Violently Ill Birthday

Yes, lucky me. On the eve of my 34th birthday, I got food poisoning. Isn't that awesome?! It was something I ate from the deli part of the grocery store, as far as I can figure. No matter, on my birthday I was recovering from being ill. So I decided not to count yesterday as my birthday. Tomorrow can be my birthday. Or, I'll just kind of spread it out a little. Anyway, yesterday kind of sucked.
My days on the set were awesome. It was in a beautiful mountain/forest setting hanging out with J, T, M and WM (I decided I'd better be careful about using their names). I stayed in the same hotel as them, and what a funny sight walking out in the morning to a row of $50K+ cars parked alongside my 1990 Nissan with tape over the tail light. That made me laugh out loud the first morning - I thought of that song (was it Sesame Street?) "Which of these things is not like the other".
On the last night, T was walking toward me on some boards laid out as walkways (they were serving hot dogs and we were both going for them) and he nearly fell into me. Jokingly I said something about watching out for those bumps in the boards and he replied "Yeah, thanks, thanks for the warning there..." etc and we bantered a bit. He is pretty funny, I'll say that. But for niceness, I have to say that J gets my vote. He is so good with the kids and just so well-mannered and friendly.
It was a great few days and I got some nice 'crew gifts' with the movie title emblem on them, which I will wear and use closer to March (the timeframe I've heard for its release). A nice 'end of the road' movie for me as I prepare to step into the world of real estate...

"Away from office..."

"Dia will be away from email until next week. She will be out of touch by phone Wednesday through Saturday. If you have an emergency, please contact Tim."
I got invited to work on Wld Hgs in Los Alamos, NM, a ways north of here. They're puttin' me up in a hotel and I'll be there Wed-Sat. I'm not sure I have cell service there.
Not much going on - Tim's been working trying to keep our old cars running. We have serious issues with most of our regulars right now, but such is our life. We like the old ones, and he can fix 'em (it's just finding the time!).
Adios!

Cool shots from our vacation

I grew up with sunsets this gorgeous all the time! My home town in sepia...
We passed an old car parked near the most idyllic, stereo-typically American porch

If it's bad luck...

when a bird flies against one of your home windows, then what could it possibly mean when a bird crashes explosively through one of your windows, falling to the floor in a bloody heap amongst a pile of glass shards and feathers? Just wondering; cause that's what happened at our house the other day. Knock on wood.

Make sure to scroll down for our vacation shots!

Can you read this?

During one night of our visit, we had so much 'youthful' fun on the deck with sparklers and our cameras, I almost split a gut. Especially after Debbie and I had been going awhile, forming very legible words such as our names and "July 4", etc (which required writing backward within the time frame of the camera shutter). Jeremy gets up to give it a try and for each attempt, between the look of extreme concentration on his face, and all of our utter confusion as to what the hell he was trying to write, well, I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. Thanks, Jeremy! By the way, can you read this? It's the best pic I have - Debbie has awesome ones on her camera. Yeah well, true to Jeremy's unique personality, it's the word Dooky. I think he said it's another name for poop. Not sure...
And here is an elementary star. Deb's camera has all the good ones.

Best visit ever!

I survived my class. Not so bad. Feeling a little lazy today, the head isn't working so well - forgive me for a potentially lame entry here...
Thought I'd post some photos from our awesome visit to Iowa and Minnesota. I keep looking at the photos on slideshows and it just makes me happy.
Most of my first week I sounded like a blithering idiot, repeating "It's so green" and "Wow" about every other breath. I have some great shots of Lake Calhoun and other cool stuff but most people reading this, well, live there. So here's my first few days in Minnesota. That baby I'm holding is Jenell's Oliver. Julie and Jenell's kids were a blast! And it was great to be together again, the three of us. Sarah and I had a great long walk around Lake Calhoun in Mpls. To me, the perfect thing to do when visiting from New Mexico. Sigh. So lovely.

First night in Iowa, we had the BEST MEAL EVER, thanks to Joe. A very large fresh salmon, carmelized and grilled to perfection. Mmmm! We hung out on the deck awhile.

Sarah and Bryon came over and camped in the backyard.

Sarah has come to Clear Lake so often she can get around by herself, even on our often confusing streets.

And HERE, is the reason why I am short. This is my uncle Larry, and he has used me as an arm rest for most of my life. :)

Stay tuned for Photos...

First of all, a thanks to all my friends and family who made our visit so AWESOME! Tim and I had the best time!! We love coming up!! Next time I come up, my sister will either be very large or will have suddenly become two people! :) (By the way, I think the baby should call me Dia because then, in Spanish, that would make me "Tia Dia", jes??)
The day after we returned, I relaxed - didn't even unpack. Slept, watched some of the Frasier episodes that had gotten recorded, etc. I was tired! Fun wears you out, too. :)
Friday I began my Broker Basics class. Thanks to new rules, this is a class I take so I can learn to become a broker, which I am not going to become. I will have the knowledge of a broker, but I don't believe I'll need it since I will have a broker, who will mentor and guide me expertly through the real estate world. Don't totally get the logic in my learning to be a broker when that's not what I'm testing for, but I suppose more knowledge never killed anyone... it's the 4 days of 8am-5pm classes that suck. So that's what I've been doing and this is my last chance for email until Tuesday. At that point, I will have some cool photos, so check back! If I were as cool as my brother, I would put some of my video on You Tube. (We'll see how easy it is perhaps).
Ciao!