What a fool

Last night the ear doctor and I went to dinner at our favorite little Italian place that is 3 blocks from our house.

We go there at least once a week. Their gnocchi is my absolute favorite.

When we were sitting at our table finishing up our dinner a large group of people all came in at once. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something different about all these people. They had, what I thought, was large dark birthmarks in the middle of their foreheads.

I thought to myself, “well, that’s different” and kept eating.

The group took their seats and I leaned over to the ear doctor and whispered, “Did you see that family that all have a large dark birthmark on their forehead?”

He looked at me like I was the idiot that I AM and replied, “ummm, it’s Ash Wednesday.”

It wasn’t a birthmark, it was ash and they weren’t an abnormally large family, but a group of people who had just left the Catholic church across the street.

I haven’t felt like that big of an idiot in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. It’s a good thing I have the ear doctor around to keep me in check.

Beaming

This morning as we were laying in bed blinking sleep from our eyes we heard the ear doctor’s phone buzz. He reached over to check it out and realized that his friend had texted him to tell him that he’d emailed him.

All of which were received at the exact same moment on his smartphone.

I stumbled off to the bathroom and 15 minutes later, post shower I came out to see my husband’s eyes glowing with excitement.

Turns out two of his friend had already bought them (keep in mind it was 6:38 AM, and the deal was brand new that morning) just bought a deal. 20 rounds of golf plus 7 lessons with a pro for $195 and he wanted the ear doctor to buy one too. That way the three of them could spend their summer afternoons together basking in the Colorado sun and buying overpriced soda from the beer cart girl.

He turned to me and started explaining the deal, but I stopped him mid-description and said, “Yes…let’s buy it”

I think he was a little taken aback by my zero hesitation response.

Little did he know that two weeks earlier the exact same deal had popped up on Groupon. When it did, the wives of the golfers in question came together and decided to buy the deal as a surprise gift for our guys 2 minutes after we found that all the groupons had sold out.

After whipping out the ole credit card and sending the voucher his way my man was BEAMING. The look in his eyes and the excitement radiating from his soul reminded me of that old StoveTop stuffing commercial. The one where the two 10 year olds think they’re tricking their moms by inviting each other to dinner at the other’s house….one at 6 pm the other at 8.

Weekend pro

Why is it that things only go wrong in our house when we're expecting visitors?

Last time my sister came to visit our water heater broke the day before they were supposed to arrive. $500 and a visit from a repair man later it was fixed and we were ready.

Friday night the ear doctor was finished up the dishes and noticed a puddle forming at his feet. He opened the sink cabinet doors and there was water sprayed all over the inside. We flipped the disposal on and were showered with water spraying from a crack in the side of the disposal unit. And we were hosting friends for dinner the next night.

Luckily I married a man who wasn't even phased. Saturday morning he disconnected the whole thing and took it to home depot. Turns out the one we had installed was a crappy Badger1 that people usually put in flipped homes (although ours wasn't flipped). We decided to upgrade to the Badger9.

Yes, we are high rollers.

He had it back and installed in place within an hour.

And I only forgot that there was nothing hooked to the bottom of the sink and turned on the faucet full blast once while he was gone...which in my book is pretty good.

day dreamin

The ear doctor have starting kicking around an idea for starting a restaurant.

We probably won't because having a restaurant seems like the hardest possible job in the world and I'm not sure either of us is really cut out for that kind of thing, but it's kind of fun to day dream about.

As of now, our restaurant would be called PorkPie. And we'd serve pork (bbq) and pie. It'd be old, vintagey and laid back. Nice, but not formal. A place where a bunch of guys wouldn't feel uncomfortable in, yet it was cool enough that a group of women would also consider it for lunch.

I don't know if it's blogs or what, but branding has become a particular interest of mine. As a result, designing the (fake) logo for our (imaginary) business has been really fun. Here is what I came up with first:

I sent it to the ear doctor and he sent me back this:

Which is when I sent him this:

He sent me this:

And I sent this:

I feel like that last one may be moving us farther away from the vibe we're going for, but it's pretty funny...

old dogs can learn new tricks

Getting older is kind of weird. Cool, but weird.

For example:

My dad has always loved football. Even though he didn't have any sons of his own, he still dedicated significant amounts of his free time to coaching little league football. My sister and I were both little league cheerleaders for his team.

Once we got too old for little league, he got an opportunity to coach for a semi-pro football team.

My dad is a guy's guy and always has been. Not macho, per se, but defiantly masculine.


