oh.. the life of me

it's coming down!

2009-10-28T20:31:00.002-05:00

Well, we're having a snow storm. It was coming down all day today and it's supposed to all day tomorrow. Of course, the first thing anyone thinks of when this happens - SNOW DAY!!??

Schools got snow days, but I think most of the working peeps got to leave a little early. We will just have to see about tomorrow! I think we all turn into little kids again with the idea of a snow day and WHAT WE COULD DO with a day off. Go sledding, clearly.. and probably do some drinking. I could use a snow day to do a little cleaning. Since my weekends have become less weekend-y with this weekend job, I don't have as much time to do the little things that need to get done.

I've started trying to figure out what to do when these days come around that I need to scrape my car in order to drive to work. See, I live close to work.. it takes me 10 minutes to walk. I just don't know if I want to spend atleast 5 minutes to scrape my car when it just takes 10 minutes to walk? Tough decisions.

Last weekend we took our annual trip back to K-State for a football game. It was great. I actually saw more people than I would have guessed, which left me feeling not as old as I expected.

And this week for the first time in quite awhile, I have NO plans during the week. That is until the crazyness of halloween weekend starts. So I'm enjoying my quiet nights. I also decided I would head back to the gym this week after taking the summer to do my running outside. Now it's time to head indoors again. Of course, I decide this when we have a big snow storm. I made it to the gym last night. Tonight? Not gonna happen.

I will hopefully have some good pics for ya for halloween. I think the costume will work out all right.. I should really start getting it all figured out now.

Okay, time for some hot chocolate and tv... and trying to chill the dog out. She doesn't get this whole snowing = chilling inside thing.

hellooooo

2009-09-17T22:02:00.001-05:00

I've been gone a long time! Life got crazy!

Got laid off. Something I'd been worrying about for quite some time. That week that I got laid off, though, was so crazy busy. End of the story, though, is I got a job! I really ended up having one unpaid day, so it really was crazy. I'm still having trouble believing I really got a job. I had actually interviewed at this place a couple months prior, so it worked out so perfectly that this is the place I wanted to be anyway.

So far, I'm not super busy, so I think that's one of the reasons I feel a little uneasy. I want to be needed and busy! That's how it goes though, I'm learning new programs and learning how things are done.

It all feels like a new beginning, so I'm really wanting to get everything in order right now. My work now is even closer to home than my last one. I could definitely walk if I wanted to. I plan on riding my bike as much as possible, though. I like to go home for lunch if I'm not doing anything else, so a quick bike ride is perfect. I love it.

I would like to get back on the ball with art projects, too. I started to at one point and then things got in the way. I think winter is a good time to do all that stuff, though.

Speaking of winter, I also picked up a nice little weekend job selling season passes for skiing. I get a free one, which is AWESOME. I found out in the middle of not knowing where my future money would be coming from, so was beyond excited when I got the news. We'll see how it goes having to work on weekends. My only concerns are a) missing K-State football games/watch parties if I have to work and b) hanging out with my pup, since we usually get to hang out more on weekends than weekdays. It will be awesome though. I get a free pass and get paid to do it, so a little extra dough is nice. It's not much, but it's something!

Besides that, I'm a little pumped for Fall. I think this happens every time Labor Day hits. We had a pretty short summer, but what can I say... I LOVE fall. I hope it sticks around for awhile.

last weekend and on to the next one

2009-08-07T10:54:00.006-05:00

Well, the Houston trip was good. My flight got delayed on the way home, which was not fun at all. All by myself and I just wanted to get home, so I could get to bed and wake up early for the 14er! I finally got into the Denver airport at about 10pm, though.

We woke up bright and early to head to the mountains and finally got started hiking around 8:30 am. I was pretty worried that coming from Houston all the way up to 14,000 ft was going to effect me. I have no idea if it did, but I think not having dinner the night before on top of a late flight, didn't help either. The hike went well, though, was just completely exhausted afterward! It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get up and back down. Going up was basically like doing lunges for 2 1/2 hours. It was pretty crowded, like I expected, since Mt. Bierstadt is a pretty popular one.

Later that night we had to go out and celebrate... both the hike and my birthday, which was the next day. We ended up staying out til 4am! ouch. Needless to say after the previous days of Houston and the 14er, I didn't do a whole lot on the bday. Good weekend though.

Work has been busy this week in the 'trying to get work' way, so I'm just counting down the hours til 5:00. Two more! I worked extra hours this week, though, so maybe I can leave early?? Hmmm...

This weekend looks promising as well. I will try to fill you in earlier than I just did for last weekend!I'll give you a teaser of.. Kings of Leon concert at red rocks on Sunday! woot!

hi from houston

2009-07-29T22:09:00.003-05:00

Well, I'm on my first 'business trip'.. well an over night one I guess. Very exciting. It was decided at about noon today and I was on a plane at 5:20. Crazy! There was a lot running through my head between those two times. Had to do something with the dog, tell the volleyball team I wouldn't make it, cancel happy hour plans on Friday, figure out what the hell to pack in smoldering Houston. Can I wear a swimsuit around there? Because it's going to be so hot and humid. I'm afraid for tomorrow morning!

So, I'm in my hotel room hanging out. Should probably just go to sleep soon, but NCIS is on and I NEVER get to watch this show anymore because I only get basic cable at home.

Anyway, reading some blogs this evening, too and I really liked this gem over at Chelsea Talks Smack. It just makes sense to me.

karma? .. and fun weekends

2009-07-28T10:28:00.004-05:00

It's kinda funny when a guy breaks up with you and then gets struck by lightning the next day.. He's fine, of course. It wouldn't be so funny if he wasn't fine, but he is and I think it's pretty humorous!

Couldn't help, but share that!

Let's see. Went camping last weekend with a bunch of friends and it was a great time. Gotta love being in the mountains all weekend.

This weekend some of us are planning our first 14er! A 14er would be a mountain above 14,000 ft. We are starting with the easiest one, which I'm sure will be plenty hard when you're hiking up that high. You can just start pretty high up, so it's a little easier than the others. It's also one of the closest to Denver. So, I'm currently doing a little research on that, but I'm pretty pumped. Hopefully the weather is fine for it.

Also, there will be a little bit of birthday celebrating, but nothing too crazy.

I have started getting a little excited for football season again because we have pretty fun watch parties here in Denver for our K-State games. Well, we just got word that we are going to have to find a new bar to do the watch parties. LAME. Dumb Texas decided to take over our bar and apparently convinced them that they'd have bigger watch parties than us. Pretty disappointing because I feel like we had a pretty good relationship with this bar and a lot of K-State people go there during the week. The location is ideal, too, so now we have to find a new place that will hopefully give us good deals like this one did. There are a lot of options (that are still close to my apartment) that I hope can work out.

Well, that's all the catching up I have.

Oh, I acquired an old wood/metal school looking chair that I'm planning on doing some painting to and I'm pretty excited about that little project. Hopefully I can get that going and post some before/after photos, but I've never done anything like this so we'll see!

a post

2009-07-14T17:47:00.004-05:00

I'm not doing so well at the ol' blogaroo lately.

I seem to have 5 million other things on my mind I guess. I've got some anxiety about things that could quite possibly happen in the next few weeks. Which, of course, is right in time for my birthday. And, I'm talking about some of these not being great things that could happen. Happy Birthday to me!

And to have anxiety about things that aren't going to happen for the next few weeks is, UGH, really tiring.

Eh.. that's really all I've got to say right now! Hopefully, I can pick it up on here.

June, hello?

2009-07-02T21:11:00.002-05:00

Did we have June? I feel like there was maybe 4 days in June this year.

Maybe because Denver decided June wasn't summer anymore..

Oh well, I have been looking forward to last weekend and this weekend for a long time! So I can't complain about the swiftness it approached I guess. Last weekend, one of my best high school friends tied the knot and I got to be in the wedding along with some of my other best high school buds and I got to see ALL of my high school buds at the wedding. I traveled back to KC for this one and was slightly tortured by taking pictures in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity.. or something like that. You gotta do what ya gotta do, though!

I had my first HUGE disagreement with tequila. I must say, I've never drank that much tequila in one night. I enjoy a tequila shot here and there, but I'm never drinking margaritas the whole night when I do that. So, the morning of the wedding day was a wee bit rough. Myself and the mother of the bride were struggling. The bride thought it was hilarious, so that's good. I finally felt good right before the wedding started, but I didn't do any drinking on the wedding night, which was unfortunate because the reception was at the Boulevard Brewery. How cool is that?
The building was so cool and the night couldn't have been more perfect. Usually hot days lead to hot nights in Kansas, but it felt like a Denver night!

It was a fun weekend, but I didn't have any recovery time at all. This week at work turned into a busy one as well. So right now I am in such a great mood, looking forward to my 3 day weekend that should be nice and relaxing. Celebrating the 4th at Wash Park with my friends is so perfect for me. You get there and you stay there all day. We're having a keg, volleyball net, washers, cornhole, polish horseshoes, laddergolf and lots o' food. Hopefully it's as fun as last year!

new york times

2009-06-10T12:28:00.002-05:00

I had a pretty ridiculously boring weekend last weekend. I didn't really mind. I was just being completely lazy for some reason.

One thing I did do, though, was go to the park with some friends and enjoy the lovely day on Saturday. We went to a park that is right downtown, brought the dogs and tried to get some sun.

We had noticed this photographer taking pictures of some other people in the park earlier and then all of a sudden he was coming up to us and asking if he could take some pictures of us. Before you start thinking he's a creep, he explained that he worked for the New York Times and they're having him take pictures for a story they are doing on parks in urban spaces.. they're close to everything like public transportation and they create nice, popular areas.. yadda yadda. So, he asked if he could take some pictures and just pretend he's not there.

We continued talking and playing with the dogs while he hung out behind us getting pictures of us and downtown Denver behind us. He was probably there for 15/20 minutes at the least. When he was finished, he told us he was turning in the photos on Monday, but he didn't know when the story was going to be published. So, maybe we'll be in the New York Times!

This weekend, we're in the process of organizing some hiking and camping action. I'm pretty excited! Hopefully the weather is decent for us.

Ugh weather.. it's June in Denver, but it is acting like Spring time in Kansas. Not cool. We are having storms and rain constantly. Every day for the past three weeks, the forecast has shown chances of rain. So annoying. There have been tornadoes and hail. I'm over it. We better get a nice summer in!

oh Kansas

2009-06-01T16:14:00.002-05:00

I took a trip back to Kansas this last weekend.

The drive to Kansas is awful. Well known fact. Another fact is that the speed limit on I-70 in Colorado is 75 mph and it is extremely rare to find a cop trying to catch speeders on the Colorado side of I-70.

Then, you cross over into Kansas. I-70 on this side has the speed limit of 70 mph. Also, you will run into eleventy billion cops on the Kansas side trying to catch speeders. So, I know this. I put on my internal cop radar and do the best I can to continue to speed, yet look for cops. Right when you cross that border you better go from 85 to 80 (assuming you do the normal 10 over.. or perhaps 9 over).

Anyway, we do swimmingly on this drive to Salina, Kansas.. well we made a quick pit stop when my air conditioner started acting weird at a couple miles before Oakley, Kansas where it turns out one of my passenger's uncle is a mechanic. So, we stopped to see Uncle Bill and have him take a look.. my temperature gauge thing was bouncing around, not looking like it was working, so we wanted to make sure we weren't going to overheat. So, he takes a look and says we'll be fine and sends us on our way.

So we make it to Salina, no speeding ticket.

But it turns out that there may be way too many cops in this town that have nothing to do. All weekend long people informed everyone to be careful, the cops are really strict here.
The warnings came all too late for me, as I got the speeding ticket after about a minute of driving on the streets of salina.

The kid had to be straight out of cop school and was totally stoked to give me a speeding ticket, although I told him we just got on the street and I hadn't seen a speed limit sign. He saw my driver's license and asked if I still 'reside' in denver and I answered that I did. He asked if we were on the way somewhere and I said a rehearsal for a wedding.
These all seem like valid reasons a cop would maybe decide that a warning would be a reasonable thing to do.

NOPE! DCSOCS (that would be, Dumb Cop Straight Out of Cop School) gave me a ticket anyway.

I was a little afraid for the rest of the weekend, as I was having car troubles and got a speeding ticket.. afraid there was going to be a part 3 to the streak. Luckily the rest of the weekend went great.

The wedding was a blast, saw lots of the college friends, where we partied like it was college.. Even doing the late night/early morning breakfast at a diner part of college.

Good times.

My parents even saved the day because my bridesmaid dress was left in Wichita, luckily they were coming to the wedding and could bring it with them. Otherwise, there would've been a bridesmaid in jeans.. might have looked odd :)

rec-in' it up

2009-05-14T10:36:00.003-05:00

Between work and all these rec. leagues I'm in, I'm swamped! I also would really like to get EVERYTHING cleaned up and in its place in the new apartment, but I have no time during the week anymore!

wheeww, had to get that out.

One day of working more than usual and I buckle. haha. I'm afraid I may be working late tonight too - we'll see. I'm busy trying to get work so we can stay busy... nice little circle as long as it works out, I guess.

Weekend activities are stacking up, which is nice. I just need to make sure I have time to catch up. Two brothers still need birthday presents, I need to get the apartment in complete order and I need to fit the workouts in.

With the rec leagues in the evenings, I've been trying to do some morning runs. So far, I manage to get up once a week, maybe twice, and run, but the rec leagues involve beer, which makes it hard to get up and run the following mornings. Rough.

I'll share a little report on the rec season thus far.

We had a rough season of softball, but we've signed up for the summer league and I think we've made some progress as a team.. and maybe we'll win more than one game this time! haha. I'm enjoying my second base position. The shortstop and I kick major booty in the infield...

Our kickball team is pretty talented. We are very good at holding a beer in one hand and catching and kicking kickballs. I had to miss last night's kickball event to attend to volleyball, which just started, but we were playing a team with friends on it, so I sacrificed kickball. Kickball is very entertaining. Watching beer fly and people fall is an entertaining afternoon, as well as killing 5 kegs..

I'm no good at volleyball, but I have barely played before so maybe I can improve. Somehow, I was put in charge of my work's team. Of course, being extremely short makes it that much harder to be a good volleyball player.

May..

2009-05-11T15:55:00.003-05:00

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my mom - yesterday! I called and told her of course, but she also deserves a shout out on the blog. Couldn't ask for a better mom :)

She and my dad came out here to help me move. Thank goodness! That was a tiring weekend, but so glad they were there to help!

