oh Etsy. you make my heart flutter.

i was going to post about our trip last weekend to Yarmony Grass. But alas, my camera's battery charger is no where to be found.

I have been looking around Etsy lately, always amazed at what i find there. thinking aobut opening a store. Seems like as good a time as any to get into the faery crown buisness. [besides i have some supplies, might as well try to sell a few.]

I always find so many wonderful things at Etsy.

Love this woman's jewelry- especially these unique constellation rings.Sagittarius, of course.

A beautiful leaf and floral scarf.
To, fun steam punk goggles.I really try not to spend too much time here.

jelly and so much more

the weather was perfect this year for fruit trees- even early blooming Apricots that almost always get frozen out. I believe its been close to 15 years since my mother apricot tree produced more than 3 pieces of fruit.we are now quickly finding various ways to preserve this bounty of fruit.
i actually started a couple weeks ago with making Cherry Bounce. a simple recipe caught my attention and i figured it would make great gifts.previously we have tried to make apple butter and plum jam and have not had luck with the seals working correctly. my friend Mary sent me a couple recipes out of the book she uses.

today i made apricot jelly and apricots in rum- following the same theory as the cherry's.
yesterday i started making apricot leather. and i hope to add apricots in light syrup, and apricot habanero jelly.
assuming these projects go well, i may see if i can get my hands on some more free fruit. apples and peaches are both popular in Denver.

Oregon Trail: The Musical- update

we mentioned this a couple weeks ago, and had some enthusiasm. we are aware that someone has it on youtube already, but we think we can do better.
beyond some enthusiasm, nothing much has happened on the project. unless Tim is secretly writing songs when I'm not around so he doesn't have to hear my helpful lyrics.
i have pretty much been forbidden to write lyrics.
So that is where it stands. i would really like to see this project actually happen. it could be fun and creative. and we had a blast helping Adam make is Dr. Horrible Henchman application.

music video of the week

Love This: Jonathan Coulton - First of May - ASL Song

ouch, my kidney

well, really Her kidney.


a friend of a friend who we have met on numerous occasions took a spill while out mountain biking Wednesday. She hurt Her kidney and had internal bleeding. She hopes to be out of the hospital soon, but doesn't have health insurance and cant return to work for a while. Below is the official write up from the Colorado Mountain Bike Association.

Help Nancy Kelly!

Nancy Kelly, Founder of the Dirt Divas and COMBA Board of Directors member, sustained an injury to her kidney while leading a Dirt Diva's ride at Lair o'the Bear on Wednesday July 22nd. She is currently in Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge while doctors monitor internal bleeding that resulted from the trauma. Luckily, Nancy's condition is improving rapidly and she hopes to be back home soon. Please send her your love and healing thoughts.

Nancy is a cornerstone of the local riding community. Through her work with the Dirt Diva's, COMBA, and local shops, she has introduced hundreds of women to the sport of mountain biking. Unfortunately, helping your community does not always come with large financial rewards -- or even health insurance. Nancy's stay in the hospital will hopefully be short, but she has already amassed a large amount of medical expenses for testing and hospital stay.

Join us in coming together as a community to help one of our own. While Nancy is resting and healing her body, we can help her heal the financial wound by contributing using the secure button below. Thank you!

If you prefer you may send checks to help Nancy with her medical expenses to:

ATTN: Nancy Kelly Medical Fund
COMBA
PO Box 280415
Lakewood, CO 80228-0415

Kinko Fry

i have really come to love KinkoFry. this comic makes my heart go pitter patter.

road trip to the balck hills

A couple weekends ago we headed to the Black hills for a family wedding. the wedding was held at the Flying V in New Castle Wyoming.

Bride and Groom

Family

After the wedding, Mr. T and i headed over to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We took a Lantern Tour at Jewel Cave- which was awesome.
We lucked out and had a cool rainy trip- instead of 100 deg and humid. We Found a homemade pie and ice cream shop in Custer SD.
Then we ventured over to Custer State Park, where we walked and climbed around Sylvan Lake. It is beautiful and different than we would have found in Colorado. My interest in Sylvan Lake steams from a family road trip photo album from the 1920s. My great great aunt and some friends borrowed dads car and took a road trip from north eastern Nebraska to the Black Hills of South Dakota. the camped and stopped to make jam along the way. Below are the photos i took and a couple of the photos they took.
Ladies on a hike. in the book, they write that they got up very very early to hike to this point, hoping to be there when the sun rose. i believe that the sun rose quicker than they could hike, but they had a good time anyways.
A fish made from a car at Carhinge in Alliance, NE.


