Joke of the Day #2

A goldfish in a tank looks over at his buddy and says, "You drive... I'll man the guns!"


I had to think about this one for an hour and then Google it before I got the joke! Sad, huh? lol...

Amy's Top Twenty...

As the New Year approaches, it's not uncommon to hear lists rating the "Best" of the prior years... everything from movies to books to music to celebrity moments. Well here's my Top 20 list - my twenty favorite songs of all time. They may not make the critics' lists, but they're the ones that I could listen to over and over and over again... and here they are, in no particular order. Enjoy!

** Note: Most of them link to a YouTube video of the song... a few of them I couldn't find, so you'll have to track them down elsewhere if you want to hear them.





Indigo Girls - Ghost







AC/DC - (You Shook Me) All Night Long








Scott Weiland - But Not Tonight








King Harvest - Dancing in the Moonlight








Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell- Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing








Craig Armstrong & Elizabeth Fraser - This Love








Bob Marley - Mellow Mood








Counting Crows - Anna Begins








Soul Asylum - I Did My Best







Little Feat - Cajun Girl








Mary Chapin Carpenter - Passionate Kisses







Tyrone Wells - More







Bob Dylan - Tonight I'll Be Stayin' Here With You







Chaka Khan - Sweet Thing









Billy Joel - Only the Good Die Young







Wyclef - Perfect Gentleman







Bon Jovi - I'll Be There For You







Rockell - In a Dream







Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee







Buju Banton - It's All Over

Snow!!!

Wow! It almost feels like I'm living up in Welches again... This week, Portland has gotten more snow than it's had in the entire two and a half years I've lived here! Which means... early release (with pay) from work two days last week and work cancelled (with pay) ALL WEEK this week! I don't have to go back to work until January 5th, but I'll get my full paychecks the WHOLE TIME! Can you tell I'm excited about this? Here are some pics of the snow from the walk Abby and I took this morning... it's gorgeous!

The stairs leading up from my apartment this morning... and that's AFTER

I cleared them of snow last night before going to bed!

Powerline Park... our closest place to run and play. Last night, I dropped my cell phone somewhere in this winter wonderland. Two boys heard it ringing, answered it, and

followed Megan's directions to bring it to my apartment and return it!

Thank goodness for the generosity of strangers...

This is the view from my bedroom window...

The tree limbs are covered in ice... and some of them are having a hard time dealing with it.

Abby loves the snow! She runs around like a little kid. Unfortunately, she scraped her poor little paw on some ice shards... she's recovering nicely, though... lots of TLC! :)

New Tyrone Wells Album!

Yay! I've been waiting for the new Tyrone Wells album, "Remain," for months and it's finally available as a digital download at iTunes.

I had heard several songs from the album at concerts or on MySpace, but the entire album is so much better than I could ever have imagined. My new favorite song is called "All Broken Hearts." It's haunting and beautiful and inspiring...

I have loved Tyrone Wells for years now, and I remember when he was just an independent musician from California, touring locally and putting out his own self-produced albums through smaller, independent sites like CD Baby. Now he has a contract with Universal Republic, and his new album debuted on iTunes as one of the top 10 rock albums of the week!

I highly recommend you check it out. If you love Coldplay or U2 or Vertical Horizon... you'll love it! In my opinion, Tyrone has earned every ounce of success that's coming his way!

Joke of the Day #1

A guy sits down in a bar next to a good-looking lady and says, "Fat penguin."

She looks at him with a shocked expression and says, "What?"

So he replies, "Well, I just wanted to say something that would break the ice!"



Ba-da-boom... thanks, Laura!

Australia Pics...

In July 2007, I had the chance to visit Sydney, Australia. Through a twist of fate, I thought all the pics from the trip were lost. But I was just transferring a memory disk from my old digital camera and found most of them! So I thought I'd share... lots of good memories here!


I stayed in several youth hostels in the part of Sydney called King's Cross, a bohemian neighborhood known for its crazy nightlife. I did a lot of walking in the city, and I could always find my way home at night by heading towards this HUGE lit-up Coke billboard, which marks the entrance to King's Cross...

I also spent a few days at a hostel in Bondi Beach, the surf capital just south of Sydney. This is the pool at a member's club in Bondi - it was a saltwater pool, and the waves would literally crash right into the pool when the tide was high!

The highlight of my time in Bondi Beach was a cliffside trail leading from Bondi south to Coogee - several hours walking round trip. It was gorgeous! The coast is rocky and wild... a lot like Oregon's coast, but with fascinating vegetation that I'd never seen before.

There was a huge, eerie cemetary halfway between Bondi and Coogee. A sign said that lots of Irish immigrants had settled in the area in the 19th and 20th centuries and had been buried here. You could see many Irish and English names on the tombstones, which sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Here are some of the houses up on the cliff as you enter Coogee. The light was gorgeous that day... a series of storms had just come through the day before, and the sky was the most brilliant blue I've ever seen.

As I rounded the curve into this small cove, I saw the most beautiful rainbow... both sides touched the ground!

The seasons are reversed in Australia, so it was winter in July. It was about 40 degrees out, and the waves were still pretty fierce from the previous day's storm. I was amazed at how many die-hard surfers were still out on the water, though...

