is this thing on?

I really enjoy living in a smaller community; we have everything we need but we also get to dream about all the things we don't have. We leave this weekend to spend the holidays in Colorado Springs and I'm really excited! In fact, I made a list of all the things I want to do upon arrival and I'm reminded there's something to be said about having to wait for things that you want. For the 6 years we lived in Westminster we had easy access to just about everything we could think of. So and so is playing at the Fillmore next week? Let's get tickets.  Rockies game tonight? Sure!   I think I'll drive over to a different Target today and check out their clearance. Should I have Qdoba, Noodles, Which Wich, Chipotle, Panera...? Now I'm realizing how that type of environment eventually takes the magic out of things. The magic of anticipating that in 4.5 days I can eat Blue Bell ice cream, go to a really big chain craft store, and eat at Red Robin. The mag...

Since we moved, we've been trying to find a church to call home. There are quite a few churches around town so we just decided to try them all and see which one might fit us best. I tend to be more traditional and I love me some liturgy (having an order to worship that includes historical traditions, reading & response, traditional prayers, creeds, etc). We've been going to the denominational churches (Lutheran, Presbyterian, & Methodist so far) and I've been struck by one thing: There are no young people in these churches. Like, NONE. Today we went to the Methodist church and a gentleman came over and said, "I had to make sure to come say Hi to the youngest people here! How does it feel to be so young?" Now, I need to clarify that I have nothing against the older generation (think late 60's-90's- we sang happy birthday during the service today for a lady turning 97) but there's obviously going to be a gap there and we're probably no...

I'm sharing this at the risk of sounding uber-lonely and /or creepy: For a while now I've felt like Brian and I are cursed. I don't know what magical being we disturbed but it seems to have cursed us to never have really good friends. That's not to say we haven't had great friends over the years but not really the kindred spirit type where you just know, "We are going to be BEST friends". They are the people you instantly feel comfortable around and who are easy to be with. Friends you don't have to go out of your way to plan a time to hang out- it's a given that you'll be hanging out or stopping by. The Academy Awards are on? Which house should we use? There's a sale going on? What time should we go? I know I'm not having a pipe dream. It's happened to me before and I want it again. However, here's how our curse plays out: We meet people who potentially fit that bill and shortly after we start hanging out with them they...

I love children’s sermons (when kids are responsive and don’t just sit there like a deer in headlights). We are currently searching for a new church and visited First Presbyterian Church this weekend. During the children’s sermon, the pastor asked the children a handful of questions and the kids did their best to answer correctly. I’ll try and recreate it to the best of my memory. Pastor: Does anyone know what we are preparing for this month?        Kids: ….Christmas Pastor: That’s right! And what makes Christmas special? Kids: …Snow! Pastor: Sure! And what else? Kids: …Snowflakes! Pastor: Ok… Anything else? Kid: …Jesus? Pastor: That’s right!! And what do we do to prepare for Jesus’ birth? Kids: … Pastor: What about this tree (points to tree)? Kids: Christmas tree! Pastor: That’s right! And why do we use this kind of tree? Kids: …  …Jesus? Pastor: …Yes, it does all go back to Jesus but…what kind of tree is this? ...

I really, REALLY hate to admit this but...I've caught a Bieber cold. I've truly disliked this kid with all my being and I thought that dislike was one constant in my life that I could rely on. I've even had many a heated argument with little kids about how the Biebs is lame, has shifty eyes, and is not to be trusted. However, on my drive home from work a few months ago, that damn Girlfriend song came on the radio. I turned it up and jammed along only to have the DJ crush me with his announcement that it was the new Justin Bieber song. I literally shook my fist in the air and exclaimed, "NOOO! Damn you Justin Bieber!" I apologize for using the word 'damn' twice already but I'm seriously irritated that this is going down in my life. And, it gets worse.  Two weeks ago my best friend and her husband were staying with us and we decided to watch something on Netflix  We were perusing the on-demand options only to stumble upon "Never Say Never...

I've read a few articles online recently about the different social websites and these articles basically bashed them. There’s the ever present argument that Facebook has given us a false sense of intimacy with our friends.  I read that people feel Instagram should be renamed “Brag-o-gram” because people use it to brag about all the fun things they are doing.  I also read that Pinterest is the current version of your binder in middle school. The binder you decorated with pictures of all the things you like and that Pinterest has become a place where people mindlessly pin things and don’t use their own creativity. I tend to avoid writing opinion pieces; it’s not because I don’t have an opinion but because I generally can’t handle the aftermath of expressing my opinion. In my perfect world, I could share my opinion and people of a different opinion would just smile and nod and leave me alone; but we live in an imperfect world full of mean people so I usually keep to mysel...

