Monday, March 31, 2008

This may come as a surprise....

but I'm tragically "Type A".

I am often disappointed in myself for the smallest dumbest things. Things like forgetting to bring a stamp with me to the post office. Or forgetting to send the check with the contract. Or not calling ahead to find out when (or even IF) the store is open.

I stress out incessantly over the smallest dumbest things. Things like misplacing my camera. Or fuming about why the Dryer Elf has chosen AGAIN to steal my socks and not Todd's. Or my laptop not working as quickly as I'd like.

I'm incredibly hard on myself, especially when it comes to school. Hey, if you've ever worked full-time while maintaining a 3.80 GPA or better, you'd be hard on yourself too if that GPA ever fell below that. I made the Honor Roll. I intend to graduate - eventually - with honors. I don't let work interfere with school. I don't let school interfere with work. It's a very tricky and unpleasant balancing act.

I'm a tireless perfectionist.
Sometimes to my husband's chagrin.
But we balance each other out well.
When I start stressing out, he finds ways to either make me laugh or calm me down (if he could tell me a joke while rubbing my feet, this would be ideal).
When I'm too hard on myself, he reminds me of all the things that I've done that are notable.
When I disappoint myself with silly things, he helps me remember that in the grand scheme, forgetting to turn on my "out of office assistant" isn't going to cause anyone's imminent death.

And I remind him that being frugal doesn't mean being cheap or not having fun...it means planning ahead.
I remind him that my perfectionist attitude is what often allows me to be able to plan for said future.
And that sometimes, it's the littlest things that do in fact matter the most.

We do well together.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

We did it!!!!

Okay, it's taken forever, but I've finally rescued some pictures from the depths of my SDCard...and here are the ones from Todd's very first foray into skiing. He did splendidly and I'm excited to go with him again in a few days!!










































Todd was in a lesson for the first half of the day, so the scenery pictures are ones that I took from the top of the mountain when I was skiing alone. Admittedly, it was probably one of the most relaxing things I've ever done. I have never skied alone before and it was rather refreshing to take things at my own pace, ski whatever trails I wanted and enjoy the memories that popped up along the way.

Todd and I skied together for a few hours after lunch and he did surprisingly well! He was maneuvering some turns pretty nicely and has mastered the art of falling down and getting back up again (I'm so scare of falling that I can't actually remember the last time I did).

It was a treat to get to enjoy one of my favorite childhood pastimes with my husband and I'm so glad that he enjoyed it...we're going again this weekend with some friends who are practically pros...it should be interesting. Pictures to follow, for certain!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Week #13

This week is hardly half over and I can already tell you what I'm grateful for.
Fricking SPRING BREAK, baby!!!! WOO HOO!

No, we're not going to Cancun or South Beach or anywhere of the sort.
Todd and I are making our way to Buena Vista, CO


and then down to Santa Fe, NM


We leave tomorrow morning, right after we visit our puppies, Sunny and Jackie, one more time before heading out of town. It's about a 2.5 hour drive to Buena Vista from Denver so we're going to take it easy tomorrow morning...sleep in, go to the gym, etc. and then lazily make our way to good ol' Bueny. It's been about 12 years since I've been there with my family, probably more. We used to go there a couple times every summer for some quality camping and singing of KUMBAYA around the campfire. Todd and I will not be camping, but rather staying a lovely little cabin motel called PiƱon Court Motel...which, interestingly enough, used to be a little neighborhood that my parents live in (or near) when they first got married and moved to Colorado from Illinois...so it'll be fun to stay there. Plus, my mom still remembers all the quaint little restaurants and stuff that's there so there is plenty for us to do, including having an ice cream cone from the Dairy King (yes, KING).

Santa Fe has a special place in my heart. My family and I used to go there for a week every single Spring Break for YEARS. The last time I was there was in 1996, I think. So it's been a while. I'm ready to get back. There is so much that I want to show Todd: the ridiculous flea market, Governor's Palace & Square, The Jackalope, some of the fabulous restaurants and museums, and maybe even some Indian marketplaces. We're staying at a pretty fancy hotel right on "the strip" so we'll be able to walk just about everywhere, weather permitting (which it should).

All in all, this should be a good trip...photos and videos forthcoming!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Sometimes, things just hit you out of the blue.

Happened to me recently. True story.

All I was doing was working on cleaning the office to get the house ready for two canine inhabitants.

Todd was working on de-cluttering the basement (and did a super-fab job at it) and I wanted to get the office organized in such a way that I could also use the space for ironing and other such laundry-related tasks.

