Today's main event...

Walked into the bathroom at work today, saw a gentleman using the stall. Nothing weird about that, right? Well, WHEN YOU AREN'T WEARING SHOES it is a bit of a head turner! Nothing but a pair of black golden toe socks.

Quite the fashion statement when in the men's restroom, the cleanest of all places. That is probably one of the top 3 spots I would want shoes in the world:

1) Puyallup Fair
2) Any Pioneer Square bar/club/trash hole
3) Men's restroom, Anywhere, USA

Oh yeah, I saw this guy later walking around the office, no shoes still...He is a Doctor of some sort. Probably not good with germs.

Back from Vega$$$$$$...ugh...

I like Vegas, a lot. I get very excited every time I go there. I like watching football for 14 hours on Saturday with my buddies, I like ordering drinks with strange names because they are free. I like making up drinks because they are free (This weekend it was a "Van Earl") Why? Long Story about a sportscaster my buddy BK and I used to watch back in college on Fox Sports Net. His saying was "Helllllooooooooo Everybooooooooddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyy" and he would seriously say this for like 5 seconds. So I thought, you know what would be cool? I nice stiff drink that makes you say "Hellllllllooooooo Everybooooooddddddddyyyyyyyyyyy"... I'm a total nerd. I know this.

I also like the fact that Vegas is 80* in November. I like the great restaurants, I like the fact that this whole town of glitz and glam is in the middle of the desert and makes no sense that people go there, other than to basically waste money and forget who they are by drinking too much. It's a very strange town. I like the million dollar clubs and the games you have to play to try to get in (definitely helps to know The Baller).  Vegas is a lot of fun, but I HATE COMING HOME. That has to be the worst flight ever, knowing the next morning the alarm clock will be ringing bright and early and you totaled maybe 8 hours of sleep the past 2 nights. I need a vacation from my Vegas trip. If you have been there, you know exactly what I mean. But, this feeling will wear off like it always does and I will be stoked for the next trip.

My thoughts right now "ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

5 Years?!?! What? That's Crazytown!

Where is this?

Yep, You guessed it. Cannon Beach, on the Oregon Coast. And this is where m'lady and I spent our 5 year anniversary...Yes, 5 years...cinco...4+1, 7-2, however you want to cut it. I remember when we met 9 years ago, so to have already been married 5 years seems totally crazy, but it has been nothing short of amazing. She is my best friend and we have the most amazing time together. Never stop having fun!

Rach had never been to the Oregon Coast, so I thought she was due for a trip down there. We stayed at the Ocean Lodge, which I would totally recommend to anyone. It is right on the beach with amazing views in all directions and just a short walk down the beach to all of the little shops and all 614 art galleries that occupy the town. I could find paintings by a 44 year old British poet who refused to drink anything but milk for 3 years, but when all I wanted was some cheese to pair with our wine it was Tillamook Cheddar, Tillamook Sharp Cheddar, Tillamook Mild Cheddar, Tillamook Smoked Cheddar, or a Tillamook T-shirt...

Anyways, the hotel had fresh baked cookies every night....fresh baked cookies EVERY NIGHT! Ummm...yep! But they also set you up with everything you need for a bonfire (minus the lighter fluid) including the logs, chairs, matches, and the daily paper to get it all started. Perfect place for a relaxing weekend.

'Tis I with a flaming 'mallow. If you don't speak french, that's a marshmallow.

So we basically just hung out, drank some wine, ate some hot cookies (I did at least), walked the beach, and relaxed. It was perfect!

They had black and white chairs, but I said, "Come on, it's our anniversary, can you get us rainbow sorbet?"

We also got massages...A word of warning here friends...If you ask for a massage you may end up on the short end of the stick. We ordered up 2 in-room massages (back-to-back because apparently there is only one masseuse in town) and were pretty stoked. Little did we know we signed up for the Tender Vittles-Fancy Fingers-Feather Touch Massage. How about some pressure next time lady wearing wool socks with sandals? Do you understand how hard it is to focus on a massage when you look down and see big wool socks smothered in rubber sandal/shoes? Not easy! It felt like a light breeze was blowing over me, not like someone was really working out all the kinks...There were moments when all she did was rest her hand on my shoulder. I was just waiting for a poof of smoke and broom to appear! Halloweens not for a month lady! So don't say you weren't warned.

