Memorial Day Awesome-ness

You know what doesn't really work? Keeping popsicles frozen by sticking them 1/4 of the way down into an ice bath while the air outside is about 80 degrees. I know this because this because I had the unfortunate experience of attempting to do this at our bbq yesterday.

As usual, I invited almost every person I know in a 30 mile radius fully expecting that only 10 or so people would show up. Boy was I wrong. We had about 45 people over to my back yard yesterday for the best party I've ever thrown.

The ear doctor and I spend all morning hauling all of my furniture out into the back yard. We set it up with my coffee tables so that it exactly mirrored my normal front room. Then we got to cooking.

We made the following:

• 8 lbs of milansea beef for delicious tacos. This meat we had to go to the Mexican meat market to get the right stuff. You can't just get this at Safeway.
• 2 lbs of filleted, pounded, lime-chicken.
• 3 different homemade blended salsas. These got to be pretty spicy by the time I had a chance to try any.
• a huge bowl of Pico de Gallo (I whipped this up sans recipe thank you very much)
• 20 million pounds of the ear doctor's secret guacamole. Don't even ask for the recipe because it is a trade secret and I'm not telling.
• These awesome beans that had chorizo and bacon in them.
• 5 gallons of fresh squeezed lime juice....alright it wasn't fresh squeezed but I did grate lime zest into the pitcher, so that counts, right?

When everyone showed up we cranked up the Latin tunes and everyone gorged themselves on the delicious food. The entire 3 hours of the party the ear doctor spent manning the grill (so hot to watch him do) and I scurried back and forth from the food table to the kitchen making sure the tortillas were warm and the bowls were fully stocked.

There were people coming and going everywhere in our house and yard and my roommate was such a good sport about it all. I love love LOVED that the ear doctor's friends from school came. I think they are some of the coolest people I know.

Aside from no one coming to my parties, my biggest fear in throwing something like this is that my different circles of friends won't be able to interact. This party totally set those fears aside. My friends all mingled really well and I felt like everyone walked away having had a great time.

Just as the event was winding down, a little rain cloud burst so everyone hurriedly helped move all my furniture back into the house. During this scramble I decided toss the left over ice from the big blue bucket and found a sticky, melted mess. This is when I learned that the freezer really is a better place to keep popsicles if you're going to actually be able to eat them.

After every last dish had been cleaned and the furniture returned to its proper place in my house the ear doctor and I just sat on the couch exhausted. Totally spent, we just looked at each other with glassy, satisfied eyes. It was then that I realized that I like throwing parties....once a year.

Please please please let your thoughts

I know the LDS (Mormon) perspective on this question, but I'm interested in another point of view.

Do you think getting married is nothing more than a piece of paper?

I'm interested to know.

Pitter Patter

Interesting fact: There are more dogs in the city of Boulder than there are children.

I went to Jamba juice this morning to get a Razzmatazz for me an a Peach Pleasure for my co-worker and there was the cutest little boy there. The strange thing was that my first reaction was genuine surprise to see a child. That doesn't really happen here in Boulder. Now that I think about my time here I realize that the past 3 years of living here have been pretty much kid free.

I never really noticed a lack of children until I got back from our trip out to California/Disneyland. Kids were everywhere out there and they were adorable! And then I was talking on the phone with my bff Kathy about here baby and our friends' babies. Then I thought about gff and her little one and now anth is almost there and it kind of stunned me.

Am I the weird one to be surprised to see a little boy running around Jamba juice at 8 on a Thursday morning?

Probably.

In homage to my dad

My dad isn't the most literary guy. I can only recall about 3 books he has ever read in my presence. Still, he understands that a times a well placed verse can really make a point. This is the only poem my dad has ever memorize and I think it perfectly exemplifies his propensity toward verse.

Orange, Orange
Orange Orange,
Have you no mouth to speak from?
Nor hole to utter one word?
Nope

In honor of my dad and his beautiful simple, yet stirring poetry I would like to take you on a tour of everything that I've eaten today.

Breakfast

This delightful little treasure was my breakfast, accompanied by a cool, refreshing glass of water (which has no color so does not count as eating something off theme).








Lunch
So I didn't actually make my own orange slurpee or anything as this picture suggests, but I couldn't find one picture of an orange slurpee on the internet. I thought the internet was supposed to have everything?!?!? Betrayed!

Also, these little elves know what they are doing. The peanut butter in between the two orange crackers isn't technically in keeping with the spirit of this celebration, but I'm choosing to look the other way.







