Spo-kompton

My mom sent me this picture. It is a shot the neighborhood where I grew up. It's from our front yard looking down our street.

That's a lot of snow, and she said 10 more inches were on their way. Needless to say, I'm not too sad about not living there anymore.

Updated: I thought I'd add a cool action shot of my Dad, the King of the Snowblower!

Glorious Day of Good Fortune

Yesterday I got this in my email box.

I couldn't really believe it was true. Free burritos just because I work here?!?!?!?

This morning I waited in half eager anticipation, half cynical disbelief. I just didn't want my poor heart to be crushed.

The clock struck lunch time. We arrived at 88th and Wadsworth. I ordered. I didn't have to PAY A DIME!!!!!!!!!!

I love Chip0tle!

white knuckles

Last night Denver finally got the snow from the storms that the rest of the country isxperiencing. Should be no big deal, right? I mean, when you think of Denver in winter the first thought you come to is snow.

Well, this morning the roads were ridiculous!


For some reason, that I will never understand, Colorado has still not learned how to keep the roads plowed.


And the scariest thing you can see on your drive in to work happened to me. I was smack behind someone driving a Jeep with an Arizona license plate.

Yikes!




(I'm not knocking AZ drivers here, but there aren't a whole lot of chances to learn to drive on ice in that state, right? Plus SOME people who drive big cars like that tend to feel a little invincible to poor road conditions.)

Opinions please

Which sofa do you like the best?

Option #1

Option #2

Option #3 (not in white per ear doctor, and sanity's request)

Oh, wow

I was making my normal daily clicks today and I popped over to SF girl by the bay. She has a great interview with a really talented artist, Matte Stephens. I think his work looks pretty cool but when I scrolled down to see this lovely, I pretty much fell in love.



I'm kind of dense when it comes to art, but what I thought when I saw it was a girl who says mean things gets mean things back. This is very Katie-circa-sophomore-year-of-college. Plus her hair looks a little red-ish and I had rounder glasses back then.

Was he spying on me 8 years ago and trying to teach me something?

This week's invite

Like before, my inspiration:

(photo from this wonderful etsy store! keep up the great work!)

My duplication:

Came out pretty OK, I think.

A little plug

As many of you know, my wonderful husband is an ear doctor.

The way I understand it (and I could be a little mis-informed here) right now, if you have any problem with your ears (hearing, balance, tumors, auditory brain stuff) you have to be referred to him through a primary physician or an ENT. This stinks for him because it means that the doctor gets paid when really it is him that does the lions share of the testing, diagnosis, counseling and therapy. Its bad for the patient because they have to pay to see two professionals instead of one. And it isn't great for the ENT because it clogs up his day with people that really don't need his time (simple hearing tests, counseling sessions).


Right now there is legislation that is attempting to change this.

We're trying to get laws passed so that Medicare patients can go directly to an audiologist to have tests performed. It would make the audiologist just like an optometrist. You could just call up and audiologist and get your hearing tested and get hearing aids fitted and it would be covered by insurance.

This would be SOOO convenient for a lot of the elderly patients that the ear doctor sees.

If you have a minute, pop over to the American Academy of Audiology (by clicking here) and send your representative an email telling them that you support this movement! It's all filled out and all you have to do is click a few buttons.

Thanks!

Sick

Our next door neighbors are gross.

Last week they left a bag of soiled kitty litter on their front step (which is about 3 feet from our front step).

This week there is some smeared, raw, leftover sushi all over the place. I looks like some wild animal was drawn up the three flights of stairs and they've torn into it. It's just gross.

This morning I noticed that instead of cleaning up the sickening mess, they've just tossed the free phone book on top of it, a la Adam Sandler's newspaper solution in Big Daddy.

Lay...zee

UPDATE I came home from work and this is what I saw:

Sad day

Yesterday the most amazing man passed away.

Surrounded by his family, he succumbed to old age....the most poetic way to pass.