There is tons of paper and general crap in the office that either needs to get shredded, tossed or deposited (I have some checks from student loans that need to get in the back pronto). I figured there were probably also things in there that needed to be kept, most likely from the wedding. I still need to find a nice cedar-type box to keepsake all that stuff (there's so much!).

What I absolutely did NOT expect to find was a birthday card from my Grandma Stoddard.

It could have been anything, but no...it had to be the very last card she ever sent to me.

I don't normally keep bday cards for an extended period of time.

So why this one? It's not like I KNEW it would be the last one...my birthday is in May... she passed away in September. I guarantee that I'm not weirdly prophetic (I'd have a lot of angry family members if I were haha!)...

And so I let myself cry. Just for a moment. I've pretty much processed her death and I had a nervous breakdown the day after the funeral that Todd can attest to as he was there to witness the insanity.

It was just a bit much to find that one birthday card after all this time.

Monday, March 24, 2008

"When he pulled up on his unicycle, I just knew...."

This weekend, Todd and I bought $2000 worth of brand new electronics. This included a 40" Sony 1080p HDTV, a PlayStation 3, a PS3 game for Todd and the movie 300 in Blu-Ray for both of us (because it is, I believe, the quintessential date night movie for Todd and me).

It was a rather arduous process to get the TV and I let the Best Buy dudes know that I was none to pleased with the way I/we were being treated after having stated, pretty bluntly, that we were ready to make a substantial purchase. It was pretty irritating all the drama that went into what should have been a 30min adventure. But whatever.

We gave up all forms of visual entertainment for Lent (television - which caused us to miss the premiere of Dancing with the Stars, video games - which caused Todd some amount of heartburn I think, YouTube/Internet - which caused me to miss the debut of Britney's newest video and I'm a little bummed about that, and movies - which caused us to put our Netflix account on hold and not be able to watch 300 in Blu-ray for quite some time). Said sacrifice ended on Sunday morning. Todd actually set his alarm clock for 6am (maybe earlier, I'm not sure) so that he could wake up and get in some quality Dynasty Warriors 6 time before going to church. He's kind of been DYING to play the game and has been talking about it non-stop for a couple weeks now. So it was good for both of us that he start to get this out of his system hahaha!

So Easter was pretty much an awesome day.
The sun was shining.
We had amazing brunch at our favorite little French restaurant in town.
We visited with Sunny (Leo) and Jackie (Suki), our dogs we'll be adopting in a couple weeks.
Gabe and Kelly came over for some quality 300-viewing in HD/Blu-Ray.
The house got pretty clean in preparation for said puppy-adoption.

And frankly, the best part for me, was remembering why Easter is so important. It all still gives me chills and chokes me up. I hope it always does.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Week #12

This week, I'm thankful that the road construction crews for our neighborhood finally got their crap together and repaired the nonsense at the corner of 38th & Tennyson.



For as long as I've lived in that neighborhood (since November of 2006), that corner has been a nightmare to turn onto and off of due to the astronomical size of the potholes that have been haphazardly filled in from time to time. Last year's snowstorms certainly didn't help the situation any. It hurts my poor car, Kate, to drive over that intersection so when I got home last night and discovered that it had been repaired, I was rather elated! Or at least, I would have been, had I not been on a pretty serious mission to find a damn brownie (which I never found, by the way, and am still craving).

In case you're curious, I hauled serious amounts of arse to the Starbucks on the southwest corner of 38th & Utica in hopes of getting a brownie. They didn't have any. As I was walking out of the store (scratch that. I definitely ran), one of the guys working there was saying "We have banana chocolate chip bread!" and I giggled as I thought "Yep. That's the same..."

Fortunately, God was feeling slightly merciful on me last night and Megan brought chocolate covered donettes to small group. It satiated me for a while.

So the road is fixed but, sadly, I still need a brownie.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Why on a Monday?!?!

I'm pretty sure that my new NOT favorite thing is having St. Patricks Day on a Monday. Who thought THAT was a good idea? Granted, it did make for an ENTIRE weekend of Patrick-ing so that was fun, but still...MONDAY?!?! Not a fan.

Our St. Patrick's Day weekend went down a little like this:

Friday night: We went to in downtown Denver to celebrate Newton awesome-ness. We started with calamari and some kind of lemon poppyseed mayo dipping sauce that was to die for. For dinner, Todd had some really delicious crab alfredo with spinach noodles and a couple of awesome beers. I had steak and potatoes (with a weird sauce that didn't do right by me) and a pretty delish riesling wine. It was time for bed after that. We were pretty zonked from dance class earlier in the evening. So to bed we went.

