Beneath the Opera House

It's been a while since my last post. No real excuse for that other than life is just freakin' busy! Work keeps me busy all day, then I come home at night and get to work on home things that need my attention. And I'm hardly home at all on the weekends with all the stuff James and I have to do then. So it's a miracle I've completed any Christmas gifts. My housekeeping, on the other hand, has really suffered. The house is neat, it just really really needs to be scrubbed and vaccuumed.

I adore my new job! I work for some of the greatest people in the world! The department presents new challenges and opportunities for me and I'm never bored. I'm actually excited to go to work each day and see what new surprise I may encounter. One thing's for certain: I'm constantly expecting the unexpected working with the students. There have been several odd occurances this first month that almost nothing surprises me anymore!

Discovered last weekend that one of my sisters is pregnant. Still not sure how I feel about that. Check with me later.

Christmas sounds like it'll be as hectic as it's been the past few years. We have to make time to try to see everyone over two days, but this year James works on Christmas Day, so we may miss my mom's family. Oh, well. We can only be so many places at once.

That's about all I've got time for right now. Hopefully I can find some time to sit down and hash out a good post soon!

Well, my first week in my new position went well. I learned so much that I've forgotten some of it, but I'm feeling more comfortable now. There are still a few challenges on the horizon, but I'll deal with them when they come up. For now, things are moving at a slow pace, which is good for me to get a chance to acclimate to the new area. And everyone is extremely nice and patient with this "new girl", which makes this all much easier. I'm loving it so far!

James and I had lunch with the family on Saturday for our birthdays. His was on Saturday and mine is coming up on Wednesday. Another year older... wow. I can't believe another year has come and gone! They really need to slow down just a tad so that I can keep myself together here!!

Yesterday we went to the Broncos game as a birthday treat to ourselves. Well, it would have been a treat if the team had freakin' won! What happened to my 6-0 team?!?! Now we're 6-4?! Were the first wins just luck? I'm starting to think they were. We've lost 4 in a row... our first place standing is now no more. Unless we start winning again soon, this is gonna be another heartbreaker of a season. Sad!

Other than all that, time is just flying by! I've got two Thanksgiving meals to prepare dessert for, and those will be pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmmmm... I'm drooling just thinking about it! Can't wait for the meals, either. I hope my uncle makes Piggies again. Those are the best little things ever!

Stitching is coming along nicely. I finished the stitching of one sister's gift (it just needs framing), finished my brother's piece, and I'm nearly done with my other sister's gift. If things keep progressing nicely, I should be done well before Christmas. Yay! I want to go back to my Phantom piece sooooo badly!

That's all this time around. More updates as they come around.

James and I finally went on a date yesterday.  I think it's been months since we've had the chance, but we've been so busy each weekend that there's hardly been time to indulge in each other.  Well, we took the chance this weekend!  We went to P.F. Chang's for some wonderful Chinese food, then to the movie theater to see "A Christmas Carol."  We both agreed the movie was fantastic!  It's amazing to me how they could animate Jim Carrey's mannerisms into all the characters he played.  And I love the attention to detail, right down to the gentelman surreptitiously snorting cocaine off his fingers while they discuss Scrooge's death.  Amazing!  Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable night.

Today started my last week in my current job.  Honestly, I'm pretty happy to be moving on to something else.  I've enjoyed working in HR, but it seems that the latest budget news is causing some insanity in management, and I'd do well to take myself elsewhere before the proverbial shit hits the fan.  And I'm probably not the only one that'll up and leave.  My boss has already found something else in another department, and I'm sure that if management keeps screwing over the other ladies, they'll head out, too.  I wonder how the department will fix this mess...  Meh, it's not my problem starting next week.  Yay!

I'm working feverishly on Christmas gifts.  Almost finished with a couple of them, but I won't post pics until they're done, and they'll be somewhere other than here due to the presence of eyes watching this journal that aren't allowed to see anything until gifts are opened.

I'll be super busy this week tying up loose ends at work, but I'll keep an eye on my F-list.  Hope everyone out there is doing well!