If you're like me, one bad experience at something can scar you for life. It's not that I won't try it again but when I do it will be with fear, worry, and lack of confidence which usually means I sabotage myself, get the same bad results, and THEN decide to avoid it at all costs. So, let's talk about parallel parking. Shall we? Back in the mid-90's, in my hometown, the fact that I was a female who also earned good grades in school meant that I wasn't required to take driver's ed. You should also know that my driving test consisted of driving, changing lanes, turning, and parking. That's it. Needless to say, I only sort of  learned to parallel park. I've always lived in the suburbs and Brian usually does the driving so I've never really needed the skill.  I vaguely recall attempting it on my own once in high school but then not again until this year. I was headed downtown by myself to meet up with some friends after work in July and after c...

What is the definition of a miracle? 1. A surprising & welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws & considered to be divine 2. A highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment As mentioned before (ad nausea), our move to Glenwood has felt miraculous to us. Highly unlikely yet it all fell into place as if it was divinely orchestrated. Therefore, I was expecting "Chapter 5" to be the miracle of me finding a job. I haven't written much about it yet because it has not  felt miraculous and I've been bummed about it. However, I'm open to finding the deeper miracle in the situation. Maybe by writing about it, I'll find it. Here is my concept of how things would go: 1. I would interview for a full-time job 2. I would get hired for that job 3. It would be perfect for me 4. A unicorn would show up at my door and give me gummy bears TAH-DAH! Things were looking good, too. There  was...

I know I haven't been very good at writing but moving is haaaaaaard. I mean for that to be read in the most whiniest voice possible. I know it's a first-world problem: "I have too much stuff." Wah-wah. Now that you know I realize it's not a  real  problem in the grand scheme of things I'm going to continue on with my whining. It was horrible- ask my parents. They helped and they know. However, the end goal is worth it...I hope. :)  I was scrambling around trying to pack everything and stumbled upon Chuck as seen below. I seriously wanted to "Freaky Friday" my way into her body for the remainder of the move.                                                Anywho, we've had a busy August. The first weekend we rode the Amtrak to Glenwood for a weekend stay at the Hotel Colorado. We brought my parents along to, in a sense, introduce them to...

I have a history of flip-flopping. Or maybe it's just that I'm an emotional person and I am very in-tune with my emotions/thoughts/feelings. I blame all those years of journaling. I don't know, but whatever it is, it's rearing its ugly head right now. I am in freak-out mode about our move. I feel really sad to leave and wonder if we're doing the right thing (not that we can change it at this point). I'm on the verge of tears at all times and I'm starting to over-analyze and think that God is just giving us what we asked for to prove a point. "Be careful what you wish for- you should have been content with what you had". I'm not 100% concerned by this change of heart and here's why: when I begged to quit swim lessons and then my mom said I could, I kind of wished I hadn't gotten my way. When I played bassoon that one year in high school and hated every second of and couldn't wait to quit- the year finally ended and I didn't h...

This entire process of moving to Glenwood has blown my mind. If I wasn’t already a believer in God’s presence in this world, I would be now. Fo’ Sho’. I want to try and convey all of the incredible little bits and pieces of this story but I don’t even know that I can. However, I’m going to try so this is going to be even longer than the last post. THERE ARE EVEN CHAPTERS. Remember in 3rd grade when you felt so smart because you were reading chapter books? Chapter 1: This is Freaking Mindboggling I explained in the last post about how this job opening appeared within the first few days of us checking. We were in Glenwood a couple weekends ago and Brian’s boss asked to take us to coffee because he wanted to meet me (which is awesome in itself. I mean, Brian hasn’t even started yet). He took us to a charming little coffee shop and we talked for about an hour. Did I mention he graduated from Whitworth in the 80’s? (Another wonderful thing to add to the list). We talked about Whitwor...