He was the first man that, while I've never met, inspired in me a ardent and true faith. It was under his guidance that I matured spiritually from a child to an adult.



And while I'll miss his leadership, his teaching and his love I'm pretty stoked that he got to see his wonderful wife last night. She died a few years ago and it was clear that he missed her every second since.


Thank you, President Hinckley for your life long commitment to serve. I appreciate all you've done for me personally.

My life is great

This morning I was feeling a little bummed out.


On his way home from a basketball game the ear doctor got me these:





Could there possibly be anything better?

Total crap

I just found out that one of my best friends in the entire world got laid off today.

So sad.

Although, her skillz were going unappreciated and unnoticed at her old job, so maybe it's an OK thing after all.

One of the crappy parts about this (way down at the bottom of the list) is that she may have to move away from me to get a new and better job.

So here comes my plea....

Anyone want to hire a GREAT interior designer in the greater Denver area? She's seriously fabulous!

Green with envy

A year and a half ago my brother uprooted his family and moved them to London. He got a great job and thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Since moving there they've visited Paris, Rome, Dubai and more places I'm sure.

Yesterday I got an email from him describing the awesome vacation they've booked for June. Get a load of this:

3 days in Tokyo
4 days in Brisbane
7 days in Cairns
2 days in Singapore


I just got an email from my sister in law (his wife) telling me that she's having a tough time finding a hotel for when they go to Athens in March!



Who would have ever thought that my rad brother would end up being such a jet-setter? And they have 2 daughters (8 and 12), so anyone who says that having kids limits your traveling options, you can do it!



Kinda makes the long weekend trip to Orange County I just booked look kinda small, doesn't it?

A perfect night at our house

Lately we've been so busy that we haven't had a lot of time to just hang out together. Last night was perfect.

I made some DELICIOUS cookies right after I got home from work.

I got a little impatient and overgenerous with the filling so they slid around a lot. Don't worry, this morning they aren't so slidy looking.

Then we made dinner together. Enchiladas verdes con pollo and black beans. SOOO good!

Then the ear doctor serenaded me with a little bit of strummin on his axe.

And to round out the night we watched American Idol, American Gladiators and this movie:

(We are planning on getting a dog late May/early June and we are REALLY excited about it)

Just like Tremors....

I'm sort of pissed off at Will Smith.



About a week and a half ago I made the decision to stop drinking diet soda. K said she was doing it and made an argument that struck a chord with me. I decided that I would cut back and only have 1 diet soda a week. A little splurge that I would enjoy with my overpriced popcorn when the ear doctor and I go to the movies.

It was surprisingly hard last week to not want a diet soda. Everyday at around 2:30 in the afternoon my hand would slowly inch toward the change compartment of my wallet. The siren song of the sweet, dark beverage would call my name. But I stayed strong. I didn't have a single drop all week.

Last Saturday night we decided to go to the movies. I was really excited to see a new movie, but more pressingly, to have my diet soda "treat".

We arrived at the theater, bought our tickets and scurried inside. After waiting a whole week, the first sip of drink was glorious. I happily followed the ear doctor into our theater, fully prepared for an enjoyable time.

That is where the night turned for the worse.

Guess what. I am Legend is not a cool phychological investigation into the mind of a person left alone a la Cast Away, like I thought! It is a freakin scary movie about crazed ZOMBIES! By the middle of the movie I was a quivering, fetal-positioned mess. My heart was beating a million miles an hour, I was sweating and the ear doctor's arm was pretty much broken from my kung-fu death-grip.

I do not deal well with Zombies.

The ear doctor looked over at my pathetic, Hollywood-induced fear and said, "we can go home if you want."

Blinking back tears, I nodded yes.



We actually had to leave the theater because I was too scared.



The thing I'm really mad about is that I was so scared by this silly movie that I didn't even get to enjoy my hard won diet coke. Will Smith is a jerk who likes to deprive people of simple pleasures in life.

Finish Him!