Except today I called him during lunch to talk and I found out he was baking scones. At first I thought maybe someone asked mom to bring something to a church function and then she realized she'd be out of town and he was covering for her.

Nope.

He was baking scones. For himself. For lunch. And that's not all. He has recently become a bread baking aficionado.

I doubt he ever would have done this kind of stuff in his early years, but I think it is so cool that my dad is still learning new hobbies. Weird...but cool.

Boots

Today is the first day since Christmas that it's been really snowy and I've had to go out in the weather. For Christmas, the ear doctor got me not one, but TWO pair of new boots. The fashion pair are buttery soft brown leather...not for snow.

The other pair, the pair I'm wearing and LOVING today are rubber and built for the white stuff.

Can I just tell you how much I love these boots? Everything from the teal stripe around the foot, to the soft shearling lining, to the pull tab on the back to the reflective stripe that wraps around the leg opening...they are PERFECT.

The only thing I need now is more boot socks. These are the socks I use inside my ski boots when I go skiing and they are perfect

LOVE THESE BOOTS!

real life TV

I know there are a lot of people out there who really like the Real Housewives series on Bravo. I am not one of them. I'm not saying that I'm in anyway too cool to watch reality TV...in fact I may have lingered a little longer than the ear doctor would approve of on the Bachelor last night.

But, for some reason, the Real Housewives just don't really interest me.

I think it's because they seem, to me, like grown women acting with the insecurity of high school girls.

And I thought that just wasn't very realistic.

But maybe I'm wrong.


Last night the ear doctor and I went out for dinner at this local Italian place. We sat in a booth in the corner and another group of diners had pulled two tables together and were sitting right next to us. The group consisted of about 8 women in their 40's. Since the dining room wasn't very full when we started eating and our tables were so close together we couldn't help but overhear snippets of their conversation. At first I thought they were a group of coworkers out for dinner together. They seemed nice, friendly and appeared to get along well. They seemed comfortable and happy together.

About 30 minutes later the dining room had filled and we all were tucking into our plates of spaghetti. There was a lull in their conversation and one woman said something like, "well, we did come together to have a meeting so we might as well get started."

To me, this seemed to be even more evidence of some professional relationship. Or maybe they went to the same church and were organizing something. Or a volunteer group or something. I was a bit shocked by what happened next.

One of the women went on the aggressive defensive and started yelling at the group saying how they weren't good friends and were expecting too much from her and how she never felt like she was part of the group. Then another accused her of being a fake friend and how her facebook status was offensive.

This craziness started getting louder and louder and more and more intense until they were swearing at each other and everyone else in the dining room had fallen silent.

It was the most amazingly awesome/rude/frightening/compelling thing I've seen in a long time. It was like being too horrified by a car accident to turn away. I had to sit there and wonder why they thought what was happening was acceptable to do in public.

I felt like I was watching an episode of the Real Housewives in person.

I guess that show isn't as unrealistic as I originally thought.

Christmas Vacation

It wouldn't be a Katie vacation recap if it wasn't mostly self-portraits. First, we left Denver the day before a huge snow storm hit Colorado. We had clear skies and dry roads all the way down to Santa Fe. Driving for extended periods can make me a little nuts....

We almost ran out of gas as we pulled into town...good thing it's mostly downhill as you drive into Santa Fe. We checked in to our beautiful hotel. I just love places that not only accept dogs but provide treats and staff that fall all over your cute little boxer boy. The hotel was only a block away from the historic center of the city which is so cool. At Christmas they light up the whole square and all the adobe style buildings are lined with luminaries...so cool.

The next morning we went to breakfast at our favorite place in town and the ear doctor humored me by letting me take pictures in front of this cool wall of ironwork.

We all piled back into the truck and pulled into the ear doctor's grandma's driveway just as the sun was going down. They had dinner ready and waiting for us...including my favorite vermicelli salad. It's so good and I ate about a pound of it while I was there.

Between eating and talking the time flew by and before we knew it, it was Christmas morning. Roscoe boy greeted us all decked out for the occasion.

One of the funniest moments of Christmas morning was when my mother in law pulled this beauty out of her stocking. It's a nylon sleeve with a design that you slip on your arm to look like a full sleeve tattoo. Seeing my mother in law all tatted up was HI-LARIOUS!

We spent the time at grandma's house relaxing, eating and we went to the movies almost every single day! Awesome!

