Things That Go

Cars. Bus. Truck. Fire truck. Dump truck. Airplane. Taxi. Van. If it's mobile and it has wheels, you can bet your life Hunter is loving it right now.

That's what makes the video below so special -- that and the fact the book H is reading from cost my mom upwards of 10 cents at a library used book sale. Endless hours of entertainment doesn't come much cheaper than that my friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE JUNIPER!

Whoa. When did my baby brother turn 30? That's just wild to even see in type. But it's true -- today, June 25th, my bro (aka: [Hit It] PJ, Uncle Juniper, Winker, the Mayor of MacLove City, Bro-eseaux) turns the big 3-0. Amazing.

And yes, there are many stories I could recount for us on my bro, including (but not limited to) how great at the age of 6 he looked wearing a headband, the countless hours of School/Office/House he was forced to play, his uncomparable Lego constructions, acting out the many (read: MANY) puppet shows his sister wrote for a performance of just Mom, his chasing of Richie Neumeyer from the 2nd grade bus and his untouchable skills as a NASA space engineer who read the letters "USA" emblazoned across the side of a rocket as it blasted into our atmosphere... using only his naked eye.

My baby bro became a big man. And a pretty fine one at that.

Well here's to many, many more stories to come in your next 1/3 of life PJ. Happy bday to you.

Things We Are Loving This Week

• Hunter's new love for anything mobile and/or with wheels. (As said in H language): itsaBIGtruck!, arpane, duh truck, mowercycle!, bussss.
• Still reliving our Portland vaca (and no, we haven't forgotten to post the pics), including the search for the Shanghai tunnels, watching the elation spread on our friend (the groom) Mike's face upon learning his beloved Penguins had won the Stanley Cup, visiting Vista House and the Columbia Gorge in a huge cloud of fog, running into the inaugural Banancon celebrants, a hotel room without a bathroom (but with a private balcony) and sleeping in. As long as we wanted.
• Hunter's Mimi and Papa for watching him while we were away. And helping him achieve a kick-ass pool tan.
• Rogue beer straight from the tap.
• A 2-hour Scrabble match while the sun sets over Portland.
• Remembering why I started dating my hubs to begin with = because he's so easy to talk to.
• H greeting Brad home from work with a big hug and declaring LalaYu (translation: I love you)
• My brand new, white, 32G, 3GS iPhone. It's beautiful. Moment of silence in respect for Apple's uncomparable wisdom and design.

• 
  Our new fence!!!


• The song "I Feel Like a Child" by Devendra Banhart
• The book "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides (a Detroit born and raised author no less)
• Prepping for the New Kids On The Block concert on Thursday night
• This baby owl taking up residency at my mom's house

• Spending time on Detroit's Riverfront courtesy of Detroit River Days
• Amici's Pizza and martinis in Berkley, MI with old friends (Jason is home!) and new friends (Anthony and Katie)

Friday Bloody Friday (Not For The Faint of Heart)

Looks innocent, doesn't he? One brown eye. One blue eye. Responds to direction well. Generally an all-around likable dog. Not the slightest bit afraid of strangers or other animals or thunderstorms. (SFX: Record screech) TRY AGAIN.

Our dear pooch Becks has suddenly developed an aversion to Mother Nature. And by "aversion" I mean a 100-mile-an-hour-panting, lap sitting (nevermind the 55 pounds of fur), cram-self-under-basement-stairs-induced aversion (read: PANIC) of thunderstorms. And it all came to a horrifying crescendo on Friday night, circa 11:30pm.

Typically during storms, Beckham is relegated to the laundry room where he cozily lays under the stairs and waits out the pounding. But the squalls that hit last week birthed this frail alter-ego of Becks that led us to lock him in the laundry room with the lights off. So he attempted to break through the drywall. We opted to rebuild his doggie cage and stuck him in. So he broke out in the matter of 5 minutes. We put him back in his doggie cage, complete with duct tape and bungee cords to secure it shut... And he showed up in the guest bedroom (where Brad and I had taken cover and attempted to get some much-needed rest) 15 minutes later. That's when all hell broke lose.

