Phoenix Photos

The Hubs and I went to Phoenix last month and I'm just getting around to putting up some photos. We had so much fun! We absolutely adore Phoenix and already want to go back.

We drove there; a harrowing 14 hour drive. We got through it by watching seasons of "Friends" on the laptop and spending quality time together. We went hiking, went to a Diamondbacks game on Memorial Day, ate great food, drove around the different suburbs. It was wonderful.




Entering New Mexico!



The landscape along the way was breathtaking. This one is in New Mexico.



We drove through a wicked nasty storm in Flagstaff on the way to Phoenix. It was hailing and pouring and lightening bolts were everywhere. It was insane how different the mountains of Flagstaff are compared to the desert heat just two hours away in Phoenix.



Steve and I in front of the fountains in Glendale. The Jobing.Com Arena (catchy little name, right?) and University of Phoenix Stadium have this little oasis surrounding it with shops, restaurants, movie theatre, outdoor fun, etc. We spent several hours there just enjoying.



We ate at the Glendale oasis at a Japanese place called Kabuki. This is our calamari and edamame appetizer. Both very good!



This is our sushi: California Rolls, Phildelphia Rolls and Spicy Tuna Rolls. YUM!!




We drove up to Surprise for a little house hunting (wishful thinking). After several occasions of seeing people tooling around in golf carts, I just had to take a picture. This bad-boy was parked in front of Fry's (king soopers, basically). If you look closely, it even has a license plate.



Part of the Glendale oasis area.




Chase Field on Memorial Day



Chase Field sells sliced caramel apples. I get one every time we're there.



My hubby and I with the field.



Happy Memorial Day!



Military troops holding the flag while the National Anthem is played.



Us at the field again.



Steve is obsessed with college baseball. ASU has one of the best college baseball teams in the country and they just happened to be playing while we were there. The stadium is gorgeous and we sat in the general admission area. It's all grass and families come with coolers and blankets and chairs and just picnic while watching the game. It was so much fun.



On the way home, we had to drive over this huge pass because we skipped New Mexico and came home through the Four Corners. It was 97 degrees when we left Phoenix and when we got to the pass about seven hours later it was a blizzard!




Beautiful Arizona Landscape

Overheard

"Well that's why babies are cute...so you don't kill them."

A friend telling another friend that kids are cute when they're little because if you knew what they grew into, you'd kill them.

Preggers

One of my best friends is pregnant. Kelcy, this one's for you :)

You Down with G.O.D.?

I had lunch plans with my friend Christine today at 12:30. I put it on my Outlook calendar because, let's face it, I'm a busy girl. If you have Outlook you know that the boxes can be small and cut off letters on the main calendar. When I glanced at it, I noticed something.



Quite the conversation starter, right? "I had lunch with Christ today. What did you do?"

FYI, I'm Not Stupid

I understand that Steve and I have been married over three years. I also understand that, according to most people, that means we need to hop on the baby train.

But you need to understand that I'm not an idiot. When I say I haven't been feeling well and my stomach has been upset, don't look at me with raised eyebrows and ask if I'm pregnant. I think I would know if my queasiness had anything to do with pregnancy and you can bet that if there's even a remote possibility that it could be, I probably wouldn't be just casually throwing it out there.

You can count on two things:
1) If I were pregnant I wouldn't coyly say "oh gee, my stomach hurts and my period is late. Hmm, wonder why? (pause for dramatic effect)"

2) When I do get pregnant, I'll be smart enough to keep the pregnancy symptoms out of regular conversation until we plan on telling people.

And this blog post does not include my mother. Since she is the woman that went through 23+ hours of labor with me, she reserves the right to ask if I'm pregnant any time she wants.

Weird Habit

Lately I've noticed that if I get someone's voicemail my automatic urge is to just slide my phone closed and hang up. I'm not sure if it's because I'm impatient and don't want to sit through the greeting or maybe it's just that it wasn't that important and I'll try them later.

Or just maybe it's because every time I leave a message the person calls me back and says "what's up?" and I ask if they got my message and they say "I haven't checked it yet."

Hmmm, how do ya like that?

Caged Bird

Right now I feel like a bird
Caged without a key
Everyone comes to stare at me
So much joy and revelry
They dont know how I feel inside
Through my smile I cry
They dont know what theyre doing to me
Keeping me from flying
Thats why I say that I know why the caged bird sings
Only joy comes from song
Shes so rare and beautiful to others
But I just set her free so she can fly, fly, fly
Spreading her wings and her song
Let her fly, fly, fly, the whole world to see
Hmmm hey ooh shes like a caged bird
Fly, fly, ooh, just let her fly, just let her fly, just let her fly
Spread wings
Spread beauty

This song by Alicia Keys is beautiful. It came up on my mp3 player today and I had an emotional moment. Though I joke around and smile and act happy, underneath I'm torn up. Like the song says, "Through my smile I cry."

At this point in my life I feel like the caged bird. I can't go forward yet I can't go back. This is not a new feeling to me since I wrote about it here in February. There's just no end in sight to these things that are causing this situation and it's hard to remain positive all the time.

I'm not unhappy all the time but I have a lot of time on my hands to think. I have a great support team in my husband, friends and family but when it comes down to it, it's my and Steve's life that is getting put on hold.

I want to spread my wings and fly. I want to feel that I'm living my life and not just existing, because that's what I feel like right now; I feel like I'm merely existing because everything else needed to be put on hold. Yes we've taken a few vacations and done stuff to our house (yay!) but in the grand scheme of things it's just fun stuff holding us over until we can continue down our path.

Overheard

"So I had Botox before I was 40. So what? Does that make me a bad person?"

