they're up

yesterday i put up all of my Christmas decorations. while my parents were in town my mom bought me some decorations for the outside (you'll meet them soon) of my house, and so i put up the outside decorations on Friday.

this is my most favorite decoration. it is a knitted Santa door handle.
i stole it from my Mom's house when i moved to Denver.
that's a pic of me at probably 5 or 6.

i was seriously considering not putting up any of my decorations, just because i have so many and because the only person that sees them is me. it makes me a little bit sad that nobody gets to enjoy my holiday house.
but once i had some holiday cheer on the outside, i knew i would have to have some holiday cheer inside. and i'm glad that i did. it took yesterday afternoon and i just have to say i love my house at Christmas time.

The Places I've Been: IL

to honor the thanksgiving weekend coming to an end, i want to give thanks to one of my closest friends, Michelle. she spent almost 3 years as a traveling nurse, and it is because of her i've seen Chicago, Illinois. i was in Chicago October 2008 to celebrate her 29th birthday. at the time she was working in Madison, WI and she met me in Chicago for her birthday weekend.
i loved Chicago. we had a perfect time. the weather, the sight seeing, the company. all perfect. the city was so much fun. read details here, and see more pictures here.
one day i would love to go back to Chicago and soak up the city even more.

Denver Nuggets vs. NY Knicks

last night my mom and i took my dad out for what was his Christmas gift. we had a yummy dinner at the Keg, then headed to the Pepsi Center for the Nuggets game. one thing i really enjoy about living in Denver are all the sports. the Pepsi Center is a beautiful venue and the events inside are always so much fun. this was my second Nuggets game, and this one was a lot of fun.

Mom and I

The "birdman" takes a shot ...and SCORES!

The Nuggets dancers.
That's Kali in the far right, middle row. ...she teaches DanceJam and Lifetime!

Parents & I
We had tickets in a suite. ...it was sweet!

The final score - WIN!
Denver Nuggets 128 New York Knicks 125

It was a great time. The crowd got really pumped at the end. Carmelo Anthony scored a personal best!

lots and lots of food

my parents came into town for Thanksgiving. i have to say i really enjoy not traveling for the holiday. we had a huge dinner. my job was to cook all the sides! everything was super good, and for that i am thankful!

This is the prep

We had green bean casserole and cream corn casserole.
(the green beans did come out a little bit burnt {not has bad as it looks}. i have yet to master cooking multiple things at once.)

....followed by stuffing, wine, and potatoes au gratin.

Last but not least, a delicious Honey Baked Ham, and flaky bread rolls.

after dinner we went to go see "The Blind Side". fabulous movie. it's actually pretty comical. which was surprising. check it out.

then we had dessert.
Pumpkin Pecan Pie from a Grande Finale! DELISH!

overall my thanksgiving was ok. i have some family drama going on at the moment which added some stress, but overall i was thankful to have my parents to celebrate with, and i was really happy to use all of my pretty kitchenware that very rarely use!

denver rescue mission

a couple of weeks ago my boss had a 2 day team meeting, including a visit to the Denver Rescue Mission. the Denver Rescue Mission is a large homeless shelter in downtown Denver. i unfortunately couldn't go for this visit because i had to make sure the normal weekly calls were held, so i stayed behind. the following week i was invited to go with some of my peers.
i could say so much about this experience. in one word it was amazing. in this time of thanks i know i have so much to be thankful for.
as i served the men and women coming in to get food from the streets i was humbled. i wanted to sit and talk with them and hear their stories. i know that what has been "hard" in my life, is nothing compared to what these individuals have incurred.
if you have the time to volunteer at a homeless shelter i would highly advise it. what i got from this experience has made me so much richer and appreciative for the things that i do have.

Jim, Amanda, Mindy, Terry, Jamie, me, Wayne, and Gary

Wayne, me, and Mindy

we served a total of 134 meals, in 2 waves. prior to the first wave we helped prep the food. i cut up green onion, fresh pineapple, and tossed the salad ....literally. in the pic above Mindy is pouring ranch dressing into the salad we made and i was making sure the dressing was distributed throughout the greens. i have to say it was a lot of fun.
about 80% of there food is donated from local grocery stores, hotels, and restaurants. that morning King Sooper's dropped off 2 crates full of fresh pineapple! the lunch we served was chicken and shrimp gumbo. my job was to put a piece of cornbread on the serving tray with the gumbo then put the tray up on the counter to be handed out.

the in between

i had a "New Moon" sandwich weekend. meaning it started with "New Moon" and ended with "New Moon". here are all the fabulous memories Kari and I shared in between.
Kari is my very wise older cousin who is also one of my bestest friends. When she told me she was going to come up from Albuquerque to see "New Moon" with me i was thrilled!

