tattoos

I went with my brother-in-law to get his tattoo this weekend. this was fun as i have never been to a tattoo parlor. he was getting a tattoo that he had designed and i have helped him finalize the art on. the design has significant meaning to him and was a birthday present.
i was impressed by the shop. it was large, nice, clean, everyone was friendly and no one was pushy.
I have wanted to tattoo since i was about 8. they have gone in and out of style over the years, along with location popularity. i have a couple different things i would like to get. One is a technical illustration of a lotus- but I've always been afraid that it would end up blurring.
i want a stylized koi, made to look like painted ink on my hip.
i want a large colored peonies with sparrows on my back.

i think tim would look hot with sleeves. :)

************************************************************************************

i got an oil change and fluid change and general inspection on my scoot this weekend. the price has about doubled in the last 2 years since i purchased it. Tim has pointed out that this is really not a bad maintenance fee to pay. though I'm pissed that it costs me almost $10 to fill up now. when i bought it i was buying a full tank of premium with pocket change- literally.
(CAUTION: BELOW IS A RANT. SKIP IF YOU DONT WANT TO HEAR BITCHING.)
i have said this before and i will say it again. i continue to want to be more involved with Denver scooter culture. but not knowing anyone it it makes it terribly intimidating. every time i go to one of the local scoot shops i leave pissed off. service is slow and often crappy. at one point when i first got into it and was buying a jacket among other things, i was at a shop for 2 hrs, trying on everything in the store, trying to get the right fit, etc. no one talked to me. no one ever said hi. when i finally found an employee [they were hanging out gossiping] and asked for help, they couldn't tell me anything and offered no service. i complained at some point on a scooter forum, that i was a noob. and just trying to get info and help, and was super disappointed in the local shops. later some one posted that i was wrong to hate on the locals, and that in fact one of them was a woman owned shop and she would be horrified to hear that service was crappy. HERE ME NOW: if you have women saying "i am getting no and bias service because i am a woman- because it was completely different when i was in these shops with my father- then you need to take a look at how you are conducting business. don't alienate new buyers and riders and women."
if anyone knows of a local shop that handles vespas, that is not erico or sportique, please let me know.

*********************************************************************************

The below link is to a series of lectures being hosted by Belmar Lab.
http://www.belmarlab.org/mixedtaste2008.php

we missed the first one, but hope to make it to several this summer.

Obama 08

If you missed watching Obama speak last night, you can watch it here. my brother-in-law has it posted in his blog. http://liftthesun.blogspot.com/
this man has an amazing speaking voice.- this is coming from me. my hearing is crap. yet i am able to listen to him and understand what he is saying, while not actually watching him. for whatever reason that affects me a lot.
i cannot listen to this speech without crying. for the first time in my life I'm excited about politics. i cannot wait for the DNC, i cannot wait to see where this all goes.

Change is coming. its time to be excited.

effecient

i was asked twice today - on my ride home about my scooter.
admittedly i don't ride enough. i am trying to be better about that i just really don't like riding in high wind and or rain.
how much does it cost. whats the gas mileage. how much gas does it hold. how fast does it go. is that vespa. could my wife ride one?

i smile.

the weekend

so friday Tim and i both leave work early, so we can head up to Loveland. 2 of my cousins [2nd] are graduating from high school and college. their dad is from a Lebanese family [based out of nebraska]- so they had things like lamp kebabs and home made baklava. etc. tim and i ended up at a table, that originally had my dad at it. he was filling me in on the recent tornado that swept kearney and minden [basically danced around a bunch of our relatives houses. when my parents left, we were left at a table with my 2nd cousin's family on their dads side, who was talking to us about my dad's sister's husbands family [who also lives in Minden.]
we exited. and made a run for Ft. Fun to visit Nate.
Nate is still living in a house with some guys. but its a nicer house and apparently he doesn't hate his roommates with a burning passion. there was a new guy moving in. apparently he was one of the responders to a craigs list roommate add that stated that their house was now Vampire free. he looked presently geeky.
since Ft. fun is blessed with a Pizza Street, we introduced Nate to the buffalo chicken ranch pizza and got the down low on what happened to the Pizza Street that previously shared the parking lot with our grocery store.[ apparently the guy running it was a loser who didn't advertise- even when giving promotional material. then one day called to say he would be away for a while. and they haven't heard from him since.]

saturday we preceded with our plan to go hiking every weekend, working our way up to more and more hardcore hikes. we are still on pretty easy- but maybe thats a good thing.

watched Juno while we were Katie sitting. the dialog was great.

bleh in the am

nothing like cleaning up fresh cat vomit in the am.

for once it wasn't falkor. it was ozzy. perfectly timed for Tim running out the door to catch a bus.



it was nice out yesterday, and the perfect weather for kite flying. Tim and I went down to REI [hoping to actually find shoes they show on their website- i don't not] then on to River Side Park for some running around and kite flying. we have a $6 kite from target. it has been a while since i last bought a cheap kite- this was FAR nice than i had ever had as a kid. it is made of rip stop material and not plastic- after our one kite flying session i honestly believe it will be good for several more. we wandered down the river, then back and around and down 16th st. we haven't done that in a while. it was great fun.

movie reviews

we don't watch a lot of movies, but this weekend we rented several.

I watched Marie Antoinette.
it was fun. I throughly enjoyed the costuming and scenery. there was not a lot of dialog or explanation- as Sophia Coppola movies tend to go. I don't actually know the history behind it- though i should, so i was happy to take it as was, and not question things. though i would like to point out that- as i enjoy historical based movies, i generally do not know the actual history behind them. I like to take them as being more or less correct, but never take them for truth over factual reference.
this movie is a fun eye candy piece. stars - that one girl from spider man

Miss Potter

I very much enjoyed this movie. it falls very much in the category of "chick flick." i am surprised "life time" or "oxygen" isn't showing this on constant repeat.
Having grown up loving the tales of Beatrix Potter, i was an easy shoe in for this movie. it is basically the story of who she was and how she got her first books published. there is, of course, a love interest. stars- Renee Zellweger, Ewen McGregger

Tim and i watched:

Charlie Wilson's War

Movie takes place in the 1980s. We were far to young to remember anything political that was going on at that time. We enjoyed it. it wasn't quite all what i though it was going to be. Seemed like it showed a lot of the political stuff, but not a lot of what was actually achieved.
we enjoyed it. stars- Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Phillip Hoffman and Amy Adams.

The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford

it was good- like we had heard. it was not what we were expecting though. the movie reminded me very much of the Lincoln book i read recently. [about what happened in the days following the assassination- and what happened to john wilks booth.] this move is long. there were a number of places it could have ended and did not. interesting but a bit long winded.

memorial weekend

we started off Memorial weekend with Tim working friday night so they could get a rush job done.

saturday:
we headed to Georgetown. 1. because i* have never been there and 2. because they were supposed to be having "Georgetown days." I would like to point out that going into this we knew that there was no actually schedule for the listed events. So we got up there, and it started snowing, was windy and cold. we ventured into so basic crappy tourist shops and found the library book sale. Tim is nice enough to actually buy some books from inside to go with the 20 or so we grabbed from the "free" boxes. i acquired a wonderful international dumpling cookbook.

Decided to lunch at Tommy knocker's in Idaho Springs. apparently they make a great Imperial Nut Brown Ale. we also scored seats next to the fireplace.

