Friday, September 29, 2006

Drinky Drinky

Well.

First I go to this with her, who just blogged so informatively about this, and now Kevin has gone and joined this. (They passed out free green vodka shots! Awesome!)

Beer is clearly on the brain of many fine folks.

But back to this. Bloggers! Y'all should come to the DL thing on Saturday night. I am going and she might be too. And of course she will be there....

(And *I* am tired of this excessive pronoun usage.)

Happy weekends to all!

In pints we trust (that would be wine glasses for me),

rosalish.

Major cuteness.

I am so not ready to have a baby right now.

(Cramps and swollen boobs at the moment notwithstanding.)

But damn if Amalah's video for her kid's first birthday doesn't make me think twice about that.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Scrumptiousness.

This photo is dual-purposed today!

First - it's my Love Thursday submission.

I LOVE GUACAMOLE. Love it. Looooooove it. Favorite food ever. I eat the hell out of some avocados. In fact, I eat avocado each and every day in some shape or form.

I even love the color.

(Side note: One month from today I will be arriving in MEXICO ready to eat the hell out of some authentic guac with my best girls! Yayyyyyyyy!!!)


http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosalicious/215091098/
Originally uploaded by Rosalicious.



This photo was also chosen to appear in an online Denver guide. Out of all my sassy Flickr pictures they pick this one? Um, OK. Maybe because it's guac from LoLa, and LoLa is ohsotrendy.

Happy Love Thursday and here's to LOVIN' FOOD! =)

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Put your money where it matters.

Here we go again. SOAP-BOX!

(Kinda sad that anger brings me here most often, huh?)

Anyway. I'm coming to you LIVE from my living room where we are eating from a nice cheese and olive plate, drinking a soft-tannined Italian Shiraz, and watching....

A documentary about Wal-mart.

I know, fine cheese, good wine, and big tacky yellow happy faces and cheap prices ending in .48? Um, yeah. What a meal!

OOooooohhh this movie has me ALL RILED UP. Granted, I haven't step foot in a Wal-Mart in like 5 years - so fuck yeah- I do my part. But if you even so much as think about popping in for a quick roll of TP....THINK AGAIN. This company sucks.

I mean, it's not necessarily WHAT they sell so much as HOW they sell it and the corporate philosophy they hold. But I admit- I even gave a silent 'hell yeah' when they announced they were selling prescription drugs on the cheap. One step closer to socialized health care.

But now I see this film and, while we've all seen the drama in the news and heard about the lawsuits, I'm just floored all over again. Fuck! What a piece of shit company! They could give out free drugs for 10 years and even that would never erase the amount of harm they've done.

Think about it: the founders of Wal-Mart are in THE TOP TEN richest people in the US. Top Ten! And there are 3 of them in that top 10! They bring in over 240 BILLION dollars in sales and they can't provide affordable health benefits for their employees? They can't pay livable wages? They FIRE people for talking to each other on the clock for fear of conspiring to start a union?

Once again: the richest company in the world can't provide affordable health bennies for their people? Mosey on over to Microsoft or Google and check out what those employees make. Hell, look at the people who work for King Soopers or Safeway or jeez, even the man begging on Speer probably has it better.

Fact: Wal-Mart employee avg salary = $13, 900 per year.
Wal-Mart CEO salary = $29 million per year

Fact: Wal-Mart employees gave $5 million to an employee assistance fund.
The Walton Family gave $6,000.

Doesn't this make you want to vomit?

(OMG- now we're onto discrimination against women and blacks.....oh look, there is the Loveland Wal-Mart with people protesting in front of it! Environmental destruction! Boarded-up empty downtowns! Closures of small businesses! Wal-mart is a veritable pu-pu platter of utter lack corporate responsibility!)

Please faithful readers, I plead you. Do not shop at Wal-Mart (or Sam's Club). Believe me, I know the temptation...cheap goods you don't need are as much a weakness of mine as they are yours. But as tempting and convenient as a quick stop to Wal-Mart seems, by buying so much as a piece of gum, you are supporting a monster.

If I didn't get you there, let me put it this way: Would YOU work at Wal-Mart? No? Then why would you shop there?

