Magical Red Balloon

Growing up I lived in Washington and my grandma lived in Utah.

Every summer my sister and I would fly (all by ourselves) down to Utah to spend a week with grandma and my cousins. I L-O-V-E-D this week. They always organized summer camps, fun hiking trips, pool days and trips to the store for all of us. There was a sleeping rotation so that all the cousins could have slumber parties every night with a different cousin. Because our parents made the effort, I am very close with that set of cousins.

Anyway, as fun as the festivities were during the day, my favorite part of the week was getting to sleep at grandma's house. Every night we were there she would tuck us into bed in the green carpet room and tell us stories.

Her stories were about all different things that she made up, but my favorite set were the magical red balloon series. They were all about a red balloon that went on adventures to different places and saw things all over the world. It was a special moment that my grandma took specifically for me (and the other cousins) that made me fell so loved.

Which is why when I saw Patricia McDonough's work I immediately fell in love.

Sometimes school makes me feel....

like this:

Finding myself

I think I have design schizophrenia. I like so many different and seemingly conflicting design concepts. Putting them all into one house and making them blend will be a challenge for me. For example.

I love this wall (except for the skin rug and the weird little jacket hanging on the wall....also I'd use a slightly bigger bench so that more than one person could use it at a time.) Its classic, balanced, symmetric, awesome. I also really like the black door.

However, I also really like this kitchen. Fun, bright, unique. I would definitely put a different treatment on the window, but I love the layout and that cool big shell bowl. (I'm sure this picture makes the ear doctor's skin crawl)

I love calm looking bedrooms,


And ones with a bit more modern feel.

Ashlynn's parade of homes kitchen is drool worthy....I love the back splash tile!

But I also love this modern rustic look


See what I mean?

Someone once visited my mother's house and after leaving commented that her taste was so.....eclectic. My mom took it as a compliment.

My movie review: Breach

Over the weekend my parents, the ear doctor and I went to see Breach.

First off, I have to admit that I didn't know the movie was based on actual events. If someone was to accuse me of being slightly uninformed when it comes to current events, you might be sort of accurate. I just don't like watching the news. I don't like the format, delivery, or the focus that is usually portrayed in media....but that is another rant for another time.

The movie was actually pretty good. It was suspenseful, but not so bad that my diet-coke-filled bladder was in a dangerous situation.

The characters were interesting. The plot was cool. They didn't attempt to rely on special effects to tell the story while sacrificing dialogue. It was OK.

However, some of the characters didn't make any sense to me. Laura Linney's character fell just short of fully 3 dimensional. The little east German wife was great (and had really cute button earrings), but I wanted more from her.

That may be a good way to describe the whole movie...it was good, but I wanted more. More attachment, more suspense, more intrigue, just more.

I'd give it a B+.

Valentines Day

Wow, how did I let an entire week slip by undocumented?!?!? Bad form!

Valentines day with my sweetheart this year was perfect. Sure, the stupid snow storm plugged up the entire freeway making us miss the awesome reservations that the ear doctor had made WAY in advance for that night. And, sure, we ended up eating in the bar of a chain restaurant in order to avoid terrible traffic. But the night was great.

We sat and laughed and I realized that I am so in love with this man. He is kind, funny, ambitous, dedicated, smart, a great dancer and easy on the eyes.

He did the most thoughtful, touching thing for me. Aside from the awesome monkey/heart socks, the gorgeous black beaded vintage style clutch and the tickets to go see wicked in May when the production tours Denver he did something that just knocked my socks off!

I've been really worried about finding time to pull together some research articles for my term paper for one of my classes. The resources I needed were all the way in Denver at the medical library and with the deadline approaching quickly (this Thursday!) I didn't see any way to get the work done. Well, without letting on, he took the time to go down to the library last week, gathered all my articles, put them on a flash drive and gave it to me as a gift.

I was so touched that I started tearing up.

Amazing man.

Parent's Weekend

I've lived in Colorado for almost 4 years and my parents have only been here once, for a weekend, to watch me compete in a fiddling contest. It was awesome.