A man at a Chili's in Scottsdale telling his male companion over four glasses of white wine. Let me repeat, this was at a Chili's, in the middle of the day, on a weekday.

Glee

I'm so excited for the new fall series "Glee". This show completely brings out my inner band/performing arts geek-ness and the pilot episode has me hooked!

Movie Night?

Thank God I'm not the only one that thought "Night at the Museum" was horrible!

Tip

Here's a little tip, straight from me to you. If you come up to my desk one more time and ask me to make one black and white copy of whatever it is you hand me, I may throw something at you.

Do you realize it would've been faster to just make the copy yourself rather than walk past the copier to come and ask me to do it?

That's all.

Thought

Green-with-envy is not a great color on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for all the wonderful things I have; an amazing husband, a beautiful house, a job that is not only still around but pays me well, people who love me, my health (most of the time).

But sometimes I just want to be 6 years old, sit cross-legged on the floor with my arms folded and whine "but it's not fair"! Sometimes life's not fair, yea I got the memo. But it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.

People have things I want, things I've been working very hard for and it seems like they get it easier and for less. How is it fair that someone gets what I want when they don't go about it the right way?

A Shout Out

I'd just like to give a big "What's Up" to the Discount Tires in FoCo we went to this weekend. Thank you for not calling us back when the car was ready, making me almost miss my cousins graduation party AND scratching the front of the car.

It's okay, I know it was you. Even though you gave me the whole "oh, that was already there" speech, I know that scratch/dent wasn't there previously. But that's okay. As you so eloquently and politely told me, I can't prove it. :)

On a Serious Note..

It's been a rough few weeks for me; mentally, emotionally, physically, health-wise. Some people know, but my company filed bankruptcy in November which we knew was a definite possibility since about September of 2008. The workload has dwindled to basically nothing except maintaining what we have. I've been eternally grateful that month after month we defy the odds and are still around. I'm grateful that unlike so many millions of Americans, I'm lucky enough to keep my job for right now, god willing.

Although it's hard to continue to be utterly grateful day after day, month after month and it's starting to ware on me. I'm exhausted mentally. For 8+ months I've been living in a state of limbo; not knowing what's coming, not knowing what's going to happen two weeks from now. It's hard.

The Hubs and I can't plan things like vacations or days off until two weeks before we plan on going just to make sure I have a job to finance the vacation.

It's even harder because we want a family sometime. We want to start a family together. Everyone always tells us "If you wait until the 'right' time or until you have 'x' amount of money, you'll never have a child. There is no 'right' time." And while I appreciate loved ones input and fully agree there's never a "right" time, Steve and I agree there is definitely a "wrong" time.

In an economy where millions of people honestly CAN'T find jobs and me not knowing how long mine will be around, it seems to be a bad time to bring a child into the financial mix. How can I throw caution to the wind and say "what the hell, let's have a kid" if I don't know if I'll be employed in 3 months and very well may not be able to find another job to support said-Child?

Steve and I may have an exciting opportunity in the next three months that could change the need to rely on my job and could possibly be the answer we need.

Please pray that we get to take advantage of this new opportunity. Please pray hard.

Overheard

"I don't swear around my kids. The worst I say is bitch and shit."

Overheard on my van/carpool. Um, those are swear words. If you don't think so, I don't even want to know what you consider swearing.

Overheard

"Woman, don't be such a biatch!"

While shopping at Ross downtown on my lunch break, there was a man on his cell phone.
I don't know who he's talking to but that's never a safe sentence.

Teacher Appreciation

I love my relatives and friends that are teachers, I really do. ;)

Bags!

I had a few shopping successes over the weekend and one of those successes is a new slouchy, faux-leather, turquoise bag from Kohl's. I LOVE this bag and it only helps that it was 80% off!! I couldn't believe my lucky stars; I could hear it calling my name from across the store.



And Pali is a big fan of the bag as well, as evidenced here by her enthusiasm.



I bought another bag on Ebay. It's a studded faux-leather shoulder bag that's so flippin' cute. However, it smelled so badly of cigarette smoke so I'm currently airing it out and trying to get the stink out of it. I'll post pictures once I'm able to go near it :)

Overheard

"Oh my god, I might have swine flu. I just had pork for lunch yesterday!" - Girl talking to lord knows who on a cell phone.

Um, it's not like mad-cow. You can't get it by EATING the pig.

Gross, I Know

Gross to everyone, but only one person understands why I posted this. Please to enjoy!

Overheard

While stopped at a light in Downtown Denver yesterday: "All my grandparents were dead by the time I was five."

Well Happy Wednesday to you too.

A Lovely Side Effect

I picked up the sport of running about five months ago. I wish it was as easy as it sounds, but alas, it's not. I unfortunately decided to start running in the winter so it's been hit and miss until the last few months. I'm semi-following a program called Couch 2 5K. It takes people like me who used to only run when chased and turns them into runners. You start out by running for a minute, walking for a minute and a half on and off for 30 minutes.

Slowly, I've worked my way up to running for a solid 2 1/2 minutes; emphasis on slowly. I'm pretty sure an old lady was laughing at me yesterday for how slow I go. But right now it's not about speed, it's about endurance so I think I'm doing pretty well. If you think jogging for 2 1/2 minutes w/o stopping sounds easy, try it.

A wonderful side effect from running so much is I'm constantly starving. Not just starving; famished! I was so hungry on my way home from work yesterday I could've pulled my arm off an eaten it. Lovely, I know.

But a fun side note about running, i get to buy a bunch of stuff! For instance, my Saucony Grid Ignition running shoes. Not only are they stylin', they're so comfortable it's like running on green and white clouds :)

Loves them!