it was an awesome trip.

and new begins

Thursday i was fired. i suppose i could say laid-off, but since it was just me and fir job performance, fired seems more correct.
to be fair i have been waiting to be fired for 2 years, and have been unhappy at my job for 4.
i am sure i wasn't doing a good job, because i felt that i was told a number of completely contradicting terms, with out explanation of what they really wanted. and they felt that i should just "know." there was a section of the "process" that i really didnt know, because my former boss did her best to have her assistants do all of the work, but not have quite enough information to be successful if they ever got out from under her. to the prase "just do it like Susie does." is really not helpful, since i was never involved. then there was the woman i worked with in another department, who would tell me everything was good and fine and then complain to the department head that i was doing things wrong. well, yes, because i didn't know that you wanted it done differently than the other 4 people in the department i have previously worked with, since you didn't mention it to me. i have to say, i am happy they fired me instead of moving me back down. i would have quit.
so now i am free... and out of health insurance at the end of July. i am hoping to find something, even if its not a career move, that has health insurance, and we will see what we can do.

Where have we been?

We went:

bowling at Lucky Strike
dress shopping
to a neighborhood festival
to the vet w/ all three cats in tow
Ren Fest
to see Christo speak
for a pedi
to the swimming pool

we are not:

keeping up with the weeds
and the lawn mowing.

it seems we are never home, or at least that we work way more than we have time for fun.

i suppose there will be years where we are not busy, and the garden will be fantastic, and the chair and the door will get fixed. and the sprinklers will work right and we wont eat dinner at 9pm every night.

i think i will like that time too.

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (Banjo Cover) - Anna Vogelzang

Like her

Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel

Old Crow Medicine Show

song for this week: Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show.

movies- Milk

We watched Milk a couple nights ago. before the movie started Mr. T was kind enough to tell me the guy gets shot in the end. thanks honey. i hadn't remembered that bit on my own.

it was good. i know nothing of Harvey Milk- before my time and never mentioned in history class.
i only hope it was portrayed accurately. i always have to wonder about movies that portray a single side to the story- as most do- just how realistic the portrayal of the hero character really is.

i do admit

i do admit that faery things have a very very very fine line between fun, elegant and enchanting and absolutely bat shit nutty.
i actually like very few actual faery things. a few art pieces, flower faeries, movie looking things like the below post.
please. do. not. buy. me. anything. faery.
or anything cat. we don't need anything w/ cats on it either.

faery tale wedding.

i recently stumbled upon photos of the most beautiful faery wedding.

if i had a dream wedding, is would be it. more or less...

CAMPING 2010

Camping was successful. we managed to only have adventures that we wanted to have.

i only took 1 picture. mainly i decided that the multitude of photos i took last year were good enough.
we ended up with 8 people the first night and 6 the second.
the campground was packed, but we were able to get a section on the far end, that worked out rather nicely.
Tim went on a 16 mile hike with our 2 friends in the army to find a waterfall. Boog was also sick so he and i did a more leisurely 3 mile version on the hike.
the weather was beautiful and the company grand.

cant wait for our next trip.

i have so many pictures to get off my camera. tim w/ hair. the peep party and so forth. want a clean camera before we head out camping this weekend.

headed on another epic camping adventure this weekend. sadly it looks like it will only be Tim, Boog and i on this trip. I'm a bit worried because the 3 people combination was how we ended up on the most epic camping adventure ever, last year.

the place it really beautiful, i wish a few more people could join us.

it wouldent be a blog post if it wasnt about the weekend.

i can barely sit up on my own this morning. sooo tired.

got something like 140 plants planted this weekend- and i didn't even weed the back garden or get seeds in. or mow the lawn.

i did get the car washed, waxed and cleaned out.
we did help tim's dad w/ mulch
watched some fun movies [leagaly blond, Sherlock holmes, princes diaries & julie/julia
went out for drinks with friends
went to a high school graduation. [congrats to the grads this yr.: michelle, molly, medora, cecil and amy.]
and some how didn't sleep nearly enough.

also, i don't blog about the week much because i am afraid that it would end up an endless tirade about my job. my job is alright. it could certainly be worse. it could be better. but its easy to start bitching and never stop. people are nuts [in a bad way], and i try to not let it completely dominate my life.

a non weekend update.

recently, it seems, i only update with a run down of the weekend. mostly, i think this is related to the fact that our week is fairly scheduled.
most of the time things are good.
Tuesdays are game night and banjo lessons.
Wednesdays are kickball
and Monday and Thursdays are figuring out groceries or what ever.

in kickball this week, it was theme night. we went as ninja turtles and lost to the care bares. clearly the Care Bear Stare really does trump all.

