Dear Tiny Diary

do you think I'm magic?

2011-10-11T11:06:00.000-06:00

Yep. Time for some venting.

Here are a few things I hate:

1. Conversations that go like this:
Other person: "So what do you do?"
me: "I'm an artist"
fast forward in the conversation, after they've found out that I finish a new painting every day, show in several galleries, run my own website, and am having a hard time keeping up with sales....
Other person: "so what's your full time job?"

Are you f**$%#@ kidding me? THAT. Everything I JUST TOLD YOU!

Oh yeah, I forgot as my "real job" I'm an geophysicist. I just chose not to say that part when you asked me what I do. Yes I work 50 hours a week at my desk job, and then I come home and paint for 6 hours, EVERY day, then I spend another 4 hours answering emails, shipping paintings, and managing my site, and then just regular stuff like make dinner for me and my husband, and make sure the house isn't a freaking disaster...... sleeping? I don't need to sleep, I'm magic.

2. "So you paint every day?"
Why is that hard to believe? do you do YOUR job everyday? No one asks you if you're an accountant every day.

I really have to bite my tongue lately to keep from saying thing like:
"what do you do? oh you're an event coordinator? cool. what else do you do?"
"so what's your "real" job?"
I think I might just start.

How does your garden grow?

2010-12-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Look how big our garden is now! It was so small before!

Go peas go!

Jamaica - A little late

2010-10-26T21:38:00.008-06:00

I just found this post, apparently I saved it as a draft and never published it. So over a year later....the honeymoon!

Thunderstorms every day!

My "just married" sandals...that I accidentally left there :(

Yay for towel animals!

Butternut squash for the picky eater

2010-10-26T21:33:00.000-06:00

I recently bought a butternut squash from Trader Joes. It sat on the counter and I think Zach was dreading the day he would be served squash for dinner. But I found this great (and super easy) soup recipe! It's spicy and wonderful, and even Zach approved.

On a side note: apparently butternut squash is part evil, because after I cut it up my hands were SUPER dry and tight, very uncomfortable....I guess it's an allergic reaction some people have. Next time I'll be wearing gloves.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed, chopped and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalenpeno pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, (1 small to medium), peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme, or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 lb cooked chicken, cut into pieces
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
PREPARATION
1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leeks and bell pepper; cook, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Stir in broth, squash, thyme and cumin; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add chicken and corn; return to a simmer and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Add lime juice and crushed red pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Oat Muffins = Rainy Day Goodness

2010-10-17T15:22:00.003-06:00

My version of the pumpkin oat muffins I found on this site. The recipe said it made 9 muffins, but big muffins are more fun! Plus I never get to use this muffin pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
15 ounces canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
I also added a few extra dashes of nutmeg and clove.
5 tbsp ground flaxseed (just for extra omega 3's)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*F
Coat muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line muffins cups.
Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl; blend well.
Pour batter evenly into muffin tins.
Bake for 20-22 minutes.
Allow to cool, and enjoy!

Our Square Foot Garden

2010-10-10T15:23:00.004-06:00

These weekend we started a garden...

We decided to get baby plants of whatever we could, instead of starting from seeds

Putting the box together

Zach and his "intermediate" carpentry skills....or are they advanced now?

SOIL!

These plants are going to have the best home :)

Broccoli, butter lettuce, regular lettuce, thyme, cilantro, carrots, onion, arugula, garlic, snow peas, swiss chard... I think that's all of them.

16 square feet of goodness.

Wish us luck.

I forgot to look all the way...

2010-06-22T16:04:00.002-06:00

Yes, it's time for another supermarket story, nothing like this every happens to me at Trader Joes...I should just not go to other markets. But the other markets have things that Trader Joe's doesn't seem to have, like baking soda...I found baking powder, but couldn't find baking soda for the life of me. Anyway, I stopped at Vons on my way home from Trader Joe's, "I'll just run in super fast and get these three items" I thought to myself, not wanting the groceries in my trunk to melt. Unfortunately the Carpinteria Vons is the least organized market I've ever been in... of course the yogurt would be next to the diapers! ...why did I even check by the milk?

With my items acquired I hurried to the checkout stand, perfect! Only one person in front of me, and they only have one item! I've really lucked out.

It was only after I put everything on the conveyer belt that I remembered how important it was to look all the way. Because that one person in front of me was about 95 years old and didn't have any teeth, and the one thing she was buying was a giant bottle of chardonnay, and, most importantly what she was clutching between her crooked fingers wasn't a pocketbook, it was a bag full of coins. "I have too many pennies at home!" she exclaimed.

Pennies, I'm not even kidding, $ 4.86 in pennies.

"Help me count these!"....she was talking to me. She smelled like alcohol and I had to count her pennies, and in order to count them I had to touch them...and they were sticky.

And this is why I will forever carry hand sanitizer in my purse... and I will not stop when I have dairy products in the car.

I want to ride my bicycle...

2010-05-17T16:20:00.003-06:00

So Zach and I finally got bicycles, we've wanted them since last summer. And since Zach loves to match :) he found this adorable pair on sale in Ventura. They look boring in the picture, but they're so cute up close. The boy one has blue accents and the girl one has pink, and they have adorable retro writing on the sides.

"Coffee"

"Cream"

We rode them to Zach's work yesterday, to see how long it would take. I think it was less than 15 minutes. It's SO much more fun to ride than my $79 childhood bike, I want to go ride it right now! but it's still pouring rain :(

Whatever Sarah

2010-05-10T19:08:00.003-06:00

I don't have normal allergies. You'll never see me with hay fever, or itchy eyes, or avoiding nuts or fish. I am however allergic to Neosporin. Well since I'm no longer a 5 year old scraping my knees or breaking fishbowls this usually isn't a problem.

But since November (yes 6 months ago) I've had a cut on my nose. It won't heal! Something is wrong with my skin!

So I saw a Neosporin commercial the other day, the one with two boys and a girl and they all peel off their bandaids and still have cuts, except Sarah's is "all betterl" after three days.

So I thought "well hey if it will heal this cut in three days then it's totally worth the rash that I'll get! At least that's not bleeding!"

Wrong. Now I have a cut AND an awkward looking rash. Lesson learned, stay away from Neosporin. And just for anyone wondering, Polysporin does the same thing.

I still put on lip gloss to go to the market

2010-03-19T15:28:00.004-06:00

Let me tell you about yesterday's trip to the market.

It started off normal, a little more crowded than usual, judging from the parking lot at least, but then I went inside... every old person in Denver was in there, and every new mom, and about 500 extra people that aren't usually there. There were no carts, they were mopping the floors, restocking everything, it was like it was the middle of the night, but it was 4:30 in the afternoon.

There was a lady in the seafood department just screaming...I don't know why.

They were completely sold out of broccoli?

There was puke next to the chicken.

The checker wouldn't talk to me, I think he was upset about some blueberries on the floor. He gave me my $3 item for $1 because he couldn't get it to scan....I tried to tell him, but he wasn't talking to me, there were blueberries on the floor.

I tried to help bag up my groceries to escape the madness faster, but I guess I'm not allowed.
Apparently a fun pack of tapioca pudding needed to escape too, it ended up in one of my bags, who buys tapioca? yuck.

tastes like horror

2010-03-03T09:08:00.005-07:00

So my job is pretty boring, I have to sit at a desk all day, in a VERY quiet room, if you walked in here you would probably be totally creeped out by it, especially if the hummer was humming her usual ear piercing horrible hum, which is the only noise besides the occasional terrifying mumblings of the smelly bleeder...

Luckily I can listen to music, or books on tape, and thus the silence (and the terror) is blocked out a little. The music gets me through the day, so do my desk snacks. In particular my stash of pumpkin seeds, I buy them when I go marketing on Thursdays and then I carefully ration them so they'll last till I market again. I know it's silly, but the saltiness brings me joy,

Let me quote from scripture (or shcripshure if you're Ethan):

"Salt is good" - Mark 9:50

Yes salt is good, especially at my desk, my desk in the horrible silent room.

So imagine my dismay when I came in Monday morning and over the weekend someone had eaten the whole bag. I don't know why you would sit at someone else's desk, go through their drawers and eat their food. It has to be the same person who used to readjust my chair every night, so thank you Mr. Useless Security Guard who uses my desk and eats my salt.

So tonight I will leave the 8 month old bag of generic brand pumpkin seeds that taste like evil, in place of where my other ones were. Help yourself salt thief.

Valentine's day weekend

2010-02-22T15:02:00.007-07:00

Zach and I decided to take a trip down to Colorado Springs for Valentine's day this year. We wanted to go to Glenwood Springs, but they seemed all booked up already. But the Springs was super fun too :) We drove down on Friday and had dinner at a brewery that was supposed to be good, and was conveniently right across the street from our hotel. While we were there the couple at the table next to us got engaged, they were super loud about it and we got front row seats.

