Secrets!!

I have a secret that I am so excited about and dying to tell everybody, but I can't share it. A few people know, but I'm especially nervous for one person to find out, so "mum's the word" a bit longer. Today it snowed, and now it's blue sky...typical. The heat got turned "off" in the house, so it was exceptionally cold inside and out. It's no secret that I like the sunshine. This week was a lot of fun at work, though also a bit stressfully chaotic, because compost was dropped at four gardens. With the help of volunteers, three of the four have compost in the beds - heavy work shoveling and hauling, but I enjoyed getting to work outside. Sadly the two times rain threatened, it didn't come. It's also no secret that Denver needs all the moisture we can get. The best day was working at the school garden during recess. The first graders were the first to have their interests peaked, and soon we had a dozen kids wanting a rake or shovel, though I only had three of each. One kid was so teeny I couldn't help but giggle when his little voice uttered how heavy the shovel was. One boy wouldn't go back to the playground because he wanted to make a safe place for plants to grow. He also shared with all of us how you plant a flower seed, wait 10 - 15 days for it to grow....cute! So I am going to go stretch my legs while the sky still has blue patches.

Sunny Saturday

Major breakthrough today!! First of all, the day was beautifully sunny and warm. I ate breakfast on the porch with the newspaper...one of my favorite rituals. The Saturday paper has a kakuro puzzle in it, something to which I look forward. I decided to walk to Ten Thousand Villages (for work) instead of biking because I wanted an excuse to spend the time outside. But the real news is that when I hopped on my bike to go to church, my bum didn't hurt! And I haven't even gotten a new saddle! To be fair, I am still sore from yoga Thursday night, so my bum may not have been registering... And I am super grateful for a surprise visit from Britta and Amanda tonight.

The best kind of Friday...

I woke early than I would have liked, but I loaded the car with my ski gear and headed to the park and ride. Hooray for Passover Ski Day - or so I called it, since I was skiing with Oren on the eve of Passover. I hadn't seen Scotty Russell in years, either, so that was a great reunion, though I did feel like the girl in the boys locker room a couple times. I had so much fun!! The day was wonderfully sunny, and though the snow was missing something, A-Basin's patio in the sun did not disappoint. I was on such a high...so I did what anyone would do, rallied for other friends to find some barstools at the new Mountain Sun Brewery's pub in the 'hood - Vine St. Pub. Jennifer came to my aid. We got there ten minutes before they opened and waited as the small crowd swelled for the doors to open. We found a prime spot on the corner of the patio - Mark Bailey showed up to meet a friend, Ben Taylor showed up meeting friends, Claire and Sarah showed up with Claire's co-workers...it was delightful to sit in the sun and see so many friends. I had not seen Mark in so long that I didn't know he lived in the lofts where I work - coincidence! Long after the sun faded, I walked home. What a beautiful day to welcome springtime...

Case of the Mondays!

Last night I bottled another batch of ginger ale, and I am so excited all over again. I cleaned up and still made it to bed in plenty of time to get an early start on my Monday. I read a little in bed (Eat, Pray, Love from Amy), but definitely not past 11 pm. So when my alarm went off this morning, I had no excuse for snoozing it...four times! I got at least nine hours of sleep last night, and I still couldn't get out of bed. I dragged myself down the hall and got ready. I passed on a ride to work because I needed to bike to a meeting this afternoon. I was moving so slow!!! I did find a much better route to work this morning...much better! However, I still didn't want to sit on that little seat. I locked up my bike, made some tea and an english muffin, turned on my computer, and then watched the snow start to fall. I noticed a few flakes on my ride, but it turned into an all out flurry. The weather didn't lift my mood, but it may be a clue as to why I was dragging. I ended up taking the farm truck to my meeting, so I could pick up soil and grow lights from a couple of the head start classes, but the sky was clearing - in time for the Rockies game and in time for my bike ride home. While it was cold on my face, the sky was blue-ish. What a trip! So it is with a little hesitation that I post the following. A friend harrassed me this weekend for not disclosing that Erik and I broke up. It was six weeks ago; maybe you noticed that his name doesn't pop up in my days like it used to. Sad, but true.

Spring Skiing...