Overheard

As I was exiting the elevator in my building, I heard one man say to another, "She was, hands down, the hottest shoe-shine girl in Manhattan."

Awesome.

Ah, Colorado

Glorious Colorado. If you live here, you know how abruptly the weather can change. I needed the following items in the last three days: shorts, tank top, flip-flops, sunglasses, rain coat, rain boots, gloves, winter jacket, hat, snow boots.

Three days ago it was beautiful, hot and 70. Yesterday it poured rain and today it's a blizzard dumping a possible 6-16 inches.

Ah, Colorado.

Book Love

I fell in love last night...with a library. That's right! Fort Collins opened a brand new library and it's beautiful. It has large, plastic letters kids can sit and play on, fireplaces, comfy chairs and sofas, study rooms, tons of windows, and the smell of new books!

Plus it's closer to my house so what's not to love? They have a smaller selection than the other libraries but I can still have my books sent to that one. Part of me wishes I had some homework so I could take it there and study; but then I realize that I have a full-time job and money to pay for things so that feeling goes away rather quickly :)

We're Going To......

Kansas City! Wa, wa, wa...I know; not exactly the most exciting place on Earth but it was good enough for Dorothy!

The hubs and I are going to Phoenix at the end of May but decided we needed a quick get-a-way to tide us over for two more grueling months. Kansas City is only 8 hours away and it just happens to be Opening Weekend for the Royals. Coincidence? I think not.

So we're taking a four-day weekend over Easter and driving our butts to Kansas City. But first, we are going to Opening Day at Coors Field. I'm a little torn about this for several reasons:

1) I'm so happy it's finally baseball season again!
2) I've never been to Opening Day and it's something every baseball fan should do.
3) Opening Day is chocked FULL of non-baseball fans. Opening Day is ripe for bandwagon fans and people just looking for the thrill of saying they went to Opening Day; this is the reason why tickets for Friday are basically sold out but Saturday is wide opened. Oh well :)

It Takes Me Back

Today I was instantly transported to my old best friend's basement when we were 13. I heard a song I haven't heard in years and it splashed me back down to 1997. The song is highly embarrassing but it's "Invisible Man" by 98 Degrees. Yes, my friend and I liked them and loved that cheesy song. We even tried to get to the Barnes and Noble when they were in Denver but alas, we couldn't rollerblade that far.

So much has changed in the 12-13 years since then. I'm not even friends with her anymore which in some ways makes my heart a little sad. We both had our reasons for going our separate ways and maybe in a way it's a good thing. I still miss her and think of her and worry for her though.

But for four minutes and 41 seconds, I was transport back to that basement, to a time and place that was much simpler.

Thanks Cheesy Radio Station for playing that song during a day I needed a little break from reality.

I'm On the Hunt

I need a new mp3 player. The hubs got me one about 4 1/2 years ago when I was flying to Florida to help move my sister out there. He knows how nervous I am when I fly and he wanted to get me something that would help me take my mind off being 30,000 feet in the air in a tin can that can be taken down by a flock of friggin' geese.

Color me surprised that 4 1/2 years later it actually still works. Almost no piece of technology I've ever owned still worked correctly even 2 years after I bought it. However, in the past few months I've taken up running. Yes, I know. I used to only run when chased; now I actually do it for fun. It's freeing and I love being outside with the wind in my hair, trying not to die as I round the corner and stumble over my own two feet.

The mp3 player I have now doesn't have an armband and I'm sick of having to carry it in one hand. I want something that will either fit in an armband or clip on to me. I think I've narrowed it down to a SanDisk Sansa Clip. All together..."say what now?"

This little beauty, in blue :) It's smaller than the palm of your hand, has a clip on the back for..well..clipping to things, and it's 2GB.

One might ask, "But why didn't you just get an ipod shuffle?" *Ahem* Brian. I refuse to conform to the man! Apple has gone quite far to intice people like me to buy an ipod shuffle. It's small, it comes in fun colors, it clips to your clothing, blah blah blah. To me, it's overpriced and Apple only let's you downloan specific things to it. I want an mp3 player that doesn't dictate where I can and can't get my music from.

Good try Apple. I refuse to be swayed by your fancy colors and cuteness!

The Evil Tax Man

I hate...let me repeat that...HATE tax season. I'm married with a home, a little retirement, no dependents. Basically, I should just about break even every year. However, I'm also a freelance writer and make some money doing that. It's not really enough to blip Uncle Sam's radar if I don't declare it but I'm an honest person so I do.

So apparently being honest really screws you. My hubby and I ended up paying the federal government $300 this year. Yes, I know that's better than thousands, but are you flippin' kidding me? I bust my ass all year with an hour and a half commute to a job so I can pay mortgage on my house and bills and a few luxuries I afford myself; we're already paying more in taxes for the SECOND $700 billion "stimulus"; Colorado just passed a law to add MORE taxes onto car registration; And you're telling me I owe the government MORE money??

I'm glad my $300 will go towards individuals who made bad decisions by buying a home when they couldn't afford it. I'm glad my $300 will go towards teaching kids how to live green in the midst of people losing their jobs by the tens of thousands, but at least we'll be green. I'm glad my $300 will go towards buying OTHER people out of their own greedy mistakes.

Who Turned on the Light?

I leave my house at 6:30 in the morning so I can make it to work by 8:00. Usually it's pitch-black and I have to turn my headlights on so I can take the trash to the curb and don't run over anything.

This morning, it was so light outside I almost didn't even need my headlights to drive to the park-and-ride. Here comes Spring!