On Saturday morning we had the best breakfast ever at the hotel's fancy restaurant, for only $6, pretty good deal.

View from our window, almost the top floor

Then we went to Garden of the Gods, apparently it was mountain goat day, so Smokey Bear was there.

me and a big rock

Zach likes to deliberately disobey signs

Stay on the path Zach

Then we went to the Cheyenne Zoo, and spent forever there :) We learned lots of things, like giraffes have really gross tongues, moose like buckets on their heads, wolfs are just ugly dogs, hippos are the grossest eaters ever, and if a zebra, horse, and giraffe had a baby it would look like this:

Hello Okapi

fake giraffe

real giraffe!!

cutest ever

grossest ever

Sweethearts how I miss you

2010-02-15T09:54:00.003-07:00

I'm writing this in case you have been searching for Necco Sweathearts this past Valentine's day, could you only find ones with blue and neon colors? Me too. Because Necco decided that the classic candy that's been around since forever should instead have the following flavors:

dishsoap, baby powder, lipstick, and evil.

I found a pretty great blog about it here : http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/sweethearts_2010/

"it's like if Coke decided to only make Cherry Coke" - Zach

I'm a believer

2010-02-12T14:44:00.002-07:00

So my eyelashes have felt super brittle and awful for a while, very depressing. My mom uses one of those night treatment things that you brush on like eyeliner, and now she has llama lashes, so jealous! But at $100 a bottle those are way out of my reach. Then I stumbled on this product, Ardell brow and lash growth accelerator, only $3 and since it had pretty good reviews I figured it was worth a shot.

I didn't expect much, but after two weeks of using it my lashes feel SO much better! It's like I actually have lashes again. Hooray my eyelids are no longer bald.

Curly Girl

2010-02-04T14:53:00.001-07:00

I'd heard a lot about the "Curly Girl Method" but until now I have been reluctant to try it. Several things about it were a little too weird for me, like not shampooing your hair (I like shampoo!), not combing after your shower, and not using regular towels.
Well last week I was so frustrated with my hair (mostly this horrible haircut) and Colorado's extremely dry climate, that I decided to give the Curly Girl Method a try. And so far it's not nearly as gross as I thought it would be, my hair today feels cleaner (and healthier) than it has in a long long time.
The method really consists of 6 things:
1. Use a sulfate free shampoo. It won't lather like a normal shampoo, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. The Deva Care Lo Poo is really nice, and it smells like orange sherbert.

2. Comb through conditioner in the shower.

3. Don't use a normal terry cloth towel to dry your hair, use a t-shirt or microfiber towel.

4. This was the tricky part to me. If you cut out sulfates from your shampoo, then you also have to cut out silocones from your hair products, because without the sulfates they will just build up on your hair because they're not water soluable. I thought the only ones without silicones would be expensive organic products, but the super cheap drugstore products like V05 and Suave work too (not all of them, but a lot).

5. Plopping, this is what plopping looks like:

and this is why Zach laughs at me every morning, but it works so well!

6. Diffuse, but don't dry your hair all the way (I really hate having wet hair, so I probably dry it too much but whatever)

The result? I feel like I have new hair! Which is creepy, like someone else's hair is on my head. But it feels so much better than it did before, so I guess figuring all this out was worth it.

ugh

2010-01-14T11:38:00.003-07:00

So I'm frustrated and a little confused. I feel like I'm a little bit of a failure, or a little bit lazy, because I only like to paint certain things....because those are the things I want to paint, those are the things that I'm drawn to. Images where I can use wide brush strokes and bright colors, where I can make changes easily, where I can make it look like what I want it to. I'm not excited when things turn out too realistic. I know that I could paint an apple and have it look like a photograph, but I don't want to, it's not really satisfying. And I've spent a long time trying to loosen up and stop doing that. But I do like my work to be representational, I'm never very happy when I create something that is completely abstract. It somehow doesn't feel valid to me. Like there are far too many options that I haven't explored so this one couldn't possibly be the best one, and there are not enough hours in the day find it.

But then I think, am I only drawn to these certain things because I know that I can paint them well? That I won't have to put in a lot of effort to make it look how I want it to? Maybe it's not that they inspire me, maybe it's that I'm lazy, I haven't had a lot of experience painting the figure and that's why I don't want to? It's hard for me to tell.

Then I think back to the paintings and artists that always inspire me, their subjects are often the same as mine. I don't think I'm lazy...I paint almost everyday it seems. And I'm not nearly as scared of failure as I used to be, but obviously not completely over the "maybe I'm supposed to be doing this" and not actually what I want to be doing.

This post probably makes no sense to anyone but me.

Here's my next problem: I really enjoy the whole etsy thing, it's great because my studio gets cleaned out. It's also great because sometimes the paintings I like the least are the ones that sell, and I don't have to look at them anymore. But here's the problem, the one's that I like the least are the ones that sell! Why?!

Ok I like some of them. But why is it that well over half my sales have been the ones that are fruit?

Here's what it feels like, I spend 40 minutes painting a pear, I list it and it sells in an hour. I spend considerably more time painting something that I feel is more successful in the end, and it just stays in my shop forever. And now I feel like I have to keep painting fruit over and over so that I can keep the rest of my shop open with the things that I like more. Maybe this shouldn't even be frustrating. It's not that I don't like to paint fruit, I do! But I just feel like I should keep painting different things because I feel like a creative failure to do the same type of thing again and again. I wish I had an answer. I also wish cradled masonite panels weren't so darn expensive. I guess I'll just keep painting.

Poor old house

2009-12-08T11:57:00.007-07:00

Our house has been having a hard time lately, poor old house. I don't blame it, it's cold here, if I was a house I'd move somewhere warm.

For a few weeks our furnace was broken, luckily we have two, which is weird because our house is pretty small. Anyway, the living room was nice and warm, and the bedroom was frigid. I'm pretty sure the chapstick by my bed was frozen. And just our luck, when we plugged in the space heater we lost power to half the house.

A few days later my computer died :( I don't think it would be so bad except that macs are too pretty to die.

Good news is the house is all Christmasy! Zach hung lights outside, and they're perfect :) We have stockings above the fireplace, and Zach wrapped all the presents.

We went to a holiday block party last Friday. Everyone is super nice, but I'm afraid I won't remember all their names. We were the youngest by far :) but there was one couple who was pretty close to our age, and they were new to the block too. I baked an apple pie to bring (Zach did the hardest part, peeling all the apples.....and helping me figure out how to turn on the food processor). I tried a new pie crust recipe....and LOVED it. Ok I have to stop talking about the pie because now I want to eat some.

I made us a mini pie because I didn't want to wait to try the big one :)

My charlie is cute, but not as cute as this one:

Christmasy

2009-11-18T08:14:00.005-07:00

I got to be crafty last night :) Making a wreath is easy and fun, and highly recommend it. And it gave me an excuse to use the hot glue gun, my favorite thing ever. This one still needs some tweaking still I think, but overall I was very happy with it (I just have to find a good place to hide it till after Thanksgiving, charlie keeps trying to eat it). And I have an extra wreath that I get to decorate with the extra decorations...now I just have to find someone to give it to :)

I had to force myself to leave Michael's the other day, it just smelled so good in there I wanted to eat it. I discovered the source, cinnamon scented pine cones. They are now in bowls and vases all over the house :) mmmm cozy.

In other news, we now have curtains and no longer live in a fishbowl, yay! But our heater is broken, and it's unbearably cold in half the house.

Look! Snow is fun!

2009-11-02T11:41:00.007-07:00

Especially when you have a backyard full of it!

FYI

2009-10-27T14:23:00.001-06:00

My painting blog http://sharon-williams.blogspot.com/ is now http://sharonschock.blogspot.com/

because it's much less generic :)

The Wedding

2009-10-11T21:14:00.001-06:00

I don't think I could have asked for a better wedding day. It was everything I wished and hoped it would be. Well I guess I wish I hadn't almost set the church on fire, and hadn't spilled hot wax on two of our guests, I wish the organist had peripheral vision, and that we hadn't killed any poor animal on the way to the reception.... but those are minor details.

I guess I should start at the beginning of the day. We woke up early and made the condo bridesmaid central. Since Emilee is amazing we had a new hair girl who was great, I liked her so much and she did such a good job. The makeup girl never showed up, which was weird....and we still don't know why. But I think I had more fun doing my own makeup anyway, and Crystal taught me to how to have super lashes.

We drove to the church and finished getting ready in the bride room at the church... with only minor hiccups.