After the festivities we packed back up and started the drive home. We were truckin along when we noticed signs for the world's best preserved meteor impact site. That sounded like something to see, so we turned of the freeway to check it out. We drove up to the visitor's center and were getting really excited about seeing the big hole in the desert...until we found out that the admission was $15 per person! Crazy! We decided that was outside out budget...but were still pretty disappointed.

The trip from Denver to Arizona follows the old Route 66 most of the way. Every time we went through a town in the song we couldn't help but bust out in song.  When we got to Winslow, AZ we wen a little crazy, because not only is it in the old swing song, but it's also featured in a song of one of our favorite groups...the EAGLES.

Here the ear doctor is standing on the corner of Winslow, AZ. He's such a fine sight to see. And there's a girl over there in a flat bed ford slowing down to take a look at him.

Self portrait of us and the girl in the ford...

We pulled into our beautiful hotel in Albuquerque and there was some mix up about us bringing out dog into the hotel. I guess someone hadn't noted that we'd need a dog room and they were all filled up. I was scared that we'd have to find somewhere else to stay. Luckily, they decided to upgrade us to one of their beautiful suites. I can't recommend this hotel highly enough.  The next day we walked around Old Town and saw the beautiful church that's been continuously operating for 300 years! It was so awesome.

The last stop we made was to a mormon battalion monument in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.

We were so lucky to have such great weather the whole drive and be able to spend so much time with our family. That's one holiday for the books!

Knowing my limits

Why I never make weight-loss related resolutions for the new year:

With this many goodies laying around it's impossible to not fall off the wagon...

Kind of pathetic

Growing up my parents always got a ton of Christmas cards from their friends. I remember how my mom displaying them for the entire month of December. I can imagine it made her feel awesome to know so many people cared enough about us to spend a quarter and send us a family update.


I think seeing all those cards up must have made an impression on my young mind because every Christmas I find a way to display the well wishes we've received. But, I have to admit, since we haven't ever sent out Christmas cards our tableau isn't really that impressive. In fact, it's kind of like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of card displays:

Starting from left to right:

1. The card left for us in our milk box from our milkman...not even personally addressed to us
2. A card my husband's advisor gave us...this one is legit
3. A shockingly awesome rainbow card from an old college friend and his wife...this thing is so amazing...literally the most awesome Christmas card I've ever seen
4. A photo card from the ear doctor's office mate...who reads every post I ever write but never comments...
5. A picture card we got in the mail of kids we don't know. It was addressed to the previous owners of our house.
6. A card given to us from the people who run the Christmas tree lot where we bought our symbol of the season
7. A thanksgiving card from ear doctor's grandma...what...we needed more cards to fill the shelf...
8. An invitation to a New Years Eve party

Ho Ho Ho

I have a confession....I'm only really attracted to strong looking guys. Probably because my dad is a big guy. There is nothing more comforting that falling asleep on his side during church. It's the most safe, snugly feeling in the world. In my dad's world, the worst name you can call someone is a pencil neck.

As a result of his stature, my whole life people have been trying to get my dad to be Santa. He'll never say no to someone's request, but according to my mom he really doesn't like it. He doesn't like telling the poor kids that they're going to get everything they want when he knows full well that it probably isn't going to happen. It breaks his correspondingly big heart.

But I just can't tell you how awesome it is to see your dad dressed up as Santa....

Do you think that since he was one of Santa's helpers this year that he has a direct like to the REAL Santa Claus? If so, dad, please tell that guy up North that I'd love for him to fix the horrible crack in my windshield and/or buy me a double sink for the bathroom from IKEA for Christmas...

Back in the saddle

Remember how I kind of stopped blogging for a while? I just couldn't get excited about writing anything. My life seemed ho hum. People kept asking why I wasn't writing and it was really hard to put my finger on anything.


I was just uninspired.

A week or so ago the ear doctor and I were driving to a friend's house for a party. As we turned the corner onto her street my eyes fell on the most beautiful, awe inspiring sight:

I'm not sure that picture really does this justice. These people had constructed a set of rigging to hold this HUGE snowman up in the air. You could see this guy's top hat from 3 blocks away. I attempted to scale it to give you a feeling of just how amazing this accomplishment of festive engineering really is:

An almost 60 foot snowman perched on top of a cute 50's ranch house? Now, THAT, is something to blog about.

Tis the season

We've been getting about a million catalogs in the past 2 weeks. Most are pretty predictable...Jcrew, Crate and Barrel, Boden.