And I know I should probably stop now and let my blood pressure simmer down, but like the professor at today's faculty forum who just couldn't fucking let it go, I'll go on to say that I KNOW sometimes people don't have a choice. I know that in many places Wal-Mart is the only place to shop or work. But does that excuse them from pocketing BILLIONS while said employees go without food, healthcare, places to live? Is it OK to be the richest company in the world but treat your employees like shit?

Is it OK to make Wal-Mart CHEERS mandatory for everyone who works there??????

No? Well good. Shop on then. But if you somehow end up standing face to face with an old person handing out happy face stickers, ask yourself if you feel good about what you're about to do.

AaaaaggagagagagHHHHHHH.

/soapbox.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Bang bang.**

I totally don't feel like blogging right now. I had shit to say yesterday, but was too busy, and now? Missed the window of motivation, I guess.

Blah blah, thumb twidling.

Oh alright. I guess I'll try and deliver something......sigh. I totally should be working.

But all you get are bullets. Sorry.

  • Friday night we ate pasta in our jammies and watched Winged Migration. It really made us want to smoke weed. For the critters.....it was weed. Birds are total kitty crack....Biggie Purrs used to have a video he liked to watch called "Video Catnip" and all it was was footage of birds and squirrels in somebody's backyard. Both Lucy and Purrs were all up in the screen with Winged Migration. A family film indeed! =)

  • My date to my sorority's spring formal my freshman year in college in Virginia is now living on a bench in downtown Denver, homeless. I am completely serious.

  • All weekend long Kevin and I found great humor in pointing out moments when we were the "perfect Denver couple." Shit. We drive an Outback, take our dog to the park wearing Chacos and Patagonia, shop at Whole Foods, and drink Fat Tire. How much more sterotypical can you get? We kind of make ourselves want to puke.

  • Somebody took someone (me!) out for a scrumptious dinner involving oysters and Grey Goose martinis. You think he was trying to get laid? Ha!

  • A band began playing Dead covers at the place we had dinner (Highland Pacific) and suddenly I got to the urge to boogie down at a hippie bar - despite the fact that I was sporting a cowl-necked sweater and high-heeled boots. So we drove over to Cervantes and I made Kevin pull the car up alongside all the hippies outside smoking while I hollered out to ask who was playing. "Duuuuuuude, it's Z Juice (or something). He's totally SICK." Um, ok. Nevermind.

  • Kevin declared we were not allowed home until 2 am. I only briefly balked, as I'm sure you're surprised. Shamefully, we were in the car. SHAMEFULLY we were less than a mile from home in A CAR. We couldn't find parking. I said that the next spot we saw we were grabbing and the closest bar to that spot is where we were drinking. Well- what do you know? A spot was open right in front of Double Daughters! Only...a guy was standing in it trying to save it for his friend. Nuh- UH! You can't do that shit. I was proud of Kev- he really took initiative and pulled right in, forcing the guy to jump out of the way. I totally would have done that, but K isn't always as bold as I am. Go baby.

  • Let me repeat this very important mantra: FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE, people. It is super annoying on a standing room-only bus when people try to save seats. It is super annoying in a packed downtown when people try to save parking spots. It is super ANNOYING.

  • The excessive use of all-caps is also annoying. My bad.

  • Sunday was typical. Breakfast at Mercury Cafe, hurtin', nap, football, pizza, O magazine. In that order.

  • And well, here we are. Lamenting over the 3 painting companies who have been no-shows on the painting of our house and the 4th that didn't show up yesterday. That's why none of y'all have been invited over yet. Not until the house glows in all its crisply painted-exterior glory.

**Get it? Bullets! Ha ha.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Nesting in the sweet sweetness.

Forgive me if this is starting to sound like a DOG BLOG, but this morning I went to court to "contest" (aka. "plead guilty and get a fucking break on the hefty fine") the off-leash ticket Lucy and I got last month.

(Ha ha. Like Lucy got the ticket. Well, hey, she DID want to get in that water! The girl needs to pony up some cash and take some blame!)