I'm almost all settled in. There are still boxes around that I just need to get out of the apartment and then it will look a lot better. I didn't have TV or internet all week last week and it was difficult! I got basic cable and internet this weekend, so no more torture! I don't need to watch a lot of TV, but when you can't even turn on one channel, it's weird!

Mia and I have been exploring, checking out the different parks around us. The bike path, which goes along the Cherry Creek below busy Speer blvd., is a great place to hang with the dog. I've seen a lot of dog owners down there letting their dogs run around in the water. It's practically in my back yard, so that's really nice. Also, a nice little park, Alamo Placita park, is right by me as well. Mia and I go there to play with her flying squirrel (frisbee-type) toy quite often.

I am also working up the courage to bike to work this week. I did a little practice ride yesterday. It's so easy and quick to get to work, but I'm just nervous to do it when all the other people are on their bikes and in their cars going to work as well!

On a side note:

I would really like to move my birthday to right now. Right now is when I want a million things -every year this happens. By the time August rolls around it's like 'well the summer's almost over', but it's still not really close enough to winter to be able to want winter-type things, though there definitely is more summer things to want than winter things. On top of this, my brothers birthdays have always been right now. Talk about unfair. So, I really think it's time to seriously consider moving my birthday to May. The End.

spring cleaning

2009-04-27T11:06:00.004-05:00

I'm pretty excited about moving at this time of year. The beginning of spring. It's always a time to clean.. spring clean. Get rid of all that stuff you don't need and start anew in many different areas.

I'm going through all my stuff, trying to do the best I can at getting rid of something I haven't used or worn any time in recent history. A good amount of stuff is still hiding in boxes that never got unpacked from the last move. I went from a whole apartment to pretty much a bedroom, so a lot of extra stuff just wasn't needed. I knew the move wasn't going to be permanent, so there have been boxes piled up in the basement for some time.

So once those get unpacked and looked through when I get to the new place, I'm sure I will still be throwing away/donating more.

The move is going to signify the start to a lot of things. It helps to do something like this to help motivate myself in other areas.

The bike has been purchased and I really plan on using it quite a bit after the relocation, when I will be a bit closer to a lot of things and a quick bike ride will be so simple.

A clean slate for a refrigerator will be kind of nice too. Things get so piled up in refrigerators, especially when shared with multiple people! I lose food in there. An empty fridge will be a clean slate to focus on eating healthier and hopefully controlling food purchases if I can see all my food just a little better.

If only the weather would cooperate, I could also get a decent workout schedule going. I really enjoy running outside, but the weather has been so on and off it is difficult to get going. We barely saw snow this whole winter and then April decides to freak out. Apparently, it's relatively normal here, but I am so over it.

Wednesday, I get the keys to the new place! Friday, the parents are visiting for fun-filled moving activities. I will have to figure out what else we can do that will be a little more enjoyable than just moving me..

2009-04-17T16:22:00.002-05:00

Easter in Oklahoma with the family was really nice! It was great to see so much family and go to the place where I have celebrated so many Easters. I hadn't been back there in awhile and it was crazy to think about how much has changed. There is a whole new batch of little Easter Egg Hunters out there now.

It is finally Friday! For some reason, this week went by pretty slow. I guess compared to the last two weekends, I am not going out of town today, so that made it go by slower. This weekend I will be starting the packing. It's supposed to snow for 2 days straight, so if that's the case, then getting myself to pack will not be a problem.. I won't have too many distractions. Tonight, there are plans, but after tonight, nothing really.

The one thing I've been focusing on with this move is that I'm going to have to do some serious budgeting. I can definitely afford the apartment and I am so very lucky to not have car payments or student loans, so compared to some other people, I have it pretty easy. Living where I have been for the past 10 months, you would think that I had saved up more money! I have saved some, but I really should have focused on saving more. It's amazing how quickly money goes!

I'm going to start keeping track of everything a lot more carefully, now though. I spend way too much money on food and too much of it goes to waste. A good chunk of money also goes towards the dog. I do not want to know how much money I spend on her! She will not be going to doggy daycare anymore and I really need to find some more doggy friends to watch her when I'm out of town. Boarding is just too expensive!

One thing I am planning on buying, though, is a bike! I think I may even purchase it this weekend because there is a pretty good sale going on. My new apartment is close to things (including work), but far enough that I won't want to walk, so I think a bike would be perfect.

And it would also be helpful if the economy picked up and job security was there! :)

Well, enough money talk.
Everyone, have a fabulous weekend!

Let's see..

2009-04-15T14:05:00.002-05:00

Kickball begins tonight
Moving is in just over 2 weeks!
I think I may be getting a cable/internet deal from a friend, so maybe I can afford them!
I think I'm going to buy a bike soon
Mia turns 2 on Saturday
Possible snow storm this weekend....SERIOUSLY??! ahh

Those are just a couple of the things runnin' around my head at the moment.

trip-tastic

2009-04-10T10:27:00.003-05:00

1 down, 1 to go.

Last weekend, I had a blast in Baltimore visiting Laura. We took a little day trip to DC, which was very fun. I had never been to Baltimore or DC. I barely put a dent in DC, so there will definitely need to be another trip out there. It was really fun to see Laura's apartment, office and meet her friends and coworkers, because I've heard so much about all of them!

Then, I have had a pretty busy week as well. Work has been very busy this week and my evenings have also been busy. Now, at the end of the week, I'm heading straight for the second trip. Oklahoma City for Easter. I'm getting together with 80 of my relatives. No joke! It's going to be a full house! Hopefully the weather is nice so we can spread out outside.

I'm looking forward to it. Lots of Lebanese food when you get together with that many Lebanese relatives! Yum!

This also means boarding Mia for 2 weekends in a row. Not so fun.

These two trips are definitely making April fly by. When I get back, the month will be almost half over. This means, my move is that much closer! I may start trying to do a little packing next week... maybe. In reality, that will take place on a weekend I guess.

I ended up ordering that furniture from Target. Well, actually, I ended up getting the table and a coffee table. The desk will have to wait for now. The coffee table was cheaper. The desk could possibly go on sale a little more at some point, I'd think. The coffee table is pretty plain, so I'm deciding if I should try to do something fun with it. I guess I will be checking Design Sponge to see if it sparks any more ideas for me! Awhile ago I posted this , so maybe I will take something from that idea.. we shall see. I don't want to ruin it trying to do something!

Other than all that stuff, I've just been trying to keep up with life! There's so much going on. With Spring here and summer around the corner, all kinds of opportunities are around! Lots of concerts I want to go to. I need a side job to support all these concerts.

i want

2009-03-30T13:04:00.005-05:00

I think I'm going to buy these.. I'm going to keep putting it off, but I need to do it before the free shipping and 15% off deals leave!!! EEK.

this week in the life..

2009-03-27T13:35:00.003-05:00

So, we had a gorgeous, 70 degree weather weekend and then a blizzard on Thursday. The good news was I got to leave work at noon.... BUT it was with the rest of the city. This lead to horrendous traffic. Unbelievable.

So, I had the afternoon off, which was nice, but since it was crappy out I didn't want to go anywhere, therefore was a little bit bored. It also didn't help that once it hit 5:00, basketball was all we had on TV in the living room. I was into march madness the first few days of the first rounds, but I'm over it now. I was bored and did not want to watch basketball! My brackets are doing awful, so I'm just really not into it.

I did finally set up my external hard drive and put my oh-so-important photos, music and architecture projects on it. That was one thing that I really kept meaning to do and it's nice to have that stuff backed up. Well, I need to get back on it and just double check it's really on there.

Earlier in the week we had our first softball game. Unfortunately it was a bit chilly out. I don't think this next week is going to be much better, either. Anyway, we won! I think the team we played might be one of the worst we will play this season, but it's nice to start off with a strong win. I played second base and got two outs there. I also hit the ball every time I was up to bat, although got out at first base on two of them. The other time I made it around and scored, though. It was really fun, though! More fun than I was expecting. I guess it helped that I felt like I did something during the game, too.

So, we're almost to the one month mark of moving into my apartment.. that is one month UNTIL I move into my apartment. Still so far away!! I will have a pretty busy month, though, so it might go pretty quickly.

Next weekend, I'm on my way to Baltimore to pay a visit to Laura. Yay! The weekend after that I'm going to Oklahoma City to visit family for Easter. I am definitely looking forward to both trips! When that's over with I will be much closer to moving into the new place. I want to buy so much stuff for it! I'm addicted to looking at the furniture on the target website. Cheap and lots of options. People write reviews which can be really helpful. I am pretty much just looking at ones that involve 'free shipping' because shipping furniture does not sound cheap! I found a desk I'm going to have to get. I also need a coffee table, small 'dining' table and many other little things.. a lot having to do with the kitchen.

AND on the music front.. I haven't been to many concerts lately. One of my faves, Matt Nathanson, is coming back to town, but he just so happens to be coming when I'm going to OKC. It turns out, though, that he's playing in this concert the day before- one of the radio stations is putting it on. Yesterday, exactly at 9 am my friends and I got on the website to get tickets for this. They were only selling 150 and this is a very popular radio station, so word was out. It definitely sold out in 15 minutes and if you didn't click on the 'buy' button at exactly 9:00 it was extremely hard to get in. So almost all of us got our name on the list. Instead of giving tickets, it just puts your name on a list, so we could only put our name on and there's no way of buying more and selling them or anything.
There are multiple people playing at the concert. I'm looking forward to it!

They also just released the list of bands that will be coming to mile high music festival, so that was also exciting. Not quite as many people on there that I know as I did last year, but they're adding more and I can get to know some more artists!
Well , that's all the excitement going on

rec league time

2009-03-23T09:44:00.002-05:00

Spring is here!! Well, it was this weekend, anyway. This week is going to be cold. The upside is the mountains will get snow and that we finally are getting some moisture here in Denver. So, hopefully this business just lasts for the week because I think that's all I'm willing to settle for.

Since Spring is here, all the rec leagues in Denver are coming to life. I'm going to be the rec sports queen. I have softball and kickball going these next two months and starting in May, my office might come up with a volleyball team.

Softball and kickball will be really fun. I haven't played softball in quite some time and had to go buy a glove yesterday before our little practice. The practice was a good idea because I haven't hit a ball or caught a ball with a mit in forever.

Kickball is a totally fun league. There is a keg tapped before each game and after the games we get free food and drink specials at my bar, Govs Park. I am at this bar probably 2 times a week, luckily my new apartment is very close by it! So, I posted some of the silly kickball rules below.

2. The more the merrier on the sidelines so all friends, significant others, pets, or even people you loathe and want to “accidentally” hit with a foul-tipped kickball are all welcome to join us. The only thing we ask is that anyone you bring along not play so as to leave the on-field shenanigans for the folks funding the season. Friends are welcome to watch,
laugh, heckle, and share a beverage, but not play unless a team is short and needs a sub.

5. At least once during each half of the inning, the team captain and/or pitcher of the team in the field should call for a social drink for everyone in the field.

6. Heckling is highly encouraged but should never be mean in spirit or tone.

13. All players must have a beverage of choice in their hand while in the field (even if it is water).

14. To start the game, each team will select three members to go against the other team in a beverage consuming

23. No intentional bunting is allowed. Should anyone swing as hard as they can and the ball only goes the length of a bunt, that’s OK. We don’t want to punish the already embarrassed. You should know if they are trying to bunt or not. This will be a judgment call if it happens and may be subject to the “Do-Over” rule described below.

donate!

2009-03-03T09:52:00.003-06:00

Hello internet,

So, my younger bro is running the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon in July and he's doing it through team-in-training. He needs to raise money ($4,000!) that goes to the Leukemia & Lymphoma society... which is really cool I think!
I want to pass along the website for anyone out there who would like donate. Any little bit helps.. If he can get a lot of people to donate just $10 then he will get there. So, if you want to donate to a good cause, here's your chance.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/rnrseatl09/tmanson

Thanks friends...

new stuff

2009-02-26T14:13:00.003-06:00

It has been awhile! Woops.

Can't say I've been super busy, but I have been having a lot of fun. As well as just had things to do rather than sit and write on here.
Work has been pretty busy and hopefully it stays busy!! Hopefully we get some new projects going. The economy scares me every day.
I did just hear some words come out of my boss's sentence that sounded good -- "stimulus...building... looking good". So... maybe there's some hope??

I have found an apartment. An apartment that is mine all mine! I'm super excited, but also makes me reaaaaalllly hope for new projects at work so I have some job stability!

The location of the place is great. I'm back closer to downtown, work and friends. I'm actually right on the bike path that leads straight to work. I need a bike, but once you get past that minor detail, I could easily ride to work! The dog is always important to think of when I move because I want to be able to take her somewhere to get her exercise in and energy out, as well as I need to feel safe when I'm out at night with her. This area I'm in, I feel safe and down the street is a makeshift dog park! It's not technically a dog park, but there's an empty school and a big asphalt area is fenced in. Every time I've driven by there have been people there with some dogs, so that is pretty exciting.
The place has windows on 3 sides of the apartment and the other wall goes to the hallway, so I don't share any walls with anyone. I'm also on the top floor.. so shouldn't be too much ruckus from any neighbors.

Anyway, hopefully I can manage to save up some more money in the next 2 months since I don't move until May 1st, although I have to put down the deposit for the place pretty soon.

Also, been up in the mountains doing the snowboarding thing! I can tell I get better every time I go, so it's really fun. We usually have a really good time up on the mountain with friends, too, so it just makes for a really fun day.

And I have also been booking flights like nobody's business! Three flights were bought within a week... I'm not traveling 3 times in a week, just bought all the tickets in a week.. to clarify. Spring is definitely going to keep me busy. I have a trip to Baltimore that I am sooo looking forward to visiting my friend, then flying to see family for Easter and a flight home to Wichita for a wedding shower/bachelorette party. I still have to make room for another bachelorette party! Yikes. we'll see how this goes.

I hope my new phone, the LG Dare, arrives at my house today. It technically came yesterday, but I forgot that I should have shipped it to my office, so fedex didn't leave it at the door for me, but should be trying again today. I signed the little paper and hopefully it gets left for me and nobody steals it off the front porch!
Otherwise, I will have to drive to Littleton to get...not cool.

alrighty, 'tis all.

Everybody's doing it..

2009-02-05T11:35:00.001-06:00

25 random things about your's truly.

1. I am half Lebanese and really, really wish I looked more Lebanese.

2. I couldn’t eat anything grape flavored for a really long time because of the nastiness that was Tylenol grape chewables I had when I was kid. I threw up from eating one.