M'lady and I in front of the fireplace (Coming in a Christmas Card near you?)

Food recap of Cannon Beach:

Wayfarer - ehhhhh...OK...nothing special

Newmans 989 - cute little italian place, but overpriced and not a lot on the menu.

Seasons - little spot for lunch that was money right as you enter town

Waves of Grain Bakery - they serve Sleepy Monk coffee here and have One-Eyed Willy's (yeah, like in Goonies), which is a large flaky biscuit with fresh raspberry jam right in the center. Definitely go here if you get a chance.

Rach enjoying the sunset

The Elevator Debate

Do you ever wonder what to do when standing in the elevator with a complete stranger? How awkward is this? Let's say you are the first one in, headed to the 34th floor. Someone else gets in on the 2nd floor, heading to the 36th. You are going to be spending a considerable amount of time with this person.

Do you make small chat? "Weather sure is nice today", "Nice Elevator huh", "Check out those ergonomic buttons"

Do you stare straight at the ceiling while the other person does the same thing?

Do you look at your shoes? Make sure you are wearing some!

Do you look at your phone?

Does the other person look at their phone like they have been in a time warp and cant remember what time it was 14 seconds ago? Also, NO SERVICE! "Can't check the facebook account in here amigo"

Do you look at the buttons? Don't look at the buttons. The ceiling-stare is better than the button-watcher

Staring at your watch? Yep, just as I thought, 3 seconds after the last time I checked.

What if the person smells or has an egg salad sandwich in their bag? Do you plug your nose and make a scene? Maybe chuckle because you think they cut cheese?

Did the elevator stink before you got in and now the person who just stepped on thinks it was you? They think they are walking into your smoke screen?

What if the elevator is packed? Do you talk to everyone? Crack a good joke? No, no, just keep staring at the ceiling.

When you get off, do you say bye if you had some idle chit-chat?

Can you hit on someone in an elevator? I would say yes if you are in a place like Vegas, where rules don't really apply to anything. But if you are in a place of business, don't ruin the girl's day by trying to get her digits. She already had to listen to you yammer on about the dry muffin you just had at Starbucks.

What do you do?

What has been shakin?

Following the Hoopfest Spectacular was the Annual Chelan trip. This year was epic. We rented a huge pad and filled it with 17 of the amigos. My folks had the boat over there so we were able to do some cliff jumping, wake boarding in pirate suits, some dance parties, hit a pinata, played some ladder ball, a few Light Weight Buddy's, some beer grenades, and wore some water diapers! If you don't know what a water diaper is Bing it. Below are some pictures from the events!

BK, Austin, and BigD are fashioning the Water Diaper, excellent in warm climates when an ice cold beverage is needed while floating in the water.

These ladies may look like they are celebrating a victory in Flip Cup. WRONG! Dudes 7, Ladies 0

The ladies huck off the cliff...

The Dance Party begins

Aaaaaarrrgghh... Pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel attached to his dingy and orders a beer. Bartender says "No problem pirate, but first, why do you have a steering wheel attached to your dinger?" Pirates says, "Aaaarrggghh, She's drivin' me nuts"!

That would be the best pirate joke I know. The 3rd pirate to the right also happens to be excellent at wakeboarding, along with plundering booty and drinking Rum.

No explanation for this one, just wanted to get a pic of Lowell's thighs in there. If you see them, run, they will knock you over

Where did I leave off?

M'lady and I at the Gonnason's Casa for Hoopfest

Wow, it has been a minute since I last blogged. My apologies to all of my fans, US Weekly, OK!, the Twitterverse, and of course the paparazzi. I know what you are thinking...Where have you been? Well I don't have 3 months to write everything, like what sandwich I had on September 8th (Probably a smoked turkey and swiss on wheat. That's it. No Mayo. No Mustard. Boom. Down to biz). So here are the highlights, followed by a couple of pics from the big events:

1) Spokane Hoopfest - Largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world, no joke. Close to 30,000 players of all ages. If you ever get a chance, you should play once. It is amazing.

