me about. Not only did she tell me I’m “awesome”, but she also said “pretty”. And then the cherry on top…she called herself a “fan”.

Crap, The King can not see this. He’ll never let me live this one down.

(And by “The King can not see this” I mean “I’m going to blog about this and totally call his attention to it.” I’m not that bright.)

Okay, so while I tell myself that I want this blog to be more about The Bigger Picture and Goodness in the (Blog)World and all the peace and love mumbo-jumbo, you’ve totally got to see a picture of my new jacket that I got from Ann Taylor Loft yesterday and then tell me how awesome I am.

You might wonder what about this picture makes me awesome.

The fact that I got this jacket on sale for $5.99 makes me awesome. And it was originally priced at $94.00!! Oh yeah, it was also 25% off, so really it was $5.18.

Nothing is more awesome then a new jacket for less then a fiver.

So tell me, what have you done lately that deserves the title of Awesome?  Don’t be shy.  If you can’t share it with the interweb, then who can you share it with?!

Is today the day I admit I haven’t read a blog is over a week?!

Or is that something so horrific that I should never admit it to the interweb?

A WEEK!

Sure I’ve hopped on and read one or two posts when my boss has gone to the bathroom. But overall, NO BLOG READING. I haven’t died yet from my lack of blog reading, but I’ve come mighty close.

(I also haven’t read any news sites. So I’m not 100% if Brad and Angelina had their babies yet.)

(And is Amy Winehouse still drunk and skinny?)

(Do you love that I include Angelina and Amy in my descriptions of “news sites”? I suck.)

So I know Metalia and Lizzy both had baby girls. I know that Heidikins, Carly, Sizzle and Rhi are going to BlogHer. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Squirrel still only has the two adorable boys. I also know what swimming suit FluentBrittish is sporting this season, and I’ve seen her new blog (all about being thrifty and nifty). I didn’t miss that Frema is pregnant (again!).

But beyond that, I have no idea what is going on.

I’m not sure if Molly’s sold her house yet and I’m not sure how much longer Liza has before she has her new baby.  Will Durga have her baby this week?  Or next week?

What about the rest of you? Any of you out there in Blogland pregnant? Anyone sporting a new engagement ring? Did you go into labor this weekend? Or maybe get married? What did you wear to work today? How is your cat doing?

I seriously suffer from anxiety that I’m missing out on something. Something big. Something like twins and engagement rings and official wedding dates.

I’m not the kind of person that likes to miss out on Big News. I don’t like being the last to know.

I’m sitting her at my desk, surrounding by new projects and bosses that are looking over my shoulders and piles of work and all I want to go is jump on my blog reader and read about YOU. Screw responsibilities and projects and deadlines. What has happened on the interweb lately?

And in case you’re wondering if there’s something big you’ve missed on my end, allow me to show you what we’ve been dealing with this week. And may I present it to you in the form of a mathematical equation.

(Really, has Angelina had the babies yet?)

Dear Property Managers at My Office:

I too noticed that the sun is out today.  This does not mean that the office is automatically hot enough to have the AC on.  Be assured, it’s still too cold for that.  So, please, turn off the freakin’ AC so I can get rid of my space heater and take off this sweater!

Signed,

Isvejalke

(My fingers are too cold to type out my name properly.  Get it?)

———

Dear Property Mangers at Our Old Apartment:

Dude, Washington state law states that you have to legally give us our deposit by last week.  LAST WEEK!

Where is my d*mn money?  I need it to buy lots of snacks and toys for our upcoming road trip.

Signed,

Give me my money

———

Dear Seattle Public Library:

Thank you for the stack of David Bowie CD’s that is currently sitting on my desk.

My iPod also thanks you.

Signed,

ChinaGirl

(That’s a title of a Bowie song.  Get it?)

———

Dear IKEA:

Thanks for selling inexpensive curtains.  First, the bedroom.  Next, the front room.

(The neighbors thank you too.  They were sick of seeing The King and I walking around nekkid.)

Signed,

It’s just a birthmark.  I swear.

———

Dear Forehead:

Wrinkles?  Really?

Signed,

I hate myself

———

So tell me, any letters you’ve written lately that you want to share with the rest of us?

