The Wild Rumpus.

My brother, his wife and their daughter came to visit us. It was an incredible, adventure packed weekend. I opted to just throw a giant stack of photos at you. There are lots of other things to tell about my month of June, which has been in internet silence I realize. More to come soon. Until then, here's the weekend with Gwenevere Scout. Enjoy. 

Discovered that living on a farm is incredible.

That nap time is very important, for everyone.

We ventured out to the street fair for some bouncy house, slide, magic show, balloon hat madness.

While in the car she would inform us, "We going downtown!" And we did. She found this giant snail, and probably we could have just stayed there the whole time and she would have been happy.

We ate lunch at "the riber" aka Boulder Creek

Played at the playground at Chautauqua

"Monster Face!" Family photo at Chautauqua

"What do you think the horseys are doing?" She asked Sean and I over and over while we ate breakast. 

One last romp on the farm!

Flower picking

And dandelion blowing

And running

She is a crazy animal lover and she loved the "kitty-cat"

It's a pretty hard life to live on a farm and play with all those animals - really takes it out of you.

Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail

I'm no Mr. McGregor, but I do own a cat with a tail that swishes slowly back and forth. This particular little bugger is after my beautiful leafy greens. I hope for his own sake that he does not meet Famous Amos or he may end up in next weeks rubbage bin. 

Thea Cole-Stutz-Oldroyd

When someone dies you cook. It's what you do. When a cat dies, especially one with a thrice hyphenated last name, you make cake. 

What are you going to do with your Saturday?

I have been asked this question multiple times this past week. Each time I found it difficult to answer, because it's sort of a loaded question. If I respond with the truth, "Same thing I do every other day because I'm on summer vacation and have no responsibilities in life and can do whatever I please," this could be met with, a bit of, ooooh... hostility. However, if I answer with the fair and truthful, but unattractive, "Oh. Run some errands, clean up the house. Maybe take the dog on a run, or do a little gardening - maybe some book reading," I can quickly see the look in their eyes change from the excited "this-girl-has-endless-possibilities-of-fun-having-to-be-had-on-this-Saturday", to the feared, "oh-my-dear-sweet-Lord-your-life-is-really-much-more-dull-than-I-had-anticipated". 

What am I supposed to do lie? I mean if I had "endless-possibilities-of-fun-having-to-be-had" don't you think that I might have already shared them with you? So if at this point I've not mentioned anything earth shatteringly incredible that I will be spending my Saturday doing, you can most likely assume that I will be doing what most people do on their Saturdays - a little bit of "weekend work" and a little bit of "lounge about the house". 

So obviously now, all you can think is, "Sooo... what are you going to do with your Saturday?" because you are, unequivocally, unable to stop yourself from asking this question - much like weather talk. Deep down, or maybe not so deep down, people do not like this question. "What are you going to do with your Saturday?" and all you can think is, "Aaah... not talk with you apparently". But, being the gracious, and patient, and kind person that I am, I shall indulge your terrible social awkwardness and invite you into the wild and wonderful world that is Saturday Errand Running. 

