Fondue and wine.

Lots of it. Wine, that is... Saturday night I had a little apartment warming party with yummy fondue, dips, and wine. Had quite a good group of people in my tiny place, but I think there was plenty of room, and I had such a good time. And I was paying for it most of the day on Sunday!

Well, it's the last week of my life that I will be 26 years old. It's a little depressing, I must say, because I always thought 27 was so old, I don't any more, but I remember being younger, like in my teens thinking, wow, 27, that's old... Plus I remember when my mom was 27 and when she was 27 she had a 7 year old, so I think that's sort of why I think it seems old... Again, I don't want to catch crap from any of my older friends and family members, so let me state again... I DO NOT think 27 is old anymore. :) But on the other hand, I think 27 is a much better number than 26. I'm babbling... Is this what happens when you get old and feeble?? Just joking.

Is there a reason Emeril always wears white socks with black pants and black shoes? Just curious. Yep, I'm watching food network. Emeril's Chefography. I love the chefography shows. It makes me want to pack up my mac and go to culinary school.

Well, I'm off to watch the last episode of "Love Monkey". It's a sad, sad day for me. No more Wayne.

Why?

Why do freeze pops take so long to freeze???

Another note, the box says the freeze pops are "giant" sized. I open up the box to see if the glorious tubes of colored, flavored sugar water have crystallized (no luck) and find the same size freeze pops I have been consuming all my life. It was quite disappointing, though when I bought the pops I was really just wanting the regular size pops and they didn't have any on the end cap, or so I thought, so I just bought the giant size. So, I guess I really got what I wanted, I'm just a little miffed that all of a sudden, the normal sized freeze pops are now being called "giant".

Does anyone else find that freeze pops make you cough? They make me cough, so you may hear me call them cough-pops. I also have cough-gum. Extra brand gum, the light blue package. It's my favorite one, but it has a tendency to make me cough.

Seat dancing.

So, tonight I get an awesome phone call. My friend Jen, who had read my previous blog earlier today, calls me and all I can hear coming from the other end of the line is Sean Paul's "Temperature" cranked. Apparently Jen does the car seat dance too; I am not alone.

This got me thinking about some amazing hip-hop songs that get my booty shaking, this is not an all-inclusive list, but more of a 'these songs are on the top of my head' list and I regularly shake my ass to these...

1. "Get Low" - Lil' Jon
2. "My Humps" - Black Eyed Peas... Okay, I might as well list the entire latest Black Eyed Peas album because pretty much every song on there rules.
3. "Hypnotize" - Notorious B.I.G
4. "...Baby One more time" - Britney Spears
5. "Stronger" - Britney Spears. Yep, Britney made it on my list two times...
6. "Bubble Pop Electric" - Gwen Stefani
7. "Put your back into it" - Ice Cube
8. "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix A lot
9. "Big Pimpin'" - Jay-Z
10. "Put it on me" - Ja Rule
11. "Izzo" - Jay-Z. I love Jay-Z, he makes the list twice. Nope, make that 3 times....
12. "Can I Get A..." - Jay-Z
13. "B.O.B." - Outkast. That's the best Outkast one, but I also must mention "So Fresh, So Clean" and "Hey Yeah".

Flashbacks

I have been having some flashbacks this morning...

First, I was looking outside at the dump truck picking up the trash out of the dumpster and was totally fascinated by the process. It reminded me of being little and getting excited for the garbage guys to come by. Why is it that children are so enthralled by big trucks (garbage trucks, firetrucks, ambulances)? Was it just me?

Then, I busted out my TI-36 calculator to do some simple calculations this morning and it totally reminded me of being in 6th grade and getting my first scientific calculator, the TI-36, and feeling so super cool because I was in the honors math class (nerd) and got to get one of these, while others in the regular math class still were using their ghetto, non-scientific calculators. (That was one long ass run-on sentence). Sadly, I could hardly remember how to use it.

Top 5...

thoughts about music. Why? because (1) I just finished reading High Fidelity, thus the Top 5 list AND (2) simply because I've been thinking about random things like this lately.

Top 5 Thoughts about Music [05.04.06]

1. I get very upset when I discover a band that I really like only to find out they broke up years ago. I recall this happening when I first listened to Failure several years ago. It was a CD like no other, I fell in love with it. Then, much to my dismay (and bewilderment- I seriously could not believe the album I was listening to was THAT old and that they were never more popular), I found out it was from 1996 and they broke up long ago.

2. The Radio. I once thought it pure evil, aside from the jazz station broadcasted from College of Dupage. Now, without a CD player in my car, I find myself listening to it ALL of the time, at least 90% of the time, when I forget to bring the ipod or my awesome mix cassette tapes that I made in High School. Anyways, I digress... I find myself liking the radio, maybe not all of the music, but it makes me feel young and more 'with it'. I know now all of the popular songs and don't feel like an idiot when people are talking about Sean Paul and I have no clue who he is. By the way, that Sean Paul song rules, I literally do a seat dance when that comes on in the car, and when I hear it on the verizon commercial... somebody better stop me.

3. Kelly Clarkson: love, Love, LOVE this album. I have to say whoever produced/wrote these songs is PURE genius. Seriously. Even my mom didn't believe me when I said I wanted this CD. At least 5 of the album's 12 songs are huge hits. That in itself is huge, and seriously, it's about 20 times more amazing since this girl came from American Idol. Okay, let's just say, I can't get enough of Kelly.

4. Something that irks me: bands that make a come-back after being relatively unpopular (and refuse to give up) for years. Example: Pearl Jam. I'm not quite sure why this bothers me so much, perhaps it's because I remember listening to Pearl Jam as a freshman in high school and I just feel like they are now has-beens. Is that wrong? Loved them in high school, hate them now. And honestly, I haven't even heard their new single yet, I am just basing this purely on feeling and not objectively on their current music.

5. Something I love: good bands that come back after being on hiatus for years. Example: can I tell you how excited I am to see the Smoking Popes in just two weeks?! I never got to see them back in the 90s, and now I get my chance.

So Sad.

So, the Nuggets lost the other night, so no more playoff games to attend. However, this will free up another evening to attempt to organize my place a bit better. I'll also be able to watch the Bulls play and hopefully win tomorrow night while I'm organizing and cleaning. Sounds like spectacular plans for a Thursday evening, eh? I have been so incredibly busy with work, that I have literally been in my office from 8am till nearly 6 each night actually working. Who would have thought??

Oh, I totally forgot to give the update on The Next Food Network Star. So, it came down to Guy, a man with more zealousness than Emeril, and Reggie, the huggable Teddy Bear baker. I was rooting for Reggie because he's just adorable and likeable and I don't think I'd get sick of him like I know I would get sick of Guy saying "off the hook" every 20 seconds. Much to my dismay, Reggie lost, and Guy will now be the next Food Network Star...

Speaking of television: I have sooo much catching up to do on my DVR it's ridiculous. I just went through and deleted a bunch of things I know I'll never have time to watch, but I gotta catch up on the critical programs like Grey's Anatomy and All My Children. ;)

Tonight we have kickball and I'm hoping that we win another game. I'd just like to point out that despite only winning one game so far this season, we are not in last place. I just looked at the standings... And we are 4th from last. Woo-hoo!

A long overdue update

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of packing, moving, cleaning, painting, and unpacking amongst other various things, which I shall try to briefly outline here. ;)

First of all, I moved into my new apartment over a week ago now. I hired movers, which helped the move go much smoother and faster than I could have ever expected. Danielle helped me unpack a ton of boxes the day of the move and I was well on my way to setting up the new apartment within just hours of the move. The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking and early on last week I actually had finished unpacking all of the boxes and am currently in the 'organization' phase now.

Last Sunday we went to see Bill Maher downtown at the Paramount Theater. It was really, really funny, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. On Wednesday, we won our first kickball game of the season. It was a game full of emotion, and not all celebratory happiness. The team we played were hmmm... how can I describe them... cheaters? jerks? evil beings? Yes, most definitely all of the above. The ump didn't help, as it seemed she had to peak at a cheat sheet of the rules each and every time ANYTHING happened in the game. But, in the end, we maintained our lead and were victorious, so I guess that's all that matters.

Thursday night I went to the Nuggets playoff game with Brian, Danielle, Kimberly, and Matt and was introduced to the joys of bam-bams. Yes, those precious inflatable tubes that you bang together to make a lovely sound. Being my first time using bam-bams, I didn't quite get it at first, but thankfully I had Danielle, an experienced bam-bam user, to instruct me on how to get the most sound out of my bam-bams. The game was a blast- so much more fun than a regular season game, since the whole arena was full and undoubtedly the bam-bams contributed to the fun-level of the evening.

Over the weekend I pretty much took it easy. I enjoyed some fantastic New Mexican food and margs at Desiree's party celebrating Bill leaving the country. Perhaps I worded that incorrectly. We were not celebrating Bill leaving, but Desiree had a party for him since he left for Amsterdam for 3 months yesterday. He will be sorely missed, especially on Wednesday nights at kickball. Also took a nice drive in the mountains up through Coal Creek Cañon and down through Nederland and Boulder, stopping by Chautauqua park on the way home.

This week I'm hoping to get my place a little bit more organized, as I'm hosting a fondue party in a couple weeks. Plus I have a ton of work to catch up on, and hopefully the Nuggets will win tonight so we can go to their next playoff game in Denver on Thursday. Earlier this morning I compiled a list of must-see/must-do in chicago for a friend who's going there in a couple weeks. Makes me miss the good food and the bars and the museums and everything there. Oh, and of course all my friends too! But, I don't think I'd trade the 75 degree sunny Denver weather and mountain views for anything!

The Easter Bunny Visits

On Friday, my parents came into town to bring me some things for my new apartment (moving in t-minus 4 days!!!) and to pick up my kayak. I had thought that my dad had just found someone to buy the kayak, but turned out my dad actually wanted it, so he bought it from me. Funny stuff. Anyways, we just took it easy Friday night and went out for dinner at Tuk Tuk, my favorite Thai place, and then out for some ice cream (coffee with chocolate jimmies- yum!).