However, we got one that really got the ear doctor excited...Filson:

This place is like Eddie Bauer on crack. Everything the outdoor sportsman could ever dream of. This catalog is filled with stuff that my husband already has (the skeletool in the center):

Something he would probably consider buying to keep our dog warm on camping trips so he doesn't have to sleep inside the sleeping bag with one of us:

And when he decides to pick up his newest hobby of falconry I'll know exactly where to look for gifts...

Thanks Filson, for making all the ear doctor's wildest dreams come true.

festive hijinks

Last April our house was broken into and our TV stolen. It shook up the whole neighborhood and as a result we got to know our neighbors, exchange numbers and we always keep an each other.


This year we have someone leaving us little gifts to celebrate the first 12 days of December. The first night the ear doctor got a little zealous in trying to figure out who was leaving us the gifts...he chased them into a neighbor's yard and trapped them in place. I, dramatically, told him to back off so that the people doing this super nice thing could have a little fun.

So since then, we've pulled it way back...and they stopped knocking on the door to announce their deliveries.

But then, on Monday they left us a taunting note saying that they were trickier than we were because we didn't know who they were.

Well, we know we're the craftiest and to taunt us? It's not going to end well.

Last night we decided to leave our solid front door open, but our glass outer door closed. That way if they wanted to try to leave it on our porch they'd have to get creative.

At about 9:30 our dog started going CRAZY. We knew they were here. We waited and watched to see what they would do. I guess they hung around for 20 minutes or so deciding what to do because Roscoe was barking like crazy.

We never saw them, but I peered out the glass door and saw that there was a little gift on the hood of the ear doctor's car. I ran out on my bare tip toes through the snow to retrieve it and came in to the ear doctor talking to someone on the phone.

Our neighbor had noticed a stranger in a hoodie lurking around our house for the last 20 minutes and wanted to make sure everything was OK.

So now, not only is our nice barer of gifts going to have to avoid getting caught by us, but the entire neighborhood watch is on their trail...


...they're never going to make it to December 12th without getting caught...

Spoils

Last night I went to an ornament exchange party hosted by a good friend. She asked me to come early, so I did. I helped her cut fudge and layout food. I helped her arrange chairs and open the door for guests.

There were about 20 interesting, smart, funny women attending this party. And the best part is that I only knew about half of them.

Have I mentioned that I love meeting new people? I love it. Lately I've been feeling a bit stale and boring, but meeting new people always makes me feel like a million bucks. I can tell them my funniest, best stories and I get to hear brand new things about them.

And to top it off, I ended up getting the best ornament in the bunch...a blue wool whale with a big wide smile across his little face.

It doesn't get much better than that.

in between

Last night we had our first combined youth group meeting.

I'm in charge of helping lead the spiritual progression of the teenage girls who attend my church. Unfortunately, the numbers of teenage girls attending our congregation has dwindled. In an attempt to bolster our young ladies we've decided to combine our Wednesday evening youth groups with 2 other groups in our local area.

So last night we had about 65 teenagers all come together and play toilet paper dodgeball together.


It was pure and utter insanity.


Instead of hanging out with the same 10 kids I've spent every Wednesday with for the last 2 years I had a whole crop of new kiddos to get to know. My girls were all excited by the new, cute boys and the boys had a new group to play basketball with. At first, the energy was exciting and intoxicating. Meeting new people always amps up my energy; I live for the balance between excitement and anxiety. It was really exciting for me until I realized (again) that I am no longer the target audience for these gatherings. These kids don't see me as a cool slightly older peer, but as the grown-up. The adult.

And if those kids had been just a little bit less over the moon with excitement then I might have felt a little ripped off. A little neglected. A little...separate.


I'm not a youth. That's for sure. But I donn't really seem to fit with the rest of the adults since I don't have kids of my own.


Sitting squarely in limbo is where I found myself as I swept up spilled popcorn kernels and ripped pieces of TP.

An official new holiday

Saturday was the first gray, cold, wet day of fall in Colorado. We decided to celebrate the turn of the season by having MAN DAY.

First, we slept in....not necessarily a man-exclusive activity, but I've never met a guy who didn't appreciate a nice lazy Saturday morning.

Then, we played Wii for 5 hours. New game on our brand New TV.

Then, we changed out of pajamas and went to get Denver's best pastrami sandwich. I know it is the best pastrami in Denver because my husband has done an exhaustive search of all the options and this, my friends, was the best.

Went home, took a nap while watching True Grit.

Woke up, finished up an easy but infinitely rewarding home improvement task which appropriately covered us in sawdust.

Ordered pizza for dinner and watched the BYU football game.