This is Kari and I waiting in the movie theater for the
12:01am 11/20/09 showing of "New Moon"!

On Friday we had a leisurely day getting pedicures,
and going shopping at Flatirons.

We then had a fabulous dinner at the Village Tavern.
We had delicious drinks and a yummy dessert!

Saturday we included my friend Ginny on our outing to Denver.
We had a tasty breakfast at Snooze where we met these two woman who met up in Denver - one from Portland and the other from Australia! While we were all waiting for a table outside we ended up talking and when they got seated at a big table they invited us to join them!
It was a lot of fun.

After breakfast Ginny, Kari, and I went to Cherry Creek for some shopping.
I'm happy to report I got a jump start on what will be my new bedroom!

That night we went to a place I had never been to before. And I love going to new places.
Vesta Dipping Grill.
It's a little bit different, and a lot good!

The weekend was so much fun. Kari and talked about anything, everything, and nothing. It's such a blessing to have a friend that is also family because they truly know the levels from which you come from. I treasure my time with all my friends and this one will definitely go down as lots and lots of fun!

second time around

i'll get to the details of my weekend with Kari eventually, but first lets chat more about Twilight.

Last night Kari and I watched "Twilight" then this afternoon we went to go see "New Moon" again. I have to say it was better the second time around. I'm pretty sure this was the first time I've gone to see the same movie twice in one weekend. "New Moon" definitely has so much more emotion than "Twilight" and I truly appreciate the fact it followed the book much more accurately.

What I really want to talk about are manners. Specifically movie going manners. Kari and I went to a 1pm showing. We got to the movie theater at around 12:30pm. The theater was already packed and found seats in the 3rd row. A woman in front of us kept texting so I finally leaned down to let her know "that's really annoying". Two girls next to me kept talking so I finally said to them "girls please stop talking". Needless to say the midnight showing we saw Thursday night people were much more behaved. It just frustrates me because I paid $8 for this movie, and I want to be able to enjoy the movie and not be distracted by cell phone lights and whispering. During the scene with the Volturi and Aro speaks in a different language (Italian?) the girls next to me guessed that he was speaking Spanish. Really?! ...yes, I didn't get the guts to tell the girls to be quiet until the end. And for the people texting. If you think you can open your phone and text to your side and try and cover it and think that nobody can see your cell phone light, you are sadly mistaken. That is why at the beginning of the movie an advertisement comes on and says "no texting" and for the chatting girls "don't ruin the movie by adding your own soundtrack".

double feature

so yesterday my fabulous cousin Kari came into town for a much needed girls trip. although i will say the main motivation for her visit was to come join me for a showing of "New Moon"! and that's exactly what we did. late last night we went to a 9pm showing of "Twilight" followed by a 12:01am showing of "New Moon". needless to say we didn't get to sleep until 3am this morning.

it was a really fun experience. this was the first time i went to see a movie on opening night that was a movie that i was really excited for. this was both mine and Kari's first time seeing "Twilight" on the big screen, and although our seats were in the very first row, it was great to see. the theater had a couple of groups of girls that would scream and ohh and aww for their favorite boy which was a little bit annoying but too be expected and could have been worse. we switched theaters for "New Moon" and got much better seats. even better the audience for "New Moon" was much more respectful towards the movie going experience and the $10 paid to see the movie. no big screams when you first see Jacob or Edward without their shirts or weird randomness. which i truly appreciated because i fully expected it to not be a good movie going experience, but was just wanting a fun experience. thankfully i got both!

I really liked "New Moon" **spoiler alert**. As I've stated I'm a Jacob fan, and in this movie you really get to see him grow...and by that i don't mean just physically. you get to see him really care for Bella. you can see in this movie how much he wants to take care of her. the way he touches her, rubs her back, takes her hands. he's gentle. seeing his actions in the movie compared to reading them in the book, made me fall in love with Jacob just a little bit more. i really enjoyed the detail of the dream catcher and i thought that added a really nice sentiment to the movie and what Bella experiences. i also liked how the ended incorporated a little bit of "Eclipse". I've never been a big fan of books over movies, but with this particular series, the movies are great, but the books are SO much better. however, i definitely think that the two together do compliment themselves and i am looking forward to seeing "Eclipse". I'm currently re-reading the series to prep for last nights(this mornings) premiere and i'm so glad i did. this is the first time i've ever read the same book(s) twice. i'm currently about 200 pages into Eclipse and remembering some of the details that they don't show in the movie makes the books even better.

something I love: New Moon edition

My garage.