Sunday: Mowed the lawn. We now have a rather large lawn, and cannot seem to remove it fast enough. However we have purchased a non-corded electric mower. the battery is supposed to last about 40 min. its not as loud as a gas mower, has no fumes and no cord to run over. it takes me a good 40 min to mow our lawn and on the second use i have used maybe a 1/4 of the battery power. plus its nice and light weight.
Our friend and his GF are in town for a couple weeks, so they came over for lunch and to jump on the trampoline for a bit.
we headed to Boulder for a friends BBQ to celebrate his going on a "round the world" trip. apparently on a lark he decided to pack up and travel the world. you can buy a "round the world" trip ticket. he said he got the cheap one- about $5k. [which as far as i can see is a phenomenal price for seeing over 10 countries in 5 months. apparently you can move around the dates of your flights but not the locations.]
on our way to the BBQ we stopped at REI to buy a sleeping bag. or rather 2- that zip together. we hope to go camping several times this summer and think it would be a whole lot warmer if we were actually sleeping together. though the bags were stuffed together, apparently both had a tag that needed to be scanned. we only payed for one. and i got to use last years dividend.

MONDAY: got everything else out of the apartment. now i just need to clean and return the keys. Finally, Finally, Finally! we are done with that apartment.
i already miss the neighborhood. it was a great neighborhood. every house was full of unique details, wide sidewalks on tree lined streets. while we love our house, the neighborhood is not the same. most of the houses are similar to ours. the sidewalks are narrow and things are more run down. there are less people out in general. though there is a park not far away that gets a lot of use.
we had "BBQ" with our folks at tim's parents house and played Cranium.


* Tim apparently has been to Georgetown, but did not mention this untill much later. all he originally said was "you can take the train loop, its expensive." Being a native of Colorado i take this to mean that hes making a general statement about tourist attractions in Colorado- especially those that move. why does this annoy me? well, why didnt he say, "o yeha we went there once and rode the train, and its was cold and miserable." We would have still gone to "GT Days", but it like, crap. i thought we were doing something totally new.

cats

for those of you who hear my cat complaints.here is a change of pace.
tonight ozzy went out, and falkor was cute and sat on my lap or curled up next to me while i watched movies.

the weekend

its friday. "so whats wrong with that?" you say.
because as i was leaving work yesterday i thought it was friday and was ready to start the weekend, only to have to get up and come in today [which now feels like saturday, and i'm a bit resentful.]

I would like to say we are done moving and have handed back the keys to the apt. not so. still the straggling closets of coats and random crap... and the tumble weeds of cat hair to be cleaned up. We keep underestimating the amount left to do over there, so it keeps dragging out. I keep saying "this weekend, we'll finish it." ow ever it seems like a waste of a weekend, though our evening are not much better spent. I hate moving. i am so glad to not have to move again for at least several years. maybe tonight i will suck it up and got get a bunch of stuff, maybe do some cleaning.

its memorial weekend. we have no plans. Tim is working till 2 saturday morning trying to get a last min. job done. so i'm on my own for friday. saturday theres various evens going on around town. sunday we have a friends bbq that we may attend. but otherwise?? hiking maybe, if anyone wants to join us.
we have decided to try to go hiking every weekend. we are starting with short hikes that are fairly level and working our way up, hopefully by mid summer or so we will be ready to do some serious hiking.


i am thinking more and more that i would like to go see my grandma this summer. previous years i have gone out for 4th of July, as her small town always does a big celebration with lots of ill planned activities. theres the drive in movie theater and the rhinos buried in ashes. i have other great aunts and uncles near by. Tim makes fun of me, but i love visiting Nebraska, i think its a beautiful state. un like Kansas it is not all flat. in fact a lot of it is not flat. my grandma lives up in the sand hills. we turn off I-80 at north platte and wind our way up the back roads to her house.
we should prolly also visit some of Tims relatives in Kansas as well.

i wish i had more vacation time.

rain

its a cold and rainy day. there was lengthy discussion about weather would could call in sick and spend the remainder of the day in bed watching movies.
the office is quiet. many people are running late.

i just read an article on 9news about a man who was married to his long time girl friend in the ICU. he passed away the next day.

its transition time. we are trying to finish getting out of our apartment. we have friends coming into town and friends leaving town. were excited about weekend hiking and camping trips.

i feel like i have a lot to say, but i don't. not here.

happy rainy day to you.

whooo whooooo!

HOT SHIT!

May 10th is National Train Day!

moved

moved.
yup.. well kinda... we have a bunch of stuff at the apt. still. mostly because we actually want to put things away as we go. scary, i know.

cats are doing ok. Ozzy came back after the first night.... didn't come back this morning though. hes gonna be a hungry kitty tonight.

Were building book shelves!

o... things....

Were getting a house!

We haven't post much about this, for several reasons. [for 1. i'm up to my wazoo in work crap.]

it started with a thought. we have some friends who were talking about buying. I have been thinking that we did not have enough money saved up for a down payment and that it would be a year or more before we could afford to own our own home.
most little girls dream of a white wedding and so forth. me, i'v always wanted home ownership. i love house magazines and cannot wait to have a house of my own.

so we sat down, we talked about it. talked to the bank, opened a high yield savings account and started surfing the remax web site. we looked, we discussed, etc, etc... got ourselves a realitor [who i recommend to anyone else who's looking], saw some houses that were.. well, ask us, it involves crack, and some houses that were ok. and oddly enough the first one we looked at was the best of the bunch.

apparently 1. all of the metro area is a "declining market" which means you need an 85 down. 2. the roof is great, the garage is crap. 3. get your inspection done on a rainie day, then you know if there are leaks.

so anyway, we are rolling right long. we've got our sellers agreed to everything, bank approval and inspection is done. right now we are just waiting to close. [april 25.]

we really are VERY VERY VERY excited.

...and thats what weve been up to. more or less.

toothpaste

you reach a point in your relation ship where you know you dont have anything to worry about when he says "come see... i made a bubble over the drain opening..."

need

i feel that i need to post something. i just need to figure out what.

thanks for the ideas.

ooow,
thanks for the Tee ideas.

we have decided that you could do a whole collect of minimum wage tees of that kind of inappropriate manner.
i will work one up, 'cus its funny.

on a further note, if anyone has any idea for cute or funny kids Tee ideas, let me know.

when you have to produce 10 to 30 ideas a season, its nice to have some outside help.

i haven't been posting a lot. mainly because i have a good idea, but don't have time to get any of it down, then too much time has passed and the subject is no longer relevant, and i have forgotten the points i was going to make.

also, i try not to post about my job. theres a number for reasons for this. mainly among the lines of, you never knows whos going to find your blog, and letting loose here, could bite me in the butt down the road when the frustration is no longer relevant. and also because, at this point, i have taken the stance that its just a job. its been made clear that i will not be paid what i'm worth, i will not move up and my responsibility's will not change- nor will any of my work be recognized.
so i'm going to keep on trucking, looking for other opportunities and learning what i can, where i can.
i have too many other happy things in my life to be endlessly hung up over the vast bullshit of my day.


in other happy news,

we have been per-approved for a loan, and are looking for a house. were sick of moving and living in crappy apartments. tims going to be heading to TCM school, and that will take several years- and were ready to own our own home [hopefully nothing as crappy as the apartments we've been living in.]

save me now.

does any one have *any* ideas for funny Tees?? *ANY*

please.....?