Tuesday we hosted D&D and had mac n' cheese.

we also started watching season 1 of Mad Men. apparently Angel's son is just an asshole- or at least no one will cast him as anything else.

tomorrow i am headed to the high school graduation of a childhood friend. she's headed to CU at Co. Springs in the fall.

now, hopefully the meeting that was supposed to happen in my office an hour ago, will happen soon, so i can go home.

a weekend not full of bad movies

we only watched 2 movies this weekend. and only one of them fell into the "bad" category.

Friday:
kokoro
shopping
Iron Man 2 w/ Wolvie [who was sad and without power at home.]
- the movie was enjoyable, but since i don't remember a thing about the previous one, I'm not really comparing.

Saturday:
6:30 am, depart for Ft. Fun
8am graduation at Moby
11am Lunch at Chili's
1pm Graduation party [different friend]
3pm head for home
4pm nap
4:30 head for babysitting and birthday dinner
5:02 toes licked by dog
6pm consume cake that resembled a bleeding cat head
7pm Movie time.
- we watched Sherlock "low budget,not to be confused w/ the blockbuster hit" Holmes. that featured a dinosaur and a dragon. this fine piec of film making was brought to us by the same people who did Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus."
11pm. bed.

Sunday:
sleep.
plant shopping
running errands
gardening
sunburn
more gardening
dinner
bonfire.

weekend complete.

more bad movies

We are officially on a bad movie kick. Not all are bad, but a good number of them are.
recently we have watched: American Pie- Band Camp, When Harry Met Sally, Oceans 12, Cool Runnings and Scream.
coming from NetFlix this week we have Twilight: New Moon. I hear its terrible.

comics

i love comics, always have.

have tried to draw a few. never get very far, its not that i give up, but that i find it really hard to sit down and draw at the end of the day. being in an art based field, where my creativity has to be "on" at all times, it is hard to come home and do some more. drawing a comic is completely different than what i do at work, but i have it lumped into that creative category, along with the craft projects i no longer do.

came across this little rambling today, and thought i would share it with you. you being all the people who ever wanted to self publish your comic.

expectations

Tim has been blogging about expectations, along the lines of characters and movies. But, i feel that he has only touched the iceberg that is expectations.
Expectations of school, relationships, jobs, vacations etc. wildly influence how we handle situations when they arise.
At some point i started making an effort to not have expectations of vacations, because i found that i was then pleasantly surprised by the outcome, because i had not been building up in my mind how it was going to be.
I have not followed this with anything else in life. which to an extent is good, it helps you create and move towards goals, and hopefully move away from things when they no longer work.
What we never talk about is how to grieve with the loss of an expectation.
sometimes it's as simple as not getting the grade you wanted and sometimes it's more serious life decisions that goes against the wishes of one spouse or the other.

How do we deal with this? How do we make the decision of what is right for us and how do we move on?

movie friday

Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
was fun and really quite funny. i didn't hear much about this film when i came out, but we finally got around to getting it it and I'm glad we did.

Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year:
a Bollywood production that was neither 3 hrs long, or musical. Netflix called it a "romantic comedy" and while the one guy got the girl it was such a minor sub plot that i forgot they were even dating. i wouldn't call it a comedy either. but it was a good movie, about a guy out of college trying to enter the career of salesman and what he learns. I would categorize it under indie flicks.

weekend report

Friday:
we decided to give our latest technological advancement a more through testing. For his birthday, Tim received a package surround sound/receiver/blue ray player. Being that friday was gloriously gloomy, it twas the perfect night for movies. the receiver also has an internet connection, so we can stream movies direct from blockbuster or netflix.
What we learned:
netflix is cheaper.
Not all movies can be downloaded.
movies downloaded do not currently have captioning available- but they are working on that.
the reason for our nice TV set up is because going to the movies is no longer enjoyable. i love to go, but the experience is always bad- for both of us. so now we get movies from the library, and it looks like the $9.99 netflix will be added to our entertainment budget.

Saturday:
Most of our day was spent with Katie. after a very long while spent in the Target photo album section, we had not quite free Chipotle, took a nap and did puzzles.
then we headed to a birthday party that was quite wonderfully designed around games and a taco bar. [boccie, apples to apples, hink pink and blockus [sp?]]