(Don’t forget to check out my latest NewThing.)

Every summer, when I was little, my parents would pack up our car (or our truck, depending) and we’d drive down to Utah to visit my mom’s family for the 4th of July. We lived in Oregon when I was in elementary school so the trek to Utah was a long one. Having us all stuffed inside our little car (of worse, in the back of the truck) was painful and only made the trip that less desirable. Sure we loved spending time with our extended family in Utah, but we hated the drive to grandma’s house.

In an attempt to make the long car trip more manageable my mom would do everything in her power to keep us entertained. She would pack bags full of library books and puzzles. She’s also pack a cooler full of water and sandwiches so we wouldn’t have to stop to eat. My mom always made two pans of treats and loaded them into the car still in their pans. One pan was her famous fudge (half with nuts, half without) and one pan was Jello jigglers. I was mostly only interested in the jigglers.

The rest of them fought over the fudge.

I have a few very distinct memories from these trips. One involves an intense bout of car sickness and a leftover sandwich baggie my mom wanted me to vomit into. Another memory is sort of the same. Except there was no baggie that time.

Only an open window and the wind in my face.

One story, that I don’t remember, gets retold time and time again. Apparently my family and I were driving through the night while my older brother and I were asleep in the back seat. I woke up and decided to play a trick on my dad, who was driving at the time.

“Guess who,” I asked my dad as I put my hands over his eyes.

And then he freaked out, swerving on the empty street. My mom and brother instantly woke up and my mom quickly pulled my hands away from my dad’s eyes.

Oopsie.

I remember playing silly road trip games like Bingo and Slugbug. I remember my mom prompting us to look for specific farm animals or car. Or even license plates. I remember tying to sleep with my head propped between my pillow and the window. And I remember freaking out when my younger sister had gas and we constantly had to open the car windows to let in some fresh air.

Good times.

Since moving to Seattle to marry The King almost eight years ago, he and I had driven to Utah once or twice. Maybe three times. Usually we just fly. It’s so much faster and relatively cheap to get plane tickets. But now that Babboo’s over two, we have to buy him his own ticket. And we all know that tickets aren’t as cheap as they once were. (Dude, what happened to flying to Utah for $99 roundtrip?)

And yet, I’m still itching to be in Utah for the 4th of July. I want Babboo to have some of the same experiences I had a child visiting family in Utah. I want him to go to the parade on the morning of the 4th. I want him to sit in the same spot my family’s been sitting in since my mom was born. (In front of the bank, in the shade.)

(My family and I, in our spot, for the 4th of July parade in 1986.)

I want Babboo to wear his new 4th outfit and try to catch the candy as the floats go by. I want him to walk up to the park, after the parade is over, and eat cotton candy and punch bags. I want him to sit under the big tree in the corner of the park and watch the people go by. I want him to eat turkey sandwiches on homemade rolls at my grandma’s house and drink as many punch bags as he can sneak with the rest of the kids. I want him to watch the fireworks and try to catch fish in the pond.

And that is why we’re packing up our car next week and driving down to Utah. It seems a little ridiculous to spend three days in the car when we’ll only be in Utah for two days. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for most of my adult life.

I’m taking my son to the 4th of July.

Now we just need to make it through the drive to get there. We’ve never gone more then a few hours in the car with Babboo. And I’m pretty sure a pan of fudge and Jell-o jigglers isn’t going to hold his attention like it did for my family. And I’m not sure he’ll sleep in his car seat if we decide to drive all night. And we don’t have a portable DVD player.

So tell me, how do I make this road trip the best start to an even better mini vacation?

I’ve not wanted to write a new post. I’m not really ready to move my last post down on the page. But, eventually, I have to think about other things besides my Weekend of Awesomeness.

Sigh.

Things are slowly coming together over at our new house. We don’t have an official permit to occupy yet. We’re still accessing the house through the garage and not the front door (since we don’t have a front porch yet). But hey, as of Monday night, we have window coverings in our bedroom (that aren’t made out of cardboard.) (Don’t ask.)

This means we won’t have to crawl, literally, out of bed in the morning so our neighbors don’t see us in our underwear.

(Be assured the seeing The King crawl around on the bedroom floor, in his undies, is a sight.)