Rounded out the night with a Aerosmith Guitar Hero jam session.

Personal reminder

Today my coworker complimented my outfit and then said that she thought I always looked so great and had the cutest clothes.

It totally made my day.


Note to self: when I think someone nice about someone I should SAY it. It might just make all the difference in their day!

Midnight musings

Today my littler sister wrote a really great post about what keeps her up at night. She's pregnant with #3 right now, so most of her nocturnal worries center on the welfare of her little ones.


I have always been a good sleeper. Always. When we were little my parents played a game where they offered a dollar to the kid who fell asleep first. I'm pretty sure I was always the winner...and come to think of it, I was never really reimbursed for my obedience.

Even now, as an adult, I'm a rockstar sleeper. But occasionally something keeps me up.


Money.



It's the only thing that can tear me from my dreams, rob me of slumber and motivate me to sit at the dining room table in my underwear signing checks and licking envelopes.


How about you? What keeps you up at night?

One down

Saturday night our friends treated us to free club level tickets at the Rockies game. Usually, I don't really like baseball, but this weekend it was perfect. It wasn't unbearably hot and at the club level the chairs are farther apart and you have a waiter that will bring you food so you don't have to bother the people on the end of the row getting up and down.

And even though our team lost, it was a totally awesome night.

Why?

Well, I'll tell you.

After going to a million games and longingly watching the jumbotron filled with happy smiling faces I FINALLY made it up on the screen! Yep! that's right. If you'd been at the game on Saturday night and looked up in the middle of the 8th inning you would have seen the ear doctor and I going crazy because they'd chosen us! US! to do the macarena in public.


Even cooler?

This morning at work my coworker asked if I was at the game because he saw a girl who looked just like me on the jumbotron!


Scratch that one off the bucket list!

Favorite NY moment #4

After we'd spent a few hours strolling around the MET we needed a little sugary energy infusion. So, upon the advice of the lovely Sharon, we strolled a couple of blocks over to William Greenberg Desserts. We bought two black and whites and couple of cans of diet coke.

There is only one word for what transpired next.


Nirvana.

At first I was a it skeptical...could this simple cookie have just changed my life? Could I have found a new favorite confection?

Then I became suspicious that everyone around me wanted to steal it and have it for themselves...

For my whole life I thought these cookies were just normal sugar cookies, but they are so much more than that! They are more like a slice of cake that is easy to eat and covered with beautiful chocolate and perfect icing:

Take a look at that beautiful crumb!

We had one every single day we were in the city and right now as I type this I'm craving another!

Favorite NY moment #3

The first day we were in the city we decided to go on a REAL TOUR of NY. I have to say, I was a bit nervous it would be super touristy and I would regret spending my cash. I was totally wrong. It was awesome. Small group, funny guide, awesome hole in the wall dim sum place that we never would have found for dinner...all in all awesome.


One of our first stops was to see ground zero.


I was a little bit overwhelmed by how fresh the events of a decade ago were in the memory of New Yorkers. Fresh and painful. We walked through St. Paul's churchyard and I was totally overwhelmed by the sense of love and support that ordinary people offered...without any kind of government organization helping them out. I found tears silently rolling down my cheeks as I listened to our tour guide tell us how his mother was supposed to go to her job that morning in a gift shop on the 40-something-ith floor and how her 25 year old boss told her to take the morning off. That 25 year old saved his mother's life.


More than the devastating loss that was experienced that morning, I'll remember the pure charity, unselfish devotion, overwhelming unity and unconquerable spirit of hard work that poured our of our nation following the disaster.


At St. Paul's there is a table were you are encouraged to leave your prayers and thoughts. I wrote this on a card and left it there:

"My prayer is that it does not take another disaster to unify us again"

Favorite NY moment #2

OK, just to preface this. What happened isn't exactly my "favorite" experience in the world, but it just seemed so perfectly iconic New York that I couldn't resist sharing it.

The entire time we were in the city we ate 2 dinners. First dinner usually happened around 6 pm. It was usually at a normal restaurant and in a normal setting. Then we went out and found something fun to do or see and around 10 we were hungry again. This is when second dinner occurred. Sometimes it was 3 huge desserts we shared, sometimes it was piping hot pizza fresh from the oven.

One night after second dinner we were riding the subway back to our hotel. The train was filled with the usual interesting array of people. People chatting, reading, staring off into space, singing along to their ipod, whatever. We pulled up to a stop and an elderly gentleman boarded the train. He took his place standing in the middle of the car, even though there were plenty of empty seats. As soon as the train started he looked around the car, slowly lifted his hand and proceeded to flip off the entire car.