Today the ear doctor has the day off. He works in a clinic that cares about things like equality, freedom and the American way (AKA....getting a day off).

I do not.

We met up for a quick lunch.

I asked him how his day was going and what he'd done.

Proudly, he informed me that while he was working on his research he watched that cinematic classic: Karate Kid. Pausing, he assumed a deep contemplative look on his face and postulated, "I'm not sure if I prefer Karate Kid 1 or Karate Kid 2."

After I teased him a bit he admitted to me, "The movie was really inspiring my work."




As Ralph Matchio is to Karate, my husband is to Auditory Neuropothy.

Biggest Frustration

There are only a few things in my life that frustrate me as much as a bad recipe. I usually get really excited about what I'm planning on cooking, so when it ends up tasting bad it REALLY ticks me off.

Especially if I know that I made dish exactly as I was told.

Especially if said recipe is from my freakin Bon Appetit!

Yesterday I made this Banana Cream Pie with Whole Grain Chocolate Crust.

See how delicious it looks? Drool-worthy! After making the glorious custard filling and the caramelized bananas I took one bite of the whole pie and wanted to gag. The crust was so gross I couldn't even eat it. I linked to the recipe, but I wouldn't try it if I were you.

After that total failure I was really terrified to try making these whole grain pancakes with blueberry syrup from the front cover this morning. I mean, I wouldn't want them to turn out like crap because today is our 7 month wedding anniversary. I planned to surprise the ear doctor with a delicious breakfast in bed.

Good news, these were glorious. So good, in fact, that the ear doctor suggested that I open a bed and breakfast and make them everyday for my guests. Although, come to think of it, I did forget to add the wheat germ..

For our little family night tonight I think we are going to bake these little treats to give away to some friends:

I'm pretty sure they'll be great and totally redeem my confidence in my baking skillz. Also, that's the cutest cake stand I've seen in a long time. I wonder where it's from?

Dear neighbors who share a wall with us,

So sorry about the loud music both last night and this morning.

No, we don't usually listen to Black Magic Woman by Santana at 7:15 am on Friday mornings.

We got Guitar Hero III and have been playing so much that our eyes are like dried out little raisins in our faces. While playing the game we find ourselves so intense about the music that we forget to blink. 4 minutes of no blinking does a number on even our rock star eyes. The result? They water. Combine that effect with the deep rapture we feel while rockin out and there isn't a dry eye in our house.

So, despite the freely flowing tears down our faces, we play through the pain. Our souls are dedicated to rock and we just cannot stop.

Thanks for your understanding,


Katie and ear doctor






PS the kitty littler you put outside your front door stinks and should be taken down to the dumpster ASAP. Do it, or we will have to rock you like a hurricane. Consider yourselves warned.

Check it out

I've been going to Indexed for almost a year now, and I love it. Great combination of humor and great insight. Quick easy and great.

Now Jessica Hagy has got herself a book deal and the book comes out at the end of Feb. I think this book is going to be a really great gift-type book. Just a fun one to have around.

And so it starts

An embarrassingly large portion of my sophomore year of college was spent with my two awesome roommates, huddled around the computer screen taking online quizzes. We thought they were hilarious and laughed until our sides hurt about them.

............Ahh, to have those carefree days before our classes got really challenging and I did stuff to make one of those relationships fall apart..............

Anyway, those fond memories have instilled in me a love of the online quiz. Quick, fun, easy and often delve so deeply into the center of my psyche. I mean, seriously, how else would I know what kind of car I am, or which pair of shoes most fully embodies my spirit?


Which is one reason I found this quiz cool.



The other reason is that it helps me attempt to get over this whole uninformed thing.


Take the quiz. Were you surprised by your results? I was.

Anyone know a good cattle farmer?

I hate feeling uninformed. Although, since I find watching the news tragically depressing and almost manic with all the story switching, I can't watch it.