"asian" egg rolls

the 7-11 by my house is advertising [discounted] "Asian egg rolls with big gulp". and i have to wonder if they keep them warm on the hot dog roller?

there was a man on the bus today that look EXACTLY like Homer Simpson. only he was Mexican.

home sick

hi kids.
i'm home sick today.

just sick enough to get tired looking at the computer too long and not want to read. but not sick enough to not want to do anything.
so do i do something productive... like... put away clean cloths... not really, possibly later.

i'm out of dr. who to watch, and i think i already missed reading rainbow...


crap.

where to begin?

its 8:22 am... and I'm not exactly working.

my head is killing me- and because my dr. says they have stopped making the prescription sinus meds I've been taking, because of something in them does... something.... he wont prescribe me anything new.

I'LL TELL YOU WHAT IT DOES. IT MAKES MY HEAD STOP FUCKING POUNDING EVERY MORNING.

other than that, I'm trying to get me head warped around work, and not cute valentines day card ideas.
see i have just a whole ass load of stuff to get done. but because I'm not included in any knowledge of brand direction- or for that matter what order we will be working on things in, i don't know where to start.

also just found out that my boss is out for the next 3 days and didn't leave us with half the stuff we need to get may womens off to PD.- so it can make the trip to china next week.

good stuff.

i have project i need to get done at home. but i spend so much of my day in mental focus, that it hard to be even interested in my own stuff when i get home.

so where do i start? mens outer wear, womens outer wear, mens hoodies, womens hoodies, womens Tees, mens Tees, or trendy mens Tees? i have 3 days. GO!

also.
if any of you have any ideas for T-shirts AT ALL. please let me know. even risque humor can work.

i've been told...

... that the best way to get a job, is to tell everyone you know that you are looking. [ well, except for everyone you work with. so if any one i work with is reading this, and is appalled that I'm looking, maybe we need to sit down and have a chat.]

I am looking for a job.

i need a job doing t-shirt graphics, textile design, assistant apparel design, wall paper, fabric- any of that in general. I don't have skillz in catalog, or web design.- though, with some training i could probably do more catalog type graphics.

i need this job to be full time, with benefits and be able to pay me at least what i am making right now.

i am willing to re-locate. i am trying to avoid LA, NY and Texas.

even if this new job is just as bad as my current one, it would at least be different, and i would probably learn some new stuff.

if anyone has any ideas or leads for me, please feel free to contact me here, or email me.

thanks, cus guys, I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS JOB.

gnomes

I've been having a lot of stomach pains lately.
Dr. Timothious has determined my problem to be, frankly put, stomach gnomes. their pointy hats keep jabbing me in the side.
sure he had a fancy Latin medical term for this, but what it comes down to is, I've got gnomes.

ideal BF?

i LIKE IT.

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

o, hi

i SO want a squid hat

greetings from xmas and from our new years trip to NYC.

movie for you

to the east and back.

if you are ever on a plain and they tell you to "turn off electronics, we're just going to de-ice and be on our way..." don't. leave them on, and call who ever you are meeting on the other end and tell them your flight will be an hour late- and thats only if you get immediately de-iced and don't have to wait in line.

milk shakes at 3 am, delivered to your door are delicious.

New York was good. I started this post a week ago and now cannot remember a single witty thing i was going to say.

Tim's sister and our brother-in law [ok, they're not actually married yet- but its easier this way,] live in Brooklyn in the Park Sloap neighborhood. you can see the statue of liberty from out front their apartment building.

really, this was a fantastic vacation. we slept late and stayed up late every day. the weather was cool and moist but only really cold, one day.

friday: we had bagels from Meg's favorite and every morning bagel place. braved the subway s up to central park. saw the castle, went to the MET. which was CRAZY. did not see or enjoy much or the Rembrandt/vermier show, but throughly enjoyed the tapestry exhibit and parts of the costume collection. enjoyed a pretzel from a street vender and met up with Mathews mom and sister at a place on the Wes Side called Arties Deli- where we had 3 inch thick pastrami sandwiches.

we were also wrangle into doing a 1,000 piece butterfly puzzle. all we will say here, is that it was finished and it will never be seen again.

Saturday: brunch at a great place that had the most innovative food combinations i have seen in a long time. we were joined by Mathews dad and step mom and sister Ann.

then we took a small tour of Brooklyn and went to Queens to help set up for a New Years Eve party that was Super Science themed. this was chaos, but we got to see a real honest to god old NY warehouse loft.

Sunday: slept in. completely missed church, even though we said we'd go. sorry about that.
Tim ran an RPG for Mathew and some of his buddies. Meg and I went out to see the sights of Brooklyn and NYC. had real live NYC pizza. which, speaking as a non new yorker, is just like all versions of NY style pizza i have ever had. anywhere.

Meg and i do a little boutique window shopping and then went to the Chocolate shop. it is a small restaurants that serves high quality chocolate, ice cream coffees, wines and liqueurs. VERY VERY YUMMY.
then we went into the city to see the lights. Columbus Circle had an indoor display of giant color changing stars, that were timed to music. Times Square was crazy. Rockefeller Center- we could barely see the skating rink. it was crazy. It was also raining. we saw the "green" windows at Bergdoorf's. which were cool and the kaleidoscope light display at Grand Central.

Monday: Had lunch at a yummy lunch at a Turkish place[?]. Then Tim and i braved the subways on our own- which, was an adventure in and of it's self.
we attempted to take the Satin Island ferry [free] so we could see the statue of liberty at sunset. but it was chock full of other people with the same idea. so we hung out in the park and enjoyed the sunset with far fewer people.
we walked up and took the Brooklyn Bridge uhh... Brooklyn, and had continuing adventures of getting home.
had great fun going to the party we helped set up. we got there early, had our free drinks, smoked from a huka and left before the cops came.
we enjoyed the view of the entire city from the roof top of M+M's apartment as well as all the fireworks.

Tuesday: we go in search of the 7th street fan plant in Williamsburg. it is no longer piles of ruble on the beach, but a park, with a nice view of the city line. we find a wonderful [and cheep] Turkish[?] place for lunch, then on to the UNISPHERE!!! YEA!!.
Unisphere is a leftover of tye 1964 World's Fair. as is the Queens art museum [which is on our list for the next time we are there], and ice skating rink, fountains and pavilion.
then a flight home. no delays, and limited screaming baby's.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

well, were back.

trip stories and photos later.

NYC HERE WE COME.

Well, we're off!

theoretically.

We are going to NYC for new years. we will go to the vermier/rembrant show at the MET, and see NYC all dressed up for the holidays. we will go to a Super Science themed party- we will have aviator goggles to wear to said party. and we will enjoy seeing the back side of NYC and Brooklyn with Meg and Matt.

that part is less theory, than the part about our flight actually leaving Denver tonight.

fingers crossed.

since Tim hasent said anything....

He got a new job!

his blog leaves you thinking that he is un-employed, when really he is to report to work on the 2nd.

it will be 1/3 the commute and almost time and a half the pay. yea!

all we need now, is to figure out the name of the place and where it is. :)

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

riding the bus with tim and other adventures.

its well known by now, that i don't ride the buss that often, but i do ride it with tim occasionally.

we got on at what Tim calls, "one of the creepiest bus stops in all of Denver." I think this is most likely because there are always people loitering there, waiting for one of the 6 buses that goes by there, all times of the day. that corner- though near allot of other more fixed up blocks- is particularly sad, with a gated up, abandoned looking building, trash, grime and construction across the street.
there was the man in a long blue polyester/nylon jacket, wearing a crappy see through, woven cowboy hat and missing- from what i could see- most of his teeth. he reminded me of "midnight cowboy," and of what i can only assume would have happened to that guy in real life.
he was with a woman who was slightly less creepy. i could only guess where they had been and where they were going.
they helped a new rider find the correct bus stop.

there were the teen aged black kids, riding home from a day of picking out Christmas presents on 16th street mall. they shared an ipod.

the other black kid- and the only other person who appeared to be dressed as warmly as tim and I, wearing a black long haired rabbit coat with hood.
he chatted briefly with the 2 Hispanic guys who went out grocery shopping in flannel shirts and a cam corder. they looked cold.

there were no less than 5 guys dressed in work cloths that suggested that they were doing construction of some sort.

they all exited at various stops. and i found myself wanting to everything about them.

