Beneath the Opera House

Yet another uneventful weekend has come and gone.  There just isn't much to do when it's too hot to even stick your hand outside.  And it's been seriously humid the past few days, which is very strange for our area.  We live in a freakin' desert climate!  Then again, I think our weather patterns are finally shifting away from the nasty drought we've been in the past decade.

Saturday James and I went to Denver to pick up his dad's fishing and camping gear to store at our place until they get a new, bigger place for themselves.  I don't mind too much since we actually have a garage for it, so it won't be in my way at all.  And we're inheriting a nice bookcase with glass fronts for our bedroom and getting rid of a glider we've never really used.  Feels good to get something we'll use and get rid of something we won't!  I'm not one that likes clutter much.  :p

Sunday I finally got to spend some time stitching!  I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew for Christmas this year.  I was going to make each of my siblings a rather large piece, but I hadn't counted on injuring my elbow and not stitching for a couple weeks.  Well, I guess I'll just keep working on the 4 (that's right) WIPs I have going for them right now and see how far I am at the end of August.  That's when I started Christmas gifts last year, and I finished everything in time, so maybe that'll help me see whether I can actually get all these done in time or if I'll have to pull out some smaller pieces instead.

I simply can't believe it.

I've loved him best as one of the Jackson 5 (thanks to my Mom), and I was really little at the height of his popularity, but I remember watching him perform in the early '90s and thought he was really great.  It's a shame all that scandal haunted him through these past few years.  I always just saw him as misunderstood and seeking to relive the childhood he didn't really get when he became famous at such a young age.

Rest in Peace, Michael.  The King of Pop will live on through your memory.

This weekend was pretty quiet.  Saturday we tried to get out for a hike, but James didn't get very far before we just had to turn around and head home.  Poor thing had a really rough week at work and was just too tired.  So we headed back, grabbed some lunch and then headed to Sportsman's Warehouse to get his dad's Father's Day gift.  We got him a really nice pad for the shoulder that reduces the amount of recoil felt when shooting.  So we drove to Denver to visit and give him his gift, then headed home for the evening.

Sunday we went downtown to pick up a gift for my dad before meeting my family at Hu Hot for lunch.  I got my dad a shirt that says "ATM" with an arrow pointing at his face.  He thought it was appropriate, though not so much from me because I'm the only one of his children not borrowing money from him at the moment.  I still felt he needed it.  We had a nice lunch, too!  Dad loves Mongolian barbecue and this place has some of the best.  And for desert we got these s'mores that you can make at your table over little campfires!  FUN!  The rest of Sunday was spent just running around town.  My promise ring was due for a cleaning and inspection, so we took care of that and ran a few more errands. 

When we got home, I hoped to sit down for a bit of stitching, but my elbow started acting up again.  I think I injured it when we moved offices in March and since then it's been aching.  I think I really aggravated it working on my cousin's wedding gift because now it seems to ache all day.  So I just read a book instead of working on my projects in hopes that some rest will give it a chance to heal.  But I really really REALLY wanted to work last night.  *aggravating!*  I've got an appointment with the doctor tomorrow to take a look at it.  Hopefully she'll say that I'll be back to my stitching in no time!

I definitely relate to Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  We're both bookworms that love good stories, and we're daydreamers always looking for the next great adventure.  We've both been considered odd by others, but we have loving hearts that are seriously loyal to people dearest to us.  To top it off, we're both brunettes with slightly odd fathers!  I guess our biggest difference is that I'm not living in a castle with a beast-turned-prince (though sometimes my fiance is a little bit "beastly" when he's irked, hee hee).

I'm always on the lookout for new Beauty and the Beast stuff to add to my collection at home.  Belle was my idol growing up!

With all the crap on the news lately and the less than heart-warming stories, I find some real joy when I come across stories like this:


"Longshot Twin Horses Beat the Odds"

LAKEWOOD - Horses rarely give birth to twins that survive. In fact, the chance of survival for even one horse out of a pair of twins is very low. So, the newborns that Jacqueline Lewis has on her Lakewood property are very special.

They were born Sunday afternoon.

The fact that both survived was a big surprise because Lewis' vet had "pinched off" one of them in hopes that at least one would live and mom would survive the delivery.

"Uh, I went from two horses to four horses in one night," Lewis said. "I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna raise them and keep them."

Lewis' newest additions appear to be doing well, as is the mare who gave birth to them.

One foal is a filly. The other is a colt.

 

YAY for twin baby ponies!!

This poor little guy just looks so sad!  I want to comfort him and tell him it'll be okay:



Aaaaaaaawwwww!  It just tears at my hearstrings.  Poor little guy!


Pic from ihasahotdog.com.

cupcakesprinklz 's recent entry reminded me that I never did post the pic of my chosen wedding dress.  Silly me!  Here's what I've decided on and I love it:
( It's a large pic, so to save f-lists, it's under here! )
*sigh*  I wish we weren't holding off on having the wedding until September 2010.  Oh, well.  At least my mom will have plenty of time to work on it!