3. My best childhood friend and I used to follow UPS trucks that we’d see in our neighborhood, in hopes that it was going to one of our houses to drop off an American Girl doll that our parents maybe secretly ordered for us.

4. I’m afraid five years of Architecture school burned me out. I don’t have the drive and motivation to work super hard. I like working 8 -5 and getting on to the fun things in life. I think the motivation will come back.. hopefully!

5. I also wonder if I will want to change jobs every few years out of boredom of the place I am working.

6. I worry for my family and friends a lot.. I just want everyone to be safe and healthy.

7. I don’t cry in front of people much at all, but I cry when really sad things are on the news, which happens often. I have to take breaks from watching the news.

8. I enjoy alone time. Really enjoy it. We’ll see how it goes when I live alone, though.

9. I’m obsessed with my dog. She rocks. She is pretty spoiled.

10. I love going to the park - with the dog, with friends and having a BBQ, playing volleyball and other random yard games. Fun stuff.

11. I wish I would have tried harder to learn Spanish in all the Spanish classes I took in school.

12. I’ve recently taken a liking to yoga and I never would have thought I would like it. Ever.

13. I am very impatient. I like things to happen NOW.

14. Gymnastics was my life from age 4ish to 12. I realized I probably wasn’t going to make it to the Olympics, so I quit.

15. I used to get strep throat a lot. The doctor told me if I got it again soon, they might have to take my tonsils out. I never got it again.

16. I need quiet time in the morning.

17. I love K-State people and hanging out with them in Denver. Good people.

18. I’m so glad my big bro and I live in the same city. It’s nice to have a family member around.

19. I want to relive my study abroad experience. Going back will never be the same!

20. Laura and I used to get caught having the strangest conversations sometimes… those sleep deprived conversations around Seaton Hall.

21. I am so glad I was an Alpha Chi in college. The sorority was a welcome break from Architecture and I made great, great friends...even if I wasn’t the most involved member and may or may not have had an anonymous letter written about me..

22. I really love family gatherings.

23. I miss hanging out with our tight group of high school friends and the fun soccer teams of high school days... remember the Dunn brothers? Loved James..

24. Every time I go to a concert, I really wish I was on the crew and went around touring with them.

25. I always wonder what people do when I drive by them on my way to work or lunch and they’re at the park or shopping or being at home during the work day. What do you do!? How do you not have to go to work? I’m jealous.

woops

2009-02-04T10:27:00.002-06:00

Haven't written much on here lately! It's been pretty busy lately. Work has been busy - deadlines and deadlines. I had to put some time in this weekend in between the food preparing, superbowl watching, working out and going out. I thought this week was going to be super busy, but hasn't been too bad so far.

Yesterday, I thought was going to be a loooong day of working, but I guess we're doing pretty good on our deadline. I had time to run to the grocery store, make granola bars, head to the gym and then go to my soccer game. Which, yes, going to the gym and then to the soccer game sounds ambitious, but usually we have a lot of subs and I don't feel like I get a really good work out. So, I decided to get a quick work out in before, nothing big at all. Well, I got to the game and we didn't have ANY subs. WOOPS. I was a little slow getting around from running previously, so felt like I wasn't playing my best. We lost. It ended up being a closer game than it looked like it was going to be, but frustrating that we couldn't get it together.

The next few days through the weekend are already planned out. A party to attend Thursday night, movie and out with some girlies on Friday, K-State watching Saturday, snowboarding Sunday....

Long term planning is also happening. Wedding shower and bachelorette party planning, Baltimore trip planning and Minnesota lake trip planning! The planner is out and ready!

PS

2009-01-22T10:33:00.001-06:00

If you're a google reader-er .. I almost always change something in my post after I 'publish' it once - I see a mistake or just want to add/change something - and I hate how it doesn't change in google reader.. so you should just click to the website to read the correct post!

to do

2009-01-21T15:22:00.003-06:00

I was listening to the news while doing some things around the house last night and I heard them talking about all the things Obama has coming up really soon. All of the important meetings he has to attend to figure out EVERYTHING.. he has quite the schedule coming up.

It made me wonder if Obama is a list-maker. I like to make lists of things I want to get done today or this week or sometime soon. I usually scribble it down on the nearest piece of paper and stick it somewhere I will see it often enough.

Can you imagine Obama's list?

-fix the economy
-create millions of jobs
-figure out what to do in the middle east
-get a dog for the girls

And I thought my lists were pretty important

-workout
-buy more toothpaste
-get some more cereal
-make a dentist appt.

MLK

2009-01-19T16:52:00.002-06:00

Here is the exact speech from Martin Luther King, Jr. (according to http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html ) I don't know about you, but I don't think I have actually read the whole thing.. sadly. So here it is! A must read for this week.

"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

sumup

2009-01-19T11:40:00.003-06:00

The weekend consisted of many of the things it was supposed to consist of. Shopping was done, money was spent (yes, too much). I did a couple drawings that I think turned out pretty well... so far. Hopefully I will actually complete a project I have in mind.

There was one surprise this weekend, though. The dog decided to sneak into my Target shopping bag and grab my new pack Trident gum. I didn't see this until about 20 minutes later and saw a couple pieces of gum and shreds of paper. Trident is sugar free and contains something called Xylitol. Xylitol is what makes gum like Trident good for your teeth, but is REALLY bad for dogs. It doesn't take much for it to be toxic to them. So I called the Vet Hospital and they told me to bring her in. This was at about 7:00 on Saturday night, the night that I had plans to hang out with the friends I haven't hung out with in forever! So, off to the vet hospital. It didn't end up taking too long.. 30-45 minutes probably. They had to give her something to make her throw up everything she had eaten. Since it wasn't too long ago, it hadn't digested, so that was good. They checked some things and then brought her out.

I was expecting the bill to be a little more ridiculous - it wasn't all that bad. I have pet insurance, so will hopefully get it reimbursed. I haven't used the insurance yet, so we will see how it all works out.

I stayed home with the pup the rest of the night to make sure she was all fine.

I had the house all to myself and it was glorious. The weather was absolutely beautiful this weekend, too. Sunday morning, the dog and I went on a ridiculously long run/walk. I was exhausted afterward. I wanted to go to a certain area to check out for future move possibilities. The walk there wasn't bad, but the walk back felt REAL long. I'm just not in shape for that right now!

I'm a little addicted to Craigslist, but it is too early to be looking for a place for April/May. There was one available in March that is pretty much perfect.. but that's just a little too early. Hopefully some perfect ones will come along when the time is right. I think I need to forbid myself from looking on there right now though.

2009-01-16T12:26:00.002-06:00

Listening to Ingrid

Excited to play some soccer tonight

Sad I'm missing a fun weekend in the mountains

But glad for a quiet weekend in Denver

Excited to hang out with the long lost friends on Saturday (long and lost for a month)

Spending some gift cards and probably some of my own $ this weekend

Will buy new brown boots

Need some indoor soccer shoes for indoor soccer league

Have not played indoor soccer in quite awhile... forgot differences in rules..?

Taking the dog to get groomed, toenails clipped, ears cleaned, teeth cleaned..

She's going to hate it

purely grey's anatomy

2009-01-15T22:01:00.003-06:00

Soooooooo...
Is Izzy leaving Grey's Anatomy? The only reason I can think for Denny to be on the show again, is if he came for Izzy. He said that actually. One episode, he kept saying to Izzy "I came for you".

So, is that what he meant? And then, just now he sat on the edge of the bed next to Alex and said "we need to talk".

hhuuuuwhat?

P.S. Apparently it is de-lurking week, so if you are someone that reads this business, I'd love to know!

I like this

2009-01-14T13:25:00.003-06:00

The frames behind the couch...

I saw it here www.designspongeonline.com/

I think I am going to take this idea and do a li'l something. We'll see how it goes. There definitely won't be shells in my version though - those would have nothing to do with me and wouldn't really make any sense in my living room!

We had another K-State watch party last night. I love them.. even if we do lose to KU(Boooooooooo). I love catching up with all the fun K-Staters out here. Free food and drink specials are also very nice.

Last weekend with the family in Keystone was so fun. I had a great time hanging out and am so glad they came out for the trip. This weekend I will be in Denver, which will be so nice! I saw some of the ladies last night and I haven't seen them in forever it seems like, so I will be getting some more hanging out time with them this weekend!
I will also be able to work on the little project above and maybe throw a little shopping in. :) I can't let those gift cards hang around too long!

More news... It looks like I will be playing soccer on Tuesdays starting next week! I took a break and I am ready to play again. I'm sure the first game will be pretty rough - gotta get back into soccer shape.

I'm just ready to take some time this weekend to get organized for this new year that already started! I just haven't had time to catch up with the calendar.

Hope everyone's having a good week. Happy Hump Day..

jus a lil post

2009-01-09T15:11:00.002-06:00

Another weekend of snowboarding ahead. Keystone this time. The family is visiting and we're staying up there. Tomorrow will be my 7th time (I think) out this season. That's huge for a girl from Kansas! I'm just really glad I am putting the money I spent on my gear and my pass to work.

I took the pup to her doggy daycare/boarding place. She loves it and I love seeing her get all excited when I drop her off.

I'm starting to think about when I'm going to move out of the current house and on to my own place (eek! I've never lived alone!). It is looking like May will be the moving month. There's a certain place I would love to move into.. I just need to find an opening at the right time and hope the price is right.

Let's seeeeeeee.... not much else going on really. I haven't quite gotten back into the swing of things. I have some gift cards from Christmas I am waiting to spend - shopping, shopping, shopping! I need to dedicate a Saturday or Sunday to some shopping, but haven't had a free one yet! I also got a surprise bonus from work.. so not expecting that, but definitely a great way to star the year off- with some extra bucks in the bank..

I probably should just put it all toward paying off the credit card, but I don't wanna. I put some toward it...

Breckenridge - snowboarding

2009-01-06T10:08:00.004-06:00

trying to welcome in 2009...

2008-12-31T10:25:00.004-06:00

Wouldn't that be cool if all of a sudden, on January 1st, all of this crappy economy business just went away!? And everything started thriving!

Yeah, that would make my year..

With the economy in the crapper, it's kinda putting a damper on my 'hopes and dreams' for 2009. People aren't building buildings and architecture firms are doing the opposite of hiring. The whole thing feels like it's just going to halt. Not good.

I know there are many things I want to change/do in the coming year, though. I've never been one to make 'resolutions', but I may just have to come up with a little list to post up to remind me of things to strive towards.

I feel like I never quite settled into the house that I'm living in. In my head, I thought of it as a transitional spot. Somewhere I could save money and pay cheap rent, but I wasn't going to make it mine. I think I'm going to focus on at least making my room a nice area to be in. It is small, but I didn't take the time to organize very well. I honestly don't have enough places to put all of my stuff. Moving from an apartment I got to fill all the space with, I now feel very, very, very cramped. BUT, I think I will try to get creative and buy/make things that will help me organize and feel a bit more settled. My parents did give me a sewing machine for Christmas, so I could try to make some things! I also got new bedding for my bed for Christmas, which has already done wonders for the way the room looks.

Making things will definitely be something I need to do in this New Year- I need to be creative again.

With some new magazine subscriptions, which I also got for Christmas, I will hopefully be more inspired. Dwell Magazine will especially get the creative, fun, organized juices flowing.

I also got this fun little tripod for Christmas

Those are just among a few fun things I received for Christmas. Santa was great this year! (Thanks again Mom and Dad! Love you).

I will be in Breckenridge to ring in the new year! I hope everyone has fabulous night tonight!

down time

2008-12-16T13:23:00.002-06:00

So, I will be home in Wichita from the 20th to the 28th and I think I need to come up with a little project to fill my free time with. Does anyone have any ideas?

I may just go to hobby lobby and figure out what I can be crafty with.

I could also go through some old photos from Europe and pick some to nicely print off.

I do plan on reading books - something I don't do enough.

Or I could be extremely lazy and eat the whole time..which is likely.

Hmmm.

So, now the goodies are rolling in from other offices. I should be careful what I wish for because now I can munch on things all day, which may not be such a good thing. You gotta do what you gotta do though... and it is the holidays and we can't let things go to waste, especially in this economy.. ;)

2008-12-15T12:07:00.003-06:00

Wow. I can't believe I'm heading back to the hometown in less than a week for Christmas already. My Christmas shopping is done, though, so that is nice!

We got in the spirit this last Friday with the traditional tacky sweater party. It was a blast. Too much of a blast, because getting up bright and early to head out to Breckenridge for a weekend of snowboarding was ROUGH. A 2 hour drive through the mountains did not help at all.

We spent the night in Breckenridge where it got incredibly cold on Saturday night/Sunday. We managed to hot tub in the cold, snowy weather Saturday night- very nice. Sunday, we didn't go out for too long (for fear of frostbite!), but got a few runs in and then thought we should head back to Denver so we wouldn't hit bad traffic.

The pup is still recovering from the party. Who knows what all she got into, but pretty sure she got her little mouth on some beer and some snacks. She would have uncharacteristically slept in really late Saturday I think, but we had to wake up early to head to the mountains! She did snuggle with the couch occupant while I was getting ready though- it was pretty cute (don't know if you even know she did that!).

At work today, we have a couple holiday snacks. My coworker and I were pretty disappointed last week that the office had yet to get snacks we usually get from other offices. So we will see this week if we get much or if the economy is ruining that too! My coworker did bring in a small popcorn tin.. haha. Since we usually get one, but hadn't yet... soo we will be enjoying one this week whether we get one from another firm or not. Gotta love the popcorn tins!

2008-12-10T17:26:00.000-06:00

I love it..

snow

2008-12-04T21:15:00.003-06:00

Chili. Wine. Fire in the fireplace. Grey's Anatomy.

Good Thursday night!

The snow was falling all day long at work. On the way home I had to stop by a little mechanic shop near our house to get a non-moving windshield wiper moving. Turns out a bolt just needed to be tightened. Apparently this is common. I got home and took the dog to the school grounds around the corner to play in the snow. We've been playing every day after work with her alltimefavoritetoy, even since it's been dark, but it's nice in the snow - it's much easier to see in the dark when the ground is all white!

When the dog and I got back, all I wanted for dinner was chili. I couldn't think of anything else that sounded good, so off to the store.

And now I have delicious chili for leftovers.

Alright.. enough about chili.

some tidbits..

-Another good friend of mine is engaged! So I will be a bridesmaid twice this summer - it will be very, very fun!