Courtrooms and legal proceedings excite me. I've even considered law school. For real. I mean, I know most of it is dry, boring legal gobbledygook but a trial? Hell yeah.

(OK. Maybe I read too much People Magazine.)

Brief interruption: Has anyone ever tried a chocolate-covered potato chip? A co-worker just gave me one......YUMMMMMMM.

Anyway, back to Courtroom 6 of Denver County Court. Right now I'll even go so far as to say that I went to contest the ticket just for the whole court EXPERIENCE. Isn't that so sexy? Rawrrr. I am a dork. There was a little inital excitement.....ya know, some legal terms were bandied about and I got to stand next to where the judge would sit - the bench? There were some lawyers milling around and a metal detector being manned by people with guns. There were a few shady looking criminals, but mostly? There were lame people like me contesting their dog off-leash tickets.

FIFTY people contesting dog off-leash tickets!

And we were to go one by one in pleading our guilt for being shitty dog owners. I lasted all of 10 minutes before I broke down and said fuck it: this is not worth $14, all this sitting around. So I paid the full fine of $80 and got the hell out of there. What a waste of time.

Anyone doing anything fun this weekend? We might go up to Fort Collins tomorrow but the weather kind of sucks to be outside drinking beer all day - or does it?- so I might, as Emily likes to say, NEST and get my fall cozy on. Re-organize the seasonal wardrobe, rake leaves, run, make soup, go to Home Depot, maybe a little Bed Bath & Beyond (Old School).....

If I were Jewish, I would definitely be all over some Matzo ball soup this weekend. I love that stuff! Brisket and Kugel, not so much. But the rest of the Jewish holiday menu? Yummy! Lox is my favorite breakfast ever.

So with that? To all my Jewish friends and family (yes, believe it or not I have Jewish family).....shana tova! And to everyone else: enjoy the sweet, sweetness (Little Miss Sunshine).

xoxox.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Open-eyed nap time.

For those of you wondering (Kelli!) - the Lucy situation has in fact been resolved. Can I just say: score one for rosalicious! (And I think Kev may have read all your comments, so thanks for having my back, y'all!)

This morning, at precisely 5:21 am (which, oddly enough, is the exact time- to the MINUTE- the little pooch chose nights prior), Lucy began her world-famous WOOF WOOF, TAP TAP routine.

And we ignored her. And it was freaking HARD. Man!

(Well, maybe we both snapped a sharp NO one or two times...in my wine hangover-induced haze, the details are foggy.)

Her antics did not work. But the ignoring DID! Twenty minutes later, she was curled up in our bed again....quiet and calm as a little church mouse. In fact, she didn't even get up when I did. Lazy biznatch!

In other observations that relate to the above mentioned wine fog, there is a box of empty beer bottles and plastic wine cups under my desk right now. I had to interview someone this morning and when I stood up to shake his hand they all clanked together. Classy AND professional!

I'm tired. It's rainy and gray out. I am skipping Step today and getting soup and something melty/cheesy. Yummy.

Anyway.....Happy Autumn Equinox! Don't forget to balance those eggs!

UPDATE: Nope, sorry. Not Autumn Equinox yet. Oops!

(And Happy Birthday to you too, Jenn, should you interrupt your fabulous time in Telluride to read something as terribly important as my blog....)

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Today's important questions.

One of the weird, sucky things about our new place is that there is a house behind ours whose back porch overlooks our backyard. I mean, it's RIGHT THERE. Luckily, the people never seem to be home - at least I never see any lights on. Good thing too, because I've thought nothing about running outside in my DRAWERS to turn off the sprinkler or grab Lucy's kong.

Anyway, whoever the hell they are, they have a shit load of trash on the back porch and quite frankly, I am sick of looking at it. It's been there since we moved in August 1.

Exhibit A:


I am trying to decide on the most neighborly way to tell them that their bags of shit are pissing me off. Do I write a note or stop by in person? What's my reason? Surely aesthetics is not a strong enough reason, or is it? I have thought of telling them that it stinks....it doesn't, but that's a good reason, right? Or I thought of putting "something" below their deck and then telling them that their personal dumping ground is dripping funk all over our stuff.