The field near my home has some new additions!  There was just one new baby that I could see the past couple weeks, but driving by this morning I saw two more new babies!!  *SQUEE!*  I love baby horses!  They're all legs and just the cutest things ever when they run around and play.  It always brightens my day to see them out there.

I love this time of year!  :)

Saturday morning I finally got out for my first hike of the season!  James actually got up early for us to go; he got up just for me because he knew how much I wanted to go (awww).  So we got to the mountain at about 9:00 and set off.  It was slow going at first (we're both just a tad out of shape) and I didn't think we'd make it all the way to the top, but once we stopped and rested a couple of times, we had energy to spare.  We got all the way to the top of The Rock and the view was totally worth it!  We could see for miles in all directions.  James had never made it that far and was very impressed with himself.  I'm proud of him, too!

We didn't stay at the top long, though, because we could see a thunderstorm coming our way and it always takes at least 90 minutes to get back down.  This was where the pain kicked in.  I didn't really hurt at all the whole way up, but coming down was bone jarring.  Every step down increased the pain in my knees to the point where I thought I'd end up falling the rest of the way.  James' ankles weren't faring too well, either (we need to get him better shoes).  But we made it to the car with the rain just starting to pick up and headed home.  We stopped to get some food and were barely able to get out of the car!  Clearly we need to get up there every weekend this summer if we're going to be able to do this with minimal pain.  I think James actually likes the idea!

Sunday we woke up sore but in better shape than we went to bed in.  We drove to Denver to visit our parents, and my mother, sister, her girlfriend and I all drove up to Georgetown for a bit of shopping.  Then James and I headed home and just relaxed the rest of the evening.  We watched an MST3000, the "Horror of Party Beach", but we couldn't finish it because it was just too awful.  Even Mike and the Bots couldn't save that one.  Yeesh!

I'm Catholic and rather than being offended, I find this highly amusing:

( Cut in case of Catholics with no sense of humor (sad beings that they are)... )
For those who aren't Catholic, it's customary during Holy Week to cover statues (including the crucifix) with red cloth until Easter.  Something about keeping worshippers from being distracted by pretty objects while focusing on Jesus' suffering.  In the case of this pic, they made a poor choice for the shape of the covering.  Funny!

First of all, why oh WHY does it rain nearly every Memorial Day weekend here?!?!  I can't remember the last time we had nice weather the entire long weekend.  Sure, the moisture is nice, but what about my plans?  *grumble*

Anyway, I took off last Thursday and Friday so that I would have time to finish my cousin's wedding gift.  And it's a good thing I did, too, because I didn't get done until 2:00 a.m. the night before the wedding!  I think it was worth it, though:



Yeah, I'm just impressed with myself for getting it done in the 6 weeks I had to work on it!  I hope they like it!

So Sunday was the wedding and it was a wonderful affair... if you could get past the rain!  They got married at Red Rocks Chapel which has a huge window that looks out onto a gorgeous view of the mountain behind Red Rocks.  Well, as the ceremony went on, we watched this huge grey cloud come down the mountain bringing severe lightening and epic rainfall.  At one point the mountain wasn't even visible because it was raining so hard!  It seems even the heavens were "roaring" their approval of this event!  And rain is said to be good luck.

Everyone made it to the reception soaked but in good spirits.  It was nicely set up and the food was simple but delicious.  I finally got to meet my cousin's fiancee and I've got to say that she is a real doll.  They compliment each other beautifully and I'm so excited for them both!

And yesterday James and I celebrated the holiday by staying home and just lounging around.  Yeah, those are the best holidays.  We wanted to try to get up to Grey Rock for a hike, but the weather just wouldn't allow it.  Stupid lightening.  Why can't this kind of weather happen while I'm at work and can't get outside?!  *sigh*


So that was my nice 5-day weekend.  Now we're back to the ho-hum drudgery of everyday work.  When's the next holiday weekend?  *checks calendar*  Six weeks?!  Well, I guess that's not too far away...

Didn't do too much this weekend besides a great deal of stitching, some shopping and seeing a movie, but I felt very productive!

James had a nasty cold all week, so he was still recovering.  Friday night my mom and siblings came by (Dad had to record a concert) and we tried to watch an MST 3000, but nearly all of the discs my dad has made freeze up in the middle of the movie.  Not sure what that's about...  I wonder if it's something with his DVD recorder.  Either way, it's always so disappointing.  So we decided to play a game instead.  We pulled out Balderdash and had great fun!  My goofball brother won both rounds, the little booger!  He's too good at that game!