The ceremony started and I was standing outside with my dad, wishing I could watch the wedding too, I don't know why I thought I would be omnipresent on my wedding day! My dad practiced lifting my veil while we were waiting... just to make sure he did it right. Then the doors opened for us to come in... way way before the actual bride processional song. My dad apparently has terrible stage fright and practically ran me down the aisle, then forgot about the veil completely. Maybe he'll be calmer for my sister's wedding :)

My mom tells me we got compliments on our kiss, which kind of cracks me up

The ceremony seemed to last only 2 minutes, it was all over so fast. We took pictures, then headed to the reception. Zach swears that he was chasing me while I was running from him to talk to people. I thought we were talking together! We were very excited about the food, we were SO hungry. And my grandma said she just loved the music, which pretty much was the goal. Then it was time for toasts, which I was a little nervous about, mostly because I would be nervous having to give a toast. But Jim's was great, and so was Emilee's, and I found out my sister had hers written out but ab libbed according to how the crowd responded, which I think is great. I guess I continually confused people by having two maids of honor... it's a hard concept I suppose.

Then it was time for our first dance, Zach's grandma said it made the whole trip worth it. I had so much fun even though my bustle died pretty much at the beginning, but Zach did such a good job not stepping on it. I'm so glad he's my forever dance partner.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the dancing (and my feet paid for it later :) but I remembered once again that I must know all the greatest people in the world because I don't think there's a group of people that are more fun than the ones I left in California, or who left for other states. I don't like to think about it, it makes me sad that I can't hang out with them all the time, and that I don't get to see my family very much either. Thankfully a few of them are in Colorado :) and maybe we can convince Mother Chandler to come here too!

My ipod DJ wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be, and the 12 hours spent picking music for it seemed to be worth it :)

I'm so happy with how everything went. And I'm SO glad Montana is awesome, I love our pictures and I can't wait to see the rest of them.

The Rehearsal

2009-10-11T21:13:00.005-06:00

If only you could practice all your important days....

I loved our rehearsal dinner, Zach did such a good job picking out a restaurant and it was perfect...the music even matched my wedding theme (I'm certain that I'm the only one that noticed that...but I'm happy about it).

I was most excited about the rehearsal because then I got I to give out the wedding party/parents gifts. I've been excited about that part for months, mostly because my bridal party was amazing and I don't like to wait to thank people :) ... and because tiffany boxes are fun, and so are tiffany keys!

But by far the best part of the night was Zach's toast, which took me by surprise and almost made me cry. It would have made me cry but I was smiling so hard that it would have been impossible.

And I even got to go swing dancing after, even though the rec center was under construction...lame. But I still had so much fun because I've missed SB swing dancing a lot...and now Zach's a good dancer! so that made it even better.

Wedding prep

2009-10-11T21:09:00.000-06:00

I'm glad I went out to Carp a week before the wedding, I thought we would have time to relax, go to the beach, and get a few last minute wedding things done. Didn't really turn out that way, I think we ran errands all day every day. And we crafted well into the night, my fingers were sore from tying ribbons and the whole punch bruised my hand. Luckily Emilee was around to help fold programs and to force my mom to make seating chart decisions :) and to sold my own seating dilema!

The thing I was most worried about, getting the marriage licence, turned out to be the easiest thing in the world. I think we were at the courthouse for like 15 minutes and we were done. And the courthouse is beautiful so I'm kind of sad we didn't have to be there longer.

Shirt fail

2009-09-16T15:13:00.004-06:00

I was browsing the Forever 21 website the other day and found this little gem, which they boast is "exclusively ours!"

Now why would I bother buying a shirt with a bra attached to the outside? Why wouldn't I just put my bra on the outside of a shirt I already own? Luckily I never want to do either of those things.

My DIY hairpiece

2009-09-02T08:50:00.006-06:00

I've been searching for something sparkley to wear in my hair on my wedding day... but apparently I'm very picky, and every one that I like is $80 or more. $80 seems like a ridiculous price for something like this:

I also liked this one:

but again, $80 is too much. So I thought "how hard can this possibly be to make?" So I went to Michaels and wandered around the bead section... always a good thing. I spent about $15 on materials (swarovski crystals, glass pearl like beads, gauge wire, AND a glue gun with refills). And then I got to sit and watch The Sound of Music while playing with beads (and singing along) ... that's like the best night ever. And Charlie only tried to eat the wire once. I even made a tiny pin to match the bigger one. It was so fun, and so easy, I might even make some for my bridesmaids.

Bridal shower weekend!

2009-08-20T14:43:00.004-06:00

So last weekend I flew out to California for my amazing bridal shower. Amazing because my bridesmaids went above and beyond what I ever would have expected. My sister and Crystal spent like 9 hours one Sunday putting together party favors, decorations, and thinking of games to play. Emilee was in charge of food ...as well as my honorary bridesmaid Lindsey :) who was chef for the day, and AMAZING at it (like making her own fig jam and rosemary garlic ciabatta bread the night before). I don't remember what it is she's cutting in this picture, but it's not paper, like I thought it was. Emilee made her deviled eggs, which I don't want to talk about because then I'll start craving them.

Lindsey being amazing!

so much food!

After the shower Emilee, Shana, Crystal, Lindsey, and I drove up to Santa Barbara for the second half of bridal weekend. Apparently the premade tiara and veil wasn't good enough for Emilee and Lindsey so they sewed this one together for me to wear :) And Emilee made buttons for us all to wear :) customized for each of us.

I had to open underwear and such things in the restaurant, with everyone looking at my lobster telephone! But it was fun anyway :)

And then we got to sleep in my old apartment, I miss that blue couch, best couch ever! But then we had to leave early in the morning to meet with the hair/makeup people.....but that's a story for a different post.

Door painting fail

2009-08-14T10:18:00.004-06:00

This is what happens when you repaint everyone's doors while they are still closed...

Why did they think it was a good idea to paint all the doors shut? Their lack of common sense never ceases to amaze me.

umm, seriously?

2009-08-13T10:52:00.001-06:00

Let me relate to you what happened to me in the Mimi's Cafe bathroom last Sunday.

I was just about to start washing my hands when I saw the door to the bathroom open slightly then close again, then open a little further then close again, then open and a head pop through and it close again. So I go open the door for whoever is struggling with this... and behind it are two morbidly obese women, one is holding the other one's life support....so they're connected and they can't really walk. So I hold the door open while they slowly walk through it. They get about 2 feet away from me and I hear this, from the first one "my gosh! she was small" and then the other one (in the snobbiest voice I've ever heard) "well ya, what do you expect? she probably only eats once a year" then continued muttering that I couldn't understand.

ummm.

I wanted to be like "hi, I can hear you! I'm still right here!"

but instead I finished washing my hands and went back to my table and ate garlic fries.

paint paint paint

2009-08-11T10:53:00.007-06:00

Painting normal walls is significantly easier than painting fake wood paneling. Last weekend Zach and I finished the family room, making the green wall much much greener. And I never have my camera with me anymore, so this terrible phone picture will have to do...no the wall isn't horrible yellow green, at least it wasn't when I left...

We also painted the bedroom. So much easier than the family room, now I like painting again. It's the best blue! and will be cuter with my sheer white curtains and you know, furniture.

I'm really excited to put up the before and after pictures...once the rooms are a little more complete. I'm hoping that we have completely ungrandmafied it.

Other things to note! Look how adorable my kitchen utensils are! They go pretty well with our dishwasher, and our stove-car.

I miss the beach during summer in Colorado...a lot. But everytime I do it starts thunderstorming outside and makes me feel lots better. Zach seems to think that I'm weird for staring out the window at it until it passes....but how can you not?! it's amazing. It's also amazing that it can be sunny and warm and then I look out the window again and it's doing this:

SO much hail, and so much lighting, and SO much rain I could barely see the building next to mine, it felt like we were in a very tropical storm. Charlie is not a huge fan of these. It was even big enough to drive the drag queen out of the pool.... where he(she?) usually stays all day (and people come out to "show" him to their friends...like he's part of the circus, it's weird, maybe he likes the attention?)

On friday I leave for California! Hoorah!! The lineup:

Friday night: Girls sleepover!

Saturday afternoon: bridal shower

Saturday night: bachelorette party in SB

So excited!!

Slinky Kitten

2009-08-05T10:29:00.001-06:00

Church signs

2009-08-03T08:08:00.004-06:00

I'm so happy because when I drive home from work in October I'll get to pass a church everyday... a church with really terrible quotes on their sign out front. I don't even know if they're quotes, they don't make sense, so I don't know where they are finding them. So far I've seen:

"Summer. A vacation from learning" why? are they happy about summer? or offended that kids stop learning, I can't tell.

"Have an awe-ful summer" - you know, it's a pun, from when everyone tells you to have an awful summer...oh wait, no one says that, huh?

