New Video -- The Drowning Men

Okay, I have spoken of the Drowning Men on this blog before. Our good friend, Rory, is the drummer in this band. They sound tight and they're all super cool guys... This is their first video. It's solid and I think everyone should watch it and love it and then buy their album!! It's on iTunes. Check them out!!

Check out Gabriella Cilmi

I heard her for the first time while I was over in Australia a couple weeks ago. I tried to buy it on iTunes, but it's not available in the US yet. Until then, I guess youtube will be it....

I'm ssssoooo not motivated ....

... to write anything. I've traveled thousands of miles and I have taken about a million photos since I last posted... and still no inspiration to write... so to the 2 people that actually look at this thing... keep checking back!
With the Hanohano girls in Byron Bay...

New Posts are Coming...

... I swear. I have been blogger challenged lately. Stay tuned... Lots going on though--trips to Hawaii and Nicaragua; New Zealand and Australia in a couple of days... Life is GREAT!!

With Lanie at the after party in Ventura. Wish we were having fun.... ha ha ha

Slumber Party at the Bishops

Julie had to work the night before the Malibu to Marina run this year, so Cora and Rell came over for a slumber party. It had been a little while since we had a slumber party... we were the biggest dorks with the camera. Okay, it was me and I forced Cora and Rell along!

So Rell is like her mom in that when she smiles, her eyes are always closed. This is Cora and I making fun of Rell. Her eyes are actually pretty open for her...

Cora and I trying to get Rell's eyes to stay open...

Don't ask...

Yep, still playing...

A re-creation of the Disneyland hair shot.

I love my running/paddling buddy

Julie and I in Marina del Rey ....

The return of Mindy Clark to her beach house!

After I left Big Bear on Monday, Mindy followed me down the mountain so that she could spend time at her beach house. It has been WAY too long since she paid a visit to the Bishop abode. The 3rd member of the tres amigas had been snowed in most of the winter. Julie, Mindy, and I were long overdue for a girls day of hanging out, working out, and Coffee Bean!!

We started out the day at Coffee Bean (of course!!) and then headed over to Julie and my favorite place to run around here. (By the way, who would have ever thought that I would have a place that I like to go run?!) Anyway, we parked in the Offshore Surf Shop parking lot and ran to Terramar and back along the boardwalk. While we were out, we ran into the one and only Tricia Gill with crazy Maize and Mrs. Haro, who were going for a walk. The day was absolutely beautiful... One of the many days that I am grateful for all of the money we pay to live in Southern California. It really is better here! The above photo is of us girls pre-run above Pine Street.

After the run, we went back to my house to pick up canoes. We ended up lounging in the driveway, drinking Diet Coke, and soaking in the sun. I swear we barely made it out of the there. It felt so good just hanging out. And the driveway hanging out thing seems to be a reoccurring theme... Julie and I did the same thing at Vicki's house the week before... ha ha ha

Mindy was super stoked her whole time at the house because she had purchased a new gadget for her camera on eBay... a bendy tripod deal. She was trying to get the right angle all day. It ended up being a super cool thing later while we were out for our paddle.

Mindy and I before heading out. We went out on Julie's 2-man and Julie went out on my 1-man. I couldn't believe how gorgeous the weather was. It seems like it's been cold for so long... It was nice to have it actually hot. The water, however, was definitely NOT warm. Everytime Mindy splashed me, I cried like a little girl! =)

Mark Aviña made an appearance down at the harbor while we were rigging the canoes. How is that facial hair? Mark used to be my once a week lunch/truck washing partner in crime. I don't get to see him much anymore...

John Burke cruising on his new canoe with the Oceanside Pier in the background. I've said it before, but I love my harbor. We've got a great set up... not much harbor to deal with and with Camp Pendleton, some beautiful scenery. We just need some showers like at NAC (or I need to get into the slip renters showers...)

Julie was rocking out to her iPod. Pretty funny, she started using her paddle as a guitar. And more funny, this was before the second Coffee Bean trip of the day! We paddled for a little while and then headed back in for the next stop of Mindy's beach house trip agenda... Teri Cafe!

Mindy rigged her new tripod to have the video camera working while we paddled. It turned out some pretty cool videos. Showed me how well I don't paddle too! =) The wave in the mouth of the harbor wasn't really breaking. We got on a couple of small bumps, but definitely nothing that exciting.

We pulled up to Teri Cafe and saw that Tracy Rogers was parked in front of us. She ended up joining us for lunch which was awesome. Tracy & I are in a book club together and it was a good reminder for me that I need to get to reading this month's selection... The Tortilla Curtain. Anyway, we pretty much gorged out on Teri food and then thought it would be a great idea for another Coffee Bean. I was pretty much sick the rest of the day! =)

Mindela and Molly post Teri... So good! And still SUPER nice outside!

Random story for the day:
I have decided this year that one of the important things in life is having pretty toe nails. Julie and I have made a pact to go and get our toes done every 2 weeks. I don't think it makes me go any faster, but I really do think it gives me something nice to look at! =)

Lanakila Winter Series Race

The 5th stop of the Southern California winter series is in Redondo Beach, hosted by Lanakila Outrigger Canoe Club. I really like doing this race because it probably feels the most like family. Don't ask me to describe that in detail because I can't. This year the race was run on Rell's 8th birthday. Julie's sister took the girls to Disneyland for the weekend to celebrate. I tried to talk Rell into going later so that she and I could race the Crayton kids in the micro mini course, but Disneyland was way more appealing apparently... The micro mini course is always my favorite of the day and especially at this race. Josh and Garrett Crayton raced Tyson Poppler and Heather Crayton. For I think the 3rd straight year, they tied. Rell and I tied with them last year as well, with Danny racing with Heather instead of Tyson. It's so much fun to see kids get so into this sport.