Sunday:
Despite quite a few drinks on saturday night, i felt remarkably well. cleaned house [damn shedding cats], went to Lowes, Tim re-arranged and wired up the surround sound, so that the cats will be less likely to eat the wires, i went to a roller derby scrimmage, got the record player up and working [yea!!!!!!!!1111111omgOne].

pretty good weekend, all in all.
this week starts off good with Tim back on his previous work schedule of 7 - 4, which means: more walks, more writing time, easier dinner coordinating and so forth.

lovely things

i have a lot of bad days. right now I'm going to blame them on not sleeping.

One thing that cheers me up is flirty, cute Spring fashion. And something that cheers me up even more is the affordability of all of these fashions- all are under $30!

[OK, admittedly, this top frock, is not. but not as expensive as i would have guessed.]

peeps

tonight is the Peep roasting party.

i showed Tim a picture of BBQ-ed peeps.
Tim told some people about the idea.
people started hounding us to host a peep party.

tonight. 7pm. our place.
12 boxes of peeps
20 people
and 4 Christmas trees to burn.

hope the cops don't come.

500 days of summer

We finally saw 500 Days of Summer, this weekend. it was good, and fun and different. i love Zooey Deschanel and am glad to see Joesph Gorden-Levitt in something new.
Recommended.

started watching season 2 of Flight of the Concords. it's extra trippy.

we are looking at a 3 sitting, viewing of Milo and Otis. neither one of us remembered the graphic kitten/puppy berthing scenes.

Open Doors Denver is next weekend and looks fantastic. i hope to make it to a couple tours.

Camping

I've started thinking about the upcoming camping season.

Places I'd like to go:

The Spot outside of Eagle that we tried to go to last summer.
it had Caves and hiking and a lake [i think.]
tip: don't try to camp anywhere where the rodeo is in town.
tip: take a map, even if you know where you are going. if you stop knowing where you are going, buy a map.

The place we actually DID camp last summer. between Gateway and Grand Junction.
Absolutely stunning. 4 wheel drive is needed to get in and out of the canyon.

somewhere in New Mexico.
Elephant Rock sounds nice.
basically i absolutely adore norther New Mexico and never pass up a chance to see Taos. and we haven't been in a couple years.

where do you want to go? and who wants to go with us?

lets see... what can we change?

one of the main things i do for work is absorb criticism.
a lot of it, is trying to create ideas from thin air that 6 people agree on, and the 40 more people will c0ment on- usually not know what we went through to get the line that we did.

i try to listen to what is said, and make changes accordingly, with out taking it personally. its not that they dont like me, and it doesnt matter if i love that print or T-shirt, what matters is if the design will sell, and sell to people with a more conservative design appreciation.

it's a hard spot to be in, to try to connect with your work, but also not care what happens to it and if people don't like it.

it's also hard to have people tell you your not doing things how they would like- then they list off what you ARE doing, and its exactly what you thought you were supposed to be doing- but apparently no one told you they wanted different, so it was wrong.
and no. i cant just "make it like Target." i agree that target has cute fun things for a good price. in fact Target has cute fun things for a price that is less than i can get it done at cost, not to mention whole sale and retail.

so yes. the clothing industry is stressful.

crazy weekend

Went kind of like this: bought movies at a closing Blockbuster, dinner- only 1 glass of wine, did some house work, bought a fancy new hair dryer, got stuff to fix the chair, helped with a move, watched Katie, got new phones, went to an Absinthe party, cleaned, went to a movie watching party, got lost leaving Evergreen and then it was Monday.

Pretty excited about the new phones. i didnt get the one i have been lusting after, but I got one that i like, making a compromise of plan price. I think it will be fine. the new phones, in general, do so much more than my phone from 5 years ago. [that until last weekend worked perfect, but then the camera function stopped working.] Tim got a military grade phone that does cool science nerd stuff like, telling you the moon phase and what the temperature is right where you are standing. it's supposed to be indestructible- at least as far as phones go. So now we are on a Family Plan, together and i we can text more and i can access e-mail. WOOO.

The Absinthe party was fun, though i was a bit exhausted after the 3 hr phone buying ordeal. We went to a friends house- the same friend who turned us on to Absinthe originally- for a tasting and general merryment. Turnes out we brought the only bottle containing Wormwood, and quite a large dent was put in it.

Due to the Blockebuster near us closing, we are now the proud owners of Ninja Turtles II & III, Flight of the Concords Season 2, Milo and Otis and Notting Hill.

