...187 baby!!!

today... I'll get off the couch, I swear...

...I don't want to go back into the woods. They've become unfamiliar..., empty... and vast.

...after a very, very fun day

dude..., new high game of 175 and my first turkey. I'm digging the odyssey.

by the regularity of it all

...and waisted, unsure of the road ahead, stumbling forward with a wounded gate and remarkable pace.

...guess I should have eaten something between breakfast and desert.

did it... Reno and back in 24 hours. Picked up a ball and bag, but skipped on the shoes until I can find some without flames

I've been off for a week and a day hiking up the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states...

The highlights:

Friday evening we had dinner at Gemelli's on Tennyson. Hmmm. Why had I never been there before? Cute patio, yummy bottle of wine.

Saturday morning we took Chloe to puppy kindergarten. Poor thing hid behind mama and daddy's legs the entire time. She was moved to the pen with the "little dogs" so it wasn't so scary but...she still hid. I felt like the mama whose kid is shy on the first day of school. Granted, Chloe was the youngest puppy there. But still. The "trainer" (who did no training) kept commenting on her shyness and eventually I wanted to be like "bitch PLEASE, our pup acts like a wild banshee at home so we KNOW she ain't shy." So yeah, we paid $10 for the 3 of us to sit huddled in a stinky corner of a stinky room full of stinky dogs. We won't be going back.

(Bad mom! Bad mom! No, Chloe will get her socialization in other ways. I was just PO'ed - ha ha who says that anymore? - that we didn't get any of the promised training tidbits.)

Saturday afternoon we ran a few errands then settled in for a tasty lunch at Mead Street, followed by an impromptu wine tasting at Mondo Vino. Do you know how wine on a warm afternoon makes you feel? GOOD! Then, NOT GOOD.

But I rallied for a round of disc golf (Chloe's first game!), followed by some SERIOUS rallying for cocktails at (Sushi) Hai Bar with our friend Jenny. Funny enough, the bar tender from LoLa now works at Hai Bar and coincidentally we moved from LoLa's hood to Hai Bar's hood and jeez, do you think this means we've found ourselves our new waterin' hole?

(Maybe, if I, like, win the lottery or something. Pricey!)

Sunday was a melange of sake headache, sleeping in, and doing yard work in a hungover haze. Kev got us ready for a hike (hallelujah, all I had to do was hop in the car) and so we headed up to Evergreen for a hike in the pouring rain. Not to be the downer, the hike was in fact awesome, despite the weather. It was a really pretty trail and felt great on the ol' bod. Plus...another milestone: Chloe's first hike! :) Every week Chloe's world explands just a little bit more!

After hiking we stopped at the Morrison Inn (just at the point where I was damn close to snapping. Hunger + thirst + having to pee + wet + irritated at reallllllly slow drivers = BAD NEWS), where I was saved by a bathroom, a big old margarita, and a basket of tortilla chips. Ummm Ummmm baby! It really doesn't get any better than a great hike followed by Sunday Afternoon Drinking (tm). That, my friends, is what Colorado is all about!

So...I guess I feel like you're caught up? Ummm, one little thing. My biopsy came back. I have basal cell carcinoma: skin cancer. It's not a big deal. Well, in some ways it is, I guess, but it could totally be tons worse. The kind I have is the most common kind. It's not deadly and it's easily treated: I just have to get it removed. Easy as that. It's the semantics that get me - the C word. I have the C word. That is some freaky shit.

* * *

Edited to add: I hope I don't scare anyone. I am serious when I say it is not a big deal. I know the word cancer conjures up awful things (for myself included, ain't gonna lie!) and I am not trying to minimize the seriousness that is cancer. It's just...really, It's OK! Go Google it and see for yourselves :)

That said, Kevin is out of town for two weeks. IT'S PARTY TIME!

Ha ha.

I am reliant on Kev for many things, but we are not attached at the hip. He has his friends and hobbies, and I have mine. We also have mutual friends and hobbies. It's great.

What's also great? Time apart! It's healthy and allows me to reconnect with myself.

Plus, look at what else I get to do while Kev is gone:

Have the whole entire bed to myself!
Watch Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood!
Enjoy a clean house!
Skip dinner!
Have a big wine hangover!
Put the laptop on the couch without getting scolded!
Water the grass!
Do less laundry!
Deal with less riff-raff!
Watch male porn!

This is the secret to all good relationships (No, not male porn! Well, maybe...): REMEMBER WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE AN INDIVIDUAL. People who are their own person, who shun co-dependency, ultimately make better partners.

(You know, not to get all preachy on y'all...hee hee :)

I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I kicked Kevin out in the name of strengthening our relationship. This two weeks apart was imposed on us by his job. It's just that I am not sitting at home all woe-is-me and lonely and not knowing what to do with myself because MY GOD, MY LIFE IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT KEVIN!

(Love you babe. Miss you. Kiss!)

Anyway, so far I am loving the ME TIME!* The freedom to have my way with the remote control alone has been worth it! I am sure I'll be singing a different tune at the end of next week, but until then...ME ME ME!