-Christmas shopping will take place on Saturday

-Next weekend we will be having a little getaway to Breckenridge.

-Way too many people are getting laid off all over. It's awful. I'm freaking out about it. The architecture industry is rough right now.

-

2008-12-03T15:38:00.002-06:00

Freaking out a little about this economy!

ugh

That's about all for now. I'm a bad blogger lately...

Thanksgiving was great though. A good break from the usual routine. I love taking my dog back to my parents' house. She loves it - lots of attention and a big backyard to play in!

... Christmas is coming so fast! I need to finish rounding up the presents..eek!

coming up...

2008-11-21T14:32:00.003-06:00

So so so excited to go home for Thanksgiving! I need a break so bad! My friends and I have been talking about Thanksgiving since the beginning of November and the actual day is at the very end of November, so there's been a lot of waiting going on here.
I took Wednesday off, so we're leaving Tuesday night and driving back to Kansas. A full car - 4 people and the dog. It has been so long since all the high school friends have been back together, so I am very excited to see them and catch up with them! There will also be college friends in town and we're making a trip for the actual Thanksgiving day to Oklahoma City to see my mom's side of the family. It will be a full visit, but it will be so nice.

This weekend should be fun. My friends are so fun! We always have stuff to do and I love it. I took a little hiatus from going out downtown, but tonight it is looking like a visit to LoDo is in the works.

Snowboarding/ski season is upon us and I can't wait to get out there. There could be a possible trip up to the mountains on Sunday. We shall see. There isn't a whole lot of snow.. and when you're a new snowboarder I'd say more snow is good! Among other reasons, padding my falls would be one reason.

This weekend needs to include...

working out
possibly Christmas shopping...which inevitable leads to shopping for me.. :/
game night!
chili
football
hopefully taking it easy on the beverages

a li'l quote about architecture..

2008-11-20T22:01:00.001-06:00

I came across this page in a book I was browsing.. The Happiness of Architecture. I just really liked it. It starts with an empty field...

"The field has had an eventual life. A German bomber far off its target flew over it in the war. Children interrupted long car journeys to be sick on the edge of it. People lay down in it in the evenings and wondered whether the lights overhead were stars or satellites. Ornithologists tramped through it in oatmeal-coloured socks and spotted families of Black Redstarts. Two Norwegian couples on a bicycling tour of the British Isles camped here for a night and, in the tents, sang ‘Anne Knutsdotter’ and ‘Mellom Bakkar og Berg’. Foxes looked around. Mice made exploratory journeys. Worms kept their heads down.

But time has run out for the field. The patch of dandelions will soon be the living room of number 24. A few meters away, among the corn poppies, will be the garage for number 25, and there, in the white campions, its dining room, where a person not yet born will one day have an argument with his or her parents. Above the hedgerow, there’ll be a child’s room, drawn up by a woman working on a computer in an air conditioned office in a business park near a motorwary. A man in an airport on the other side of the world will miss his family and think of home, its foundations dug where a puddle now lies. Great Corsby Village will do its best to imply its age and inevitably, and nothing more will be said of the restarts, picnics or the long summer’s evening that rang to the sound of ‘Mellom Bakkar og Berg’."

-The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

check it out

2008-11-13T11:40:00.000-06:00

http://www.zefrank.com/from52to48withlove/

art-tastic

2008-11-13T11:06:00.002-06:00

I have been a slacker on posting things lately! I know.

This week is a little busy, with two concerts to attend. Monday, I saw the lovely Matt Nathanson. Love him.
Tonight I'm seeing Eric Hutchinson. I've never seen him live, but I have been loving the music lately and I think he will be fun up on stage too.

Once again, no major plans for the weekend. I LOVE IT.

Last weekend, we went to First Fridays - which happens on the first Friday of every month- and the art galleries stay open late. You just walk around the art district and gander.. We actually thought there was supposed to be WINE, but we never found any. We found snacks and cider and such, but no wine. A lot of people come out for this, so maybe there are just too many people now or the wine was gone by the time we got around. We did see some people walking around with wine, we just didn't know where they got it.

So, the art galleries inspired me and last weekend I started drawing. I decided to use some things I already had. I had some 4x4 in. black mat board squares and my prisma color pencils and I got to work. The hard part for me is figuring out what to draw. At First Fridays I saw a lot of art that had to do with the Aspen trees up in the mountains, so I went with that. They are pretty fun to draw. I drew a little 'fall scene' on the black mat board. It came out alright. I think it still needs some more work, though.

So there might be some more art attempts up the sleeve. It will be a nice thing to do when it is all cold and snowy and wintery outside.

What I do.

2008-11-06T17:18:00.008-06:00

Some of the computer renderings I have done at work for one of our projects.

chaos

2008-11-03T10:14:00.003-06:00

Tomorrow is going to be chaos in my neighborhood. One of the voting places is RIGHT behind my house. Last week was crazy, with people parking in front of my house and there is a ballot drop-off directly behind my house, too, so there has been tons of traffic around.

I am ready for this election to be over, ready to see how the results pan out and ready for the country to make history. I am also ready to see non-political ads. I am also ready for people to stop knocking on my door to tell me who to vote for.

It has been a very interesting last few months - no doubt about it. I've enjoyed learning about all of it and trying to keep up. I also realized how many people think they know, but they really have no idea.. because really only those two men running for president know (maybe?).

But we won't get in to all the political fun, because it is everywhere else.

I'm a winner!

2008-11-01T19:00:00.003-05:00

I want to thank CC over at Fork in the Road for picking me as one of the winners for her fall contest! Very exciting.. and it was a great idea for a contest!

I hope everyone had a great halloween! I definitely did and today I did absolutely nothing and it has been fabulous. The only thing I did accomplish was putting my k-state license plate frame thing on the back of my car.. replaced the OU one.. yuck :) I still have an OU alum sticker on the back window, which needs to come off. That will take a little work.

Back to halloween..we went to a house party over at a friend's house. He bought the house a little while ago and so we got to see it for the first time. It was a lot of fun! There were definitely some great costumes. We headed to the bars for a little bit after that, where we saw some Michael Phelps' and I was dressed up as Shawn Johnson, so the olympians had to take pictures together of course. Of course, cabs were hard to come by at the end of the night, so there was quite a bit of waiting. Luckily, we had told the (most adorable lady) cab driver we had earlier in the night, that we'd call her again, so she was able to come find us.

Well, tonight I'm going to take it easy. I feel like all my weekends lately have been really busy, so I really just want to relax!

recovery week..

2008-10-29T17:06:00.003-05:00

Well, it was a crazy weekend back in Kansas. We had a good time and the festivities that went from 9 am Saturday morning to midnight (for me)/2am (for some of the others) Sunday morning left us feeling not so great for the drive back to Colorado on Sunday. By not so great.. I mean awful.

We made it back safely Sunday night, though it took a lot longer than it should have.
Pretending I was a college student again left me with a broken phone and a lost sweatshirt that is hanging out somewhere in Aggieville. Good thing I don't make these trips too often!

So, between two weekends of visitors and a trip back to Manhattan, I cannot wait for payday on Friday! I also am excited for a month of straight Denver. Thanksgiving we will be traveling back to Kansas, but that will be for longer than a weekend, thank goodness.

Since the funds are low, I have been trying not to go to the grocery store. I remembered I had bought some goods to make tortilla soup, which I had recently found a recipe for. So I made that Monday night and had 4 meals out of it! I also have a lot of leftover tortillas from the pinwheels I made for tailgating a couple weekends ago, so I made my own tortilla chips. Those are tasty and you really just need some olive oil. I also added seasoning salt and paprika to them. I will be making much more, as I still have a lot of tortillas.

The rest of this week is dedicated to figuring out the halloween costume! Everyone have a good week!

long week

2008-10-24T11:14:00.003-05:00

Well, I guess the week hasn't felt that long, but it's been busy! Work has been busy and, of course, frustrating.. I need a totally anonymous blog to do my work talk though, so I shall not go into it.

but we shall have a picture showing some emotion...

So, anyway, I am leaving town today to go back to the ol' alma mater. We are going to the football game... against OU.. so the outcome is not looking favorable to us, but sometimes we pull off some amazing games!

There are a lot of friends coming back for the game, so that's good, considering I barely know anyone that still goes to school there. WHICH IS SO SAD! Not so many options on where to stay the night... very soon I will need hotel rooms when I go back to visit. There are about 8 of us going back from Denver, so of course we will have a good time! It's always fun to go back to where I spent 5 great years of my life! Seriously, I miss those fabulous days.. even though in those 5 years there were a lot of long days and nights spent slaving away for my architecture degree. It was all fun, though - through the panic, high stress, no sleep, - we had a good time in the sleepless deliriousness that happened in that architecture building. We all survived and look back on it with some pleasure..

We have a long drive ahead of us. We're all leaving work around 3 and getting out of town as quick as we can, but I'm sure it will take a little while to get going. On the way to Kansas, the time skips ahead too, so that's no fun when you're trying to get back and go to the bars and realize you will have one less hour.

I'm hoping to come back with some k-stats swag that I somehow lost over the years. I need to make a trip back to Varney's, the k-state merchandise, books store. I need to get the OU license plate holder off of my car (belonged to the parents) and replace it with a K-State one. I'm thinking about getting the dog a little k-state shirt as well and I need a K-State hat. Yes, there will be lots of purple.

I will also need to eat at my favorite spots, although on game weekends all the great Aggieville eateries will be packed.. but I just may stop by Jimmy John's at 2 am like the ol' days.

Okay, um... back to work. Woops.

7 things

2008-10-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

So I actually thought of a few of those 'weird things about me'... A couple just popped into my head after grocery shopping today.. so obviously the first ones I thought of have a bit to do with just that.. grocery shopping. I seem to be on a roll, so hopefully I will complete the 7 right now!

_ The grocery stores I go to seem to always put the seasonal candy at the front of the store.. by the check out lanes. So you don't seem them when you walk in, you see them after you check out and by that time I've already paid. I'm not about to grab some candy and go through the line again. Pretty much EVERY time I walk past this candy section I have to resist the urge to just grab a bag on my way out. It always looks to me like it's saying "Thanks for shopping here, have a free bag of candy". A party favor if you will..

_While on the topic of candy... I cannot go into Walgreens without getting candy. Walgreens and candy are one in the same to me. If I make it out of Walgreens candyless, I am very proud of myself.

_When I'm driving, I HATE when a big car is directly in front of me. I'm sure this is directly related to me being short and hating big people standing directly in front of me. It just drives me crazy, though, when I can't see what's going on in front of or around this huge car in front of me.

_I do not like water chestnuts... at all

_I am not ADD at all, but at work I suddenly feel very ADD.

_I really have no desire to watch most reality TV shows (The Hills is pretty much the only exception). I prefer to be entertained by the fake world I guess.

_I don't think I would mind being a housewife/stay at home mom later on...

laugh it off..

2008-10-16T22:05:00.003-05:00

How great is it that we live in a country where we can flat out make fun of our president and the man who is going to be the next president.. on TV in front of the whole country? How great is that?!

It is great to watch these skits on SNL and see this whole election loosened up.

What if we had to be serious all the time!? yuck.

what a week!

2008-10-16T10:21:00.002-05:00

So I've been busy at work getting drawings ready for a deadline that went out today. Busy, but not so busy that I had to work any over time (because this lady doesn't get paid over time)! Sweet, huh?

We've been planning our tailgating festivities for this weekend all week long.. I have friends coming in town and we're getting together with the Denver K-State crew and getting our tailgate on at the CU stadium.

I had some pumpkin carving going on last night..haha... seriously, I love pumpkin carving I think.

Tonight I need to get ready for the visitors, do some grocery shopping and some baking possibly... and I DEFINITELY need to go on a run.. I can barely even sit here because I just want to break out the running gear that's sitting in a bag next to me and go on a run.

So, once upon a time I had a story about getting an oil change and the mechanic going home with my keys in his pocket.. yeah.. that was fun. So, yesterday, I had a similar incident..

You see, I won these tickets to the K-State/CU game at one of our K-State watch parties. They are tickets to the Coors Suite, so that's pretty exciting stuff. So, the Coors guy in charge of these tickets dropped them off at the bar we have our watch parties and left them with a manager on Tuesday. Yesterday I headed over at lunch to pick them up... and what do you know.. the manager had stuck the tickets in his pocket and left with them! This is my second time for pocket mishaps! Who would've known..

I talked with that manager, I told him I'd come back today at lunch and he said he'd give me and a friend a free lunch! sweet! You know me and free stuff... I love it.

2008-10-13T12:16:00.002-05:00

I found this here and I love it!

I have an old, kinda beat up dresser, but I love the style of it. It was handed down from the grandparents, so I want to keep it and fix it up. I'm thinking I might try something like this!

2008-10-12T19:55:00.005-05:00

These are from this blog - the wish jar. They are by Keri Smith, she's a guerilla artist and does some really fun stuff!

rough

2008-10-09T16:58:00.002-05:00

Today is ROUGH..

Everything I normally do throughout the day is proving to be difficult.

For instance,

__Eating healthy.. REALLY difficult today. I gave in at lunch and got a cookie. My body was screaming that it needed some bad stuff in it to continue on.

__Working... I started losing concentration at about 2:30.. I'm tired and cannot focus!

__I look pretty rough today..

__Staying awake. I'm super tired today.. seeing America's Best Dance Crew kept me overstimulated last night, apparently, and I couldn't go to sleep!

ugh.

quick post

2008-10-08T14:58:00.002-05:00

Oh lordy, I'm taking a quick mental break from figuring out how to fit duct work, diffusers, wood blocking and drawings themselves into their given spaces. fun fun.

For those interested in learning more about this financial crisis going on, This American Life on NPR does a pretty good job of giving us non-financial people an idea of what in the world happened/is going on. I get the first part of it and then the second half I need to sit and not do anything else to get it all in, but in the end it gave me some info on some business I had no clue about.

Tonight, I will be going to America's Best Dance Crew! Apparently, they're touring around. I really had no idea and have only stopped on the show on TV for a few minutes while flipping through channels, but who wouldn't enjoy some cool dancing? A friend of mine works for a ticket office here in Denver and was offered free tickets, so he grabbed 8 and we've been inviting people. So, should be entertaining.

Friday night is beerfest! My first time to go, so not real sure what all to expect, except beer that is. We will have a good time, so that is expected as well. That and a fall mexican fiesta party for a friend's birthday and a visit to the zoo will be incorportated into the weekend. Hopefully, I will see no snow.

favorite quote!

2008-10-07T14:07:00.003-05:00

I love this quote...

