what does 10 years of being married =

2 beautiful girls 3 different "homes"

1  baboon's ass for hair  (greg)

1 pair of national geographic  boobs (me)

5  vehicles

1000 bags of potato chips (i suspect this total may be underestimated!?)

5   F***  this and 10 F*** you's

18 airplane trips together (one being an 18 hour trip to get to palm springs!)

a few thousand "i love you's"

2 toaster ovens

1 huge sacrifice from a wonderful man to let his wife find her passion in photography and to indulge our children in having their mom be with them 24/7 (that alone I'm forever grateful).

4 hospital trips

200 +  killer events/parties/bar nights that involved a cab, a  stumbled swagger or  a "baby can you piggy back me, my heels are killing me"!  to get us home!

1 unfinished basement (one word **bitter**!)

3 minor car accidents (one NOT our fault)

3 family deaths (xox)

1 re cushioned sofa

2 x is the amount we played that SEX game we got at our engagement party (lol)

7  job/employer/career changes

512 days spent apart

7 rad concerts

2 weed wackers / 1 lawn mower

1x  being stranded on the ski boat and had to paddled/swim it to the dock

1 deep fryer never used (dam you canadian tire flyer specials)

0 pets

2 major stock market crashes

1 epic vancouver olympics

2 house floods

79 "not tonight" (that too might be grossly underestimated!?)

2 times being locked out together and going "gang busters" through the door!

5 camping trips

6 pairs of gym running shoes

0 cavities

0 vancouver canuck's stanley cup wins

1 riot  (don't even get me started with this one!)

2 different banking institutions

130  is the number of pounds i have gained and lost in 10 years

20 is the amount of pounds greg has gained in the first year we met and it never came off.

a cassillion wicked nights, days, hours and minutes spend building a life together....

happy 10 years together baby!

to run or not to run...

i have never enjoyed running outdoors (i prefer the simple consistency of a 20 minute treadmill run 2 to 3 times a week ..when i'm actually "going" to the gym), but living in a cabin for four weeks with the "pantry from hell" (goodies, goodies and more goodies)  and the boat doubling as "margaritaville" during the day....some form of calorie reducing  exercise would be required. luckily or not so luckily the amazing women that hang at EBL (East Barreier Lake) for the summer are almost all runners.  not just runners, BUT RUNNERS!  and in cabin country you don't run alone.  why you ask?  well, this is were the song from the wizard of oz kicks in ..."lions and tigers and bears.. oh my" but at ELB we sing it more like this "cougars and bears and wolfs... oh my".  so, i either run with the "RUNNERS" or i get a bad case of muffin top.

so here's the low down, i would fake it till i make it!  I had been back at the gym a whopping 3 times since apparently joining EBL's "unofficial" running club!  so i was thinking that they would look at me and realize "ok, we'll take it easy on her, she clearly hasn't been at the gym for a while".  NOPE.

THE RUNNERS;

"i'll pick you up at 8:00 and we'll do the horse shoe"

ME;

"umm, what kind of run is that exactly?

THE RUNNERS;

"well, it's approximatly 5km with 2 small hills and 3 large ones."  "don't worry dina, it's quite easy."

ME ;

(in my head i'm thinking)

"sweet jesus, are these ladies crazy...EASY...(yelling in my head now)...i'm so going to freak'n die tomorrow"

(my response to the RUNNERS)

"sounds great, see ya with bear bells on!"

all of my life with very few exceptions, i have  "pushed my comfort zone".  why? because it flat out makes me feel alive to be a little scared and nervous (i kind of get a sick rush from it, especially when i succeed at whatever i'm doing).  so you've got to know my tail feather was wagging  a little when after the four weeks were up i had run the "horse shoe" every day but five (and out of those five days three of them i biked 5 and 10km!).

perhaps the distraction of great conversation, a generation one ipod shuffle playing "oh na, na, what's my name" and pushing through the run before something (animal) believes i am indeed something they could consume in one if not two bites got me through the tuff parts! but whatever it was i actually started to like it maybe even LOVE it!  by the way i would like to welcome back my leg muscles. thank you for finally reappearing after your long, unwelcome hiatus...i'm hoping you will stay a while this time.

so in the end i vote to run...

memories "safe"ly kept....

i've never been much for "journaling", i could never be consistent! mind you i never thought my life was that exciting either!  but once i had my first child (che') i was motivated to document her birth and her first weeks of life.  now, knowing my past experiences in "documenting" i didn't think it would last! five and a half years later, i'm currently on che's **8th** journal and amara's **3rd**.  i've coined them "living journals" and they contain entries, drawings, pictures, handprints, lockets of hair, ticket stubs, sports day ribbons and much more!  who knew that these small bound bundles of paper could be such a potent depiction of my children's upbringing and something i cherish dearly!

i think the reason i'm so passionate about "the journals" is because my memory stinks!  i've had a few stories been brought up about "me" in the past doing something "outlandish" and i can't for the life of me remember doing it!?  now, it could be for my own safety (selective remembering that is) with having two girls i can "lie" with a clear conscience ("NO.. mommy never went in a bikini contest!"), because i don't really remember!  all i can say is the memory loss has compelled me to document my little people's life's for purely selfish reasons...ME!

to be perfectly honest they are my most valued possessions outside of  greg and the girls (and of course my other family and friends too!).  if my house were to go up in smoke (knock on wood) the drill would go something like this:

wake up greg

get the kids out of the house

go back and wake up greg again

grab journals (and hard drive…duh)

try to wake greg up again (way more aggressively)

get out of the house (with greg! as you may have guessed greg's a sound sleeper.)

so, out of fear that i wouldn't have time to grab them (the journals), i purchased a SAFE!  now, most people would put their stolen jewels, important documents, false identifications, incriminating evidence and cash in it!

BUT my SAFE is full of priceless MEMORIES that can never be replaced…