The church is also called "Precious Blood"...I know what they mean, but if I didn't that would sound like the creepiest place ever! like maybe Sweeney Todd lives in their attic.

I don't like the ice cream truck because...

2009-07-20T14:05:00.003-06:00

...the first several notes of the song that's played over and over and over sound just like the hymn "The Love of God"

"To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry"....

and then I have just two lines of a song stuck in my head, and it wasn't even playing!

DCFC!

2009-07-15T10:39:00.002-06:00

Zach and I went to see Death Cab For Cutie last night, surprisingly that's what Zach wanted for his birthday, I didn't complain :) It was a really fun show, and the weather was perfect. I was glad that we got reserved seats, that made things easier. I saw faux Emilee, it was crazy! it's like this girl got up, put on an Emilee suit then went into Emilee's closet, put on her clothes, and then said "I don't work at Westmont, so I'm going to put hot pink stripes in my hair!" I think the real Emilee would have been a little jealous.

The show was great, but people watching was also entertaining....well actually in this case people watching was nauseating. I tried to capture the extreme awkwardness of the couple sitting in front of us but I think I would have needed a video camera to get the full effect. I'll try to explain: he wouldn't stop touching her hair...no that's not it...he wouldn't stop doing her hair for her, like kept pulling out her hair tie and handing it to him so he would redo her ponytail? then there was the massaging, I'm surprised they didn't pull out oils, then she decided to "dance" in front of him, while he used her butt as a drum...maybe it was so gross because I could see her crack half the night...or maybe it's because they seemed like a dating couple, but also like 7 year old siblings.

Then there was the lady next to me.... I'm going to say that Death Cab For Cutie is not the most rock out all over the place type of music. Most of the crowd seemed to agree with me, this lady did not. The only way I can think to describe it is by a Friends reference...that episode where they're dancing for the new years eve special, and Joey gets put with that flailing lady? That was this lady! Her legs were places they shouldn't be, she was shimmying, she was doing this toddler dance with her stomach? she kept hitting me with her butt? It was strange, even stranger when her boyfriend (obviously not a fan of the flail) started arguing with her about it! Which just made her flail harder. I tried to depict the scene, but alas, I'm not right handed, so my Paint skills are not great.

Zach's company party is this Saturday. It's at the zoo, and there is a Polynesian theme...Zach wants to go as a lion. I told him that's not Polynesian, and he said that theme was dumb, so he's going with "zoo" theme.

Monday

2009-07-14T09:37:00.008-06:00

Yesterday was terrible... terrible because it sucks when the auto shop WAY overcharges you for simple repairs. I chose this shop because I had heard really good things about them... guess who's getting a low star review when I get my car back. grrr.

So to make myself feel better I went home and gave myself a pedicure... and almost got all the primer paint off my feet. Warning: Gripper primer does exactly what it says, it's almost impossible to get off. Unfortunately I didn't realize that before I got it all over myself...Zach was painting in his dress socks, so he didn't have this problem. But now our living room looks spectacular :) "Swiss Coffee" is so much better than "Wood Panel"

My favor boxes came in the mail. But without instructions, so I sat there folding it a hundred different ways before it finally made a box. I think I like how they turned out though!

Thanks to the best tape ever that I found! http://www.organize.com/home-chic-home-damask-packing-tape.html

Charlie was VERY happy that I was playing with boxes and ribbon, this is pretty much how he looked all night.

ps: Quotes for today:

"I love bad Mormons" - Kara

"I don't know how anyone couldn't like you Shana, you're so down to earth, even more than the Mormons" - Brittany (age 10)

I don't know why this makes me laugh

2009-06-23T15:04:00.002-06:00

One of the best things EVER!

2009-06-23T11:12:00.002-06:00

what if songs explained what was happening in the video = amazing

Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Literal Version

"mullet with headlights!"

New house!

2009-06-18T14:15:00.006-06:00

We moved Zach into the house last weekend! And since then I have been working on scrubbing the kitchen cabinets and counters, as hard as I can. Apparently they haven't been wiped down since the house was built? It's not very comforting when things are changing colors as you're cleaning. But with the old (3) layers of contact paper torn out, and my adorable strawberry ones put it, things are looking much better.

our kitchen, note the double oven:)

What I suspect to be the very first dishwasher

We even have the instruction manual, copywright 1957

I had to read the whole thing because it was entertaining, they went one for 2 pages about how to pull the racks out before you load the dishes

Zach got a lawnmower and other... lawn ... things. I don't really know, who knew I would be as bored in Home Depot now as I was when I was 8. Now I know how Zach feels when I drag him into Michael's. But our lawn is looking better already. I keep finding things in the backyard, like these flowers! which are my new favorite!

Also, there seems to be a family of giant moths seem to be living in the house...

My DIY table numbers

2009-06-16T10:57:00.004-06:00

I was walking around Michaels trying to figure out what to use as table numbers for the wedding, and I always see these little wood boxes, cabinets, and bird houses etc. for like $1 and I always wish I had something to use them for, so I invented a use!

I used some scrapbook paper that

matched my invitations and adhered

it to the outsideand then it can sit open on the

table to show the number
I got tired of using boxes so I threw in some birdhouses too :)

Best storm ever!

2009-06-15T11:33:00.002-06:00

So we had just finished moving Zach out of his apartment when it started to rain, just a little, then it started to hail, then it stopped, THEN I looked up and saw this funnel cloud swirling around...but I thought, "no one would believe me, it's probably not actually one", but it was! and it was amazing! and then it got really windy, and started raining really hard, and then tornado sirens went off! I didn't even know they had them in Denver, and I don't know where they came from. I was wondering about 10 minutes before this happened if this was a particularly bad thunderstorm, since the clouds where kind of green, and that's why I was looking for funnel clouds. Zach spotted it too from across the parking lot, he was not nearly as excited though :) I'm so glad my phone takes pictures!

why I like the market

2009-05-19T08:23:00.004-06:00

Emilee and I used to have fun going to Vons together, we knew which checkout people to avoid at all costs, and ones that were only a little creepy because they told emilee her earrings made her face "shine like the sun"? I think that's what it was. It was extra fun when the power went out, because markets are weird without lights. And we always had fun looking at what other people would buy, like the guy with the GIANT baguette and the teeny tiny pepper balanced on top of it, or the guy buying lots of condoms, deodorant, and a HUGE chocolate bar, or was it a lollipop? for his girlfriend standing behind him. Well at King Soopers they have self checkout, so I have no one to avoid, and no one really to stand behind and be entertained by their purchases. I do however always end up with other people's receipts that they have left behind, usually I don't read them, but I was really glad I glanced at this one before throwing it away:

6 things of laxatives and a candy bar, hmmm.

A good wife

2009-05-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

I was reading my friend from high schools blog the other day, her and her husband are probably the cutest couple ever. I just found her one post very encouraging seeing as I'm getting married soon, and I think being a good and Godly wife takes more effort and determination than people tell you, I'm a little nervous about it, I don't want to lose focus, so I guess I'm posting this to share it with you, and also as a bookmark for me :)

"During down time this morning I was able to spend time with the Lord, working on my memory verse (Hebrews 13:4-7), and thinking through how I can serve Jake and be a pratical encouragement to him as he is finishing school, working, etc. If I am not specifically looking for ways to love, serve, and encourage him (With My Words and Actions)- then it won't happen. My sinful heart and human nature left to itself does nothing but tear down. I am thankful that Christ has rescued me from the bondage of this; that in the very kindness that draws me to God I can emulate this to my husband.Proverbs 31 was where I went. In my immaturity I used to kind of cringe when it came to "the Excellent Wife", and "women's retreats", and "tea time"; thinking I knew all what it entailed and that it was all a waste of time. Oh, but I didn't realize what a joy it is to be a woman- to serve the Lord in the realm and role designed by Him for me- for His glory, and my good. And Submission, ladies, is awesome. It's like a free tangible protector that wants to honor the Lord in his care for you. And you don't have to be married to honor the Lord in this, or even have this. Christ is our model and Father who lovingly cares for us. Bosses, church leaders, etc. They are all opportunities to walk humbly and in doing so emulate the Gospel to those put in leadership over you. So cool! Your marital status is not an indicator as to how effective you can be for Christ. Wherever you are, single, married, single mother, widowed- you can pour your life out for the Gospel. Philippians 2:4-7 is a great encouragement in this as Christ carried no "rights" as to how much He would serve. He bled through His pores to save us from the wrath of God, and ultimately ourselves.
"Reading Proverbs 31 is a great challenge. Here are some qualities of her taken from the Hebrew words mentioned in my Proverbs notes from a class:
-She is of noble character (and is treasured as fine jewels) (v.10)
-is absolutely trustworthy (v. 11)
-she is an asset, not a liability in her support and encouragement (v.12)
-she is domestic (v.13)
-traveling all over like a merchant for goods for her household (v.14)
-even though she has servants, she rises early to care for them; preparing food for even her hand maids (v.15). she is selfless and caring for everyone in her path!
-her husband trusts her completely with money. She even has her own earnings (v. 16, 18, 24)
-she is eager, and exercises (v. 17)
-she is resourceful and plans ahead (her oil lamps were always filled) (v. 18)
-she has trained herself well in domestic things (v. 19)
-She is wise, generous, selfless, and sacrifical- requiring a caring heart (v. 20)
-her family has no need to fear of cold- she has prepared their clothing (v. 21) "
I am just really challenged by this. Being in God's Word today and thinking through it was such a time of refreshment. I don't know who is reading this... but make time for God and His Word today. It honors Him, and is a practical way to relinquish control, to fight sin, and to know Him more. There is no greater joy!And Jake, I love being your wife. I pray that I can honor you with my life, and even be an encouragement to you as you see (more than anyone) what I do with my time. "

We have a house!