Here's the thing about Colorado: It's supposed to be cold and snowy in the winter, right? Wrong, apparently. If it's supposed to snow in the winter, then it needs to snow and be cold. If it's not supposed to snow in the winter then it's fine to be warm and sunny. It basically needs to either be Buffalo or Phoenix, but Colorado really needs to pick one!

Uh oh!!

Oh man, I'm in trouble. I just spotted Reese's eggs on the Easter asile at Target. I'm ADDICTED to these! MMMMMMM....yummy!

It's a Great Day to Be Alive

I love this song by Travis Tritt. I haven't heard it in a little while but it was on the radio this morning while I was driving to the park-and-ride. I started singing and got goosebumps because this song is so relevant right now.

The chorus is:
It's a great day to be alive
I know the sun's still shining when I close my eyes
There's some hard time in the neighborhood
But why can't every day be just this good?

Life is hard right now. My company may close in about 6 weeks, people are getting laid off, losing their homes, and it's just a really trying time for American's right now. But this song reminds me I need to focus on the good things that make me lucky to be alive:

My amazing husband who is everything to me.
My home in Ft. Collins that I just love so much.
My two crazy cats that never cease to entertain me.
My family who would do anything for me.
Friends like fertile Merkl :)
My education that was fun to get and I'm proud of.
The fact that I'm healthy and able.
Friends that get me through the work day.

Shame, Shame

JUST when baseball fans were thinking we could finally start putting the steroid era behind us, A-Rod tested positive for anabolic steroids while he was a Texas Ranger and now all his records are in question. Are you kidding me??

It's not just that he was on steroids, it's that he lied about it...through his teeth...on national television. when the Mitchell Report came out in 2006, he volunteered to go on the record about never using or even being tempted to use. Why on earth would you volunteer to be interviewed about a lie?

Granted, the tests in question were supposed to be anonymous and then destroyed. The players union totally screwed the pooch on not following up on destroying them, but still.

Damn you A-Rod, no wonder Madonna dumped you!

Yummy Dinner

The hubs and I have been very bored with our dinner menu. We have some staples on there like stir-fry and pasta and what not, but we've been in a bit of a "food funk", if you will.

Last night was a nice departure from the funk. We had salmon on the menu which is usually pretty ho-hum, but last night I kicked it up a notch! We ended up having cajun salmon, broccoli and pasta roni and let me tell you...it was GOOD! I think it was a might on the spicy side and overpowered the flavor of the salmon but it was my first try and dang tasty.

I put cajun seasoning, crushed red pepper (note: do NOT get it near your eyes...trust me!), and salt in a bowl then poured it over the salmon fillet and spread it around. I put two teaspoons of the red pepper but I think maybe 1 1/2 would've been better.

Never-the-less, it was tasty and I was quite impressed with myself :) I'm trying to do more of the cooking lately since I love to cook.

Long Overdue Update

Wow, I can't believe it's February 6th already. Before you know it it'll be my birthday, then my 3rd wedding anniversary (yay!) and before you can says "summer weather" one of my best friends will be giving birth! The next six months are going to be crazy.

I've been a little bit of a recluse lately, online and in real life. Things have come up lately that have me questioning my path in life and what actually makes me happy. My company is not doing well and there's a very strong possibility I could be laid off come April. I have very mixed emotions about it ranging from glad to sad to scared. It starts me thinking whether I want to take another admin job because it pays the bills or if I want to start down a different path.

Steve's job is going well and he really likes it. There's a possibility of a great promotion in about a year and that would most likely mean a move out of Colorado. Again, mixed emotions. I would be sad to leave family and a few close friends but I'm really restless in this state. I'm definitely more of a northeast girl but most anywhere but here would be fine with me. I just feel like Steve and I can spread our wings a little more if we left and there would be more opportunities for Steve to advance his career. If I'm just stuck in an admin position, I can do that anywhere.

There are other things going around in my head but those are the biggest. Because of the problems at my current company I feel I'm in a constant state of limbo. I can't go back but I'm not allowed to go forward yet. I can't make plans and, if you know me, not being able to plan for anything makes me feel completely out of control.

I just have to remember I can't worry about things I can't control and I need to do the best with what I have; a loving, wonderful, supportive husband, a strong family and a hell of a resume! ;)

Cheese!

Thankful

I'm not sure why but today I just have this overwhelming feeling of thanks for my friends; those friends who enrich my life and I'm a better person because of; those friends that have known me through good and bad; the friends who are happy and sad with me; those friends who are like my family; the family members who are also great friends.


Thank you for being in my life.

Definition For The Day

Snatchy (adjective): A term used to describe someone being a crabby-no-fun-pants

Example: 1) Fine snatchy, have it your way.
2) Why do you have to be so snatchy, Snatchy McSnatcherson?

Produce Heaven

Over Christmas, my father-in-law told me about Sunflower Market. It's a smaller version of Whole Foods but has amazing produce prices and selection. Steve and I decided to go check it out this past weekend just to see if they really are cheaper and better than King Soopers.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I was in produce heaven. I got 5 large grapefruits, three roma tomatos, 4 huge potatoes, 5 apples, 5 bananas, and a carton of sliced mushrooms for (drum roll, please) eight dollars!! At King Soopers, grapefruits are 3 for $5 so right there would've been about $8. Plus, the quality is awesome. The produce is larger and fresher and tastes amazing.

Yum!!

On the First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me...

"4 days of nausea
3 days of bedrest
2 days of wretching
and 1 case of the decade's worst flu"

Of course, the above little ditty is set to the tune of "12 Days of Christmas". Unfortunately for my lovely huband, his Christmas involved a Phillies World Series ornament, the "Rocky" series on DVD, a history channel documentary, and his wife getting the stomach flu and giving it to him. I know, I know. I did well this year.

