I spent this weekend at my parent's house, and bright and early this morning(4 am!) we all got up to go cheer my mom on at one of her triathlons.

She swam.

She biked.

She ran.

She kicked some serious ass.

Labels: Mom

I got an email from my gorgeous friend Kate yesterday:

David read this in the newspaper this morning and wanted me to send it to you:

DEAR ABBY: I am 38 years young and still single. I enjoy my friends, my freedom and rock concerts. My issue is that at the last two concerts I went to, I heard men -- or boys -- say, "Watch out. Here come the cougars!" I think this is insulting. Or is it?

Can you define a "cougar"? I don't know whether I should be insulted or take it as a compliment. -- STILL ROCKIN' IN IRVINE

DEAR STILL ROCKIN': A "cougar" is a woman who likes to date -- and aggressively pursue -- much younger men. Whether it's an insult, an accurate description or a compliment depends upon how you wish to be perceived. But from my perspective, the comments you heard were stereotypical and "catty," to say the least.

David is Kate's little brother who likes to remind us- at every opportunity- that he thinks we're old farts.

Nonetheless, thanks Dear Abby, for clearing this up once and for all.

And for the record, while Josh may be a younger man, he is certainly not a much younger man.

Labels: Mak and Kate, Stupid

Snuff (Chuck Palahniuk, Doubleday) was slightly underwhelming. I'll read it again to be sure, but I wasn't in love with it. If you're a fan, obviously you're going to go out, pick it up and read it, but if you've never read Palahniuk I'd suggest you start with Invisible Monsters or Survivor or Choke.

I've started Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant, and so far I'm enjoying it immensely. It is everything I was expecting. I like collections of short stories, but I love collections of essays. I couldn't even begin to explain why, especially because I don't particularly care to read non-fiction. Perhaps I just like it in smaller doses.

Last night I was talking to Josh, and I mentioned how much I used to love writing. Ten years of engineering school and nothing but technical writing has beat that particular talent out of me, but I certainly miss it.

I enjoyed essay writing in particular. What I liked about it was mixing the pragmatic and factual with the creative and subjective. Planning and structuring and building a deliberate collection of words in the most effective manner, designed to convey a particular thought or feeling or opinion.

I never could write fiction, even then; my brain is not inventive, but simply narrative.

My English teacher in high school, the way his face fell when I told him I'd be attending engineering school instead of endeavoring in more creative pursuits, was maybe one of the best compliments I've ever gotten.

Since hearing this, Josh has been really encouraging me to give writing a second chance. Frankly, he's pretty encouraging about everything, all the time, but this topic has really seemed to spark his interest.

I'm thinking about it, but I certainly draw the line at sharing anything I write here on the blog (his suggestion), I don't think I could ever do that. I'm an engineer, not a writer after all.

Labels: Miscellaneous

Friday night Kate, Jill, Mak and I met four other friends at the Rockies game to celebrate Kate's birthday. Unfortunately, Katie wasn't feeling well, so while she enjoyed the game and a cautious beer, we all got rip-roaring drunk. We actually had great seats and it was a beautiful night for a game. Not to mention we were playing the Mets who generally draw a pretty big crowd. I was sporting the biggest hair ever. I mean we're talking Texas-Big-Bar hair here. I do believe Mak is mocking me with that wink... Seriously, look at these great seats! For some reason Jill and I decided to throw down with several spirited rounds of knocker boxing. She started it. Kate, the birthday girl, drives us all home at the end of the night, and we, well, apparently we're just about as cliche as they come. OK, one last thing. Now everyone drinks a little and gets a little bit out out of control sometimes, but during the Friday night postmortem with Katie on Monday, she informed me that as far as shenanigans go, Jill and I had nothing on our girlfriend J.

J and her boyfriend were riding the bus back to Boulder after we called it a night. Our girlfriend J started feeling sick on the bus and she threw up.