"Promise me you'll always remember: You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think..."

- Christopher Robin to Pooh Bear

Moving on and completely unrelated from the quote.. I just wanted to share it with everyone..

So, CC over at Fork in the Road has tagged me to create a list of 7 weird facts about myself. I always have a hard time coming up with these things, so I'm going to have to think on it and see what I can come up with. Hopefully, in the next post it will pop up here.

The weather so far this week has been spectacularly fall-tastic. After all the browsing at stores this weekend, there are countless things I wish I would have (could have) bought to wear! The bad news is that there is a possibility of snow this weekend!! AHH! No good. Hopefully this snow never makes it way to where I'm at, because I don't think I'm down with that quite yet.

fall adventures with visitors

2008-10-06T21:13:00.004-05:00

That was a whirlwind of a weekend! I feel like I did a lot. I got to take Friday off, thank goodness. Work last week was very busy and I couldn't take another day! I needed a break. So, thank goodness for friends visiting and me getting to take a day off to hang out.

-We went out to breakfast at Snooze downtown and it was very yummy. I went with an omelet and Laura went with the French toast. Both were stellar.
-We then shopped around, made our way to REI where I made the decision to bite the bullet and get the Colorado Pass - the season pass so I can snowboard all season at 5 different mountains. I know a good amount of people getting it, so I don't think I will have a problem getting out to the mountains enough. By the time you go about 6 times, you have paid for the pass, but it is quite a chunk of money. EEK!
-We stopped by the new Contemporary Art Museum and checked it out. We got in with a student discount and meandered around. There was not very much to see there and the museum was really small. Not terribly exciting, but whatever.
-South Pearl Street is a really cute street with boutique shops and cafes and bakeries, so we walked around there and grabbed some ice cream.
-We came back to my house, chilled, took Mia to the park to get some energy out. We then went to a couple of organic grocery stores in search of Quinoa flakes and other random ingredients. We found them and then made some super, duper healthy muffins.
-After this we had dinner, drank wine and headed downtown to meet up with all the girlies.

WOW. that was all in Friday.

Saturday we went to the mountains and hiked around a little. I was so excited to get out there to see the fall trees and I was not disappointed. The trees in the mountains are yellows and oranges and they are so bright. By bright, I mean that the mountains were on fire with these colors. We went out to Kenosha Pass, part of the Colorado Trail. It took a little over an hour to get to and we were in a bit of a time crunch so we could get back to watch some K-State football (which was not worth watching! they sucked). The watch party was fun as usual though. We couldn't hike for too long, but we definitely saw some pretty views.

(more pics of the hike when you click the photo)

So, after all this beautiful stuff we headed to the watch party to see some not so beautiful football. That night we all went out to dinner where we were all exhausted from midday drinking.. A lot of the girls were running the race for the cure the next morning, so we all took it easy that night. Laura and I got in some quality Saturday Night Live! I don't know when the last time was that I actually watched it on Saturday night.

Sunday, we took it nice and easy. We ended up seeing Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist... and not as good as it looks. Not quite as funny as you'd think..

After that it was time for Laura to go back to the airport.. and she also reminded me how I was supposed to go into work that night.. no good.
I'm so glad she came out, we had a blast and I really need to get out to Baltimore to check it all out over there!

In other news!! My good friend, Jessica, got engaged!!! I'm so happy for her! Woohoo! I'm already looking forward to the wedding.

Alrighty, that's the update. All I've got right now!

being nice

2008-10-01T12:16:00.002-05:00

So, I mentioned in my rant about Spencer wondering about why he feels the need to be an asshole to everyone. Well, last night my neighbor was SUPER nice and it just made me think about why a person would ever want to be a mean, jerk of a person?

I was just watching some TV and the doorbell rang. I opened the door to find my lady neighbor there.

-There are two 50ish year old ladies that live next door (partners we assume) and they've been through some times with my brother and his friends living next door through college and such. There have been parties they have complained about and things like that. I think most people would kind of expect them to be grumpy and mean. Well, when I moved to Denver, I got to know one of them because she has a dog and we'd let them play around a little. She's a really nice lady and I never mind having a quick chat with her. Lately, we haven't really had the dogs play and just haven't talked much at all. -

Anyway, I opened the door and she informed me that our side of the street is getting cleaned tomorrow, so she didn't know when I was leaving in the morning and sometimes they come as early as 7:30. She said they get tickets because they forget, so she just wanted to let me know.

I thought it was so nice! I had absolutely no idea they were cleaning the streets and it would have sucked to get a ticket. I just thought it was really nice for her to go out of her way to let me know. I'm not sure I would have thought to tell my neighbor that.

(If it was Spencer that lived next door to her he probably would have been a jerkface to her and she would have let him get the ticket)

So, I'm just saying being nice is good for everyone! There is no point in just being a sour person.

whattttt

2008-09-30T14:42:00.004-05:00

Why has nobody punched Spencer in the face yet?! That is beyond me. Heidi's mom gave him a little talking to, but seriously, what is wrong with that guy? He is unbelievable. Why does he feel the need to be an asshole to every single person? I would like to meet his parents!

and by 'meet' I mean see them on the show..

Sorry about the outburst, but I can't help myself! That show...ridiculous...

Moving on...

I had a tetanus shot last week.. and goodness.. my arm was really sore! I was completely surprised. I took the shot and didn't think much of it. I went running, played with the dog and all that night, so it definitely got worked and moved, but it was still sore. I couldn't sleep on my arm for a couple nights. Anyway, I was just a bit surprised. I thought sore arms after shots was for wimps... and I am no wimp.

I had a fun weekend and I am so ready for this next weekend to get here. We have visitors! So fun will be had for sure. I am extremely excited for a little hiking action, as well as some k-state football watch party action. Always good times.

Oh and last weekend I did get the creative juices pumping.. I did a couple little projects. One I can't decide if I like how it turned out or not. There's one more thing I want to do with it and then I'll hang it up and decide. The next project will be drawing or painting something I think.. and I am thinking I will try one of the dog, which could be interesting. I've never really tried that before.

One last thing...
These are pretty awesome... and 100 Calories a pack (a pack containing 2)

Okay, well I need to get to work.. I have a lot to do!

I love purses a lot

2008-09-30T12:20:00.002-05:00

I used to have quite an obsession with purses. I have toned it down, but when I see a website with so many fabulous ones, the itch comes back..

check it out and you can even win a free handbag!

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

2008-09-25T14:10:00.002-05:00

I need to get creative again. Since the days of architecture school are over, the creative bug in me hasn't produced much. It needs to come back, so I am going to try to get inspired and create something fantastic..

wish me luck!

I do enjoy me some free stuff..

2008-09-24T21:48:00.004-05:00

So.. it seems like there are many times where I am caught in... a dilemma.. of sorts. A situation where I'm thinking 'Now, how is an adult supposed to respond to this?'. Most of these thoughts seem to arise from an instance where someone is offering to pay for something for me.. or give me something for free.. or something to that extent. I hear people, I've seen it on TV and people have done it to me when I have offered.. the whole refusing to let me pay for something.. are you catching my drift? One thing about me, though, is I don't offer unless I really intend to do whatever it is I offer. I think this is the way everyone should be - maybe they are, maybe they aren't- I don't know.

So that's the problem. It seems like the 'polite' thing to do is to say 'no, no, no' and 'don't do that' when people offer and some people outright refuse for someone to pay for them.

Me, though? If you want to pay, by all means pay!

I think I'm missing something in me. I mean, I do the whole polite thing where I say 'no don't worry about it' or 'really you don't need to do that' or even 'no, no, no', but if you are offering I kind of expect you to win in the end... I will take free things and things getting paid for! Is that bad?!

I definitely just had a situation.. I shall explain.. and it ends with me getting free car work done whenever I need..

I went to get an oil change to the same place I've been a few times before. This time there was a new guy there and he informed he just bought the place about a month ago. So, whatever, I just want my oil changed. I did like the dudes before, they were quite helpful and had done a thing or two for free for me.
Anyway, the guys goes and works on the car, then tells me my battery is starting to corrode, so he says he's going to call around and see how much it would cost for a new battery. He said I should start looking into it, so he's calling around and another guy is cleaning, vacuuming out my car. He calls a few places, lets me know how much it will cost about. He tells me if I pick one up, he'd install it for free.. yadda yadda.

He then says he's going to get my car. So I walk out and I see the guy that had been cleaning it getting picked up by his girlfriend or something. So I wait for like 10 minutes and the owner comes out and says 'well, so I think (whatshisname- we'll call him Joe) left with your keys in his pocket'. So he tells me he's going to call him. I figure it's no big deal - he'll just call his cell phone and the guy will turn around. Well, I can tell he's looking around for his number for a little while, then finally het gets on the phone with this guy's son. I'm figuring Joe doesn't have a cell phone, so great, this is going to take even longer. It turns out, I find out later, that Joe is deaf! So, obviously he doesn't have a cell phone. So the owner has to call his son, who has to call him and communicate in some way. Apparently, Joe didn't go directly home, either. Nobody can get a hold of him.

Finally, the owner, Jeff, decides I can take his car home and then when Joe arrives with my keys he will deliver my car. So, okay, I just wanted to get home. I took his car, drove home, took the dog on a walk.. and kept my cell phone close by. Luckily, my roommate was home or I would have had no way to get into my house, since my house key was with my car keys! I didn't even think about that when I drove home.

I keep thinking it can't take that long for my keys to get back to the car place. Owner Jeff said Joe only lives like 10 minutes away. I make dinner, watch TV and am starting to get a bit nervous about this ordeal. Am I involved in some kind of scheme here? The guy hadn't been in business long.. I just dont' know what's going on..

Finally, Owner Jeff calls to tell me he still hasn't gotten them, but he's staying at the shop until he gets them. I was glad to hear from him again.Eventually, after my dear friend reminds me, I decide to take my spare key so I can atleast have my car and then I can get my keys and car remote later. I called Owner Jeff to inform him of the plan.

Luckily, on the way back to the place my keys get returned and when I get there the whole mess is finally over! Hallelujah! Owner Jeff feels so so so bad and tells me everything will be free for me for now on. What? I thought that might be a little extreme... I mean he gave me the oil change free and maybe he could give me the next one, but he was serious, all work will be free. If I need parts, I will pay for parts, but not labor... ever.

I just don't know if I wasn't mad enough about the whole situation and deserve free things forever or if he is being overly nice. I guess if I had things to do last night I would have been quite a bit more perturbed, but I didn't have anything too big going on. I also guess if I had no way of getting into my house, I would have been a little more angry as well. Hmmm..

Welp, anyway, as thoughts of 'how should an adult respond to this?' went through my head, I just told him that was really nice of him and he didn't really need to do that... but as I mentioned at the beginning, I am not going to turn down free things!

2008-09-23T17:26:00.003-05:00

So, I really need to get my life in order here! Lately, I feel like it's been a mess. Ever since I ran the 1/2 marathon, the working out hasn't been as much of a priority as it needs to be. The eating hasn't been all that healthy either. I know I was out of town a lot and that probably has a bit to do with it. It hasn't helped me feel like I have my money situation under control either. The fun things keep rolling in, too.. fun things that require paying ahead, so I feel like I'm writing checks left and right.. and I would like it to stop! I would like a month of nothing special going on. I'm sure when that month hits I will be complaining of boredom, but at least I could save some money!

So there's the rant for the moment.. and this week I have started kicking it in gear with making the changes. I went grocery shopping Sunday and did my very best to get healthy things to eat. I love, love one of the grocery stores near me. The produce is super cheap, as well as organic, so it's great. I stopped there first, then went to the usual grocery store to pick up the other essentials.

I've also marked down the workout plan for the week.

I'm excited for fall, yet fall means the days are getting shorter. I absolutely hate my after-work-outside-fun being rushed.. and then when winter hits, it's dark before I even leave work. MISERABLE. Miserable for me and the dog...

October is going to be another busy one, but not in the same way and I'm very much looking forward to it. Two of the weekends I will have visitors and one weekend the Denver K-State crew is driving back to the ol' Alma mater for some football and friends.

Once October is over, we're on to snowboarding season! The fun never really ends I guess! Which is nice - I guess one day fun trips and such will not be so easy and fun, so I should enjoy them while they're flowing, right?

Fall is here!

2008-09-23T10:09:00.002-05:00

Yay for fall being here! The leaves are changing on the trees. It's cooling down, but it could be cooler... Everyone says fall is so short in Colorado, so I am going to have to enjoy every second of it. This is what I heard last year, but I didn't think it was too terribly short. I guess in the mountains it's a pretty quick season. You don't have a big window to drive around and look at fall in the mountains.

Last year, I didn't make it up to the mountains, but this year my lovely friend Laura is visiting at what I think should be about prime time for some mountain/fall action. Maybe, we will grab a pumpkin spice latte (which I have never tried but am hearing an awful lot about), take the pup and we'll head out to the mountains...

I'm looking forward to the weekend (is it only Tuesday...?? ahh!).

Last weekend in Des Moines was great fun. It was short, but great to see the family and other people I haven't seen in quite awhile. The group at the wedding was fantastic and we had a great time celebrating the marriage!

paranoid dog

2008-09-19T10:14:00.003-05:00

You would think my dog watches Law & Order all day.. or CSI.. or any of those other crime shows.

She's paranoid! She always thinks someone is breaking in or something. I can never take her barks seriously.

Last night, both the roommates were out of town - already at where I'm going today - and Miss Mia was on super guard. It was ridiculous. So of course, it kind of creeps me out that she's hearing things, even though I know she does this. The worst is when I'm in the shower, so I can't hear anything, but she starts going off barking. I don't like that one bit!

We made it through the night, though. Haha.. I had to keep the TV on in my room until she fell asleep because she kept acting like she was hearing things... and would never settle down otherwise.

Anywhoo.. one other thing..
I ordered a cool little Northface jacket that was super on sale earlier this week and it already came in the mail! Fabulous. I love it. It has those thumb holes so that the sleeves stay down all the way and I'm obsessed with it..teeheee

Football fun

2008-09-18T09:50:00.004-05:00

Well, the K-State game last night was not so good... but the watch party was a good time. I saw quite a few familiar faces and, as usual, did more talking than watching the game. woops. I watched the first half for the most part, but the second half only received glances every now and then.

They raffled off some prizes.. one being 2 tickets to the Coors suite for the KSU/CU game... and guess who won them!?

ME!