He kept his hand raised and slowly spun on his heel, making sure that everyone in the car had the chance to take in his totally unprovoked message.

The next stop came and he got off the train.

The ear doctor decided that he was probably upset with the fact that the platforms were unbearably hot (underground, no ventilation, 85 degree days and 80% humidity) and the trains were all running slow from construction on the lines.


Considering that, I am inclined to add a nod of agreement to the gentleman's outward expression of frustration.

Favorite NY moment #1

All I've ever heard is how New Yorkers, and east coasters in general, are a bit cold. Somehow I got a stereotype into my head that they are a bit rude, unfriendly and pushy.


One morning we were sitting on a bench looking at a subway map (my favorite pass time) and trying to chart our course to the closest shake shack. It was early and getting warm. People were out walking their dogs. One guy was on a jog and reached into the pocket of his gym shorts to pull out a piece of paper. Suddenly, a huge wad of cash spilled out of his pocket. The wind caught the errant bills and started blowing them all over.

I expected people to either totally ignore this guy's plight or to bend over and scoop up a bill for themselves.

The total opposite happened.


Every single person in the surrounding area ran around collecting this guys money. People jumped out into the street for a $1 bill. People across the street, on the next block even scooped up the cash and trotted over to return the money to it's rightful owner.


It was the final little push I needed to help me fall head over heels in love with the city.

Photo Series

I can't tell you how much we loved our trip to New York. People always talk about how great the city is, but I never really got it. I've been to big cities and liked them, but I've officially joined the I (heart) N Y bandwagon.


And is there any better way to document a great trip than through self portraits? I think not.

Times Square 

 The Met

 New Amsterdam Theater

 Statue of Liberty

 Ellis Island

 Ferry Ride

 Moma

 Brooklyn Bridge

 Birthday Cake in our hotel

30 Rock

New York trip prep day 4

The ear doctor and I brainstormed songs all about New York to create a mix tape.

We then went out and found a ghetto blaster.


We plan to bump those tunes all through the streets of NY.

CONCRETE JUNGLE WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE OF!!!!!!

New York trip prep day 3

Monday afternoon I went over to my friend's house to get my hair cut in preparation for the trip.

When I moved to Colorado 8 years ago I met this really awesome, funny, beautiful girl. I found out she was a hair stylist and gladly cut people's hair in her kitchen. Well, I was new and didn't want to put the effort into finding a salon. Plus, I 've never really been that picky about my haircut.

So I sat in her chair for the first time...and have never looked back.

She is probably the most talented hair stylist I've ever been to. Usually when you get a cute cut and time passes it starts to look a little raggedy. I don't know what it is, but every time she cuts my hair, as time goes by it just looks better and better.

And I love the fact that we've stayed close enough that I can come over and get my hair cut, then have dinner with her family, then play in the grass with her two little boys (4 and 2). Who else gets that kind of special treatment from their stylist?

New York trip prep day 2

I  told myself that I would attempt to cool it on the scheduling of this trip. I have been known to over plan a vacation and not allow any free moments for relaxation or spontaneity.

But I just couldn't help myself.


We're only in the city for a few days and there are so many things to see and do that I would hate to get there and spend time schlepping around and looking at each other and asking what we should see next. Or even worse, end up eating at some crappy chain restaurant because we didn't take the time to find somewhere amazing to eat. That would be a real tragedy in my book.

So here it is, our plan for the trip. I know it seems a bit detailed, but that's what happens when my type A personality gets a hold of a spreadsheet. Our tickets are purchased and our reservations are made. The good thing about me is that the moment a trip begins my red personality morphs to yellow and I have no problem dropping the schedule entirely.

Is there anything totally awesome that we've missed in our exhaustive research? Something we MUST add to our trip?

New york trip prep day 1

In one week the ear doctor and I will be leaving for our trip to New York and I am R-E-A-L-L-Y excited. There are very few things I love more in life than being away from work with my best friend doing things we've never done before.

In an attempt to convey my excitement I'm doing to do a series about how we're getting ready.

This morning the ear doctor and I decided that we're going to start practicing talking like native New Yorkers. Unfortunately, the most exposure we have to real New York dialogue comes mainly from Seinfeld and movies featuring Brooklyn Mobsters.

So this morning there was a whole lot of "yadda, yadda, yadda" and "fogetaboutit" goin on in our house.

