*grand is better than good

My parent’s visit was grand*.

Day 1:  We started out the holiday weekend at the Boulder’s Farmer’s Market.  It has always been a fave of mine – such good people watching!

After a giant parking ticket (and a BOOT!)  More shopping and people watching on Pearl St.

A leisurely drive up to Boulder Falls and then the risk of falling rocks.

Back home, we grilled up some great Tri-Tip and then caught the sights of the local fireworks.  You didn’t think I would miss a few shots of fireworks, did you?

Just two favorite fireworks for now.

REALLY in love with this next one…

Day 2:

Cherry Creek Arts festival.  Now, I’ve been to my share of art festivals and I will have to say this one was quite refreshing.  Lots of unique but not outrageous artwork.  We wore ourselves out between the market and this festival.

Pismo Gallery has a Dale Chihuly and I don’t think I’ve gotten to see one in person before.  Sweet!

We wrapped the day up with a little church and some Italian in downtown Lafayette – it is so charming.

Day 3:

****Let’s just start this day by saying that I think I am a little shy in taking people pics.  I’ll take them if they don’t know I’m watching but, for the most part, I like the subjects that don’t watch me back while taking their pic.  I need to work on this.

We figured we had shopped till we nearly dropped (although I can always shop moooore!) so we ventured out into the wild.  Rocky Mountain National park was full of nature and people and people looking at nature.  We drove up and over Trailridge and into Grand Lake.  Our impression of Grand Lake was a little more like Good Lake but maybe the foggy weather, the less than grand mexican food we had for lunch,  and our long construction filled drive there played into our opinion.

Nonetheless, we saw a moose (first time!) and a baby moose.  What do you call a baby moose? And I definitely think moose plural should be meese, it just makes sense.

These are elk, not meese.

And I would just like to note the proximity of the clouds to the land.  Trailridge Rd. is way up there!  And it is windy.

Look, it’s me and my mama.  Finally, a people pic.

and now a moose and it’s mama

and now a Grand Lake birdie, birdie, birdie…

Day 4:

More shopping!  We started out a little later but made our way to Ft. Collins.  From there, we toured through Longmont and Lafayette and made sure to see all of the local thrift stores and antiques each town had to offer.  We were wiped but took full advantage of the amazing Colorado weather and enjoyed another deck dinner complete with buffalo burgers, my new hanging basket, and our chiminea!

Day 5:

Closing day.  We tied up a lot of loose ends including picture hanging.  Yes, my parents came to Colorado and then they helped me hang pictures.  I will share more on that coming up soon.  Also, since I will have a new home away from home in about a month, I took them to see my new school.  I forgot how excited I am about all that!

They got all packed up and headed out of town.  It was bittersweet.  I’m so glad they came to stay but it was sad to see them go because they get me, quirks and all.

Mom and Dad, thanks so much for coming to see us!  I love you guys!

To see our complete days, check out my Flickr album HERE.

 

7 4 09

Hip, hip HOORAY, it’s the 4th of July!

Tis the season for some serious fireworks photos.

My parents are in from Missouri so we are going to paint this town RED (white, and blue) all day and all week.

Have a great holiday!  Take Care.

 

AMPs

Have you seen these cool posters from RightBrainTerrain.com?  I am all about optimism and good design.  And, as it turns out, RBT is all about Alternative Motivational Posters (goooo AMPs!)

Check out the rest of their very affordable AMPs HERE.  Using the right side of your brain rules!

 

Day 4 GOventures: song + dance (and then some)

Jumping back into the GOventures from last week, Day 4’s theme:  song + dance.

Kal’s work:  HERE

Elise’s work:  HERE

My work:

This challenge was a little ambiguous at first but after I started sorting through a few photos, I found this one of Dan and me taken on our 5th wedding anniversary last week.  We went to a BBQ festival and while walking down the closed road, I snapped this pic and I just love the composition.  I put this picture into picnik, played around with some effects, stickers, and text and came up with this song + dance.

Since our anniversary, I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage and the song and dance that goes into daily living as husband and wife.  The idea behind my artwork above is that marriage is like a dance and life is our song.  We might know the words to the song sometimes and we might even know the dance steps occasionally but putting those two together doesn’t always mean that we dance gracefully to the song being played.  That being said, isn’t dancing great?  Don’t you just love learning new songs?  Eventhough we step on each other’s feet and we don’t always move forward the way we planned, I am happy to keep dancing to this song.

Day 5’s theme is treading water.  I’ll be sure to share my version of that just as soon as I make it.