I think that is quite possibly the first raffle prize I have ever won. It was exciting. A friend and I were jokingly both staring at my raffle ticket, hoping it was a winner, and surprisingly, it was! Unfortunately, it's only 2 tickets and I have 3 friends coming in town. We'll have to figure out how we're going to do it.. maybe I can beg for 2 more tickets when I talk to the Coors guy who is supposed to call me..? It was also a little ironic that I paid for the tickets we had already bought for the game last night. A friend had bought them and I had given him a check for them last night. I will most likely just keep the ticket I bought, so we can go back and forth to the suite, unless someone needs a ticket and then I will gladly sell it and get my $$$ back.

This weekend, I'm going out of town yet again. I had two weekends in town and now I'm back out. Frontier Airlines has gotten a lot of business from me in the past month and a half! I am flying to Kansas City and then my parents are driving through on the way to Des Moines and picking me up to take me there so we can attend a wedding. I'm pretty sure it will be a fun time! My whole family will be there - both parents and both brothers, so it will be nice to hang out with everyone again.

I have to miss another wedding though because they're on the same day :( One of my friends from my sorority is getting married, so I'm missing out on that which is a bummer!

flickr photo

2008-09-16T10:28:00.003-05:00

I had an exciting little email in my inbox today...

"Hi Mackenzie, I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the fifth edition of our Schmap Prague Guide, to be published mid-October 2008...."

So, it's only shortlisted, but that's kind of fun that they were browsing around my pictures. The picture really isn't anything fabulous. I definitely would not have guessed it was this one, but if it ends up getting published then my name will be under it. The exciting start to my career in photography ( just kidding!).

It does remind me I need to start adding to my flickr account again! And start taking more photos...

2008-09-12T11:01:00.004-05:00

It's such a strange feeling.. it happens once a year.. and you realize it's September 11th. I don't count down to the day in any way, it just happens all of a sudden when I look at the date and realize.. 'wow, today's the day'. I don't know what to do with myself on September 11th. I read articles and watch the news. I tear up and remember how on that day so many people died and so many brave people died saving other people. I guess the most important thing to do is remember.

I stopped by www.pinkisthenewblog.com and they listed every single person that was killed that day. Wow.. you forget how many people. I scrolled and scrolled and was reminded how many people there were.

I was far away in Kansas sitting in my high school. I can only imagine if I had been in New York City.. there would be much stronger memories of the day.

Anyway, it's the day after, but I'm still thinking about it and it's important to take a moment to remember.

fall fall fall

2008-09-10T13:34:00.005-05:00

Wow! I was just reading an article and saw that the Stand Up 2 Cancer deal has raised more than 100 million dollars!! That's awesome.. and it's still counting. Yay for you if you helped!

Just thought I'd give an update on that.

Lately, I have had this shopping itch and it won't go away! I'm trying to stop myself. I know it's this fall weather that is coming around and I keep catching glances of cute, new fall outfits online. I really haven't been shopping in quite awhile. Instead, I've been spending money elsewhere, no doubt about that. I now have my snowboard, boots and bindings... as well as two tickets to 2 different K-State football games... so those are the recent purchases..

I have a feeling my next paycheck I'm a goner... you can find me at the mall..
The only thing that will save me is pure lazyness to go shopping or busyness.. so we shall see.

With these football ticket purchases, I'm getting way excited for some good tailgating. For the CU/K-State game I have some friends coming into town and we plan on meeting up with a bunch of other K-Staters for a fun tailgate. Last weekend we gathered at our 'watch party' bar where they are hooking us up with great beer deals and free food! I couldn't ask for more. Of course, I spend more time chatting, drinking and eating than really watching the game, but I check in and cheer when everyone else does. I just like seeing all the familiar faces and meeting new K-State grads that have recently moved out to the great city of Denver.

2008-09-05T16:16:00.002-05:00

The dog is at dog-topia today.. so hopefully I have a worn out puppy tonight... because I am worn out!

P.S.

2008-09-04T14:07:00.002-05:00

I loooooooove Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.

check 'em out

Stand Up To Cancer

2008-09-04T10:41:00.003-05:00

I've been hearing a lot about Stand Up To Cancer lately. There's a TV special on ABC, NBC and CBS for an hour at the same time, commercial free, on all of the channels on Friday night 8PM ET.
I think that's pretty awesome. There's going to be all kinds of celebrities there to help raise funds and all that jazz.

Click on the picture and it should take you there.

Here's the link as well http://su2c.standup2cancer.org/theshow.
You can donate any amount there.. and there is all kinds of info and cool things going on through the website

I donated and if I feel like balling my eyes out on Friday then I will watch... because any time I watch any kind of special on cancer I cry... a lot.

TV season

2008-09-03T10:04:00.003-05:00

Can we get some shows about poor people? Why are all the shows about rich people... it's fun for a little bit, but come on..

The Hills, Gossip Girl, 90210, this new show "Privileged", which I really don't know what it's about, but the name hints A LITTLE. I believe that in Lipstick Jungle they are loaded although I've never watched that either.

I think a show would be interesting about poor twentysomethings - some 'working girl' shows - ACTUAL working girl shows.. where they actually have limited funds.. I think a show could go places with that! I mean then some of them could go from poor to rich... when they live out my dream and marry a rich man.. I mean that's a 3 year span for the show right there.. then it can develop into a show about rich people if it must.

Anyway.. just my thoughts on that...

Moving on to September

2008-09-02T16:34:00.004-05:00

Well, I had a great Labor Day weekend. We had a perfect weekend in Minnesota filled with relaxation, drinking and some fun adventures (i.e. running out of gas on the boat)... leaving me with a tan and good memories.

The group was all fun.. no drama..

I skied for the first time in a long time, as well as tubed. I can't believe how long it has been since I have been to a lake - probably 5 years! Weird. We did some kayaking as well, which was an adventure in itself. When you're kayaking with the wind across the lake, it is safe to say the way back is going to be ROUGH. The arms got quite the work out. We pulled an all-nighter Sunday night, as we had a 2 hour drive to Fargo to catch our plane at 6:30 am. So we drank and stayed up all night... which doesn't leave you feeling the best at about 5:30 am. The last night, though, as we were waiting for the time to leave to approach, we found ourselves laying out on the dock looking up at the very starry sky and singing anything and everything that popped up in our heads. Hopefully, we gave some entertainment to those across the lake. It was a grand time.

Getting back so early on Monday, gave me all day to recover. I laid around all day... luckily after Mia relaxed, she realized she was pretty tired, too. So we laid on the couch, sleeping and watching Law and Order all day.. pretty awesome.

Now, back at work where I keep forgetting it is Tuesday.. which is nice when you remember. The emails have already started to flow for this coming weekend...haha... K-State football watch party to look forward to!

At lunch, I visited one of 2 big sales I plan on visiting this week to get the snowboard gear covered. I got some sunglasses for snowboarding, long underwear and new gloves.. I think the second sale I visit will be a good place to get my bindings and boots for my snowboard.. for hopefully really good prices.

The weather today is quite fitting, for the day after Labor Day... which signifies the end of summer. Today is a pretty cool day, reminding me of Fall... which I LOVE.

I had a wonderful summer and now I'm ready to welcome Fall... and I hope Denver gives me a long one this year..

the panic before the weekend...

2008-08-28T11:01:00.002-05:00

Well.. I'm not very inspired to post much lately.
I'm trying to keep up with the DNC, especially since it is going on here in Denver. I'm also one of those Independents they keep talking about at the DNC that they are trying to sway. So I will be watching next weeks Republican National Convention as well.

Anywhooo, my laptop adapter cord died I think, so today I'm trying to deal with that and how to get a new one, so my laptop isn't dead forever.

I'm going out of town for Labor Day weekend to Minnesota to a friend's lake house with a bunch of friends. It should be a great time. I called Mia's usual doggy daycare/boarding place on Tuesday to find out that it's full for the weekend. I should have known to call earlier. So that sent me into a bit of a panic because going to a new place for boarding seems to usually require a trial day with the dog or an interview and, really, I just don't have time this week to run around and do that. Also, her shots are a little out of date, so she can't have a trial day or interview unless her shots are up to date, which I did make an appointment for her shots to be done today. Getting them done today, Thursday, after work doesn't leave much time for interview/trial day, so I was a bit stressed about this on Tuesday. I also had a lovely gift certificate my friends gave me for my bday to dog-topia- Mia's usual place, so I was bummed I'd have to pay loads of money for the weekend.
I found a place that sounded pretty good and set up an interview on Friday at 9 am.. what an inconvenient time.. but what are you going to do.

Well... to sum it up and end the rambling, the lovely Ben has agreed to watch an extra dog this weekend. He's saving me big time. I was also worried about leaving Mia in a strange place, so this made me feel much better. She'll get to spend the weekend with her bff Ema. My brother will be in town and can watch her Friday night and Saturday morning, but then he has a busy weekend, so he'll drop her off Saturday over at Ema's for the rest of the weekend. I hope she's a good dog for them!

So tonight I will be getting shots for the dog and packing for Minnesota, which I'm excited to be packing some sweats and sweatshirts for the cool evenings there... This weekend should consist of playing around all day in my swimsuit and on dirt bikes and then evenings in sweats around the bonfire. Sounds pretty awesome to me.

I think I need a new book, too.. so maybe a trip to Barnes & Noble with my gift card.

And lastly, I'm super excited about a snowboard I just bought!! I've been keeping my eye on it and I thought it disappeared on the website yesterday, which made me SO SAD since it's a good board, 40% off and short enough for little me. So I finally found it again on the website and decided I should probably buy it, since I would be really sad if I missed it. Sniagrab for Sports Authority (their big sale) starts this weekend and goes on for awhile, so hopefully I can get prettty cheap bindings and boots from them.
So here it is:

time to breathe!

2008-08-21T09:47:00.002-05:00

I went on a run with the dog last night and it was a gorgeous evening! We ended up running to Wash Park and it was just one of those scenes that was so perfect. The weather was absolutely perfect, the sun was setting behind the mountains, the light was shining through the trees in the park and hitting the lake in the park. The bustle of the park with people running, biking, playing volleyball, playing with their dogs, playing rugby was going on all around me. To top it off there was a bag pipe (band? group? whatever..) playing in the background. It was a little surreal.. Wash Park is so pretty, especially when you are there at just the right time like last night.

So we ended up going on a bit of a long run - the dog and I - a long run for her, but since it wasn't hot out she managed just fine.

This week I've just been trying to get back in the groove of running.. I took some time off and with all of the weekends out of town, there hasn't been a whole lot of exercising... eating, yes, but exercise, no.

It's been nice not having much going on this week and I'm home this weekend! Just for one weekend, though, then out of town for labor day. Labor day weekend will be a blast - Minnesota at the lake with all the friends from Denver... it will be so fun.

Last weekend in Oklahoma City to see the family was really fun. We had a great time hanging out with everyone and seeing the cousins' kids, too. The Big Brothers Big Sisters event we went to was really nice and it was great to see my grandfather honored. I met one of his oldest friends and heard some stories of when they were lawyers up against each other in court. My grandpa is pretty amazing, so it's really fun to hear those stories!

It was a short weekend and I got back to Denver on Sunday with time to relax, which is always good. I finally was able to go to the grocery store and get some food, since I have been scraping by for the past few weeks - with money as well as constant busyness.

Well, just a random update. I will try to have some better posts at some point! Hope everyone has had a good week.

and another out of town weekend! and I love the olympics...

2008-08-15T12:08:00.006-05:00

Well, tonight I'm off on my third of 5 Frontier round trip flights that all happen within the span of less than 2 months.

This time to Oklahoma City where I will be seeing a lot of family! Our whole family on this side hasn't been all together in a VERY long time. There are some new kiddos I haven't met yet, too. Our grandfather is getting a big award from Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Oklahoma City on Saturday, so we are all going to cheer him on. It's going to be a short weekend, but it will be so nice to see everyone - Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers and Parents too!

Mia will be staying with her puggle boyfriend, Marvin, for the weekend, so I'm sure she will have a great time. They help me out SO much with her... maybe I should show up with a present for Marvin this time...hmmmm... maybe lunch time will be a Target run.

The last weekend trip to KC was a great time! I never really said anything about it, but it was so great to see and hang out with the AXO girls. We have so much fun together... although they are all starting to get married- which is just crazy how it seems to happen at the same time for a lot of people!
I must say, I would maybe start to go a little on the crazy side if I lived in Kansas, as everyone I know is in a relationship there...

The weekend was fun, but also very quick! It was fun to be back in Kansas and see familiar faces around. Friday night we went out for a couple drinks.. saw atleast one familiar face, Saturday night after the reception saw quite a few K-State faces, Sunday on the plaza I spotted a familiar face as well. I'm so not used to that in Denver, but it would be nice!

In more notes..
I have been loving the olympics more than I thought I would. I do live with guys that are all about sports, watching sports, talking about sports, playing sports..etc. so maybe I have watched more because of that. It's just so fun to watch. Although, I wish coverage was a bit different. With gymnastics, I would really like to see more than 2 Russians, 2 Chinese and the Americans perform (I'm pretty sure there are more than that competing...but we WOULDN'T KNOW BECAUSE THEY DON'T SHOW THEM). Sorry.. outburst..

Anyway, obviously I do like watching the Americans.. I get so tense watching them in gymnastics. I'm sure everyone can imagine how nervous you'd be, but maybe me being an
ex-gymnast adds to it a little. I can't take my eyes off the screen when they're going!

So I have been staying up late watching the olympics and then this morning was a rainy morning...and getting out of bed was ROUGH. I do love me some rainy days every now and then, though.. so no complaints.

2008-08-12T16:42:00.002-05:00

All I want to do is go on a run.. and was so ready to hit the park after work yesterday.. but no. A surprise deadline. Why they feel the need to surprise me with deadlines is beyond me.. seriously. And no matter how many times I tell them "I have to completely redo this when you guys make changes" it still doesn't process. So at 2 pm I am told to 'print off' these renderings, but 'it needs the changes'.. So that went from 'print off' to 'completely rerender' in 5 words... at 2 pm for a meeting they are leaving for the next day at 7 am! What the F!?

So, not only was it a Monday, but I had to work 11-12 hours. MIS_ER_ABLE
And it wouldn't be quite so mis_er_able if when I went into work yesterday I knew that I'd be working that evening, but it has to be a surprise.. almost every time..

So I am busting out of here at 5:00 and going to the park and running..

shoes?

2008-08-11T11:49:00.003-05:00

I may or may not have worn two different shoes to work today.

Still drunk from the wedding Saturday night? That'd be a good excuse..