Kev, who hates confrontation, is horrified at the thought of me saying anything. He even went so far as to say that we should take a ladder and climb up there and get it ourselves. HELL NO! Why the fuck can't these people take out their own damn trash? It's beyond me, the slovenliness of people. GROSS!

I don't want to make a scene and surely I am not going to stumble over there after polishing off a bottle of Shiraz, but I'm OVER THE DAMN TRASH and I am going to do something about it. Thoughts?

* * *

Also: If a new person came to work in your office building, but not directly in your department, and showed up on her first day with a tray of muffins and passed them out like a stewardess while introducing herself to everyone, what would you think?

What if she made sure to note that the muffins were homemade from apples from her grandpa's farm?

What if the muffins were kind of hardened and burned?

What if she was wearing something sparkly and sequiny under her suit?

You know, I'm just wondering......

Monday, September 18, 2006

Wart update.

I already get enough hits from people googling "plantar's wart" as it is, but whatever- I may as well be a fucking expert by now. So wart talk with Rosie T. it is!

This morning I had yet another freeze treatment on the hideous plantar's wart that has permanently taken up residence in my foot.

I tell the nurse that we seriously need to go in for the kill this time, that I am DONE having this wart on my foot. Empowered by my agressive, no-nonsense attitude toward wart removal, she gets all excited and with each spray of the nitrogen tank says "AW YEAH! I think we got her this time!" or "That's it -I think that's the one!", like she is playing paintball, not spraying gaseous fumes upon my warty foot.

When she is all done with the 3-spray treatment she says, all serious and satisfied-like in her husky voice: We really nailed the hell out of it, Rosie.

And my god, I totally hope she's right.

A good girl weekend. Where's my cookie?

Le weekend was nice and tame. Bleh.....nice and tame. Dude. I must be following my rules!

But it was nice. After work Saturday, I picked up Lucy's friend Jane, who stayed with us this weekend. They tussled and romped for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT. Lucy is now experiencing a serious puppy hangover and is first in line for some serious bath action tonight.


Kev watched college football like a freaking mad man and since I hate football, I laid outside in the hammock and read and watched the pups roll and frolick in the back yard. Please forgive the sexy-come-hither look in this pic....


Saturday night we went to the Blake Street Tavern for the Tennessee game (if we're gonna watch sports, it may as well be out at a bar where there is more to watch than the TV!). I had Pinot Noir and K had beer. We split nachos.

Sunday we awoke to more puppy tussling and decided the dogs needed some exercise. Hell, THIS dog needed some exercise =) So we headed up to Gross Reservoir outside of Boulder and hiked around Kevin's "jurisdiction" so the dogs could run off leash. It pays to know USFS officers!


I know this road makes the hike look easy and lame, but it was not. There was serious hill-climbing and bush-wacking....it was also super windy and kinda cold. Once we got to this road, we stopped to rest and snap pics. Anyway, here I am, a big dork matching her surroundings:


Baby talk wells up in my throat looking at this picture. I just love this little girl! Look how cute she is running! Mama's little dingo!


And it wouldn't be a true dog hike without water to swim in:


Luckily Gross Reservoir is not, as the name implies, GROSS. If you live in Denver....you drink from it. Dogs are not allowed to swim in it so SHHHHHHH.

After getting home and showering (I fell and busted open my hand and it was all bloody), we ordered pizza and watched Wedding Crashers and were all (me, Kev, Lucy, Biggie Purrs, AND Jane) tucked into bed together by 9:30.

It was a pleasant good-girl wholesome weekend. I am pretty proud of myself.

Friday, September 15, 2006

And a one, two, three, four....

1. I'm working tonight and tomorrow morning. No, I'm not a waitress. Cry for me.

2. I took the morning off though, and it's a good thing I did because I was able to watch the Today Show and learn that bagged spinach - only my STAPLE - was recalled. And, like, I totally just ate bagged spinach last night.

3. It's also a good thing I watched the Today Show because then were I to go looking for bagged spinach in Whole Foods this morning, I didn't feel compelled to pitch a hissy fit because I knew WHY there was absolutely no spinach in THE ENTIRE STORE.