I've done it.  Went and jumped ship, just as I threatened to.  I have accepted a new position in a different department on campus.  I never thought I would, but my options in my current area didn't seem like the best for me, so that means it's time to go somewhere totally new.

Basically, a couple weeks ago, I was offered the opportunity to transfer to another sector of the department just to have a secure position.  Our department's budget is almost completely employee salaries, so with all the possible budget cuts looming, our department will have to either cut people's hours or cut people completely.  The Director of our department loves my work and wants to keep me in a stable position, so I'm honored that she thought enough of me to try to keep me employed full time.  But the position they offered was just a lateral transfer with no real room for growth (kind of like my current position), so I didn't see a point.  If my position is really on the chopping block, then I'd rather go somewhere else with an opportunity to learn something new and grow.

I initially came to work for the university because I wanted to work with the students.  My current department is on the administrative side of campus, so I deal mainly with employees.  Don't get me wrong, I'm trilled that I got the opportunity to work in this department and I truly value everything I've learned.  But my passion lies with the students and academic side of the campus.  So I jumped for the first opportunity that came my way, and I'm so glad I've built up an excellent work reputation because it worked to my advantage.  I'm so excited to start my new position in a couple of weeks!

I'll be working mainly front reception, but I'll also be digging into things I've never done before such as website and newsletter design and event planning.  It'll be fun!  And the department seems like the place to be; everyone is very happy to work there and the atmosphere oozes pride.  It'll be so nice working in that type of environment.

There are several people here that I'll be sorry to leave behind, but for the most part I'm ready for the transition.  Now to just find the time in the next two weeks to tie up all my loose ends here!  Yikes!

I was checking my e-mail this morning, and my eye strayed across a headline that nearly gave me a heart attack:





Well, at least they caught it early.  Still, what a shock to read!  My prayers go to him for a swift recovery!

And I am greatly intrigued by this new show...  I will have to read up on it.

I knew I shouldn't have asked James to come have lunch with me yesterday.  I had brought a lunch, so there was no need to go get a burger.  Perhaps it was my overwhelming urge to see him.  Or it was the need to switch cars because he wasn't going to change my oil in the cold anyway.  Maybe the craving for crappy "comfort" food on a cold day was just too much to fight.  Either way, I should have been a good girl and eaten my lunch at work and had James come switch the cars at his leisure.

If I'd been good, we could have avoided the car accident.  We're both fine, the other driver is fine, but James' car may be a total loss.

We were driving back to my office and approaching a light on the north end of campus.  The light turned yellow as we came up to it, so James keeps going because there's no time to slow down.  Two cars had turned left in front of us, and we thought we were in the clear.  Then another car goes to turn left right in front of us and James can't stop the car in time.  The impact crushed the front corner of her car and completely demolished the front of James' car.  We pulled his car over to the side of the road and then helped the other driver push her car out of traffic.  Someone else called the police, we submitted our statements and both cars were towed away.  None of us went to the hospital, though paramedics checked out her ankle on the scene.  James and I just have a few bruises that are aching today.  I felt bad for the other driver; she was just on her way to take a couple exams on campus.  And she ended up with the ticket because she tried to turn in front of us.

So now we are waiting for the insurance to assess the damage.  With as much as it costs to replace airbags, I'm sure they're just going to total it and give him enough for the value of the car.  He'll put that towards something new and have to get a loan for any excess cost.  So now, on top of having new house payments to make whenever we close on our place, we're going to have a car payment that we can't really afford.  I just hope his insurance rates don't go up.  Even though the accident wasn't his fault, I'm sure something will cause an increase.

What a day.

It's snowing. 

*panics*  I'm not ready for winter!  I only just got used to it being summer, and now comes the first snow of the season.  It makes me wonder how bad winter will be this year.  I think the Farmers' Almanac predicted a pretty harsh one.  Great.  That's all my poor doggy needs: tons of butt-chilling snow to try to pee in.  Poor Miss Molly.  Last winter, every time we opened the door to let her out, she would feel the cold air, start shivering, and look at us like we had to warm the air up before she'd even think of stepping outside.  Almost as if she were saying, "You try going to the bathroom with a cold wind blowing up your butt!"