BUT, she didn't want to get sick on the bus, so she just puffed out her cheeks and held it in her mouth as long as she could.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and it was leaking out the sides of her mouth so she...swallowed it.

I know, it's about the grossest thing I've ever heard. It actually made me a little sick just now to write it out. She's a totally normal gal too, not a dirt bag or anything.

Or so I thought...

Labels: Baseball, Jill, Mak and Kate

Just before I left town for Aspen a couple of weeks ago I received this tiny parcel in the mail. I was pretty excited, I knew it wasn't a bill; nor was it a jury summons. It was, at long last, Arjewtino's Baseball card!

I thought and thought about what to do with such a significant piece of Americana...

I tried framing it, but that seemed creepy...

Then I thought about putting it in my spokes, but I couldn't find any clothespins...

So then I thought I'd take advice from the man himself

you should buy one of those hard plastic frames to keep it in mint condition. or put it on your wallet so you can look at it anytime you want.

i do.

Friday night it made its first appearance at a Colorado Rockies baseball game...

And then, well, sorry...

Turns out this Photo Essay Tuesday coincides with Arjewtino's birthday, so without further ado...

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Hap---

What's wrong? Oh, don't like chocolate huh?

No problem, I'll take care of it for you!

Labels: PET

Friday night kind of ruined me for the rest of the weekend. Though I had big plans Saturday, I bailed in favor of curling up in a tight ball in front of my air conditioner and watching TV all day with Jill. We complained loudly and often about our merciless hangovers, and about how we seem to be less and less able to bounce back quickly. I finally peeled my ass off the couch around 5:30 to go get some miso soup to assuage the hangover beast. I've included this picture because every time I look at it I swear I can hear Josh say "Of course you took a picture of yourself eating soup. Why wouldn't you?"

And I crack up a little.

Fortunately I'll have one more chance to see The Shrenks on Monday before they head back to Texas.

Sunday was also a bit of a lazy day. I cleaned the apartment and around lunch time found fridge and cupboards devoid of anything resembling food, so I popped out to the grocery store. On the way I had a hankering for a cup of joe and decided to stop in the local Boarders to pick one up.

Stupid.

I'm a bit impulsive, especially when it comes to books. I can't go into a bookstore and leave with less than a half a dozen new books.

Today I can hold my head up high and proudly say that I left with only four books.

Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant
Snuff
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen
The Wonder Spot

So here's the thing. I've been waiting forever for Alone In The Kitchen With An Eggplant to come out in paperback. I adore reading about food. Sometimes when I get depressed I dig out my cookbooks and read them the same way I read novels. I know for a fact I am not the only person who does this.

Julie and Julia falls under the same reasoning, coupled with the fact that I picked it up for $4.99.

I was going to pass on The Wonder Spot. Even though I loved The Girl's Guide To Hunting And Fishing, I'd heard from Josh that Bank didn't really come up with a new story and subsequently The Wonder Spot was sort of a second rate rehash of her first publication. But... at $3.99 I couldn't resist picking it up. I've wasted a Sunday afternoon on worse books I'm sure.

And finally, Snuff. As a bit of a Chuck Palahniuk devotee, I am pretty impressed with my restraint, I waited almost a month to pick this one up. I know some people who can't stand his writing, but I know more people who absolutely adore him. I have never read anything of his I didn't like, and I loved everything except Lullaby. Haunted was so sick I actually had to put it down and walk away several times (particularly during Guts).

Labels: Books

Friday night was Katie's 28th birthday, Happy Birthday! We went to a ball game (The Rockies lost...), then some bars. Somewhere near the end of the evening Jill and I went for a little walk to "mingle" and do some dancing. The dancing was kind of a bust, I think we are just too old for the bars in the one particular area we were exploring. We got picked on by some local youths (what's a yout?) and they teased us and followed us on their bicycles! What the shit! Jill tried to get in a fight with one of them when they wouldn't stop taunting her about almost falling (though she hadn't). I love when Jill gets all aggro when she's been drinking. Then we met some very young boys who were out at a bachelor party. They were trying (unsuccessfully) to lure us back to their hotel room for an after party (another thing I'm thinking we're too old for), but they must have watched The Pick Up Artist, because they kept insulting us thinking it would weaken our resolve. We're not those kinds of girls, we actually have some self esteem thankyouverymuch.