Saturday we went on a little sightseeing trip. First, Coors Brewery, followed by Buffalo Bill's Grave, and then a little drive up to Idaho Springs for a late lunch. Later in the evening, I hosted an elegant wine and cheese party at my place complete with paper and plastic plates, moving boxes strewn all over the floor, and even my laundry sitting out. It was a vision of pure sophistication. Brian and Danielle came over and we had an evening filled with intriguing conversation regarding our favorite kind of jelly beans, pie, cookies, cake, and an especially long discussion on our favorite and least favorite cheeses. At first, I determined that there hasn't ever been a cheese I met that I disliked, until my mom brought up that evil Munster Cheese. Not that it tastes bad, but I just don't like it because of that orange crap that's around the edge of it. Thought everyone should know that little tid bit about me, so next time you bring me cheese, make sure it is NOT Munster. ;)

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then had a lovely champagne brunch at the Brown Palace Hotel downtown. It was incredibly yummy and delicious; lots of options and choices and different foods. We sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the lobby where there was a small jazz band playing and little kids dancing to the music- absolutely adorable. The rest of the day was spent napping and then my parents left to drive home that evening and to top off my Easter, the Easter Bunny brought me a basket full of yummy Frango chocolates and jelly bellies.

Confession

I garbage picked. On trash day, I was driving back to my house and saw these two awesome looking end tables (which I have no end tables) in someone's trash. More specifically, a neighbor's trash. I park my car in the driveway and decide to walk over to check them out, thinking it is just too good to be true, there must be something terribly wrong with them. I walk over, and am thinking these are some damn fine tables to be in someone's trash. They are far too nice to go to the dump. They deserve a loving home. MY home. So, I grab one of the tables and hike it back to my house. The hike to my garage being not just a couple doors down, but more like 100 feet away. I briefly look around to see if anyone is watching me... Decide that I'm moving in less than two weeks, so who the heck cares. Of course after I get the first table in the garage, I have to go back to get the 2nd table. So I repeat the walk back over the person's trash, and then the walk of shame back to my garage. I quickly close the garage door and run upstairs to look out the window to see if anyone was around that might have seen me do this. Not a person in sight; the neighborhood is dead and desolate. Sweet. I got away with it without anyone knowing. One might think I would not share this story with anyone, but I was seriously so excited about the tables (both because I actually needed them and because they are some damn fine looking tables) that I told several people merely minutes after the acquisition. Yes, it's official, I am a garbage picker.

Grilled Cheese is good.

I think if I had to choose one food to eat for lunch every day of the rest of my life, it would be grilled cheese. End of story.

V for Very good weekend.

Again, the weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping it continues to be this amazingly gorgeous through next weekend, as my parents are coming in town. Over the weekend, I saw V for Vendetta. Quite a good little flick despite containing some cheesy moments. On the other end of the spectrum, King Kong... Oh, where to begin. Let's just say I'm very sad I'll never get those 3 hours of my life back. Okay, it really wasn't THAT bad... Wait, it really was. Aside from movie watching, I had some delicious margs at Que Bueno, a Mexican restaurant at the Promenade that I had never tried before. With the weather being as great as it was, we ate outside and feasted on some good Mexican food and a pitcher of margs. Life just doesn't get any better than that. ;) Oh, and they even had this fantastic chip and salsa contraption. A plate fits on the bottom that holds the chips, then this thing protrudes up from one side and over the plate, holding three different salsas. That's a terrible description, but trust me, it's wicked cool.

The Next Food Network Star Update: Much to my chagrin, Carissa, the yummy chef, has made the cut again, and is continuing on in the competition. This week, Andy got cut. He definitely isn't my favorite, but I sure did like him more than Carissa. Thank goodness Reggie is still going strong.

With less than two weeks until my big move, I have been feverishly packing and painting and organizing. I feel like I already have a ton packed, but it seems like the house is still pretty full. My parents are coming out this weekend for Easter and to bring a few of my things to me, so I'm really trying to have the majority of my packing done before then. I don't have too many things planned for the weekend, but we will be having Easter brunch at the Brown Palace Hotel. I'm very excited about that, as it's a champagne brunch and there is a chocolate fountain. Well, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking about how it's already Monday night, and my guests will be arriving in 4 short days, so I must get back to work...

If you don't catch the ball, stop it!

Wise words from Bill at our first kickball game of the season last night. Despite crazily fast winds and threatening storms in the not-so-far distance, we played a good game. Lost, but it was still fun. The first inning was a little rough, but I think we got back into the swing of things, after having too many months without practice. Rich had a couple fantasticly glorious plays including a dive-catch and winning the beer chug-off before the game (in lieu of a coin toss, a member from each team chugs a beer, and whoever finishes first gets to be the home team). I even had a couple plays that contributed to outs. They should have been easy catches, but with the sun in my eyes and just being a spaz in general, I didn't get a full grasp on the ball, BUT... I did stop the balls and managed to throw them to base.

Death to Sofrito!

Yes! Finally! Evette got kicked off of The Next Food Network Star! I must say, though, that this week I had just about enough of Carissa, and when it came down to the end of the show with Carissa and Evette left, I was secretly hoping Evette might stay another week. I was thinking, perhaps Evette could teach me one additional dish that I could add sofrito to... Or maybe I wouldn't mind looking at her adorable brace-filled smile for one more episode. And I really did like her cute accent and the way she rolled her r's so elegantly... Carissa, aka "the yummy chef", really annoys me because when she's giving her demos she doesn't know what to say and just talks in circles about pointless things using adjectives that are inappropriate and little sayings that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. It truly is painful watching her do her demos. I guess I just have to hope Carissa gets sent home next week. Now, I have to say I DO actually like some of the contestants, though you might not know about that due to the amount of bitching I do about the ones I hate. First of all, Andy... He's quiet but not too quiet, a really good chef, and you can tell he's just a really good guy. Then there is Reggie. Reggie is just a big teddy bear and has such a great sense of humor. I hope he goes all the way.

More reality tv news... The Amazing Race has moved to Wednesdays. I am quite disappointed with this, as this change occurs the first week of the season for Kickball, which I also have on Wednesdays. Damn those CBS decision makers. They have ruined my weekly tv-watching plans.

The weekend

I was able to cross off quite a few things on my Colorado To-Do list this weekend and had quite a good time doing so. I finally, finally, finally got to experience all that is el chapultepec. Picture an old bar- like half-dive/half-retro, vinyl upholstered bar, eclectic mix of people, burritos and tacos being served, and a live jazz band playing, tucked away in the corner. The jazz band was quite good and was led by an old man on the drums, Gene Bass. He was absolutely adorable.

On Saturday, I went down to Colorado Springs with Brian on a tourist day. First we stopped at the Air Force Academy, but I was quite disappointed because Brian got me all psyched up because when you enter there is someone there that salutes you and I really wanted to be saluted, but we arrived at the academy and the entrance gate was empty. No salutes or salutations. :(

After the Air Force Academy, we went to Garden of the Gods- absolutely beautiful and awesome, in the true sense and meaning of the word awesome... It's incredible that this place is a free park. Before heading back home, we went to Old Colorado City, the first territorial capital of Colorado. It's a nice little downtown with little shops and restaurants and even a French bakery. So, about this bakery... Needing a little caffeine and without a starbucks in sight, we decided to get some coffee at this bakery. I try ordering a double shot of espresso with whipped cream. Much to my dismay, I was informed, rather rudely, that they didn't have whipped cream. So then I just ordered a latte. Thinking this was a fairly easy request, I was suprised by the slew of questions that proceeded, again with the rude tone. After seeing my ordering experience, I think Brian gave up on ordering anything coffee or espresso related, so he ordered a chai, thinking that was a rather easy order. But, no... mr. rude bakery worker then attacked Brian with a bunch of questions- hot/cold, latte/non latte, etc. And I thought ordering coffee at Starbucks could be a daunting task...

Sunday: mostly took it easy, did a little work, did a little sodoku and crossword puzzling. I was both happy and sad that the clocks changed. Happy because it was light out later, sad because I lost an hour....

The week in review...

Yes, this week has proved to be quite a good week in reality TV. First, on The Next Food Network Star (yes, I DO watch it and yes, I DO like it), my least favorite contestant got the boot. She was just such a... drip. That's a bad descriptor word, but really, I can not think of any other way to describe her. She lacked emotion and all she wanted to cook was 'healthy' food. What a bore. Oh, and then there's Evette... Sweatheart, seriously tone down your latin flavor... I'm all about ethnic cooking, but if I have to hear about sofrito one more time... She uses it in EVERYTHING. Even in her "Tortilla de Papa y Carne de Cerdo con Espinaca" which she made this week. What's that, you ask? Oh, apparently that's spanish for Omelet. On the other hand, Evette is adorable and everything she makes really does look good and looks pretty darn easy as well. Then, on The Amazing Race, the 'pinks' got kicked off. All I have to say about that is it was about time; I wasn't sure if I could bear another week of watching these girls with their annoying accents and all-pink clothing and their boy-crazy talk. Next week, I hope the old people arrive on the mat last.

Aside from television watching, I really have been keeping busy. I have packed up a ton of my stuff and have been trying to organize a bit so I'm ready for my move. I can't believe I'll be in my new place in just about 3 weeks. I've also been pretty busy with my work too, which I'm actually working on late tonight, in hopes that I don't have too much to do over the weekend. Well, really hoping to not have to work at all over the weekend.

In blogging news, my dear friend, Todd, has finally started a blog in which he'll be posting his rants about people who 'annoy' him. I'll post the link to his blog shortly. I eagerly await reading his tirades, as he infuses his writing with a level of hilarity I can only dream of matching... Also, a warning: this blog may not be the one for reading at work; profanities abound and are actually part of the URL.

Bubble Pop Electric

As I pack, I simply cannot resist the urge to pop the bubble wrap bubbles. It is possibly the most fun (and only fun) aspect of packing.