_____________________

Let’s just say this first full week on my new summer job left me treading water on more than one occasion.
Did I mention the days are long?  Like over 10 hours most days?  Did I mention there are no breaks?  Did I mention that it’s hot outside and trying to convince an unhappy kiddo with multiple learning and mental disabilities to get out of the hot, hot van so that we can go to the museum is super, very, triple harrrrd!  Especially since all they want to do is watch their Disney movies in the comfort of their own home.  I’m with ya, kid.  But my job is to convince you that you really want to go to the musuem and, hey…I’ll even look at this amazingly wonderful Sleepy Beauty book with you if you will just pleasssssssse get out of the van.  Oh man.  That whole song + dance happened everytime we went to a new location, as in three more times that day.  Phew.  Makes me tired all over just thinking about it.

With all that aside, I am really enjoying this mad summer job.  This coming week will be a little lighter and I’m excited to be preparing for my new full time job in the fall as well as my parent’s visit next week.   So many good things on the horizon.

Week one of my summer job is done and it can only get better from here.

 

Keep GOing

GOventure, day 3:  POCKET

Go HERE for GOventure background.

Kal’s POCKET

Elise’s POCKET:

All I could think about was that popular Natasha Bedingfield song, “Pocketful of Sunshine”.  I didn’t want to land on that idea because it’s so, well, Pop but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.  I like to think of myself as an optimist so a pocket of sunshine is a concept that reigns true to me.

I set to work making my own little pocket of sunshine.  Printed a picture I took of a sunburst behind a cloud over Boulder.  Cut out the pic in the shape of a pocket.  Added colored pencil details of stitches and shading and a GO tag.  Scanned.  Voila!

I wish I had more time to devote to this little project and idea.  Is this a pocket of sunshine?  Yes!  Is it perfect?  Nope.  Would I do more to it if I had more time?  Absolutley.  But isn’t that what having a pocket FULL of sunshine all about?  Things aren’t perfect but thank goodness we’ve got some of that goodness and hope stored up to cover the rough spots.  Oh, yes…a pocket of sunshine tucked away for those cloudy, cloudy days is very grand.

Tomorrow’s clue is SONG + DANCE

_______

Today was Day 2 of my therapeutic recreation camp job.

Very therapeutic.

Very recreational.

Very exhausting.

Cool arts and crafts.

Great lunch and park time.

Sweet bowling memories.

Time for bed.

 

GOventures, day 2: not my type

I got orientated yesterday and today was full speed ahead with the kiddos at camp.  I liked it but it was a serious case of GOventures in the non-art sort of a way.  Ten hours straight of no down time, no break, no chill-reading morning and afternoon time.  It was go.go.GO.  I’m pumped about tomorrow because we get to do arts and crafts (I heart arts and crafts) and bowling (I double heart bowling).

I did get to see J when she came to pick up her foster sister.  She took one look at me, said, “Hi, Jenafur” tried to poke a staff in the eyes and then when corrected, took off running, giggling, swaggering down the hall outside into the rain despite my attempt at telling her to stop.   And that my friends means I mean something to her.  She tends to go off the deep end when she sees people she likes in alternative settings.  Like that one time she licked the dog when we delivered something to her house.  Or, that other time on her bus when she tried to pick the bus driver’s nose when we told her that she was really smart and special and that we would miss her on the last day of school.  Yea, she likes me.

Anyways…I wanted to talk briefly about the GOventures challenge for today.

Today’s Theme:  not my type

Kal’s creation:  HERE

Elise’s creation:  HERE

I immediately got all sorts of typography related ideas immediately.  It also made me wish that I had gotten to take that stinkin typography class at Truman way back when even though I wasn’t a graphic design major and I didn’t even really know what typography was at that time.  Dang, freshman ignorance.  Typography rocks.

So after grabbing a crappy pair of scissors and a stack of index cards, I went to work.  I piled up the negative space clippings and kept it a simple white on white to let the text speak for itself.  It’s subtle but it’s there.   And since I waited until 10pm to make this, the lighting in the pic is less than brilliant.  But, you know working on this idea before the last minute would definitely NOT be MY TYPE.

Tomorrow’s clue is:  POCKET

Again, feel free to play along and post a comment with a link to your creation.

 

Green + Dizzy

Have you guys seen Kal Barteski’s challenge to Elise Blaha?  I don’t personally know these ladies but I think their artistic endeavors are rockin so I like to keep up with their new creations.  And since Kal has challenged Elise to a go!venture and she invited all of us to play along also, I figured, what the heck?  I like to create.  I need motivation to make things.  When I make new creations I am happy.  Art is good for the heart and soul.  And you turn yourself around…that’s what it’s all about!  Yea.
Ok, so, where was I?  Oh, right, the go!venture.  Today’s theme is Green + Dizzy.  I went quite literal on this one and I dug up some of my old favorite firework photos then I cropped and jazzed a bit.  Maybe tomorrow I will actually get out there and make something with my hands.