They said we were, and I quote, "totally hot cougars."

Dude! We are too young to be considered Cougars. Look it up yo!

Labels: Jill, Mak and Kate

Tuesday night Jill, Ivory, Suzie, Sarah, Laura, Tanya and I all met at Steuben's for our sort of quarterly meet up and catch up. I'd had a very late lunch so I only had the butterscotch pudding for dinner, but man was it good. The conversation included, but was in no way limited to, Tanya's honeymoon, Suzie's wedding, Laura's daughter and (6 year!) anniversary, Ivory's new house and baby, Sarah's new home and subsequent renovation, Jill's job search, and my impending relocation. It's so amazing, spending a great night with great friends who are all in such different places in life. It certainly illustrates what a rich and colorful tapestry life can be.

Labels: Ivory, Jill, Raves, Restaurants, Sarah, Suzie, Tanya

Despite our antics, we came out of the weekend with a few really pretty pictures. Mak and Shelly are just the cutest brother and sister. Just as we were waking up Saturday morning and contemplating coffee Mak showed up with a bunch of lift chairs. Why? Because he's Mak. Shelly got a lot of action in that shirt, and despite the terrible service we had a lovely time sipping mojitos in the sunshine. Seriously? I have some hot friends. Even though I'm clearly sporting the drunk face, I like this picture of Kate and me. Jill striking a pose in Shelly's sunnies. We all tried them on and had ourselves a photo shoot.

Jill doesn't really love it, but I think this picture of Katie is great. Maybe I just like the quality of the light and shadows in her hair.

Labels: Jill, Mak and Kate, Raves, Vacation

I didn't write anything about the pictures I posted yesterday because... well frankly I don't remember anything about the pictures. See, we woke up in the morning each day bummed because we forgot to take photos. We turned on our cameras- just to check- and we surprised by the bounty of inappropriate and awesome shots waiting for us.

The thing is, I'm a big blackout-er when I drink. After a couple of cocktails things get hazy, after several cocktails my memory of the nights shenanigans is wiped clean. I don't actually mind much, I can be a little ridiculous, but even when I'm half in the bag I generally make decent decisions (well maybe not in my early twenties, but I do now...), and keep myself mostly out of harms way.

Couple this new found, hmm, "maturity" lets call it, with the fact that all the gals out that weekend are in relationships, the opportunity for silly was there, but the chance of shady was very low.

Still...
I don't remember that big bear...
I have no idea why Kate pantomimes biting someones boobs every time she gets a little drunk...
I have absolutely no idea who those 19 year old boys are, nor do I have any recollection of riding them like a rodeo cowboy...
I love lamb...

Labels: Raves, What Was I Thinking?

Labels: Jill, Mak and Kate, PET, Raves, Vacation

Friday night Jill, Shelly and I piled in the car ( Murph too!) and headed up to a little town called Aspen. It was the weekend of the Food and Wine Classic and we were planning on hanging out in town, hitting the pool at The Sky Hotel, and volunteering to set up and tear down tables at a charity event at the Belly Up in exchange for tickets. All that would have made for a great weekend in itself, but then Katie went and did us one better. While she and Jill went to set up tables for the charity event...

Mak and Jill went to Snowmass to see Mick Fleetwood and have a little faux-date...

They snapped some photos...

And shared a bottle of wine...

Shelly and I went to the Saturday afternoon tasting! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever.

We had wine, small tastes of food, enjoyed the A-MAZ-ING weather and unbelievable people watching. I swear I almost peed my pants when we saw Wiley Dufresne (then again sitting next to us at the worst breakfast ever the next day, shame on you Little Nell...), and Shelly practically jumped up and down screaming when we saw Hung.