Ah, the pleasures of living in Colorado.

Another busy weekend has passed.  I even took a "mental health" day Friday, but it didn't seem to add much time to my weekend.  Actually, I guess it added time for me to get lots of stuff done, but it didn't add much to my time with James.  Sure, we were together doing all the busy work, but we didn't get much time to indulge in each other.  I'm seeing a pattern with that, and I'm not liking it.

Friday he took me to my LNS in Cheyenne to get the... wait, I can't talk about that here.  There are eyes watching this journal that must not know about such things.  Suffice it to say I got what I needed for a gift for a certain someone.  Then we had other errands to run in town before he headed off to work.  I spent the rest of the evening working on gifts.

Saturday was spent cleaning the whole house before my family came up.  My sister and her girlfriend made us chili and we spent the evening watching the Rockies game (they lost... SAD!) and silly things on the internet.  It was fun!  And, Lil' Sis, I gotta say that dinner was freakin' AMAZING!!  I can't wait to eat some leftovers tonight!  That chili ROCKS HARD!

Yesterday we drove to James' parents' place for the Broncos game.  It takes forever to get down there.  Due to their current situation, they are renting a place almost an hour away from where they were, which is a near two-hour drive for us.  But once we got there we had a fun time watching the game.  We won again, which makes us 4-0 for the first time in several years!  In fact, I don't think we've had a starting record like that since we were the Super Bowl team of 1998.  Ouch, that's a long time.

Sad note: CSU lost in a real heartbreaker.  It was down to the last 2 minutes of the game, and just as we were to tie and go into overtime, Idaho intercepted and kept us out of the end zone.  We lost 31 to 29.  Poo.

My girls and I went to check out that rental bridal shop on Saturday.  The ladies that work there were super nice and let us pretty much have the run of the shop!  The girls tried on several different styles of dresses and I had fun watching them parade around in everything.  I tried on a couple of bridal gowns, but nothing really caught my eye.  We came away with one particular dress in mind that we're going to think over.  It has a nice starburst of beads over one hip which opens to reveal a white underlay.  We think we'll do the dresses in black with the royal blue showing underneath, and we can have the tops made into either halters thick straps, depending on what each girl feels more comfortable in.  It should be pretty classy and it'll make the yellow roses in the bouquets really stand out!  I'm going to take my youngest sister, who was too sick to join us, to see it next weekend and if she likes it, then it's probably what we'll go with.

Yesterday I spent the day stitching and cooking while James went to Denver to help his parents with some stuff.  He didn't get back until pretty late due to the traffic from the Broncos game, so hardly got to spend any time together this weekend.  Kinda sucked.

Speaking of the Broncos, they won!  Again!  We may actually make some real progress this year despite a new coach and several new players.  Some of the players are already making real names for themselves, like Knowshon Moreno.  That guy is agile!  Our quarterback, Kyle Orton, still has a few bugs to work out of his game play, but I think he has some great potential.  Let's see how the rest of the season goes when we start playing higher ranked teams.  The Raiders actually look like a force to overcome this season (shocking, considering how poorly they've played in recent seasons) and Kansas City is always a worry.

And my CSU Rams won again!  They are starting the season 3-0, which they haven't done since 1994!  And I'm really liking the talent on the team, especially our quarterback!  He's definitely a keeper!

Overall, a busy and exciting weekend.  And now I start the week again.  And it's raining and cold.  Drat.

CSU won!!  WOO-HOO!!  We beat our in-state rivals CU with style and class.  We out-played them and showed better character on the field.  And the fact that we hadn't won in their stadium since September 6, 1986 made it all the sweeter. 