I was expecting a great Christmas. Hubs and I didn't have to leave the house as everyone was coming to us this year. I was going to take cute Christmas pictures and watch movies and enjoy family time. Instead I spent my 4-day weekend having massive stomach cramps and puking up everything I've eaten since I was 12. Guess I don't have to worry about putting on holiday weight. See...silver lining.

Then my poor husband caught it. Luckily for him he has a better immune system so it didn't sideline him for days and days.

But Christams was fun. I got a new Giants hoodie (yay!), a few new movies and the 4th season of "The Office". I also got some new tools from my cats. That's right, from the cats. Steve has one rule: never buy a woman tools or appliances for special occasions like Christmas, birthday's or anniversaries. So I say, "Babe, what if I want a hand sander for Christmas?" And he replies, "Then you're a weirdo." Ah, love!

Plus I got to see my parents and my in-laws and, of course, spend some quality time with Steve. We just never seem to get enough of that.

I'm Sick to My Stomach

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/19/caylee.anthony/index.html

Most of you are probably familiar with the case of Caylee and Casey Anthony. If not, here's a quick run-down. Casey, 22, is the mother of a missing 3 year old girl, Caylee. Caylee's grandparents reported back in June they hadn't seen or heard from their 3-year-old grandchild in almost two months. Casey's reaction to all this was to say that Caylee had been abducted 5 WEEKS earlier by a babysitter but she didn't tell anyone because the babysitter said she's kill Caylee if the mom told.

After searches and investigations, it came out that there was no babysitter or anyone living at the address Casey gave them to the "babysitter's" house. Pictures also surfaced of Casey partying and clubbing mere days after her daughter was allegedly abducted.

The trunk of Casey's car also smelled like rotten flesh according to her own parents. Casey has been arrested on charges of murder but no one could ever find Caylee.

Unfortunately, a small child's body was found in a plastic bag 1/2 a mile from little Caylee's grandparent's house.

The medical examiner just announced that the bones are indeed Caylee.

I absolutely feel sick to my stomach and it makes me want to cry. She was so little and helpless against whatever happened to her. I hate living in a world where stuff like this seems to be happening more and more.

Smile For the Day

Please to Enjoy! :)

Can you tell I'm busy at work??

This is our company mascot all Christmased out to look like Rudolph.

Good thing I'm working hard at work today, eh? Don't worry, I've had help "working".

Little Things Make Me Happy

Even though "it's the most wonderful time of the year" according to the Christmas carol, things this year have been tough. How do I bring some cheer to myself at the office??

With a new Christmas mug!!

O Christmas Tree! O CHRISTMAS TREE!

Brian, Anne and I put the Christmas tree up at work today. I think it looks lovely and makes the office feel more cheery.

And if you didn't help put it up, don't walk into the lobby and comment on what you think is wrong with it. No one wants your input :)

Black Friday

After working so many Black Friday's at places like Blockbuster and the dreaded Best Buy (have you SEEN that place on Black Friday??), I had decided that the deals you may get simply aren't worth the effort, aggravation and possible bail.

However, I spotted some wicked awesome deals at Target and decided to brave the crowds. This is what I picked up for $40 TOTAL:








The Office seasons are usually $30-$40 each and Sex and the City: The Movie is usually $20. I got $90 worth of stuff for $40. Can I get a woot woot?!

Is it just me??

I don't listen to the Jonas Brothers. I don't know if I've even heard two bars of their music, to be honest. However, their pictures are all over the magazines I read and the websites I frequent. I understand that girls thing these boys are heart throbs, but am I the only one that thinks the oldest Jonas brother looks like a total tool-bag?


The first picture, he's on the right. The second picture he's on the left.



But the absolute worst one is here: http://x17online.com/celebrities/jonas_brothers/men_in_suits-11242008.php#more

The tool is on the right, giving half of the Fonz's "Heeeey" hand gesture. Give me a break!

Gotta Love Colorado

If you don't live in Colorado then you have no idea how unpredictable the weather can get. We have a saying in the Mile High State: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."

Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were beautiful! I got to go on my daily lunch walks and one day I even got harassed by the "Save the Children" guy. Great day! Tuesday it even got into the low '80s...and it's almost Thanksgiving! Then yesterday was a high of mid '30s and today is back to the mid '50s.

However, on the way down I-25 towards work this morning it snowed for a quarter mile. That's right! A WHOLE quarter mile :) Then it stopped and I was sad.

What I'm Loving Right Now

"Secret Crowds" by Angels and Airwaves. I've been a big fan of Tom DeLonge's since his Blink days. I think his voice is so unique. I'm digging this particular song right now.

Please to enjoy :)

Guilty Pleasure

I must admit it, I watch and love One Tree Hill. I started watching it with my old roommate, Adam, in college and have watched it ever since. Some people may think it's silly but the writing is just the right amount of seriousness and hilarity.

One of the characters is Haley played by Bethany Joy Galeotti. She's a used-to-be-singer on the show and she's got such a unique and amazing voice. She releases songs on the cd's the show makes. The video below is her most recent track and I love it!

Just thought I'd share :)

Driving

I discovered today, yet again, how big of a nerd I am and how much little things excite me. I got to drive to work today. That's right; that's why I'm excited.

If I drove to work every day it would cost me almost $400 in gas, plus an oil change every month PLUS 120 miles on my car a day. So I do this cool little thing we call Vanpooling. Transfort, the public transportation system in my city, put together a nonprofit group called VanGo. They have 95 vans that go from Northern Colorado to various parts of Denver every single day. You get assigned to a van that fits your work schedule and you along with 5-6 other people drive the van to and from work every day. The company gives us a brand new mini-van and the 6-7 of us meet at a park-and-ride and drive to work.