Yesterday we watched: Soylent Green, Akima [? or something like that] and Children of Men.

tales from the gym 2

at my rec center, the gym has windows looking out over the lake. i watch people heading to and from the dog park [just out of view]. going in the dogs are practically rearing up at the end of their leashes, because the excitement is so high and on the way back the dogs are lagging along behind their owners, tongs hanging out, probably thinking about tomorrows trip to the park.

solar power?

so I've been thinking about it, and i want to know if anyone is working on Solar panel shingles. the large block solar panels are unsightly, especially on older homes. Also the technology for Solar Parking lots is already being used.
seems like there could be the base strips put down- like the black paper... w/ evenly spaced hooks, then the shingles would lock onto the hooks, and be equipped to draw solar energy.

so i asked Google.

http://www.oksolar.com/roof/

cool!!

um...

i keep checking my blog to see if i posted something new. its a bit funny, but i always do it.

so there. now i have. i will continue to check back to see if i have anything new to say.

banjos

i have had a fascination with Banjos for a long time, the same way i was fascinated by scooters. i know nothing other than i loved them, and wanted to ride/ play one.
i have the scooter. not having a lot of spending money, i haven't gotten into the much more expensive scooter culture, but i love mine just the same.
i bought a scooter on a lark. okay, i at least paused to take the Motorcycle Safety Course, and I'm glad i did.

My other larks?
play the Banjo
Own Bees
have a comic.

owning bees... we haven't really looked into fully. i know some one who has them, they are now legal in the city of Denver, and we need to take a trip by the bee keeping supply store, that is not too far from us.

Have a comic... well... started, but got distracted and basically lazy. need to get drawing again, and try to stick to a schedule. i hope to go live, sometime, ever.

Playing the banjo... i just got wildly excited [as i do] by an add for a relatively cheep starter kit. did a quick google search, turned up some really good useful information. i wont order this kit this afternoon, but maybe i will stop by one of the places i know does string instrument lessons and talk to some one sometime. my main concerns are that [due to complete lack of practice] i have rather crappy time keeping ability's, i don't hear keys well, and have zero instrument experience after recorders in 6th grade.

i have gotten into a TV slump. really, i get sucked into shows and like them, and want to know whats going on in the story line. i have often found it best to just not start watching things in the Fall. I'm trying to eliminate shows- i might not completely until summer.

i desperately want a fancy phone that does things other than be a phone. because we all know that that is boring.
but there's that little voice in my head informing me that money spent on bees and banjo lessens is money far better spent.

some good info on banjos: get started buy and learn

the shoes pt.2

got the shoes in yesterday. wore them to the gym. running was great. i felt better on the treadmill than i have in quite awhile.
will have to see how i like them long term.
wearing them in general, i feel the fabric between my toes and its a bit weird. but at the gym, they were great, i wasn't thinking about them at all.

new runners

i have been actively going to the gym 3 - 4 days a week. trying to make 4 the more common number, but some weeks it just doesn't happen.
recently my feet and ankles have been hurting. looking at my shoes i thought "they're fine." but then i started remembering what i had learned in CC. shoes only last so long. and i think I've had these like.... 3 or 4 years, and they're my top tier shoe.

so, following in my sister-in-law's foot steps I bought a pair of Vibram FiveFingers- Classic. since i wanted a color other than black, i had to order them. they should be here next week, and I'm WAY excited.
Apparently they can barley keep them in stock at our local REI, which means that more people are following the idea that the unstructured shoe is better for you. this is as close to being barefoot as you can get from the current retail market.

and in case you had missed it some how, i hate wearing shoes.

Do's and Don't's of Spring Fashion...

... according to MSN.

1. DO try the nude trend
2. DON'T forget to keep things simple when wearing a feather skirt.
3. DO go head to toe indigo
4. DON’T shelf the sparkly tops in the “for the fancy parties I go to once or twice a year” section of your closet.
5. DON’T overdo the novelty-print thing.
6. DO make tie-dye look sophisticated with non-boho accessories.
7. DO liven up your wardrobe with a high-impact pattern.
8. DO have a sense of adventure this season.
9. DON’T stash those silver and gold pieces until date night! Go ahead and wear ‘em during the day

just so you know.

confused emotions

something i have had to work really hard at is leaving the job at the job. i'm not a workaholic, but i have a hard time leaving the emotional stress at work.
i have been feeling a lot better since i now, rarely deal with the boss that makes me crazy. but still there are things.