*I might be interested in enjoying some PARTY TIME too. Email me. *wink*

Fred's mom hasn't come back home from the bar since Fred had his play date with Bertha. At first Fred is extremely happy, but then reality hits!

Tomorrow all that changes. Fallowfield will still be here, the magic will live on, Lizzi and Bodil and whoever moves in will carry on being hospitable, loving and enjoying life here. I will be moving to Hollingbury, not near Hove at all, in fact the very title of this blog will come into question tomorrow as I move across to Brighton. I'll be living with Lou, Kev and Larry, we've had this crazy idea that God wants us to live as family together and to welcome all around us into that family. That He wants us to serve the community of Hollingbury, get to know them, be part of them and love them. That He wants us to live with each others interests as more important than our own and put aside the stuff of this world to serve others. To point others to the reality of Him. (Read Philippians 1 and 2 for actual proof of this.)

And so we're going, I'm going to attempt to squeeze my vast amount of stuff into a room 2/3rds smaller than the size of this one (check out my fraction ability Dad :-). We're going to attempt to live as family, not just being individuals living in a house but caring for each other, loving one another and welcoming all into our mad house. I'm excited and terrified. I'm scared and I'm loving this feeling of stepping over the cliff edge. We won't have internet for a while but I'll update you all on how it's going when we do... Pictures included... I'm glad we're not doing it alone, I'm glad we have a God who will help us love each other, forgive each other and keep on having hope because of His work in this world. I'm glad that this is only possible through Jesus and his example. And now I'm going to sleep. There is a long day ahead tomorrow as the beginning of this crazy journey starts.

4 hours in A and E, normally a trial that would test even the most ardent of friendships. Not us, no no. We stubbornly refused to leave Larry’s side as he waited for his tetanus jab, and made the most of 4 hours in a confined space together. We listed all the US states we could and played the alphabet game with biblical characters, bands, films and countries of the world (Larry-Oman was the ‘O’). We told stories to each other, Kev and Lou developed a darker side by killing the characters in theirs. Kev tried to teach me maths:

Kev: "If there are 100 legs and 36 heads in a farmyard how many cows and chickens are there?"

Kath: ”I don’t care”.

Kev: "What number increases by 21 if you turn it upsidedown?"

Kath: "I don't care".

We wondered why they were X-raying Larry’s foot when all he needed was an injection. We told each other more of the stories of our lives, we played blah or blah (cake or death?, wine or tea?, parsnip or chocolate?), we hung out and at 2am we went home. I wonder if this dedication will last?

Thursday

Last day of work for the week, yay!  This was a .Net user group meeting night (had the good people from Readify presenting) so it was an interesting day as I was running a bit late and didnt have my breakfast shake until lunch time.  I was hoping to get the second shake in before the meeting but things at work were busy so I didn't get time - We had the presentation and as usual there was pizza afterwards.  It was so tempting but I was pretty good and abstained (from both that + the soft drink!).  This time around there was actually a cheese plate thing as well so I actually had a few (2 or 3) jatz + cheese which I don't think was too bad.  (Was exhausted when I got home and I was late for my WoW raid so no exercise :(  )

Friday

First day of my 4 day weekend and it was awesome - I started cleaning out my spare bedroom and I made some really good progress, was hoping to get the rest done on Saturday or Sunday morning but no luck (tomorrow it is then!).  I did my two shakes and I think I had some processed chicken as well for a snack but don't really recall.  Went to the Brass Monkey with JD and met my old work crew there - was good to see them again.  Another victory (I abstained from beer even though my old man was buying!) and I went back to JD's place where we had Nando's (for which I still owe him!).

Saturday

This was a bit of a write off - Spent a lot of time on the computer as I thought I'd get my 2v2 arena's out of the way but ended up waiting for about an hour and a half I think?  Then I had to do the grocery shopping and that was boring.  I was a little bit tired as well (even though I'd done by two shakes) so I did that 10 minute nap thing and felt a lot better - I was a bit angry that I hadn't made more progress on the cleaning up so I hit the crosstrainer and did the program 9 for 5km's again.  This time it took me like 15:20 or something so quite a bit slower which in turn made me even angrier so I did another 5 minutes on a straight difficulty of 6 rather then a program so that was another 1.5+ kms.

Then came Kev's dinner at the Burswood - it looked so nice but the food was so so (it was a buffet).  The cold food was okay (Salmon was good as was the Jatz + Cheese) the hot food left a lot to be desired.  The hardest part was deserts, they all looked so good!  The only thing I'd really consider a slip up was I had a CC + Dry at the pub afterwards but even that is pretty good I think (must research that more!).

Sunday

Today was another interesting one - got a sleep in finally and had a shake on the way to Shay's house.  We played cards for a good 6 hours when the other guys got some pizza and that was hard - I volunteered to pick it up because my car was last in the driveway and damn it smelt so good.  It was sooo tempting to just have "one slice" but instead I had a second shake which I warmed up and that was nice (kind of like a hot chocolate).

I'm cooking a tandori half bird from Lenards now so that'll be dinner with some veg so hopefully not too bad (never cooked one of these before so we'll see!)...I can smell it now and damn it smells good!