Recently I've been made aware of the new legislation regarding the FDA and cloned meat. I guess there is a movement to start selling meat from cloned animals in addition to meat from animals raised in the more traditional method.

I really have no idea if this could be unhealthy or not....see....uninformed.

My beef (sorry to use this lame pun) with it is that they are not requiring labels in major grocery stores to differential between naturally raised and from-cloned-animal beef. This bugs me because I think, as a consumer, I should at least be able to choose what I'm getting.

Do you think that meat from a cloned cow has any possibility of being unhealthy?

Do I need to go out and find someone who will sell me meat I know was raised naturally?

Is this the next step in the organic food movement?


....and more importantly.....



What kind of beef will Wendy's be using?

Holy Babies!

Last night we were invited to go to the first birthday party of one of my friend's sons. It was awesome.

When cake time came, his mom cut him a HUGE piece of cake, sat him in his chair in the middle of the kitchen and let him go to town. We watched him tear into that cake and get it EVERYWHERE. It was hilarious to watch his pure joy at getting cake. Just awesome. If you head over to his mom's site you can see the ear doctor and the AWESOME, HUGE yellow ball that we gave the birthday boy!


The party was really great, but at one moment I looked around and was a little stunned. It was the same group of people that I've been hanging out with for almost 5 years. Back then no one was married. We were all just a bunch of yay-hoos planning trips to Mexico on a whim and staying up WAY too late.

Now the ear doctor and I and one other couple were the only people who didn't have kids. There were 4 kids there. Owen (1 year), Adria (9 months), Zach (5 months), and Mkena (1 month).

When did I get to be a freakin grown-up?

Dissapointing

Yesterday I spent 3 hours making dinner for some people who were going to come over to our house and eat with us. They were friends of ours who grew up in Mexico and I thought they might be a little homesick. I decided to make flautas, red rice, guacamole and green salsa.

3 HOURS.

I really wanted the food to be outstanding, and I thought it was.


The really crappy thing was that when one person took a big first bite they shrugged their shoulders and said, "it's good, but you can tell it was made in the US. Not authentic."


I was crushed, but played it off convincingly.




After dinner the ear doctor informed me that she was full of it, and the food tasted exactly how he remembered it tasting when he lived in Mexico City for 2 years.

Really?

Earlier today I was in the bathroom, minding my own business. I was in the center stall, the same stall I always use.....I'm a creature of habit, what can I say?

Then, two other women came in carrying on a conversation about whatever project they are working on.

That isn't the strange part.

One entered the stall to my right and the other, the stall on my left.

Still not out of the ordinary.

Then, they proceeded to continue their conversation while GOING TO THE BATHROOM!

So strange.




Don't they know that it's alright to take a break from work to accomplish that most basic of human functions?




It reminded me of a funny conversation I had Wednesday with a friend. Her company just moved their office. Formerly, her company worked out of an old, really cool house down in the historic district of Boulder. The house was cool, had great character, but no air conditioning and no room to grow the business. It also had standard house-like, private bathrooms.

When they decided to move, they relocated to a standard office building. Great lighting, great HVAC, but public bathrooms. This was her number one complaint of the new space. She felt herself awkwardly engaged in co-worker conversations at the sink. She now feels this uncomfortable necessity to make small talk while washing her hands. And she doesn't like it.



At least she hasn't been sandwiched in the middle of a cost-targeting meeting to which she wasn't invited.......yet.

Come out, come out wherever you are

Here's the thing. Whenever I look at my blog's hit meter I'm a little shocked by how fast it is climbing up. I thought that my mom, mother-in-law, aunt and sister were the only people who read this little thing.

Today Girl asked people to de-lurk just for a day and I'm going to make the plea as well.

I'd love to meet all you people who check in with me and get some entertainment of my exploits!





If you're feeling brave, leave a comment and say hi!

Remember

This morning I realized that I can't remember where I used to do my homework in high school. My bedroom? The kitchen table? The office? I can't be sure. I can't put my finger on it and that makes me sad.