2009-04-24T11:43:00.003-06:00

Our offer went through and now we have a house! And even though I don't get to move in till October I'm super excited to brainstorm updates for our 50's/70's style house

You can consider these photo's the "before" pictures:

My favorite part is the wood walls and the orange carpet...why was that ever a good idea? Luckily there are hardwood floors underneath the carpet :)

I like that the kitchen has blue cabinets, and a double oven, and the oldest dishwasher I've ever seen :) Zach hates it though, so we'll probably make it better at some point

I found this little plaque underneath the kitchen sink:

So I googled it, apparently Youngstown Kitchens was a hip thing back in the 1950's...but they made steel cabinets, and ours are wood, maybe just the sink is by Youngstown Kitchen. Either way I still think it's super charming, it makes me want to put on a dress and pearls and cook dinner. And I know Zach will want to rip everything to make it better....but I kind of want to make it look like this one!:

Even though that's probably not possible :)

I really enjoyed all the old ads I found for Youngstown Kitchens, like this one:

the illustration seems to be saying "get out mom! we don't need you because our kitchen's super fancy" or "get out mom! you don't know how to use kitchen appliances, go churn some butter"

The bottom corner is teaching you how to use the garbage disposal :)

Retro ads

2009-04-23T10:32:00.010-06:00

Kotex 1951

These are so weird! apparently this was the ideal way to advertise to women?

Marlboro 1950

This one is my favorite, Lifebuoy 1930, according to wikipedia Lifebuoy coined the term "B.O." so they didn't have deodorant in 1930?

adverse advertising

2009-04-20T10:00:00.006-06:00

I was looking through the weekly Target ad today when came across a sale on Healthy Choice products...and I suddenly got nauesous? why?

Oh now I remember, it's because the new commercials for Healthy Choice make me want to vomit.

Clearly the best way to sell your product is to make it seem disgusting.

and anyone that knows me is not surprised :)

Power Rangers vs. League of Super Villians

2009-04-06T15:38:00.002-06:00

The winning skit for this years Spring Sing, the first one I've missed since my freshman year, sad day, I wish I could have seen this one in person, I'm SO glad someone finally took advantage of Steppin Time!

Hawaii

2009-04-03T09:33:00.011-06:00

We left for Hawaii very early Friday morning, good thing too, otherwise we wouldn't have made it to the San Francisco airport in time to wait for 7 hours, AND we would have missed the incredibly angry mob...people are dumb...especially when they are confused and stop thinking....here's how not to get airline employees to help you:

1. get really angry

2. get really impatient

3. assume they're going to leave without you while you're standing there

4. scream profanities and insults

5. follow the lead of the guy screaming profanities and insults

Zach is not dumb, he outsmarted the whole mob, and thanks to him and Perry Parker we reprinted our boarding passes for the next (practically empty) flight and got to sit next to each other (something the travel agent thought wasn't necessary) and we didn't have to wait with the angry mob.

We encountered the most entertaining/annoying group of girls (and one token guy) on the beach one day. They screamed and cursed at everything....which is weird...because nothing was that interesting. But I guess when you're 15 and see a sailboat you're reaction has to be: "what the f*** is that! we are so f*#&@ doing that tomorrow!!" "let's go surfing tomorrow" "no! f*#&%$ shut up Becca! we're f*$&## sailing tomorrow!". In the next segment of our new favorite reality show Becca and Kelly were angry with Molly because Molly didn't want to go to the beach with them, which is like so f***ing lame, she doesn't even care about sports! who cares about her grandma! "I'm going to write her dad a letter and be like, you're daughter is a b***h! whatever if you're in the navy you're daughter needs like psychological help!" ....We felt really bad for Molly, she needs new friends. Luckily high school will be over soon and she can go off to college, and I would say there's a 99% chance no school would accept the others.

We tried surfing. But with short little boards, and in very crowded water. Zach still did great, although his skin suffered for it.

Christine's wedding was fun, and she looked beautiful of course :)

I took Zach to the Waikiki aquarium, which I think he liked a little bit :) he even got a souvenir (that almost never happens), now there are two snow globes in the collection.

We left for Kauai, my favorite island! It was so nice to get out of Waikiki. And chickens were running around with their chicks! and they bumped us up to an ocean front condo for no apparent reason :) Since we had a kitchen and were tired of eating out we went to the market, and then Zach made me dinner which we ate on the giant balcony. AND THEN HE PROPOSED! :)

and I was shocked! I didn't see it coming at all! He said he was going to wait till we were on a hike by a waterfall but he couldn't wait any longer :) And then we smiled for hours till our faces hurt.

The next day we went Scuba diving, Zach's first time, he did great, and wasn't even scared at all (I was even a little nervous, the visibility wasn't good). Our dive instructor was awesome and super nice, his name was Michel and he was from the Czech Republic, which automatically makes him cool.

The next day we beached until our skin hurt and we ran out of sunscreen....we weren't there as long as the monk seal though.

We hiked for a long time the next day, in Waimea canyon, it wasn't a very well marked trail, so we just hiked till we found waterfalls (we did not give up like the Southern people ahead of us)

Pretty much the best trip ever :)

Ummm...

2009-03-19T08:40:00.000-06:00

I found this on a list of "8 Inane & Pointless Pieces of Exercise Equipment" I hope they don't actually sell these, or at least that no one actually bought one

My favorite part is when "you can take it on the bus" and then they cut to a different scene as he gets stuck in the door.

I also enjoy this video mocking the first one:

Melissa and I watched this video last night, it raised so many questions, like "what kind of guy spends this much time writing a song about his cat?" But seeing as I too own a mean kitty I related to it.

Softly, deftly, music shall surround you . . .

2009-03-16T10:54:00.000-06:00

Last night Zach and I saw The Phantom of the Opera, and I can now cross off "orchestra seating" on my list of things to do before I die. We were in row A, so close that we could feel the fire when it was used. It was great to be able to see the actors faces so clearly, and to see the ornate detail in all the costumes. I found myself wanting to scoot back, so I could see the whole layout of the stage, and I didn't realize that when you sit very close a lot of the acting seems hysterical...especially kissing, because it has to be huge for everyone to see it, but when you're close it's just awkward looking. I enjoyed curtain call very much, Meg Giry was my favorite, she had tears in her eyes while taking her bow, which makes me think that she enjoys her job as much as I think she should, she also makes me want to prance around like a ballerina.

our seats, 2 rows back

After watching the movie version I was afraid that the show would be just as mind numbingly boring, but it was not. I wasn't bored at any part of show, I giggled a lot when the phantom kept throwing fire, he's like an irritating magician who kills people. I couldn't wait for the chandelier to fall :) symbol monkeys are ALWAYS creepy, and I finally understood the whole "hand at the level of your eye" thing (so he can't lasso you, ooohh!). One thing I still don't understand though is this order of events: opera ghost murders actor, drops chandelier, act break, masquerade?? what happened during the act break that makes them think "yes, this is a good time for a creepy party" and not "this is a good time to catch the murderer"? I guess it doesn't have to make sense, like the random scene in Singing in the Rain which I still can't figure out, or the creepy cat heaven in Thomasina!

As for the actors, our phantom was incredible, Raoul was equally good (and looked like Christian Bale), Christine was a little shrill for my taste, but not bad, and she actually seemed like a real person, she didn't wander around with her mouth open the whole time. Overall entertainment rating: 4 3/4 stars.

and the winner is...