My house is what I call a bachelorette pad. I have colorful walls, colorful decorations, and childhood things all around my house. Including posted up in my garage. I imagine if I were a teenager right now, my bedroom would be covered in Twilight posters, and every picture of Jacob ever taken, all over my walls.

My garage is special to me because it has my secret indulgences posted in it. The first thing I posted in my garage was my Colorado Avalanche poster. Later I added the Colorado Rockies National League Championship poster. It has my New Mexico license plate, and my numbers from the races I've raced including my mom's from Race for the Cure. Plus souvenirs from Chicago and Austin.

Most recently are my Twilight and New Moon poster's. I really really thought that New Moon poster I got was the movie poster, and that's the one I really wanted, because it has Jacob in it. But when I opened it, it was the one with Bella and Edward. I was a little bit sad, but that's ok.

I love my garage!

Team Jacob!

Welcome to my official countdown to New Moon special!

I looove Jacob. I'm not too sure what it is. But, he just does it. It's a little bit weird, because technically he is illegal. However that doesn't stop my crush.
He takes care of Bella, and truly cares for her. He wants to be there for her and he loves her. He doesn't mind being hurt by Bella because he knows she has special feelings for him that Bella will never have for Edward. Ohhh Jake.
I wish I read the books before the movie. Because the images definitely did influence my decision. And well Robert Pattinson is a hottie, he just isn't my cup of tea. Taylor Lautner however. Yummy.

Fun Fact: Tonight there is a new moon!

my first job

many many years ago i was a babysitter. babysitting was my first unofficial official job back in HS. i truly enjoyed it. i had a few "regulars" and watching the kids were always so much fun. thankfully it is a job i have never gotten rid of. i now have the opportunity to babysit my friends babies. i'm very slowly accepting that my friends kids will have to be the closest thing to having my own kids. so when a friend asks me to babysit i say "absolutely!".
tonight i had the pleasure to watch my friend Sarah's 15month old daughter Chloe. We had a lot of fun.
We had a yummy dinner.
We made raspberries.

As the night went on Chloe really starting missing her Mom and kept going to my kitchen where the door is to go out to the garage, which is the door where Sarah made her exit. As I was trying to distract Chloe and was grabbing toys and putting them in my living room, Chloe walked back to the kitchen where I thought she went to go stand by the door.
.
. .
. . .
. . . .
. . . . .
....when i went to go find her, she was sitting in my cabinet trying to close the door on her. It was sad, but mostly cute. I'm not too sure why she chose to go in there and sit, but seeing the moment was precious.

It was a fun Sunday night!

words to live by

i'm very quickly running out of things to blog about. so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

thankfully i did come up with something to "say" rather than, i went to the gym today. i decided to bring out my Quote Book. I date most of the things I do. The first date in this quote book is July 23, 1999. I haven't updated it in a really long time. The last quote is dated November 30, 2002. Please feel free to share some of your favorite quotes.
As i read through this book, here are some of my favorites.

"Fix your eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary,but what is unseen is eternal."

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy, I'm saying it's going to be worth it."

"When little things get your down, take a second to contemplate the size of the sun or the distance to the stars. It really puts things in perspective."

"An ocean of sadness often borders the shores of paradise. Keep swimming and you'll make it."

"Never stop looking for new challenges. You may discover special talents, and you never know what you might be absolutely brilliant at."

had to share

my friend Brisa shared this link on my Facebook status recently, and i just had to share it. i'm a big Black Eyed Peas fan, along with a big fan of dance, and this video has both. it takes place in Chicago, which is just about one of the funnest cities I've been to recently. i could go without the Oprah part, but oh well.

seriously watch the video. at first you are thinking "what is that girl doing? dancing like a maniac all by herself!?" ...but then you get it, and thing "ohh...., wow that is awesome!" Enjoy!