Mamma Mia!

Had such a great weekend. Not only was the weather amazing, but on Friday I proved my "Boggle Queen" title by beating my challenger, Brian, almost by double. That's right. I believe the final score was something around 117 (me) to 59 (Brian). I was especially proud of my score (and perhaps gloated a BIT too much) since Brian is such a smarty-pants. He may be king of triva, but I remain reigning queen of boggle.

Saturday was even more beautiful than Friday- I even got some sun- and I mean I had tan lines where my shirt was! Almost forgot to mention, I found an apartment. It's a nice two bedroom place in Arvada; close to the city, really close to Danielle. ;) I really like the location and am very excited to have a place to call my own. Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing Mamma Mia! at the Buell Theater. Danielle, Bill, Brian, and I had a great dinner at Vesta Dipping Grill beforehand. Danielle introduced us all to Endamame, which are soy beans doused in salt- sooo yummy. Bill refused to eat them because they were covered in salt and he claimed it would make his taste buds explode; I didn't listen. I ate a bunch of them and later that night realized that some of my tastebuds had indeed exploded... For dinner, I had seared tuna that was accompanied by 3 tasty dipping sauces. I have been wanting seared tuna for so long. Last time I had it was probably over a year ago at Branmor's (which I highly recommend getting it there as well). The only thing I can suggest is order it rare- I ordered it medium-rare thanks to the suggestion of our high-as-a-kite waiter, but really had wished I just got it rare. It was still super good and tasty though. I also tried duck for the first time, which is what Danielle had- very yummy as well.

After dinner, we saw Mamma Mia, which was fantastic. It has been so long since I have been to the theater- I think the last time was in college when I saw Les Miserables. And I saw in the program that Sweet Charity is coming here next winter with Molly Ringwald starring- I have GOT to see that! It is quite odd here, though, the wide variety of clothing people darn for the theater. I saw everything from flip flops and jeans to sparkly evening dresses. Next time I go, I'm wearing my party dress.

Following Mamma Mia, we went to Corridor 44 (or is it 45?), a champagne bar in Larimer Square. It's a really cool bar and they have all of these yummy champagne cocktails. Think martini's but instead of vodka or gin as the main ingredient, substitute champagne. For example, I had one called a Raspberry Truffle that had champagne, Godiva Liqueur, and raspberry vodka- very yummy. Overall, it was a fantastic night. OH! and how could I almost forget to mention- on the way home, we took the HOV lanes on 25, (my first time) to truly make it a night I'll never forget.

Bradley on TV!

For the first time since I was in high school, Bradley University was in the NCAA Tournament! It was awesome to be able to watch my alma mater on TV and they did surprisingly well, making it into the Sweet Sixteen! Of course, the one game I go out to a bar to watch the game, in my Bradley sweatshirt, they lost, but it was still fun nonetheless. Let's hope they can pull it off again next year!

Adventures with Mommy

Saturday night, my mom arrived from Chicago and apparently brought the dismal, grey Chicago weather with her. It seems to be that every time she comes to visit, she does not get to enjoy the wonderful weather that Denver constantly brags about and she never gets to see the mountains. After picking her up from the airport, I brought her to a little Irish pub for some pints and appetizers. We spent her time out here apartment hunting, shopping, eating, and of course drinking. We had a fun night at Fado with Clancy boys. Got to introduce my mom to some loud, Irish drinking songs and even showed off my skills on the drum up on stage. As always, it was a blast at Fado. And I even got a cool T-shirt for playing the drum. Gosh, it seems like so long ago that she was here now, I started writing this post last week but have been so busy with various things that I never got around to finish. We also went to Boulder for lunch one day, watched the Sopranos, watched The Amazing Race, had High Tea at the Brown Palace Hotel, watched more TV, packed, had coffee with Danielle, and there's got to be lots more. The week went by too fast. Good news is, both of my parents are coming out here for Easter, so I will get to see both of them in no time!

Word of the Day

Keep this word in mind for your St. Patrick's Day hangover:

crapulous: sick from, or marked by, excessive drinking.

Cold again.

So, the past week has been dominated by snow and wind and chilly temperatures. I hate it. I have been so extremely spoiled by Denver's weather that when we actually get winter weather in winter (who would have thought?) I get all sorts of crabby. I have to say today it was in the low-50s, which would have been great, but there were horrible winds that totally ruined it all.

Anyone watch The Apprentice? On this week's episode, did anyone happen to notice the stack of 6 bagel halves that Brent prepared with cream cheese and then proceeded to eat? I loved how the cameras zoomed in on the stack of bagels. I also love how everyone hates Brent.

I guess it's been a while since I've written... This weekend was cold, so stayed in quite a bit. But, I am now a stout beer aficionado. Well, at least that what I like to think. Went to an Irish pub in Boulder and taste tested Guinness vs. Murphy's. And ... the verdict is... I like Murphy's better. I still like Guinness but I think I like the taste of the Murphy's a little more. Anyways, now I am ready for blind taste testing.

On a sour, very sour note, my laptop went all ape-shit on me two days ago, and I ended up having to reload the whole darn thing and starting anew. Spent an afternoon waiting for my Apple Genius Bar appointment, only to get called up to the bar, and apparently I (emphasis on "I") fixed the problem. I guess I'm an apple genius now too. The genius (might I add he was wearing a kilt- a utilikilt!) I was working with at the apple store offered me an application. Of course jokingly offered it, because the geniuses there are quite pompous and higher-than-thou geniuses. They like using words and phrases like "kernel panic" and "catalog hierarchy". Anyways, I'm still having issues with my applications working correctly, but have my old desktop up and running now, so I've been tediously working between my laptop, desktop, external hard drive, and back up CD's. It looks like Apple threw up all over my table. After spending all day trying to fix things AND get some work done, I realized at 930pm that I was still sitting there in my pj's and it was time to take a shower and relax for the rest of the night. So, I'm currently drinking a Budweiser and catching up on my TV shows.

I am sooooooo excited for the upcoming holiday this weekend. It is St. Patrick's Day and for the first time ever, I have a party to attend. Can you believe an Irish girl like myself has never had a St. Patrick's Day party to attend or host? Well, it's true. I will be eating some yummy Shepherd's Pie and Irish Soda bread, as well as numerous other Irish treats, I'm sure, and, did I mention, beer?? I'm so excited. You just can not beat a combination of potatoes, beer, and soda bread.

THEN, on Saturday, my mom is coming for a little visit. I have lots of fun things planned for her visit including an evening at Fado's to sing-along with my Clancy boys, High Tea at the Brown Palace Hotel, and I will finally take her to my beloved city, Boulder.

Other than the computer angst, my week has been flying by. I have been looking for apartments, which I have realized is a totally daunting task, especially when you aren't really sure if you want to become a city-chick or stay a suburbanite.

Random Thoughts

•Hamburger Helper doesn't taste as good as I remembered.

•I think someone should do a study on mass merchandiser's patrons and their speed of walking. For instance I think the walking speed of a Wal-Mart customer is about 1/3 the walking speed of a Target customer. I walk at a normal pace, perhaps a little faster than normal, and was at Wal-Mart this evening behind someone with a 3.5 foot wide ass (so, I couldn't get past him) walking slower than a herd of turtles. That just annoys me to no end. Not only is the person rude for not staying to one side of the aisle, but also is completely clueless that he may be causing a traffic jam. Lately every time I go to Wal-Mart, I think to myself, why did I come here?

•And my last thought: Budweiser is good. And a side-note to this one, it looks as though there is someone who works for Coors Brewery moving in. They drive a Coors van. I need to make friends with this newcomer. ;)

The highlight of my ebay career

I have an auction listed right now with 40 people watching it. FORTY!

Freshest Coors Light (outside of the brewery)...

This is a liquor store kiddie-corner from the brewery- loved the sign on the outside. I also forgot to mention that after the brewery tour, went to explore downtown Golden, CO. It's really quite cute and there is even a General Store with penny candy! I had to get a couple of my favorites- Mary Jane's, Pop Rocks, and Lemonheads- so yummy!

Face to Face with Buffalo Bill.

Another gorgeous weekend in Colorado. Springlike weather inspired the planning (and execution) of a tourist day. On Saturday, I visited Buffalo Bill's grave up near (or maybe on??) Lookout Mountain, which lies just west of Denver and is also host to a slew of radio towers. Quite interestingly, my mom had visited his birthplace in Wyoming many moons ago when she was on a family trip to Yellowstone as a little girl. The gravesite is located high above Denver and there are many lookout points to see the city and plains, and the Coors brewery- it's really an awesome view (if you can see past all of the radio towers!). Of course, I had to visit the giftshop where I picked up an awesome Buffalo Bill magnet and perused the countless tchatchkes (think plastic cap guns, Native American figurines, slices of trees with a lovely image of the Rockies decoupaged on, lots of polished rocks, shot glasses...).

After paying my respects to Buffalo Bill, we headed to the Coors Brewery for a tour and, more importantly, free samples. I got to taste the freshest Coors Light available during the middle of the tour, then at the end of the tour, there is a tasting room where you get 3 free beers. I had to have another fresh Coors Light, then also had a Hard Punch Zima slushie, and a Blue Moon. So fresh, cold, and tasty. Good stuff. And of course, I hit up the gift shop to pick up a magnet in commemoration of my consumption of the freshest Coors Light in the world.

Oh gosh, how could I not mention my Friday night. My friend Kimberly had her birthday celebration at the Purple Martini downtown; quite a swank little bar. Apparently our reservations got screwed up, so they placed us in the infamous Ladies Lounge, which I heard so much about after Danielle was here on New Year's Eve. This is like a little side bar with it's own door, seats, benches, etc. that is right next to the Women's bathroom. Normally only women are allowed in this area, but this night, they let the boys in... I had planned on trying a few different types of martinis, but after having my first "pink panties" martini, I was hooked. My pink panties (the drink not the undergarment) also led to many dirty jokes for the rest of the evening. Topped the night off with dinner at Wazee Supper Club. Had some great pizza there and my only non-girly drink of the night, a beer.