2009-03-12T08:18:00.000-06:00

So for a while now I've been using Dior Diorshow mascara, and loving it. But every time I run out I have an internal struggle about buying a new one, $24 is a lot for mascara, and worst of all here in Colorado it dries out months earlier than in beach climates. So every time I have to replace mine I first go on a hunt for a drugstore brand that will work just as well. And every time I end up getting frustrated, and have only slightly narrowed the list of what doesn't work. Until now, presenting the winner, the drugstore mascara that works just as well as Diorshow, on sale for $3.99, L'Oreal Voluminous Volume Building Mascara.
I really can't find a difference between the two, and unlike other brands (like Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara) L'Oreal doesn't leave my lashes feeling dry and brittle after I put it on. The runner up for excellent mascaras would probably be Maybelline Full 'N Soft Mascara.

I also had the same struggle every time I ran out of bareMinerals foundation, but since I have to use it on my whole face I was reluctant to try something else. I finally broke down though after reading some good reviews online about Ulta Mineral Powder Foundation, which costs $11 less than bareMinerals, is often on sale, AND has coupons. The result? I think the Ulta one works better AND lasts longer without getting shiny and awkward. I also found some Ulta mineral eye shadows on clearance...WAY better bareMineral shadows, they don't crease and they last all day.

Sleepwalking Fail

2009-03-05T14:51:00.001-07:00

This made tea come out of my nose but it was totally worth it

Found

2009-03-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

I was walking around neighborhoods by Regis yesterday when I looked down an alley and saw this, it made me smile so I had to take a picture:

A post about nothing really

2009-02-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

I went to Ross yesterday looking for random things, at a fraction of the retail price:) ...I found one adorable skirt, size small, I went to try it on, zipped it up and it fell down...damn women's sizes. I wandered around for a while thinking of things that I need that might be cheaper there. Cookie sheets! I've been making cookies in a pizza pan, with holes in the bottom.

Now I knew that I needed a cookie sheet, but alas, I didn't think I needed to "stock up and save!" Does anyone ever need to stock up on cookie sheets? I would like to meet those people...I bet they smell like vanilla and chocolate and nutmeg. Also, the stock up and save price was more than it would be to buy them individually.

"What else?" (I talk to myself when I'm in a store...never mind, that's a lie, I don't talk to myself, I talk to the merchandise, way less crazy) Bed sheets! I was going to buy some anyway!

So I find a really pretty set, with a high thread count, for only $12, great! And I always kind of wanted sheets that looked like these:

So I make my purchase and leave the store, excited about new bedding :)

I take another look at the sheets before getting in my car, and to my surprise, notice some embroidery all along the bottom that I had somehow missed before:

And I think "can I have playboy sheets?" .... "No. No I really can't"

So they got returned, and I got regular sheets, and giant giant sunglasses! :) they are turquoise and zebra striped!

The End.

I like playing with Scrapblog

2009-02-19T10:40:00.001-07:00

This is the weirdo who lives with me, he refuses to sit like a cat.

Kool-Aid Win

2009-02-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

see more pwn and owned pictures

Valentine's weekend

2009-02-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Zach and I went to Glenwood Springs last weekend for Valentine's day, it seems to be becoming a tradition :) This time we adventured to the hot springs. It was definitely weird to be swimming and have snow falling on your head. The hot spring pools were huge, much bigger than I expected, and there were a lot of them, and they were somehow different temperatures. The place was very crowded and there were all sorts of people there, excellent people watching opportunity. I think the staff might have been around the sulfur too long though, based on this conversation:

Zach: Where are the lockers?
Employee: With the other lockers.
Zach: And where is that?
Employee: They're coin operated and they cost 50 cents.
Zach: ok and where are they?
Employee: Oh, they're in the locker room.
Zach: ....and that is?
Employee: Around the corner to the left.

After the hot springs we wondered around the town, ate ice cream while sitting on saddles, found the cutest bookstore ever, ate sushi at what would be Emilee's favorite place if she had been there, they had sushi and flamingos everywhere :) And found lots of other things that just made me laugh:

A book about identifying feces, for kids!

"A clean tie attracts the soup of the day"?

found on a very sketchy looking Mexican restaurant

1969's prediction of the internet in 1999

2009-02-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

I so wanted this to be longer, and have comments by the MST3K guys :)

Overheard at Sunday School

2009-02-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

Five year old Ethan to a friends mother: "this week? can we do it this week??"
Mom: " I don't know Ethan, I have to talk to your mom"
Ethan: "what about Wednesday? can it be Wednesday?!"
Mom: "maybe Ethan, maybe Wednesday"
Ethan nudging his friend Oliver and raising one eyebrow: "I have a play date on Wednesday"

Achtung!

2009-02-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make a new blog that is specifically art related. So for updates on what I'm working on please visit http://sharon-williams.blogspot.com/ aka The Paint Stained Apartment :) Hopefully I'll be diligent and be able to keep it up to date.

When did Disney start getting in to dairy foods?

2009-02-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

This would totally work on me as a child though, I always always wanted that Donald Duck orange juice.

Things that have made me laugh lately

2009-01-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

FAILBLOG

see more pwn and owned pictures

I Knew Reading You Milton before Bedtime Might Have Its Pitfalls

Seven-year-old girl: It would be fun to be a firefighter, or a policeman, or a princess...
Mom: Mmm-hm.
Seven-year-old girl: You know what else it would be fun to be? The devil.
Mom: Oh, dear...

--40th & 7th

Overheard by: That Girl

via Overheard in New York, Jan 13, 2008

Bei mir bist du schön, please let me explain...

2009-01-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

...Bei mir bist du schön means you're grand

I miss swing dancing.

No, let me clarify, I miss Santa Barbara swing dancing. Where I recognize most of the people there, and knew which ones were the most fun to dance with, and which ones to avoid at all costs...like tiny squatting man, or creepy "I'm going to tell you that you're fat" man. I even miss dances with old man alex, who everyone else thought was cool, but just really hurt my arm every time.

I miss those really amazing dances, when you think "nothing can be more fun than this is right now". I miss "once a year dave" and fake greg, even chrismukkah bar mitzvahkah, and emilee's dances with "santabarbara.com John". I miss really strange compliments like:

random dancer to me while dancing: "you dance like a mercedes"
me: "umm, thank you?"
random dancer: "ya, you know most girls dance like pickup trucks"
me: (thinking) "does he say this to all the girls?"

I miss coming home and my feet hurting so bad, but being so satisfied with the night. But most of all I miss actually knowing how to dance! Dancing in Denver is like trying to speak another language.....or knowing the language but not being allowed to use adjectives....it's just awkward.

So I need to learn the Lindy Hop, it's just that apparently I'm dancing impaired and having 8 counts instead of 6 is just more than I can handle :) But I did a lot of research today and found this comforting sentence:

"In practice on the social dance floor, the six count steps of the East Coast Swing are often mixed with the eight count steps of Lindy Hop and Charleston."

and that's why I wasn't all the way lost last time!

I just need a devoted awesome partner (like a Zachary) or a friend to go with me... like a faux Emilee :(

Because in a way dancing is my way of getting out my performance urge, and without it I might just explode. And going to carrillo rec center was like walking in to another time period, men asking the women to dance, and practicing dancing etiquette, and the band....if we had dance cards it would be perfect. And way better than club dancing....which isn't even dancing so much as standing in place and shifting your weight...and then creepy guys want to rub up against you....no thank you.

Not exactly roughing it

2009-01-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Two days of skiing makes a great weekend, it's even better when you're with your favorite person in the world, AND are no longer terrified of the sport. I even skied down blues without my legs freezing up with fear. It was my first time skiing at Vail and Beaver Creek, I think Beaver Creek wins just because I think their slogan is great. Although Vail gets points for their "kids adventure zone" because why wouldn't you put animated characters in the forest for children (and me) to ski through? That's the best thing ever! Followed closely by hand warmers....I don't think I would have hands any longer with them.

I learned about Louisiana today

2009-01-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

For your consideration, King Cake:

"This is a King Cake. Everyone and their mama eats a King Cake during the carnival season.
A tradition of the King Cake is that the bakery secretly hides a small plastic baby somewhere in the cake. When the King Cake is cut-up and served, whomever receives the piece with the baby must purchase the next King Cake for everyone.
If someone has never tried King Cake before and is unfamiliar with its hidden newborn custom, a local New Orleanian must warn them “Don’t Eat The Baby.”

"Also known as Twelfth Night Cake, the brioche-style King Cake is prepared in New Orleans bakeries for the period between the Twelfth Night (January 6) and Ash Wednesday.
The tradition is thought to have begun with French settlers, continuing a custom dating back to 12th century France, when a similar cake was used to celebrate the coming of the three wise men bearing gifts twelve days after Christmas, calling it the feast of Epiphany, Twelfth Night, or King's Day.

