When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who stands a chance against us?

So, I woke up this morning thinking about people's definition of a soulmate (and yes, I am aware that "soul mate" is two words, I've had loads of coffee and skipped breakfast, at this point Merriam - Webster can bite me). When I hear people talking about finding their soulmate, as if there is just one and as if it must come in the form of a lover, I silently wish them the awareness to look around at the people they have loved, despised, married, divorced, hired, fired, laughed with, slept with, fought with, grown with - and recognize they have had many soulmates. I know what you are thinking, pretty deep for 6 am right? If only I had a way to let you all in on the random thoughts running through my head at any given time, maybe "Truman Show" style or something.....Anyway, it got me thinking about my sister, Melanie. If any of you have the pleasure of knowing Mel, you know what an amazing person she is. If any of you have had the pleasure of seeing us together, well you know why finding the perfect man, settling down and living the American dream has never been a priority for me. I have all the love I need! While many people I know spend their lives looking for that ONE person who makes them laugh, love, give, take, risk, wait, cry, expose, share, leap, stretch, withdraw, contemplate, I have been fortunate enough to have someone like that by my side from the moment I came into this world. My sister is my biggest fan, yet knows when to behave like my biggest rival. She is my voice when I have lost mine, my power when I give mine away, my compassion when I am blinded by anger, my vulnerability when I can't allow myself to appear weak (which, let's face it, is 99% of the time), and my nurturer when I have convinced myself I am not enough. She celebrates my victories, no matter how small they may be. She celebrates my failures, no matter how big they may be. I can't imagine my life without her, I cant imagine this world without the love and light she brings to it! Thank you for helping me become the person I was, the person I am and the person I will be. I love you peanut butter jelly time!

May
p.s. for more on Melanie, look to the links on the left!

Ice Cream Cones for Dogs - A Dangerous Mission

So, I open my inbox this morning and here is a story from my friend Chris, a hunkish young lad. I don't have his permission to reprint the story yet, but I'll risk it. From reading his story you will see a small portion of the amusement park ride that is Chris. He is hilarious, witty, smart, creative and I dare say deep. He lives a great life, centered around joy and baseball! I am lucky to call him a friend....so without further delay, let's listen to Chris live out his instant Karma:

last night I was driving home from downtown and decided that the dogs needed a treat.

so I stopped at McDonalds to get them ice cream cones

was in the drive-up window to pay and the car in front of me just drove into the damn building.

of course, I said, "wtf!" and was laughing my ass off at the dumb shit in front of me.

so I get the cones, drive to my house and pull in the driveway. Grab my ipod and the cones and get out of the car to come inside.

and the friggin car starts rolling down the hill of the driveway .. straight backwards to a car parked on the street. I threw the cones down and ran after it, opening the door and jamming the break just, just!
before it did some serious damage.

turns out the genius here had forgotten to put the damn jeep in park.. and just got out!

karma for laughing at the guy at McDonalds??

Chris

If I die, dont bury me at all.
Just pickle my bones in alcohol.
Put a bottle of beer at my feet and head.
If I dont drink, you'll know I'm dead.

Poles and Pigtails

god bless America, where else would a girl be able to use the words poles and pigtails in the same fragmented sentence. For those of you who haven’t heard(which would be next to impossible, between Corbie’s bullhorn voice and our blog entries I think EVERYONE has heard….or if you are that lucky someone that keeps receiving random, self-deprecating emails from me) it’s YPC! The Year of Penny and Corbie (for more details, visit Corb’s blog – link on the left) and tonight we marked an item off of our “to do” list. You guessed it! Pole Dancing! It’s late (by my standards) and my forearms are sore, you can’t, after all, spin around a pole for an hour and walk away unscathed! There will be bruising my friends, oh yes. For now, I will let the photos below speak for themselves…..After I ice and elevate, I may type a little more…..

Om and The Fireman (pole move we learned tonight),

Penny

Corbie & I doing double time on the pole



I realize that this is not a flattering picture of me,
really though, how could I resist? My pigtails are acutally catching air!!




This is us before the class even started.....naturals I tell ya, naturals.
The best part of it all is that you can actually enlarge the photos if you are so inclined to count our pores. What the hell? How do you remove that feature? God I love making an ass out of myself......