I woke up particularly early to pick up some friends and deposit (yes, deposit) them at the park-n-ride so that they could get themselves to the airport. Picked up a little coffee on my way home and had a visit with my husband before he went to bed (works overnight in the ED - gets home when other people get up). Then it was off to tackle the motherload, Target & Costco on a Saturday. Luckily, I was solo in my Saturday errand running and therefore had high hopes of being able to weave stealthily between large slow moving obstacles, be they lost children, or desperate mother's stocking up their pantries for Y2K. In Target I purchased a trendy little canvas bag so as to not kill polar bears, and ending up in a looping-gouge-your-eyes-out conversation with the lady at the check stand because she really wanted me to buy a different one that would fold up and fit in my purse. No amount of, "well I like this one, and it can also be folded into a much smaller size" type of argument was to be heard, nor was she to be diverted by any topic changing efforts on my part. Eventually I found myself just staring at her, not nodding, or agreeing, or making any kind of movement - just the blank stare, holding out my hand and wishing upon the golden calf of "crap you don't need to buy anyway" idol, that this woman would at some point hand me my receipt. In a clear moment of weakness on her part, she parted with the thin piece of paper, and I was out the door. Next stop Costco where I was harassed by multiple sample givers. At one point I actually found myself being yelled at because I would not take the dried blueberries, "BUT THEIR GOOD FOR YOOOOUUU!" he yelled as I bobbed and weaved my way through the monster mother carts. All in all I came out of Costco unscathed, mostly because they did not have the item I was needing to purchase and so I left quickly, with only a slight detour to buy a soda (You know, s-o-d-a, that evil thing that is killing all of America? I stopped for one. Because clearly I have a death wish.) Death drink in hand, I drove to the grocery store - picked up necessary item that Costco had been lacking in, and then made a quick (or what I had anticipated to be quick) stop at the bank to deposit some checks. As the teller is typing in who knows what she looks up at me and says, "Well - I can't deposit this one." pointing to one of the checks, "because they didn't finish putting in the date," I look, and what I see is this: 5/28/0_ and then an indiscernible next number that could have been interpreted as either another zero if we were still in the year 2000 OR as an 8 as any sane person would have assumed considering that it is unlikely that I've kept this $60.00 check for eight damn years. I look at the check, look at her and say, "Looks like an eight to me." She replies, "Well I can put it through, but if it's declined you will be charged a $31.00 fee." I smiled and thought, "No. That's fine. I'll just frame it and hope that one day it looks more like an eight." So after she deposited one of my checks I left, walked straight over to the ATM, fixed my indiscernible date issue, and deposited the check there. The whole time thinking - "They've got a serious flaw in their system here...". 

After my bank encounter I decided that I had clearly had it with customer service for the day and thought it best to just head home. Errand running ended. But for kicks and giggles I decided to get a little bit of gas because I couldn't think of a better way to spend that thirty bucks. I mean, except for giving it to that bank lady. 

I hadn't taken but two steps into our house when I realized that I hadn't taken the crap to be returned stuff with me when I ventured into the Saturday world this morning. Luckly me. Looks like I've saved something special to do later in the afternoon. Maybe I'll reward myself with a second death drink. Or perhaps with the destroyer of all elementry school children everywhere - the cupcake.

Lightning McQueen

Gwen Scout, my beautiful niece and super cool kid, spent four days with her Gamma & Gampa and they did a lot of crazy things. My parent's house is a little bit like child heaven - trains, tents, tunnels, orange trees, berry bushes, swimming pools, watermelon popsicles & toys, toys everywhere.

Gampa however is so cool because he owns Lightning McQueen, and lets her drive it! Who knew that Gampa drove a real Lightning McQueen?!? Gampa really is the coolest. Uncle Naan and Aunt Joojie are counting down the days until she comes to visit. It's nice of her to visit us, even though we don't drive race cars.

Oregano

Summertime Dinner

Start eating 5:45p. Marinated & grilled chicken. Bread toasted on the grill with a white bean, garlic & oregano dip. Baby Bree & strawberries, two bottles of wine, salad & couscous. Espresso & ice cream. Walking back into the house, arms piled high with dishes only to realize that it is 11:00p. This is why we wait all year for dinner in the garden.

I apologize that the only photos happened after all of the food had been devoured - but when your hands and chin are dripping with olive oil and juice from a strawberry - it's not exactly at the forefront of your mind to take a photograph. I'm sure you understand.

Yes. Our house is magical.

Quintessential Summer Vacation Sunglasses? Check.

California. Chicago. New York. Yea, these'll work.  

The Reaction.

You don't have to study tomorrow.

What?!?

Summer Time

"And now," cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"

It was starting to become funny...

I have been officially accepted to the University of Colorado at Denver.

so close. so. very. close.

12 May 2008, 4:00p it will all be over. 

This morning I strung the lights in the trees in our garden and it's starting to feel like summer. This is going to be the longest week of my l-i-f-e. Drama, I know but - deal. 

George McCraw & Hampton Dunn - Grandpas We Miss.

The Writing

My sister in law is convinced that I should major in something to do with writing. Like creative writing. Each day she says this to me. Each day I make the scrunchie, yuck face.