We met up with Jill and Kate and ended up at the concert later that night (a super fun Stones cover band), it was quite the debauched evening...

Which ended with us at the Hotel Jerome acting like kids at four in the morning (the room was comped, we never, and I mean never, could have afforded a room at the Jerome on Food and Wine weekend)

Capped the weekend off on Sunday with a very posh pool party, and then, when we finally made it back to the house Sunday night...

The charming Mak had a gorgeous Thai dinner waiting for us.

Labels: Food, Jill, Mak and Kate, Raves, Vacation

This weekend I was overwhelmed with awesome. Seriously, I might even be awesome-d out. I have about 200 pictures to go through, but make no mistake, it's on the agenda. I just have to get through this pesky little work day first, but then, prepare to be assaulted with awesome.

Until then you can entertain yourselves by clicking here.

Labels: Holiday

After a looong, grueling week at work, I am looking forward to a nice mountain getaway. After work today Jill and I are heading up to Basalt to visit with Mak and Katie. Saturday night Kate and I are sort of volunteering at this event setting up tables and whatnot and then meeting back up with Jill and Mak.

I haven't been up to visit since New Year's so naturally I'm quite excited.

Labels: Looking Forward To...

On the off chance that you weren't sick to death of seeing pictures of ME! ME! ME! here are a few more I really liked from Chicago, and then tomorrow I promise I'll move on to something else. Josh is such a trooper drinking his beer. He said he's practicing for COD FISH '08. Josh's brother was also a real treat to meet, he was very nice and wanted to make sure I was having fun all day. But, with cold beer and curry fries how could I not have been having a good time?

Josh and Byron, I kind of like their mirror image smirks.

I think this is where we all started to take on that drunk in the middle of the day look, I blame this frozen purple concoction. Sort of a Dimetapp flavored Slurpee.

The fingerstache, always a party.

I loved watching Josh working. I sat around and did crossword puzzles.

I also enjoy his try anything once attitude. In this case it was a half-dozen Blue Point Oysters. I ate five of them, but at least he tried one.

Ever patient, this might have been the 273rd self portrait in two days...

Labels: Chicago, Josh

I'm kind of torn between telling you guys about how great my weekend was and keeping it all to myself. I had the best time in Chicago with Josh and I can't wait until I live there, I really think I'm going to love it. Well, in the summers at least. Saturday morning after the Lincoln Park farmers market we whittled away the morning at the zoo and the conservatory. Josh bought me a Sponge Bob Square Pants Popsicle for breakfast. We made some little kids jealous, they had to wait until after lunch, oh it's good to be a grown-up. When Josh's brother told us that Amber was in the bar I got all nervous and excited. I know, I know, pathetic. He said I should go say hi, but I stayed put on my bar stool. Instead she came to us. I didn't ask her any questions about Rock of Love, but I wished her good luck. Josh sat back and rolled his eyes at me, but humored me nonetheless. Josh took this picture of me at the conservatory. I know it's little cheesy and glamor shots-esque, but it's still very pretty.

It cracks me up just how often Josh has his eyes closed when we try to take a picture. There is one picture from his trip out to Colorado in May where his eyes are closed and I'm making a ridiculous face that he has framed in his apartment that just cracks me up.

Oh Berg.

As cliched as this sounds, drinking coffee and sharing the Sunday paper outside on a beautiful morning is a little bit of heaven.

Thank god for umbrellas, though we were still all wet when we arrived at our destination.

Public transportation is also the tops. The trains and buses just run all the time. Wonderful.

I was a little nervous about meeting Josh's best bud Byron. I'd been reading his blog, and I'd kind of assumed he'd been reading mine. He was every bit as charming in person as I'd expected.

We ended up at a neighborhood RibFest, drinking beer, sampling ribs, willing the rain away... Oh the rain, just look at that crazy frizzy hair!