________________________________________________________________

in further news I attended White Christmas last Saturday. it was alright. couldn't hear allot of it, and there were some serious costume/time period issues.

walking back to our car we were behind a couple kids about my age. they were wearing black.
my mom and mother inlaw signaled for me to slowdown, "to put more space between us."
now, i'm a rather jumpy person. i'm more cautious than most people i know. and allot of things make me nervous. these boys did not bother me at all. in fact they were about the least creepy, non-family, i may have ever seen down town. mild punkers, in black. prolly gamers a bit too. harmless. [also it was 5pm.]
how sad. these boys were NOTHING compared to the bands of hooligans that roam 16th in droves. some of them are also harmless. i bet most would fight or at least seriously hassle you if you gave them any crap. these are the kids that saw Tim carrying a sward and preceded to surround him and follow him, asking stupid middle school esk questions like "do you have a girrrrl friend?" and so forth- went as far as to try to take his sward [in box], and follow him down the street for a ways.

these should really be seperate posts.

I watched a 4th grader dash across a slippery Federal Blvd. this morning.- half a block from a light. between a bunch of cars.
WTF WAS SHE THINKING.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been meaning to blog for a while now. allot of things. They've been dancing around in my head and i have been unable to put them together coherently into words.

I think most of it has been about Christmas, the season and everything around it.

no, I don't like that the Halloween display had been shoved aside a week before Halloween to make room for Christmas.
No, I don't like that Thanksgiving is pushed to the wayside. or that the Thanksgiving weekend is more about sports and super sales than about spending time with family and friends, playing outside and generally enjoying the first rush of the holiday season.
Yes i think people are loco for fighting for and spending frightening amounts of $ on the "IT" toy of the season.
You've it heard it all for years now. the commercialism is out of control. every one is cynical. its a scam. its a budget buster, that leaves people feeling ill long after most of the toys are forgotten, its not about Christ. [as far as I'm concerned thats what easter is for.]

I love the holidays.
i love Santa clause.
i love lights.
i love candles.
i love cookies and baking.
i love dinner party's and weekend adventures with friends.
i love shoveling snow.
i love shopping for gifts for people, and trying to find something just right. [some years it goes better than others.]
i love night time walks and being all bundled up.
i love the nostalgia and the memorabilia.
i love sitting by the fire.
i love seeing everything decorated up. be it beautiful, expansive [and expensive] decorating down town or in nice restaronts, or cheese-y paper cut outs taped to walls and tensile.
i love sending and getting holiday cards.
i LOVE LOVE LOVE having a Christmas tree. everything that it entails- form picking it out at the lot, to the disasters of trying to get it set up, to decorating, enjoying and appreciating what the season was when you take it down after new years.
I love old tv Christmas specials- which are never the same if you just watch it on video.
fuck, i even love coke commercials.



people have reasons for not liking the holidays, that are different for the usual reasons. the Christmas of my sr. yr of high school, a friend died, a kid in my French class had an angerism, a teachers husband was killed by a drunk driver. when i was in 6th grade my grandpa passed away early morning Christmas eve.

its sad. its horrible. and whose happens to family's every yr.

don't shun the holidays because they are hard. embrace them.

as i sit and watch my Christmas tree glow, i like to take some time to think about those that i miss and those that matter in my life.

zombies!

moar funny pictures">

this things are really more relavent if you have frequent conversations with tim and i

ah... lovecraft.

moar funny pictures">

denvers drunkest

seriously.
who knew.

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/addiction/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100182332&Gt1=10710

shudder....

absolutely terrifying web site of the day.

http://www.batcho.net/

more ramboling.

well.
the j-ello didn't go as planned. apparently liquer weakens the consistancy- thus making it not mold quite right.

though my mom liked DDR, so were having an after TG DDR day. should be good.

so. ozzy had this crazy idea that he wanted to go outside this morning- most likely he and falkor needed a break from fighting. Instead of doing his usual, go out, discover its fucking cold and then come running back in- he wandered off.

took me half hr to get him to come home.- then i locked my keys in the car. thank good the side door hasn't been fixed, so i could get back in and get tim's car key.

it empty at work today. though it does not feel like a holiday is as far away as tomorrow. I've got some graphics that I'm enjoying working on. its coming together slowly, but i think its going to be good when it all done.

yup

to day i am introducing my mom to ddr.

i am also making molded jello w/ army guys in it.

yup.

birthdays.

i have a winter birthday. - yes, i know its still technicall fall for a few more weekes afterwords. but seriously. its december. its winter.

i have never tired of a winter birthday eaither. i always hope for snow. snow and sledding and hot chocolate- and new disney movies. its a very lush season for partys and celebration.

my only complaint has been finals. i have been routenly ditched on friday afternoon, or saturday night so that people can study for finals. [ i have never understood this. i have never studied for anything on a saturday night.]

usually i'm not a big party person. alot of times i spend my birthday with one or 2 people.
this year i am feeling up to a group outing.

yes, my first choice is night sleading. but i know better than to count on snow.

what i think we will do is go to Zoo Lights. they open friday dec. 7th.
then dinner- someplace warm for food and drinks.

any one who wants to join us is welcome to- further information will be posted at a lator date.

new things.

there have been lots of things on my mind latley.

most things that I do not feel are directly my buisness to post about.

however, this is our first set of holidays married. Last yr. was mre or less do things w/ family. see each outher later- which is how it usually is for the first yr. you are dating.
now we are married.
now we have to cordinate thanks giving and xmas.

ooooooo boy.


LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!

on a further note- i am trying to decided what to do for my birthday. [maybe it will snow and we can go night sleading.]

woot!

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_details.php?id=13640

omg.

ok, so i only looked at the pictures. i really know nothing aobut this. but i like the looks of it.

thats my kind of laptop.

baseball

seriously- the fact that we swept the pennent is a down right amazing disney movie all on its own.

who cares that they didnt win the world series? red sox were on their 3rd year, and second win. they are the better team.

what this has done for the rockies is even better though. they didnt win. but next season there will be fans in the seats and energy in the stadium, like there hasnt been in years. Now they have something to work towards- and we have something to rally them on about.

be a true fan and contenue suporting the team. they might supprise you.

first snow

first snow of the fall.

the little boys across the street wasted no time in creating a snow man with a large speer through his gut.

its goign to be a good winter.

Grossest thing EVER.

so i'm driving home.
stoped in trafic, and the car to my left bus up and the passenger flips the contents of the ash tray out the window.

and where does alot of that airborne grim go?

ON ME.

IN MY CAR.

