10 random facts about me

1. i am obsessed with photography blogs. i love them. i read them every day and live vicariously through the photographers. i am saving up for a nikon d60 and in the meantime am pouring over photography books like understanding exposure and the adobe photoshop cs4 book for digital photographers. maybe one day i'll be able to take photos that are half as good as some of these folks: Esther Havens Photography, Gary Chapman Photography, Jasmine Star Photography, The Beautiful Mess (owned and operated by a guy i went to high school with and his uber-talented wife), and Love the Schultzes. there are many more photographers that i follow online, but these are some of my favorites.

2. i am obsessed with goals. i have fitness goals, financial goals, weekend goals (get "insert chore here" done). for example, i decided last fall that i was going to run a half marathon this year... well, i've done that, am doing the cascade lakes relay in a couple of weeks, and the portland marathon in october. my half marathon turned into a running trifecta... and that's just the way i like it.

3. my dog is my child. i love her like i imagine i will love my future human children. i worry for her safety, i spoil her, i'm proud of her when she learns something new, and i love, love, love cuddling with her. she makes me happy.

4. i have a husband (and a dog!) that can't sit still, which is probably why we're so good together. if we have a day off, we're off to the lake, on a hike, golfing, biking or playing tennis. he also hates shopping. i think he's been a good influence on my fitness level and my spending habits.

5. i have nervous breakdowns when things are messy or out of place -- not so good when you live with a man and a dog. when they first arrived in oregon in february, i was constantly stressed out about my messy car for WEEKS! i still hate that there is dog hair, dirt and dust everywhere in my car... but i try not to get upset about it.

6. i have visited 9 countries and lived for a period of time in 2 of them (france for 13 months and new zealand for nearly 4 years). next up: chile and peru in 2011 (see? another goal.).

7. my husband and i had a fairy tale start to our relationship. we met in france where we lived at an abbey, and on our first date we kissed in front of a castle. we both cried at the paris airport when we had to leave each other because, at the time, we didn't know when we'd see each other again. and then he missed me so much, he asked me to move to new zealand to be with him -- and it took me about 1/2 a day to decide to go. that's just how i roll.

8. if my checkbook isn't up-to-date down to the penny at any given point, i feel unsettled! weird but true. i like knowing exactly how much money i have.

9. chad and i are one of those fancy couples that own property overseas -- we have a house in new zealand. not because we necessarily want to, though. we tried to sell it last year and couldn't, so we put tenants in it. we'll put it back on the market late this year. better luck this time.

10. ice cream and espresso are two of my favorite things. put them together in a milkshake and i'm one happy girl.

summer tunes

i walked through the cellar today and the guys were all jamming to Fat Freddy's Drop, a favorite new zealand band of mine. chad and i saw them in concert at Peregrine Wines during my first summer in nz. in fact, we took in a cooler (aka "chilly bin") containing cans of red bull and a bag of ice. when the lady at the gate asked us if we had vodka in our bag of ice, we just awkwardly laughed because, well, we actually did. thankfully she let us through anyway - which made for a fun night, lol! at any rate, this band is one of my favorites, especially for sitting out next to the bbq on a warm summer's evening... or just for listening to at your desk, which i'm doing as we speak.

you can find them here on itunes.

in other news, i promised yesterday that i'd try to keep a "things i'm thankful for" list going. here is day 2:

i am thankful that i have a healthy body which allows me to do things like run a 216.6 mile relay! t minus 5 weeks and 3 days until the cascade lakes relay. i see LOTS of hill training in my near future...

goals before 30

in three days, i'll turn 29, which means there is still a lot to do before i hit the new decade.

i can't say that 28 has been bad, that is for sure. the last year brought a lot of changes. in fact, it was my last birthday which saw chad flying back to nz (not the best of birthday presents, but hey...). the fact that we got married, he and fife are now in oregon, and he is working as viticulturist is pretty fantastic!

so, with that, here are some things i want to accomplish within the next 368 days:

1) run the cascade lakes relay and the portland marathon (training in progress)

2) sell the house in nz; explore options for buying here in the valley

3) start a 401k (i.e. finally be a responsible adult) - plus some other financial goals

4) buy a nikon d90, keep reading photography books and blogs, and see if we can't create some acceptable images!

5) go to nz for dane and julia's wedding and christmas with the douglas clan

6) book trip to chile and peru (even if the actual travel doesn't happen until after my 30th birthday)

so, now that this is all out in public, i'll be held accountable!

chad and fife are in the air!

well, chad and fife are somewhere over the south pacific as we speak. their auckland to l.a. flight took off about 2.5 hours ago and they are due into l.a. around 7.00 a.m.

alison sent me a photo of them at the airport.... doesn't my little girl look ready to fly?!!! i hope all the american dogs over here understand her kiwi accent! :-)


i am so excited to see them, i can hardly stand it!

either i'm really good at predicting the future, or really good at making things happen...

i know this is post #2 today, but i had to share this!

i kind of had to chuckle at myself today when i came across this blog posting i put up about 2.5 years ago. i was bound and determined to get back to the states. who know it would actually happen right about the time i said it would? just one month off!

Monday, July 9, 2007
2009.....countdown to America!!!

chad and i had a nice long chat yesterday and laid it all out on the table. we are going to go ahead with this house - only because we got an appraisal on it and we can make $120,000 profit off of it. we'd be stupid not to do it. so, we're going to say here for two more years - enough time to build the house and then hock it off to some unsuspecting soul. ;-) chad also started his new job when we got back from the u.s. and told his boss he'd give him at least two years, so it would be rude to leave earlier.

but the plan is to do a vintage in oregon in 2009 and take it from there. that would mean august 2009, but then chad said why stay in central otago for the winter (good point!), so potentially we could be back by may 2009. that will work itself out later, but the important thing is that we have an "end date" and we'll have enough money behind us to establish ourselves with a house and, potentially, a small business. (yeah!)

i think this post is fitting since chad and fife will literally be on a plane in one week to come to oregon to live and work!! unfortunately, we didn't manage to "hock our house off to some unsuspecting soul," but it will happen. we'll just rent it out in the meantime and be poor - but poor and in love! :-)