4. I got paid today. Whole Foods = Whole Paycheck. Uggh, today's shopping trip* made me feel like I just came off of a crack binge, only the crack in this case is super expensive foreign cheese. But jesus, my fridge sure is looking MIGHTY FINE. I can't wait to eat.

Well peeps, Friday it is. Hopefully I'll have something good to report on Monday. Until then.....stay off the expensive foreign cheese! =)


*So, on today's WF shopping trip I also purchased a very important beauty tool. It is a zit popper and I am SO psyched to own it! Have you ever used one? My god- it's nothing short of a miracle....it gets the shit out without making your skin all scabby and gross. If you're like me and the unfortunate victim of adult-onset CHIN ZITS, then you need this.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

In which I'm the mean mama.

Well, so far my morning has been one big shitastic frenzy, how about yours?

We got in a fight this morning. Over Lucy. HOW IN GOD'S NAME are we ever going to have children if we can't even deal with the issues surrounding A DOG? Jesus.

Since Kevin takes the bus to Boulder every morning, he gets up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am. Consequently, Lucy ALSO rises at this hour. So on days where Kevin doesn't get up early - like today - Lucy still rises at 5:30 am and woofs and prances all over the bedroom in her famous and super annoying LET ME OUT NOW dance. Recently it's been even earlier....I think Monday night it was 3 am?

She hasn't always done this. Lucy knows how to sleep through the night.... in fact, just like her mama, the little girl usually loves sleeping in ;)

Kevin thinks we are being mean if we don't get up and let her out whenever she wants, and I think we are perpetuating a bad habit. We are letting her get her way and I think she knows that....so she abuses it. I mean, she's not a puppy anymore - it's not a potty training issue. And the girl does not have an emergency poo each night, of that I am sure.

(My god, where the hell is a DOG WHISPERER when you need one?????)

So out of all this comes the argument about WHO - if anyone - is going to get up out of the comfy warm bed, traipse downstairs, and indulge her.

How many of you have had an argument like this? Raise your hands!

AGGGHHHHHAGAGHHHHHHHHH! Naturally it escalates into things like: Well, I vacuumed last week so it's your turn to let her out OR I gave Hendrix his shot 5 days in a row so you need to be the one to get up. And the next thing you know, we've gone from an argument about puppy-parenting to who does more around the house. Ridiculous.

As I write this, the argument has not been resolved. The fact that I think I'm right? Not even going to go there. I know I am partially to blame....I am a TERRIBLE morning person. I always will be. Getting up early is NOT my forte. Maybe we need a nice paper schedule taped the fridge. Gold stars for Rosie for getting up at the crack of dawn on Thursdays! Haha...now that's something I could get behind.


Don't worry Lu-Bird, poo poo dance and all, you're still Mama's #1 girl.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Funny how a post like this quickly eats up an hour of your day.

I know that talking about the weather is probably the lamest way to start a blog post, but holy shit - has anyone been outside? It is GORGEOUS. Today is perfect....perfect temp, cloudless sky....as Kathy Sabine says "Tis a privilege to live in Colorado." INDEED.

Now that the lameness is all out of the way, let me bust out the real goods: I'm doing some serious re-evaluation of my life right now. While I am not unhappy, per se, there is some shit that needs to change. I don't want to tell you about it. OK, I will. Twist my damn arm. Just don't take it upon yourself to hold me accountable ....I already have a perfectly good ego (and boyfriend) to do that for me. Seriously, don't. It's annoying and is why I don't like writing shit like this to begin with.

Well then, the rules are laid. Shall I make a list? Oh yes, let's! It's a listy kind of day!

- Laziness. It's the first word to come to mind. I am not LAZY, as in lay-on-the-couch-like-a-sloth-lazy....I'm just apathetic and unmotivated. All around. In taking stock of my life this past week, I have realized that I have no immediate goals. Recently I fulfilled a lot of goals - I work out at least 5 times a week, I eat well, I don't smoke. And this is aweome. But now what?

