Any Animal House fans?

I decided since I hadn't done a blog post in a while I would tell you all about some local history. By a show of hands how many people have seen the John Bulushi movie Animal House?

Well I don't know how many people know that it was filmed here in Lane County Oregon. A lot of movies have been filmed in Oregon but most of them have been filmed up north. Twilight and Goonies being the 2 most popular. But Lane County's claim to fame is Animal House. Although if you have seen the movie it's almost embarrassing and if you haven't seen it all I should have to say is National Lampoon's and you will probably get the gist of what kind of comedy it is.

The majority of the movie was filmed on campus at the University Of Oregon. The parade scene was filmed 30 minutes south in Cottage Grove (for the anniversary of the movie they held a huge toga party in C.G. ) and then there was a scene at the Dexter Lake Club.

Inside the club was filmed somewhere else but the front of the actual Dexter Lake Club was a hilarious scene where the guys from the movie hit almost every car in the parking lot trying to get out of there!

Yesterday on my latest geocaching adventure we were sent to the Dexter lake club to find a cache.

The view from the infamous parking lot is so pretty (this picture doesn't do it justice.)

Unfortunately it is for sale right now. It's sad that a piece of history like this (albeit a small piece of history) is just going to be sold, it would be a great tourist attraction if someone fixed it up and marketed it as a tourist stop.Maybe with some memorabilia and pictures from the movie? Would be cool.Incase anyone is interested in buying it Dexter Lake Club is a little under 30 minutes from Eugene and could be a great opportunity.

Geochaching...or why I haven't been on the computer lately

I had been curious about this hobby for a while now and finally decided to try it. I found I really enjoy it :)

So, what is GeoCaching (pronounced Geo Cash ing)? When I descride it to most people I say it's like a huge treasure hunt, not to be confused with a scavenger hunt.A scavenger hunt you have specific things on a list you are looking for. Geocaching you are given coordinates to locations posted on geocaching.com. These will lead you to places where other people have hid "caches" which can be anything from the size of your pinky nail to a 10 gallon tub. Inside these caches you can find anything from a log sheet that you leave your mark on or SWAG (basically stuff you have around the house that you may or may not use.) Mostly toys from happy meals are considered swag.


Our family name and the kids displaying swag.

Not just a family hobby, because some of these can be quite tough. They send you on hikes in the forrest which I absolutley love. Once you find a cache you log your visit on the paper log if it isn't soaked and if you take some swag you need to replace it with other swag.

Me signing the log.

you would be amazed what you can find in your local area. right now my area within a 20 mile radius has 1290 caches. At first we didn't have gps so i was using google maps to help me pin point coords. We found a lot of golf balls and very few caches.


I broke down and we went to a pawn shop and bought a gps (garmen etrex) from $60.00 (usd) since then we have now found a total of 38 caches in the month we have been doing this. It's really a lot of fun. I highly recomend it.



PS sorry for some of the pictures being so big I havem't resized them because I haven't been on the computer much :)

Day at the Oregon Coast

His little footproints across the sand.

My sister

my review of Alice in Wonderland

(spoiler alert~ Oh yeah and I have only seen the movie twice so if I get any quotes wrong, forgive me.)






Alice "sometimes I think of 6 impossible things before breakfast."



Hatter "that's a wonderful practice but for now you should focus on one."

1. There is a potion that will make you shrink.


2. There is a cake that can make you grow


3. Animals can talk


4. Cats can disappear


5. There is a place called Wonderland


6. I can slay the Jabberwaukie.





I love the classic Alice in Wonderland tale. I also love movies. What is a good indicator that I loved a movie? I get obsessed with it! (Twilight Saga, Rent, Wizard of Oz, Titanic.) However on a scale of 1-10, 10 being obsessed...I give Alice in Wonderland a 9.





Things I loved!


~Alice's pretty costume changes. The way the outfits just drape on her is great. I especially loved her Um from Umbrage dress (big and little) but sadly could not find a picture of it on the Internet to steal.


~Johnny Depp's rendition of the Mad Hatter! I heard one argument that Helena Bonham Carter's red queen. I personally didn't think so. I have hated some of Johnny Depps characters in the past...namely the tripped out reporter in Leaving Las Vegas.But I loved the Hatter! He had so many different dimensions childlike, protector, comforting and rebel!!



Things I Liked.