One thing I've learned.. these two pairs of shoes are exactly the same height.

So yeah, I guess I'm a little tired from the weekend's festivities and with clothes and shoes still in the suitcase, I just reached and grabbed the first two heels I saw out of my suitcase. Turns out I had multiple pairs of shoes in there. So I was rounding up the dog and hopped in the car, then on the walk into work I looked down and realized...

The next weekend excursion...

2008-08-08T10:22:00.003-05:00

Excursion.. I remember the first time I used that word. I wrote a fun little letter to my friend and used a thesaurus to use bigger words than I normally would to write the letter. Fun stuff. That's the only word I remember using.

That also makes me think of the show Dawson's Creek... if anyone used to be a fan, I know I was. They used ridiculously big words when they talked to each other.. in high school.

ANYWAYS..
I'm taking off for Kansas City this afternoon. One of my roommates in college is getting married!!! I'm pretty sure this is going to be a fun time. I'm excited to hang out in KC, too! I think it's weird how I know so little about Kansas City. I grew up in Wichita and went to school at K-State, but I rarely spent time in KC. I know the plaza area a little, but that's about it. I get to see some people I haven't seen in awhile..so yay!

I'm sad to be leaving my pup again though :(
That's the hard thing about going out of town so much.. I feel bad and I have to figure out who is going to be watching her.

We booked our flight to Minnesota to go to a friend's lake house over labor day weekend. It's going to be so fun! I am going out of town way too much.. it is RE-DIC. Oh well. I'll be broke and stay in town for a long time after this next month and a half.

Next Thursday I get to attend the Broncos Cheerleaders Calendar Release Party.. wahoo! In support of my Broncos Cheerleader friend. We like to brag for her..haha..since she doesn't. Anyways, free beer... maybe some football players? I don't know.. we shall see..

the San Fran trip

2008-08-07T13:19:00.008-05:00

So.. I just don't even know how to sum up the weekend, so I've been putting it off!
It was a really good weekend in San Francisco! Of course everything revolved around us running the 1/2 marathon on Sunday, so we tried to be careful about how much we walked and what we ate - okay I lied not so much what we ate.. haha. I did stay away from dairy, because I was afraid that helped in my stomach issues I have after I run. We chowed down on pizza, Ghirardelli chocolate and whatever else we felt like eating.. The run was a fantastic excuse to eat as much carbs as possible and being in San Francisco, I was all about the sourdough bread.

So Friday morning we all drowsily made our way to Allison's at 5:30 to meet and leave for the airport. The flight took off at 7:15 am. Luckily, we got a ride to the airport from Sarah's new man, so that cut out some time that we would have had to spend on parking and taking the shuttle to the terminal and all that jazz.

We landed in San Fran at like 8:45, but I think it was like 10:00 by the time we got to our hotel. We couldn't check in yet, so we dropped our bags off with the dude at the front and meandered around town, made our way to the Marathon Expo and picked up our race numbers, free shirts (that were really cool - dry fit material) and much more free samples of stuff. That area was out a little ways on a pier that's not so touristy and we found a nice place where we had a CHEAP lunch, so that was good. We headed back to the hotel to check-in, we all collapsed on the bed, the tired from getting up so early hitting us, then we headed back out. This time we asked the dude at the front where a good place to go would be. He told us an area, Fillmore St., that would really give us the character of the city. So we headed there by bus, hoping the guy wasn't delusional and that it really was a cool area. It was a pretty cool street - we later found out the 'Painted Ladies' weren't too far from there, but we didn't know it at the time and never saw them. We found a place to eat there - very cool place - where you could chill forever. Luckily, the three of us are similar travelers and didn't mind sitting back and relaxing and talking.. not too hurried to move on. We had two drinks that night.. in celebration of my birthday on Saturday - let me tell ya, we got wild.

Not so much.. we were exhausted from the early morning still.

Saturday, we headed out to the Wharf, took a duck tour (so touristy - love it), went to Ghirardelli Square.. basically hung out with the millions of tourists that take over the city. We also did some shopping, as we were staying in Union Square and there are stores all around! So we did some shopping - H&M! and then we headed over to one of our favorite Brits' hotel! She kinda spurred the whole San Francisco trip in the first place since we knew she'd be visiting from England. So after some time we met up with her and headed to dinner. We found the first Italian place we could find and headed in. We didn't really look at the menu.. or the prices first.. woops. It was a little on the fancy side, but we got our carbs and since it was fancy, the meal was smaller, which means it was the right size portion you actually need! so we weren't stuffed, but just right, afterwards. We had to get some sleep, so we couldn't party it up with the Brits, so we said our goodbyes, took a pic and parted ways.

RACE DAY!!!! We got up bright and early again.. about 5:30... were on our way about 6:15 to the Ferry Building... got on a shuttle bus to take us to our starting point (since we did the second 1/2 marathon). Our starting point was in Golden Gate Park - we got quite a tour on the bus.. the ride was quite long.. probably had to do with the streets blocked off for the marathon. We made it to the park and it was SO COLD.. we were pretty close to the water and the breeze was COLD. The sky was overcast, which turned out to be quite nice for the run, but cold for the waiting.

San Francisco does not get hot - so weird that the highs were in the 60's in August... I didn't know this until I started checking out the temp for our trip.

So we had to wait around for over an hour before starting the race. The line for the porta-potties was great. There were about 20 porta-potties and, obviously, everyone wants to go to the bathroom before running for hours, so the line was LONG. A guy that was helping organize the race was walking around yelling for people to use the bushes if they could.. and he had to keep saying 'seriously' because people would just start laughing...

So, now, to the race. We were waiting in the crowd and everyone just started cheering and clapping and before we knew it we were starting. So, you start off pretty freakin' slow since there are so many people around. Then it thins out and you have to weave your way through. The good part is it's pretty distracting and the first few miles go really fast.

Sarah and I ran the whole way together, which was awesome. I think I would have slowed down quite a bit at one point if I wasn't trying to keep up with Miss Speedy..haha..

We ran through golden gate park for 6 miles, then we were out on the streets of San Francisco. There were hills, but they were pretty short, so it wasn't too killer, although I could feel the quads getting tight by the time we were out of the park. While we were in Golden Gate Park, we got to run past the de Young Museum.... which is neat to an Architect :) so that was kind of exciting, and again, distracting.

Then we ran down Haight, which also gives you plenty to look at. There were some big downhills on this street, one being really steep. It was weird to run down, not knowing how fast I should let myself go.

One of the funny things we noticed was at the cross streets that were blocked off, they had motorcycle guys/ladies that were the 'guards'. It was funny - not police officers (there were some), but most cross streets were leather clad folks and they were cheering us all on..

The stations for water, electrolytes and gel were pretty awesome and I think ended up helping me a lot. The first water stop after we started, had all these things, but then had a guy dressed as the devil and holding a sign for beer and they had a table set up with little dixie cups of beer. Pretty humorous.

I found this pic on flickr... from the race

So, we made it through the race, the last mile definitely being the longest/worst. We finished in 2:07:24... which is like 9:44 minute miles.. Not too shabby.

Our legs felt so weird afterwards! We collected our free food, headed to get our sweats bags, found the free massage tent and met up with Allison! We all made it!!

It was pretty fun! I think we all said we'd do it again, too.
Also, I think it was pretty huge that we trained in Denver at 5,280 ft and went down to sea level for the run. It's so much easier on the lungs, it's amazing. I'm not sure I'd want to run one in Denver, I think I'll just keep traveling around to new cities, with fun, new stuff to look at!

pheeeeeeewww. that was long!

me.. running...

Duck Tours!

looking oh so good after 13.1 miles

And after the race.. we had time to shower but that was all.. we had to check out, so we spent a good amount of time chilling at this park..

little red corvette

2008-08-05T11:08:00.004-05:00

So my friend won a corvette. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?!?!? He had a bottle of Mountain Dew and entered the little code from the cap on the Mountain Dew website and he won a corvette! They've sent him the affidavit.. however you spell that. I'M SO JEALOUS. Who does that!? Who wins a corvette from a bottle cap..makes you never want to throw one of those bottles away again without entering that code in..

I will post a bit later about the weekend and the RACE. I survived and made it through. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It was kinda fun!
More later! :)

list..

2008-07-29T17:51:00.006-05:00

I just ate a very large, filling cookie.. UGH.. I'm full! I can't turn down sweets..

To Do Sometime Before I Leave:
_Add more songs to RUNNING playlist on ipod -check
_Write down where to pick up 1/2 marathon info -check
_Print off hotel and marathon important info/confirmation numbers -check
_Write down few ideas of places that are must-sees while in San Fran
_Pack Jackets and Jeans... the highs are about 60 degrees!
_Charge camera batteries
_Pack all chargers - phone, ipod, camera
_Do a load of laundry - check
_Figure out what I will wear for the run!

Thursday
_Pick up dress from alterations place - might be pricey..eek! -check
_Finish a lot of stuff at work..ugh

Friday
_Meet at Allison's at 5:15 am - woohoo!

OH YEAH! Exciting news!! H&M is around the corner from our hotel !!!!! Good and Bad at the same time...

Not thrilled

2008-07-29T16:32:00.003-05:00

Not thrilled that I just got referred to as part of the marketing, graphics, interiors area. Not thrilled at all. I went to Architecture school. Just because I'm a female apparently I'm being put into this category at work...

This is exactly why I don't want to stay here long... because that is the direction I will be made to go. I could see that from the beginning when looking at the one other female in the office with an Architecture degree. There's nothing wrong with that area, but I didn't go through 5 years of grueling school for that.. no sirree..

UGH. Not happy at the moment.

Anyways, looking to the weekend.. where I will be freely wondering around San Francisco..
List time...

_Add to playlist on ipod (that apparently we're not supposed to use?!) for the run
_Don't forget to pack ipod charger

Hmmm... that's really the most important thing I can think of right now.. Must have ipod for the run! Apparently, they have started banning them in marathons. F THAT. I better be able to use it...one part of the website says they ask if you use them to only put one earphone in... I guess I can do that

----The girl next to me at work that works on GRAPHICS with me, just got off the phone with the client I did the renderings for last week and he just called to tell us that everything looked fabulous and had lots of comments on how great everything looked...so that's nice!

I lied

2008-07-28T12:23:00.002-05:00

I totally lied! I'm getting nervous for this 1/2 marathon!

Well, I wouldn't be so nervous, except my run yesterday turned out to be pretty worthless. I had a soccer game Saturday and that left me more sore and more worn out than I thought it would. So the legs were sore from that yesterday and I decided to run at noon, when it was 90 degrees outside. I did not last long. I didn't want to push myself and make myself feel totally awful, so I had to run/walk for some of it. Not cool at all. If I would have gotten an 8 mile in like planned, I would feel better. Now I'm going to try to get a long one in after work, which it just never seems to feel as good when I go after work. Mornings have been awesome for me to run in, but I really just want to get this run in and don't want to put it off until the morning.

Other than the failed run, the weekend went pretty well. It was relaxing. I didn't do a whole lot. Had a relaxing happy hour on Friday for a few hours after work. I love happy hour on Friday!

I saw Batman on Saturday night and it was really good! I didn't know how I'd feel about it and at one point in the movie I got a little sick of all the crazy action going on. We were also in the third row at the IMAX so it was CLOSE to say the least. The movie started and the sound was off on timing- you heard what was happing before it happened and it was so confusing! I didn't realize that was what was happening for awhile.. I just thought I was confused....but alas everyone started booing and they turned off the movie. Employees came down as we were waiting - to explain how they had to fix it and how it would take 10 to 15 minutes, then another guy to say it'd be on in a minute. The crowd was really lively and funny. Each time someone came to tell us what was going on, the crowd cheered when they were done. One guy would yell 'FREE NACHOS!'. It was pretty entertaining.

The 10:20 show was sold out and then there was a 1:20am show after us. Crazy! It's not opening weekend, but it was still crazy.

In puppy dog news, we've started leaving Mia out for an hour or two at a time if we're all going to be gone. She handles it fine.. we could probably leave her out longer, but we'll get to that at some point. She loves looking out the window. loves it. We have a chair set up by the dining room window, so she can look out and when we're gone it seems like she just sits at the window most of the time. It's so so cute, when I get home and her little head is sitting in the window, waiting. It always takes her minute to see if it's me walking up to the door, so I always wave and when she figures it out she jumps down and waits for me to open the door. SO cute.

music love

2008-07-24T11:47:00.002-05:00

Last night, we saw Matt Nathanson perform for a private showing. We weren't supposed to be there, but we got in and it was GREAT. The guy is great. Everyone should see him live. He has a great voice, great music and makes such a great connection with the audience. The little venue it was at was perfect for this kind of a thing. Everyone got to sit up pretty close to him and throughout the show he talks to people and gets the crowd excited. He could hear people being silly and laughing and would point them out and say something back to them.

I would have needed a few more drinks before I would start acting silly/loud enough for him to notice me. I was sitting front and center, though, which was pretty awesome. I got some pics and some videos of him performing, so I'll have to put them on here at some point.

This was the second time I have seen him perform and I'm pretty sure after every show he does he goes out and talks, signs autographs and takes pictures with every single person who wants to see him.
We waited in line so we could get a pic and have a short conversation with him. I got 'Mokies. Bernal Heights' written on my forearm in permanent marker by him. Apparently, it's a great sushi place. I told him I'd be making a visit to San Fran for the 1/2 marathon and that's what I got. So here I am at work with a nice little note written on my arm.

So, yeah, we weren't supposed to be there, as I mentioned. We heard he was going to be here from an email I got on Tuesday and I clicked on a link that took us to the radio station's page to fill out a form and become a 'panel member'. We filled out and figured that's all we had to do. Well, we got there and it turns out that last week they had a drawing of the panel members and whoever was drawn got an email to come. So the email I got was from Matt's email list and was a bit misleading! We had to wait around the door for awhile, but there were plenty of no shows, so we got in without a problem... so it was free and VIP.

Work is killing me..

2008-07-22T17:51:00.005-05:00

I had a super fun, super exhausting weekend and now I am SUPER busy at work. That's a lot of supers to deal with at one time.. I know..

With a birthday celebration that got a bit out of control on Friday night and the weekend long Mile High Music Festival, my weekend was pretty packed full of fun. I took the dog to get boarded for the weekend on Saturday morning since the festival pretty much consumed 14 hours straight on both Saturday and Sunday.