Everyday The King gives me a list of things that we both need to work on at the new house. And everyday I somehow end up hiding in my little vanity area reading my latest obsession, the “Twilight” series.

Never before has a love story between an immortal vampire and a teenage girl been so awesome.

Or so addictive.

I have not been pulling me weight in The King household lately. But damn, these books are addicting. My book reading quickly evolved past the usual “only when I blow dry my hair in the mornings” to…every waking second.

Thankfully my friend gave me all three of the “Twilight” books on CD this week. Edward, Bella and Jacob now live happily on my iPod.

Look at me, Hands Free nerdiness.

Now I can be a little more productive. I can cook dinner while listening to the books on my iPod. No huge hardbound book to lug around anymore.

Not only can I prepare dinner while being lost in the complex story lines of forbidden love between a teenage girl and an immortal vampire (and the sexual tension that exist because of said forbidden love), but I can listen and separate the laundry at the same time.

And brush my teeth sans fear of dropping any toothpaste remnants onto my beloved books.

Right before bedtime last night my nerdiness reached an all time high when I discovered that not only could I listen to “Twilight” on my iPod in bed, but I could listen to it and do Sudoko at the same time.

Dude, while IN BED!

I woke up this morning and was happy that I could blow dry my hair while actually looking at myself in the mirror and not have to worry about reading words on pages of a book.  That’s so last season.

Dude, it’s all about the iPod.

And Edward.

So tell me, am I the last person to jump on the “books on tape” bandwagon here?  And um, anyone else out there a “Twilight” fan besides Christar and me?

(And just to prove, once again, that Mormons are awesome, do you realize that the author of “Twilight” Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon?  Yes she is.)

Call me a nerd (NERD!), but I love going to Canada and being all “we’re in another country right now”. I mean, we are in another country, but dude, we’re only a few hours away. And Canadians still speak the same language.

(Although they do use different money, so that’s kinda cool.)

Hey look at me, I’m in another country!

And look, we’re in Canada without our kid to mess up our lovely hotel room! (The lovely hotel room that we got for cheap on priceline! This room typically goes for well over $200.)

In case you aren’t sure what we were doing up in Canada for One Night Only, let me show you:

We were rocking out.

Holy crap, after over three long years, my all time favorite band, the Old 97’s are finally back on tour. Being as The King and I are such huge fans, we had long ago promised that we would see every show we could.

And so last Friday afternoon, we left work early, dropped Babboo off at The King’s sisters house and headed for the border with our concert tickets and passports in hand.

The show was scheduled to start super early. As in 7:00 early. Apparently Vancouver has some sort of curfew where the bands have to be done and off the stage by 10:00 PM! Dude, that is early.

With that in mind, The King and I arrived at Richard’s on Richards in time to catch most the opening act, Hayes Carll, who hails from Texas.

Get this, Hayes Carll was totally was awesome. While I admit that, on paper, his type of music wouldn’t appeal to me-I throughly enjoyed his set. As did The King.

But then, da-da-dum, Rhett and the rest of the band took the stage.

And then I died.

Rhett Miller always begins his sets with a clean, crisp shirt. (He also always looks super dreamy. Dreamy is the best word to describe him.)

The Old 97’s started with a song from their new album, “Blame It On Gravity”, and then just kept up the magic with “Barrier Reef” which is one of my all time favorite songs in the history of music. (I even took a little video of them. You can watch it HERE.) The King and I were both excited when Murry Hammond, the bass player, sang the fourth song. Listening to Murry is always a treat.

As per usual, as the night progressed, so did the sweat on Rhett’s shirt.

I’m not sure what to make of the Vancouver show. It was super small. Like maybe only 300 people. And I’m not 100% sure that most of the crowd were that big of fans of the band either. I sort of got the feeling that a lot of them were there because they heard a band from Texas was playing.

I saw loads of actual cowboy boots. And some line dancing.

And, surprisingly, a lot of gay men.

(Which makes sense since Rhett is so dreamy. But still, it surprised me. I’m just saying.)

Since the show was so small the Old 97’s used the night to try out some new things. They played “Here’s to the Halcyon” (from the new album) and admitted they had never played it together before. Of course they rocked it. (I like the new album more and more each time I listen to it.)