Saturday: I had brunch with the girls downtown at which was one of the best bruches I've ever had. I kind of love eating on the 16th Street Mall.It's just a whole ton of fun. Then Laura and I made our way to to purchase some "things" (mostly Laura did the purchasing). By the time I got home, it was time to blaze a trail down to BFE to visit our new "friends", Sunny, Jackie, Rocky and Chauncy. Took a couple walks around the block and laughed a LOT...mostly at Sunny who is just a barrel of giggles and fun! He runs really funny....it's very "gamluph-ish" which just gives me continuous entertainment. He also has a weird habit of jumping on Todd's back, licking his ear and running away. It's pretty hilarious! After all that fun, it was time for a nap before heading to Boulder for some Irish Debauchery.

. New favorite pub in the greater Metro area. It's really in downtown Boulder, but whatever. We found free garage parking and there wasn't a line to get into the pub, as was expected. Found our mountain friends, Megan & Paul, who were chatting with awesome British friends (it was later discovered that British friends were not, in fact, old friends but dudes that M&P had met mere minutes before we arrived...so that was fun!). We miraculously were able to find a table for 6 in a prime section of the pub, which was rad. Todd and I promptly ordered fish and chips. Really nothing goes better with and/or than fried fish and big huge french fries. We wolfed that down. Then ordered a round of Car Bombs. As much as I talk about them, I'd never actually had one before this past Saturday evening. For those that don't know (and there are precious few of you), it's a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme dropped in half a pint of Guinness which is all slammed as quickly as possible. If I wasn't tispy before the Car Bomb, I certainly was afterward! Then it was on to the Catacombs to play pool and get our asses handed to us at air hockey by super drunk college girls. Embarrassing? Only if I cared.

Sunday: Todd and I went skiing. Refer to yesterday's post for the dumbest thing ever said to me regarding that (also note that apparently that particular grocery store is not only slow in business, but slow "en la cabeza"). Todd took a lesson in the morning while I enjoyed skiing solo for the first time in my life. Nothing more relaxing than that, I think. I took whatever runs I wanted, whenever I wanted and stopped to take a few pictures along the way. By lunchtime, I was more than ready for a beer and a burger. So while waiting for Todd to finish his lesson, I ordered the ever popular PBR (apparently a woman from Texas sitting next to me had no idea what that was...and yet, she knew Natural Light...siiiiiiiiiiiiick!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Todd was all smiles upon finishing his lesson and discovered that not only did he not get cold being out in the snow for 3 hours, but he actually really enjoyed skiing! And yes, folks, for a first-timer, he's very good at it! Looks like we've officially inducted Todd into the life of a Coloradan! Woo hoo! Next season, more skiing and possibly some snowboarding (which I hate with the fire of a thousand suns). Pizza is the traditional reward for skiing all day and burning a minimum of 1500calories. Usually, we'd stop at Beau Jo's for Colorado's greatest slice, but we were on a bit of a budget so we picked up Papa John's later on...just as good! I think I passed out around 8pm, which I expected to do. Todd stayed up to make Guinness Bread and banana bread. The Guinness Bread is a St. Patrick's Day tradition for us...it's too delicious for words!

Monday: work. Blech. I was pretty sore from skiing. I'm sure Todd was too. He fared better than me as his office busted out beer and appetizers around 3:30pm. No dice at my office. But whatever. The weather was shit so my boss (the lucky Airsure Leprechaun) bought pizza for the office so that we wouldn't have to drive in the less-than-ideal conditions to go get lunch. So that was pretty rad.
After class (where I discovered that I got a "C"on my midterm and was happy and then discovered that I did crappy math and actually got a "B" which was even more awesome), Todd and I ate dinner with much haste (southwest egg rolls and sautƩed veggies) and made our way to Sloan's Bar & Grill to hang with loads o' friends for the next few hours. Good times.

But still....St Patrick's Day on a MONDAY?!?! What a crock!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Stupid People Amuse Me

So Todd and I went skiing on Sunday (more about that in another blog, with photos)...
Well, you can buy discounted lift tickets at some area grocery stores, which is nice because the whole skiing adventure cost us about $160.
So we head out to the mountains and stop at our neighborhood grocery store to get the lift tickets.

First stupid thing: it was approximately 7:10am when we got to the grocery store. Still there was a sign up at the customer service desk that read "CLOSED - hours open 7am to 9pm"
LKJASHKLGHSLKJGHLSUHF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally some crazy woman yells, yes YELLS, over to me asking what I need. I tell her I need lift tickets. She walks away in what can only be described as a stupor or daze. A few minutes later, she comes back and says that the printing machine for lift tickets is down. I ask what I should do.