The squad repped tough, going 2-0 the first day which put us in a huge matchup with a group of US Marines. They had 2 guards who were quick as lightning, but smelled like a fresh batch o' Jack Daniels. Sure enough, they had been partying hard all night. The 3rd dude was the problem though. I am talking about a 6'8" 260lb solid rock of a problem in the low post. Our team runs about 6'4 200 across the board, but I probably tip the scales at about 202, so I was lucky enough to guard this moose. By guarding him, I mean absolutely bear hugging this guy. I could have been arrested for my actions, but the dude never called a foul. Ever. Somehow we grab the lead 17-14 (games are to 20) and Pete (aka the Swede, a 6'7 ex PLU Lute) reaches in on the Moose to try to steal the ball from him. Bad idea. Pete pulls the ball one way, Moose pulls the ball the other way. Moose wins and takes Swede's arm with him. Dislocated shoulder. Out for tourney. So BigD, our 4th man comes in off the bench, plays admirably, but we go down in OT and never recovered with out Pete.

Left to Right: CBone, Swede, Blogger, BigD

But...we had a couple of fantastic BBQ's, some ice cold beverages, an awesome round of golf, and we brought the Boo's, who also had a great time. Fellas, you know how it is to have your lady in the crowd. It's a great way to show her you still have it and definitely earn some points. Just ask m'lady.

CBone to the rack

More to come... It's late for an old buzzard like myself, time to hit the sack. Holla!

A couple tips about going Organic and Feet...

Look, I am all for going organic and eating sustainable, etc... Organic produce? Cool. Organic coffee? Sure. Organic clothes? Yeah, thats fine too, to a certain degree (not everything organic has to be hemp right?). I buy organic food quite often and even own some shirts made with organic cotton (woohoo for me).  But the other day a girl at my organic coffee shop took it way too far...See this picture? No, this isnt a real picture from the coffee shop, but this is the best example of what I saw that day. Her legs were furrier than a Berenstain Bear.  Just a note to the ladies out there, please continue proper maintenance, legs this hairy belong in the woods with Squatch:I went in to get a coffee, but I didnt know I was going to throw up in my mouth too.

Another note to all males....feet are NOT accessories. They are not pretty, and when you where something to draw attention to your dirty dogs like these hybrid wannabe-shoes-but-they-think-they're-sandals Chacos that people are so fond of. These things have no identity, they are shoe bottoms with some seatbelts on them...
If you want to show off your feet, please resort to flip-flops, which have a great identity. It says, I am here to rock and possibly hit the beach, but maybe I will just party...Anyways, hopefully you get the point. These started with Teva's way back in the 90's and now they are everywhere. They are gross and so are your feet. If you want the comfort of shoes, wear some shoes, that way I dont have to guess when the last time you cut your toenails was and if that is mustard from the game or a fungus on your left big toe. 

Ladies, just because you have nice feet doesn't mean you get a free pass to these seatbelt shoes...

Memorial Day Recap

 Nice Spirit Fingers Babe!

This is the first Memorial Day that we haven't gone somewhere in 6 years, so it was nice to stay at home and enjoy the AMAZING weather! We didn't do a ton of super exciting stuff, but did have a rendezvous with some friends for BigD's 35th birthday (he's really only 28, but he could be 40). He and his wife Hilari came into town for a night so we went to Barrio on Capitol Hill, which is bomb.com and surprised him with some of the crew. We drank some beers, took down some tequila, ate a bunch of Mexican food, and generally had a great time....

           See...Beers and Crew

The Fun Bunch: From Left to Right (Hilari Flanigan, 

Birthday Boy Flanigan, Buckskins, Nutt, Boo, and Myself)

Supporting Cast of RoupeScoop (Boys Edition): Gonny, BK, Me, BigD, and Balz

Nutt + Tequila = Bitter Beer Face?

I also squeezed a round of golf in (I still suck), we took Hawk for like 600 walks and he whizzed like 1800 times (he's beat), grabbed coffee in the mornings (naturally), and had a great domesticated evening with our good friends, Lowell Parker and his fiance Becca. We grilled steaks, drank wine, and played some Apples to Apples. Hawk and LuLu (their dog) chased the cat and we were really entertained all evening (this will happen to each and every one of you someday so don't roll your eyes). Then we wrapped it up with more meat on Monday at another BBQ with some friends. Meat is good. 

In case you were wondering to yourself, "Where do the Roupe's go on all of these Memorial Day trips"? I have put together a nice list. Why? Because people love lists. You know what else people like? PICTURES! Because you don't have to read them....