- Work. BLAH and blah to the 50th fucking power. Either I find a way to jazz up my current professional life or find a way to get the hell out. I've got some huge (huge!) anxiety issues about this because I really HAVE NO IDEA what I want to do....I guess I would start with something creative, but also structured and organized, with groovy people who let me bring Lucy to work ;) I don't want to be a fundraiser anymore and I am finding it frustrating and hard to get my foot in the door elsewhere. I feel so stuck.

- Um, I also need to shape up my work attitude and appearance. Nobody's getting ahead in this attire.

- I dedicate this one to Kath: SAVE SOME FUCKING DINERO. Lord. I spend everything I make and I still never have enough. It's this "having enough" mentality that needs to go- I mean, do I seriously need new 400 thread count sheets? Kev has so graciously lent me his copy of "Affluenza"-- not only because it's a good book, but because it's an American epidemic and he seems to think I've caught the damn bug!

- On second thought, maybe I do need the 400 thread count sheets! I want to invest in quality things instead of blowing money on useless shit that will last a year or 2, at most. I don't need 5 pairs of cheap black pants - I need 2 quality nice-fitting ones. I don't need stupid Forever 21 sundresses and cheap Old Navy wife-beaters in 50 million colors. We've done really well in the food department - we only shop at Whole Foods (Oh shut the fuck up with the Whole-Foods-is-only-for-yuppies thing...I don't want to hear it. They take food stamps too, ya know), we don't buy a bunch of processed junk, we buy in bulk, etc - and I need to transfer this to my other, ahem, purchasing habits...ie. unnecessary trips to outlet malls.

- WHO AM I? I mean seriously. I don't even know sometimes.

- Lay off the partying. The hangovers are worse now more than ever. The resulting anxiety is too. I remember there was a time when it was all fun and games and I would be able to charge right on through any hangover - laughing all the way...ha ha ha. Not so anymore, friends. I get laid-up (out?) for at least a day now and IT SUCKS BIG ONES. I told Kevin the other night that I wanted to be a classier drinker, not the Irishlass badass who has to gulp down every shot that comes her way.

- I still love martinis. I just don't need 5 of them in one night. (I felt this needed its own line).

- Wow, this is getting tiring and depressing thinking of ways to improve myself- shit! Am I done yet?

- Almost. Use the brain more. Read harder books. Be more social. Get involved in SOMETHING. Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold.

- Get a goddamn HOBBY! Ok, maybe that's harsh. It's hard because working out kind of HAS become my hobby (as well as my anti-depressant). I go to 3 fitness classes a week, one yoga class, and run in between, and so that eats up a lot of my time during the week. But I need some balance. I need something I am good at (and it's not athletics, let me tell you. I still usually view exercise as a necessary evil).

- I know, this blog is a hobby. It's a good one too! But am I getting out of it what I want? What DO I want out of it?

Alright. I'm done - even though there's more. I basically need to clean up my act and get more out of life than I am currently getting. The possibilities are overwhelming.....and endless. I mean, it's hard enough just to LIVE from day to day. Maybe I am just being maniacal.....I don't know. I'm one of those people who is never satisfied with the status quo - I always want more.

Anyways. I started with the weather and now I will end with it: what are you doing still reading this hunk of self-congratulatory/self-loathing crap? Get your asses outside and play!

Monday, September 11, 2006

Flag Frenzy!

I guess I may as well jump on the what-was-I-doing-on-9/11 bandwagon too. Well, Kev and I woke up around 9 am, logged on to my computer to check our email, and there it was: the news, the pictures, all of it.....yadayada......I felt just like everyone else probably did. Not to sound like I'm minimizing the events or anything, but my feelings about it were not unlike what you all felt.....scared, shocked, disbelief, a little nauseous.

I went to my Research Methods class at 11 am, but I was one of only 3 people that did and our professor told us to go home.

I had to work at 4. I worked here. I actually couldn't believe we were open, but we were and in a way, I was glad to get away from the TV and around other people. Jax sold military surplus stuff and let me tell you - that's exactly all we sold that day. I don't think we had sold that much military stuff since Y2K (which was also interesting)! I wondered why these shoppers weren't at home with their families. But whatever. It was better than just sitting there in an empty store.