Parking lot self portrait with 2 of my BFF's... Laurie Rubie and Julie Wolfe. Laurie and Julie both raced one mans. I scored and had Suzanne Serafin paddle me around all day! =)

Speaking of my partner (but not my partner in crime... Bethy Poo was in Missouri visiting her family...), Suzanne Serafin rocks. I've gotten to know her a lot more over the last year especially. Prior to this year, I didn't talk to her much more than to hassle her about having to stare at her ponytail as the Hanohano women beat the Paopao big booty crew yet again. I've gotten to paddle with her a bit this winter and it was fun to race with her on the 2-man. We had a great race. It's so funny because everyone came in saying how hard the race was... I was just super stoked to be racing with one of my good girl friends. We worked hard and played hard and did really well. Suzanne and I meant to take a photo together, but my ADD got in the way I think. Al Ching's Mudbrook Website has a cool write up on the race and there's a photo of Suzanne and I during the race.

Sweetie and Honey.... Chris and Laurie Rubie
So I pretty much have no room to make fun of these girls, but I was cracking up with how wired up they looked going out to race. (Says the girl who paddles with a GPS, iPod, AND a camera!!) I tried to get them to do the robot...
This was our photo for Beth... Corry and I playing in the rain. The weather was pretty crazy that day... started out sunny and nice, actually hot at times and I was debating on how many layers to wear. I ended up keeping all of them on and was stoked when after the race we were pulling the canoes out and it got COLD. And then started raining. We have had a really wet winter in Southern California this year. People cleared out pretty quickly after the awards, but as always, there was a core group who hung out and had a few beers after. And pretty much that's my story....

Happy 30th Jeremy Houde!!

Today Jeremy Houde hit the big 3-0. Apparently Bear Mountain resorts gives you a free lift ticket if it's your birthday. I had never heard that before, probably because my birthday is in June, but anyway... Houde and I drove up early this morning for a day of boarding. Scotty Crossman was supposed to join us as well, but sounds like he was a big sleeper this morning... =) He slept through a couple texts from me and phone calls from both Houde and myself.

Jeane and I have been talking about going snowboarding for awhile now. She almost came up with us today, but yesterday it was raining in Big Bear... not so great for the snow... I was kind of wishy washy on going, but I am so stoked that Jeremy was set to go because it turned out to be a totally gorgeous day. I have only been riding a couple times since breaking my arm a few years back and I was a bit nervous about getting back into it. Although a broken arm could be a good excuse for why I am slow on a canoe! Ha ha ha

Mindy has worked at Snow Summit for something like 16 years. You can pretty much through a rock from her house to the lifts at Summit too. She got to take a break from her work day and go on a few runs with Jeremy and I. Not only does she paddle better than I do and win more races than I ever will... she schooled me snowboarding. Her name is Melinda Clark and she's professional at everything...

Houde, Mindela, and I on a lift. Poor Jeremy experienced the never-ending Molly self-portrait today. (That's weird... tonight he's drinking the pain away at Pizza Port Carlsbad!) Maybe the reason that he is on his own chair in the photo a few photos above was because he was over it!

Mindy on the lift. I didn't take many action shots... okay, any action shots. Although I did take a little video, but I'm going to have to make Mindy edit it for me! I was also quite jealous of Mindy's outfit today. I was threatening to get a part time job at Summit next year so that I can wear the cute clothes. OH! And snowboard.

We had to toast to Houde's making it 30 years. For a much needed break, we hit the View Haus and had an adult beverage at lunchtime. It's amazing how good an oil can makes you feel at 8000 feet on an empty stomach... I was a legend on the next run! =)

And the birthday boy and his Fat Tire. The photos don't do the day justice. The snow was great, the weather was warm, the sun was out all day... It was a perfect day up there. Judging from the parking lot, we thought the hill would be more crowded than it was, but there were several runs where we only saw 2 or 3 other people the whole time.

I love this last photo of Houde. The view from the View Haus is pretty incredible. A great place to just hang.

I had such a great time today and I am so thankful that I had Houde and Mindy to go with because I probably wouldn't have gone otherwise. Cruising down the mountain made me miss surfing even more though. I'm not so much of a ripper/shredder snowboarder... more of a cruiser-down-the-mountainer... similar feeling as surfing, only surfing doesn't hurt when you fall... =)

Stay tuned for a really poor quality video of the day with a special message to Jeane from Molly and Mindy!! (And Molly making snow angels in the middle of the run courtesy of Mindy) Ha ha ha

Julie's Survivor video

I think that probably the funniest part of this whole photo is that Julie was off duty when this was taken. If she was working, she wouldn't have her hair down or her trademark earrings in... I think it's a pretty awesome photo of her, if I might say so myself. We were at her station attempting to finish off the Survivor try-out tape that we had been totally lagging on for days at this point. We were planning on her just talking, but one of the guys on duty that day styled her out with a more elaborate plan than we were thinking. It turned out pretty funny... I have just some of the bloopers or the background really...

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