Snack
Cheez-its are my favorite cracker of all time. Nothing else will make me sit on a couch longer crunching away until either my mouth is raw from the sharp, jagged cracker corners, my stomach explodes, or I reach the bottom of the box. If the last one happens I look down at the box, feeling simultaneously guilty (for having eaten them all) and betrayed (that they have left me sitting there all alone).








I haven't had dinner yet, and am kind of worried I won't be think of anything suitable to eat to honor my father to the level he deserves. I know I will find something. I must find something. Because, really, he is worth the effort.

READ MY BLOG

Do you think it is ego-centric for someone to like the idea that strangers out in cyberspace are interested in reading your thoughts via a blog?

If so, I guess I'm ego-centric.

But I really don't think so.

I think the majority of people crave human connections. We crave the feeling of being accepted and belonging. No one wants to have their life go un-noticed. And a blog can fulfill that need beautifully. It enables people to be brutally honest. To be themselves. To develop different parts of their character and explore different points of view and ideas.

Conversely, I like thinking that there are people out there who get excited to see that I've made a comment. That I'm reading and thinking about them.

It is interesting to me that in a society where we are becoming more and more dependent on technology that we have morphed this once sterile, impersonal entity (the internet) into something that people use to make real connections. To experience real emotion. And, in some instances, to become real friends.

I just think that is cool.

PS I also think it is weird that the spell checker built into blogger doesn't recognize "blog" as a word.

California.....knows how to party

So there is no way I'm going to capture all the awesomeness that was this weekend. But here is my attempt at the highlights.

Thursday
Woke up really really early and caught the 7 am flight to LA. It was so early that the sun was just peaking over the flat and dry planes on eastern Colorado by the time we got to the airport. I barely remember finding my seat and sitting down on the plane. I think I was actually asleep before my booty hit the wornout upholstery of the seat. Arriving in LA, found the rental car place and set out. We were going to see the Getty, but instead went out to the valley to see the house where the ear doctor grew up. As we sat in our beautiful gold dodge stratus in front of his house he told me hilarious story after story about him growing up there with the Asian kids down the street. I learned all about the bully up the street and how he and his friends shot pigeons with bb guns. We drove around and saw his grandparents house and his elementary school. It was so cool to see him talk about when he was a little kid.

After the first trip down memory lane, we went to have a hot dog and fries from two quite shady shacks right next to each other. The fries were amazing and from Daglas. The "Cupid's" hot dogs popped when you bit into them. Coupled with an icy diet Pepsi it was the ideal way to start out our food adventures in California.

After lunch we drove up to the Griffith observatory (which was closed) to check out a view of the city. I picked a flower and gave it to the ear doctor up there. Too bad it was the kind he was allergic to. My bad.

Then, we drove down into the hills to see how the other half lived. Man, are those places impressive. We stopped off at the Chinese theater and noticed that Harrison Ford has great taste in footwear. He made his imprints wearing Chuck Taylors, which the ear doctor noticed because he too was wearing them. We were a little puzzled by the presence of Martin Lawrence's hand and footprints there. I didn't really think that his award winning performances in Big Momma's House 1 and 2 deserved that kind of acclaim, but who am I to judge? We drove down Rodeo Dr. (all I can say is wow) and up to the LA temple.

I was exhausted, so the ear doctor let me sleep the whole drive down to Laguna Nigel. We drove up to his high school where he showed me the football field were he earned his glory and honor. I saw the cement flower planter where all of his friends (the jocks) ate their lunches. I saw the spot on the ceiling where is friend spit a lougee that stuck for 6 years. We went to the house he lived in for high school. He took me to an awesome dinner at a restaurant off the San Clemente pier where we sat on a deck eating awesome seafood and watched surfers below ride out some gnarly waves. The "set was totally going off." Exahusted, we finally arrived at the home of some of the ear doctor's parent's friends where we were treated like royalty. I collapsed into my beautiful feather bed.

Friday
I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and sausage sizzling. Linda, our hostess, had gone to the trouble of making us eggs, sausage and orange rolls in preparation for our big day. I hurriedly got ready for the day and went down to talk with her. She was amazing. One of those women that just open up their hearts and take you in. She is loving and accepting and I was totally impressed. After eating we took off......For.....DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got to the park when it opened and didn't leave until 12:30. The park was practically empty. The longest wait we had for any ride was about 20 minutes. We saw all of disneyland and California Adventure in one day! We ate the following: 2 churros (each), tons of diet coke, chicken strips, butter pecan fudge, apple slices with caramel sauce, enchiladas, and frozen bananas.

