Through the cradle of the civil war…

Well friends, tomorrow is the day we head off for the other side of the country. I’m sorry I’ve been out — plague struck the HAP house, and I’ve been sick. And preparing for a move at work. And preparing for the road trip.

I’ll be posting travel updates on the cooking blog, so check out my progress there. Tomorrow’s goal is Flagstaff, AZ. I’ve never been to Arizona, and I am excited for the trip and all the states I’ll be able to add to my travel log.

When I get back I’ll also be in a new office, which is exciting, albeit a lot of change to happen at once, but I’m excited to be moving – Spring has sprung, change is in the air, and it’s all necessary and great.

I’ll leave you with 5gts:

1. Road trips with Paul Simon and best friends.

2. Training, although delayed, will be resumed next week when my cough is subsided, and I’ll be stronger than ever (I know it.)

3. New sneakers for my race.

4. New Brett Dennen.

5. Blue nail polish. Everyone should have blue nail polish at some point. Yesterday, Eddie, the check out man at TJ’s, sad, “Let me see your nails?” And proceeded to tell me that his daughter likes to paint her nails “crazy colors” too.

See you soon, chickadees. Love you each and every one.

Relative Danger: a story of sorelle

Chicks, it’s Friday. I am trying to keep my spirit up, despite the fact that apparently I am allergic to the entire state of California.

Last night was a hectic night, as are most nights at the HAP house. We’re shooting a photo shoot this weekend for Garlic, My Soul, and we had some prep cooking to do. We made doughnuts, pancakes, and muffins last night, and Corelyn spent today decorating our baked goods. Becca will be on hand for makeup and quiche-making, and Jeff will be around for man-power. Literally.

Anyways, this week has been long – and it’s been the week of 2.25 mile runs. I can’t believe I am already past 2 miles, and its killing me. I think it’s because I haven’t been to yoga in a while — too busy!! — but my shins have been KILLING ME. My sorella told me I could take a break, so this morning I dragged myself to the gym to do the elliptical machine. At 6:50, I was already late and turns out, it takes you longer to travel the same distance on an elliptical, unless you pump your legs so hard you have to hold on to the machine so you don’t fall off.

I kept an eye on the clock, and had to jump off at 7:20 to make sure I got to work on time. 1.75 miles is all I got before my time was up. It took 22 minutes in all (which actually was about the amount of time it took me to run it, so I guess I wasn’t that far behind.) I somehow had forgotten my lock (who knows where it is? I am hoping on the floor at home) so I had to go out to my car to get it then hustle back inside to get ready for work.

Needless to say, it was another crazy morning. Where’s the yoga when I need it? But when I got to work, Nikki and I signed up for the race. That’s right, folks; on the day I broke and needed a running break, I signed up to run a 5k that I’m not even sure I can do. We signed up with the team name “Relative Danger” just the right amount of truth and cheese. So cheer me on, send me shin stretches, and good vibes…I’m going to need them.

 

Rules, regulations.

I’ve had a reader request to post more about the Scavenger Hunt, which I kind of side-swiped you with, huh? So this was the run down. It was a 12-hour scavenger hunt, 1:00 pm to 1:00 am. In that time, you had to complete as many tasks as possible on the list. It was photo-based, so the list included things like “your entire team in a shopping cart” and “crying over split milk.”

Every team had four or five teammates, and everyone had to be in the pictures, minus one person taking the photo. So if the task was, “On monkey bars” one person could BE on the monkey bars, and everyone else had to be in the frame (to prove you were together and not cheating by splitting up and trying to get more done.)

Besides being back on time (minus 10 points for every 5 minutes you were late) and having everyone one in the photo, there were no rules. The list has over 600 tasks on it, so for the sake of sparing you, I’ve listed a few more below that we did, and will definitely be adding more pictures in the days to come.

sleeping with the fishes
toasting with sparkling beverages
wearing hawaiin shirts
with a parrot
playing Ms. Pacman arcade game
in a fountain
with a stranger with more than 3 facial piercings
conga line in a public place (must involve at least 1 stranger)
Teammate receiving a swirley
running with scissors
Photo of team in a photo booth
holding a monkey
buried in the sand (more than 1/2 of your team)
Drinking out of one milkshake
On the set of a TV show or film

Here are a bunch we didn’t do but wanted to:

With a Pink Caddillac
At a museum
All Members sitting with a random family at a restaurant
With a military serviceman/servicewoman
In a comic book store
Find a grammatical error in a store sign
Sleeping on a bed in a mattress store
At a lighthouse
With a biker gang
All members dressed in camouflage clothing from head to feet
Take a shower at a car wash (bathing suit)
Helping an elderly person cross the street
With a car with no engine

It was a fun day, complete with shirts and lots of laughs. If you want to set up one with your friends, chat with me and I can give you tips!