FUCKING EWWW.

party

ok, so the party bug bit me.
all it takes in zero time and way to much to do to get me rolling.

still dont have pictures from people- some from boog, but a number from wolvie aer good- i just need them in decent pixil size to get them printed.

after the party our lives will calm down again..... we can stop spending money .. at least a little.. and go back to getting home before 7pm everynight.

honeymooning

well, we're back.

honeymoon was good. a bit of rain... some faboulose food, damn dogs, hot springs, beautiful and death defing passes marked as "senic biways" and most of all, a chance to relax and unwind.

see you all at the party.

its friday

its friday again.
how fast it came. yet, thinking about last friday seams like ages ago.

what happened this week? nothing more or less exciting than last week. nothing more or less infuriating or tragic or silly.

saturday, as always is jam packed, while sunday is for soccer, cleaning and napping.
There was dance class, dinners, game night, tv premiers, walks and tests.

we lay awake most nights talking for hours, about... everything...

is there quarrel? climax? not really. mostly minor things. mostly sillyness and giggles to win over the darkforces of office bullshit and god awfull classes.

clinic

Is it discerning that there is a Vet Clinic on Federal that looks just like a Mexican Restaurant?

drive home

as i drive down Fedral on my way home I see a company called Duratex. It is pleasently located between 2 strip joints.

condoms?
pvc clothing?

i'm not sure.

heat

heat..
i hate it. there should be some ruling in the adult leagues, that if its over 85 deg. out the games need to be 60 min instead of 90.

thank you for joining us

for our daily presentation of "LOAD OF CRAP"

http://www.spiritofnature.org/bioelectricshield.htm

photos. xoxo

As it happends, we are all our own worst critic. I think i will be happy when i get a chance to look through all the photos that everyone took, and can pull the ones i really like. But for now, here are some our friends have chosen to send us- photos they liked. Enjoy.




Rings
Sun set in front of the cabin.
Moof, our officiant in his full Hitchhikers Guide regula.

Mrs.

we got hitched this weekend.

our minor planning was pretty much thrown through the window from the get go...
you know fire ban.. work... etc...etc...etc...

it was great.

couldent have asked for a better wedding.

many of our dearest friends were there. we had crazy mass photo ops. Ben walked me down the aisle and Cecil played guitar.

for us, it was perfect.

i realize that many people have ideas aobut big fairy tail weddings. thats what they want. and thats fine. but if you want my opinion- and obviously you do, because your reading my blog-
this is what weddings are supposed to be. A celebration with people you love. put on some nice cloths. maybe add some flowers to make things pretty keep it short and sweet and close to the heart.
in short... simplify. in the end it dosent matter if things didnt match. or if you spent $700 on invitations and $2k on a cake.

no we didnt get to have a big bonfire. no we didnt get married on the top of the mountain. no there was never a drinking game involving barrels of monkeys. But- it was wonderful and magical and everything my heart desired.

this is it.

This is it.

We are getting married this weekend.

the cordinating of getting 15 people into the mountains is enough to make us glad we arent dealing with anything larger.

seriously people. gas is expensive. CARPOOL. you phone may not work and the dirt road is a bit trixie. CARPOOL. there is limited parking up there. CARPOOL.

sheesh.

anyway, were excited.... so excited. :) will be a fun 'ol cabin trip weekend.

ok..so

i got smashed with my parents and their friends on 12 yr old single malt scotch.... and talked to a guy whos the head of one of the biggest seed companies in Germany about climbing Mt. emi -shan.

no so wok

i almost had another photo of Ozzy in the wok.. but he jumped out and ran away when Tim started licking his lips. mmmmm emergency food source....

lolcat

I iz in da sink.

Tim

i'm getting married.
in one month.

really i should be worried or ancy, or having second thoughts. i don't, I'm not.

I'm not just "ready to be married," because thats not it at all. asked that question and i would probably say no. But i am ready to be married to Tim.

vespa

i rode my scoot yesterday, for the first time in about 3 weeks...
i had been riding every day for a month and a half while i was out a car.

I've stopped riding lately because it has an issue with starting when its hot out, which leaves me stranded for a couple hrs until it cools down. i need to get this fixed.

i love my vespa. i have wanted one since i was about 7. i will have a vintage one, one day when i can afford to take on another insurance... or i convince Tim that it would be the bestist anniversary gift ever.. and he has the kind of income to support it. i would let him ride it sometimes....

there is something about the smell of the machine, that relaxes me, makes me want to start riding and only stop for sanwhiches.
it not just the iconism of the vespa and all it conjours, but the entire experience.

1 yr.

Its been a year.
emotions have been high this week. it dosent help that work has been stressfull and so forth.

so much has happened in a year.
i dont feel like going back into it. go back and read my blog, its almost a year it's self.

last year life turned a new corner on july 5th.

This year it turns a differnt corner on Aug. 11th.

NEW CAR!

HUZZAH!

sigh

mondays and tuesdays are lonely.

moving

in moving, we discovered a few things.

i, apparently, have a lot of chairs.... for those of you who helped us move i have 3 more that are not here yet.

we have a combined 7 pitchers and 9 sauce pans....

we still had no more that 1 decent knife.

new stoves make nasty plastic burning smells when you first use them.. and many other "our first apartment" stories that will be told till you are sick, and if you are not by then, we will force you to look at our lovie dove-y screen wallpaper. please aim away from the keyboard.

katten

i am beginning to think we should have named Ozzy "MasterCard."

because, for the love of god, he is everywhere you want to be.

roaming

today i walked thorugh a heard of dandylion fuzz as it rummbled across the parking lot, on its way to new and exciting adventures.

spain 2

yesterday we saw the castle on the mt.... which was really a curch, and very old, small amusement park.

also went up to national art museum of catalyna, on olympic hill. it was closed, but beautiful. we can go back later this week.

today the beach and placa de musica de la cantalyna.. and so forth.. rain this morning...

spain

amy and i are now in barcelona spain,
visited sangrada famili - and i will correct spellings of places when i get back-
and park Guell-
very fun. marta has been showing us arround. now we sit in an in and internet cafe.. we heard the fray.. and now someone else we know but dont know te name of.. not REM .. but close, i think.
very much europe. not quite china. good time none the less.
will be hitting the beach and mediterianian on monday.

xoxo
erin

todays the day!

today's the day Amy and i are headed for Barcelona, Spain.

rain

and so it rains tonight.

there are 2 thoughts in my head. one is the more basic of the 2. for once i am not out riding in it.

the other a slurry of memories and ideas.
i had heard at soime point that when it rains during a funeral it means god is drying adn the person is goin to heaven.
the problem with that statement is, if its not raining where you are on the day of a funeral, you might feel bad or something. I think it is really more to comfort those who do have rain during funerals.

it rained at columbine... for the week or 2 afterwards it rained, it seemed, everyday.
now this is not a subject that i bring up often, we heard too much bull shit about it in general.
but those families are still suffering the loss of loved ones. and that, is not fake. or media driven.

when columbine happened i sent out an email- reading something to the extent of: as it rains tonight we cry for those that were lost. it was poetic, i don't remember most of it anymore. with in an hr i had that email back. my name had left the bottom of it, but the forwarding had already reach hundreds of people.

when it rains in late spring i think of my grandfather, grandmothers, neighbors, friends and students- that seem to always go in the spring, and who i have never forgotten.

so i send this message into the deep void; none of you have been forgotten, you remain in my heart always.

when it rains, i cry and the memories flood back anew.

highway biology

i have been going to boulder a cupple times a week now for a while for soccer.

a cupple weeks ago i noticed a dead cyote by the side of the road.

every time i pass it is slightly more decomposed.

find me a car!

ok kids, i'm looking for a mid/late 90s subaru/ civic/ accord/ something else i find acceptable, for $5k or less.

let me know if you see something that sounds like this that lives a seditary life- that is to say it can be found in the same place of various occasions.

scooter

when i ride my scooter I feel like evil knevil.

might be the white jacket.

might be the goggles.

all i know is, i need a cape.

thanks

thanks to rosco for the homage to REX

goodbye

goodbye REX.

good times and bad, you were fun.

glad i got to kiss you good bye.