This weekend they are coming again for a visit. Here is what I plan on doing while they're here:

Thursday

11:30 -Arrive while I’m in the middle of taking a lame test

2:00 -Lunch at Tom’s Tavern

3:30 -The ear doctor will test Dad’s hearing

5:30 -I have my ethics class

Friday

10:00 -Tour of the Denver Mint

1:00 -Go to lunch at Dish

3:00 -Girl’s Spa Afternoon at ten20

6:00 -Crazy for You at Boulder Dinner Theater

Saturday

9:00 -Breakfast at Lucile’s

10:00 -Denver Art Museum

2:00 -Baptism of our friend Kevin

4:30 -Go see a movie (Music and Lyrics)

7:00 -Karaoke with the ward

8:00 -Dinner at either the Chop House, 4580 or Laudisio

Sunday

10:00 -Church

4:00 -I’m making a delicious dinner

8:00 -Goodie plate and TV

An ode to a great planner

Last night as I was giving my sweetheart a goodnight kiss he turned to me with excitement in his eyes and asked, "Are you excited for Wednesday?"

My sweetheart is the best date planner ever. The other day Jordan posted about how she improved her communication with her husband so that he understood how best to impress her, and what her expectations for romance were. Luckily, I've never had to do this. The ear doctor is a natural born planner. I never have to worry about birthdays, anniversaries or Valentines day. He gets me special gifts for no reason and always has fun plans. It's pretty much amazing.

The thing that annoys him most, and now it does me, is restaurants that don't accept reservations. This is ridiculous! And, seems to be a trend in some of the newer restaurants in our area. How is someone supposed to plan a nice date for someone they care about without the ability to make reservations?!?!

That is why I love this website: www.opentable.com. This website allows you to browse through the nice restaurants around and you can set reservations with all different restaurants through the same website. Also, you can leave little comments for the maitre d' like "we'd like a table by a window" or "it's our 2 year anniversary, so we want something nice." These comments have always been taken into consideration and usually result in personal attention from the chef of the house.

It is awesome and I highly suggest giving it a try!

Is anyone else....

completely overwhelmed by all the good TV right now?!?!? Seriously, I barely have the time to keep up with it. Between LOST, grey's, the office, Top Design, Heros and Studio 60 I find myself having to schedule time in to keep up!

I don't know if I can handle the pressure.

My synopsis this week:

Heros: How did they find a woman who looks so much like Claire to play her mom? The resemblence was really impressive. My roommate called it on the identity of her dad, but it was a shock to me.

Studio 60: How does Amanda Peet look so cute on this show all the time? Her work on this show is making me start to forget all the stupid I-like-to-show-my-"assets"-to-the-entire-world-every-single-time-I-step-in-front-of-the-camera work in the past.

LOST: Ben is hardcore and scary.

Top Design: This show could be so much cooler. I'm tired of seeing rooms put together with astronomical budgets. Seriously, make them stick to a real person's budget and let's see them get creative!

The office: Love, love, love the description of Phyllis's uncle: "really old...with brown eyes...and dimensia" Classic. I think the ear doctor almost peed his pants this week, whereas I am getting an ulcer from the Pam/Jim tension.

Greys: What a cute little blonde girl! Oh now, Izzie can't handle that kind of pressure yet! I think Callie is one of the most beautiful women on TV....again! She kind of reminds me of my friend Kath....dark hair, beautiful eyes.

And how the ear doctor made everything better

He ready my blog and found out about "the great email incident"

He texted me

He took me to lunch

He bought me a diet pepsi

He made me laugh

He loved me

Trying not to take it personal

Someone insinuated that I was a "damn fool" today in an email.....

....behind my back....

....that was forwarded to me.....

.....AT WORK!

Chew on that.

The end of the world as I know it

Yesterday my dad called me at 5:14 pm and left a message wondering where I was, what I was up to, and why I wasn't answering my phone.

Could it really be that my football-loving father didn't know it was the SUPERBOWL !?!?!

Has the world tilted off its axis?

The very prospect boggles the mind.