All our friendship has been for the past 2 years is RUSHING.

I said this to Corelyn last night as we RUSHED out of the door to Trader Joe’s and I said, “Remember that time that we went to TJ’s and forgot our list?”

“Yes, we talk about it nearly every time we go to TJS, obviously it was traumatic.”

“Well yes, and we were rushing for some reason….”

“WE’RE ALWAYS RUSHING.”

“Corelyn, all our friendship has been for the past 2 years is RUSHING. We just RUSH around all the live-long day.”

Last night was no exception. The plan was to do the following: paint chairs, make granola, exchange music (if we had time), maybe slap on a second coat of paint, outfit plan for the photo shoot on Sunday.

On the actual docket? Unexpected visit from Mary, which turned into outfit planning whilst waiting for dinner to arrive. This was a blessing (not in disguised, as Corelyn pointed out) because she had insight into what she really thought would look great. Also unexpected visit from Becca, who showed up because she was supposed to grab dinner with Mary. This turned into dinner with Mary and Becca, whilst hanging out with Melissa, who actually was supposed to come over.

This led us to a late start on our painting, which meant we painted the chairs in my garage in the dark, using a camping light and head lamps. Mary watched for a few minutes before turning to go inside and keep Becca company.

“How do they look?” Mary asked as we came in, about 30 minutes later.

“Well, you’re not going to like them. But we’ll put a second coat on them and they’ll look great,” was my honest response. After that, we sat around for a few minutes making plans for the granola we were about to make, waiting for the food. The Indian place we order from somehow was very late in getting us our food, so this led to us eating and finishing up around 9:15. Since our normal TJ’s closes at 9:00, we had to head to a different one.

As we were going to the car, after saying goodbye to Mary and Becca who were rejuvenated by delicious food and ready for another adventure, Melissa, Corelyn, and I were reminded a) how late it was b) that we had the list and c) all we do is rush.

We headed to TJ’s where we had a hilarious conversation with the check-out guy, “You know how there is always something in granola that you don’t like? This granola will have nothing you don’t like, because YOU made it.” He seemed intrigued. He gave us stickers. One has a chicken with chicks that are multicolored.

Then we went back to the house, when we realized it was 10:00. Perfect time to make granola and paint the second coat. We got everything ready for the oven to bake, then took the timer, the camping lamp, the headlamps, and headed back to the garage.

27 minutes later, we headed back inside, but not before Melissa came to say goodbye and tell us someone had left a hilarious note (which is going to be posted soon, I promise.) She headed home, and we headed inside to finish the granola.

As we washed our teal hands, we could smell the oats and maple syrup all deliciously roasted. We documented what we had already added, and then added a slew of other things while making sure to keep track of what we were adding. Pictures were taken, random splotches of paint were found on each other’s arms, and granola was finished. By the time Corelyn left it was nearly quarter to midnight. We hadn’t had a music exchange, we didn’t pack the kitchen, but other than that, we had accomplished a lot.

Tonight, book club. Tomorrow? Rinse and repeat Tuesday’s chaos with some donuts, muffins, and pancakes. Stay tuned.

Your entire team in a shopping cart.

In the courtyard of Greystone Mansion (70 points)

Jumping shot at beach (20 points)

At a wedding with the bride and groom (130 points)

On a rollercoaster (200 points)

In the bed of a pickup truck (13 points)

Recreate a famous boy band album cover (15 points)

Charlie’s Angels Picture (25 points)

with a person getting a tattoo (105 points)
getting a tattoo (250 points)

828 points here, and plenty more where that came from. They’ll be more photos as I get them from my dream-team teammates, from Team Purplé; Jess, Cor, Caitlin, and JT. Best day ever, guys. Best day ever.