The Places I've Been: FL

Clearwater Beach, FL ~ May 2009

Florida is currently a yearly trip for me. One of my bestest friends Tina and her family moved to South Florida back in 2003. They now live in Central Florida, and it is a vacation I look forward to every year.
But lets take a trip down memory lane. My first trip to Florida was to Walt Disney World when I was probably 4 or 5. It was so much fun. My aunt, uncle, and cousin who live in Rhode Island were also on this trip. I loved having the autograph book, and celebrating breakfast with all the disney characters, getting there signatures and taking pictures. I love having that little personal connection.
My second trip to Walt Disney World was in middle school. My parents and I were taking the red eye the night of the last day of school. So on the last day of school I went around telling everyone "tomorrow I'll be in Florida!, I'm going to Walk Disney World!" it was sooooo exciting!
Florida is very beautiful to me. I love the water, and having so many things to do.

free therapy

my friend Rachel has a sister that lives in Boulder, and is going to some school to get her Master's in Art Therapy, or something like that. Alison just started the program and needed a "volunteer" for a therapy session. lucky for me, i was the chosen one. so yesterday i drove up to Boulder to meet Alison for some free therapy.
i have been diagnosed with depression twice in my life, and both times i was treated and "cured". this was a great opportunity for me, because what have i got to lose? i knew it definitely wouldn't hurt. in my experience it doesn't take a lot of sessions to get what you are possibly looking for. in the past when i have gone to a counselor it was never for a lengthy amount of time, each time i had a few sessions and i felt i had gotten out of it what i needed. Alison and I only had short 40 minute session, but i got a lot out of it. these are things that i've always known, but when you talk about it and say it out loud you get a different point of view. one of the things we talked about is my friends. how i don't approach them anymore, or suggest outings. because of my fear of rejection and being "over-bearing". i've known this is something i have needed to work on for quite sometime, and i'll try. it is scary though, because my fears are still there. but i need friends. along with focusing on my physical health (going the gym) i need to focus on my emotional health. because i've been so focused on my physical health, i've let myself think that all of that energy is enough. that i don't need to work on the other aspects of myself, that makes me a healthy human being. and of course, part of that is being emotionally healthy. the gym does help with that, but only to a certain extent. i need my emotions to be happy and not fooled by the "runners high" i get when at the gym. and i think creating and focusing on my existing friendships will help with that.
Alison asked if she thinks a friend would benefit from my friendship. this was difficult for me. to try and think how someone else would benefit from time being spent with me. i like to think that i have something to offer. i'm funny, witty, honest. hopefully people who spend time with me benefit from that. i suppose when i really think about it, i'm frustrated. because i used to be more out-going. i used to be good at be-friending people. i used to be good at creating friendships. i'm sure if i think about it long enough i can come up with the things that changed. i need to find who i used to be. obviously not completely, but i need to find part of her. part of the person who wasn't scared of rejection, part of the person that people want to be around. all of this is obviously a work in progress, and i like to think that nobody is ever done working on themselves so this is just part of my life. Thanks Alison!

lots done and a birthday party

I got a lot done yesterday.

• worked out
• went to breakfast
• did some Christmas shopping (i'm almost done!)
• ordered a pie for Thanksgiving dinner
  
• went grocery shopping
• cooked green bean casserole
• went to Ginny's birthday party!
  

Happy Birthday Ginny!!!

three dreams

i'm currently re-reading the Twilight Saga. I'm almost half way through "New Moon". When I originally read this series earlier this year, throughout majority of the saga I had very vivid dreams. Mostly about Jacob, with random things as well. well right now i'm having those very vivid dreams again. last night i didn't sleep to well. i had trouble getting to sleep, then once asleep i'm pretty sure i awoke at least 3 times at different times in the middle of the night. once getting up to use the restroom. waking up this morning i remembered some very weird details about my dreams last night. i have no clue if i had one big long weird dream, or if these were three different dreams throughout my sleep.

the first part of the dream it was my birthday. i was on an island, and the island was swaying back and forth(as if i were on a boat), and i had a huge cake with icing all over it, and i was afraid that the rocking back and forth of the island was going to damage my cake. i think i was turning maybe 12 or 13. and i wanted to make sure all my friends had a good time and that i was "cool". one of my childhood friends was there, and she brought a bunch of her friends that i didn't know. and i remember thinking in my head "why did she bring all of these people to my party, that i don't know?" it was outside and beautiful with the ocean in the background.

the second part was in Albuquerque. i was up in a hot air balloon with my cousin Nikki, my cousin Greg, and my Aunt Patti. the balloon wasn't a full size balloon though. we were going around in circles around my aunts neighborhood. around and around. and then all of a sudden my aunts house was on fire. we somehow landing the balloon in a nearby field and ran to the house. once inside the house to fight the fire that was on the upstairs patio my aunt kept telling me over and over to get the embarcardero's. and she was saying it as if i should know exactly what a embarcardero is, and i'm thinking to myself "oh crap, i have no idea what a embarcardero is!"