Sunday was also beautiful outside. Relaxed for most of the day, took a walk, and even got to watch my alma mater, Bradley University, get slaughtered in the Missouri Valley Conference championship basketball game vs. SIU. It was so sad to see them do so badly, but I was thrilled to actually get to watch them on TV for once and they were oh-so-close to getting into the NCAA tournament. Actually, they still do have a chance from what I understand, but their performance in Sunday's game most likely nullified that opportunity.

I heart flip-flops.

With yesterday and today reaching temperatures over 70 degrees, I decided it was time to bust out my flip flops. Have I ever mentioned my love of my flip flops? Not all of my pairs of flip flops. There is just one pair that I have this incredible affection towards. I bought them in a sweet surf shop in Monterey, CA a couple years ago, after discovering on my Californian vacation that I had brought no comfortable summery shoes. I did bring a cute, new pair of sandals that I had never worn before on this California trip. I promptly threw them out in the hotel garbage after hiking my sorry ass up and down the streets of San Francisco one afternoon in search of a FedEx... And my feet put up with a lot. For me to throw out an incredibly cute pair of shoes, well, they just had to be THAT painful. Where was I... Oh yes, back to my favorite flip flops. So I buy these simple flip flops at this surf shop in Monterey and immediately fell in love with them. The rest of the vacation I think I planned all of my outfits around these flip flops. Even deeming it perfectly acceptable to wear army green flop flops with a nice khaki skirt out to dinner one night. I think I even donned them at the all-day Coachella festival in the desert. And, well, you get the point, I think my other shoes felt slighted that trip, not making any appearances on my feet south of Moneterey.

Let's backtrack here... Since I'm already writing incessently about my flip flops, I might as well give a little background information. I never liked flip flops till I met 'the ones'. Let's face it, the little thing that goes in between your big toe and the little piggy who stayed home is normally uncomfortable. These flip flops totally changed my outlook on flip flops in general. I now knew what to look for in a flip flop. I knew how to appreciate flip flops that treated my feet right.

What was my whole point of posting today??? Oh yes, it's so incredibly beautiful out today and I have been just loving wearing my flip flops and having the windows open and breathing the fresh spring-like air. I love it. I went out to grab some lunch and ate it outside taking in the sun and amazingly warm breezes. Springtime is the best. I shouldn't get too used to this though, as I'm sure it'll be back to cold and snow soon enough....

Such a productive weekend...

Anyone who knows me well knows my love of liquor stores. I thought I had it all, with DiCarlo's in Westmont, IL. Then I moved to Colorado and searched and searched for a liquor store and happened upon Superior Liquors off of 36 in Superior. I thought nothing could get better than Superior. Well, that was until I was introduced to Applejack's this weekend. This place is enormous- huge selection AND great prices. My allegiances have changed yet again...

No worries: the liquor store was not the highlight of my weekend. I also visited Sonic, my favorite drive-in fast food restaurant. And had crab legs for the first time ever, and they were soo yummy. No, the crab legs were not from Sonic, had those at a restaurant in Larimer Square, Del Mar's Crab House. Eating crab legs is so much fun. You get to crack, rip, and tear at the legs and eat with your fingers. And during all of this excitement, crab meat, shell, and juices are flying all over the place: hitting neighboring tables, projecting into my hair, hitting your chair, the floor, etc. I definitely want to eat crab legs more often now. I almost think I like crabs more than lobster. Then again, I have not had lobster in a really long time.

I also hit up the Denver Art Museum, aka the DAM. It's partially under construction, so all of their exhibits and collections were apparently not on display. It's definitley no Art Institute of Chicago, but they have quite a collection there. I started out checking out their European and American art, a meager grouping of no more than 100 paintings. Next, checked out the Asian art and then Pre-Columbian art art. These collections were vast and outnumbered the European and American pieces about 20 to 1. No kidding.

As I reflect back on the weekend, my 'productiveness' involved lots of booze, food, and art. Doesn't get better than that. ;)

Livin' on a Prayer

There is something to be said for the stamina and longetivity of a band that is still able to pack an enormous arena more than 20 years after their first big hit. Last night I had the pleasure of attending a Bon Jovi concert at the Pepsi Center with my friend Danielle. Admittedly, I didn't know what to expect, aside from some big hair and lots of denim. Oh yes, acid washed denim. And I was not disappointed. Let's say the Pepsi Center holds 50,000 people; a minimum of 40,000 were women, the rest a combination of male Bon Jovi superfans (and I have a photo to post later...) and on the other end of the spectrum: bewildered men that begrudgingly accompanied their girlfriends and wives.

Aside from the attendees, the production of the show was quite the spectacle. Granted, I am quite used to attending small, no-frills indie shows, so I think any concert at an arena as large as the Pepsi Center would be visually shocking; however, this was unbelievable. The lights, the huge screen, the video cameras, Bon Jovi suddenly appearing on mini-stages in the middle of the crowd... I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. Now, I know some people I told that I was going to see Bon Jovi kind of chuckled and were probably secretly (wait... no, publicly) mocking me, but I have to say it was really an awesome concert. He played all of the hits, we sang along, and let's face it, Jon Bon Jovi is looking pretty damn good for being 44 years old. Here are some photos from the show. I apologize for the poor quality, just had my cell phone with me.





I was truly looking forward to some fantastic people watching, but I honestly was so enthralled with the show that only a few people caught my attention. In general, there was a lot of big hair. There also were a lot of late 30's/early 40's women scantily clad drunk women. But, they were having so much fun, you can't fault them for that. Perhaps when I'm 40 years old I'll still be attending Radiohead shows; I hope I only have as much fun as these women did last night. The cherry on top was the superfan a few rows behind us. He was decked out in acid washed jeans, a mohawk style wig, bandana, and a jean jacket. He was too cool to wear a Bon Jovi jean jacket (unlike the INXS superfans) to the Bon Jovi concert, so on the back was an image in tribute to another band. Here's a pic of the superfan...

I'm Rich, Biotch...

Last night, I went to see Dave Chappelle at the Paramount Theater. Quite an experience, as he's touring with some of his 'Block Party' entourage. The opening comedian was decently good, though it was hard to focus on him due to the group of 4 twentysomethings that were seated directly in front of us (more on them later). Dave Chappelle came on next and the next 2 hours entailed him performing, which was great, and several other acts dotted throughout the show (Erykah Badu, some DJ, and some other rapper guy that has performed on the Chappelle show a few times). It was actually a bit disappointing because Dave only really performed a total of maybe 45 minutes. The set from Erykah Badu, which I was sort psyched to see, was a bit... hmmm. What's the word? Oh yeah, boring. Not that she doesn't have a fantastic voice. She does. Not that she isn't adorably cute. She is. Just that all of her songs went from one semi/potentially cool part to another with no hooks or climax. I kept waiting for each song to get really good and it just didn't.

Oh, so these twentysomethings in front of us. Oh wait, I'm a twentysomething. Oh well... They were quite a combination. We had the hippie boy that smelled like a skunk, an Asian gangsta DJ type of dude, and two girls that were somewhere in between and it looked like they hadn't brushed their hair in a few days. These people, who I might add were not sitting on the end of an aisle, got up throughout the evening a minimum of 20 times. No joke. I don't know if any of them really even saw the show. The hippie boy, also, when he was seated, could not sit still. He was constantly sitting forward, to the left, to the right, talking to his Asian gansta buddy, chatting it up with one the girls. And did I mention he was directly in front of me for part of the night? This meant that I had to do the same thing. When he leaned to the left, I went to the right. When he leaned to the right, I leaned to the left. I'm sure I was driving the people behind me nuts as well! Midway through the performance, the Asian gangsta guy got kicked out. Not sure why. Though he did get busted earlier in the night for taking photos on his camera phone. One of the girls almost left when he got kicked out, she grabbed her belongings, made the two guys sitting on the end of the aisle get up for the fiftieth time and then 10 minutes later she was back (and the two guys had to get up for the fifty-first time). I just don't think I can even justifiably describe the ridiculousness of these four...

For those of you who have not heard, Rob and I have broken up and he has moved back to Chicago. As this is a situation that obviously involves another aside from me, I wish to leave it at that in a public forum such as this.

Watching The Sopranos like it's my full-time job.

I just realized last night, after watching the season 4 premiere of The Sopranos, episode 40, I have spent 40 hours of my life in the past month watching The Sopranos. It really and truly is an addiction.

On the auction block

I created a little painting over the past month or so to donate to a charity auction AIGA is having this week... The theme was love or romance, or had to include a heart. Something along those lines. Above is my piece, entitled "emergence", and just thought I would share...

Worst TV Show Theme Song Award...

Goes to: Shop 'til you drop. You know the awesome game show where you get to shop. Not as cool as Supermarket Sweep, yet just as cheesy and fully equipped with the uber dorky, way-too-happy host. Wow, this is possibly more painful to listen to than the Kraft Crumbles' commercial take on EMF's Unbelievable (who would have guessed, they changed the words to "Crumbelievable"). Do you ever wonder who dreams up these jingles and pitches the idea without busting up laughing to the client? Even more intriguing are the singers and musicians that create the jingle. How do they make it through the recording process with a straight face? And the person that gives approval to actually air the theme song or commercial: how do they sleep at night???

Best People Watching EVER!

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the INXS concert at the Denver Convention Center. Yes, you heard me correctly, the Convention Center.

First the background: My friend, Kimberly, had an extra ticket because her friend bailed on her, and for some reason was having immense trouble filling the vacant seat; Jackie to the rescue. Not only did I think a night out on the town sounded fantastic, but I was moderately interested in seeing INXS in concert, despite the lack of Michael Hutchence.