Or not.

But for today:  Green + Dizzy

If you would like to join in the fun of the go!ventures, just jump right in.  Tuesday’s theme is Elise’s choice:  not my type. Now giddy up and go!

 

Hold on, it’s a doozy.

Ok, first things first…where on earth have I been?  I miss blogging!  After getting back into blogging last August, I told myself to keep it simple, stupid!  (K.I.S.S.) but now I’ve gotten myself behind on my blogging ideas and I have had a hard time picking up where I left off.  I keep thinking, I can’t blog about what happened today because I haven’t talked about x, y, or z yet.  Silly, me.  I am a classic over-complicater!

So, back to the basics!

My right-now favorites!

1.  My DAD!  I’m so glad I got to spend last weekend in KC with him in honor of Father’s Day.  My dad is the coolest.

2.  This crazy awesome deodorant Kelly told me about.

I have talked about my deodorant quests before but this one takes the cake because it’s cheap, easy, natural, smells nice, and IT WORKS!  I had doubts but after some humid days in KC and some serious exercise in Colorado, this stuff really works!  I do have to keep in the fridge but it’s worth it.  Check out Kelly’s tutorial HERE.

3.  Dan and I were thrilled when we found our favorite energy chews by Honey Stinger on sale at REI today.  Only 79 cents as compared to $1.99, wow!

Seriously – you need these.  We love them when we ski and I love them for an occasional low blood sugar.  They taste just like those super great fruit chews you used to take in your lunch in high school, plus they are made in Steamboat Springs and they are organic!  Yum.   Click on the pic above to get to the site.

4.  Ok, so I didn’t mean for my favorites to turn into a sales pitch on products but I just have to add one more – these melamine paper dinnerware plates.  They are plastic outdoor plates but they look just like the cheapo paper plates.  Talk about being green…err…cough, cough (they do come in all colors but I like the white the best).  I found mine at Target and I’m sorry I don’t have a pic but please click here and you will see what I’m talking about.  These go along well with my other trick-the-eye interests because I am such a sucker for a clever design.  They really are cooler in person, I promise.

5,  Funnel cakes – especially after a long (LOW BLOOD SUGAR) hike.  Dan and I enjoyed the BBQ fest in Frisco on Friday for our anniversary.  I enjoyed my funnel cake with extra insulin.

**notice the trail of powdered sugar all around me!  I have a thing for funnel cakes

6.  Ok, this is a taking a little too long because I just can’t keep it simple… simplify, Jennifer!

Someone recommended Ihategreenbeans.com which is a site that recaps the recent Bachelorette episodes.  Yea, I like the Bachelorette – EAT IT!  Seriously though, if you are a fan, too, check out the humor and commentary.  I like.

7.  I also enjoy the storytelling and recipe sharing over at joythebaker.com.  Her photography is not too shabby, either.  If I had more time, baking would be at the top of my list.

8.  I really love these water ski pics from last week.

Josh’s funny faces when it cuts it across the glassy water.

Janel’s new found love of wake boarding.  And since all the cool kids are wake boarding now days, Dan and I had to give it a try.  Definitely similar to snowboarding in my mind but I thought it was tons of fun to try something new.

9.  And while I’m talking about water, I can’t forget these hilarious pics of Quattro and Copper taking a dip near a lake by my parent’s house.  Quattro tries to run in the water which doesn’t work so well but Copper is a regular seal and uses her tail like a rudder!

And then there was a dock – so funny.

Flying Quattro and Super Copper Dog

10.  I have to include 10 things because 9 is an odd number and I prefer even numbers, especially if they are easy to add like 10!

I figure I should mention my exciting news about my summer job front and, while it might not be considered a “favorite” since I haven’t actually started it yet, I have a good feeling.  On Wednesday I really thought I’d be joining Lisa and the paint crew again for the summer since no other leads had panned out.  I always have to eat my words when it comes to job planning.  Long story short, after my interview last Thursday, I will be working for a therapeutic recreation summer camp.  This is the summer job I had crossed my fingers for back in March and three weeks ago it just suddenly didn’t work out.  I am happy to say that things will be rocking and rolling again for me and my sweet girl “J” since this is the very camp that she goes to for the summer!  Score!  Her being there had absolutely no weight in me wanting to be there too…nope, none…not at all.