Also exciting: For the next 10 years the game will be played on neutral territory at the Broncos stadium in Denver, which means more fans can attend and there won't be the ill feelings that attend most games at Folsom Field in Boulder.  I'm not sure what it is, but CSU fans take a lot of crap at Folsom.  It may be a reverse situation for the CU fans if we played the game at our stadium in Fort Collins, but we have no idea because the game is rarely held there (something about the stadium being too small... whatever).  I think after this decade on neutral territory we have the option of hosting the game, so there may be plans in the works to expand the stadium.  Anyway, all that's down the road.  Right now I must focus on the WIN!!  It was such an exciting game and I wish I could have been there.  Maybe next year...

Also also exciting: We found a house!  We didn't expect to, but the moment we stepped into this one, it felt like home.  It's only 3 years old and has 9-foot ceilings on the main floor and a loft area upstairs that will be a perfect seating area.  The garage is HUGE and will make James a happy craftsman because he can build his own workbench and storage area.  The laundry is upstairs, so no more hauling clothes up and down!  And it has a nice large front porch for relaxing in the evening.  The only real downside is the lack of a backyard.  The garage is in back and there are narrow strips of land on either side that constitute the "yard".  But if we fence them in, Molly will have her own little "kingdom" that she can wander, and on the other side I can have my veggie garden.  I'm so stoked about this!!

It is a short-sale property, so we just need to be patient with bank approvals.  The short-sale process is really back-logged right now due to the foreclosure market, so this could take a couple months to settle.  It appears, though, that we will make the deadline for the tax credit, so that's extra icing on the cake!  It seems that everything is falling into place for us, which is such a relief because usually we have major obstacles in our way.  James is happy and I think he really deserves this.  Cross your fingers that all goes well!

Saw six more houses on Saturday.  Not one of them felt like "home".  I'm not too discouraged, though, because we've still got some time to look.  I just hope it's enough to find the right place!

Went to another bridal show Sunday.  Got a ton more information and some really good ideas.  There was only one cake place there, which was a little odd.  I know there is more than one bakery in Denver!  But the one that was there did my parents' cake and they taste and look awesome!  I may just go with them.  :)

We also saw a place that rents bridal gowns.  Yeah, that's right.  What a fantastic idea!  Then my girls won't end up with some dress they'll never wear again taking up space in their closets.  And the cost is very reasonable!  The place also does mother-of-the-bride dress rentals, so my mom is all set, too!

I left the show feeling a little bit more overwhelmed than I had been, but with my very capable bridesmaids, mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother, I think we can pull off something fun!

I was able to get some stitching done during the Broncos' (humiliating!) loss to the Bears.  Yeah, it's still only the preseason, but that was a tough one to swallow with the whole Jay Cutler thing.  And the @$*#&ing announcers wouldn't stop commenting on that stupid drama.  Just shut up about it already!  This is why James and I tend to watch football without the sound on because it's annoying having to listen to those guys ramble on about stuff that has nothing to do with the game play!  ARGH!!

Anyway, another busy week looms ahead.  Thank goodness there's a three-day weekend at the end of it!

It's been quite a while since I've posted much of an update.  I have no real excuses other than being rather busy!    I've already begun Christmas gift projects (Lord help me, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew!) and James and I are house hunting.  And we've started wedding planning.  So much going on at once!  Let's break it all down:

1. I can't believe it's not even the end of August and I already have to start Christmas gifts!  Well, I guess I did start this early last year, but still!  I also had smaller projects last year, so have I started too late this time around?  Each of my siblings will be receiving a rather large piece, so I hope I have enough time and I don't get burned out.  I'm thinking I'll try to focus on a different one each week and just get as much of it completed as possible before I move on to a new one the next week.  I have 3 siblings, plus large pieces for James and his sister, something for my parents (no idea what, yet) and little things for a few friends.  Am I in over my head?  Yeah, probably...  Ask me again in October.