Kimberly and I arrived at the Convention Center quite early, about an hour before the show was beginning, as she wanted to see the opening band, which was the runner-up on "Rockstar: INXS". (Sidenote about my comma/quotation mark punctuation later... because it's bugging me.) My first indication that this concert would be, to say the least, interesting was the fact that it was at the Convention Center. The Denver Convention Center is an enormous building, similar to McCormick Place (though not THAT big); I have been there a couple times, once for the Beer Festival and another time for the Ski Expo. I couldn't imagine where this show was going to be held, but little did I know, there is a huge Lecture Hall in the Convention Center that serves as a venue for concerts. We walk into the Convention Center and our people watching officially begins. There's a wide variety of people perusing the merch booth, buying drinks from the wedding reception-like bars set up all over the lobby, and purchasing spiked smoothies from the Maui Wowi booth. (Oh yes, I did just say Maui Wowi.)

We grab a couple beers as the fun is truly beginning. I spot a couple (either a boyfriend/girlfriend or mom/son combo) wearing what appeared to be matching homemade INXS jean jackets. They were glorious. I speculate Mom, with permed hair, took the new INXS album artwork and iron-on transferred to a t-shirt and sewed it to the back of the jackets. Around the album artwork as well as the top-back seam, she bedazzled red sequins to accent the artwork and complete the look. Oh yes, the son/boyfriend/man had a bedazzled jacket as well. I debated following them to get a picture of this up close, however that proved to be unnecessary because when we walked into the lecture hall, they were up in the front row, not too far from us. Though, sadly the photo I took of them seated did not come out very well as it was dark in there.

Once we found our seats (which was a difficult task, as the employees of the convention center were completely clueless), we sat down and were trying to figure out the attendees of the show. See, there were quite a few people there that appeared to be over 45 years old, a few people that were more-or-less my age, and then the 9 year olds that came with their parents. We really were attempting to decipher how these much older adults had come to the decision to attend an INXS show. Let's take the lovely grandmother in the row behind us decked out in, what she was probably thinking, was a cute J. Lo-esque pink sweatsuit with the word "meow" across the chest. Also, the 45 year old bleach-blonde woman with snakeskin pants and a revealing crocheted tank top (I have to be truthful, the woman DID have the body to pull off snakeskin pants, it was just the fact that she probably pulled them out of closet retirement for the first time in 15 years). And for all of you Seinfeld fans, the woman donning a puffy shirt. Wow, I'm noticing a pattern here: nearly all of the, let's call them, interesting people were women. The biggest thing I noticed about the men at the show was that they were predominantly unattractive and wearing terribly oversized clothing.

On to the actual show... Opening for INXS, Marty Casey and the Lovehammers with their ultra-cheesy, super hook-y single, "Trees". Oh I must find the words for this to post, because it is just oh-so ridiculous and it was absolutely frightening the amount of people that knew the words for this song and were 'rocking' out to it. Ah, yes, here we go:

"It will be you and me up in the trees
And the forest will give us the answers
It will be you and I up in the sky
It's a combination for disaster"

I think seeing that pretty much sums up their performance, though I'll continue...

Highlights of their performance included seeing Marty Casey's asscrack one too many times in his low-rider, super-tight, black rockstar pants and me questioning when one song was ending and another beginning, as they all sounded exactly the same. Did I mention Marty Casey's obnoxious hand motions and dances with the microphone?? To say the least, I was unimpressed, though I must say he did get a crowd of 50+ year old people going. Also of amusement was the old lady next to Kimberly who had a 7 foot tall person in front of her and kept leaning in front of Kimberly (and not her husband) to get a glimpse of Marty.

Next up, the INXS set which was actually very good. They played a ton of their old stuff and just a few new songs, I got to see along to quite a few songs like "New Sensation", "Original Sin", and "Mystify". Although, I think Kimberly was not impressed with my knowledge of the words, as she knew pretty much every single song and all of the lyrics to ALL of the songs. J.D. Fortune (I keep on wanting to call him J.D. Powers!), INXS' new lead singer is quite a cutie, and despite being pretty sick for the show sang decently (or were we hearing a backing track??) and put on a good show.

I don't have much bad to say about INXS' performance, except it was quite weird to see them performing sans Michael Hutchence. The biggest thing we noticed was that 30%+ of the concert attendees did not know the old, classic INXS tunes. They got all fired up when they played anything from the new album and the "Rockstar: INXS" show, so I think they were just going to the show because they were reality TV show fans. It made me sad to be in the same room as so many reality TV freaks. Okay, I'll admit, I am a reality TV freak at times, but let the record state: I DO NOT attend concerts or events because of reality TV.

The end. ;)

OH! I almost forgot my little comment about commas and quotation marks. It was just going to bug me because I know some people that read my blog are grammar-geeks (and you know who you are), and I was thinking that these people may think that I was incorrectly punctuating my blog, thus thinking me an idiot.

I prefer saying this:
I am currently reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
rather than this:
I am currently reading "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

Apparently, in the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic. I am much more worldly than US education allows and abide by the logical grammatical rules of the United Kingdom. "In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design". The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title."

Just had to get that off of my chest. ;) And, I do know I am also one of those grammar-geeks.

Chasing the Sunset

Drove back the 990 miles to Denver today... Took about 13 hours driving time, 14 hours with stops. Not too bad, especially since I don't drive that terribly fast. Oh and I think I deserve a nice white-trash trucker hat; I drove the entire drive back. Highlights of the drive included the "World's Largest Truck Stop: Iowa 80" and eating some taco bell in the town where John Wayne was born.

You know how painful it is driving west while the sun is setting? I felt like it took about 3 hours for the sun to really set. After the sun did set, though, I really despise driving at night. With my glasses or not, I still feel like I can't see as much as I want. Luckily, on 76 into Denver, the road was pretty much dead, so I had the highbeams going to help me out. Anyways, made it back safe and sound and Mikey is so happy to see us.

Well, I'm off to watch some more Soprano's...

Hot Dog!

I finally reached the mecca of hot dogdom... Hot Doug's. If you have a thing for encased meats, this is the place to be. I've heard of this place many times before, and my friend Todd talked so highly of it in the past, so when we went downtown to visit him and Kristin, we made a pilgrimage to the 'The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium'. Kristin was there a while back when foodtv was taping a special about it. She got to taste a few different dogs/sausages and was on TV. Well, it's an interent only show, but still way cool! I'll try to find the link to it to post. Anyways, you know if foodtv was there, it's gotta be cool. I ended up getting a Chicago Dog with all the fixings and some Duck Fat fries. YUM. Haven't been feeling too hot lately, but got to taste a bit of both and both were delicious.

Saturday night, went out with some friends to the Bolingbrook Golf Club bar. Now, out in suburbia, it's quite a task to find a decent bar that you aren't going to see all the people you went to high school with that you never wanted to see again. Typically, I'll hit up the 10th hole pub that is basically within crawling distance from my parents house, but there I usually bump into people from HS, or their parents. The other choices in this town are chain restuarants or crazy, white trash townie bars. The Golf Club is at Bolingbrook's new golf course and the Clubhouse is absolutely beautiful. The upstairs is like a reception hall and the downstairs is a bar/grill. It's kind of funny because you have everyone from me in my jeans to people who were at an event upstairs in formal gowns. I have to say, though, that the golf club is now my favorite. (Though 10th hole pub will always be a standard...)

Productive? Me? Yes.

Yesterday, I finally took down the candy cane decorations on the balcony. It felt great to cross that one off my list. Plus it was a gorgeous day- near 60 degrees and sunny, though horribly windy (80 mph wind gusts in Boulder). I also took off the red wribbon on my wreath on the front door. I was having a hard time parting with my twelve dollar home depot wreath, so I figured taking the red wribbon off would be the solution to elimination of the 'you still have Christmas decorations up???' comments.

As for work... Sent three semi-large projects off to print yesterday. It is always the best, yet most stressful, feeling to send something off like that. It's great because that means a project is off my plate, yet is stressful to me because, even though all art has been approved, I'm always worried about something going wrong in production. I never feel that 'sign of relief' until I get the production samples in the mail a few weeks later. That's just me being a worrywort, I suppose. Wonder how 'worrywort' originated. I sort of feel like an old lady for using that term, however Radiohead has a song entitled 'worrywort,' so that makes me feel better.

Well, I managed to pack all my clothes and shoes for my Chicago trip in my backpack. I must say I am quite proud of myself, and you should be proud of me as well, if you've ever seen how I have traveled in the past! I'm heading off this afternoon for the airport and flying Southwest into Midway (eek!). Will be spending the weekend there, then driving back to Denver on Monday. Can't wait to drive my car and I think now that I am keeping it, I must give my Passat a name. I'm not quite sure why I never named him (or her??); however, I have always named previous cars. My first car was Abe the Accord, he was trusted and true, just as his name implies... Then came George. He was a CRV, and for some reason I named him after the salesman that I purchased the car from. I think I was quite fond of George (the salesman, not the car, though I was fond of the car as well) because he wore a nice suit and very nice shoes. They must have been Italian or something. George the car, on the other hand, though I liked him at first, he was missing something. I think, perhaps, I am just a car person, and not a mock-SUV girl. So, point being, anyone have some suggestions on names for my Passat? Maybe I'll have a naming ceremony and party for my car upon his/her arrival to Colorado.

Busy as a bee

Ah yes, similies. Takes me back to grade school and thinking up countless similies and then in turn, learning about metaphors, and then determining the difference between the two. (Remember the 'like' and 'as'???) Interestingly, it was brought to my attention a few weeks back that wikipedia has a fabulous entry on similies. Might I share with you some similies regarding the act of being busy. Or getting busy? Either way, here they are (courtesy of wikipedia):

busier than a cat covering shit on a tile floor
busier than a one-armed paper hanger
busier than a one-legged man in an ass kickin contest
busy as a bull's ass in fly season
busy as a beaver
busy as a cat covering shit on a hot tin roof
busy as a cat on a hot tin roof
busy as a one-armed barber with the hives

I have to say, I had never heard of these cat covering shit ones. Though they make me laugh outloud. Almost as funny as Todd's "can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a ______" sayings. And maybe someone can explain the one-armed paper hanger to me, i don't quite get that one.