~The script. It was so quotable. Beyond just the regular Alice in Wonderland quotes. "off with her head!" "beware the jabberwauk""why is a raven like a writing desk?" but new ones that I really like for instance the 6 impossible things I listed at the beginning of this blog and my new random line "down with the bloody big head!"

~The Red Queen. She was "cute." not the best word for a mean mad women but she reminded me of my 6 year old! She threw a fit when she didn't get her way, wanted everyone to pay attention to her and worship her. (hey that is a lot like my 6 year old!!!!!!!!!!! LOL) I do wish that they did make her go a little more mad so that it would be more believable that she was feared.









What I didn't like. :(

~For a Tim Burton movie I expected a lot more imagination and magic. When Alice enters wonderland through the door it's perfect, very whimsical. I liked the red queens castle as well. But after that the background was just that background. I could have easily watched the whole thing in front of a green screen and received the same effect. Wonderland is not just about the characters. It is a huge place that as a little girl I really wanted to get lost in. i do not want to be in Tim Burton's Wonderland.

~Missing characters. i am sure because of story line it was necessary to get rid of these character's but I did miss them. One being the white knight. I guess the Hatter took his place at times but you got to love the old knight who must serve the white queen until he dies. The other 2 don't play a huge role in the Alice in Wonderland story but the moral of their story within the story is very important. That would be the walrus and the carpenter....The time has come the walrus said to speak of many things....come on! sigh oh well.



So that's just my opinion I would love to hear yours. comment please!

Learning to Crochet

I am excited to announce that I am learning how to crochet....it's not as hard as I thought it would be but I am still learning. Not sure if I am making a pot holder or ???? but I will share the finished project, if I ever finish it :)

An Emotional Day

Today is my son's 3rd birthday and i must say he has turned out to be such a handsome little man.

I will spare you any gory details but wanted to share what an emotional day it is for me. You see shortly after we learned I was pregnant with him my mother in law moved down to Orange County California...She was really happy to hear we were having a boy. A week after we found out though, she unfortunately passed away. There is no nice way to say this, my husband is a big mamma's boy so he was of course devastated when she left. He was so depressed at that point in time that he said having Brighton at that time was bad timing. I know now that he didn't mean it the way it came out but it was still hurtful.

I had to be induced because I guess my body just doesn't like to progress the way I think it should (My daughter was induced as well) so we went in at 8 am and started the process...It was a long day and no matter how many times people tell you each pregnancy is different you never think it is until you go through it. Compared to my nightmare labor with Mckenna (I couldn't even tell you all that happened with her because most of it I don't remember because of a mess up with the drugs) everything happened in slow motion. Every contraction felt like a roller coaster only backwards, you get the pit of your stomach feeling building up to the peak and then relief coming down.

During the really bad part of my contractions though my hubby in his depressed state was distant (wishing his mom was there) and not very helpful. Thankfully he did a little bit better when it came time to push. 5:29 pm on March 7th 2007 Brighton Dawson was born. Almost 8 lbs 21 inches long with a 13inch head. And of course he was precious!

I held on to him for most of the day and took care of him that night as well (My husband let me sleep after Mckenna was born so this time it was my turn to stay awake with the new baby.) I was so happy and thankful that he was finally there in my arms. I had had 3 miscarriages before he came along so I spent most of my pregnancy praying he would stay with me.Words could not truly express how I felt about finally holding my lil man.

As we were getting ready to leave the nurses insisted that he wear a hat because he was so new and little. The only hat they could find was a crocheted red cap...a sign from heaven. Brian's mom loved crafts and her favorite color was red....you decide.

Love Love Love

Here it is the end of Febuary and I have written much here in a while so I thought I would do a little post (again.)

First of all, like the picture? This was my look for the Winter Formal that my office threw lately. My husband even bought a suit for the ocassion ( or maybe just an excuse to buy one) and we ended up staying for only an hour...alas we are not the ritzy type.

Valentines day was nice but somewhat uneventful...

So on to March, and much will be going on! First of all it will be Brighton's 3rd birthday...*sighP no longer a baby. The day after as silly as it may sound it will be our 8th year anniversary...we have been married for 5 years but acctually got together 8 years ago. It's gone by so fast and I know most people don't celebrate thier original get together anniversary after they get married but we are still so in love...

