All of these gray hairs better mean that I've got lots of wisdom or something...


I need to do something about this. soon.

boo school

Good News! I'm out of the boot! No more stomping around in a too-big giant boot and changing shoes every time I get in/out of my car. I can wear regular shoes now! Just no heels and no sports for 2 more weeks. I think I can manage. Besides, I've been spending all of my extra time sitting on my couch...

procrastinating. I have more assignments than are humanly possible to complete. AND if you know me at all, I'm not exactly quick to finish writing papers. In fact, I've been sitting on my couch thinking about a paper for 3 hours now and haven't written one word. It's not due til Thursday so there's no pressure yet. I do have three other assignments due before Thursday and a few behavior plans to write. No problem, right? I think I might quit school.

Here is a list of alternative careers that I've thought of. feel free to add to the list.
1. Bank Teller
2. Social Worker
3. Waitress
4. Boiled Peanut seller in the park (I'd make a ton of cash, but it's only seasonal I guess)

If I decide to sell peanuts, I'll have to find someone to ship them to me- you can't buy green peanuts in Colorado, much less boiled ones. Maybe I'll have to give away some free ones too. No one even knows what a boiled peanut might be like here. I'll also need to buy a bike with an insulated trailer to ride around the park. Let me know if you see one for sale.

Really, if I hadn't paid so much to be in school, I would've quit by now. I have absolutely zero interest in writing a book review of a fictional character's cultural worldview and how that might relate to or be different from my worldview and what implications that would have on a counseling relationship. Don't get me wrong, I think this is important stuff for counselors to consider, but a paper? really? And P.S. I'm not in school to be a counselor. Depending on the school district, counseling will consume about 10% of my time and it's consuming about 75% of my coursework. Does that make sense to anyone else?

ok. Just needed to vent and I'm finished. Time for bed. I'll save the procrastinating for another day.

Go West

I'm in Snowmass this weekend... which also means that I am the farthest west that I have ever been! It's about 4 hours west of Denver (200ish miles). It was the most beautiful drive- I promise.

I'm nannying this weekend, which basically means I'm hanging out with Finn and Cole and the rest of their family all weekend. It should be fun- we're staying in this NICE house and I have a bathroom all to myself that is bigger than my whole apartment I think. I also have 4 beds (they're bunk) in my room, so maybe I'll sleep in a different one every night. AND the hot tub is just outside my room- literally 20 steps away. But there's one more thing just outside my room...

BEARS. yes bears and they know how to open the doors to the house. You know, the kind of handles that you push down to open- apparently they're bear friendly. So I'm being extra careful about keeping doors locked. I did just remember that I left food in my car- trail mix and a pear core- but it's nighttime and I'm here by myself which means that I am definitely NOT going outside with the bears to get the food out. Hopefully bears can't break car windows.

charity: water

So I have a birthday coming up and a friend sent me info about charity: water. They have a September birthdays campaign where anyone with a b-day in September can create a page and instead of asking for gifts, you can ask people to donate a little moo-lah to help build wells in Ethiopia. This is a really cool project and they start drilling wells on Sunday! Check it out!

My Birthday Page

Lately

I haven't updated the blog in a while, mostly because I haven't had much going on. So here are the few things that have happened... all in the last week or so.

1. I broke my foot- 5th metatarsal on my right foot to be more specific. I've never broken a bone and honestly thought it would be more painful. It didn't hurt too much, but when it was bright purple the next morning, I decided to go to the doctor. The story isn't that funny, but some people think it is.

I belong to a pretty exclusive group here in Denver called ATX (Awesome to the Max). We are Denver's Adult Superfraternity. We were having our summer party last Saturday night called SUMMERWEEN, you know, Halloween in the Summer. I was dressed up as Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island and we were in the throes of our typical ATX party- riding a bus around town and stopping at places like Great Divide, Photo Studios, and Rockbar. I only made it to the first 2 stops because as I was walking in a 1-inch heel, on a flat floor with no obstacles, to the pizza table, my foot broke.

That's right, it just broke. I felt knuckles popping and remembered that there are no knuckles in the middle of my foot. I caught a ride home and stuck it out until the morning when I sucked it up and went to work... too late to call in right? and then went to one of those clinics that are open on Sunday. A little back story though... Friday night I was walking down stairs and missed the bottom one. I came down funny on my foot and I think I maybe hurt it some then- wearing heels just put it over the edge.

ok 2. I got to start my Practicum today! It's the part of my School Psychology program that I spend 2 days a week working in an Elementary School, doing whatever the School Psych tells me to. I am loving it! The school is in a part of Denver that I didn't even know existed and being in an Elementary school is like being on a different planet. All of the kids stare at me b/c of the huge boot I have to wear for my foot, but it's ok. I got to meet all of the 1st graders today and I'll start being there for full days on Tuesday!

