Strange Critter

Well, it's been a while since we've had anything interesting on our game camera, so I've taken to photographing the critters in the immediate vicinity of our house. The other night this little guy scared the crap out of me... I think it's some sort of albino praying mantis.

Albino Mantis?

I Shall Call Him Fred.

Anyone out there have some idea as to what he is?

Girls Gone Not So Wild

My summer of fun has continued (I've been lame about posting... to be brutally honest, I've been either too busy or too lazy depending on the day).

Last weekend I was invited to join my best friends on the houseboat at Lake Oroville. It was a really fun, really HOT weekend with the girls... we spent a lot of time in the water to get cooled off!

Here are Brigitte and I with our cool cups (everyone had one for the weekend and it had their name on it - the washable, reusable solution to red solo cups that doubled as a souvenir!). Notice anything in this picture? :)

We Got Photo Bombed!

As always, I packed my box of Cheez-Its. If you don't know, my family is obsessed with Cheez-Its - my sister went so far as to serve them at her wedding (at the bar, of course)! I make a point to have them almost everywhere with me (a box at home, a box in my car, and a box at work).

They Make Life Good!

I didn't really take any pictures beyond that first night there... as it turns out, I was terrified to get my new camera anywhere near the water, and I was too busy playing to take any. It's not a bad problem to have. We spent the rest of the weekend floating, jet skiing, and hanging out. It was such a blast!

In other sad lake news, we had to postpone our yearly trip to Lake Almanor. There's a great big fire burning up there right now and it's pretty bad. I'm really bummed because it would have been a really nice way to close out sabbatical (just under 2 weeks left), but I suppose some more time at home to clean up and hang out is not a terrible thing either!

Today I spent the day at Kati's house working on the nursery with her. I can't wait to meet my new little niece! We painted the crib, the changing table, and cleaned up the room. Now all it needs is a new window and some pretty lavender paint on the walls!

New Blankenheims

Apprently this is the part of sabbatical where I get bored and start adopting animals.

Without further ado, meet the two newest members of the Blankenheim family...

CeeLo

Lucia

Yup, I named a bird CeeLo. He seriously reminds me of him. And Kati named the girl (at least I think she's a girl) for me - because she's the color of St. Lucia.

So far Shadow is indifferent. We'll see how long that lasts.

Concert Review: Aerosmith

Well, better late than never. Sorry... time flies when you're on sabbatical!

Last Saturday we headed to the Oakland Arena for the Cheap Trick and Aerosmith concert.

Aerosmith Stage Setup

All in all, the show was really good. I was not that impressed with Cheap Trick... probably because I don't really know their songs. Ok, I only know one song. "I Want You To Want Me"... and even then, I realized I didn't know the words besides the chorus.

Aerosmith, on the other hand, was awesome. They did some new music and lots of old favorites. The one part of the show that we didn't love was there was a middle section where Steven Tyler went off stage and Joe Perry did some solo stuff... let me tell you, there's a reason why Steven Tyler is the front man. I have to say, Steven Tyler really rocks. I mean, the man is 64 years old and still sounds fantastic and bounces all over the stage. He hit the high notes in "Dream On" and everything!

I had a blast hanging out with Mom, Dad, Kati, Adam and Chuck! Good times all around!

Twitter

Well, I'm back on the Twitter bandwagon. To say "back on" is a little bit generous... I was never really into it to begin with. That said, I was browsing through the posts tonight and a lot of my favorite cyclists are on there, so I figured I would give it another try.

So, faithful few, how many of you Tweet? Any recommendations for a "newbie"?

Babies!

No, I'm not pregnant.

My sister, however, is. And after a lot of anticipation, we finally found out that Mike and I are going to have a brand new baby niece in December! I was lucky enough to get two nieces and four nephews when I married Mike, but this will be the first niece that I get to squish love from birth!

In other baby news, look what I found just outside our living room door... note the little beak to the left of the big bird on the left. They are so cute and both of them sat their for their photograph!

Mama & Papa Bird

I love having birds nest around the house... the poop gets annoying, but I can't bring myself to mess up the nests. It's so cute to hear the babies chirping for food!

So far sabbatical is going really well. I could get used to the life of leisure! I love going to the pool in the morning (9-10am) and getting a good swim in without a ton of people there. And I've now started a couple of the around the house projects I want to get done. Shadow is definitely a happy pup too - he's been laying around helping while I work.

Life is good!

Concert Review: Barenaked Ladies

Last night I went to see a concert with Adam and Eva (my uncle and aunt). It was at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
Here's a picture of the venue - we were in the general admission seats and were probably 5-6 rows back from the top. Not a bad view!

Mountain Winery Stage

I really liked how intimate this venue was... and the weather was absolutely wonderful, which made it a great night to sit outside.

The first group up was Cracker. The one song of theirs that I did recognize was "Low" (pop it into iTunes - you've probably heard it as well), but I did enjoy listening to their other music.

After Cracker came Big Head Todd and the Monsters. First of all, how great is that name? Secondly, they absolutely rocked. He actually came out and starting into this very bluesy sounding song. All of our heads were bobbing along when we realized that it was a cover of "I'm Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO! It was absolutely amazing!

After Big Head came Blues Traveler. I was a little bummed because their lead singer John Popper had a cold and sounded pretty terrible, however, that guy can PLAY harmonica. Like really, really well. They did all of their classics ("Hook" & "Run Around") as well as some of their lesser known music. They were awesome!

Finally, Barenaked Ladies finished out the night. I had no idea, but they actually sing the theme song to the "Big Bang Theory" TV show... I knew it sounded familiar! They too, did all of their classics ("One Week", "If I Had $1,000,000" and "Brian Wilson"). The also did a new song called "Boomerang"... we loved it! My favorite part had to have been their finale... they did a big gigantic mash up of cover songs. It was spectacular!

Did I mention that they called this tour the "Last Summer on Earth Tour"? I love it! This was an awesome show and a really fun night out!