Saturday
By now I had become a full fledge adopted daughter into the family we stayed with. Saturday morning we all went out for breakfast at Ted's. As I sat around the big round table and talked with these awesome people I was so amazed by how quickly I'd been induced into their family. Both of the actual daughters met us at Ted's for breakfast and brought their kids so it was messy and loud and hilarious.

After breakfast we started our journey up to Santa Barbara. I tried my very hardest to stay awake during the whole ride, and only dozed off for a second or two. We made it to our hotel in Ventura and the ear doctor collapsed while I got ready for the wedding that night. I woke him up a little too late and we were in a rush to get up to Santa Barbara on time. With only the smallest amount of nerves and worry we made it up to the ceremony just fine. This wedding was one of the most beautiful I've been to. It was at a house on the side of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The flowers were amazing, the bride was beautiful and the groom was beaming. As usually, I got a little teary eyed during the ceremony. Afterward they had an awesome taco bar and I managed to spill an entire bowl of red chile salsa onto my skirt. Luckily, one of the other guests was the daughter of a dry cleaner and rushed over to help me get the stain out. Lifting my skirt into the air for the whole party to see my upper thigh, she dabbed and spotted and did a fairly great job of getting the stain out. It is still there, but hopefully the skirt will be able to be saved. I was SOOOOO embarrassed but later found out that I wasn't the only person who had spilled the salsa. After toasts and cake and sparklers the dancing started. We danced the night away under a clear sky of Californian stars. It was just like a wedding from a movie. As my legs were about to give out, we left the party and stumbled into our beds.

Sunday
I woke up first thinking I would beat the ear doctor to the shower, thereby hastening our check-out at the Comfort Inn. My bleary, eyes spotted a sheet of paper on the floor of our room that had been shoved under the door. It informed us that the water main of the City of Ventura had burst early that morning and no one knew when water would return. Annoyed and dirty, I put on my cloths and woke up the ear doctor to tell him the news. No showers today. Yuck. Just what I want the morning after dancing all night at a wedding. Anyway, we packed up, complained to the front desk and left to explore a little of Santa Barbara before we had to catch our flight home.

We had breakfast at a really cute restaurant on State street and walked up and down it looking for some good shopping finds. I got a pair of pants from Anthropologie (my favorite store of all time) that were way way way on sale. After our little shopping jaunt, we went up to see the Spanish mission and rose garden. The mission was really cool and we met an awesome little dog in one of the crypts.

Realizing how late it was, we bid a fond farewell to Santa Barbara and headed back to the valley for luck and the bear pit. Eating a bbq lamb sandwich on garlic bread at the bear pit is a family tradition of the ear doctor's. It was awesome food! I loved it! There was sawdust on the floor and everything. The ear doctor even got me a t-shirt so I could remember my first time there.

Reluctantly, we headed back to the airport, returned our golden chariot and fell asleep in the chairs at LAX waiting for our flight. The flight attendants on our flight were very rude and I'm thinking about writing a letter to frontier about it, but probably won't.

Anyway, that's our vacation.

Good News

Just so that you all can share in my awesome feeling this morning I wanted to make a list of everything that is putting a bounce in my step.

1. I just got my grades from last semester and got a 4.0. How awesome is that?!?!?!
2. Tomorrow the ear doctor and I are leaving for a long weekend in California. We are spending one day at Disneyland and two up in Santa Barbara. I've never been up to SB before and I'm really excited. We're going for a friend's wedding and I know it is going to be amazing.
3. My roommate and I are really getting along well right now. That makes such a difference.
4. Last night I hosted a pretty amazing dinner party...so good there were no leftovers at all.
5. The flowers I planted in my front yard last week are taking root and looked beautiful when I left for work this morning.
6. I got a really awesome surprise for the ear doctor that I know he is going to love.
7. I'm thinking about going home to Washington for Memorial Day because I found out that both my brother's family and my sister and her husband are going. If I go then the whole family will be together, which doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like.

That's all. Pretty awesome, huh!?!?

Bone cracking

I don't deal well with intensity.

Last night the ear doctor and I went to watch MI:3. I have to admit I thought it was pretty good. The plot was alright, the characters weren't as unbelievably shallow as they could have been and the people were all nice on the eyes. Plus, that Asian chick totally rocked that red dress at the Vatican.