Becks looked as though he had crossed the path of an angry Lennox Lewis and was covered from head to toe in blood. And so was our house. And the cabinets. And the floors. And some of the walls. And the basement. After near fainting, Brad and I sprung into action assessing wounds (couldn't find any aside from a small cut in his mouth), pulling out mops and various other cleaning items and making a late night stop at the 24-hour vet. Verdict? Aside from his Houdini-like escape from a still locked cage, Becks was diagnosed with extreme anxiety and promptly shot up with a very large prescription of sedation. The blood? All stemmed from that small cut in his mouth. I was sure it was his jugular. Thank goodness a vial of doggie valium also made the trip home with him. Apparently we'll need it.

So the moral of the story is... we have a cage-escaping animal on our hands who I'm ready to market to Ringling Bros. I think I'll call him Crazy Canine.

Wedding Madness

WOW -- wedding bells are ringing in the village square! While Brad and I recoup from our Portland trip and start to gather the details for posting, have a couple *KUDOS* to shout for some of our newly-wedded friends:

• Mike and Sasha, who threw a spectacular bash in Portland -- CONGRATS!
• Anthony and Katie, who are likely sunning themselves on the beach following their nuptials on Friday as well -- CONGRATS!

But nothing is more outstanding than this Save the Date video my BFF sent over. Love when creativity gets the better of folks and this definitely takes the (er, wedding) cake. Enjoy!

Got up early to hit the trails of Multnomah Falls this am. We are cruising along the scenic highway and encountering a ton of early morning cyclists. My Dad and Butch would be salivating if they could only see what we are driving on right now. Plenty of pics to come but in case you need a sneak preview, google Mt Hood Scenic Highway.

We made it! Landed in Portland about 40 minutes ago and am now watching brad navigate the crazy long Budget Rental Car line. Mt. Hood was directly out my window, like a beacon of welcome to the West Coast. We've already spotted our first bottle of Rogue beer and can't wait to start driving through the gorgeous green hills. More to come.

Good Riddance Free Address Labels!

Was tiring of constantly slapping those free, non-profit address labels on outgoing mail (or was it guilt perhaps riding me for not having sent in a check? Hey, I volunteer!). Regardless, I finally opted to invest in something a bit more Creative than a label bearing a misprint of our last name.

Just couldn't help myself after discovering this adorable address stamp by Sweet Papery.

Now don't be too disappointed -- our mail will not be embossed with the Thompson family but it will look pretty darn cute. And mod. And classy IMO. They also have plenty more options should this one not strike you the same as it did me.

Pay my bills via postal mail? Happy to... let me just find my stamp pad.

Hello? Hello? Is There Anybody Out There?

A friend's blog recently posted a note that they realized their Comments moderator had been turned off and it made me notice that we've never had a comment posted to our blog in its history. So it leads me to ask, Is there anybody out there? If so, help us out with a little experiment: Hit us up on the Comments section for this particular post and let us know you're there. If no one responds, I may need to do a little digging to figure out what's up...

Things We Are Loving This Week

• That HWB has suddenly learned how to say 'truck' and 'bus' although I'm sad that they replace his former favorite of big carse


• It's a big truck: Hunter's new favorite phrase upon passing any vehicle larger than mine


• Catching up on the final 6 episodes from this past season of Lost. WOW!


• Discovering more new music: Devendra Banhart (try I Feel Like A Child), Ratatat and Patrick Wilson


• Planning for the September Kings of Leon concert at the Palace with E/L, P/K and Heath and Dee


• Twitter. I've become a fan. And never felt so close to Lance Armstrong before in all my life (he's also a fan).


• Odwalla's original Superfood. Was scared to try it originally but now can't get enough. My insides have never been so happy.


• The final countdown until the fence install (clock check: Less than 20 hours!)


• My mom for having come out at late notice to hang with HWB this weekend... and then letting both Brad and I catch up on some very. much. needed. sleep.


• All of the new iPhone details from this week's WWDC in San Fran (where my bro is currently holed up but lovin it). Cannot WAIT to buy it!