TV reviews of the day:

Watched portions of American Idol tonight: disappointing. Not nearly as good as previous auditions. Also watched a bit of Love Monkey: looks promising. Currently watching a show about the Denver Film Festival that is outlining some cool docs and indie films. One of note: "Combover: The Movie" this looks absolutely hilarious.

Oh, so the whole similie thing was brought on because I was very busy today. I mean, not too busy, but busy enough to work late and feel like I needed to write some lists to remind me of things. Aside from working today, I've been tending to the needs of my, as of late, very 'needy' cat. Instead of having my laptop on my lap, Mikey is on my lap purring away and looking especially cute with one paw over his eyes and his one black whisker quite evident. Also, had a fantastic lunch with my friend, Brian, at one of the pho restaurants by my place. This was my first time having pho and it was quite delicious. Kristin, I know you'll be so proud and happy of me to have finally tried this lovely bowl of goodness. (Post)Preamble: After moving here and exploring the area, I was baffled by the number of pho restaurants. They are all called "Pho ##"-insert a couple numbers or three after the pho. It's most definitely hard to keep them straight and quite a quandry for a little suburban white girl like myself to figure out. Thus, I asked my very knowledgable and hip, city-living friend, Kristin, to fill me in and she so graciously told me about it and told me I HAD to have it. Well, that was many moons ago, but more importantly, I have finally eaten pho. While on the subject of food, had a salad with that garlic-lemon dressing on it and a piece of garlic-cheese bread for dinner. Soo yummy.

So, I must confess, I've been having dreams about Tony Soprano. Not those kind of dreams. Just dreams with him in it.

My oh my, the mutt (aka Mikey) has some kicking kitty breath. What does one do about kitty breath? They make no kitty toothbrushes. And, quite ironically, I had given him some "Tartar Control" kitty treats a couple hours ago.

Meet Henri...

Meet my chia pet, Henri. Say it the French way, it's so much more sophisticated, as a chia pet deserves such a classy name. He's named after Henri Matisse, and also after Henry Moore, one of my favorite sculptors, yet he doesn't spell it Henri, that's alright. I started growing him just about a week ago, and though he's a little sparse now, I have a vision of chia glory for him in the near future.

Note: his butt 'hair' is coming in especially thick. Reminded me of Mr. Lorek for some reason. ;) Why, you ask? Our lovely friend, Mike, tends to drop his drawers whenever he's drunk and in public! We still love ya, Mike, though I did have to delete several absolutely frightening pics from my iPhoto that someone took with my camera at our last BWW soiree.

A little late, but...

...a pic of some of Christmas cookies. Not only did I think my photo came out nice, but I was very proud of my decorating. :)

Pictures to share...

Here's a pic of the drawing I did for Rob's parents for Christmas. I am actually pretty pleased with this one. It's been a long time since I have doing a pencil/ink drawing and worked in this manner. Been painting mostly for the past couple years, but in Decemeber, I did a couple pieces using ink, pencil, charcoal, and even a traditional Japanese stamp. I really enjoyed working this way too for a change. Will upload some more pics of my work as I download/take them.

Happy Birthday, MLK...

Had quite a fun weekend. Watched some Cary Grant movies, ate some yummy Italian food at a restaurant in Boulder, did a little shopping (or more appropriately, window shopping since I didn't buy anything), and spent yesterday in my pj's relaxing and also doing some work. I went to this restaurant in Boulder with my neighbor on Saturday for lunch, Pasta Jay's. It's a pretty low-key restaurant, very casual, and very yummy. Had a house salad with gorgonzola cheese, their complimentary (and delicious) garlic bread, and we split their special, stuffed portabella mushroom. Envision this: a bed of spaghetti drenched with a creamy tomato sauce, topped with a huge portabella muschroom, which is stuffed with a mixture of spinach, chicken, and ricotta cheese. THEN, on top of all this, more of their yummy creamy tomato sauce. It was divine!

It's been so hectic with work lately, I feel like I have not gotten a chance to email or call anyone in days, so I apologize for that, if anyone feels like I've been MIA!

This week, I'm enjoying having the house and Mikey to myself while Rob is in Toronto. Although as much as I love having some alone time, I do find myself a little bored. But I chalk that up to having 1/2 the laundry to do and not cooking meals every day! Been enjoying some Kraft mac and cheese, frozen egg rolls, and cheerios. Lots of cheerios. I think if I had to eat the same thing everyday for 2 out of 3 meals, I would choose cheerios, or just cereal in general. You get your dairy, whole grains, vitamins, since isn't most cereal fortified?, and in my case, a tiny bit of sugar to make your day sweet.

This Thursday, I am heading back to Chicago to collect my car. Yippee-skippy. I am thrilled to be bringing my car out here to enjoy the sunny state of Colorado. Since Rob will be in Chicago already, we'll spend the weekend there and drive back to Colorado on Monday. During this cross country drive, I hope to actually see the sign that announce the time change. See, on our drive out here when we were moving, I was following Rob, who was driving a huge U-Haul truck, and couldn't see any street signs until I had nearly passed them, so I missed the sign on that trip. Then, in the summer, when we drove to St. Louis, I somehow missed the sign again. On the way back home from that trip, I missed it again. I seriously don't know if it exists. Perhaps Rob is just screwing with me! But this time, I'm going to have my eyes wide open.

Since I've talked so much about my love of the Italian bakery, D. Palmieri's, in Rhode Island, I will continue to harp on those treats my mom sent me. I'm still enjoying the wine biscuits and the frosted egg biscuits with my hot tea. And I'm determined to bake some myself. I found a recipe for both items and think that I may test out one of the recipes this week.

OH my.... Wife Swap. Has anyone seen this show? I thought Trading Spouses was bad. This is so much more horribly worse. (Is that possible?) Also speaking of bad TV, the new season of American Idol starts tomorrow. I'm pumped, the first few episodes of all the auditions are usually hilarious.

Addicted...

With the new (and last) season of the Soprano's airing this coming March, HBO is offering all of the previous seasons on On Demand (through Comcast) prior to the new season airing. Rob and I have started watching from episode 1 and needless to say I'm addicted. Rob is out of town on a business trip and it's taking everything in me to not watch any more episodes before he gets back. In the meantime, I'm planning on eating some pasta, garlic-lemon dressing on salad, and the Italian bakery items my mom so graciously sent out to me after her visit to Rhode Island for the New Year. Wine biscuits and frosted egg biscuits should tide me over for a couple days... I think.

Happy New Year

Whew! It's been a busy and fun past couple of weeks... The night before we left for Chicago, Rob and I (and Mikey) opened presents here in Colorado. Rob made me a beautiful jewelery box and he also got me a new baseball glove since my old one I bought was used and smells like icky, sweaty man. Mikey got some sweet toys; they are little plastic jacks, which Rob proceeded to step on later that evening causing extreme pain and said we have to get rid of them now!

We left 60 degree, sunny Colorado for Chicago on the 20th via plane. After an hour delay, due to an 'overweight cargo container', we finally took off and had a relatively uneventful flight. I did find a Sodoku puzzle in United's Hemisphere's magazine, and now am completely addicted to those little number puzzles of glory.

Upon arriving to Chicago, we spent the following days doing some last minute Christmas shopping, eating some good ol' Portillo's, and attempting to spend as much time as we could with friends and family. I also had to do a bit of work, so that additionally kept me busy, but because of the holidays, it's been pretty slow.

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on the 23rd with a delicious meal of Prime Rib and my favorite au gratin potatoes and opened presents after dinner. Speaking of au gratin potatoes, one gift I received was a mandoline (a kitchen tool that slices stuff- all sorts of thicknesses and even does waffle cut, crinkle cut, and julienne). It's pimp. I'm very excited to have a 'nice' mandoline now. 'Nice' meaning something that cost more than $5 and has safety features. Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I had bought a cheapo $5 mandoline months ago to slice my potatoes for when I make au gratin potatoes. Let's just say the safety features on that one were nonexistant, and I proceeded to slice the potatoes and as a bonus, sliced my finger tip off. Yeah, that was fun. Now that cheap mandoline will be going in the garbage as I have the Cadillac of mandolines (which has many safety features- thank goodness). Rob got lots of cool Cubs gear and we got "The Price is Right" DVD edition boardgame. It looks amazing. Now Rob and I can "Come on down!" whenever we like.

Saturday (Chrismas Eve), we drove down to Gillespie for Rob's family's festivities. As tradition has it, we spent Christmas Eve at Mommo's house opening presents there and enjoying a wide variety of tasty treats. Also of note, which I was warned about, Mommo's house is tiny and with about 20 people inside, the temperature rises to levels unthinkable! Well, okay, it's not that bad, but I can tell you I will not be wearing a wool sweater next time I am there for Christmas Eve! It was really a fun night and so nice to see all of Rob's family there. After Mommo's, we went to Rob's parents house and opened up presents there, while watching "A Christmas Story" about 3 times in a row, thanks to TBS airing it nonstop for the whole day of Christmas Eve! We got so many nice things, best of all, our plane tickets to come out to Illinois for Christmas and Rob's dad transferred all the video's of Rob's basketball games from middle and high school to DVD. I can not wait to watch those!!

Christmas Day brought us back to Mommo's for a delicious Christmas dinner and following that we went to Marilyn's cousin's house later in the day where we opened even more presents. By Christmas night, I was really beginning to think we were Jewish because of the number of days in a row we had opened presents! The day after Christmas, Rob's aunt and uncle came over and we had a scrumptious breakfast and had a marathon present opening with them that lasted nearly 3 hours.

The rest of the time we spent down in Gillespie and Edwardsville, we took it easy, visiting Rob's cousin and doing a little shopping and watching some football.