I've been doing this for two years. Wow, two years!! Sometimes it's nice because we all get along and joke around and talk and socialize.

Sometimes it's not nice because, as somewhat of an introvert, I cherish my alone time. I like being able to gear myself up for the day by listening to BJ & Howie in the morning and drinking my coffee. I like being able to decompress from my day on the way home listening to Slacker & Steve and just being alone. You are definitely not alone on the van and the days that all 7 of us ride, not only are you not alone but you have no personal space because 3 of us have to jam into the middle seat instead of the normal 2 of us. (Personal bubble. You're in my personal bubble!!)

This makes me cherish the days I have to leave work early because I get to drive myself! I miss driving myself to work every day. I miss parking in the garage and walking across the street to work instead of getting dropped off 6 blocks away and having to walk in the cold to my building because my building isn't really "on the way". I miss not having to inform someone else if I'm running a few minutes late. I miss not getting home my 6:00 because the lady "forgot" the speed limit was 75 and not 65 (despite these pesky little things I like to call speed limit signs).

Oh well. It saves me tons of money on gas and car maintenance so it's worth it...most of the time.

BUT, today is a driving day!! I love seeing my car in the parking garage and knowing I get 1 hour of blissfully uninterrupted alone time all the way to work and all the way back!

Tempting

I'm a big reader. Plain and Simple. My local library and I have a very close relationship :) I heard about the book series Twilight quite awhile ago and never got around to reading them. However, now that there's so much hype for the upcoming movie, I'm tempted to start reading them. It's about teenage love and technically a young adult book. Oh yea, and one of the main characters is a vampire. Ya know, the usual. :) But I hear so many people raving about it I have to admit I'm very tempted to pick it up.

Although knowing a smaller-town library they probably only have two copies: one of which has 87 holds on it and one of which is lost.

Bad day

Today was a hard, hard day. I'm not going to go into it but it was emotional and hard. Tomorrow will be hard too, but maybe the day after will be a little better. And maybe the day after that will be a little better than the day before. Pretty soon, it'll be fun and happy again. I know I'll think about it, but it'll get easier.

I have to remember to wake up and try to be positive because dwelling and negativity will make it worse.

It's bittersweet

I just have some things going through my head and this song makes perfect sense. Life is bittersweet sometimes. It's hard but for the better.

Am I Old?

Supposedly there's this rapper named Ne-Yo. He has at least 5 songs in which the titles have the work "Ain't" in them.

Then there's Chingy who has words in his song titles that are spelled wrong but apparently that's cool now? It's Mad, not Madd. FYI, bag has only one g, not two.

Election Day

I can't believe it's actually election day today. Is it weird I'm excited?

On my mail-in ballot, there are two candidates running for senate in my district. Get this: one person's last name is "Fries", the other candidate's last name is "Bacon". Fries and Bacon...nice.

I told my father this. He laughed and asked me who I voted for. I told him I voted for the candidate whose name I was craving the most: Fries.

Again, he laughed and asked if Fries is a Democrat. I said, "Dad, I don't even know if they're men."

Ah, it feels nice to exercise my civic duty.

You may not find that funny, but we did. And that's why my Dad is awesome. :)

Daily Card

Life As A Homeowner

As Meggie June is getting ready to leave her first home she and Brandon have owned, it makes me thankful that I have experienced owning a home too. Meggie, people just don't know what it's like!

I love my two-story, red-doored house. I love the lillies that come up in the front in the spring and the red mulch around the back lawn. I love sitting on the back porch watching the sunset over the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I love getting cozy on my sofa on a gloomy Colorado day watching television with my hubby. I love painting rooms or changing something if i want to.

Of all the things I love, there are drawbacks as well. When my 6-year-old fridge broke, I couldn't just call the super...no, no. I had to shell out the big bucks for a new one and quick so $200 worth of meat, milk and veggies didn't go to waste.

When the shower in the master bathroom kept dripping and dripping to the point it was a steady stream even when turned off, I had two options: Pay a plumber an insane amount of money or google the problem and fix it myself. I chose option number 2. Six hours and $57 dollars later, the hubby and I had fixed it. In the meantime we also switched out the ugly, clear, plastic ball handle with a more modern metal streamlined handle. Sassy, eh?

And finally, I wake up one morning, go to the bathroom and realize there's barely any water in the toilet bowl. Since I get up at 5:00 in the morning to get to work by 8:00, I figured I'd deal with it later. For the next two weeks, the water in the bowl is barely there at all. It took Google and incredible powers of observation to figure out the problem.

(And by powers of observation, I mean flushing the master bath toilet and watching what happens in the tank. Then I run to the guest bath, take the top off, flush it, and watch what happens in the tank. "What is different?" I say to myself.) Of course the whole time I'm running back and forth my cats think I'm playing a game and my husband thinks I'm crazy.

But never fear dear friends, as of last night, the problem is fixed! All it took was a $6 plastic washer to block the water from coming out the top of the ballcock. And no, I didn't make that up. It's called a ballcock and it regulates the water coming into the tank.

Maybe I should become a plumber or a carpenter. I seem to be quite handy :) All I need is a pink toolbelt!

I ate what?

So I decided to try this Kashi cereal since the commercials say it's supposed to be really, really good for you. Steve and I go to the store and browse the Kashi cereals. I try the regular, original...whatever with blueberries on the box.