A weekend of Friends and Food

So, by the title of this posting alone I 'm sure you have figured out that this was pretty much a dreamy weekend, by my standards. I kicked the weekend off with a Tim and Tandoor dinner, that would be me, meeting my friend Tim, at Tandoor - a delicious Indian restaurant in Salt Lake. To give you some background on Tim(since I have made a commitment to blog about my fantastic friends for the next week or so): Tim and I met in 4th grade(that was a stellar year for me, I also met Jenny that year....she deserves her own entry, so more on her later) and have been friends ever since. More than once throughout the many years I have known him, I have caught myself starting a sentence with "Everyone needs a friend like Tim" which, if he is reading this, he may find a little kooky, though any of you reading this know that I am a little kooky and have chosen to love me in spite of it all. Anyway, why does everyone need a friend like Tim, you ask? Here is how I summed it up the last time I uttered those words - Tim still views me as that girl from fourth grade(due to my still flat chest?). Fearless, determined, strong, unwaivering.......Tim truly believes(or at the very least puts on a good show) that I can do anything. He barely batted an eye at my dream to climb Everest. Not even in the "keep your chin up" kind of way, like he is genuine about it. He managed to get me involved in the upcoming Wasatch Back Relay Race, then I managed to somehow get assigned a difficult leg. Now, I love a challenge so I thought the Relay Race gods had smiled upon me. Tim on the other hand seemed genuinely upset and even offered to trade legs with me, had he heard of my propensity to skip the training and just show up on game day? Did he think I wasn't capable? Oh no! Even my #1 fourth grade fan was losing faith in me..... When further questioned, of course, he told the entire team I was a stud (I believe I am quoting verbatim here) and there was no doubt in his mind I could do it - whew, he dodged the lovely bullet that would have been me, sitting at Noodles and Company trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered self - esteem! Anyway, I am getting off track here.......Let's all raise our glasses to Tim, Indian Food and Relay Races!
Wait! This just in- he is funny too! He literally just sent me a self-portratit of him on top of the mountain(he went hiking tonight) with the quote "Mile High Club Pres". As for which lovely friend I spent Saturday with......you'll just have to wait and see!
Om and Indian Donuts (can't remember the proper name....)
Penny

Baby Steps

Okay, Okay! For your viewing pleasure I have added music and side dishes (links to people, places or things I love) that should hold you, my crazed fans, over for one more day. Tomorrow will mark the day I will begin updating the blog on an erratic basis. I think I will devote the first week or so of my blogging to showcasing my wonderful friends. Corbie has whet your palate showing off her friendship skills by creating and posting my first blog. It doesn't stop there folks. I don't want to ruin the surprise though.....I promise, I will dedicate an entire posting to all the splendor that is Corbie.....soon, very soon.

Om and Winchells,
Penny

Boundaries...

This is Penny's friend Corbie. I have hacked into her blog because I can stay silent no longer ('hacked' being a slight exaggeration as I already knew her password). I cannot sit idly by day after day while this blog sits empty. I know, I know - it isn't 'empty', it has music. But the truth is its own sad commentary on Penny's blog commitment as well - I am the one who put the music on also (hence the password knowledge). The ironic thing is that Penny is a literary and comedic genius, and yet we, her supposed audience, get nothing. I decided I had to have some boundaries, some standards, however low they may be, and at least put something on here for people to look at. So, I am rounding up old pictures and stories so that everyone can have a little slice of Penny - she'll have to fill in the blanks, but this should get you started.

This is Nala (or the parts of Nala that my top-notch photography skills allow you to see), the best dog Penny (or anyone) ever had. Nala isn't with us any longer but don't run out just yet and try to woo Penny with a replacement dog - Penny isn't convinced that she will ever love again after Nala.

This is a picture of Penny and her sister Melanie. Mel lives in Florida and sends Penny funny pictures of them when they were little so we can all get a good laugh. Brace yourself for some side-splitting Melanie comments and stories. As a sidenote, Penny has rubella in this photo. First of all, how many adults do you know who have rubella? Secondly, and more importantly, how many allow people to take their photo at Brewvies's when in the midst of said rubella?



Case in point with the funny family photos. This is one that Mel has tagged "exploited early, b4 child labor laws existed!".



This is a bunch of us at Race for the Cure in 2002 - it is a tradition for us to run this every Mother's Day weekend so one would think that I could find several photo options, but, unfortunately for those of you without bionic eyesight, this was the only picture I could find.



This is another little tradition - the Moab half-marathon. Of course, by tradition, I mean show up when we feel like it and run it entirely unprepared until you almost collapse in front of the port-a-potties. This is Penny upside-down after the race.


This is Penny and my son Cale (who is now 10) at the Moab half-marathon many moons ago. Other than her propensity to eat all their treats, my kids couldn't ask for a better aunt.



Speaking of eating treats, notice all the food that surrounds Penny in this photo. I mention this for two reasons. First, food and all things food-related will likely be center-stage in many of Penny's ramblings. Second, by mentioning the food in the photo, I intentionally draw your attention away from the person sitting next to her, who, for various reasons, I have cropped out of the photo. If I told you, I'd have to kill you so just spare yourself the agony and don't ask.


This is us more recently (somehow a decade passed where we didn't use a camera), taking pictures of ourselves in the car while we drive. I don't pretend that we look cute, nor that taking our own picture provides the least chance of getting a choice view up our nostrils, but it was a fun day, as it always is with Penny, and an ugly picture splattered all over the internet is a fair trade for all the laughs.