Though the cakes are baked in many shapes now, they were originally round in shape to portray the circular route taken by the Kings to confuse King Herod who was trying to follow the wise men so he could kill the Christ child.
The cakes usually contain a bean, pea, or a figurine symbolizing the baby Jesus. In 1871 the tradition of choosing the queen of the Mardi Gras was determined by who drew the prize in the cake. It is definitely considered good luck to the person who gets the figure, and that person usually holds the next King Cake party.
The Rex Krewe, a Mardi Gras parade organization, chose the festival's symbolic colors, and since 1872 the colors have been used to tint the cake's icing. The colors of the King Cake are purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power."

There has to be like a pound of sugar in each piece, it was so sweet I think my teeth are going to fall out.

my new favorite thing

2008-12-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Straight No Chaser
thanks emilee :)

The 12 days of Christmas

Sitcom Medley

two poems

2008-12-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

still

tremendous quiet sounds

shhh, shhhh shh

airy and barbed

light through darkness

it lay down

perfect, in circling violent haste

wondrous happening.

***

it tries to get me

falling off roofs

freezing the ground

being sharp

disguised as fluff

fool me not you foul thing!

don't leave me

2008-12-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

baby it's cold outside

2008-12-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sick, and doing battle with a fever. I'm winning though because I have tylenol on my side (acetaminophen, actually) and all the fever has is heat....and it's snowing outside, so the heat doesn't even have a chance.

also, I've gone through almost a whole box of pomegranate white tea....from trader joe's

I really really really miss trader joe's

I put up christmas lights a few days ago, I remembered that it wouldn't feel like christmas until I did, so even though I don't have a tree at least I have something. I also got stockings :) one for me and one for charlie, cause he's a spoiled kitty. It looks like I have a fake fireplace.

the first snow....

2008-11-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

...was last friday :) I drove in it and I wasn't even that scared. I laughed the whole time brushing it off my car, there was just so much of it. I put Charlie in the snow, he wasn't a fan...I thought he might like the cold since he does this sometimes :

I went skiing last weekend, second weekend in a row! I was even more scared this time, but after I got warmed up again I was ok. Zach said I went pretty fast down the mountain! And I only fell a few times....the other times didn't count because I kept getting taken out by runaway snowboarders! They bent my pole...I don't even understand how.

This Sunday I had two shifts of helping with children. I've never been so tired after something. First service I had 15 kindergarteners all by myself, one was crying, another one kept slapping the pastors kid, and I was supposed to be teaching them about being thankful....did not work. I looked around at all the other leaders with their groups of six children....it took all my energy just to get them to stop drawing on each other. During the second service I was helping with the 3-4 year olds....so much easier, there were also fifteen of them, but 4 leaders helping! And all we had to do was show them a video, do a craft, and feed them a snack. And they just want to sit in your lap the whole time...I had three children in my lap, one in the middle, and one on each leg haha, it kind of hurt, but they were just so cute. I also had a very smart 4 1/2 year old, she was so funny, she told me a story about a girl who died because she ate too much gum....I think she was confused. The video we showed them was pretty weird, it was like blues clues for sunday school, but instead of blue they had this creepy letter K, I haven't figured out why it's a K yet.

These are a few of my favorite things....

2008-11-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Autumn leaves :)

Tazo passion tea, it's like hot pink pez in a cup

Pushing daisies, one of the best shows ever, I want to wear all of Chuck's clothes

tubes of oil paint that haven't been squeezed, it's like perfect potential

on a similar note, brand new crayons :)

This boy!

mountain towns in the winter time

Victorias secret's lip gloss

Kinder eggs! I could really use a Kinder kinder uberraschung right now

crispy critters

2008-10-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

I remember this cereal, probably because I still have the book at the end, but I do not remember it being so creepy!

carrows straws

2008-10-23T08:12:00.000-06:00

Emilee and Eric try to turn straws around in their mouths, Eric was probably distracted by the homeless people watching him, but Emilee has no excuse :)

the amazing cat-dog

2008-10-21T13:39:00.000-06:00

New work

2008-10-21T13:27:00.000-06:00

I do not like ice

2008-10-13T09:13:00.001-06:00

my car door was frozen shut this morning, there was ice on the stairs which almost killed me, I don't have an ice scraper so I had to use my printmaking spatula, my wipers were frozen to the windshield, there were six car accidents on my way to work, two road closures, and since I have a convertible my rear window never defrosted.......winter will be fun!

but, it's 30 degrees outside and I'm not even cold :)

now we can swim any day in November...

2008-10-10T20:12:00.000-06:00

So Zach has been in California for the last couple weeks which means I have a lot of time for other things like painting, and redecorating my living room. Melissa and I went to the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder last weekend, and came away with lots of tea:) We weren't allowed to take pictures in the factory, but we decided not to follow that rule, we now have all of the secrets to the factory. We've opted out of making our own tea at home though, I don't think anyone could handle the smell. Our tour guide acted like peppermint was a type of drug....she was kind of creepy. There were also several people in our tour group who I thought were men, but turned out to be women....I wonder if it's a boulder thing.

TEA!

Apparently Charlie likes friends too

This is Charlie telling me he wants to go outside

I decided that if I started painting fruit I would get to do everything I wanted to: use lots of color and paint in basic shapes. These photos are not a good representation....because I'm too lazy to move the paintings into good lighting and my camera hates me....a scanner would be so useful....

hmmm, and my other images aren't loading

oh well this one was my favorite anyway.

California weekend!

2008-09-11T12:26:00.000-06:00

I wish it would have been longer, like two weeks, then I would have had time to do everything I wanted to! There were too many things to eat in just 3 days (Emilee, we left out the habit and/or in n' out!)

On Friday we went out to breakfast, to the beach, we saw a seal, the water was warm (I'm not even kidding), we got milkshakes, emilee got ridiculously sunburned, we went out to dinner with lots of friends and ate "the good pasta", and then played pictionary dictionary (which is not overrated - especially when Todd tries to draw someone wetting their pants - that's one for the book!). Das es die perfekte tag! (except that there was no amazing race)

On Saturday we went to get free things from the aerie store, loaded up the car with yummy snack, like cheez-its and blenders (how gross does cheez-its look without the dash, cheezits?)

and drove down to Fullerton, or Anaheim, I don't really know where we ended up. Met up with Becca, Fanny, and Allie at our super sweet hotel, and then headed to the wedding...where we had a blast. Weddings are more fun when you have four dates!

On Sunday my sister picked me up and we got to hang out for a few hours. We got ridiculous ice cream....I forget what the place was called, but you could add all the different kinds of toppings you wanted...oh man, it was like an candy explosion in every bite. Then we went to Cheesecake Factory, since I had never been....I think I was too full from the ice cream to really enjoy it though. Mom wasn't there, so we ate dessert before dinner....we're not ready to be grownups.

www.yearbookyourself.com

2008-09-04T09:53:00.000-06:00

I found this website today that lets you upload a photo of yourself and see what you would look like in different decades.......hours of entertainment.

1954...............................1956..............

1962.......................... 1964.........................

1966..............................1968..................

1984 ..........................1990......................

1992

I had fun with that, but I have even more fun yearbooking Zach! :)

1950...........................,1952........................

1954........................1956.............

1960............................1966................

1970...................... 1974...............

1978...........................1980...................

1984.................... 1988..............

1992............................2000

apparently if Zach lived in 1984 he would look like my dad.
I can't stop laughing.

ps. extreme weather

2008-09-02T10:22:00.000-06:00

this was exciting a few weekends ago

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/24/tornado-warning-douglas-county/

it was so close I really wanted to get in the car and go see it (safely from a great distance)

but Zach wouldn't go with me:(

so I had to be content watching the live coverage on the news, and running outside to see how big the clouds were.

things of CO

2008-09-02T09:24:00.000-06:00

So I'm trying my best to fit in with all the other coloradoers, I'm preparing for my first real winter, I bought semi-ugly shoes that are ridiculously comfortable and waterproof, and have traction for snow, after the one day of cold rain here proved to me that I do not have any footwear that can withstand weather of any sort, apart from the rainboots that emilee and I bought last year, but houndstooth plastic rainboots are not for all occasions:)

I also participated in an event quite popular 'round these parts, Sniagrab.

Apparently Sniagrab is where all the sports stores explode into their parking lots, and you can buy ski stuff. It's madness. I went twice. The name confused me, I thought it was snigrab, you know, to grab ski or snowboard stuff, to sni.

Me: "wait, Snia? what's the 'a' for?"

Zach: "for? it's bargains spelled backwards, it says it right there"

apparently their event slogan is: Sniagrab: bargains spelled backwards.

And from this giant event my big purchase was a pair of socks and mittens. Zach however got the prettiest (I mean, the manliest) ski jacket in the whole world.