3. The DNC is in Denver this week, and thank goodness that today is the last day of this craziness. I'm ready for the typically laid-back Denver to be back to normal. It's only Thursday and I think I've worked 40-something hours. I normally work 24 hours in a week. At least our classes were canceled this week so we didn't have to get too close to downtown. And I did get to sneak into a party for a few congressmen last weekend- there was lots of free stuff!

lots of little updates...

I got to go home to visit a few weeks ago. I had a great time visiting the South and the beach. It was fun to catch up with friends and family!
Lauren and I went out in Macon...
Here's mom and I at the beach

And I caught a fish!
I got to visit Mal and Matthew at the lake with Jenny and Lauren! Here are Jenny and I fishing...

I went with Craig and Kevin to Beaver Creek for the 4th of July and got to meet their aunt and uncle and some of their cousins.

Kevin taught me to fly fish...

We went to see the fireworks...
And I got to "caddy" at the annual Mycoskie golf tournament...

Lately, I've just been babysitting a lot and enjoying my last few weeks of summer before the crazy stuff gets started!

My cute life

So my plans got changed around a little tonight and I ended up having a few extra hours to myself. So I made dinner- tilapia and spinach salad. As I was cooking, I noticed that there was music outside. There's a ballroom dance group that meets on the pavilion in the park behind my apartment on Fridays and I could hear their music from across the park so I decided to eat outside. I got to sit by myself for a while and listen to the music and remind myself of all of the things in my life that I'm thankful for. Here's my dinner...

Way to go Richie!

Richie was accepted into UGA yesterday! I'm so excited for him! Not only will he be living in the best college town in America, he'll also be living in my old 'hood. I have to admit that I'm a little jealous that he gets to spend the next few years in one of the places I love most. Richie, I know you'll do great and love every minute of it!
I can't wait to come to your graduation in a few years!

Habitat

Some of you know, but I'm not working on Tuesday or Thursday for a few weeks this summer. I'm also not in school. It's left a lot of time for me to be bored because everyone else has jobs. I was so bored on Tuesday that I decided I needed to find something to do on Thursday so I signed up for Habitat for Humanity. I had so much fun! There were 3 homes being built right next to each other and the one I got to work on was for a woman and here 7-year-old daughter who has to get around in a wheelchair. They live in a second floor apartment right now and her mom has to carry her up the stairs (and down) every time they go anywhere. Her mom is a tiny woman and won't be able to do that for very long.

We were working on insulating the house on Thursday. Two guys and I got all of the insulation (that fluffy pink fiberglass stuff) installed for the whole house. Now they're ready to put up the drywall! I think I might go back next week. It's pretty cool learning how to do all of this stuff and helping a family get into a home that's livable and affordable for them!

I love summer!

This summer is amazing! I'm not in school and only working three days a week. I get to play a lot! Krista and I went thrift store shopping this week and I bought this amazing antique desk for $20. It was bright blue, red, and yellow.
But I painted it and now it looks amazing! It's rust red and black and looks great in our dining room!
Four new friends have moved to Denver this weekend too. Two of JD's friends from college moved here this week and played tennis with Krista and I yesterday. Two of Craig's friends from high school moved here this weekend too (Bobby will get here on Tuesday). Now that all of those guys are here, everyone we know in our neighborhood is less than 2 blocks from someone else we know! How fun! To welcome them (and to Carbo-load Kevin for his 100-mile bike ride today), we had sushi night last night and made homemade sushi for everyone!
Look at that huge plate of Sushi! And we weren't even halfway finished! It actually was pretty good too. I'm not a sushi aficionado, but it tasted a lot like what you get in restaurants. Our technique isn't very varied yet, but maybe we'll mix it up a little next time!

Summertime...