So, with that, I’ll be jumping into wild wild, did I mention WILD(?) days starting tomorrow.  Oh the stories to come.  We take “field trips” everyday.  WILD!

I think that pretty much wraps up my favorites for right now.  I know having my summer job will help keep me more consistent with my blog world.  Structure is a good thing for me because I tend to flounder without a regular schedule.  I have more to share but I need to rest up for my orientation tomorrow.  Have a fantastic Monday and thanks for sticking with my 10 favorites – You guys are the best!

 

Springfield things…

Oh gosh it is hard keeping up with summer.  I’m not complaining.  Oh, nooooo.  Summer is the best, next to winter…actually, both are equally rad.

Kansas City was very great!  I actually only spent about 50% of my time in town.  As mentioned, I spent a day in Columbia visiting my friend Katie.  A day and a night in Springfield visiting our friends Josh and Janel.  Another day and a night was spent in Rocheport and St. Charles, just outside of St. Louis.  It was a whirlwind trip with my parents and I loved taking in all the little shops and antiques.  I get my shopping nature from my dad.  He can go, go, go!

I’ll keep this post to just the Springfield things.

Springfield was nice – nice weather, nice friends, nice slower pace. We love visiting Josh and Janel and their son Jonathan.  They live on a little land and it is so peaceful there.  They also have a boat at Tablerock Lake which is a fabulous perk, too.  We trade off, they visit us in Colorado and we snow ski like mad.  Then, we visit them in Springfield and water ski like mad.  It works!

Janel and I found this cute little rail car near historic Commercial St.

We also just had to check out this Holy Cute place.  It was fun.

And how about this little schnookums?  Jonathan is a hoot.  He can talk and talk and man, does he like to go fast.  He is going to make one cutie of a big brother come February !  Can’t wait to meet their newest addition next year.

And here is his mama, Janel, and me letting the wind flutter our eyelashes on the boat. I love that feeling!  Growing up people used to say we looked like twins.

More boat pics next time, as in, a whole post designated to WATER SKIING.  If we can’t go snow skiing, it’s the next best thing!

 

Schnookums

We are still alive and kicking here in KC.

Currently, we are in Springfield, MO chillin with our buds Josh and Janel – more on that to come.

But for now, I just had to give some picture love for my friend Katie.  I met my St. Louis roomie in Columbia on Tuesday.  We played catch up on old news and new news and it was so great to spend time with my true friend.  I also got to meet her new baby girl, Sophia!  What a cutie and a crawling machine.

Just look at this gal:

I love this next sequence.

Sophie, it was so nice to meet ya!

Kates, you can find the rest of the park pics HERE, enjoy!

 

Hello Kansas City, bring on the watermelon!

Just popping in to say that after a busy day, a full car load, two pit stops, several bugs, and lots of miles, we are here in Kansas City visiting friends and family!

We made a last minute executive decision that now was a good time to make the trip to Missouri before the summer swing of things happens.

Lots of things to do and people to see.  I’ll be around and I’ll be sure to share it with you all.

It’s hot here and I can’t think of anything better to keep us cool than watermelon.  When I was a kid and people asked what my favorite food was I always told them watermelon.  Still my fave.  Don’t you just LOVE watermelon? Do you have another summer food favorite?

 

How lovely

Wow, two posts in one day !

Honestly, with the change in schedule I slipped in bed the night before last and I told Dan, “I forgot to blog today.”  I’ve had times when I was too busy to blog everyday but I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten.

So, let’s jump in.

Recently, my college friend Kelly from Our Lincoln Log passed on the One Lovely Blog Award to my little blog.  Thank you so much Kelly!  You made my day, I am so honored!   Make sure to check out Kelly’s blog – she has the best recipes and tutorials and, not to mention, cute baby pictures!

There are a couple of rules that go along with this award:

1.  Accept the award and post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his/her blog link.

2.  Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.  Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they’ve been chosen for this award.

Now, I want to pass this award on to these Lovely blogs!

1.  blogging blonde (be sure to check out her new pacman competition!)

2.  The Schaefers

3.  This and That

4.  A Tribe Called Blackley

5.  Corner of Monroe

6.  The Hardees – Katie and the boys

7.  Welcome to my Brain

8.  a mom and her camera

9.  Armstrong Family

10.  Stitch . Rip . Repeat

11.  I Love Lucy

12.  I do…what?

13.  TaMs

14.  I Should Be Folding Laundry

15.  My Life in Transition

Ok, now go enjoy some of those Lovely blogs and have a Lovely day!