"They" say that my writing is humorous and honest. To me it seems honestly boring, "Have you read my boring post? The one that slowly meanders it's way through the paragraph as if it walked in with purpose and then couldn't quite remember what it was and found itself opening the microwave to put the milk away?". My writing has no direction much like my life has no direction. Direction-less. Well more like direction-void, because my writing does not have less direction that it used to, it just had no direction from the get go. My writing seems self indulgent at best and ridiculous most of the time. Maybe heartfelt, but heartfelt wanderings and indulgent musings are still crappy writing, even if you did really feel it. "This funny antidote is really from my heart," well great, but it's still a terrible read. A muddled merry-go-round. If I wait until there is something "meaningful" or productive or finished or hell good to write about there would be nothing here. When is it good enough? Oh probably never. Not competitive - just... Everyone is a writer and everyone is a guitar player - well... Many shouldn't write, and most shouldn't play. Here's the thing, I'm not even totally interested in me. At best I find myself mildly amusing & unnecessarily sarcastic - but a "good read". Humm. I don't know about that. Perhaps I am gifted beyond reason - too easily able to laugh at myself and therefore my writing is sub par because I'm okay to laugh it off and say, "Well I never said I was a writer!" There's the "they" that say that you can hear my inflection and my voice through my writing - but here's the deal, can a stranger hear it? Someone who's never met me? It's debatable - and leaning far to the no side. One slightly humorous sentence amidst a sea of barf-o, does not good writing make. So do I confine myself to only future posts of superb writing? No - because then there would be no more posts. But I do wish for it to be more. Or if not more, let's at least try for less bad. Funny tone cannot cover up bad, wandering writing. 

 

New York Train Trip

Quintessential sunglasses have been purchased. Pictured soon. 

our house

Herbs Revisited

Anxiously awaiting the end of the semester ... When summer comes it will bring with it baseball games and dinner in the garden.

In hopes of fooling mother nature I planted Thyme, Lemon Thyme, Chives, Sage and Lavender (& not pictured - Kale, Cilantro, Dill & Swiss Chard).

It's supposed to snow tomorrow. "80 today, snow tomorrow. Stay tuned for the details at 8:00!" [It's crap like that on the news that makes me hate local news, because they say it with such enthusiasm and glee, makes you want to throw your coffee at them, except for then you wouldn't have coffee and they would still be sitting there with their crazed smiles. I call one of our local news persons Beaker (like from the Muppets) he is my least favorite, not the Muppet, but the news man. And yes, the news man does look like Beaker. Great look for a Muppet - bad look for anything non-Muppet. Local news people always just say the cheesiest, lamest, make-you-want-to-vomit nonsense. "Grab your shades!" Another of their horrible sayings. "It's sunny out there - grab your shades!" We have something like 350 days of sunshine here, why would I not always be grabbing my shades? Yes, I am also grumpy in the morning and this may have something to do with my less than amiable feelings towards local news. And yes I realize that I don't have to turn it on. But then how would I know to grab my shades?]

...Back to the garden.

Sean's all about the "from seed" way of growing things. I gave it a whirl. It was just dandy - and now I'm done with it. Mostly because our spring is too cold and snowy and the summers are too short, and too hot. Once my stuff was coming up, it was dying. This year I'm all about the instant herb. I could feasibly plant and harvest all in one day. Mind you, not probably the most advisable way to go about it, but I could, which is the point. I should probably mention that I did spend a good 15 minutes covering all of my new "babies" with plastic bags so as to keep them out of the frost-snow-sleet-rain-frozen-ness that is supposed to fall from the sky tomorrow. [According to the lady who wears a lot of hairspray.]

While I was planting my new herbs, Sean just read books about seeds, and how to do... I don't know what to your seeds - sing them songs, and maybe they talk pretty one day. Clearly, this all says a lot about who I am and who he is. Sarcastic vs. patient. Yup, pretty much sums it up.

Daytime TV Beware!

Inside my head, you might hear this phrase on a continuous mind numbing loop, "I can't study like this. There. No. I can't study like this. There. No. I can't study like this!". 

As mentioned before I've got serious skills in the area of procrastination. When I was younger, I hadn't quite honed said skills. Now that I'm above the fray, I would never do something so trivial as watching the tele to avoid homework. It's taken 24 years, but ho, watch out Sally Jessy Raphael! 

The process now looks a bit like this:

1) Collect all books, notes, papers, pens, markers and note cards from the various suspiciously mystifying places they've ended up. Who put my Microbiology notebook under the dining room table, beneath this blanket?????? Oh. Me. 

2) Sit down.

3) Collect myself, take a deep breath. 