This is my first official week of summer! So far I've played kickball, been on a 6 mile hike in Castlewood Canyon with Krista, been on a few walks thru the park, an planted a garden with mint (thanks Sarah!), parsley, and basil in a whiskey barrel on my back porch!
Here's me hiking:
and here's my garden... it doesn't look like much yet:
I've also read a few books. One of them was The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was a good book, but the story is kindof sad and doesn't really turn out very well. Anyway, several of the books I've started reading are about women that bad things happen to (they're mostly off of Oprah's Book Club list, because a friend loaned them to me. She thought they'd be good, but hasn't read them yet). Anyway, I'm realizing that I probably shouldn't be reading these books, at least not all at once, for the same reason that I don't watch scary movies. I start to think that the things that happen to these women are reality or common. Most of the books involve a deceptive husband or friend and I begin to be suspicious of other people. I forget that it's fiction and most people aren't really mean and deceptive. All this to say that I'm taking a break from sad story books. If you have any other non-fiction or more upbeat suggestions, feel free to let me know. I have tons of time to read this summer.

This week is also staff training week at Epworth by the Sea. I miss camp so much. I think if I could be doing anything this summer, that would be it. Unfortunately, I can't be there. I am enjoying remembering my summer there both as a camper and LT.

This was my first summer at camp. What a fun team!
Side note: Michael (bottom right) and Ally (top, second from right) are getting married this weekend!

And here is a picture of LT at the end of my second summer:
A few of my favorite memories:
- Capture the Flag
- Boat Rides
- the cast net
- Cookie days
- movie nights
- Bunny and Anna sneaking snacks to us at night
- going weeks without my cell phone
- small group breakfasts
- canoing
- "meetings" at the laundromat
- painting sets
- the way Epworth smells early in the morning
- bells on the hour
- swamp monkeys
- washing barf out of sleeping bags
- 13 girls living in one room
- making a wig out of Jack's hair (and the towel incident that followed- it's funny now)
- pulling my box of clothes thru the mud twice every weekend
- Circuit Riding thru camp with 20 kids in tow

I doubt anyone is still reading this, but to LT '08- love every minute of this summer! God uses you in ways you wouldn't believe and when you least expect it.

Gmail

I don't know if other e-mail programs do this, but does it weird anyone else out that Gmail reads your mail? I don't know if anyone actually reads it, but no matter what I get an e-mail about, there a like 20 ads to the right of it advertising something that was mentioned in the e-mail.

Like today:

I got an e-mail from my bank and on the right of the page were a million credit card ads.

My mom sent me a link to a website that had an article about global warming. There was no text in the e-mail, just a link. The website wasn't even really about global warming, just the article, but Google in all it's wisdom already knew that and provided me with four "sponsored links" to other websites about global warming.

And thanks google, if someone sends me an address in an e-mail, you've already looked it up and provided a link to a map of the location.

All of this seems weird. They shouldn't be reading my mail.

So weird...

Ok, I know I've written about this before, but no joke, yesterday it was 85 degrees. I had to use sunscreen. The twins and I played outside for like 3 hours and it was amazing. Here they are eating popsicles in the Radio Flyer on the way to the park.Today I walked like 10 feet to my car and this is what I looked like:
Yes, that's snow in my hair. And yes, today is May 1st. Colorado, just so you know, I'm not very impressed. I'll live. And the nice days in between all of these really cold days make it bearable, but I'm waiting for the day that I can put on short sleeves every morning and not have to take a coat just in case the weather turns crazy.

TIME magazine

Craig and I are in TIME magazine online... maybe in print later. check it out



UPDATE: we're on page 61 of the April 21st edition of TIME!

The Ice Cream Man is back!

And that means it's spring! It's official. Too bad it's supposed to snow all night and all day tomorrow. I have to admit that I'm pretty bummed about that. I was talking to my mom's friend today who has lived here for a long time and she swears that this winter has been colder than usual. I hope she's telling the truth, b/c I don't know if I can deal with this for two years in a row. If it doesn't get warmer soon, I might go crazy.

This weekend was so nice! I got to have girls night on Friday and had an awesome dinner with Krista and ended up at a housewarming party where I thought I wasn't going to know anyone, but I ended up knowing most of the people there. Saturday I went hiking in Boulder. So fun! I got to be in a t-shirt for the first time in a while! Sunday afternoon, we had a barbeque. Also very fun- there were wine boxes and cornhole...

I'm checking out a few churches just to see what's here. I went to one on Sunday and there was a guest speaker. It turned out to be about the coolest thing ever. He was an ordained minister and all, but he was talking about the churches' response to people with HIV/AIDS and what we're called to- because he has AIDS. His story is AMAZING! He's started a ministry called HIV care-link that hooks Christians up with people who have HIV to hang out with them, help them, out, and love them. Those are the things that saved his life. Honestly, the church cannot continue to condemn or just look away from this. Anyway, it was VERY cool and they are doing some amazing things in Denver.