Second and final most STUPID thing: the following conversation ---
Grocery Store Lady: So which way are you going?
[I am literally stupefied at this point as I have just told her that I'm there to buy lift tickets]
Me: To. The. MOUNTAINS.
[Todd kind of wanted me to say "in Vermont" just to confuse her all the more]
GSL: Okay so you can go to the store on Youngfield and you can take highway there, which is probably the best way or you can take this street out here all the way over....

I had stopped listening at that point and had to try hard to refrain from telling her that, as I have lived in Denver for nigh on 30 years, I've got the 'burbs pretty well figured out.

So there you have it. Stupid people on parade.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Adventures in the life of an avid karaoke-er

i love to karaoke. i think we all know this. and know it well.

i like to go to new bars and try to wow the masses with things like Pat Benetar's HEARTBREAKER (a personal favorite) or Aretha's RESPECT (a classic).

additionally, i often enjoy coming up with personal "themes" for the evening. one time, i did something to the effect of "Late-90s bubble gum pop"...this resulted in doing a Britney song, which i rarely do, but always enjoy. i did this tune called "Overprotected" that has some really funky breaks that i like to sing along with. i think i've only ever done one other Britney song, but whatever.

the best part about doing that song was the aftermath...and run-in with a very drunk girl at the bar who was party of a birthday party going on that night. the following is what ensued:

Drunk Girl: Oh my gawd that was awesome!!!
Me: thanks!
DG: what a great song! is that, like, alanis morrisette or something?
[personal interlude: if you can no longer tell the difference between Britney and Alanis, you've had too much to drink]
Me: no, dude, that was straight Britney Spears.
DG: AWESOME!!! my friend totally wants to know how you learned to rap like her!
Me: Umm...sweet!
[personal interlude #2: take a listen to that song and tell me where, exactly, the rapping happens]

That's one of the more confusing conversations i've ever had post-karaoke-singing.

Week #11

In an attempt to get this done BEFORE next week, this week, I'm ever-grateful for laughter



In spite of my (probably) bombed Spanish mid-term, I have laughed a lot this week. Between Heater texting me when she's "not in her right mind", Chandra talking about her biochemistry class, Corwin being Corwin, Todd saying generally hilarious things ("It's ham flavored"), Jill regaling me with tales from elementary schools and about a trillion other things that make me laugh in a day, it definitely something to be thankful for.

It's why I have all the lines around my eyes. And I'm okay with that.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Week #10

Forgot to do this again last Friday so here I am today.
Last week, 'round about Saturday evening, I discovered that I was grateful for unlimited texting!



Todd & I decided that it was high time he get a decent cell phone. So we canceled his old contract and put him on my family plan. And the AT&T sales guy gave us a smoking deal on his new phone. It should have cost us about $140, but we decided to get unlimited texting on our plan and with that and the fact that the funny sales guy hadn't given someone a screaming deal in a few days, we ended up paying $60 for everything with a $50 mail-in rebate (that we still need to do). Even with the new plan and the unlimited texting, we're still paying about $40 less/month than we were before. So that's pretty rad!

So now I text during class at will without worrying about going over my limit. And I actually prefer texting to talking on the phone....it cuts out the "hello" and "goodbye" niceties if all you really have to know is if I'm meeting you somewhere at x-time. It's just easier to text.

I LOVE TEXTING!

Monday, March 10, 2008

"She's started composing..." "MUSIC?!?!"

i'm stressing out right now about my stupid mother-loving health insurance.

i hate that i went to get a stupid CT scan now that nothing is wrong with my head and the problem was with my back...and problem my new chiropractor is fixing with much haste.

that stupid useless doctor's visit (where he did nothing but ask me a bunch of questions and proceed to tell me that i had to get scanned for tumors) is costing me/us about $2000. granted the claim isn't finished being processed so it could cost less, but i'm not planning on it.

i know i should be grateful that i have health insurance at all, but c'mon. this is a bit nuts.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Week #9

This week, much to my own chagrin, I'm thankful for PBR.
The beer, not the bull-riding association (although that is something to be quite thankful for as well)



In my difficult struggle to lose all the weight I gained on the cruise, I have found that I still enjoy drinking a beer or two on date night or when we hang out with our buds at Sloans and/or Big Hoss. I've recently been drinking "chandy's" which is cheap lite beer and Sprite mixed. Much to my dismay, Sprite is chock-full of all kinds of calories and sugar that I don't need. So the other night, I braved the wild's of crappy beer and ordered a PBR. And wouldn't you know it, I actually enjoyed it! It's only like 52calories for 12oz. and typically costs about $2.50...totally not a bum deal. I still really like my chandy's, but until I lose the "cruise weight" I'm happy to indulge in cheap American beer...