Clearly, we need help.



What other lingo should we be practicing to avoid standing out like the country bumpkins that we are?

Age appropriate

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in Panera eating my lunch alone at a table for two. I do this about once a week. Unlike 14 year old Katie now I actually really enjoy sitting by myself in a crowded lunchroom. I like to watch the elderly couples consume their bowls of soup and enjoy the comfortable silence that only people who've lived together for 60 years can create. I like to watch the young moms attempt to wrangle their toddlers and convince themselves that the $5 peanut butter and jelly sandwich that sits uneaten doesn't annoy the crap out of them. I like to see the other people like me, taking a break from work, eating a meal alone.

But yesterday as I was sitting there at my usual table I looked up and made eye contact with an elderly gentlemen. I was about to politely look away, when I noticed the corners of his mouth turn up. Then he gave me the most perfect wink I've ever seen.

It wasn't creepy and it wasn't paternal in the slightest. It was flattering and I actually felt myself blush the tiniest bit.


What is it about the men of the greatest generation? They effortlessly wear a fedora without any of the pretense that radiates off most 20-something hipsters who attempt to don the accessory. They seem strong, independent, honest, real.


Or maybe it's just that my own grandpa is an amazing man, and I transfer my perception of him onto every like-aged gentlemen I see?

Getting the timing right

Last night when the ear doctor came home I was sitting on the couch, watching Rizzoli and Isles unpicking 3 seams. I've been working on creating a masterpiece of a dress and it just wasn't coming out right. The gathers were all uneven, the plaid pattern wasn't matching up perfectly, my top stitching couldn't walk a straight line if the chief of police pulled it over and asked it to.

I'd cocooned myself on our big leather couch with pillows stacked up to either ear, my feet propped up and my body covered with rumpled, yellow-and-brown plaid, poor quality work.


And I was feisty.



The weird thing about me is that sometimes when I'm feeling feisty I don't even know it. My emotions work about 3 times faster than my reason.

So when the ear doctor walked in the door and started asking me what was wrong I snapped at him. I unintentionally ignored him. I finish unpicking my seams, tossed my seeming failure of creation aside and went to look at my garden. Which is FULL of weeds. And the tomato plant that is actually producing fruit had slumped off it's cage and those green little beauties were sitting in the mud. After stomping around the garden a few time I came in and was enraged by the dishes we'd left linger in the sink from the day before. I testily grabbed the scrubber and started tackling the pile.

And the ear doctor through this? Looked at me like I was insane. Probably because I was. My brain had yet to catch up with my temper. When he, again, kindly asked what was wrong with me I totally lost my mind. I was mean to my sweetheart. I was snarling for about 3 minutes...until I looked up at his perfectly sky blue eyes and my brain caught up to my soul.

I wasn't mad at him at all. I was stressed out with my job and defensive because I knew I was taking my fury out on the one person in the world who never deserves that. And I started hysterically laughing at myself.

Two minutes later I was sobbing in his arms and apologizing for the mismatch in timing from my heart to my head.


I ate some dinner and put myself to bed early.


And at 3 in the morning when I couldn't fall to sleep I decided it was the perfect time wage an epic steamroller battle.

Do you know the game steamroller?


Anyway, the point is that I'm learning to work out the timing between my emotions and my reason. Trying to feel slower and think faster.

Birthday Recap

I'm going to try hard not to make this a brag-about-my-awesome-husband post, but I don't really see that there's any way around that.

Simply put: he is amazing and made my birthday perfect.

Friday afternoon we went out for lunch at my very favorite sandwich spot in Denver. Fantastic. Their hot ham and swiss is so melty and delicious that juice runs down my chin every time. Then, we packed up and headed to the mountains. He'd found us the cutest little cabin tucked beside a pond up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains above Idaho Springs. We fished, caught big beautiful rainbow trout and grilled them up for dinner. We watched the sun go down and he brought out a little, adorable lemon curd cake and sang me happy birthday.

Saturday morning we slept in. The first thing I did when I woke up was run over to my phone to see if anyone had already called and left a message on my phone. It was then that I realized my phone was totally dead and I'd forgotten the charger! TRAGEDY! My birthday is the one day a year I keep that phone with me all day and answer all the incoming well-wishing calls.Bummer.

We packed up our stuff and headed farther up the mountain to Echo Lake. This place was beautiful. Stunning. If you haven't been to Colorado before and want the full experience, go here. It is breathtaking. We drove up the highest paved road in North America to the top of Mt. Evans which stands at 14,240 feet. It was at the top of this mountain that he handed me a letter he'd written. A letter expressing his heart.