yesterday:
-found out several people had been let go over the last several weeks.
-found out the rest of design will be in NYC next week- the exact week i had requested to be there for the children's version of Magic. i found out from one of the assistants, who found out from another assistant, who only knows because her boss decided to tell her no one would be here next week. Oh and my brand is tied for 3rd highest selling out of 6. and i have the smallest line.
-found out my catalog went to print and i never saw it.
-found things re arranged on my office wall this morning, because apparently conversations were had after i left last night.
- continue to find out that changes were made to garments, only when i get a new approval- not when the changes are made, nor am i ever involved.
- oh and my hormones are all wacky with the new meds and I've been a bit of a bitch.

it goes on from there.
that part of me is annoyed.

on the flip side i am way excited about:
- being 4 for 4 on good experiences at Dr.s offices this month. more good experiences than i have ever had in my life combined.
i finally feel like i am moving forward with the efforts to solves my health issues.
-i bought new running shoes, and cant wait for them to get here.
- the figure skating costumes have been great.
- we have dinner reservations for The Mealting Pot Friday night.
- i lost a pound last week. not really significant. but it was nice to see the scale number go backwards 1.
- its spring! there will be warm weather and lots of snow!

this part of me is wildly excited.

i am confused. its stressful being really excited and really annoyed at the same time.

oh Subaru, you make me so sad.

Subaru! What have you done?

Why is the 2010 re-designed Outback now larger than the newly enlarged Forester? The Outback is supposed to be a station wagon, not an SUV. What are you thinking?
*note the height of the people in both pictures. its not as obvious here. wait till you see one.
2009


2010

the art of art.

as everyone knows, the art you create, you usually hate. Sometimes i look back over sketches i did 6 months to several years ago and they are better than i remembered. however things i thought were good at the time, i often no longer like. i don't know if this has to do with personal expectations, or what.

i need to start drawing again. i had started a project that i thought would be helpful to me, but quickly got distracted and it is now gathering dust.

i want to start that project again, but i am coming up with lots of excuses for why i haven't.
1. i spend all day trying to be creative- a lot of forced creativity. which is hard.
2. i don't have time. [i do.]
3. i admire so many other peoples wide ranging illustration styles and am discouraged, feeling that mine are inferior and, pretty much, crap. i really haven't found my "style."

i know that i need to just get out that pencil, and draw, and stop worrying. because i do have the time, i just enjoy being lazy. but lazy is less enjoyable when it is the only thing you do.

RIP McQueen

RIP McQueen.

ValOlymCiNew

it was a good weekend!

First the 2010 winter Olympics kicked off in Vancouver, Canada.
We watched some of the opening ceremony- who knew Canada was known for punk tap dancing?

Second it was Valentines- and we had a lovely day of movie watching, wine and hot wings.
Ok, so every weekend is a pretty darn good weekend for us. and most things we do are romantic somehow. sometimes eating hot wings and a bottle of wine are all i want out of my day.

Third it is Chinese New Year [of the dragon]. I am hoping to make some fortune cookies this week- as i got a wonderful little fortune cookie DIY kit from our friends Robin and Charles, at Christmas.
i am dreaming of ma pow [sp?] tofu and hotpot and pot stickers.... mmmmm...

organized space

i had every intention if getting the Christmas stuff finally packed away and out of my craft room.
i was unsuccessful at self motivation.
for that matter i have every intention of getting this really truly organized so that room and space can be used better.
i have been meaning to do this for 2 years.

what can i say. I'm lazy. I'm not terribly self propelled. and once i do organize things, i either forget my plan, or do a project and never put anything away.

its not because my mother didn't try. I've always been "messy" but deep down i wish everything lived in its place all the time and that putting things away wasn't the most awful thing in the whole world.
frankly i find the chaos a bit .... oh you nkow when you find your self panicking in too small of a space.. yeah. like that.

maybe i just dream a little too much of magazine beauty. in magazines pets can live in a home full of fancy furniture and delicate arrangements- never shedding, creating dust or knocking things over.

the challenge

I've been complaining about things to my Dr.s for a couple years now.

they keep doing blood tests. they keep telling me that everything is normal. i would guess that everything is not normal when every visit, with every Dr. ever starts with "your neck is huge!"
and then the tests are normal, and they put of my complaints to the fact that clearly i am lying about my diet and exercise. its understandable. everyone lies. and everyone lies to the Dr. and most likely themselves about these things, in particular.

i have never been skinny. I was trim in high school- before i got sick, and spent a semester lying on the couch drinking soda, because it was the only thing that didn't hurt my throat.
after college i started playing soccer again. i got my weight down a bit and was happy.
and then, it started to creep back.... slowly at first... but then it just wouldn't stop. i don't sleep well, i have problems breathing and I'm ALWAYS hot. i have gained 60 pounds, most of it in a 2 year span.
it was finally recommended that I see a specialist.
They looked at my numbers and couldn't believe i hadn't been being treated for an under active thyroid. Actually it's the first time i have had a positive experience at a Dr.s office in as long as i can remember.
an under active thyroid means that my metabolism isn't working right. [I've never had a fast one to begin with.]