I had a register shift that night and so I rang everyone's purchases up. Gas cans were the #1 seller--the lines at the gas stations in Fort Collins were out of control. We also sold: gas masks, MREs, flares, first aid kits, shovels, and flags.

In the weeks that proceeded 9/11 we sold tons and tons and tons of - thousands, maybe- American flags. Lord. The flag frenzy baffled me. I mean, I guess it wasn't all that surprising to me that blatant consumerism was the way many people expressed their pride and support, but what did waving a flag really DO? Couldn't that effort/money have been better channeled elsewhere?

It started to get ANNOYING. People called relentlessly wanting their damn American flags and when we told them that they were backordered 3 weeks and they had to get on the list, they freaked. We sold out of everything remotely flagish: T-shirts (dear god, we had all those hideous Toby Keith-esque shirts and the people LOVED THEM), handkerchiefs, dish towels, tchotchkes, you name it. If they couldn't get the flag right away, they bought the FLAG POLE - and we quickly sold out of those too.

During that time I went up to the Rocky Mountain Shambala Center, which is Buddhist retreat center, one weekend for a little nature/contemplation. There I bought tibetan prayer flags and hung them up on my front porch. Shortly after, I wrote an essay for one of my classes about how I valued what those flags represented over our own.

Then, well, you guessed it. I got called unpatriotic and uncaring and disrespectful and other such choice names when my piece came up for workshop. I knew it was coming - it was a heated, emotional time and I knew my piece would probably cause some people in my class to come completely unglued. But I thought I would take that chance and would be strong enough to take it. I failed.

During the break I had a cigarette and cried - with real tears - to a guy in my class who also shared my opinion. Then I went home. As it happened, my professor absolutely loved my piece and commended my "courage." And the girl who was most vocal in being against it? Well, still hate her ;-) Haha, not really. She was prissy and conservative to begin with.

Point is: I don't think you have to wave an American flag all over the place to be patriotic. If that's all you think you have to do, you're a blind follower. My friend Mark has a great bumper sticker - I think it says "dissention is the highest form of patriotism." Those who don't question anything scare me. And so it is today, thinking about where we are in terms of this happening again, and that scares me too. No flag is going to alleviate these fears.

*Side note: Incidentally, today is also Patriot Day.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

CSU 14, CU 10

Most of you who know me know that sports are SO not my thing.

But like everything else, I make exceptions.

GO CSU!!!!!! Hells yeah!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Dude. I love winning.

Friday, September 08, 2006

My musical family.



So, some members of my family are in a band and they just put out their first CD! Go check it out!

(Can you guess which ones I am related to?)

I will pretty much love you forever if you buy one.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Nobody walks in LA.

Wow. I have been so effing BUSY the last couple of days that I can barely get the shit that needs to be written for work written, let alone get around to the typical blog-jiving(tm) on how drunk I got much fun I had in California.

But for you, my pretties, I make time. Here goes. From the top.

After one glass of cabernet in DIA, I sat next to an alum from the school for whom I professionally mooch on the plane, who bought me another glass as soon as our surly flight attendants asked. He had 2 Glenlivets for himself, and we blabbed about how he seriously needs to kick down some cash to the school this year. Haha. Actually, I spared him the philanthropic schpiel. Work schmork. I was a little lit and certainly not in a professional state of mind, much less donning professional apparel. I did slip him my card, just in case a big gift has my name all over it.

Allie and her furkids/Rhodesian Ridgebacks picked me up at LAX and suddenly, LA...woohhooo! I am there. Once we got to her place (very cute, I might add!) in Santa Monica, the wine mysteriously appeared again and yay! There was some catching up. And then there was dinner. The ohsofantabulouslydelicious dinner.

Allie's husband is the chef de cuisine at Melisse in Santa Monica. (No, not the guy you see on the website.). The food we were served was probably the best I've eaten since the last time I visited them in San Fran and hubby worked at Masa's. For real. YUM! If only my tastebuds hadn't been drunk too from ALL. THAT. WINE. But I still very much enjoyed my $59 teaspoon full of melon soup ;) haha.