I know I've been going on and on about simplifying life lately but that is what brings us to this big change in our lives. We are moving to Glenwood Springs, CO . DISCLAIMER: This is kind of a long story- you've been warned. A few months ago, Brian texted me and said, "Let's move to the mountains". I chuckled to myself and responded with, "You're supposed to be the stable one" and left it at that. That next weekend, I found Brian looking up real estate in various mountain towns in our price range and I still wasn't sure if this was a phase or if this is really something he wanted us to pursue. Of course, most of the homes in our price range were trailers or shacks that needed more than a little TLC so I just sat with him and said, "No." "No." "No." "No." to every house he pulled up in every mountain town he picked. He asked what mountain town I would want to live in if I could pick any of them regard...

What a week. I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs but it defined this week for me as I'm sure it did for a lot of people. I'm not feeling very eloquent on this topic but I want to write about it anyway. I had made a pouty face when I first heard about the fire because I've hiked Waldo Canyon many times and I'm a sentimental person who doesn't like it when things that hold sentimental value for me are marred. So, I was sad to hear that it was burning but the whole state seems to be on fire so I pouted and moved on with my daily routine. Then I realized my best friend Amy lives close to Waldo Canyon and found out she had already left her new house (that they bought a few months ago) and I started to get worried. On Monday I traveled to Colorado Springs for work and I remember thinking in the morning that the smoke didn't look that bad and I felt hopeful that they were making good progress. I left work Monday...

About a month ago, Brian's car was in the shop. He drives a 1979 Mercedes that he inherited from his grandpa so whenever he takes it in for repairs, the Mercedes dealership loans him a brand new Mercedes to tide him over until he gets his car back. It's by far my favorite perk of owning that car. This time Brian decided we should take the loaner car up for a drive in the mountains so we headed west. It was a gloomy day, raining on and off. We got to the top of Vail Pass and were heading down when the heavens opened and released an unrelenting torrential downpour. Brian immediately slowed down because our windshield wipers were not fast enough to allow us to see... Now that I've set the scene, let me add a side comment. We are about to witness a series of accidents due to hydroplaning. All of this while driving a car that costs more than I make in a year; a car that we are borrowing . These factors caused an influx of stress and adrenaline which I have now learned can warp...

I love it when you stumble across a great weekend, especially when you weren't planning for anything in particular. Brian woke me with a kiss on Saturday and whispered, "If we're going hiking, we should leave soon." I jumped out of bed and got ready while Brian cooked some eggs and then we headed west to hike up to Crater Lake. Here's what I look for in an optimal hike: your path should lead you up and the word 'alpine' should be involved. We indeed went up and were pleasantly greeted with great alpine meadows and lakes. This picture reminds me of the bigfoot sighting pictures. After our hike, we had dinner with my parents who stopped by to pick up their dog, Eefee, after their road trip to Pennsylvania. After they left, Brian suggested we go get some flowers for the flower beds in our front window. We were smarter this time and paid attention to the fact that our big tree blocks most sunlight and got plants that don't need full su...

Last night I went bowling with some friends at Elitch Lanes. It was the first time I'd been back to the area where the original Elitch Gardens Amusement Park used to be and I have to admit, it was a pretty nostalgic and sad moment for me. Roller coasters are a big deal in my family. Anywhere we go, if there is a roller coaster nearby we hunt it down and conquer it. We went to Elitch Gardens at least once every spring/summer and used any excuse to go. I went with my girl scout troop, I went with my closest friends, I went with my family, I went there on school field trips. I always looked forward to the long trek to Denver to visit my favorite place. At the risk of sounding dramatic, Elitch's was more than just an amusement park for me. It was the site of my first love affair with rollercoasters and lucky for you, I feel like sharing today. You see, being short is not something that happened later in life for me. It's not like I was tall for a while and then just stopped gr...

The theme around here lately is "Simplify". If I had to pick a moment everything started snowballing in this direction it was April 2011. My Nana had just died, I started reading "The Hunger Games", and then Good Friday and Easter came. All of it caused me to reflect a lot (and have a lot of nightmares about an apocalyptic dark ages descending upon us). I began to find myself imagining my day without certain luxuries. What if I went to wash my hands and nothing came out of the faucet? Would I even know where to go to find water? I found myself going on long walks around my house to 'scope' out the land to see what I could forage and shuddered at the thought of killing one of our resident bunnies or prairie dogs. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I tend to go to extremes in most cases. I am always preparing for the worst because I'm a planner. Planning makes me feel like I'm in control and I like control. Control feels safe. If I drive ...