Then, he handed me a letter written by my mom.

Then one from my dad.

Then he explained that he'd hacked into my email account and send out emails to most of my close friends and family asking them to write me a letter telling me what they thought about me. All day long he kept handing me letter after letter from people I love most in this entire world. Each one brought laughter and tears. Seriously, I don't think I've ever felt more love.

I slid each one into a plastic protector in a beautiful green album.

It is something I will CHERISH for the rest of my life. One of the 4 things I will grab if my house is ever on fire.

After the mountain climb we drove home and he took me to dinner at Fruition. If you ever plan a trip to Denver, this place should be on your list of places to eat. It is fantastic. And I know you have to get a reservation 2 months in advance so the ear doctor has probably been planning this forever.

After the best meal in recent memory, we came home and I opened my last letters and his gift. His gift was a new Vera Bradley trip kit. Inside was a travel book for New York! He got us tickets to be in New York for almost a week over Labor Day! I have never been to the city before and can't wait to go!

All in all, a FANTASTIC way to celebrate my first 30 years of living on this planet.

Unexpected mortality check

Today for lunch I sat in the middle of a crowded fast-casual restaurant at a small table all alone.

I was surrounded by moms with strollers and elderly retired couples. There were teenagers on dates and groups of girls shopping for cheap clothes.

And I sat alone enjoying my spinach salad quite contentedly. Well, the salad was bit overdressed and for $7.50 I had hoped for a few more blue cheese crumbles.

I was really pretty perfectly happy until I decided to aspirate the balsamic fig dressing. Vinegar trying to make it's way into your lungs? Not a great feeling.

As I started coughing and hacking I looked around to make sure I wasn't bothering someone.

And guess what? No one even glanced my way!

I wonder if those happy lunch goers would have let me DIE sitting right there in the middle of the crowded dining room?

The thought was really creepy...and it made me remember why I don't really like eating at Noodles & Co.

Busted

I have a deep, dark, guilty secret.

I freakin love Kraft singles.

I love their slightly rubbery texture, their over salted flavor and I take great joy in peeling off that clingy plastic.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good fancy cheese too...but the kraft singles will always hold a place in my heart.

When we were little my parents bought my sister and I the cheese. We would sneak slices all day long and thought my mom never knew about our pilfered prize...because we stuffed the plastic wrappers between the cushions of the couch.

When she sat in that chair and heard the tell-tale crinkle of plastic wrappers her brains exploded. She ripped the couch apart and picked out every single piece of greasy plastic.

Kraft singles were banned in our house from that moment forward.

This morning I woke up and found this note, lovingly left for me by my husband on the kitchen counter:

I hope he doesn't decide to ban Nature's Valley granola bars from the house, because I really REALLY like them...

Just a little jealous

Last week we found out that a good friend of ours got laid off from his job.

He and his wife went away for a long weekend to celebrate their anniversary and the morning he got back to work they told him not to come in anymore.

I would totally freak out if this happened to me. I know it's always a possibility, but it just seems crazy to have your security just uprooted so dramatically. To his credit, he's totally taking it like a champ. For the last week he has been a stay at home dad, taking care of their 10 month old baby 24 hours a day.

On Wednesday his wife told me that he was totally going crazy. She asked the ear doctor if he could take her husband golfing this morning. And, since the ear doctor is really great at service and sacrifice he rearranged his schedule and was up bright and early this morning organizing his golf bag and cleaning out his soft spiked shoes.

Instead of getting to go out to the links, I had to haul my sorry buns to work.

To make it worse, my commute takes me right by a huge reservoir where people were out water skiing on glassy water.

And then, to really emphasize the fact that I'm working and not having fun I had to drive under people launch hot air balloons!

I know I should be grateful to have a job, and not feel any jealousy at all for someone who unexpectedly lost his.  I know that to the depths of my soul. I get it that I am SO lucky to have such a great job that I really do like 90% of the time.

But wouldn't it be fun to golf, or water ski, or ride in a balloon today?

Time rolls on

I hate it when I find myself being a total cliche.

Up until last week I was totally fine with the idea of turning 30 next week. Excited even.

But this week, as I calm my mind and lay in my big fluffy bed attempting to fall asleep a little bit of dread washes over me.

30?

How did that happen.

And why do I still feel like I'm 22? Will I always feel that old?


Maybe it's because I haven't had a baby yet?


How old do you feel?