Survivor: Fiona

I have a new reality t.v. show in the making - Survivor: Fiona. The goal is to see if the contestants and/or Fiona can survive together for one week. In the last twenty-four hours this bundle of cuteness has:
* been pulled out of the road by her big sister
* sprayed herself down with Fabreeze
* colored herself with dry-erase markers
* pulled the fireplace gate on to herself
* shattered a flower vase (& carried the broken vase to me - aagh!)
* flooded our bathroom ("Look, mommy, the water!")
* shimmied down the length of our attic crawl space

...and these are the ones of which we are aware.

Any takers?

When Are You Coming For a Visit?

CNN and Travel & Leisure Magazine received over 600,000 votes on their "America's Favorites" poll. On this day of bright sun and 78 degrees, it's not hard to see that here is what they found:

Quality of Life & Visitor Experience (Overall)

1 Portland, Oregon
2 Charleston
3 Austin
4 Honolulu
5 Minneapolis/St. Paul
6 San Diego
7 Santa Fe
8 Denver
9 Seattle
10 San Francisco
11 San Antonio
12 Nashville
13 Chicago
14 Phoenix/Scottsdale
15 Boston
16 Washington, D.C.
17 Miami
18 Orlando
19 New Orleans
20 New York
21 Philadelphia
22 Las Vegas
23 Dallas/Fort Worth
24 Atlanta
25 Los Angeles

Based on: Noteworthy neighborhoods, Skyline/views, Public parks and access to the outdoors, Cleanliness, Public transportation and pedestrian friendliness, Traffic, Safety, Weather, Peace and quiet, Affordability, People-watching, Environmental awareness

Beach Get-Away

Given our summer of PSP, family visits, the Festival, & FaithQuest, we did absolutely no vacationing as a family this summer. I had a Saturday meeting cancel this last week, opening up our entire weekend. The kids and I did some sneaky planning; then on Friday I packed for five and we kidnapped Allan from work (with his boss's okay). What a great weekend we had! I absolutely love Cannon Beach - the most beautiful and relaxing of the Oregon Coast, in my opinion. We had a cute little hotel, just a close walk to the sand & waves. Best of all was the non-scheduled time with the four people I love and adore most.