the last part i was at my desk where i work. my mom was there, and all of a sudden Jeremy comes in with a whole bunch of his friends.
Jeremy was my boyfriend from high school. we are friends on facebook. yesterday was his birthday, and i sent him a "happy birthday" message. well in my dream he was coming around to say thank you. i haven't actually seen Jeremy since the summer of 2000. he lives in Clovis, NM, which is Eastern NM. all of his friends where there and my mom, and we didn't really know how to act. it was fun because it was obvious that we both wanted to flirt with one another. but didn't want to be inappropriate.

i'm not too sure what's going on during these dreams, but i'm hoping for a good nights sleep tonight!

Happy Halloween!

I myself didn't do anything for Halloween. But my super cute God-daughter and her brother were the perfect pair for the New England Patriots! I myself am a Denver Bronco fan, but their Dad is a huge fan of that other team from back East. I won't be yelling "go Patriots" anytime soon, but I do have to show off Katherine and Josh.

time to grow up

When I moved into my house almost 4 years ago, I did my bedroom colorful, and different, knowing full well that in a few years I would be sick of it and would want to redo it. I figured I should do what I wanted while I could. In my head the time line was 3 years. I would keep it like how it is for 3 years, then change it. Well, like I've stated it has been almost 4 years. ...it'll be 4 years in April. So it's time for a change. Right now I don't really have the money to go out and do what it is that I want to do. But I do need some tips on how to make my room more "adult". In 2 and 1/2 months I'll be 30. I think it is time to get rid of Cinderella. Next weekend my cousin Kari will be here to visit, and shopping is on the agenda. And I want to do some simple inexpensive things to get rid of the "kid" things in my bedroom. Any tips and ideas are truly appreciated!
What do you have on your dresser in your bedroom? Me? I have a Cinderella bank, a Cinderella dance doll, and a Genie mug.
On my other dresser, BooBoo, my favorite stuffed animal from my childhood. He's a super cute panda bear, and he has been there for me through many tearful nights.

This is my current bedspread(modeled by Otis and Denali). I love it. I love the paisley prints, and it is the whole inspiration behind the colors on my walls(I have a total of 3 different wall colors).
Below is the bedspread I really want. Once I have the money, this is what I would love to change my bedroom to. My favorite color is blue, and the tan will help it be more "grown up". I could easily do my bedroom with this as the inspiration and be happy with it for a very very long time. The biggest problem I have? Well, do you see the similarity in what I currently have? The prints are exactly the same. Is that lame? To completely redo my bedroom, but in the exact same patterned bedspread?

Here are my some honorable mentions. I like these one's as well. Sometimes I'll randomly look at duvet covers to see if there is something out there that I love just as much as the one I have, and the one that I want (but in the blue paisley print). These two stood out to me. I like the one above because it has a little bit more tan in it, which is nice since I have cat hair. Plus I could easily accent the blue, by painting my walls blue.
I like this one, again because of the colors. I could easily accent and bring out what I like by doing other things in my room.

What I'm really looking for is: What do you have on your bedroom dressers as decoration, and is it lame/weird to get a duvet color exactly the same as the one you have now, but in different colors? Thanks!

The Places I've Been: CT

I've been to Connecticut many times during my many summer vacations to Rhode Island. Connecticut is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Rhode Island which makes it an easy place to visit. Although most places near Rhode Island are very easy to get to.

I've specifically been to Mystic and Foxwoods.

Mystic is a cute little down, with a bunch of cute little shops. Last time I was there was July 2008. I went with my aunt Margaret, my cousin Charlene, and my God-daughter Katherine to the Mystic Aquarium. I have a thing for Aquarium's, and this one was really nice. It was outdoors, and had lots of interesting and fun sea life. Katherine was a year and a half and all over the place. She loved running to all the different "stations" pointing to the fishes and then running to the next display while laughing because us older folk couldn't keep up!

via*

Foxwoods is this huge casino in Connecticut. The best way to describe it: It's the Las Vegas of the East. It's gorgeous. Although, what makes this place so amazing is the drive. It's about a 40 minute drive from W. Greenwich, RI. The drive is very remote, as if you are heading off to the middle of nowhere. And then, you see it! All the lights and glitz! It's stunning! Words just can't do it justice.