At Featherdale Wildlife Park, you can get up-close and personal with all kinds of Aussie animals.

I loved watching the dingoes... they remind me so much of Abby! :)

Beautiful trees on the way up to the Blue Mountains. This was at a rest area called Echo Point, where we had a gorgeous view of the famous Three Sisters rock formation.

The Blue Mountains...

This was taken in the rain forest that's down in the valleys of the Blue Mountains. It's amazing how much darker and colder it was down in those valleys, thanks to the heavy tree cover in the rain forest.

Overall, I had an amazing trip. I think the most incredible part of it, though, was the fact that I went in the first place. You see, I was in the middle of a six-month long Landmark Education leadership training course that was very challenging... and I decided to drop out of the course. After a few weeks, though, I thought more about my decision and wanted to rejoin the course. However, I had missed a critical training weekend. The course leaders told me that the only way I could rejoin the program and graduate with my friends is if I flew to Sydney, Australia to make up the training... that weekend!


I made the decision to go on a Tuesday morning... I drove to Seattle Wednesday to apply for an expedited passport... I got on the plane Friday morning... and I had a blast!


That was the first time I learned that I really can make ANYTHING happen if I put my mind to it... I am capable of being truly unstoppable! What a valuable life lesson... if only we all knew how powerful we really are!

SoulCollage... Patience

This was the first SoulCollage* card I ever created, at a workshop I took for my birthday in 2007. At that point in my life, I had such a strong desire to be a mother that I couldn't imagine waiting another second. When I saw these images come together on the page and began "listening" to the voice of the infant, I cried.

I realized that the journey to motherhood is happening right now... every day. I will give birth someday in the future... but I am BECOMING a mother as we speak. And everything is unfolding perfectly. And most days, I wait patiently.

Here's the SoulCollage card and the corresponding reading. As your read the words below, listen to them as if the card is speaking to you. In this instance, it is the voice of the infant that we are hearing.

I am the one who waits patiently, knowing that all things will unfold in due time. I honor the process and trust in the Universe to provide for me. I cherish the moment, recognizing everything as perfect... whole and complete, just the way it is right now.

I flow with my circumstances, shifting as needed to be ready for whatever comes next. I represent the balance between being Present in the current moment and looking forward to the future that lies ahead.

I am here to remind you that life is happening right now. THIS is what it's all about... THIS moment... right now. You cannot reach that which you strive for without moving through that which exists right now.

You will remember me when you need it most - when you feel the knot in your stomach that tells you, "Something is wrong here." In that moment, remember the lesson of the pearl - even the most challenging things become beautiful treasures when we accept them for what they are.

We are unfolding together. We are birthing the next moment... and the next... and the next. We are creating beautiful treasures together, right now.

* SoulCollage is the process, developed by Seena B. Frost, of creating and "reading" a deck of collaged cards from found images - cards that are arranged in suits for the primary purpose of self-exploration and self-acceptance. SoulCollage cards are made from original purchased art (e.g., art published in magazines, calendars, books, cards, etc.) and personal materials (e.g., photos). SoulCollage cards are not to be sold, traded, or bartered and are to be reproduced only for the personal use of the maker of the card. For more information about this amazing process, check out http://www.soulcollage.com/ or http://www.kaleidosoul.com/.

An Unexpected Visitor...

Last night around midnight, I found my dog Abby standing at the sliding door that leads onto my back porch. Her ears were perked up, her head was cocked to the side, and she was whining quietly. I glanced out the window, but it was pretty dark out there. However, I could make out the shadow of a six-foot-tall shelving unit that's on the porch... and it was rocking back and forth. I ran to the window and flipped on the porch light to see the biggest raccoon I've ever seen in my life!

He was totally caught in the act... I have an airtight dog food storage container on the back porch, and the smart little bugger had figured out how to unscrew the lid. He had his rear end sticking straight up in the air as he balanced himself on the shelving unit and crawled into the storage container to chow down on Abby's food. When I turned on the light, he just stuck his head out for a moment and went right back to the feast!

I scared him off before going out and screwing the lid back on REALLY tight. Then I turned the light off and waited, with all the inside lights off so I could watch through the window. Sure enough... three or four minutes later he was back, and he tried to get that lid off for several minutes before giving up!

But before he left the porch, he sauntered over to the sliding door where Abby was watching. He put both front paws up on the door and stood to his full height, sniffing at the glass. Abby leaned in and began licking the glass... they were inches apart - just separated by the sliding door. Abby never barked once! I think deep-down inside, she just wanted to make a new friend. :)

What I miss most about living in the woods by Mt. Hood is all the wildlife I used to see every day. It's nice to know that there are some wild animals making it, even in the heart of Beaverton!

Perhaps I'll leave a treat out for our new friend every now and then...



UPDATE!! (12/6/08) - He came back again last night, and I was ready for him. I had the porch light on and a camera ready. He spent a loooong time trying to get the dog food container open, and he explored everything else on the porch just in case there was more food stashed somewhere out there. He also came right up to the sliding glass door to check me out. Here are the rest of the pics from this visit... enjoy!