....Maybe I didn't do my homework?..... Highly unlikely.

How on earth could I forget something that I did almost every day for 4 years? It terrifies me that if I can forget something so habitual, routine and omnipresent how on earth will I remember the simple moments I'm living right now?

I'm in the "honeymoon" period of my marriage. The time I am supposed to be the happiest of my life. The time when life should be one big rosy dream.

And, not to be too over dramatic, but it really, truly is for me.

And I don't ever want to forget the small things that happen everyday between my new wonderful husband and myself.

And I'm not really sure how to keep the memory.

And that is frustrating.

I don't want to forget the pride I felt last night as he informed me that he has been accepted to present his research at the American Academy of Audiology in April. I don't want to lose the excitement I felt to make him dinner (Migas...Mexican scrambled eggs....So good). I don't want to dismiss the support I felt as he helped me wash and put away all the dishes. I don't want to bid farewell to the love I felt as we knelt together by the side of our bed and offered up a prayer of gratitude. I don't want to overlook his kindness as he tucked me into bed.

My excuse

So yesterday I got to play a little hooky from work and go skiing. It was SOOOOO great. The day was sunny, bright with 4.5" of newly fallen snow. The lift lines were short and the runs were long. It was just beautiful.

The ear doctor was euphoric.

I love the tassel on my beanie. So cute. When I ski it flutters about in the wind. v. cool.

Of course we had to stop for lunch.

Chili in bread bowls.

Yummmm.

PS, the short hair holds up MUCH better under a day of being smashed by a beanie and goggles.

More of amateur hour

As usual, I've put together my attempt at cool invitations for the church youth group I'm in charge of. This time I used this poster for inspiration:

Lately I've really been liking the gray/yellow combination, so here is my re-interpertation (knock-off) of it:

At first I really hated the little specs around everything that I can't figure out how to get rid of (because I don't have great editing software), but then I think it kind of turned out gritty...which is cool too.

So what do you think? Should I add/take anything away?

Love this site

I love Etsy. Unfortch, I think the concept has grown a little bit too much and is out of control. There is just too much stuff clogging up the system and I don't have the hours it requires to sift through it all.

Enter this awesome new blog.

Etsy-love.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for attempting to sort through everything and find the hidden diamonds!

Major props!

Our quest for Juno

Last Wednesday night we thought we'd try to go see Juno. We figured there would be no need to arrive early since the movie had been out for weeks and it was a random Wednesday night. As we approached the ticket office I had a wary sense of impending doom. The place was crawling with tweens decked out for a night away from parents (read miniskirts and Abercrombie galore).

We got up to the window and the annoyed teenager taking tickets informed us that there were only 15 tickets left and we'd be watching the movie from the front row. No thanks.

Friday night we again attempted to catch the movie. We arrived 15 mins early and were surprised to see the show totally SOLD OUT! I don't think I've seen a movie sell out in Colorado ever (besides opening night). Ridiculous. We weren't too bummed to come home and play our Wii.

Saturday was an epic day of shopping. The ear doctor wanted my help spending his Christmas money and dragged me all over town from game store to game store looking for guitar hero III. (no luck)

We finally bought tickets for the 3:05 showing. We had a whole hour before the show, and the Nordstrom men's half-yearly was on so we decided to spend our down time looking for new work clothes for the ear doctor.

We showed back up at the theater right at 3 and made our way to the theater. I was getting really excited about FINALLY being able to see the show. We rounded the dark corner and saw that the place was P-A-C-K-E-D to the brim! We wouldn't even have been able to sit together!

Defeated again, we left and switched our tickets to the 5:30 showing. After puttering around for a while we returned to the theater 45 minutes early, sat on the gross carpet and waited for our turn to go in, got perfect seats and laughed incessantly at the movie.

All in all, it was a pretty great movie. But worth 4 attempts to see it? Hard to say.