So. Starting soon, I will be medicating- hoping to get things working right again and hopefully get my self back to a healthier weight.

I'm very self conscious of it. I feel the stairs of people i haven't seen in a while. I wonder who is judging me. I am happy to have a supportive husband, who is very good at saying all the right things. and i try to remember, that, despite what is reflected on the outside, i know that i am trying and i hope it will finally show.

Neb. 2

Tater-tots are known as Gems.

Nebraska...

where to start.. where to start....

well, we started by accusing poor product design on a gadget made in China.

went to the Lutheran soup supper. for $4, all you can eat ham sandwiches, chili or chicken noodle and 9 kinds of pie. I had an AMAZING piece of mullberry pie.

there was later a joke about some one thought something smelled funny. mush have been the Lutherans... HA

had a baked potato w/ broccoli cheese soup for $3.50

had hamburger and fries at the Legion for $4.50

was told to eat an orange- then told it would probably be too dry.

was told to eat a sandwich, then was told the bread was probably too dry.

my grandmother didn't know anyone involved w/ the Grammys, except for Miley Cyrus- who she though was a sweet young girl.

She didn't know why anyone would want to see any of the performers in concert. including Elton John.

i know there was a lot more. but i have blanked on it for now.

Spring and things

OMG OMG!! SPRING IS COMING!
Spring is my second favorite only to Fall.

I find spring to be terribly romantic. Everything is new and beautiful and green. I love watching new little plants push up out of the ground.
Its been 10 years since I was in London in the spring, and I desperately wish to go back and share my favorite city with Tim.
It's been 3 years since Tim and I went to Chengdu, China. Where I decided I was absolutely head over heals in love, and would have married him then and there on top of a mountain. Incidentally we have a forever lock on a chain along the path to the top of a Taoist mountain, with our initials engraved and the date.

Valentines Day is coming up. I have to say, I enjoy this holiday. For me it marks the start of spring. I also think of it a bit like Thanksgiving. I like to think of all the things and all the people I love and why.
I know almost everyone dislikes this holiday, saying "It's only for a select few" or "I don't need to be told to be romantic one day of the year."* Maybe not, but I think it is fun to have that day dedicated to Love. No one is saying you cant do romantic things the rest of the year.
Do most people expect too much out of Valentines Day? Yes probably. I know deep down that I don't need or want the diamond tennis bracelet, but good god in the days surrounding this holiday i sure as hell do.
Have fun, think of all the people and things you love and cherish and don't take it all so seriously.


* I know some girls who were talking about their Valentines plans over a month ago. When i commented that they seemed excited about it [they both have boyfriends this year], they replied in unison what a shitty holiday it was and so forth. Excuse me, I'm not the one that has plans, knows the days of the week, or what my work schedule for that weekend is before the New Year.

Lazy day.... kind of

Lazy day for me. busy day for Tim. When he started planning this LARP event, we thought it was happening last Saturday, but change of plans, and it is tonight, so we are no longer going to Derby Prom, he is full of adrinalin, and i dont have any plans.

Sitting at my desk this week feeling kind of terrible, i was thinking all the things i wanted to get done at home this weekend.
put away the Christmas boxes.
do some drawing
get new photos on the computer machine.

and i continue to not feel all that well. I've been in a bot of limbo, not feeling good, but not feel that bad either.
i don't really want to do anything. At all. but am still sad i do not have plans for tonight. [admittidly i have made no, zero, zip effort to have plans tonight.]

olympics 2010

As most of you know, the winter Olympics will be starting shortly. This years host is Vancouver, BC.
When we were in Seattle over Thanksgiving I started seeing merch. And it is amazing. I wanted all of it. I am SO impressed with the mascot design, along with the more serious, actual sports designs. I love the Olympics, and i can not wait!

this week

i need to write something here. but what I'm not sure.