4) Open book.

5) Read one sentence.

6) Ooh. I need a drink of water.

7) Sit down, with water. Start again.

8) Ooh. My hair is in my face. I should put it up.

9) Sit down, with water, hair up. Start again. 

10) Ooh. Those baseboards are really dirty. Gross.

11) Clean baseboards. Aaaah. So much better.

12) Water. Hair up. Clean baseboards. Start again.

13) Ooh. I should probably vacuum today. 

14) Water. Hair up. Clean baseboards. Vacuumed house. Start again.

15) Ooh. Too much water. I need to go to the bathroom. Hey! This bathroom is gross... It needs to be cleaned.

16) Water, Hair, Baseboards, Vacuum, Visit & Clean bathroom. Start again.

17) Whew. Man, I'm kinda hungry.

18) Make lunch.... notice the dishes that need to be done... 

19) Water, Hair, Baseboards, Vacuum, Bathroom, Dishes. Start again.

20) Look at clock. Man, I've been doing homework for HOURS. I need a break. Probably best to just finish this up tomorrow.

House - so clean during the semester... 

your mother does not work here... to the extreme.

It has been some time since I've witnessed, or noticed something hilariously ridiculous at my "college of choice". I mean I notice many an outlandish and bizarre occurrence there on a daily basis, however - this one, was clearly a golden opportunity. 

I went into the "study lounge" which I had yet to frequent in my three years of attendance. It was alright, didn't smell too bad, was quiet (as the many signs insured me that it would be) and as I was walking towards an unoccupied cubicle, I noticed a sign on the wall. This is what it said word for word. Seriously, I could not have made this up.

"Please pick up any food and trash when you leave. We are trying to decrease the insect and rodent issues in the campus center."  

Ooook. I was not aware that there was an insect and rodent issue - but now this "clean up after yourself" sign has made me PAINFULLY aware that there is.

Add another one to the "Cons" side of the list for this place of higher education...

uh oh ... ten little fingers & ten little toes

due date: 10 December 2008

we are quite excited and anxiously awaiting the new addition to our family. 

addition via my brother & his wife - that's right "Joojie" & "Naan" will be an aunt and uncle again! 

my vague, vague life...

I did not get in.

I might go to Metro.

It is clear that I am not in charge of my life or my existence - and I am thankful for that. [Because clearly I do not know what I'm doing. Sometimes it's like a lab experiment that gas gone awry - the kind where you give a sideways glance at your lab partner and you both make the "oh crap" look ... and then start to try and control the laughter.]

I am tired in my soul.

Clarity is slow at coming in my life...

Sometimes I wonder if Murphy is stalking me.

magic markers

although time consuming, I decided to make my own wrapping paper for a birthday gift I'm sending out ... needed to do something creative in the midst of all of this rote memorization. the design I can't claim, it's a copy from one of my favorite mugs. I just like it a lot. 

dreams

I had a friend in high school who would become genuinely angry with you about things that your dream self had done.  

Conversations would proceed as follows:

You: Morning K.

K: No. I'm angry with you.

You: What? What did I do...?

K: It was your dream self.

You: What?!?

K: Your dream self. I'm not talking to you.

Clearly there is no way to argue yourself out of that one. You simply had to let it pass. It really isn't wise or advisable to argue with the crazy in people. 

Last night I dreamt that I was sitting in an old, eclectic, warm house, bursting with friends. Classically milling about after what must have been a magical dinner. Some were drinking, some were still picking at dessert, some lying down on a couch or slouched into an overstuffed chair. I was still at the table talking and laughing with my friend Shalene and .... Adrian Brody. 

This morning I woke, increasingly jealous of my dream self. 