Oooooow... SPICY!

OK KIDS!

we are attempting to re-create "hot pot" as had in Chengdu. we have all the needed ingredients, and no recipe. So we're winging it!

Let us know if you are interested in having a good time and some hot food, Saturday night.

all things moving forward.

curiosity really does kill the cat.
morbid curiosity really.

long story short. things ended, i moved forward with my life. i assumed he moved on with his. suddenly he was back in my life. we have preceded to be friends. hung out regularly for a while, but that oo has fallen by the way side, between travel and other plans. not on purpose. it just has. this has happened with other firends too. everyone is busy in their own lives.

so tonight i read his blog. he is finally the person i knew he could be. the one that i saw sometimes that was trying to get out. now hes there. making friends, gaining back into old social groups. doing things by him self, going to events.

I am happy for him. hes a good person. even though i have moved forward. in ways i know have absolutely crushed him. he is still putting his best foot forward. I am happy where i am now and who i'm with and where my life is going. but still as i read, there is a pang of jealousy. mainly because hes doing thins now that he wouldn't do with me and flat out refused. and also there is some deep seated anger, that even though i have forgiven him, i am still angry about.[logically he is forgiven, emotionally, it still hurts.] things you could call small things, but that spoke loudly, and even now still hurt horribly.

apartment

**SQUEEE*

WE FOUND AN APT.!

its a little bigger than my current one. wood floors. an attic and a secret passage!so end of may we are both relocating to north denver.

sickness

so.. the sickness that has apparently been going arround the office is now here. that right folks i may very well have another round of strep. i'm going to the dr. tommorrow.
I got to leave work ealry, good generaly, but it was going to be a good week. company meeting, nice lunch out, and a visite to the screen printers and another lunch out. a soccer game... good stuff, you know.

hopefully its just a head cold and i can go to work tommorw...

today is also tim's surgery. thats right folks, he will now have a bullet proof groin.

i was going to go hang out w/ him today, but i do not want to get him sick as well, or katy for that matter.

my lawn needs to be mowed.

i watched running w/ sissors this afternoon... [ok i started it at like, 11:30am], very good. glad i finally got to see it. didnt seem to get much press when it came out and went through the theaters quick. also finally saw a preview for half nelson. i tink i will have to see that as well.

so sad, i was looking forward to seeing the boy this afternoon... but that has been squashed. after a nice weekend of sitting arround i was lookngiforward to a busy week. today i could concevibly get something done.. but my head is a bit fuzzy and i cant think of anything i have been wanting to do.

easter

easter.
chocheesecake in bed.
cho. bunnies.
inflatable monkey
champaine
wine
lamb
downtown
pork?
vegies
apples to apples
poloride
planning
sleep.

goo

HISTORICAL ZOMBIE FICTION! how could not want to wrte a short story for that?

ok, i prolly wont, but i know some one else who will.

i went grocery shopping today. i was out of paper towles, tp, ramen, mac n cheese, etc... it dosnt matter that ihave the ingrediants for shrimp scampi w/ grilled asperigus in my friedg, that will not get me through the general week.
so right now this very moment i am boiling eggs to put in spicy pickle juice, and making mac n cheese. why? well i like pickled eggs.. and mac n chees sounds reallly good even though im not hungrey. prolly 3 bites tonight and the rest for breakfast.

i sohuld be in bed... but i didnt really get home untill 8 and i hate getting home and then going to bed and then going to work again in the morning.
i am picky aobut my appartment and soforth, because i want to enjoy being home. and i do. im just not here nearly enough. sadly i have to move again in june. several reasons. so tim and i are on the hunt for a new "perfect place."
hopefully we will find it. becuase i hate settling. maybe its because i'm an only child and usualy get what i want, and maybe its because i'm picky. but really if i'm going to pay good money to live somewhere i want to rally enjoy it. because i like being home.
eaither way. it will be happy. i will have a boy to kiss good night every night of the week, and he can stop having to decided between the kitten and me. now i just need to get kitten to stop trying to sleep on my head.

silly e-mail

silly e-mail.
it is so easy to morph a perfectly well intended question into A. something that was not at all down the road you wanted to go and /or B. make the entire qusetion come out entirly wrong to begin with.

in general news

i havent blogged hardly at all since we returned form china.
i dont know why, i just havent had much tosay. which is odd considering all the stuff thats been going on. but yeah.
have been shopping, working, party planning, figuring out how to pay for said party, house hold chores and etc.
outdoor soccer started. i am down to 1 team, its jsut expensive, and i'm paying for alot of things this yr. always up for more free physical activitys if anyones intrested. tennis or running, or anything really. i cant throw worth a darn, but i'll try.


mowed the lawn today.
i should sort laundry, we will see if i will.

for your information.

i'm pretty sure that all who read my blog also read tims blog, but i will tell you anyway,

we are now engaged.

as i typed that i invisioned the culkin screem... heh

things were not telling you about china

things we have not told you aobut china:

its dreary.
its very western.
we could not identify most of the thigns we ate.
we ate at a place where a dog wandered out of the kitchen. a very hairy dog, mind you.
people can do anythign w/ a cleaver. like shave chestnuts. yeah.
we were once on a bus and a gaggle of old women got on.. like 25 or more.
anything involving transportation is a wonderful adventure.
it is possible to get a job as a stick weilding, monkey chaser.
fried bananas w/ chocolate are phonominal.
lines are not important.
1st bank can check your account, cancle your card and put one in the mail in less than 3 min.
the previous can be achieved from a street corner in china.
it is not unheard of to go hiking in high heals, leather pants and or a mini skirt.
starbucks only carries half its menue.
mc donalds has a hotel.
you can go shoping in underground markets in abandoned rail stations.
womens underwear is easy to come by.
you can swing a very large sward arround in a public park and it is perfectly ok.
when you order duck you get they head and tung too.
meals eaten on top of mountains are incredibly wonderful.
middle aged chinese men will find it hilarious when you want "goat fucker" carved into a stamp.
and, you can bas all of your directions off a 6 storie statue of Mao.

china part 1

ok.. so... still not intrested in blogging... but here we go:

day 1, tim and i in the peoples park. everything in china is blooming.















day 1 still . having our first tea at a tea house.. which rally wasnt a house, it was an outside seating area... no building included, we dont actually know where they got the hot water.













day 2. pagoda at Du Fu's cottage...


du fu's cottage.. we never actually saw, but the park was nice.. they were handing out shots.. which of course convinced us we needed to but liquer from the hot little asian girl. go go team marketing.















day 2. me w/ flowering quence... garden along the rive walk ways.