Labels: Chicago, Food, Josh, Schmaltz

Chicago was unbelievably fun and amazing and I could go on and on and on, but it's a Tuesday morning and I've got to get to work. I took tons of beautiful pictures of the city and of Josh, his friends and myself, but I also took a handful of pictures that puzzled me, made me laugh or really just caught my interest. And here they are. I know, I know Chicago is the "Windy City", so I shouldn't be surprised that it was, well, windy. But man alive was it windy. So windy that it threatened to blow my dress right off (and it almost did once or twice, many a Chicagoan saw my color coordinated boy shorts), more surprising was that the powerful winds blew this giant tree right out of the ground. Look, I totally understand that I am outrageously immature and childish and I pretty much have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy, but this Kangaroo and his giant balls made me think of Van Wilder, which reduced me to hysterics with the giggling. Good times. I don't know if anyone else in America watched Rock of Love 2, but Jill and I loved it; and hey we were pulling for this gal. Josh and I ran into her at a bar called the Lucky Horseshoe where she certainly stuck out like a sore thumb. For that matter I suppose I did too.

It was certainly my intention to make a good impression on Josh's brother and best friend, but I'm not sure fawning over a reality TV personality was the best way to present my most fabulous self.

Cheese curds. I've never had a curd before, never even heard of them, I guess it's a midwest thing... but oh mercy, I ate some serious curds this weekend. I'd like to say I was skeptical at first, might make for a better story, but that would be a barefaced lie. Cheese curds are delicious, and that is the final word on that.

One of my favorite place we visited this weekend was the Conservatory at the Lincoln Park Zoo. I could have spent all day in there. I particularly liked these funny pod plants of which Josh snapped some photos. It was a lot of fun to have a partner in crime hunting down great picture subjects.

This was my favorite plant in the whole conservatory, a coconut orchid. We walked into the room that housed the orchids and the air was perfumed with a most delicate fragrance I couldn't quite put my finger on... I turned around and stuck my nose deep in this plant and came away with a really subtle and heady coconut scent that I can still smell if I really think about it.

Sunday morning found us sitting on an outdoor patio reading the paper, and call me old fashioned, but I was caught a little off guard by this article about water sports. In the paper. Yeah, those kinds of water sports.

Finally, at the Rib Fest. Oh, how I laughed.

Labels: Chicago, Josh, PET, Stupid

I've been working my tail off all week to make sure I get lots of work done because this weekend I'm going to Chicago! This week I was trying to get packed so I'd be all ready to go, but Kitty was having none of it. She just wanted some attention, so she got right in the mix and made sure she got some. Then she curled up to nap on the warm laundry I was folding. Since Murph usually gets all the press around here, I figured I'd go ahead and share these pictures. Have a great weekend, I'm sure I will!

Labels: Kitty

People always ask me, "hey, what does a metallurgist do, anyway?"

Well today I used a jaw crusher

and a roll crusher

to turn this big pile of big rocks

into sixteen buckets of little rocks

At the end of the day I looked like this

Who's a pretty girl?

Labels: Metallurgy, PET

I decided to start riding my bike to work in the morning. June in Colorado is so beautiful, especially in the mornings and evenings, I've been craving more sunlight (and exercise), and it's the perfect distance for a nice ride.

Last night after work I decided to do a test run so I'd know what time I needed to leave in the morning. I slathered on some sunblock (a girl's got to be proactive about those wrinkles) strapped on my helmet and headed out the door.

Not five minutes later my skin was on fire. My entire body was swollen and bright fire-truck red.

Leaving my bike deserted in the parking lot I ran back up to my apartment, grabbed that sunscreen and immediately figured out what had happened.

Back in the day (I'm guessing about 7 years ago, when I wore things like this to work) I had some seriously bad habits. I smoked like a chimney and I drank like a fish. Seriously my main food groups were vodka tonics and nicotine. Part of my job was to be thin and tan and I used to regularly go to the tanning salon. All of these things I am living to seriously regret. I can only hope that the extent of that regret is wrinkles and not, one day, skin or lung cancer.

