10.17.2008

Lists

So today is my birthday. Happy Birhtday Alex, thank you. I was in the beginning stages of being depressed about having another birthday - I thought that started happening around age 40 - and my brother told me I was being an idiot. So I stopped. I woke up this morning to a surprise on my doorstep from Ashley...BANANA BREAD. I love that stuff. I instantly wolfed down half of the loaf and started this day off right! So props to Ashley, that stuff was good!

That made me start thinking of my favorite birthdays...and no, I'm not going to brag, this is actually going somewhere. And then that train of thought lead me to "Lists". Top 5's. Favorite whatevers. So I am going to list some lists. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to chime in at any time.

Top 5 Favorite Birthdays:
- Golf at Crosswater with Em, Scott Taylor, and Andy Howard. Well, 3 of us golfed, and Taylor just sat in the cart and smoked cigars and drank beer.
- 21st birthday in LA. 4 parents, 1 brother, 3 great friends...and Betty White and Nancy Raegan.
- LAZER TAG
- Pendleton to Eugene to Black Butte in 1 day for 1 great weekend!
- 16th Birthday at that one place that our parents rented out for the 10 of us who had October Birthdays!

Top 5 Favorite Golf courses:
- Crosswater, Pacific Dunes, The Vintage, Sahalee, Pebble Beach (with Dad)

Top 5 Favorite memories with Em:
- Golfing at Hawk Creek in Neskowin in a torential downpour with Howard...and Em blowing the win on the last hole!
- Playing one on one to 200 points at McKinley...yes, 200 points. By 1's and 2's.
- Tennis at 2am at Illahe...epic battles.
- Ping Pong in his basement...calling timeouts (there are no timeouts in ping pong) and sweating so bad because of no A/C and it being 96 degrees outside
- Playing one on one BASEBALL. You'd think it's impossible, but not with Em and I. It was amazing.

Top 5 Memories with my brother:
- his wedding
- driving from LA to Salem in 12.5 hours. Left at 12AM, met Dad at McGraths downtown at 12:30 pm.
- playing tennis at Fairmount Park on those crappy courts
- NYC for Spring Break in 2004
- his visit to me while I was at Young Life camp in Colorado

Top 5 movies (I'll cheat a little on this one):
- Indiana Jones Trilogy, Scent of a Woman, Shawshank Redemption, The Goonies, The Little Mermaid

Top 5 Memories with John Olinger:
- Europe 2006, way too many competitive golf rounds at Illahe with Em and Wade, talking in Bend a few weeks ago, Palm Springs (twice I think), Work Week at Malibu

Top 5 Authors:
- Paul, Henri Nouwen, Donald Miller, Vince Flynn/James Patterson/David Baldacci (they are all the same, more or less), Roald Dahl

Top 5 Classes I took in college:
- Christian Marriage, Marketing (because of Professor Gerson, who was one of the only people on this earth who I knew that knew my Great Grandfather), Spanish 3 (again, the professor), Leadership and Entreprenuership, New Venture Finance

Top 5 Places I have visited (I'll brag on this one, sorry):
- Africa, Young Life's Malibu Club (Canada), Switzerland, Austria, Cuba

5 Best Places to eat in Bend:
- Baldy's BBQ, The Blacksmith, Longboard Louie's, Deschutes Brewery (only because of the Mac n Cheese), Croutons

5 Best Places to eat in Boone (so far):
- Chick Fil A, Black Cat, Char, Jimmy John's, Mellow Mushroom

Top 5 Places

Top 5 Memories with Mom:
- US Open in NYC, running/talking in Cape Town, finishing the Marine Corp Marathon (and all of the damn training runs and talk and everything that went in to it!!), San Francisco (what was that one broadway show we saw with Martin Short in it? Hilarious...), living mono e mono for 2 years at 1835 Alta View Drive

I guess I'll quit now...I could go on and on forever. I am sure all of you have great lists too! Feel free to post one or two of them in the comment section...would love to hear some thoughts on what your favorite things are! In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy birthday # 26. My mom already recounted what happened 26 years ago....for the 26th time. Enjoy the day!

6 comments:

j.o. said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love the top 5s!!! Love you.

mmmmom said...

Happy Birthday, baby! And yes, you'll get the "I remember the day you were born" story EVERY year!!!
love you tons!
xoxoxoxo
mmmmmmmmmmmmmomofbirthdayboy

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! One of my top memories has you in it...
The Pendleton trip then to Eugene, and it was my first time ever riding in an airplane! Love you, Miss you!

Anonymous said...

That's a great list! I was lucky to be apart of a lot of those memories.

Wish you could be here with Taylor, Sears, Beardz, Wroblewski, Adam, Garcia, Joe, Brad, Howard, and I playing tackle football at West!

Matthew Casebeer said...

I love The Little Mermaid.

Happy Birthday, brother!

christi said...

I am a little behind on your blog.
I have 2 questions:

where is your top 5 in Boone?
Top 5 with Ashley?

seriously.