2. James and I are trying to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers here in the U.S.  The thing is, we have to be closed on a house by December 1st, and that doesn't leave much time to look.  We've seen a couple good ones in our (low) price range, and one that might be just right.  It's in a good location, it's much nicer and more "move-in ready" than most others we've looked at, and it's got a nice garage for James to play around with power tools.  The only real issue I see is that it only has two real bedrooms (the seller is counting the lower level at a bedroom, but that's not what we'd use it for), so when we start having kids, we'll probably have to move again soon.  And I keep going back and forth in my mind as to whether we should pounce on it or keep looking.  If we take it, will something more perfect come up while we are stuck in the contract process?  Or, if we don't take it and keep looking, will someone else snag it and will we be stuck in something dreadful because nothing else good came up?  This is my nightmare!!  Should we, or shouldn't we... that is the question!

3. I had all my bridesmaids over Saturday night to start compiling ideas for the wedding.  We were at it for a few hours and came up with some great ideas!  There's a bridal show in Denver this weekend that we are all attending, and hopefully it'll provide even more ideas.  And I am NOT signing up for ANYTHING while we are there!  My inbox is still suffering from the show James and I attended in April.  I know these vendors are desperate for business in this depressing economy, but lighten up!  Sending me 80 e-mails about your business won't make me more inclined to signing you on for my wedding.  In fact, it'll make me more inclined to dislike you and throw you in my spam folder.


So that's what I've been up to the past couple weeks.  Hopefully everything will start working itself into a routine that will keep me from going nuts, because right now I'm a bit overwhelmed!

I had two favorites: my choir teacher, Mac, and my history teacher, Mr. Munholland.

Mac was just such a funny man!  He'd been teaching choir at my high school for about 30 years and was just full of such incredible energy.  It was a riot when he would teach us dance moves in show choir, and when he demonstrated certain notes with his personally dubbed "electric orange" voice.  He tried to instill in all his students a real love of all different types of music, and he especially loved the Kings Singers.  Leaving choir at the end of my senior year was the hardest part of graduating.  Choir made high school some of the best years of my life.  Mac isn't teaching anymore, and I don't know if he's still around (he probably is because that man was just too young for his age!), but I'm sure whatever he's doing he's enjoying himself to the fullest!

Mr. Munholland was actually the reason I studied history in college.  He made it incredibly interesting by giving us the "Jerry Springer version" of history, including all the tawdry details and scandalous backstory.  He also did a very accurate Elvis impersonation complete with toilet paper "scarf".  I guess he no longer does that in class but saves it for the annual faculty talent show.  He's still at my high school and I actually contacted him recently to let him know about my upcoming marriage.  I can't believe he still remembers us!

I check icanhascheezburger.com every day for great new lolcats, loldogs, roflrazzies and fail pics.  This lolcat just threw my cute-o-meter and geek-o-meter into overdrive:



Eeeeeeeee!  Teh cute!

What the heck is up with our weather lately?!  Sure, we've been in a drought for about a decade, so it's been extra dry and hot the past several summers, but this is way more than just a "return to the norm."  This is a downright 180 to the other extreme!

Colorado is a rather dry climate.  We've got the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, so the summers are usually hot and dry and the winters are cold and dry (and frickin' windy!  Holy crap!).  As I already mentioned, there's been a pretty intense drought for a while, so summers have been hotter and drier and winters have even been a bit mild but still dry.  The past few years we would hit the upper 90s by the end of May and pretty much stay there through August.

This year, though, has been just nuts!  We had a much wetter winter than usual with tons of snow that thankfully filled our reservoirs with the Spring Melt.  We all thought, "Yea!  That'll be great when our hot summer gets here!  No more watering restrictions!"  Well, then the spring and summer months came, and even attempting to water lawns has flown from people's minds.  There has been so much frickin' rain!  I've never seen it rain like this!  The record keepers say it was the second wettest June in Colorado's history (which goes back almost 135 years)!

And these haven't been just gentle showers, either.  There was a week in June when at least one tornado touched down somewhere in the state every day!  And recently we've had severe thunderstorms that have knocked over trees and power lines.  Last week the storm that pounded Denver caused an estimated $350 million in damages!  And that's without a tornado present.  Sheesh!  My parents didn't have power for about 48 hours (I don't know what my mother did with herself all day without the TV on!).  That same storm hit Fort Collins, but we didn't sustain nearly as much damage; in fact, our power stayed on but the streets flooded pretty bad.