Next morning I pour myself a bowl of Kashi while I'm getting ready for work, eat a spoonful, start chewing and think to myself, "wow, i must really be sleepy. i just ate part of the cardboard box." Not so, my friends, not so. I WAS eating the cereal except it tasted like the box it came in.

Oh and FYI, there are no damn blueberries in it. They just put that on the cover to show you that you CAN put blueberries in it. Isn't that nice of them?

Politics

After such a string of crummy weeks, this is the only thing (besides my hubby) that can consistently cheer me up. Please to enjoy!

Things I'm Definitely Sick of:

1) The back and forth of the bailout voting. Make a decision. Either spend $700 billion to bail out businesses that worked themselves into the ground or not, but make a freakin' decision so we can move on with our lives.

2) People who are lazy and apparently get rewarded for that.

3) The Chinese businesses messing up and killing people. First it's lead in toys. Now it's some chemical in dry milk and other milk-related products that gives people kidney stones and kidney diseases. I won't even jump onto my soapbox for this one, it'll take too long.

No wonder...

That's all I have to say. No f***ing wonder.

I'm voting for...

McCain.

Want to know why? Because McCain supporters don't continue to harrass me over and over and over again; on the cell phone, at my house, on my home phone. Yesterday I got three calls from "The Obama Campaign" between 7 and 8pm. A few nights ago someone called my cell phone, MY cell phone, at 7:30pm and asked for my husband... Say what? How the freakin' hell did you get MY cell phone number and attach my husbands name to it?

A few weekends ago Hubby and I were setting up some new living room furniture (pics coming soon) and my drill ran out of batteries. I go to the car to get Hubby's drill he uses for work (and no, he's not a construction worker). On my way back inside these two people walk up to me and say "Hi, are you Katy?" I start looking around like I've just been Punk'd and say, "Uh.......yes?" Low and behold, they were campainging for Obama. They start asking me questions like Who are you voting for, what are your hot-button issues and what will you be naming your first child?

My answers were "I don't know who I'm voting for, my hot-button issues are soliciting and political ambushes and I'm NOT naming my first child Barack."

Give it a rest people!! I don't know who I'm voting for. I'm a fence rider and agree a little on both sides. But I will tell you one thing: calling me and coming by my house will NOT help me vote for your candidate. In fact, it's actually just pissing me off.

And by the way, how did you get all my information???!

Sick Today

I don't know if it's allergies or a cold or both, but I'm not feeling well today. Between it being insanely quiet around here and lord knows what's going on with the company, I just want to go home. I have stuff to do I just have no motivation to do it :)

It probably doesn't help that I didn't get to bed until 11:30ish last night due to an Avalanche game. But it was the first preseason game of the year and it was fun!

Economy in the crapper

So let me start off by talking about the crap hole this country is in right now and the fact the government is bailing companies out of the hole they've worked themselves into.

I understand that if the government doesn't help bail out Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch to the tune of $700,000,000,000 then our country could go into a tail spin and end up in another Great Depression. I get that. What I don't get is how two of these companies (Merrill Lynch and Lehman) survived the depression in the 1920's but somehow are in trouble NOW.

I'm sorry you ran your multi-billion dollar companies into the ground but tell me again why that's the citizen of America's problem? CNN said that if the government gets this money by tax payers dollars then every man, woman and child would owe the government $3,200....each.

Gee, I'm glad we got that $600 stimulus check a few months ago...

I'm a Bad Blogger

I've been a bad blogger lately. Things have been crazy busy since early August with my sister getting married, my company has been in chaos and Steve and I have been doing more things to the house.

Beth's wedding on September 6th went pretty well. Besides dodging hurricanes, her photographer quitting two days before the wedding and a potential speeding ticket, things went relatively well. Beth and Erick got married around sunset on Fort Myers Beach. It was beautiful, minus the fire ants :) I kept my composure during the actual wedding but turned into Mrs. WaterWorks during my toast. What can I say? I'm a sap.



This is the view from the gazebo the reception was held at. They got married right in front of it. It was gorgeous and very relaxing.



My beautiful sister and her husband after the wedding at sunset.



This cake held up like a champ. We picked it up at 10am and realized it wouldn't fit in the fridge in our hotel room. We placed it in front of the ac and cranked it up. Then at 4:00 we had to bring it to the wedding site and the poor thing sat in the 95 degree humid Florida weather until 8:00 when Beth and Erick cut it. It fell apart shortly after their ceremonial cake cutting.



This is my new brother-in-law (left) and his best man Wilson. Wilson was teaching Erick how to dip Beth the night before the wedding on the beach.



It's a crab!! I know, it's lame to get so excited but come on; I like in Colorado, I don't get to see little crabs running around on the beach!

Besides all that, it was nice to see my sister and get to hang out with her and Erick for awhile. I made friends with some of her bridesmaids and I think the best time I had the whole vacation (besides seeing my one and only sister get married) was the night before everyone left to go home. Brandon, Heather, Andrea, Dustin, and I sitting on the beach behind my hotel. It was really dark at the water line and the only light was the moon and stars. We all dragged pool chairs out to the water and sat right at the line so our feet got wet. We talked and talked until around 2:00 am. It was lovely :)

O-Ba-Ma, O-Ba-Ma

I really hate politics sometimes. All I ever see if John McCain adds slamming Obama. Obama adds slamming McCain. Enough already, fellas. Has anyone ever thought of trying to promote themselves instead of slamming the other guy?

Why not say "This is why you should vote for me" instead of "This is why you SHOULDN'T vote for him"? I want to know what makes you better, not what makes the other guy worse.

And to top it off, the mother of all conventions is going to be in Denver the last week in August. My office is going to be right in the thick-of-it and I will be at work that week. Protestors are allowed to be behind our building and I can't even get NEAR my building without my id card.