Dear Ear Doctor,

Thank you so much for stopping by the grocery store on your way home last night to pick up the feta. As you know, I hate going to the grocery store and it means a lot that you're willing to go there for me. Also, the flowers you brought home for me are beautiful!

Sorry for being mean to you about the movie last night. You were right. I want to see Juno very badly, so having to see it from the front row would have been very annoying. It's better to save the free passes your parents got us for Christmas for a time we can actually enjoy the movie without craning our necks.

Lastly, thanks for taking the Christmas tree to the recycling center this morning. I know it was probably a pain to lug that dried out old thing down the three flights of stairs and into the bed of your truck at 6:45 in the morning.

Can't wait to see you tonight!

Love,

Wifey

My mag

I am a faithful subscriber to Bon Appetit magazine. I love this indulgence. I know a lot of people love Domino, Real Simple and MS living/wedding, but for me, nothing tops the monthly BA.

However, when I got my 2008 issues I was a little startled. They've pretty much totally revamped the magazine! You can tell from the front covers. Observe:

Old Cover (well, really this is the cover of the cookbook...I couldn't find an old cover online. the font was the same):

New Cover:

Why would you choose that new font? I don't like it at all! Maybe they should have stolen the rad Blueprint font since they aren't going to be using it anymore (sad....)

The insides are different too. My favorite section, Fast Easy Fresh, used to be at the back in a very easy to locate spot. Now it's just mixed in with the rest of the articles. Boo.

On the other hand, I've really found the articles more interesting in the last issues. Also, they've added a cool section that teaches cooking techniques.

Humpgh.....Perhaps I can learn to live with the changes....

Remembering Christmas

There is something really cool about spending Christmas in a totally new place. Everything is different, each experience is unique, and new is exciting.

On Christmas Eve the ear doctor, my father-in-law and I all went to down town San Jose to see the lights. We walked down the street toward the center of town with eager anticipation. I love to see a community come together to celebrate. I love snowmen and Christmas trees and presents.

As we rounded the corner I was thrilled to see the whole center square lit up with hundreds of Christmas trees. Different organizations from all over the city had decorated a tree for the festival. I loved seeing Girl Scout troop #317 decorate their tree with Popsicle sticks. And the boys and girls club felt candy canes and big bright colored lights really warmed my insides.

After taking in the tree-lined, Christmas-lit square we went into the big fancy hotel down town. They had a huge, life sized gingerbread house that filled the entire foyer with the warm, cozy, familiar cinnamon and clove scent. They had an electric train display which reminded me of my dad and our really cool electric train that circled my childhood Christmas tree.

We next walked over to the ice skating rink and I was astounded to see people ice skating under the protective cover of palm trees. I laughed out loud when I noticed the huddled group of Californians waiting for the snow machine to blow soap suds out on them.

As the evening was drawing to a close we decided to turn back and walk to our car. We paused for a moment outside a beautiful old Catholic cathedral. Inspired, the ear doctor suggest that we go in and see if there was any scheduled choral presentation for the evening.

As we walked in I was overwhelmed by how beautiful the building was. The cathedral had the typical floor layout of a large T. In the center of the space there was a large, shiny, round wooden altar. Instead of the typical straight rows of pews facing a stand, gleaming wooden chairs surrounded the altar in large, looping graceful circles. We noticed that a group of people were setting up sound equipment, so we decided to sit and wait for the presentation.

I sat in quiet wonder.

I looked around at the other people in the room. A complete mix of ethnic backgrounds were represented. I heard at least 4 different languages whispered between loved ones. All were seated, waiting quietly, taking a moment to recognize the real meaning for Christmas.

In that moment I forgot the trees, lights, bows, boxes, ice, snow and candy. I was totally overwhelmed with gratitude for the great intangible gifts I've been so blessed with in my life. I was blown away by the silent faith in the room. And I was once again reminded of the amazing capability that we humans have to believe, have faith and trust.

I truly felt the meaning of goodwill toward all men.