Cut to last night.  We've been experiencing cooler weather for a couple days (it's been in the mid-70s when we should normally be in the upper 90s!), and the weather reporter* predicted there would be showers overnight.  Well, what woke me up at 1:00 in the morning wasn't just a "shower"... it was a freaking titanic uproar!!  The sky would not stop rumbling and the rain and hail were pounding on our windows so hard I thought they would break!  And our master bathroom started to flood (again!) through the window!  ARGH!!  It was just incredible.  This storm didn't last nearly as long as the one last week, but it was just as intense.

Honestly, I'm all for relief from extreme heat and drought conditions, but this is just overkill!



* I'd like to add that I think being a weather reporter in this state must be a really frustrating job.  The weather almost never does what it "should."  They predict we'll get an inch of snow overnight and we'll wake up to blizzard conditions.  Or they'll say it should rain lightly in the mountains, but the rain won't come until the system is over the plains, and by then it's a severe thunderstorm with tornadoes.  *sigh*  Those poor meteorologists.  I pity them sometimes.

And now my little sis, sanosukesonly , has joined in the word game!  I thought of five words for her, and she gave me five words about me.  Here goes:

Nurturing
I guess this one is pretty accurate.  I always try my best to give good advice and treat illness or ease distress to the best of my abilities.  I think I sort of idolized the "motherly figure" in literature and movies as I grew up, and I just adopted some of those traits for myself.  In fact, I remember once when dear little sis was sick and I put her in my room and brought her food when she wanted it and constantly checked on her throughout the the day.  And, if I remember correctly, I played the "mom" in many of the games my siblings and I played as kids.  (Is that right, Little Sis?)  I guess I just love to nurture and care for people, which makes me wonder why I didn't pursue a teaching or nursing career...  Oh well!  More attention for my loved ones, I guess!  :)

Romantic
Ah, yes, I figured she'd bring up this one.  How many mushy movies have we gushed over in the past, Little Sis?  Too many, and yet not enough!  I am a seriously sappy romantic at heart (as mentioned in another post) and just adore romantic stories and movies.  Not those trashy novels or nearly pornographic movies; there must be a good story line that really builds the characters and makes you feel what they feel.  Some of my favorites that come to mind are Phantom of the Opera (duh!), Ever After, Wedding Singer, Enchanted, Beauty and the Beast, Pride and Prejudice, the Wild Rose Inn series, "Sailor Moon" manga and fanfiction, and too many others to list.  Usually they are the stories where boy and girl have to fight many imposing factors to be together and all turns out right in the end.  The stories help me escape the real world every once in a while, and I think everyone needs something like that.

Brilliant
Not sure where she came up with this one...  Care to elaborate on your reasonings, Little Sis?  I know I'm not stupid by any means, but I make my fair share of mistakes and stupid decisions.  I was Valedictorian in high school with a 4.0 GPA and managed to get my bachelors degree with a 3.5 GPA, but school smarts only go so far.  I've got plenty to learn yet regarding how the real world works.

Creative
I do pride myself on my creative side.  I come up with uses for things or create useful things whenever I'm in a bind and don't feel like spending money (especially if I can make it better than anything out on the market).  And if I have a special gift in mind, I'll craft it out and make my own patterns or guides for creating it.  I really enjoy puzzling out how best to make something useful and then spending the time creating it.  I even do this at work with data organization, so at least I can put my creativity into all aspects of my life.  Fun!

In Love
This goes along with my previous post about James, my fiance.  I am most definitely in love with that wonderful man!



So I guess my little sister knows me pretty well!