The concert flew by. Maybe it was because it was so early in the night. Maybe it was just because The King and I were having a good time. (Is there where I tell you that the guy standing next to The King kept farting during the entire concert? Yeah, it was bad and almost ruined his night. Almost.)

I can’t speak for Rhett, but I think he and I made eye contact a few times. (Rhett, if you’re reading this, did we make eye contact?) Although he mostly had his eyes on the cute college girls up on the balcony.

As promised, the Old 97’s exited the stage by 10:00. Thankfully they came out for one last encore and said they had been informed backstage that they didn’t have to leave after all.

And so they played a few more songs. Naturally “Timebomb” was the last song. And it was heavenly.

We headed out of the show a little too fast for my liking. I brought my CD and a sharpie to the show in hopes of getting the band to sign it. The King told me stuff like that embarrasses him. So instead we just headed to our car. Hoping it was still here. (We’ve noticed that Vancouver parking lots have this weird thing where homeless people ask you to pay them extra to “watch” your car while it’s parked in the pay lot. Which we take to mean “if you don’t pay me, I might do something to your car.” So we pay.)

(Our car was fine.)

We woke up early on Saturday and realized how much we were missing our little guy. We got up and headed out early enough, hoping to miss most of the wait at the border crossing.

Um yeah, we didn’t miss the traffic. We had almost a two hour wait at the border. Which meant we had plenty of time to waste by taking pictures of us together in the car.

You know, just hanging out together. And what not.

I tried to get a picture of the Peace Arch through our sunroof. But instead I got a picture of both the Peace Arch and our roof rack.

Awesome.

(I am available for hire for all your photography needs, just let me know. I’m cheap. And also, not very good.)

I was able to spend the majority of the time in the car preparing my Father’s Day sermon for church the next day. (It rocked, in case you were wondering.) It was good to have that said and done with. And with time to spare. Phew.

We arrived back in Seattle in time to pick up our kid before who he forgot exactly who Mommy and Daddy were. Thankfully Babboo had a good time at his first ever sleep over with his cousins and didn’t want to leave their much bigger and toy-filled house.

But whatever, we had to get home and change to go to my cousin’s wedding.

The run down of my little cousin’s wedding is this:

• Girls look pretty in wedding dresses
• Boys look nice in suits
• My kid likes to run in circles
• And he likes to eat tacos and drink soda
• Mexican food should be served at all parties
• I shouldn’t have a cousin old enough to be married
• I am old

We then raced home in time to pick up our first-ever-teenage-babysitter, change into our party clothes, put Babboo to bed and head out for the Second Night of Awesomeness in our Weekend of Awesomeness.

That’s right people, we saw the Old 97’s again.

Oh yes, more of this:

And this:

There was even a little more of this:

Which is something we haven’t really had much of in the past two years of child-rearing and house-building (respectively).

Hayes Carll opened the show again in Seattle. And he was great, again. But the little treat about the Seattle show was the other opening act, I Love Math. I Love Math is a fun little band that plays fun little songs. They also share the same drummer, Philip Peeples, with the Old 97’s. Although I admit most of the members of I Love Math looked like they couldn’t be a day over 17. Dude, do their moms know they’re on tour?

The Seattle show was totally different from the Vancouver show. While they were much tamer in Canada, they totally rocked the (completely packed) house in Seattle. The Showbox was full of fans. And while that makes for an exciting show, it also makes for a show full of d*uche bags and idiots. Seriously, I paid money to hear the Old 97’s sing, not to hear the d*uche bag behind me sing.

(I’m all for singing along to a band you like. But dude, you don’t have to scream along. Just mouth the words. And that’s only if you have to.)

And while wearing 3 inch heels two nights in a row played havoc on my poor feet, it was worth it to see the Old 97’s two freakin’ nights in a row.

(Check out my video that proves how hard this band rocks.)

The Old 97’s played rocked for quite a long time. They had three (!!) encores and I could have danced through three more. But I’m not sure our babysitter would have liked that. She was already out way past her bed time.

And, let’s be honest, it was way past my bedtime too.

So tell me, have I finally convinced any of you to give the Old 97’s a listen yet? I’ve only been begging y’all to give them a try for three years. Download one of their songs. Stat.