...and we bought one of these this weekend

it's an exciting book

I will spend the rest of this evening and probably a fair portion of the early morning (do to my complete lack of time management skills) studying the respiratory system. the above photograph is of tracheal epithelium showing both ciliated cells and nonciliated goblet cells. so pretty. however, let's be positive, glass half-full type of people. it's not that I lack time management skills, it's just that my time wasting skills are highly developed. h-i-g-h-l-y developed.

on a completely different note, because although I know that you were riveted by the above topic, one must move on, least we find ourselves stuck tumbling down a rabbit hole of looping conversation about epithelium - which, is more easily done that one might imagine. I spent the better part of my time wasting skills researching a trip to upstate new york via the train. it's all very exciting. the prospect of traveling by train, and being able to spend our "lay over" time in chicago roaming the city, exploring & eating incredible pizza is strangely more alluring than being stuck in airports (and all that comes with them) for 24 hours straight. if we can pull this off well, we could be planning our most romantic "period piece" vacation ever. traveling by train to the grandparent's lake cottage, spending a day in chicago on departure and return travel, and enjoying our strange compartment room on a train sounds like a trip that will ensue an onslaught of incredible stories. not to mention that scenes of the darjeeling limited will flash through my memory continually - hopefully some quintessential sunglasses can be purchased for this trip...

dada da da do

...you're gunna want it.

jaymay has stolen my heart. especially the song gray or blue from their "new" (released this past november) album autumn fallin. maybe it's the fact that the lyrics are lovely, or perhaps that they made great use of a xylophone, a ukulele and a string bass; but it's like someone wrote incredible strolling music.

brings back a little of the feeling like life can still be romantic. two years ago, when i was walking out on the rickety old wooden dock at the lake house in upstate new york on a balmy july evening and i encountered fireflies for the first time. it was like my still small voice said, "oh. life is romantic. indelibly romantic".

aspirations part II

if in any way i could write this well i might not feel so awkward about having a blog. (note: not so awkward. i would still feel awkward about it.) this may be one of the truest, and most hysterical, things i have ever read. this post in particular. but she in general is hilarious - [the underwear drawer]. one of those people who makes you feel like you could have odd stalker tendencies if you lived in closer proximity. or that you might find yourself desperately trying to be a friend to a total stranger, because they are that cool.

also she gives me hope that sean and i can survive whatever may come in this crazy journey that we've embarked upon. these next...this next decade of our lives is THE scariest thing i've ever decided to take on with someone. but it is a huge consolation that i feel that somehow i won't have to lose myself in the process. that the madness within which gives me the ability to laugh at myself and at life, freak out inside while upholding some illusion of normalcy to the passing public and create honest, albeit sarcastic, narration to my life will be of some help in this, the craziest of things i've ever done.

homework

this weekend...awww nope, monday morning 1245am.

last weekend i spent my time drawing...try not to be too jealous.

friday afternoon boulder

yesterday sean and i spent some time at pekoe. just sitting in the outside cafe with kenna, drinking iced chai and an americano. kenna said she was fine and didn't want anything. we enjoyed the little bit of sunshine, got some studying done and then needed to move on. we strolled over to north boulder park and let kenna chase after pieces of sticks that we could find. once we had sufficiently worn out the dog, we walked back over to ideal market/whole foods and bought some soup & pasta salads for dinner, sat down at the tables outside and enjoyed our meal. soon after sean headed to work for the night. but it was a sweet afternoon.

aspirations

the burrow. i think that's what i want our home to be. if i can achieve that in life, i will feel good about who i have become. unpretentious, honest, welcoming, full of laughter, full of food, full of family, full of friends...

today's special

for sure this photo is phenomenal. you can follow my cousin's journey via their website Riding the Spine. this photo is from their latest set in costa rica, just a little "biking hammock colony" i believe is what Jacob called it.

the iPod muddle [like those mint leaves]

rodrigo y gabriela, what was i doing with my life before i started listening to this stuff? jack, you had me from the first line of the first song and you've delivered again. amy winehouse with that crazy jazzy funk is infections. shins, there are no words. spoon, you motivate me like none other. BNL *sigh*, your like home...memories, fondness, fun, honest. modest mouse - yes puh-lease.

the reward

well this saturday night had hopes to be incredible. it has really taken a nose dive quickly... we were going to go out to dinner [corridor 44] and have a date night, and then drop by deanna's european farewell party, and then stop by the bars and wish my friend terri a very happy 24th birthday. see, it would have been a noteworthy evening my friends.

alas, sean ended up having to work tonight... & because i truly, truly cannot get my act together since getting back from cumberland island i have realized that i have 2 chapters of anatomy & physiology to read, 4 chapters of microbiology to read, 2 online assessments and a substantial, seriously extensive map of the human body to label [just the cardiac and circulatory systems however], as well as 2 exam outlines to begin/finish, OH and a ridiculously hard 6 question homework handout...one of those takes you 2 hours to answer one question, and even after that you're holding your breath and making the confused face hoping that what you wrote might in some strange way resemble something close to an answer.