On Wednesday afternoon, we headed back up to Chicago to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew before they were heading back home. We went to eat at Lou Malnati's that night- sooooo yummy. Thursday we ate at Portillos (again) and ran a couple errands around town. In the afternoon, I took my parents to the airport, as they were heading to RI/Boston for New Year's Eve/Day. That evening, we went to Payton's Roundhouse to meet up with a couple friends. Friday we came home. And boy I was ready to get home; I was missing Mikey and just wanted to sleep in my own bed! Colleen and Jason took us to the airport, and on the escalator down to the moving walkways in Terminal 1 that takes you over to Concourse C, I realized I left my cell phone at my mom's. UGH. Thankfully, Colleen was heading back to Bolingbrook, so she picked up the phone for me and shipped it to me. But because of the holiday and because I'm cheap, I won't be getting the phone til Wednesday!

It was so nice to get home and see Mikey. Poor kitty has some bald spot on his side though. He gets very stressed out when we're gone and pulls his hair out. I found piles of his hair all over the place. It was way more than he's pulled out in the past, so I felt really bad. I just don't know if I want to leave him again!

I smell of turpentine and linseed oil.

I was inspired and decided to create about 5 new pieces of art this weekend. The last of which, were 3 paintings, in which I used my oils and now I think I am high from the fumes. The actual paint isn't what is really stinky, but it's the linseed oil that sort of smells and turpentine that absolutely reeks. Yes, I know they make the odorless turpenoid or whatever it's called, but have you seen how expensive that is?? Although, I admitted tonight I need to suck it up and purchase the odorless stuff, because the fumes were making my eyes water, my nose run, and giving me a headache! Rob warned me to not put the fireplace on, for fear that the house might blow up!

The last week has been really busy- mostly finishing up Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, sending presents (3 trips to the post office this week!), and starting to pack for our Illinois trip... On top of that, been working quite a bit, as I have had three new projects go to print this week, which is always a little more stressful.

Tuesday we leave for Illinois, and we'll be spending our 10 days in Illinois both in Chicago and St. Louis/Gillespie. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, though I am sad to know that Mikey will be spending Christmas alone. :( He's been having lots of fun chewing the ribbons off of all of the Christmas presents under the tree!

I am doubtful I'll have time to write more in the next week and a half, so a very Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Jumpin' Monkeys

This past week has seemed to fly by entirely too fast! I can't believe it's only 15 days away til Christmas, and just 10 days till we leave for Illinois. This past Wednesday I watched our little neighbor, Max, who's 6 years old and absolutely the best 6 year I've ever met. We had a fun day... Rob taught him some stuff in the garage, making a super-cool door stop with his name spelled out in nails, I colored with him, we corrupted him with a little Playstation, watched "The Grinch," and capped the day off with a fun game of "Jumpin' Monkeys". It was so much fun having a little kid around. Especially because he's so well-behaved and smart!

The rest of the week I tried to both start AND finish my Christmas shopping, and I did remarkably well. With only a couple trips to the mall and a few hours online, I have about 80% of my shopping done! Just a few odds and ends to pick up, ship out some packages, and I'm all set. I also finished my Christmas cards, which I just need some stamps to get those sent out.

I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow to take care of a few things, then, we're going to the Bronco's game. Rob and I were both invited by two different friends, so I'll be sitting in the first row on the field with my friend while Rob will be in either the 300 or 500 level section of the stadium. It's sure to be fun.

We also made our holiday travel plans final, with getting tickets flying into Chicago on the 20th. We'll be heading down to St. Louis right away to see Rob's parents and then we'll head back up to Chicago for a couple days before we return to Denver on the 30th. Should be a fun little trip and can't wait to see everyone!

The B-Movie Christmas List

Tonight, I've been clearing off our DVR watching all the 'second rate' Christmas Movies. Not that they're bad, they are definitely entertaining, but Frosty getting married??? Rudolph's Shiny New Year with Happy the New Year Baby??? I want the classics... The Year without a Santa Claus, being my favorite, and it IS waiting for me to watch on DVD courtesy of one of my friends, and it's also on the DVR as back up. I just figured December 1st was too soon to watch such a fine movie. Then it'll be the original, old-school Rudolph and Frosty, and as the grand finale, The Year without a Santa Claus! What a month. I Love Christmas-time!

On a totally random sidenote, for some reason, I began to think about wine biscuits and lemon knots and pepper biscuits and pizza strips with no cheese tonight. I'm craving it. If anyone in Rhode Island is reading this and has any mercy on me, please, oh pretty-please, overnight me some D. Palmieri's goodies. ;) Seriously, I already checked to see if they had a website. No luck. I may just call them tomorrow and ask them to send me some wine biscuits. My mouth is salivating.

And with that, I say good night.

Turkey and Yum-Yums...

As the Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, I look back and reflect on what exactly I did... Ate, took a nap, ate some more, tried to go see The Polar Express 3D, ate more leftovers, napped some more. It appears I had a most productive weekend!

Nah, really, the weekend has been quite enjoyable. We had a great Thanksgiving hosting a few of our friends over for much football watching and eating and drinking and game playing. It was a really great day and more importantly, dinner was fantastic. Thankfully I had my mom's Thanksgiving hotline to call when I had random questions such as where the heck to take the turkey's temperature and what's the difference between a sweet potato and a yam. We had quite a feast: Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Apple and Potato au Gratin (courtesy of Brian), Turnips, Cauliflower & Cheese, Canned Cranberry Sauce, Homemade Cranberry Sauce, and I think that might be it. For dessert; Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Duff, and Ricotta Pie.

I really was starting to think Friday was turning out to be simply a day of naps and eating some more, but after dinner, we got out the Christmas decorations and I put up the tree and Rob developed the plan for our outdoor/window lights. Then we went to Wal-Mart to get some more lights for the tree and the windows. They didn't have everything we needed, so tomorrow's plan is to find the lights we need.

So, today was sort of a big bummer. We had planned to go see The Polar Express in 3D at the IMAX. We actually went down to the theater (it's south of Denver, so sort of a drive), met up with some friends there, only to find out it was sold out. We were all terribly bummed, except for Rob, who I think was secretly happy that he didn't have to see it. We'll give him some props for even going in the first place though! Next to the IMAX theater is a Dave and Busters, so we went over there for some Skee Ball and my favorite, the 18-wheeler video game. I actually also surprised myself with some mad skills at the basketball game. I think you might call me a baller. After that, we went down to Wynkoop Brewery to play darts, where we proved that girls CAN compete against boys. Alas, the night came to a close with some more leftover eating and yep, you guessed it, a nap.

hello again...

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I last wrote, so now, after a few beers, I will ramble on, on my goings-on for the past 3 weeks.

Most importantly, the pub just opened. Yes, the pub that is 1 block from our place. Yes, one block. Walking distance. It's an Irish pub that has guinness on tap and harp and boddingtons... Did I mention it was walking distance from our place? Anyways, we went there tonight for a few pints and dinner and some mad discussions with Dolan. It was just lovely. And I was so excited to finally try out our local pub.

Let's see.... What else has happened... Okay, back to halloween, Rob and I got to don our awesome homemade costumes at a halloween party. We were one of the few dressed up, but I think we were the best looking. :)

Last week, Danielle took me to my very first Nugget's game at the Pepsi Center. It ruled. You can't beat free seats, going to a game where your team WINS, and watching my little man, Earl Boykins, for 3 hours straight. I even got to exit the stadium by way of the court, and not only saw, but touched, the ice underneath the floor.

Our Tuesday kickball nights have evolved into weekend game nights. Yes, I know it sounds lame, but it really is fun. You can drink excessively, play games like Operation or Boggle or Cranium, snack on delicious dips and chips, and enjoy the camaraderie of excessively competitive friends. And when I say competitive, I mean that certain games (Operation) have been outlawed at all future game nights due to people's inabilities of keeping their hands steady and not jumping 4 feet out of their seats when the buzzer goes off!

Also of note, I am an official Colorado resident. I have myself a snowboard, boots, bindings, and snowboarding pants now. I'm ready to go. I've been practicing my balance and moves on my new 'flowboard'. It's a skateboard like thing that you can practice on to get your snowboarding skills up to par. Surprisingly, I am doing much better on it than I expected. I've gotten the whole jumping on it and moving thing down, without holding onto anything or falling down. Sweet.

Well, I am gonna go get me some sleep now...

Back home...

After a week and a half in Chicago, we are back home now... It was so nice to see everyone and be back in Chicago for a while, though it's nice to be home again and see my Mikey-Mike. He missed us terribly, and hasn't left our sides since we arrived home. Poor kitty!

Among the fun and exciting things we did back in Chicago, I think our Halloween Costume Party get-together at the 10th Hole Pub topped it off. I'll post some pictures soon... But for now, I must go, as I'm off to Dallas....

Let it snow???

Despite predictions of 6-12 inches of snow, we got nothing. Rain for 2 days straight, about 37 degrees outside, and no snow. I even went out the night before the storm and bought a shovel. We turn on the news, and the airport (which is way farther from the mountains than us) got 8 inches of snow. Then, yesterday we drive into Boulder, and the foothills are totally covered in snow (and of course the rest of the mountains). It looks like a winter wonderland every where except for where we are. :( I feel so left out. Though, as a bonus, today as I was running some errands and driving about, I was thinking, it really feels like I'm on vacation or out of town, because the mountains look so drastically different, it's like I'm somewhere else... Maybe I am.

Speaking of vacation and being out of town... Tomorrow we are heading to Chicago for a long visit. I have to finish up packing and picking up the house, all the while, watching the White Sox game. And yes, I am rooting for the White Sox now.

So, I'll keep this short and sweet. Although CNN is reporting a huge snowstorm in Denver, I'm shoveling rain.

Rained Out

Last night, our kickball game was rained out; however, because we are all diehard kickballers, we all showed up despite the gloomy weather (pouring down rain, lightning, the whole bit). We all went to our favorite post-kickball bar for dinner, and to our delight, our lovely waitress, Sarah, gave us two pitchers of beer on her because she felt bad that we got rained out! I must also mention, only one person from the other team showed up. He's officially the cool guy on the other team and I recruited him to play on our team in the spring.