After getting to see Jimberg for the first time in a million years, Nikki and I met up with him in the parking lot off I-70 to go skiing! Hooray for ski buddies! I had debated about what to wear when I woke up to the blinding sun in my window. I layered up, not remembering when I was ever too warm on the mountains. When I returned to Denver late afternoon (6pm feels like late afternoon when it is still sunny), my neighbor mistook my red cheeks for too much sun on the ski hill. Yes, mistook...it snowed the entire day! I haven't had many ski days this year, so you won't catch me passing up a day with friends, though I had to a couple times right after I frostbit my toes. With all the clouds and snow, we threesome went straight to the gondola at Breckenridge. The snow did not stop at all, and it even traveled all the way down to Floyd Hill with us on our drive home. Nobody in Denver would have guessed because it was sunny in town. I haven't skied half as many days as last year, but if this snow keeps up, there will be plenty of skiing left. I thought maybe I have the snow jinx because every day I have skied this year has been cloudy and snowy. Our first run down today was "dust on crust" and stunk big time. The second run was better, but it inspired us all the same to take another course of action. We headed up through the wind to a ridge of wonderful powder, protected from the wind, really just where the wind was dropping the snow it picked up along the way. We lapped not once, not twice, but thrice. After a potty break and hummus'n'cheese sandwich break, we headed back up to some more powder. Even though I knew there were beers in the trunk (planned for the A-basin beach), I didn't want to stop! I could have skied for hours more, though we skied until nearly quitting time. What a fun day! Jimberg is, hands down, the best guide on the mountain. I never had a bad day skiing with him. And what a treat to make three days in a row hanging out with Nikki. For the second week in a row, I have indulged in a Sunday evening bath. My homemade herbal scouring cleanser primes the tub with scents of lavender, and then the sea salts and lemongrass oil...ahhh...dreamy! I told Nikki that we should start family dinners on Sunday nights, either that or my bath time might become a weekly ritual. It doesn't take much to build a little tension over the week, and what better way to relax and detox? So let me know if you want to go up spring skiing...

Reunion week continues...

I biked to work again on Friday - this time in honor of momma's birthday, maybe? My second route was not much better than Wednesday's. Still left a little something to be desired, specifically a cushioned seat! Though Thursday Jessica and I failed to get out of the office to do some planning, we renewed our efforts to leave a little earlier and sit somewhere in the sun and do some planning. The sun was so beautiful on Friday that we sat outside for lunch. We also watched the parking lot fill up for opening day at Coors Field. The Rockies didn't win, but I could tell their popularity was still soaring from the World Series stuff last fall. The parking lot was packed! Early! As we thought about taking off, Laura invited us down to compost and take out the recycling. Alas...someday we'll make it. Getting things tidied up for the weekend is nice, too. Jess and I still made time for a few minutes over our door and the grid of garden initiatives we are tackling. We divvied most of it before we split. Sadly, we split a second too late. The Rockies were losing, and the fans were losing interest. The parking lot was clearing out, and both of us had to pass by that way. Lucky for me, on my bike I could scoot past the stand-still traffic. Jess was not as lucky, and despite a ten+ minute head start, I whizzed past her as the lanes merged and street closed. I had a heavy pack on my back for my ride up to Nikki's house. I had to walk my bike over one stretch of the bike path because it also doubles as the sidewalk for the baseball fans. Boy was I hot and sweaty when I got to her house - just the way you want to feel as you head to the store for drinks and a few snacks...gross! So while my family was having dinner in Portland to celebrate Mom's birthday, I was celebrating with Nikki and friends in Denver. They had thirty people for dinner, and we had thirty people for party. I made people-puppy-chow, a treat I remember my uncle Pat making. As we dashed through the store grabbing everything, I beelined for the self-checkout lines. Lo and behold, my buddy Ben, who was an original member of the P.S.P.S.. I hadn't seen him in ages, and he vacated the checkout lane right before us. What a hoot! The reunions continued - Jen and Josh; Jimberg; Greg; Becky, Lenny, Chase, and Ethan. It had been at least 8 months since I had seen all of them. What fun!! And gratefully Nikki was letting me sleepover, so I didn't have to bike home really late. This morning I got up when Nikki did, but I went to the bathroom and back to bed. She went to the store to get food for breakfast. I didn't get up until about 10 am. After two and a half hours of cleaning up, eating, and talking, we laid on the couches for a nap. While I had trouble falling to sleep, I also had trouble waking up. Nikki had a two hour run to get in before the sun set, and I wanted to get home and shower before church. Such a lazy day did not inspire me to be any more active than that, though I did bike to church and back, too. Tomorrow is a ski day, so I don't need to worry too much about being lazy tonight.