so tonight i am doing none of the aforementioned charming activities. i am buckling down and finishing most of the "should have dones" that i should-have-done earlier in the week. on the other hand, as my husband was leaving for work tonight he said, "get all your work done so that tomorrow night we can celebrate and drink martinis and watch the oscars!". aaahh, i do love that man.

now about the little matter of me not being able to get my act together since returning from the island. let me tell you why that is. chiefly, every morning i would wake up at 700am and throw a sweater on over my pajamas, stuff my feet into my boots, walk down stairs using the secret stairwell that goes straight to the kitchen [with only a brief option of a stop off @ the bar], fill two to go cups with fresh steaming coffee, walk back up the stairs [this time stopping and grabbing two bottles of orange juice from the bar fridge], climb back in bed with sean where we would sit and watch the sunrise while drinking our coffee & oj. then we'd get ourselves dressed for the day and head downstairs for some breakfast. while eating breakfast someone would come in, tidy up our room, change our sheets, make our bed and pick up our wet towels. after breakfast it was off to adventure, but first we would stop by the kitchen and pick up our picnic lunches that had been made for us... absurdly incredible picnic lunches. then it was off to ride bikes around the island, hang out at the beach, visit the marshes, take naps on the bed swings on the porch, visit with the family, explore the ruins, scout out armadillos, wild horses & wild turkeys. upon returning from a day of adventuring you could head down to the dining room and pick up a bowl of staggeringly good soup and some sweet tea. then all you had to worry about for the rest of the evening was showering and dressing up for happy hour & dinner. did i mention that you didn't even have to pick up your own dishes. finished with that cup of coffee??, just leave it on the table, or the porch, or wherever you happen to be, someone will be along to get it....there actually was no where to take your dirty dishes even if you wanted to.
all in all it was truly, absurdly relaxing & wonderfully fun. however facing reality has been, well more than just an adjustment.

Cumberland Island

it's been difficult to come back to real life...

ugly day

... and it wasn't even my attitude that was ugly this time.

so sometimes, you wake up, shower, get dressed, eat, leave for class and realize about 5 seconds into the class that you quite completely, honestly and truly hate what you've decided to put on that day. not in like a "this just isn't my favorite outfit" kind of way, but it's more a "oh dear good god, what on earth ever possessed me to purchase these hideous pieces of cotton???!?" i am getting my hair cut tomorrow, so today of course i hated it more than i usually do. AND THEN to top it all off, i was all bundled up because the news people said it was going to snow....not only did it now snow... I HAD TO TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING.
if you're wondering if sweating profusely, on top of hating your hair & completely loathing your choice of "non-fashion", makes you feel better about yourself ... it doesn't. now you just smell. (and the afore mentioned hideous shirt might just have also been heather gray, so it's clear to the world that you've overdressed & are now paying the price.)

i went shopping after class today.

the only thing to dread now is the fact that at some point in the near future i'm sure to be sitting somewhere wearing the exact clothes that i so desperately love and bought today thinking, "oh dear good god, what on earth ever possessed me to purchase these hideous pieces of cotton???!?" and the cycle shall repeat.

simply lovely

Juno, you were superb. Superb my friend. Almost instantly you were true to my heart. You were a beautiful, lovely and honest film and I will think of you often.

Sean & I will be headed to Corridor 44 for Restaurant Week this year. I am looking forward to eating incredible food, drinking champagne, getting all dressed up & discovering new reasons why I am incredibly blessed in this marriage. Tonight while watching House a character voiced something I have always felt - that the more you know someone the more you should love them. That you shouldn't love them as much as the day you married them, but more than the day you married them. As you know them more, you love them more. You find more of the beauty in them and you forgive more of the ugly.