Other things going on in my life... I have 13 papers due in the next 3 weeks. Not kidding. 13. And the procrastinator in me is getting very comfortable. Four of them are due in the next 2 days and none are written. I don't know when I think I'm going to get this done, but it'll happen. I haven't figured out how to get worried about this yet. Happy Thursday!

Happy Birthday Jack!

My roommate and I are probably the youngest people that live in our building. Our indoor pool is packed at 6am with people doing water aerobics, we have a woman in her 80s that walks on the treadmill in her bathrobe, and half of the gray haired men in our building have green hair from spending time in the pool. Our newsletter this week had a birthday announcement for Jack Weil. He turned 107 this week! He owns this western wear store in Denver and I think still goes to work for an hour or two every day. Jack Weil invented the pearl snap shirt and is credited with inventing the bolo tie! Happy Birthday Jack!

Check Your TA-TA's!

A friend of mine from Macon was Diagnosed with Breast Cancer recently that has spread to her Lymph Nodes... she's only 21. She's the youngest person in Georgia to have this type of cancer. Catherine is amazing- she's so positive about this. You can read her blog about her experiences through treatment and everything else at http://catherinecarswell.blogspot.com/.

Don't forget to check your TA-TA's!

Georgia is Terrible

... at least that's what I heard from people all the time while I lived there. Especially when said people were talking about education. There's a media rumor going around that Georgia ranks 49th in test scores so we're all dumb. Let me tell you that it's not true. Most of the tests that states use to probe student performance were NOT normed to judge an entire state of students. They were originally meant to assess individual student performance. I won't try to explain it all here, but it will be my job to look at test norms and stuff like that- and these aren't necessarily valid for entire states- especially when those states are compared to each other based on different tests.

OK, so that said, my friend Jenny mentioned this article in her blog.
It's long, but if you're interested in how your state is doing it's worth reading the first 3 pages and then skip to the page on your state. The article rates things like money, people, and infrastructure too. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed by Georgia and disappointed in Colorado. Colorado is one of those states that acts like they've got it all together and are on the cutting edge of EVERYTHING. The longer I live here, the more I'm finding it isn't true. Colorado is a great place to live, but there are definitely issues that could be improved. Almost none of the public services provided by the state are automized- getting a driver's license, Social Security Card, registering your car all take FOREVER. Far longer that those things take in Georgia. The only exception here is paying parking tickets, which you can do online within hours of getting the ticket. Anyway, there are other issues too, but the point for all you Georgia folks is that things aren't as bad as you think!

You just have to know...

ok so I'll admit, I've been wasting a lot of time on the internet tonight. I came across the website of a professional retouching company. They "fix" pictures of celebrities to be magazine ready. I am in shock. I always knew they did this, but not this much and I am amazed! And honestly, I feel a lot better about myself after seeing this. You would expect that they retouch blemishes and wrinkles, which they do, but you know the most interesting part to me? On most (maybe all) of the women they removed any evidence of muscles. Really, check out their arms before and after. I guess women are "supposed" to be itty bitty, but still be "soft." Impossible. Well guys, this is how they do it!

I mean really. Go to this website.

http://www.iwanexstudio.com/
click on portfolio and then click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the page. When the photo comes up, you see something like what's in a magazine, but when you move your mouse over the picture, it shows what the picture really looks like before it was retouched.

It's a school night!

Tomorrow is my first day of school for the semester! It's pretty normal for school to start at the end of January in Colorado (this is new to me b/c Georgia is not that way... they've been in school for a while now). I think it's to let everyone take advantage of the mountains covered in snow. Anyway, I have a new job this semester... I'm a nanny for a few families. It's a lot of fun cause I get to color and play with trucks all day. Going to class at night doesn't seem so bad after a day like that. Here's a picture of the twins I'm with for most of the week.That's Finn on the left and Cole on the right. They're messy eaters and don't talk a lot, but they're funny. C'mon can't you tell?

I had a great last weekend on winter break. (That's why you should go to grad school- Winter and Spring break) Craig took me to the Rodeo and stock show! I've never been to the rodeo before, I've only seen it on TV. I can't believe they ride bulls and broncos in real life! It was tons of fun to watch and cool to see the "western" culture in Denver. If you come visit me we can go look at the buffaloes on the side of the highway.