In her last entry, cupcakesprinklz mentioned a game she was playing with some of her LJ friends in which someone lists the 5 words that come to mind when thinking about her.  I thought it was a pretty neat idea and decided, even though she hasn't known me long, to see what she could come up with about me.  I'm always curious to see what kind of impression I make when first getting to know people, so I thought it would be fun to see!  Here's what she decided on (with my elaborations on the words):

Cross Stitch
This one makes sense!  I've been stitching since my mom taught me in sixth grade (almost 15 years now... yikes!) and it's my absolute favorite hobby!  I love a cold winter evening in my favorite chair with a blanket and my stitching and one of my favorite movies playing on the TV.  *sigh*  Those are the best nights!  Sometimes I end up with my doggy in my lap, too, when it's especially chilly.  I've always found cross stitch very stress-relieving (especially when stitching swear words, tee hee!) and look forward to sitting down with it after particularly long days at work.  I've done more projects than I can remember and love to give pieces away as gifts because I truly enjoy the satisfaction of creating something special for someone who truly appreciates it.

James
Who could possibly think of me without including James?!  He is my darling fiance and we've been together almost 8.5 years!  We met in high school during gym class where he would constantly lap me around the gym and give me cocky smiles.  I never thought I'd fall for a "jock" like him since I'm a quiet nerdly type, but here we are!  (It was a real relief to learn he had a slightly nerdy side, too!)  We have been through Hell and back with his cancer, which I believe made our bond even stronger, and now we look forward to the next step of our journey together with him cancer-free.  I just can't imagine my life without his rapier wit, his groan-inducing puns and jokes, and his seriously sweet and loyal nature.  I'm so lucky!!

Phantom
Ah, yes, the ever-adored Phantom.  Andrew Lloyd Weber is a god!  Well, not really, but he is a musical genius in my book.  I fell in love with Phantom the first time I heard the Overture on the soundtrack my parents brought back to the house after seeing the show in the early '90s.  I remember listening to that thing over and over so much that I wore out the cassette copy my dad made me!  The music just floods the senses and the story is beautifully, hauntingly romantic (I'm a very sappy romantic, so sue me).  I used to "play" along with the soundtrack, pretending I was Christine in the show and just losing myself in my little imagination.  My dad even brought home a book from the library that was all about the production and the evolution of the story from Gaston Leroux's novel to the movie versions to the stage musical.  I now own that book and love to just leaf through it sometimes and look at the costume and set designs.  When I finally got to see the show as a teenager, I was blown away; it was more wonderful than I had ever imagined and completely lived up to my imaginations!  James, who really isn't fond of musicals, took me to see the movie when it came out and takes me to the stage show when it's in Denver (when we can afford it).  I even have the Phantom mask tattooed between my shoulder blades!  Hmm... is this, perhaps, an unhealthy obsession?  Definitely not!  XD

Hiking
This is, indeed, one of my favorite pastimes when the weather is favorable.  We live in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains and some of the best hiking in the country, so it's only natural that I would enjoy this!  I love walking trails that snake through undeveloped wilderness and allowing all my senses to soak in the feel of nature.  It's always such a peaceful feeling, even when I'm huffing and puffing up a mountain!  There's a place just a few miles west of where I live called Grey Rock that I especially love to hike.  It's always so rewarding to get to the top of the rock and see for miles in all directions!  And hiking in the fall is wonderful with the Aspen trees shimmering gold in the breeze and the reds and oranges over the mountainsides.  *sigh*  Wish I were up there right now instead of sitting at my desk at work...

Wedding
This would definitely be one to describe me at the moment!  James proposed on our 8th anniversary and we are slowly getting together details for the big day!  I haven't done much planning aside from choosing my dress and my bridesmaids and narrowing down locations, but then the wedding is still over a year away, so I've still got more than enough time to hash out the details.  We plan to make this as DIY as we can to really save money and yet still create somethine lovely.  Besides, I've gathered crafty bridesmaids to help me out, so I think we'll pull off a great success!  I'm actually excited to really get them involved in the real planning in the next couple months!


So there are five words that cupcakesprinklz came up with about me.  For only knowing me a few months (and only through teh interwebs!), I think she did well!  :)

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!