I also have a ski pass now, it seems weird to buy one in August. But now I can walk around with my pass wearing my ski clothes and pretend like I know what I'm doing, when I actually have no idea, and I'm pretty certain I will brake my leg trying to ski this season.

There are a few things I refuse to do to fit in though, I won't stop saying "the" in front of freeway numbers, like "the 70" or "the 25", I will also keep calling them freeways, not highways, or I-whatever. I know I must sound silly, but they sound goofy too when they talk about "highway I-5", dude, it's the 5.

In other news, I don't hate my job! it's strange, after hating my last one so much. I even decorated my office space, my desk is the cutest one! I hung up pictures on my wall, I have flowers on my desk, and a candy dish, and my favorite thing, the teapot:)

I get to fly to California (which reminds me of my other pet peeve, "Cali" I don't shorten your state Colo. I decided I'm going to elongate the names of everything, like "Brekenekenridge" ha!)
Anyway, I get to go back on Thursday, and play with Emilee all day Friday! and go to Amy's wedding on Saturday, and stay in a hotel room full of girls on Saturday night! so fun!

I got this text from my sister at 2 am last night: "oh my gosh! I just got asked out!"
I can't wait for the story on that one.

muppet babies and care bears...

2008-08-29T08:09:00.000-06:00

Apparently yesterday's post made me reminisce about my childhood, and then I started remembering all the awesome toys I had, then I found all these commercials for them, so I just had to gather them all in one place.

sally secret - I liked her because she was a "crafts" doll, her earrings were little rubber stamps, and stickers came out of her gut!

puppy surprise - I had a puppy surprise AND a kitty surprise, both had 4 babies inside:)

secret places, I had the one with the pool, I thought it was the coolest thing ever

my sister and I would fight over this all the time, we still have it and it still works

Baby talk, or Michelle as my sister knows her (still)

apparently girls AND boys will like this doll. I had one, I never really cared about it because I hated dolls and all she would say was "turn me over"

alphie, a "computer" for children

The doll who's hair grew when you put her arm up, my sister and I both had one, that matched our own hair color, my mom would always do that

commercials are so creepy in the 80's, I didn't have this doll, I had a magic nursery PET, where you dissolve something and find out what kind of animal you had...it was super creepy looking.

I completely forgot about this one! but I remember how the paper smelled!

this was such a cool toy in theory:

A Dear Diary

only, it wasn't really a diary, you could password protect it, which was cool, but you couldn't write a diary in it, you could store phone numbers, and notes like one sentence long, and every time it froze it would erase everything....but it was still pretty awesome

I had one of these, even though I wasn't allowed to play with playdoh, at least not in the house

I wish I could find the commercial for play-doh's "Flower making basket" it had a song that went "a tisket a tasket a flower making basket", and you'd push the handle from one side to the other and flower petals would come up, and they were scented, sometimes people walk by me and I think "their perfume smells like play-doh"

The Greatest Adventure

2008-08-28T10:15:00.000-06:00

I just found this video of a show they used to show us on rainy days at school!

I completely forgot about it. It's right up there with Superbook and McGee and Me, ok maybe not McGee and Me, nothing is as good as those.

just for good measure:

and of course:

a few of my favorite things

2008-08-25T10:37:00.000-06:00

I discovered at 11pm last night, that I can hear everything my downstairs neighbors say through the vent above my stove, and I wonder if they can hear me, "helooooooooooo" no response, but apparently they can't decide whether the leftovers in the fridge are ok to eat. They probably wouldn't like my answer, since I'm a leftover hypochondriac.

Everyday at work a Regis van pulls up outside, nothing special about that, until I noticed what was written on the side of it, "Father Woody's Wheels", reminds me of the Beebesmobile, but obviously not as cool.

I found a church here finally. I like it a lot. It kind of makes me feel old though, there are a lot of young people, and all the girls look like stereotype westmont girls, so it also makes me feel ugly, but I'll get over it.

Zach and I had lunch with my neighbors, they were nice and not scary. Kate and Brian, married a year ago, he's studying to be a youth pastor and she's in beauty school.

I saw Mamma Mia this weekend, with three other girls....it was not good, I'm glad I wasn't expecting it to be. I love musicals, but this was just bad, and why put pierce brosnan in a musical when he can't carry a tune? It gave me dumb chills. Although Emilee, I can see why Pam liked it, it seems to be all about old women being dancing queens.

But after we saw the movie we went to bar Louie's and I had the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. And saw this:
it's a lobster claw game, insert a coin try to grab a lobster, if you win then they cook it for you, it was the weirdest saddest best thing I've ever seen.

bicycles and digitals?

2008-08-20T08:27:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I had an art show opening. It was about as classy as I expected it to be. In looking for shows to participate in I noticed that they all have a theme, like "miniature art" or "art by the river" or "watercolor landscape", this one was "compositional challenge" meaning that everything had to be on a square, circle, or oval surface.....I don't really know why that's a "challenge", but I was painting things on squares anyway, so whatever. This particular show let everything that fit the criteria in, so there were some that were...well, not so great. Some were really good, like the one with metal fish. There were far too many paintings of flowers, I'm guessing that's because the average age of show participants was 65. But I would much rather look at pictures of flowers than Charley's "digitals". Charley was an older man, but not old enough to excuse his work. He came to the opening dressed in a nice collared shirt....with mickey mouse embroidered on the back...and wanted to tell everyone about his "digitals" and how he used a "transparent layer!" in photoshop....just because you can play with photoshop doesn't mean you should...it was seriously painful, and I only wish that Darcy was there so I would have someone with me to understand how awful they were.

So that was my first Denver art show...at least I participated in something...and I'm taking a small victory in that my work didn't look like anyone else's, so at least I was unique.

Zach and I went to Vail a few weekends ago, his grandma has a time share so his family was up there. We went for the day and rented bicycles and rode around the town. It was SO much fun, and a great break from the heat, like a mini vacation. It also makes me wish I had a bicycle, with a bell, and a basket. It was so weird to see Vail without snow, it's such a cute little town. We had the best pizza ever at the Blue Moose, and saw the cutest puppy with the biggest ears I've ever seen.

oh ya! I almost forgot to mention my second art show! a solo exhibition, as it will appear on my artists resume. I had to undecorate my apartment in order to have something to display though.

best kid poem ever...

2008-08-19T15:30:00.000-06:00

this made me laugh so hard today, I think it was just the way the kid read it though:

clop clop clop the horse won't stop,
oh no here comes a truck!
oh poor duck!
the duck is now flat, I hate that.

Life in Denver

2008-08-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

Living in Denver doesn't really feel that much different than living in Santa Barbara. It's hotter, but it rains almost everyday. I do miss the beach, it just doesn't feel like summer without it.
I love my apartment. I love that I have space to do art. It makes such a difference, I work on something almost every day. I love that everything in the refrigerator is mine. I love that my vacuum has a million little attachments to play with. I love having a bigger bed, and a room to myself, a closet. I can turn the light on when I get up in the morning.

I'm trying to list everything that I love, so I won't think about all the things I miss. The biggest thing I miss is having girlfriends around. Someone to watch ridiculous TV or movies with. Play random games, like "how much can we fit in Darcy's top" or "how pregnant can sharon look?" or "crazy hair", group readings of Mortified, brownies in a pan, guacamole for dinner....and good girlfriends are hard to find, WAY harder than a boyfriend.

I don't feel lonely though, I guess it's good that I enjoy alone time, if I didn't I would probably freak out.

Now this post is making me sad.

I'm going to Vail this weekend. I think we're mountain biking, which I've never done. We'll see how much I injure myself.

My job is decent, I don't hate it nearly as much as the old one. My co-workers are pretty cool, not crazy, although one smells (A LOT) but that gives everyone else a game to play, it's called "stay away from Bob". I would feel sorry for him, but everyone has talked to him about it (seriously, everyone) and taking a shower and changing your clothes isn't that difficult.

I think I finally found a church I like. My neighbors invited me. And now I've finally met them, and they're not crazy and drunk all the time!

I'm taking art classes at the Art League of Denver, it's in this great old building, I love it in there, it has that wonderful smell of oil paints (the fumes are probably toxic, but whatever) and the wooden floors creak, and I swear there are secret passageways in the basement, and I saw a bat upstairs one night.

And I guess I'll say something about Charlie, so I can put a picture in. He's definitley been more difficult than I expected. I feel bad for him being alone all day. He finally sleeps at night, and only wakes me up sometimes when he wants to play fetch. He's a terrible jumper and falls on his face a lot, not graceful at all.
And he just learned that he has claws, so now he bites and scratches...oh joy.

I think it's funny

2008-08-05T11:58:00.000-06:00

that I made a blog just because I wanted to pick a template