If I see anything nifty, I'll let you know ;)

Some Politics

Nice, eh? News broke in the last few days that John Edwards actually DID cheat on his wife with the lady everyone has been saying he did. I am just appauled. I was rooting for Edwards. I liked him more than the other two Dem's that were running for the nomination. I like Edwards' stance on a lot of things. He's not TOO left or right winged.

But now I'm dissapointed and feel let down. He cheated on his wife, the one who has had life threatening cancer, numerous times. He may or may NOT be the father of this woman's months old daughter. What a sleaze bag. Is EVERYONE sleeping with someone that isn't their spouse?!?!

Guilty Pleasure

I can't believe I'm going to admit this. Hell, I can't believe I can even think this. I've been hooked on.......Tori and Dean, Home Sweet Hollywood. YES, it's true. Let me hang my head in shame...

A Realization...

People have told me recently, "you need to relax and look for the positive." I realize sometimes people THINK I'm negative. I look at it as being a realist. :) It's true.

I was watching Sex and the City last night with Hubby. Anthony says to Charlotte, "I'll give you $100 if you say something bitchy about someone we know," and Charlotte declines. I turned to Hubby and said, "hell, I'd do it for free!"

That's just me :) Love me or hate me.

See, I'm not as sweet as I look.

I'm Feeling Very Olympic Today

Today is 8-8-08. It's also the start of the summer Olympics! Can I get a "woot-woot"?! I love the Olympics :) U-S-A, U-S-A!

I am also feeling very 21st Century today. Hubby and I are going to the Rockies game with my company tonight so I Tivo'd the opening ceremonies. Hopefully Comcast doesn't suck tonight so it can actually tape! I'm getting very fed up with the cable company. Our digital cable keeps freezing and then the whole system resets itself and I just want to chuck it through the window. Luckily Hubby doesn't think that's a very good idea so it's still intact :) If our HOA didn't pay for some of our cable we SO would've switched by now. (did you like my valley-girl "so"? Huh? Huh?)

You Don't Know Hot!

In case you haven't noticed, it's been unseasonably hot for Colorado. Today it should get pretty friggin' close to 100 degrees even though the average high is 88. Nice, eh?

Hubby and I don't have airconditioning; I know, it sucks. What we do have is 17 different fans blowing around any given room we happen to be in. This only helps when the air the fans are blowing around is cold. It's not. So basically it feels like we're in a sauna...with fans.

We can't get a window ac unit because our HOA won't allow them. They think the units are ugly. So apparently it's much better to have homeowners in the neighborhood die of heatstroke than have to see those grotesque ac units in the window.

I'll tell you what's grotesque. The fact that it's so hot in the house my neighbors think it's acceptable to parade around outside in next to nothing is grotesque. Let's take a vote:
Who wants to look at overweight, middle-aged married couples parade around in nothing more than boxers and a sports bra?
Who wants to look at an ac unit while basking in 75 degree air from inside?

That's what I thought.....

You Can Call me Moneybags

I paid off my student loan today! Can I get a "whoop whoop"?! Thank you college for making me poor but the jokes on you, I win!

I'm Diggin'

I'm totally digging Duffy right now. She has such an original voice and doesn't sound like the stupid crap out there right now. No rap, no super synthesized bullcrap that makes the singer sound good when they're not, no actors pretending they're singers too.

Enjoy :) This isn't the song she's "known" for but it's one of my favorites.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

That's right folks, today starts the 2008 All-Star game! It's being held at Yankee Stadium because the bastards are tearing it down to build a new, fancy stadium that looks old. Makes sense, right?

They're tearing down the house Ruth built for god sakes so let's all say goodbye watching a bunch of all-stars who (hopefully) aren't doped up play each other in a game that doesn't matter.

The Rockies have friggin' sucked lately so hopefully this break will help and our two all-stars don't get hurt because god forbig someone ELSE end up on the DL, sheesh!

Sprained Paw?

So my little baby Pali has a sprained paw. You may wonder, how does one sprain their paw? Well, my cat will find a way. The poor girl's paw swelled up to three times the size of her normal paw. In hindsight, it looked hilarious! But she couldn't really walk very well and just kept laying down because her little paw hurt.

BUT! Her paw isn't swollen anymore and hopefully whatever she did to sprain it won't happen again :)

Thank God!

This has been the strangest, longest, weirdest week. Thank god for weekends.

Pregnant Man?

So about 6 months ago, news broke of "The Pregnant Man" who is really a woman...sort of. This woman became a man. I am all for this, nothing against it what-so-ever. If you think you were born into the wrong body then do whatever you can to feel comfortable. I think it's great this man could physically change his body into what he feels is the correct gender. He was able to legally change his gender to male and legally marry a woman who accepts his for who he is. That's wonderful.

The couple then wants to have a child but the wife couldn't conceive for whatever reason. This is where I start do disagree. The couple then decides since the husband still technically has a uterus, they would inseminate him and he can carry the baby for the couple instead of paying a surrogate.

Excuse me?? How is it okay to use the lady parts when it's convenient? You became a man, period. You can't become a woman again when it's convenient. If you're living as a man then be a man and all that entails. If you don't feel you're a woman then you shouldn't take advantage of the female parts.

THEN, on top of that he and his wife are whoring out their story, going on Oprah and now a company has just bought the rights to a documentary on the family. Give me a break. You're not a pregnant man. It's not a biological man becoming pregnant. It's a transgendered man using the convenience of a uterus he otherwise didn't want or need.

Are you a man or women? You need to choose one and stick with it. Period.