I'm a little worried about money at the moment, things are a little rough - really hanging out for that pay rise.  Going to talk to my dad tomorrow see what I can do better and I hope something comes of it.

Today was the official weigh in day, and I'm proud to say I'm down 4.1kgs which I'm really happy with.  I wish I could do that each week but that's a little unrealistic so see how we go for next week! :)

"MTV Cribs - Charlatan Edition"

Here you will get a up close and personal look at the everyday lives of Dynasty - The Prince of Dancehall, Kev - El Charlatan, Surge Requena, Dj Locorious and Much More.

In Episode 2, we take you on a tour of Kev - El CharLatan's Crib. He gives you the exclusive look at where he comes up with Charlatan ways! We also take you on Surge Requena's favorite activity after Music... Eating!! Watch as he walks into a Dominican Restaurant in Washington Heights and acts like a kid in Toys-R-Us! (LOL)

After their hearty meal, Surge & Kev hit the streets of NY on the quest to find a MAC charger before they pick up DJ Locorious, en route for the New Chapter Music Group photo session in NJ.

Stay tuned!!

In the Life of New Chapter Music Group

Here you will get a up close and personal look at the everyday lives of Dynasty - The Prince of Dancehall, Kev - El Charlatan, Dj Locorious and Much More.

In this 1st Episode, we present to you Surge Requena. Surge Requena is the VP of Marketing for New Chapter Music Group and is also one of the hottest up and coming producers in the game right now. He is the lab working on Dynasty - The Prince of Dancehall's album and also Kev - El Charlatan's album.

He is also one of the host's of New Chapter TV. You will see Surge as he invites you to his birthday with family, goes to the Charlatan Studio to meet with Kev Charlatan and Sauce aka C-Minor (Producer/Engineer/A&R/Cameraman..lol), then sees Dynasty's "New Tattoo" and then ends the night @ a club in Washington Heights.. that gets a bit "Wet & Wild".

Stay Tuned For More!!!

(Oh yeah, and Kev did great too ;)

It was a gorgeous, productive morning (even for someone who didn't even run 50 yards). I got up at 4:30 am, took Kev to the start, came home and did some gardening with the sunrise, then packed up the Subie with bagels, fruit, OJ, champagne, beer and our signs.

THE SIGNS! Oh lord, Deana and I got together Friday night and drank 2 bottles of wine and giggled our way through making signs to cheer Kev on. They definitely look like signs that 2 drunk (and possibly stoned) chicks made: "LOL UR DONE" and "SPIRIT FINGERS," for example.

(Although, the SPIRIT FINGERS one ended up being appropriate as we were perched right next the cheerleaders at the finish line. They liked it.)

The signs were also a hit with all the other runners finishing, as well as the MC across the street, who asked us who we were cheering for, then proceeded to yell into the mike "Where's Kevin, where's Kevin?" every 30 seconds.

Even when a guy went down right in front of us from dehydration/heat stroke (scary!), he was once again yelling "Where's Kevin? Where's Kevin?" right after announcing the need for a medic. Way to make a girl feel confident, dude.

But I needn't have worried, because shortly thereafter, Kev came ambling towards the finish. He did it!

Here's the video of his finish. You can hear our friend on the mike yelling "Kevin! we've been waiting for you buddy, we love you!" Ha ha.. Oh, and Kev is the one in the camelbak. My excitement marred my videotaping skills, clearly.

Official time: 4 hours, 11 minutes.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.560304&w=425&h=350&fv=intl_lang%3Den-us%26photo_secret%3De787a9e547%26photo_id%3D2506886605] from vodpod.com posted with vodpod

(Oh yeah, and Kev did great too ;)

It was a fun, productive morning (even for someone who didn't even run 50 yards). I got up at 4:30 am, took Kev to the start, came home and did some gardening with the sunrise, then packed up the Subie with bagels, fruit, OJ, champagne, beer and our signs.

THE SIGNS! Oh lord, Deana and I got together Friday night and drank 2 bottles of wine and giggled our way through making signs to cheer Kev on. They definitely look like signs that 2 drunk (and stoned) chicks made: "LOL UR DONE" and "SPIRIT FINGERS," for example.

(Although, the SPIRIT FINGERS one ended up being appropriate as we were perched right next the cheerleaders at the finish line. They liked it.)

The signs were also a hit with the runners finishing, as well as the MC across the street, who asked us who we were cheering for, then proceeded to yell into the mike "Where's Kevin, where's Kevin?" every 30 seconds.

Even when a guy went down right in front of us from dehydration/heat stroke (scary!), he was yelling "Where's Kevin? Where's Kevin?" right after announcing the need for a medic. Way to make a girl feel confident, dude.

But I needn't have worried, because shortly thereafter, Kev came ambling towards the finish. He did it!

Here's the video of his finish. You can hear our friend the MC yelling "Kevin! Kevin, buddy, we love you!" Ha ha.. Oh, and Kev is the one in the camelbak. My excitement marred my videotaping skills, clearly.

Official time: 4 hours, 11 minutes.