So at the tanning salon I'd grease up with this lotion that made your skin tingle and made you burn faster so you'd get a deeper tan. Unfortunately, this torture in a bottle was still, seven years later, in the back of my closet and in my haste to get out on my bike I'd mistakenly grabbed it instead of the sunscreen.

Well the years must have intensified it, because I honest to god had a chemical burn. I spent the next two hours, teeth chattering, in an ice cold bath tub trying to calm everything down. Freezing on the inside, burning on the outside and cursing my 21 year old self for being such a damned fool.

Labels: What Was I Thinking?

Due to some construction work today, I took the back way to The Home Depot. Driving behind a little shopping center in Golden I saw three seriously hot dudes in suits out behind a shop smoking cigarettes. Not that I think smoking is sexy. Actually I think it's quite vile, just, the guys in the suits were sexy.

The thing is, they were also really out of place there. I started thinking about the shops in this particular center, trying to figure out why they might be there, standing around and smoking.

Goodwill? No.
Chinese Takeout? no.
Nail Salon? Shoe Repair? Curves Fitness for Women?
No. No. no.

And then I remembered. Of course, the outpatient rehab facility.

Of course I'd think they were hot. Go figure.

Labels: Rants, What Was I Thinking?

So, I've lost my sunnies. This isn't major news, I probably go through seven pairs of sunglasses each summer, but I really liked these. You see, I have a really tiny head, like, I shop for sunglasses at tween stores. It certainly hasn't helped my cause that sunglasses are now the size of a small city. So yeah. I'm pretty bummed, I mean I've got some backups, but they're nothing like the perfect pair that actually made it all the way through last summer, just to be lost sometime this spring.

I can't find any sandals I like. I know, poor me. I understand that in the grand scheme of things this is a relatively minor problem, but up until recently I actually had the perfect pair of summer sandals as well. The problem is that I'd had them for about three years, and they were all sorts of kicked. They were borderline WT when I bought them, but after a few years they really turned the bend into full on cheap and trashy territory, so I pitched them, and now I can't find a pair I like to replace them.

Don't even get me started on the swimsuit issue. I'm choosing to deal with that problem by pretending it doesn't exist.

Labels: Rants

One of my girlfriends has two boyfriends.

I say that with absolutely no judgment, she's not a shady lady, and if either of these men was giving her everything she needed she wouldn't need both of them, and if either of them had a problem with this she would rethink the situation.

You see, she's not cheating, she's just keeping some irons in the fire. It's a pretty good policy I think. And one I used to adhere to as well, I'd always date at least three men at a time. It keeps you busy, you don't get too serious too fast, you don't end up obsessing about any one man in particular or wondering why he hasn't called because you're busy out with another one.

As a matter or principle I think it's the healthy thing to do. What's the point of committing to one person you barely know, when you could get to know several people and find out if any of them are actually worth getting involved with.

Some ethical questions certainly arise here, and I think the answers are personal choices. If you are dating several men do you explicitly tell them all or in this day and age is it implied? Do you sleep with one, or any of them? Do you introduce them to your friends? Like I said, that's up to you.

What I like about the irons-in-the-fire mentality, is that the longer you date someone casually, the more you get to know them. If you aren't sleeping together and you have some other options, you might not be tempted to keep on with someone you don't really like just because you have nothing else going on. Usually when someone gets booted from the rotation it just makes room for someone new, but eventually one of your prospects might rise to the top and you may find yourself not wanting to date anyone else anymore. If so, woohoo.

Now, as much as I like the irons-in-the-fire dating mentality, it can be exhausting. And it can be messy. So I've started to worry about my girlfriend a bit; how long can you keep up with two boyfriends? It's got to be tough, but hey, she's a tough girl, and she's got more energy than me.

Labels: Statements