Anyway, the whole time I was holding the ear doctor's hand. I don't know what it is about me, but high intensity movies induce rigormortis-like cramping in my extremities. Heart-pounding loud music and explosions make my hands curl into little veloca-raptor vice grips. Once during the movie I think I was latching onto his hand so tightly that I actually think I cracked a couple of his knuckles. Weird, huh.

Crazy New Mexicans

On a whim, the ear doctor and I decided to take off last Wednesday and drive down to the Carlsbad Caverns. Our finals were both over, and I hadn't really been able to bring myself back to full time status quite yet. We packed up and took off.

We decided to stay the first night in Santa Fe, so after driving for 6 hours we pulled off the road and found our way to the lovely Super 8. So, in case you don't know this about him, the ear doctor kind of hates Kokopelli. He doesn't understand them and doesn't know why people in the Southwest plaster them all over the place as a decoration. I think it's funny how irked he gets by these little dancing habengers of good luck, so I point them out wherever possible. Before embarking on the trip we thought it would be funny to count how many we saw over the weekend.

Bad idea.

When we unlocked our room of the Super 8 and flipped on the lightswitch was was gleaming back at us? Yes, a centrally located kokopelli cut out complete with his pet lizard and howling coyote. Beautiful. The room on the very first night of our trip was bedecked in the official symbol of the southwest. In the fist day the number of kokopelli grew so enormous that it was too big of a task to undertake. We gave up.

Can I just tell you something? I loved Santa Fe. Such a cute little town with some real roots. It seemed like we'd strolled right into a real Mexico hacienda. If you ever have the chance to be driving through, plan on spending some time there. Get a "Frito pie" from the five and dime, but watch out because it may burn your mouth up like it did mine. Go to the cathedral of St. Francis Assisi, but don't go on a day when there is a funeral, like we did. Talk to the locals because they are friendly, colorful and most of the time crazy. Eat breakfast or lunch at Pascual's cafe and you'll feel like your in a Boulder sister city. Eat dinner at Los Mayas which is complete with a young boy who doesn't speak English mixing guacamole at your table and an ambiance articulated by the blue tarp roof.

Thursday afternoon we bid a fond farewell Santa Fe and hit the road again for the caverns. The road down there goes right through Roswell, NM so of course the ear doctor and I had to stop. Talk about a strange place. The McDonalds had a huge silver UFO to play in and we found our way to a really creepy little store that sold souvenirs and had a walk through diorama of alien landings. I got some socks.

Finally, after 4 more hours of driving we found our way to Whites City, NM where we decided to throw out our tent and camp for the next two nights. We ate dinner at the "Velvet Garter" which I thought was going to be a whole lot sketchier than it was. The food was pretty bad, but there was a salad bar. For some reason, and I didn't really know this about him, the ear doctor loves a salad bar. As a rule I am pretty opposed to paying to serve myself. The food was overpriced, but while we were eating we eavesdropped on a really old couple that argued the entire meal. It was so funny to listen to them bicker back and forth! My stomach was aching by the time we were done from the entertainment.

I think we were the only people within a 10 mile radius under the age of 40 the whole weekend.

The caverns were amazing. I really can't do them justice by describing them, so you'll have to just put it on your list as something to do before you die. Also, one night we watched the Mexican Free-tailed bats come out of the cave. That was seriously mind blowing.

Back in Action

Ahhhhhh






Sweet relief

All I have left of this semester is to finish up one design project. This last 10 days has been pretty harrowing, but there were a few moments of brilliance that made the whole push worthwhile. They shine like little pearls of beauty in the midst of a field of mire, but are so bright that they overpower anything else I can retain in my memory.

Now, it is back to the standard 40 hour work week for an entire glorious summer.

A summer I hope will be filled with water skiing before work, camping over long weekends and going to visit people I love all over this country.

Shuffle

Sunday morning I woke up early and rearranged all the furniture in my bedroom. My bed which was pointed to the West is now pointed North. I moved my circle chair up to the attic because it was just taking up space, and that was what I was craving.

Space.

Please, oh please can't I find some more space somewhere.

I never really understood why people cut themselves. I've heard people do it to feel like they are in control of something. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they feel like things in their lives are so out of control, but cutting makes them feel like they have a handle on things.

I think this is same reason why some people become anorexic.

And why my roommate has fanatical drive to go to the gym.

And why I move my furniture around.