The Mr. is finally taking the plunge, starting up his own one shot/one day LARP group. He has been talking about this for a year. foreseeably this is something that, in the future he would not loose money on. though the chance of making money is slim. still i'm glad that he is dong this.

it's market week for me. every januarary Denver hoasts the largest western buyers mart in the US. [i think Atlanta is knownfor their Christmas market.]This is an exciting, crazy, exhosting, dreaful time of year. i spend most of my day in the back room dressing modles for our runway fashion show within the show room. when i'm not in the back i am either in the way, not being helpful enough or gazing longingly at beautiful boots- the kind that i dont need, wont wear much, but absoutly love and want to own. maybe this year i will find a pair in a more erasonable price range than the ones i have been lusting after for a year.
this year my first official with my name attached Kids line will be on the run way. I am super excited. in the office i just finished summer and am thinking aobut outerwear and soforth for the following fall. fall 2011. i think that this current group is going to have blow out sales.

out of my head onto the computer

my work computer has been having issues all week. virus issues.
i had no computer before lunch, and now i am trying to work on something that is taking 45 min to rasterize in Illustrator.
my head hurts. right on schedule for my monthly sinus infection. BOOO.
i just really feel not good today.
i got my bonus check at work today. since its a bonus i want to do something fun with it. usually we spend it on car repairs.
there are some cowboy boots i have been lusting after for a yr. and a camera that i want badly. travel plans w/ no funding, car repairs, house up-dates.... etc.

We have talked of going to Taiwan this year, to visit friends who are their teaching English. I intensely wish to return to London. its been 10 years since my first trip over seas. I fell in love with London. Even now i look for job opportunity's that would take us there to stay.
i want to go in late February or early march to see the daffodils at Kew Gardens. the museums are amazing, the architecture fantastic and the tea shops plentiful.
I loved it there and i want to share London with Tim.

I think i have come to understand "survivors guilt"- at least on a low level. We know a number of people who seem to have hit rough patches in their personal relationships lately. its hard knowing that you are madly in love and in a fantastic marriage, while knowing so many others are miserable. there is nothing you can say - or should say that can help them find happiness, but you don't want to throw your own happiness in their face.
2010 has started out really good for us, and i hope that everyone else we know finds happiness too.

We made meatballs last night.

tales from the gym

why do women wear giant dangley earrings at the gym? it looks painful and stupid.

the orchid story

So the orchid did survive it's first day w/ the cats. and no one appears to have thorns stuck in their paws or mouths.

The story w/ the orchid [as told by Tim]:

"Hey, this plant rung up at $30.00 The sign says it's $14.00." "No, that's only the obvious sign. This was the sign that's facing the wall, hidden behind some plants, that says $23.00" "Can I have it for the large, visible, advertised price instead?" "No, but you can have it for free." Negotiation: win!

DAM

Denver Art Museum's current exhibit is a series of installation pieces by different artists.

i liked this one.

tales from the gym

your iphone looks stupid in a giant encasing arm band thing.

there was a guy carrying around a 2 liter bottle of green tea ginger ale.

and so so so sooo many people in attendance for the first monday of the new year.

cactus!

cactus! and cats! and an orchid!
we'll see how this goes.

Seattle Thanksgiving 2009

Some pics from Seattle, Thanksgiving 2009.

In no particular order:

ducks

ducks on a frozen lake.
27 Dec. 09

whear the decade went

i admit, my spelling has not improved. but here is a run down of things that happened in the last 10 years.

2000: i got my drivers licensed 3 weeks before y2k. went to London. LOVED IT.
2001: met my now husband and had my first "real relationship"- not w/ my husband. totaled first car.
2002: graduated from high school, started college. watched that relationship fall apart.
2003: started dating a really good guy. hated college.
2004: hated college and roommate. went to classic toga party.
2005: put together 15 piece fashion show group in school.
2006: internship, and hiring at RMCC. graduated college. broke up with boyfriend. got a motorcycle licensed and Vespa GT2000. started dating again. [i really never intended to move between relationships as fast as i did.] Tim got Ozzy
2007: Went to china w/ BF and friend. got engaged. went to Spain w/ friend for a week. totaled second car. got married. went to NYC for new years eve. Took over care of Falkor
2008: bought a house. went to new york for a wedding. I got Kabuki and Prof. Cheeto
2009: started playing roller derby. Finally moved up at work to be Designer of the children's line. quit roller derby. Lost Ozzy. Went to Pittsburgh. went to Seattle. went to Las Vegas.

we entered 2010 w/ a party and a lazy day watching movies. Bring on the new year!