Agenda: Amante

today i will be spending a few hours...let's be modest and say...five hours, with my good friends the endocrine & circulatory systems. only to be followed up by my buddies the prokaryotes, eukaryotes and the accomplishments of many dead biologists.
however to take a bit of the bite out of what can only be thought of as perhaps the worst way to spend one's thursday afternoon i will be studying at Amante in north boulder. i do truly loathe anatomy & physiology II, but i feel once that cappuccino hits my sweet little hand life will seem a little bit better.
on a good note however, i have found that not only did i really enjoy chemistry, but i am now honestly enjoying microbiology. i'm glad for biology that it's finally restoring it's self worth in my eyes.

sweet indulgence.

homemade mango salsa, a glass of wine & boston legal ... savoring the last few days of vacation.

awake...a little too long?

sean worked christmas eve night in the E.D., which apparently was crazy [worked 13 hours straight, no breaks, not enough beds for patients, etc.], and then came home christmas morning, stuffed my stocking, showered & headed out with me for a day of family christmas festivities. [no time for sleeping]
we had cinnimon sticky buns & coffee at his parent's house, then drove up with them and amanda & ross to the Stanley Hotel [home of the shining] for an amazing brunch, or what we might refer to after this as "christmas gluttony".
we finished up the evening by watching part of home alone & relaxing on the couch. however..maybe sean should have just gone to sleep? we were both exhausted, but had a wonderful christmas day.

merry christmas

few changes this year from years past. a small christmas gift to sean was to allow all childhood ornaments to adorn our tree this year. in truth i don't really have anything against said ornaments, but in the past we've had a larger tree and there simply weren't enough of them to really "decorate" a tree. so it ended up looking like a bad arts & crafts phase had erupted and sneezed an awkwardly small amount of home-made ornaments onto our tree. also there is the balance that must be kept in our house between sean's complete lack of organization and my crazed love of organization. clearly, we're both a bit extreme (in a fit of excitement one night i organized our bathroom cupboards with bins and labeled everything...it was awesome). with the purchase of a smaller tree this year, all parties involved were happy with the outcome. or happier...

really all of this pales in comparison to the letter i received from the university of colorado on friday evening. as of december 10th of this year i had officially completed all of my prerequisites for the Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene program at CU. my application had been sent in this past june & i was simply waiting to hear about my status and whether or not i had been accepted to the next phase of the application process, the interview. interviews were scheduled to begin in january and go through march. however, there's been a little kink in the process...

on friday evening sean picked up our mail, walked over to me, and handed me a envelope from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, School of Dentistry. we were both a little nerves assuming that this was the letter informing me as to whether or not i had made it to the interviewing phase of the application. i open the envelope and began reading. sean was trying to read my facial expression, knowing that i should know my fate after the first sentence or two. however, i continued to read looking more and more confused, then just started to say, "what?! what?!?". sean asked what was going on and i said, "they've decided to shut down the program, and will not be accepting any students for the summer 2008 term..."

so if you find you're a bit bamboozled as to what it is i'm saying here's the bushi - i've been neither accepted NOR rejected ... there is simply NO LONGER A SCHOOL for me to be accepted or rejected BY!

deadlines for other dental hygiene programs are january 1, dental hygiene programs which are associate programs, not bachelor programs. i simply cannot get a complete application together in time, also added that i am leaving the state on the 26th and won't be home again until january 11. it is doubtful how helpful CU is going to be considering that i never have been, now most likely never will be a student of theirs, and i need them to forward on applications and transcripts, letters of recommendation, etc. all this on top of the fact that the prerequisites are different for the schools i now need to apply to, and am learning that there are more classes i need to complete at a ridiculously fast pace. anyone up for Human Anatomy & Physiology II this summer? and never mind the fact that i now cannot get my licensing and bachelors degree at the same time. i now have to finishing this schooling (another 2 to 3 years, then go back and finish my bachelors, another 2 years at least...if going full time, which is doubtful...so lets say another 4.) so basically i am looking at it taking me 10 years to complete my bachelors degree & to be licensed as a dental hygienist, instead of 5 years. it's bushi.

now begins the scramble.

Lia Charlotte Oldroyd

so i was eaten alive by finals week. i've finished now, and have sufficiently put up enough posts to update you on life for the past month and 1/2. so keep on scrolling, there are quite a few new ones. however, i REALLY couldn't leave this little bit unmentioned...

LIA CHARLOTTE OLDROYD
born: 28 November 2007
weight: 9lbs. 5oz.
length: 22in.

also, i should probably mention that she's not ours...she is our new niece. miss lia and i will be spending a lot of time together this next semester. i am going to be lia's nanny three days a week. yeah, basically that doesn't suck. at all.