How did I know he was the one? Well one night while we were out the subject came up about us being a couple. I was still seeing my high school sweetheart casually, but we didn't want the same things. I was still holding out for him though so I explained this to Brian . He didn't even blink an eye. He told me to talk to for mentioned "sweetie" and see what he wanted.No matter what he would be there for me and he would wait for me if he had to. :) That's what hooked me, I made the choice to be with him that night and we have been together ever since.

"Wait, what about your high school sweetheart?"

Good question. We stayed friends for a while after that and eventually he got married and has a couple kids of his own. We haven't spoken in a while and I still hold a lil soft spot for him but that is the way life goes.

Anyone have a simular experiance? How did you know your honey was the one?

Waterfalls

You will notice that when I get the chance I love to take road trips...and pictures. Living in the part of Oregon I live in, I don't understand how any Oregonian can not be an out doors person. Even just a little bit. An hour in one direction we have mountains, an hour the other direction we have the coast. As long as you have a vehicle that can make the trip and the spare gas it is a nice way to waste the day away.



Tuesday we packed up the trust north west standerd S.U.V. and went up to Sahalie and Koosah Falls. http://web.oregon.com/hiking/sahalie_falls.cfm

the sign at the begining of the trail

There was still some snow and ice up there, keep in mind I live in the Willamette Valley which means that it usually doesn't snow more then a couple an inches a year down here so when we want to see snow we drive up to the mountains.

My daughter was in school so we took my son.

so pretty there! If you get a chance, stop by.

until next time....thanks for viewing

Style? What style?

So upon lots of consideration this morning I came to the realization that I just can not stick with one "Style". I love love love reading the vintage style blogs and will still continue to make attempts...but alas for this girl it is a little too much up keep. I'm not that high maintance, give me a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans any day!

So where does that leave me? Out of the box. I am a little bit of everything. As described on my myspace page I am a foo foo bad ass red neck hippi in a insecure shell...that fits. Just thought I would share :)

my first product review!

photo courtesy of Soap And Glory. com

Ok so I am not some kind of expert on beauty products or style but I wanted to share my opinion of Soap and Glory's Off Your Face cleansing cloths- available at Target.

I noticed the product first on Lisa Freemont Street's blog. Just a quick mention about Soap and Glory's retro product line...as she hadn't had the chance to try it out. I didn't really pay attention to it much since I don't normally find myself in Target.

But low and behold yesterday I was in Target looking for make up remover. Knowing my new slight obsession with vintage things my sister spotted the product line before I did.

They have a wide variety of products. Not only do they have cosemetics and skin care products, but they also have gift ideas and fragrences. All cutely marketed with retro looking advertising.

So I figured since I had a few extra dollars I gradded this off the shelf. Odbviously this is not really ment to be make up remover, but it works. This product reminds me more of Oxy or Clean and Clear cleansing pads but without the harsh burn of alcohol. They are also really soft with no harsh smell. I had to giggle when I read the ingredient list on thier website: Poreshrink-rs, glycerin and parfum.

I might be checking out some more of thier products when I get the chance to go back to Target. Check out thier website!http://www.soapandglory.com/us/

When did I become such a homebody?

Tonight I kind of feel like this picture. But trust me this isn't how I see myself at all! I used to go out every night, once I started having kids of course that slowed down a lot. I used to jump at the chance of going out (after the kids are in bed and I know some one is there to watch them if they wake up...I have a household full of people by the way.) but tonight I passed. By Choice.

And then I ask myself...why???? As previously mentioned I used to love going out. So what is different about now? Have I grown out of the bar scene, yes but doesn't mean I couldn't still go out and have a good time.

The only thing I can think of is that Friday is my 29Th birthday. My last year to be "in my twenties". I have heard lots of people say 30 is the new 20...I'll believe it when I see it. Am I scared to be 30? NO,if I was scared of being twenty I would be having a mid life crisis going hog wild!

I maybe a little sad that I am getting older but I am that is no reason to stay home...right? Idk if anyone reads this let me know what you think.

SHamlessly promoting my friend

So I'm not very popular right now, well not at all actually lol, but I wanted to promote my friends new venture. She is really good at knitting and her first creation is this.

I will be purchasing one very shortly ( I actually owe her a lot) and hope to be modeling it soon. I think it is clever, a cap that you can actually wear a pony tail with! If anyone is interested right now that comes across this blog -currently she is only on Artfire under the name KPKnits. :)