We are getting ready to meet a friend, and fellow Red Sox fan, at Fox and Hound to watch tonight's game... I have my (actually it's Rob's, but it's too small for him) Red Sox shirt on, my Red Sox hat in hand and I'm ready to do some massive cheering for my BoSox. Rob already declared that this evening he won't be cheering for either team. I think he's just trying to stay on everyone's good side. :)

Before my White Sox fan friends have a field day...

Congrats to the White Sox for winning game 1. I can't say I'm happy, but I'll be a good sport... There's always tomorrow. Go BoSox!

Having a bad day??

If you're ever feeling down and out and are thinking that you're just no good...

Listen to this song:

http://www.kilbot.net/mp3/karatekid.php

A motorcycle demolition derby???

Ah, this weekend was fun-filled with Beer tastings, Red Sox victories and a fun evening at a dirt racetrack.

First of all, the Great American Beer Festival was a great time. With a gazillion beers on tap, I tasted everything from Shiner Bock to a Chili Beer to PBR. (with lots and lots of microbrews from across the US in between!) You get a tasting glass, and you get a 1 ounce tasting of whatever beer you'd like to taste. After the first 10 or so tastes, you lose count and you'll never remember what you had, but I do distinctly remember 2 beers that I hated. First was the Chili Beer. Little did I know it was going to be freaking hot, though the jalapeno chili in the beer bottle should have clued me in. Another was a sour beer that Brian had, which I tasted because he said it was really good. In my opinion, it tasted like the aftertaste you have in your mouth after you puke. To each their own, I suppose.

Saturday was spent recovering from the multitude of beer shots and then in the evening we attended 'crashfest' at a local dirt racetrack that was closing down forever. The night all started normal, or as normal as you can get being surrounded by super-mullets and nascar fan. They had regular races around the circle track, some figure 8 races with cars... Then a figure 8 race with... school buses. Yep, school buses. It was pretty bizarre, but awesomely hilarious. Then to top the evening off, about 6 guys on dirt bikes come out to the start/finish line. All of a sudden we see two guys on the ground in a fist fight. Then all hell breaks loose and all the other bikers are trying to ram each other and knock each other off their bikes. I wasn't quite sure what was happening, and didn't realize, until the checkered flag was waved, that this WAS the event! Not sure what to call it, possibly a motorcylce demolition derby, but it was damn hilarious!


I felt like total crap on Sunday- sore throat, congested, the whole bit, because I hadn't taken my allergy medicine in a couple days, so I spent most of the day in bed sleeping and watching football and baseball. Then Sunday night, we started watching 'Freaks and Geeks'- our friend lent us his DVD set of it. I immediately fell in love with the show. We watched some more last night, and I'm pretty sure we're going to be done with the 6 disc set by the end of the week!

Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Red Sox are in the playoffs!! They're headed to Chicago to play the White Sox in the first round of playoffs... It sure will be a stressful week for me!

I may be a Cubs fan, but...

Yay! Go White Sox! Good job clinching the AL Central!

Once again...

it's been way too long since my last update.

We've spent the past week and half keeping busy, as usual. 2 weekends ago, we had a fun-and-beer-filled evening at Denver's Oktoberfest in Larimer Square downtown with a few of our friends. I had never been to an Oktoberfest celebration prior to this, but found it to be very entertaining. The downers of the night included the beer being so-so, they ran out of the huge steins that I was so wanting to purchase, and the multiple times the chicken song dance was played/danced. However, we rectified those downers by getting fresh pretzels, drinking enough of the so-so beer that we danced the chicken song a few times, and finally (and most importantly) me winning a chicken hat to don the entire evening. I'll upload a picture of it, yes there it is... As I'm sure you can see, that was after a few beers. When I first saw them, I was thinking, wow, those are so dumb. Then I had only a few tickets left, not enough to purchase food or drink, so I decided to play this game, in which the chicken hat was the prize. It was purely chance... A wheel with all NFL football teams on it, like a roulette wheel. Then you place your bets on whatever football team you wish. I had 4 tickets, so I went with the Patriots, Bears, Broncos, and a last minute pic was the New York Giants. A spin of the wheel, and 30 seconds later, it lands on the Giants and I, all of a sudden, am the very excited and happy owner of a chicken hat. I gleefully put it on and wear it the rest of the night, answering numerous questions about it and replying to some people's off-color comments... We topped the night off at a 80's club where we danced the night away to Devo and Michael Jackson, amongst others.

The 2 nights of kickball over the past couple weeks gave us one win and one loss. Last week we had a keg at the game, which was a blast (despite it being Bud Light). Supposedly, we're getting a keg from Breckenridge Brewery sometime soon, so we'll get to enjoy some nice micro-brewed beer.

Well, the past week and upcoming week and weekend are going to be football and baseball filled. We're watching the Broncos game right now (ooh, and I just realized I missed Laguna), and will be on the edge of our seats watching the Red Sox finish out the regular season. Yes, now that the Cubbies are totally out of the wild card/playoff race (ok, I'll admit, they were totally out of it in July...), my focuses are entirely dedicated to the Red Sox.

This coming weekend we also have another festival to attend: the great american beer festival. This is at the convention center in Denver, and there are 1669 beers on tap... Your ticket includes a tasting cup, which you can fill up at any number of beer vendors there. Thankfully, we have a place to stay in Denver that night, so no worries of us driving after that!

I think that's about it... Will update as fun and exciting things happen. Go BoSox!

Hello, stranger.

Yes, I know it's been a while since my last post, but I will have lots to share now, as we've had many activities and guests in town over the past two weeks!

First off, Bob and Marilyn, Rob's parents, arrived the beginning of September for a wonderful visit, then for part of their visit, Rob's brother Ryan was able to come in town as well, so that was fantastic! In addition to Bob, Marilyn, and Ryan 's visits, we were also graced by the presence of Dolan's parents (who came in town to bring him his stuff) and Dolan's friend Levi (who was on his way driving to Irvine, CA to continue his education in... um... physics... I know it's something in particular; however, it was something I have never heard of and knew that I would never remember, so I didn't even attempt to memorize. Let's just say Levi is a smartypants.

So, of the numerous activities, eats, drinks, and sightseeing that took place over the course of the past week with our guests, I shall highlight a few.

•Mt. Evans Scenic Byway: This essentially is a road that goes almost all the way up to the top of Mt. Evans (you gotta do a little hike- maybe 1/4 of a mile to get to the actual summit). Mt. Evans is 14,264 feet above sea level. Let's put this into perspective... Chicago is about 600 feet above sea level, where we live in Colorado, it's about 5,400 feet above sea level... SO... Mt. Evans is freaking tall. The drive up to the top, despite being a heavily used road full of tourists from all over the country, is this narrow, winding road on the side of a mountain with absolutely no guardrails. And when I say winding, I mean switchback upon switchback. It's scary. It'd be scary enough if you were the only one on the road, but when you're relying on other drivers who have never driven in the mountains before to stay on their side of the road and not get distracted by a mountain goat... you get the picture. Anyways, the summit was awesome. Rob and I did the hike to the top and you could see EVERYTHING- the plains, Longs Peak, Denver, etc. It was absolutely gorgeous.

•Fado: We (me, Rob, Marilyn, Bob, Ryan, Dolan, Levi, Danielle, and Brian) all went to Fado's last Wednesday for some Irish food and fun. It was a blast. I wish Ryan would move out here just so I'd have someone to go to Fado with that screams as loud as me. Though I may have busted the eardrums of everyone at our table, I was awarded for my exhuberant singing and got to play the drum on stage with the Clancy's. Not only did I do that, but I also got a super cool Black and Tan Guinness hat. It rules.

•Scotfest in Estes Park: On Saturday we all went up to the Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highlands Festival in Estes Park. We started the morning off with the parade that goes through downtown Estes Park. It was amazing. Before we got down there, Rob shared with us that his mom always cries when she hears bagpipes... Sure enough, before the parade even passed us, I caught a teary eyed Marilyn (sorry Marilyn!!). However, I have got to say when you hear all those bagpipe bands, it is very moving... After the parade, we headed over to the festival. We attended the opening ceremonies which included a performance by ALL of the bagpipe bands and the Marine Corp Twentynine Palms band (At least 100-150 performers) playing Amazing Grace. It was awesome. I had goosebumps all over. After the opening ceremonies, we drank beer, dined on Shepherds Pies and Meat Pies and watched Irish dancing, Bag Pipe Band competitions, oh yeah, and shopped in the two huge tents where they had numerous vendors selling everything you can imagine.

•Hacienda Colorado: Okay, I know this was simply just a meal, but I must share. Despite waiting for over an hour for a table (we had 7 people on a Friday night at 7pm- Go figure), I was absolutely blown away by the service we received, the prices, and the margaritas. I think most of the entrees were under 10 bucks, and we all received a ton of food. Like 3 plates of food per person! It was nuts. Then, there was a delay in a few people getting served their meals (like only 2 minutes), and the manager came over to apologize for that and offered everyone free dessert! I'm totally going back there. The food ruled, and the margs were exceptional!

•Lake Dillon: One afternoon, we headed up to the mountains to Lake Dillon. It was really a beautiful day and we rented a pontoon boat to cruise the lake. Being on a big lake, surrounded by huge mountains is really amazing. After our boat ride, we wanted to go to the Tiki Bar at the marina, but were running late on getting back home for Fado, so we ended up just leaving. The Tiki Bar, at the marina in Dillon, has fantastic food and really good Rum Runners. During the summer while we were up there camping and kayaking, we hit up the Tiki Bar for lunch and drinks. So anyways, we just wanted Rob's family to enjoy at least one rum runner, but time did not allow...

•Dirty Bananas: This is a drink I made a few nights when we had our guests... It's originally an Ozark drink, courtesy of Val and Jeff (which I think they got the recipe while in Jamaica on their honeymoon). I have now made it a Colorado drink. It's the perfect dessert drink because it's frozen, has bananas, chocolate syrup, and ice cream in it. YUM.

So, I know I'm forgetting a ton of things, but I'm all out of time to write and when I remember other noteworthy occasions, I will definitely share. I must get myself psyched up for kickball now. :)