When Everything Seems to Be Going Right...

Well, sort of...Jennifer asked me, about 8:30-ish tonight when I got home from work (long day), "How was your day?" And I had my music tickets in my hand for the Mile High Music Festival in July. And the other piece of mail I received was a raffle ticket for my high school's auction. And I got to tell her that I ran into my friend Jason from Metro CareRing after a few years of not seeing him. And I got to have Indian food for lunch today to celebrate one of my co-worker's birthday. And this co-worker Deb picked up a super wide-mouth "jar" for me to ferment some Kombucha. And tomorrow I get to celebrate my mom's birthday at Nikki's birthday party. And really, I had to say my day was great! So when I undressed to hop in the shower, I had to laugh to find out my undershirt was on backwards. Maybe that is all it takes for everything to seem right...let something little that was under my thermal shirt and wool sweater and not showing be backward, so the rest could be all right!

Nikki's birthday

Woo hoo!! I rode my new bicycle to work today...somehow I think it was my birthday gift to Nikki, though it is definitely a stretch to say so. It was not the smoothest ride I ever took, though the equipment and decent pavement fared much better than my rides on the farm in Argentina! One section of street looked like a giant cheese grater had been dragged across it. Another section had the vine-y crack that kept going and growing. Regardless, I made it safe and sound, locked up my bike, and sat down at my desk to cool down. It wasn't long until I was actually chilled at my desk and realized how cold it was outside. And despite having thought I found the first clear day for casted for the week, there was a chance of rain in the forecast and in the clouds I could see very clearly from my desk. Ah well... After trying a different ride home, I realized that I am not on 16th Ave anymore. I go through a lot of busy areas to get to work, and the predictability of traffic is quite different. Something to work on, but not something to stop me. Nikki came over for family dinner. I made pudding with raspberries (a canned gift from Erin and the Northwest) for Nikki's dessert. We had some chocolate sipping cups that I filled, which were tasty, and some cupcake papers that I filled, which were messy. After dinner and dessert, Nikki and I danced and sang and enjoyed a night of Bob Schneider at the Bluebird Theatre. We saw my co-worker Laura who lives nearby. It was lots of fun, and we were both pretty hot and tired as we walked down Colfax after the show. Hooray for wing-chics!

Where everybody knows your name...

I did not go out to drink tonight. That was last night. Tonight I was determined to accomplish everything I didn't do last night after work, plus I wanted to see my friendly first-Tuesday volunteers at Metro CareRing. I got a call last month from one of them, and I wanted to return the call with a visit. My plans were to bike to work, stop at the bank to deposit my paycheck, buy tickets for Bob Schneider for tomorrow night, and stop by Metro CareRing to visit with the volunteers...all by 7:00 pm, at which time a "business" dinner with my housemates was slated to start. The weather didn't cooperate, so I didn't bike. My list of to-do's was along a bus route/transfer between work and home, so I hoped to manage. I hopped on the bus, twenty minutes later than I hoped, but that happens at work. I hopped off a block from the bank, five minutes before they closed. I quickly cut my phone call short to do my business and let the bank close. I saw one of the volunteers waiting at my bus stop, one block from the bank. The bus came right away, and we started chatting right away. We walked to Metro CareRing and continued the conversation with the other volunteers. It was great to see everyone, though I knew it would be harder to pull myself away than I thought. In time I had to go, so I hoofed it to the Ogden Theatre to buy tickets. Walking passed the long line of people waiting to get in, I was relieved nobody was at the ticket window, so i got my tickets and scooted across the street. It wasn't long before the bus pulled up and away I went. I was two minutes late for dinner, but it wasn't ready anyway. What a day to leave me smiling!! Though it was April Fools, there weren't any pranks in my world...I did tell a co-worker I fell out of bed, and she believed me, and then I smirked, "April Fools." Not really anything for the record books.