With all of that going on, I haven't gotten a run in now in about 4 days. Not good. The 1/2 marathon is in less than 2 weeks! Tonight I am getting one in, although it doesn't appear that I will be getting out of work at 5:00...ugh! I am just sitting here waiting for the computer to render up a model I have built...and it is going SLOOOW. There has been a deadline like every other freakin' day and it is driving me mad. These renderings are for a public meeting for the community of the city to come to and look at and decide how they feel towards the project. Also, they're for some press release. So it is kinda cool that everyone will be looking at them, but they need to be a good representation, too, so kinda scary.

Anyways, back to the running... I'm not too worried about the 1/2 marathon. I've been doing really well on my training..except for this lull, which I saw coming. I don't have any big plans for this weekend, so it shouldn't be a problem fitting a relatively long run in - not too long though because I'm supposed to take it a bit easier the weekend before the big one.

Well, gotta go and hopefully finish up this stuff so I can get out of here!
I'll post some pics soon

country music, you always get me reflecting on life..

2008-07-17T16:23:00.004-05:00

I've been listening to a lot of country music lately.
Country music always gets me in a different way than other music. It's about life.. and always gets me thinking about life.

"These are my people" by Rodney Atkins... love it. This will take you to his MySpace page for you to listen.. I can't just write the lyrics - it's not the same!

The stage I'm at in life - along with all of my friends - is pretty interesting! It's hard to take a step back from your own life - troubles and stresses- and just look at the picture.
Here I am in Denver, surrounded by people from pretty much the same area of the U.S. - Kansas and surrounding states...most with some sort of tie to Kansas - school, family... something. It's interesting how that happens. Someone knows someone from home or school and introduces new friends into the picture.. and something clicks when we're hanging out.

Part of me is so looking forward to football season because it is so fun to go to our Kansas State bar and be surrounded by K-Staters... many of them familiar from school, even if I don't personally know them.

Not only are so many of us from the same area, more or less, but we're at this same stage in life. We just got dumped into the real world with these real jobs and we're really just trying to figure out what to do with ourselves! If someone at my age has it all figured out, then that's congratulations... but I don't! All being in a relatively new city to us, we get excited to try new things, go to new places, eat at new restaurants and it's so fun. You can't beat it.
We all have different things going on - job stresses, money stresses, time stresses, relationship stresses- and you get so wrapped up in them...it's just interesting to step back and look at the greatness of it. Making our way, finding out we're able to get through it and figure it out and come out on the other end.

2008-07-16T17:38:00.001-05:00

I've been a computer rendering maniac lately! Here's the latest...

ouch

2008-07-14T17:01:00.002-05:00

I am in pain from the weekend.. My body hurts. 10 miles ran on Saturday and a full day hike on Sunday leaves me a little sore and it is hard to sit at my desk at work all day.

Lots to do this week...

-Unpacking more - this is going to take awhile.

-Grocery store so I have something to bring to work for lunch.

-Call hotel in San Francisco and beg to have a late checkout on Sunday after our race. If I don't have somewhere to relax after the race, I don't know what I'm going to do.

-Get pictures developed (yes, developed - such a rare thing these days!)

-Make a doctor appointment - these long runs are doing something to my intestines... hence second bullet point

2008-07-09T10:46:00.002-05:00

Things are sloooooowly coming together around the house. It is pretty hard to fit in a workout, dog play time and unpacking and organizing all after work. The idea that has crossed my mind is to get the workout in BEFORE work. I might actually force myself up early one of the days this week. It would be a good habit to get into..

I definitely need to get running - I didn't do any running this last weekend, so I need to push myself this week. I'm not sure when I'm going to get the long run in this weekend either! I have a soccer game on Saturday and then we're going on a long hike on Sunday. I guess I'll just squeeze it in before one of those.

I am super excited for the hike, though. I love getting out to the mountains. I've been seeing some pictures from other peoples' hikes and I've been aching to get out there.

A quick tidbit - Mia has been sweetly waiting for me to wake up the last few mornings. Adorable. She's the sweetest in the mornings - she's all about cuddling.

3 days non-stop

2008-07-07T10:49:00.004-05:00

Looking back on the weekend, it's hard to believe I did everything I did in 3 days! It was a full weekend.

Thursday night we headed out for dinner on 16th street at Rock Bottom Brewery - which was delicious, then headed to LODO. Sports Column on Thursday night is the place to be, as it is $5 to get in and then $1 you-call-its... Well, since nobody had work on Friday, the place was pretty popular and there was a loooong line winding outside of the bar. We decided to wait - it was moving fairly quickly. We headed up to the the rooftop and spent the rest of the evening there. After we made it home, there was after hours with Mia...she gets lots of play time sometimes at 2 am.

Friday we eventually got up and around and got to Wash Park at about the same time as the rest of Denver. Well, it wasn't that crowded, but spots that had trees for shade were quickly getting taken. We ended up with a nice spot and started to set up the food table, volleyball net and ladder golf alongside another group doing about the same.

The day was perfect.. lots of fun in the sun, drinking, eating and hanging out with friends. Our plans to go elsewhere to watch fireworks faded as it started getting darker and we were still chilling at our spot.. a little too lazy to start packing up everything. There was an orchestra that played on a stage set up near us and then we watched some fireworks over the trees that were being shot off at the Denver Country Club.

We finally packed up, headed home and passed out. Mia was so worn out that she probably would have slept until noon on Saturday, but I had to get up and get ready for the big move. I missed the opportunity to sleep in! It was very hard to get out of bed before my dog did.

Then the moving began. It went pretty smoothly. I had the help of 4 strong guys and all the heavy furniture was out and in the UHaul relatively quickly. We stopped at the Spicy Pickle, I bought them some lunch and we headed over to the new place to unload. There was some furniture shuffling going on since I added two whole couches and another table to the mix.

The Uhaul basically had all the heavy furniture, but I still had stuff at the apartment. So I had to bring probably 4 more loads in my car over throughout the weekend. I did a lot of heavy lifting up and down 3 floors.. I got a workout for sure.

Now, the place is a mess. Mia is currently sitting in her kennel surrounded by boxes.. poor thing. She's a little confused as to what is going on, but she's not complaining because she LOVES Uncle Jeff.. who she now lives with. I'm going to have to get used to Sportscenter on the TV 24/7 now compared to Law & Order on 24/7 from the past year..

pack attack

2008-07-02T11:55:00.004-05:00

Well.. the time has come to cram in all the packing! As the extended weekend draws nearer, I am realizing that I really need to get most of this stuff packed TONIGHT. I took one load of boxes over to my brother's (where I'm moving) on Monday. I packed a good amount of clothes and shoes last night. So I'll pack some more tonight and take another load over.. oh fun.

Saturday, we're getting the UHaul and moving all the big stuff over.. I got some boys to come over and do the heavy lifting and I will be providing drinks and lunch.

Besides moving, I plan on having a good time this weekend too! It looks like we'll be going out a little on Thursday and then Friday, the 4th, will be an all day event at Wash Park with drinking, friends and games! I love Wash Park! I can take Mia and get her all tuckered out too.

Also.. changes in the office! We've been bought out/merged with a much larger firm.. so it has been a little bit crazy around here. I had to go through all the paper work you go through when you get a new job and learned about all of the benefits. I now have a 401k. So far, it all seems like it will be a great change.

So, busy weekend ahead of me..
Next week will be a highly unorganized week as I don't think I'll get through all the unpacking this week.

See ya next week.. hopefully through all of the moving debris.

weekend review

2008-06-29T18:34:00.006-05:00

Well.. 8 miles and two hours in the sun by the pool later.. I'm pretty exhausted and have a headache.

The 8 miles were rough and I had to walk a little bit, but I ran over 8 miles so I think I was pretty close to running the whole 8 miles. I had a soccer game yesterday and I think that just made my legs a bit tired for the run today. I need to make sure the day before we run in San Francisco, we don't walk around too much and make our legs tired!

Speaking of my soccer game, though, I had a pretty amazing goal! I got high fives from my team as well as the other team. haha.. so that was nice. A girl crossed the ball in right at me - like this line drive. It was coming in 90 degrees from the goal and I took a swing at it and nailed it right in the upper, left of the goal. Pretty sweet :)

Anyways, other than that I had a pretty lonesome weekend. A lot of people were out of town/busy. I don't mind low key weekends, but it's kind of bummer when I realize my lack of many friends in Denver. If my brother's out of town and then some of my other friends are gone, it seems I don't end up hanging out with anyone!

Oh well.. hopefully the circle expands with time!

here's the run

8,5 miles
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They kind of rock

2008-06-25T16:18:00.003-05:00

Brangelina doing more good things with their money..

7 miles!

2008-06-24T10:13:00.003-05:00

7 miles yesterday! that seems like a big step for me! Now I'm over the halfway point of the half marathon.. haha.

The stress of paying for Mia's vet visit helped my run I think.. It wasn't all that bad until the awful stomach ache I got after the run. It was pretty painful. I think I was running harder and going faster than usual.

7 miles - university, washpark, downing, colorado
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another vet visit...

2008-06-23T15:38:00.005-05:00

Well, Mia developed quite an ear infection this weekend. Saturday I got back from my soccer games and she was shaking her head like crazy. I got a glimpse of the inside of her ear and it was all red. A lady at the pool in my complex said to mix together alcohol, vinegar and water to put on it. I did that Saturday and Sunday, but felt I really should talk to the vet, so we went in today. One ear looks fine and the other looks bad. They looked in the good ear first and saw there was a foxtail...

So the doc thinks there might be one in the bad ear and that's what started it. I guess this happens out in Denver - with the dry weather these little seeds fly around more and make their way in dogs ears.. or other places she mentioned she'd pull them from.

So... Mia is still at the vet. They are giving her a little sedative so they can pull it out.. and all I can think of is 'how much is this going to cost!?'

They're going to call me when they're all done with her, which seems like it should be soon. When I go in to get her, I am going to ask them if they have any pet insurance advice, because I think I'm going to get some.

GOALS

2008-06-20T10:30:00.007-05:00

Goals are important, right? Well.. my goal for the summer is to look like this...

Two of the greatest moments (okay, I'm exaggerating) of my life were when random strangers - guys at that - told me

First time: 'You probably get this a lot, but you look like Eva Longoria'

Second time (in the ritzy cherry creek area none the less) by a gay/metro sexual man: 'do you know who you like?! I just had to look 3 times to see if you were her.. who do you think it is? come on.. okay.. I totally thought you were Eva Longoria. You look just like her'.. yadda yadda..

So.. clearly I am no spitting image.. haha.. but I'll take what I can get..
So I am working on closing the gap..

1 year!?

2008-06-19T14:03:00.003-05:00

I've been in the working world for one whole year! This day seemed so far off awhile ago - it is a bit crazy. Time really has flown by so far. I'm still trying to get over it being June of 2008 and then I looked at the date yesterday and realized I started on June 18th last year! Wow.

So, I realized this at about 3:00 yesterday and the girl who sits next to me at work let everyone know of this accomplishment. There wasn't too much of a response from the rest of the employees - no showering of gifts or cake at least. I had a rum and coke at home at about 9:00pm in celebration..

Anyways, moving on...

_I have to move out of the apartment in 2 1/2 weeks. I currently have about 4 boxes packed. I have no idea how long it will take to pack up everything. I'm pretty sure I will assume it won't take that long and then be very, very wrong.

_I think it's time to get the golf clubs out.

_I'm finally catching up with the rest of the women in the world and going to see the Sex and the City movie tomorrow night! YAY! Drinks with the girls and then movie.

_Saturday night I'm going to see Corey Smith in concert. I've been loving his music and am pretty excited to hear him live.

_Two soccer games Saturday..that could be rough. We had our championship game for last season last weekend, so we missed the beginning of this season, so therefore we have two games this weekend. They cram these seasons in for sure.. I love playing the games once I get out there, but thinking about having to do something on Saturday kind of wears me out. After working all week, I would like the option of just laying by the pool for a few hours on Saturdays. I get to on Sunday, but that's another day I have to wait to get there!

Alright. I better end it there!

Happy Thursday! It's going to be a long afternoon I think...

2008-06-18T13:36:00.002-05:00

Whoa! One thing I recommend NOT doing is what I just did! Imagine if you lived at home at your parents' house for the past year and add up all the money you've spent on rent/bills/some food for the past year.. If you lived with your parents think how you could have SAVED all that money! Yikes! It's painful.. you really shouldn't add that up.

Bikes everywhere! I love it!

2008-06-18T09:48:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I turned onto the street leaving work and whoa! Cyclists everywhere! Everyone is biking to work these days. It's fab. It makes me want to bike to work, but I just need to get a bike. I believe next week is bike-to-work week and that would be a good time for me to start. It all kind of scares me, though, with cars that zip by you and the fact that I haven't ridden a bike in quite awhile.
The locations of my work and my home are ideal for biking it seems. I live only about 3 miles from work and for a mile or so there is a designated bike lane, and I need to figure it out, but I think I can jump on another bike path at some point. I need to print out the crazy bike path map of Denver and figure it out. Some kind of "Biking Around Denver for Dummy's" guide would be helpful too.

2008-06-16T12:20:00.003-05:00

Well..I had a fun weekend! I was outside in the sun a lot, which is always the goal on these summer weekends.
We went out for Allison's birthday on Friday night - dinner and out. We had a fab night - much needed - we all hadn't been out out together in awhile! I then had a soccer game at 10:00 in the morning on Saturday and didn't feel real great when I left for the game, but the running around and the fresh air must have been good for me because I felt better after about 15 minutes. The field we were playing on out at Dick's Sporting Good's Park had an awesome view of the mountains! It's farther East than the fields we usually play on and must be higher up because I could see ALL the mountains as I played the game... pretty awesome. It was a really clear day, too. Gorgeous.

After the game Mia and I went to Wash Park to meet up with some people (and dogs) for volleyball and BBQ. So fun.. love days in the park. Then had an engagement party dinner that evening. I was pretty tired after the dinner and just went home and to bed..

Sunday was a pretty lazy day.. laid out at the pool, took Mia to the park near-by, ran into a couple of the usual dogs and their owners. Met a lady who thought Mia was SO CUTE! Then found out she was a puggle and told me all about her neice wanting to get a puggle so bad. So that was pretty funny. She was really excited about seeing a puggle. haha.

After all that and a little nap, I mustered up the energy to go on a run. I didn't go that morning and it was pretty hot during the day, so I put it off until about 7:30. I was worried for myself, putting it off like that, but I was going to be SO MAD at myself if I didn't reach my 6 mile goal today.

So I did.. did the 6 miles I had mapped out earlier. YAY!

6 miles
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