I am not particularly in the mood to blog aobut china. maybe because we talked oaubt it so much. so i will waite for tim to tell all the funny stories and if i think he has missed something i shall post it... allso having photo saving problems on my comp. so we'll see how many more photos you get.

a long day.

a long day has many parts. some days seem like it just one thign. you go to work.. you come how and eat dinner and go to bed.. well, more or less. then there are those days where you feel like there are sections. when one ends, somethign entirly diffent begins.

today is one of the long days.

it started out good, i slept but wolk up excited, thinking the work day would go fast and etc.

then i had a review... and for the most part its was fine. but there were a few things. sigh.. maily things that i can argue my side on, adn my boss would never fully understand, and i could never change her opinion, because alot of it comes down to wording and interpration of wording. and someone who, no matter how close youve done something to what theve asked, it will never be good enough. ever. and who really dosnt want to know why it takes you a good 30 min to burn a CD, just because they dont think it should. and could but dont do it them selves.
also annoyed me thats eh brough up things that eaither i never knew aobut or that were form 6 months ago, and have not been a problem since.

it is hard to feel like you are on a level playing filed when you are 20 + years yonger than most of your coleagues. and i just dont have the expierance to have everything down as pat as they do. no mater how many questions i ask, there will always be a communication problem. when i sit in a meeting i just dont follow whats being decided or discused very well.
its ahrd to get ahead when you cant ever do anything right.

so. now. my good mood has dwindled down to wanting to bolt. and not caring what i get done befor i leave the office. hopefully i will be able to regain my good mood later tonight.

and that last part of my day? about the time i usually get in bed i will be boarding a plane for LA. i leave LA at 12:30 at night. thankgod i can sleep any time any place.

ulg

friday i was exhosted. went to bed aobut 9 and slep for 12 hrs. felt good all day saturday, untill arround 10, when we left the party and my stomach started to hurt. i had dinner, hrs earlyer, and it was only mac and cheese, and didnt drink at all.
slept ok, well except for the occasional visite by a cat.. who was A. hot, B. purring increddibly loudly, C. decided he needed to be on my chest or up against my head and D. felt the need to- after a while- start biting me.... fortunatly only my fingers. then he got thrown out.
about 7:30 my tomach started to hurt again....
ok, fast forward many hrs. still hurts, and im tired. trying to pack for China. trying to do 2 week old dishes and laundry- and get things in order for not being here for a week and a half.

in other news, one of my BNL cds has dissapeared. i know i had it in the move, but cant seem to find it anywhere.

trying to figure out the best way to pack 2 pint bottles for plane flight. Cecil, it appears, desperatly misses american beers and IPA inparticular. [ sorry cecil, thats all your getting. ] So , if anyone has any expierance/ good suggestions on this, let us know. like... by tuesday.

scoot

so, the weather is deffinatly getting better.

i got my scoot out and about sunday. i havent ridden since thnaksgiving, so it was a good time. I was worried, since im not a fabulose rider anyway that i might be a bit wabblie.. but not. things were just fine.

trying to get the rest of my things together for the trip to chengdu. a bit nervius... but i'm sure it will be fine. and if anything, it will all be an adventure, and many stories afterward.
I cant promis that i will keep an uptodate blog on our daily expierances, but i will try... and by try, i mean it will prolly last 2 days. but o well. theorie has it that between tim, cecil and me you will get the jist of the story.

touerest

the funny thing aobut reading travel books and trip planners, etc is that they always talk aobut trying not to stand out as a touerest.
technically its good info.. places like NYC, there are epoel from every place on earth, and you would never know who has be there 2 days or 20 years.

but in the case of this trip, i must say. we will stick out no matter what.

humm.... white white skin, red hair/ 6' tall/ 6' 8" tall and beard.. yes. yes. we might be touerest.

:)

red light

on my way to work this morning i was at a stop light. a stoplight i would like to mention i watch a person fly through ion the redest light. ever.
while at the light i watched a man... a blue collar work, on his way to what ever his job might be, leave his bus stop, walk down to the corner and across the street. on the opposite side was a woman w/ a guide stick. he lead her back across the street on the same light, and went back to his bus stop.. and she headed on her way down the street in the opposite direction.
they didnt know each other, few words were said.
though a display of kindness and curtsy that i dont see nearly enough.

i dont know eaither.

i'm the kind of girl that crys. i just do. a lot of times over nothing. i get to the point some days where thats the only way i'm going to feel better.
i can t cry in front of him. i'v needed to cry for the last 24 hrs... but, couldent. everything from work stress, to hating to shade of blue in these jeans, to the weather and my neck hurting.

i know he dosent know whats wrong, and unfortunitaly, i dont eaither.

but as soon as he turns his back and walks away the tears come flowing.

flanders fields

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

it is valentines....
i started out in a good mood. got a cupple valentines from my aunts...
and now my mood dwindles.

Flanders Fields, is one of my favorite poems... well, honestly i dont know many poems, but this is one i contenue to go back to. i associate it w/ valentines day. i dont know why, maybe because of the color red, maybe because to me valentines marks the end of winter and the beggining of spring- note referance to poppies, one of my favorite flowers...
i realize it is aobut the horrers of war in france. but.... it seems fitting. today.

the day to day change of an inatiment object that i have not been recording.

as i drive home along 58th between lamar and sheridan, i can see a building going up. every day it changes a little more. some days a substantial amount has happened- say a few walls have gone up, and others, like today, i could see lonely after examination that they were putting the first layer of roofing on. the walls are all poured concrete, the kind w/ design lines in the molds to tell the masons where the different colors start and finish on the outer layer.
for some reason this project has sparked my interest- like the shoe at work, i wish i had caught it on the first day and begun taking pictures so as to see the real progress on a day by day play.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentines is here again. the one holiday you hear the most distaste for, and yet the hype is still there.
it was a good holiday in school , when everyone was forced to give cards to everyone else, and it involved candy, orange drink and stickers. as we grow up all sorts of notions fill our heads as to what the holiday should be. there are lots of sources to blame, so i wont list them here. you all know what they are. in fact, you all know exactly what i'm talking about. the holiday that no one likes, but everyone hopes will be extraordinary for them.
everyone handles this in a different way. some plan to boy-cott all together... others just gripe.. and I, ... well, I like to make the best of it. because I, like every onether girl.. knows its a bullshit holiday. Knows i dont want a dumb diamond tennis bracelet, but when it comes down to it, really hope i'll end up surprised with something special in the end.- so. ,because this holiday is what it is, i try to keep the spirit of 3rd grade valentine partys alive... i send out numerous valentines every yr. [if you dont get one form me, i am here now saying, "happy valentines!" there are other sappy things... like, "i love each of you from the bottom of my heart, you are good and special people and you are loved." but that comes off as horribly cheesy.] so valentines are sent, and cheep flowers from the safeway are bought, and distributed to whoever looks like they really need something special that day.
i started doing this in high school.... the first time i did it, i could see how much it ment to some people to receive a pretty flower to carry around that day. so i keept doing it.
i'v had good and bad valentines. i dont really need to get into it here, but for those of you reading, and thinking, yeah but you have some one and its all good... i have been on the other side, plenty often.

so why is it, that a person can feel loved daily. random things can be done through out the yr, on non prescribed "special" days, but yet- you yern for valentines to be really special? i know theres the general advertising and hooplaw around it, but, why does it matter so much? its just one day. i ask this as a person who doesn't nessicairly care for the holiday, but who, in the end, wants it to be special.