    2003 - Lake Chelan

Yeah,that is a Skyy Blue...collector's item now

Hanging with Kevin Bacon

         

         2004 - Las Vegas

2005 - Las Vegas

BK, the Baller, Big D, Myself, Gonny - PURE

The crew, all 17 of us, and Ma & Pa Roupe! Thanks for dinner!

The Fellas - Caesar's Palace (L to R: LilD, Nutt, Gonny, Turtle, Quinn, BK, Me)

Baby Boo looking Hot in the dark hair! 

2006 - San Diego

Oh wow, Good times in SD

No Easter Eggs were harmed in the making of this picture

Lowell still has that sweet stroke

2007 - Las Vegas

Boo and I ready to roll

BK and I in a posedown...he won. But I won coolest way to hold a drink

2008 - Walla Walla Wine Tasting

Too much wine? No way, Too much love

This was actually featured in Wine Spectator, we were paid for our modeling with gummy bears, Big D's favorite

Yeah, that's a good crew

Wine connoisseurs 

Trapped in a Cellar, had to drink our way out

Lots of good stuff shaking down in the near future....Stay Tuned!

My Boo! The one and only (well, not technically the only) Mrs. Roupe...

Rach is truly an amazing woman and I am blessed to have her as my wife and as my best friend. She loves to laugh (I love her laugh), loves spending time with family and friends, enjoys wine tasting, walking our dog, reading, trying new restaurants, traveling, EXTRA HOT coffee's, pasta, fine cheeses (Humboldt Fog and Delice de Burgeone), wakeboarding, snow skiing, playing all sorts of sports (she has a cannon for an arm), our Saturday morning walks, and takes tremendous pride in her work. 

We met almost 9 years ago, which is totally crazy to both of us, and have been married 4.5 years (also nuttier than a squirrel's turd). Everyday gets better as we continue to learn more about each other...i.e...I squeeze from the bottom of the tube, she squeezes from wherever, I pick up my stuff when I am ready, she picks it up yesterday... We have a small little family consisting of a miniature pinscher-Chihuahua mix named Hawk and a bengal cat named Blitz (I will get to both of them later). And, yes, both of them are named for the Seahawks, OUR favorite team. But, NO, our kids will not be named "Field Goal", "Red Zone", or "Illegal Contact". We haven't ruled out "Pass Interference" though, aka P.I. Roupe, in which case he would be destined to be a rapper. 

Anyways, we met at Western Washington University, seen here: 

WWU - Viking Union

Old Main

We met at Summerstart, the orientation incoming freshman attend in early August to get a feel for campus and sign up for classes. After some awkward 18 year old flirting (and her telling me she came all the way from Cali to play softball, which I laughed at...who goes to WWU from Cali? Also, YOU PLAY SOFTBALL? Yeah, and I turned down M.I.T. for WWU), some AIM screen names were exchanged and we started chatting on the phone and via IM (was really cool back then) until school started. Not wanting to waste any time, we were together as a couple about 2 days after school started and have been ever since! Neither of us were looking for a significant other at the time and would have thought you were crazy if you said we would have dated the same person all throughout college. Well, I guess good things come unexpectedly, because we have been together ever since with no breaks at all. 

 M'lady Having some fun back in the day!!

So, we dated for 4 years, got married September 25, 2004 at Newcastle Golf Club, just east of Seattle and bought a little townhome in the Issaquah Highlands while I worked Pharmaceutical sales and Rach worked for Quadrant Homes. Then we got an opportunity to start a new homebuilding company in California, moved down there, decided that wasn't for us and after a year and a half headed back to the great NW. After living in a farm town, we decided that we wanted to see some people, make that lots of people, and bought a condo on Upper Queen Anne just 2 minutes from downtown Seattle. On a side note, we have greatly reduced our carbon footprint by being able to walk to shops, work, and bars! We still work for Envision Homes, Rach does all the sales work, I am in charge of New Business Development, and in these lean times, the marketing as well. So tell everyone to go buy an Envision Home, like RIGHT NOW! So, in a nutshell, that is the brief history of how we came to be the Roupe's! There will be many more stories detailing our adventures along the way and our crazy crew.

4 year anniversary - Saint Diego

Whistler (as you can tell I grew a half beard, I am pretty crazy)

College Whistler Trip - Amazing!

Aaargh!! There be m'lady with me loot!

Myself, Boo, and Lil Sis!

Until Next time......