Saturday we just sat around the house.  I got lots of work done on my cousin's wedding gift while James just vegged in front of the TV.  Then we went to dinner at On the Border (yummy Mexican!!) and saw "Angels and Demons".  Very good movie!  I love Tom Hanks, and I have yet to see a Ron Howard film that I don't like.  The whole premise with the Catholic church was good, and I never saw the ending coming!  I hadn't read the book, but now I want to!  James thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

Sunday was spent with more stitching until James got up.  Then we had to go shopping for some new dress pants for him and some new dressy capri pants for me.  I also got some new sandals that are really comfy!  I'm flat-footed so I try to not wear heels to often, but these sandals are really comfortable 3 inch heels.  Go figure.  Anyway, we needed the clothes for going to my cousin's wedding; I have lots of nice tops but none of my skirts fit really well at the moment, and James just needed some dress pants that are actually the right length.  Now I'm thinking we'll look pretty sharp!

I haven't had a chance to take pics of my progress on the wedding gift, and I probably won't do that until it's finished.  At least we start our summer hours at the University this week, so getting home even 15 minutes early will help me get lots done each night.  And I'm taking a couple days off this week to make sure it's done.  I'm so glad that it's nearly finished because I really want to get to work on other things!

My first friend here on LJ was my sister.  Does that count?  She is, of course, still on my Friends list, and she darn well still better be my friend or I'll kick her butt!

Love ya, Lil Sis!!  This is just for you:



Hee hee!!

So this weekend was pretty good.  We took my mother and grandmother out for dinner Friday night for Mother's Day so we could avoid the huge crowds on Sunday.  I hardly ever get to see my brother anymore, so it was nice to finally spend an evening laughing at his quirky antics.  That boy ain't right... but he's a keeper!  And I'm glad I got to see my youngest sister because I hardly see her either.  Something about her being too busy all the time making costumes and chauffering her roommates around... at least, those are the excuses she gives me.  ;)  Anyway, I gave my mom the box I had been working on and she loved it!  I'll need to go to her house and take pics of it to post because I completely forgot before I gave it to her.  *facepalm*

Saturday we drove to Denver to see James' mom.  He got her some very lovely roses that smelled soooooo good!  Then we came home and just hung around the house.  I was pretty tired since I'd stayed up late Thursday night to finish my mom's box.

Sunday morning was spent working on my cousin's wedding gift.  I'll post pics once I have a chance to take some.  The wedding is May 24th, and I only found out last month, so I have very little time to finish!  Thankfully, I think I am just over halfway done, so if I can spend this week seriously plugging away on it in the evenings, I should be able to at least go pick out the framing materials this weekend so that I'm not doing that at the last minute.

Once James got up, we went out to get the stuff he would need to change the oil in my car.  This was the first time he'd done it himself, and I think it went rather well!  We did spill a little on the driveway, but the driveway is already pretty ugly, so you really can't tell.  My car runs sooo much better now!  I really shouldn't let 8000 miles go by before I change it...  Usually I'm really good about getting it done sooner, but this time it just kept getting forgotten.


And here we are at Monday again.  *sigh*  Weekends seriously aren't long enough.  There's a three-day one coming up in a couple weeks, but I don't think I can wait that long...  Time to use some Annual Leave!

Seriously, House is the answer to all disease conundrums!

Seriously?!?!?!  There aren't words for this.  I just... wow...

All of you, go check out failblog.org.  Perhaps you, too, will wonder how much longer we'll survive with such idiots in our gene pools.

I didn't have one the day this question was asked, but I sure do now!  This was in my head last week, too...


"Ready, Set, Go" ~ Tokio Hotel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llH13hboNYA

Yeah... not sure what's up with it, but it's driving me nuts!  At least it's a good song.  :)

Bwa ha ha ha ha HA HA HA!!!  That's just too much!

James was on Moviefone the other day looking at upcoming movies.  Apparently there just aren't any original ideas left because there are a bunch of remakes being done.  Why's that bad?  Because they're remaking GOOD movies and I'm afraid they'll end up being crap.  Here are some of the worst:

"Clue".  WTF??!!  You've GOT to be kidding me!!  That movie's a classic!  I'm seriously afraid of what they're going to do to it...  I LOVE that movie!!  And Tim Curry will never be beat!

"True Grit".  This one sent James over the edge.  You just WILL NOT find someone who can play Marshall Cogburn as well as John Wayne.  It's just not gonna happen.

This'll piss my sister off: "The Crow" and "Hellraiser".  I think I'll leave her to comment on those since I've only seen parts of them myself.  (EDIT: See below.  She's sanosukesonly and she's pissed!) 


Those are just the ones that struck us as being bad ideas.  Now don't get me wrong; some remakes can be better than the originals.  For instance, I much prefer the recent version of "The Producers" to the older one, mainly because I adore Nathan Lane!  And a remake that takes an old story and places it in a more modern era occasionally works as well.  But you've got to admit that many recent remakes have completely flopped at the box office because they just don't compare to the original movies.

I dunno.  I guess we'll just have to sit back and see what happens.  Let's just say I won't be surprised if these flop.

Anyone who loves Pirates and musicals will find this a good one:



HA!

And this one is just epic win in my book:



Ah, good things!  I really need to keep off that website for a while...