and so, that being said, i point out the general, over talked aobut, guy must do something great and the girl expects it argument, yadda yada yada....
and i ask my self: what am i planning? i want it in return, so what am i planning?
well.. nothing really. i had several ideas... most of them cost more money than i'm looking to spend on much of anything right now, due to travel plans and what not.
see... i used to do cards. because my family does cards, we would have a fun breakfast w/ the table set nice, and have cards for each other.. and maybe there would be a little gift.. like a fun pair of socks, or a book or something.
but i stopped doing cards... when my general belief that if you set the example for someone else they will do the same in exchange. [ i realize sometimes the other person just dosent even see that its something you want repeated back.] never really was reciprocated. something done by hand or picked out w/ care.. something shared and thoughtfully written inside. always seemed to me it showed more than a present. but...
i stopped doing that. i dont even know what to write anymore. i'm not a good writer. what i write here, i rarely read again and is generally just babble that i never seem to quite get out in conversation. but when i try to write.. i cant.. i am an image person, not a word person.

so this yr what am i going to do? i dont know. i know that prolly something will come to mind, because i cant quite believe that even if it isn't reciprocated, it isn't appreciated.

i know what i want to do... but it cant happen, not tomorrow and not any time soon.

heiniken is only worth it on sale. who knew.

so whats hte big deal with heiniken?
i bought some today at the store.. for 2 reasons. 1. i'v never had it and theres always alot of hooplaw arround it and 2.. wel... 2. because it was on sale. i'm cheep like that.

it tastes just like moosehead of rolling rock. Maybe iv just done horrive things to my tates buds over the years and i cant tell the subtle differance the make heiniken better than the others. though, for all the rep it has, it never shows up at partys. naw maybe thats because at our partys the boys in charge of beer like IPAs and so forth.. so we do alot of expirimenting, and not drinking of light beers.

it was really beautiful this weekend. i hope you all went out side.
though fast. too fast. my weekends arnt long enough. i dont know if its because my weeks are super stressful that by sunday, i feel as if i'm just starting to un wind, and rally need another day, but then monday is here again and were off and running. now i know i'm young and all that- dont have a fmialy, kids etc when i coe home. but still, this is plently right now. there is only one person i want to see when i get home from work. when i dont, i'm sad, even if i know theres no way he would be there because hes at work himself. july really cant come fast enough. at least in that sence.

so i sit here, watching the grammys, having only heard maybe one or 2 songs this yr. [w/ my headacher and tired eyes, dreading monday], and thnking that i need to rip more of my cds, and buy more music in general. listining to music is simlar to reading. the mmore you listen and the more diverse what you listen to is, the more you will grow and round out as a human being. i dont read enough and i dont listen to nearly enough music.

you people make me want to fucking shake the bullshit out of you.

arrg.

sometimes people just make me so mad.
its been a bad week at work.
and everywhere else.
drama drama drama.

sometimes you just want to grab them by the shoulders and shake the crap out of them.
and by crap i mean the actualy shit they are spewing, weather it be at me or anyone else in my general vacinity.
and whats sad is that they fully believe they are acting in an appropriate manner, and that they are saying nothing wrong.
and i know, that there is nothing i can say that would change anyones mind. the minds are made up and the stupidness is perminatly stapled to their brain.

now, i dont mean that i dont generaly like all the people that pissed me off this week. in general they are decent human beings. but not this week. dear loard, not this week.

new post

i have been absent from posting for a few days... not for lack of things to talka obut but rather not talking about them.

i am not talking oaubt friend drama
i am not tlaking oaubt work.
we are not discussing my lack of typing ability.

so what can i tlak aobut?

well.. lets see....

i have been roller skating on the weekends. i am getting better, my balence felt better this last week when i got on the rink, and my shins and anckles dont hurt as much eaither.
we rented ...that...movie......uh..... the illusionest... it was alright. and something else, i dont kwo if it was kung fu or ninjas.. i slept thorugh the first hr, and then went to bed- i promply had a kitten try to attack my face.... he was removed form the room, then i slept.
tryed to go to Istanbul Grill... but it was GONE. so sad. had to have thebest noodlesin denver at Oshama Raman.... good stuff.
had planned for a night out sat as it was not supposed to be quite so much along the lines of frost bite, but in the end went to the grocery store after wendys at, like, 10 pm... it was good stuff.
also sat i ran erronds. like barnes and noble and target.

the weather was finally good today... i went out side and walked at lunch. i needed it.

my attempt at making valentines was.. not what i intended.. had a hard time and never did get the motherboard out of my old box. so, its clasic construction paper doilies and glitter. i need to get those in the post soon. i need to do alot of things soon... like put away my clean laundry.. and so forth. i keep thinknig i will be super productive on the weekend, since when i get home at night i dont even want to think aobut it... i am toast. i look at pretty pictures in magazines or read or watch northern exposier. but then.. my weekends are even fuller than my week.. and i am nt ever home and little gets done. i need to nip that in the bud. i like to be busy, but i ahve been too busy lately. i need to finish w/ all the boxes in my living room.. and deal w/ laundry and all that.

on the plus side tim will be closer.... prolly it will still take him an hr to bus to my place... but at least its not 2.... thoguh it does less happy things to his other comutes. and he will be 15 min form me.... and not 18 miles.. but like... 7
or less
and scooterable . :) if it ever melts. o how i long to ride... i was looking at fulface helmets and ne goggles the other day. i rally should at least get anew helmet.. i have 2 very nice ones that match my scoot, but they are 3/4 and not ful face.. and the differance is jaw reconstructive sergery when you crash.... yeah.. makes it sound like a good idea to me too.
generaly im a decent tight wad, randomly spending money on thigns that dont always make since. but w/ traveling.. and ten ihave a long list of thigns, all $100 or more that i want/ need.. it is making it hard to save as much as i want to. i rally need to buckle down and stick to my budget. other wise i will never get the house.. and thats not worth lousing.

HAPPY GROUNDHOGS DAY!

Come on, groundhog. Daddy wants some fucking warmth, or I cook your ass.

HAHAHAHA

apparently were concerned aobut global warming.

it snows...again... and the cranes rise to the sky.

looking at the gibson website at work today i got distracted form what i was doing ther for a bit... which was loking for a guitar to trace for a print. how ever i started looking at.. my favorite.. the banjos. o sweet beautiful banjos.
i discovered that the gibson web site links to an area where you can "lean" guitar, banjo, mandolin etc. it has a very slow vidio feed of the hand movements. you can choose music style and teacher as well.
listed w/ the banjos were dobros. what are dobros? i dont really know, they have a wood body, w/ a metal pick guird/sound hole. http://www.gibson.com/Products/Bluegrass/Gibson%20Original/Gibson%20Dobros/
beautiful instruments. but what are they? how are they differnt than a steal guitar [is that the right name?] And by george what do they sound like? ]prolly i can find this out eaisly enough, w/ my magic cable internt, but at the time of this post i have not].

i have loved banjos as long as vespas. i have a vespa [that i so desperatly want to ride as soon as this damn weather goes away.] i have a habbit of getting too much on my plate at a time. i want to do it all. and i want to do it all right now. so.. these are the questions: will i really do it? or will it be half assed and fall by the wayside? how to you slect a decent used banjo? should you learn to play guitar first? or just jump right into banjo- snce it is 5 strings and guitar is 6?

and, this is.. only one more thing for me to spend $$ on. i have alist. a long list. some how the smaller thigns keeping taking precidence over the larger ones. im decent at being a tight wad. but im also good at randomly deciding i need things and spending $$. a duel income would certinly help, even if it was just rent and groceries. it would help.
maybe its just that iknow untill i get apay raise that i cant afford a house on my own. so that dream seems farther off than i want it to be. but let not open up that wound.