Me and Allie @ Melisse:


So we're looking nice and classy there, right? Well, for some reason we decided that it was time to bring attention to our collective cleavage in one of LA's top restaurants. The waiters and the sommelier were pretty stoked at the boldness of the self-proclaimed titty twins:


OK. So I guess you had to be there. We're really not that trashy. Moving on.

Saturday we had ourselves a nice breaky, a quick run with the furkids, and a bike ride to Lynn's Nail Palace for some work on the old bikini line/nails/toes before hitting the beach. Hung out on the beach for a few hours then headed to dinner at Axe in Venice. Another score. (Actually, on the flight home I read an interview with Amanda Peet in the AA mag and she said Axe was her favorite.) We ordered a bottle of wine that was JUICY with A BIG FINISH because seriously, who can resist something with THAT description? Not us! Yum to the umpteenth power! We split a crab slaw, roasted chicken and farmer's market plate that was all so scrumptious.

After dinner, we stopped into The Otheroom, also in Venice. There was more wine, 2 bottles more, if anyone wants to count and call us drunks. You'll notice how well Allie's nail polish matches our beverage of choice:


We were kind of sitting over in the corner, and kind of getting bored of amusing ourselves with our many jokes, so we decided some company was in order. Allie spied some cute boys and decided they might offer some good eye candy entertainment. She tells them: "You won't get laid talking to us, but we're pretty fun so you should come sit with us." Well, they came over, but they sat down with the girls next to us. They thought they were with us and NO! They most certainly were not. I mean, one had an awful bowlcut, and the other was wearing an ANIMAL PRINT.


Our eogs, man. Our egos! But then there was Franklin, as in his name was really BEN. He was clearly the cooler of the 3 and stood behind us in thinking the other chicks were ho-bags. What a cutie!


Those girls totally owed us. And I do believe I told them just that.

Sunday can pretty much be summed up in one word: hangover from hell. OK, so that was 3. We did eat some brunch - can't remember where, I was so delirious - and go to the beach for awhile. We ordered in from Mao's Kitchen and then saw Little Miss Sunshine, which was just as good as everyone says.

Monday we woke up, back to normal, and went to the beach for awhile before I had to leave. There, who did we see flexing his hot lifeguarding muscles on a jog on the beach but our awesome bar-friend BEN? Allie had spilled wine all down his pants the previous night, so she confirmed the details of the jeans she would hook him up with from her place of employment.

After a mexican lunch and maybe the world's worst mojito, I was headed back to beachless Colorado. But not before the big Zach Braff sighting and a Corona at the airport bar with a methhead chick heading to Barcelona. How do I meet these people? It was some chatty travelin', that's for sure. The guy next to me on the way HOME had also sat next to me and the alum on the way OUT and decided that he would get drunk and maybe, just maybe, I would talk to him too if he bought me a drink. Whatever. Wasn't having it - him or the drink.

So. That was my trip! Total fun. I love me some Allie! ;-)




PS. A few more pictures are here.....

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Stars. They're just like us!

Relax. I'll give y'all a trip update just as soon as all the busy-ness subsides (Or once I pry my eyelids off these tired balls of mine.)

Balls. Heh heh. I prefer mine attached.

(That's an inside joke from the weekend.)

Anyway. Just to tantalize you, I did have a really good celebrity sighting. I was starting to get kinda bummed because I hadn't seen anyone famous by the time I left yesterday....I'd only HEARD about all the celebs my friends see all the time. Ya know, cause that's how those cats roll.

But then. THEN. Guess who was right behind me in security at LAX?

Zach Braff!

I've always loved him. So YAY! Mission accomplished.

Stay tuned for cleavage!

Friday, September 01, 2006

To Cali to see Allie

There will be no laboring for me this weekend.

Unless you count:

eating
drinking
eating
beaching
biking
eating
beaching

and maybe some hot celeb spotting (yeah, I might just be that kind of annoying guest.)

as LABOR.

And I don't.

So, I am off to Santa Monica CA to visit one of my funnest friends! She *might* just even be more hilarious than me.

Safe long weekends to all. Be sure to use protection.