• Prepping for Thursday's journey to Portland (and grateful to Mimi and Papa for watching HWB while we're gone)


• And finally, this picture of a very happy little boy enjoying the playground with his Mommy and Gma (and donning nothing short of his first, official UofM t-shirt):
  

LPOTD: MidLfC and CrbaKng

It's time for our LPOTD, and BOY have there been some good ones lately! Couldn't resist adding these two sightings though from my bro and cuz Larraine:

1. Comes from Southern Cal where PJ spotted this Nissan parked outside Whole Foods. Fitting LP for such an *ahem* mid-life crises-type car.
2. Rain and her hubby Mike discovered this gem on a small road trip in Cali as well. Their assumptions are either the guy is a snake charmer (or maybe I added that) or a gang leader of types. Regardless, it makes for a pretty laughable plate.

I <3 San Francisco

Here's what I awoke to this morning -- from the 22nd floor of the Hilton Financial on Kearny St.

San Fran is gorgeous today and I'm looking forward to hitting the streets when work is done. As it turns out, our night has been freed so I'm looking forward to hanging with my co-workers and catching up with some old friends tonight and catching a bit more of what the area has to offer.

Yesterday was spent cruising through Cali in a Prius with my boss and Creative Director as awe headed to my Client's plant in Dinuba. The view from the back seat was spectacular and it was incredible driving through the endless fields of fruit trees. We passed the Sun-Maid crops, Ruiz and Land O Lakes farms (who knew Cali held the largest dairy farming production in the US?).

Arrived at the plant around 2pm PST; I'm purposefully omitting their brand name from this post as my last one was picked up by Google Alerts so I'm going to keep it on the dl. And because most of the things we witnessed yesterday was proprietary, let me just say that upon stepping out of the car, we were immediately greeted with the sweet smell of citrus thanks to the thousands of tons of fresh fruit processed there on a daily basis. I can only imagine returning home at the end of the day emanating the lemony perfume we smelled upon arrival. Can only imagine it has to bring an enlightenment to your every day.

We headed back to San Fran and got stuck sitting on the Bay Bridge for about 45 minutes making us late for dinner. Somehow the conceirge managed to finagle getting us into one of the hottest joints currently in SF: Slanted Door. Amazing Asian fusion food and absolutely to die for.

Returning home tomorrow and will head straight to Heath and Dee's for our now annual celebration of Heath's bday, complete with a shipment of good ole Texan barbeque. :) Stay tuned for more.

Landed in San Fran last night around 9:57 local time. What was meant to be a quiet flight turned into me almost pulling out a barf bag as our plane abandoned our landing and climbed back to 20k feet in a matter of seconds. Turns out there were high winds kicking and we had to get out of there. Amazing how quickly those jets actually can move.

We opted to get a late night bite at a local fave called Calzone's and try to acclimate ourselves to coastal time.

Right now we are tearing into the heart of Cali in search of my Client's plant in Dinuba. Every hillside is topped with a windmill and the sun is shining bright.. Too bad my counterparts aren't Fleet Foxes fans cause I'm craving some sunny day music right now.

That's One Bumpin' LPOTD!

My bro (nee Uncle Juniper, who got me started on my LPOTD kick) sent along this beauty of a plate from the great state of Cali. Had to share -- and look closely as it appears someone was able to pull over a little somethin' somethin' on the DMV -- it's a 5 and not an 'S' as it might appear...

Things We Are Loving This Week

• "Big carse": Hunter's term for trucks/vans/campers
• "DOGGI-YAH": Hunter's word for 'doggy'
• "Un-ter shoo": One of HWB's first phrases ("Hunter's shoe")
• Playing the first hillbilly golf game of the season
• Having Mike Campbell travel out for one hockey game... and then fly home to Portland the very next day
• Plotting for our Portland getaway (note to self, send Dad our flight itinerary)
• Hunter's new book, courtesy of his 'Uncle Mike' titled The Dangerous Book for Boys, complete with treefort instructions, solar system education, bow and arrow creation, how to survive a pirate attack and other such 'boy' things
• Prepping for Dave Matthews Band's new album, Big Whiskey and The Groo Grux King
• OUR NEW COMPOSTER!!!!
• My new tomato plants that already have one small, Early Bird tomato blooming
• Awaiting the install of our new, PVC vinyl fence for the backyard
• Hunter's 2nd ever haircut (thank goodness his curls came out in force today -- Mommy was worried we'd cut them all off)


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