a serious improvement over last year

Remember last year's MLK Day?? Yeah, this year was seriously improved. Relaxing yet productive morning, lovely afternoon at Michelle's, and Cafe Rio and the Gateway with Josh in the evening.

And yes, in Urban Outfitters, Josh approached me with this top and said, "Hey, you should try this on." Impressed? Me too.

Slow Start

Ha I hope you're enjoying the slew of blog posts today; I don't promise this many a day on a regular basis, but I didn't blog much last week.

Anyway, I've gotten a slow start today. Over the weekend (when I was in Utah) I got violently ill. No worries, all is well, but I did spend the last part of Friday and all day Saturday on the couch. Yesterday I felt mediocre enough to fly home, but today I'm still feeling a little under the weather. Achy mainly, not nearly as bad as Friday. Really, it just was lame to be sick when I was on a trip.

However, a big shout-out to Michelle and Co. and the Loose clan--if I couldn't be home when I was sick, at least I was surrounded by people who made me comfortable and catered to my invalid needs. Thanks :)

I'm hoping to feel more up to scratch tomorrow. Today I'm taking it easy, eating light, and watching season 7 of Gilmore Girls. Being sick is lame.

Give Me Mountains Anyday

I live in the most beautiful state in the United States, the most beautiful place in the world, in my admittedly biased opinion. Vail was incredible. It was one of the most relaxing vacations I've ever had. Seriously.


I safely reached Vail a little before 7 and enjoyed a casual dinner of quesadillas. In the five days we spent in the breathtakingly beautiful mountains, we took several walks throughout the hilly neighborhoods.

We went to the park (where several years back Emily and I had a frightening encounter with a wolf-ish dog) and played on the swings.

I caught a photo of Sarah and John in true form: John is pushing Sarah off the twisting balance thing. Even in Vail we can't escape the match-and-kerosene combo that is Sarah and John.

And of course there were several cameras snapping shots of everything all weekend long.

I spent quality time with Max, Lucas (pictured below), Eva, and Miles (all first-cousins-once-removed). In addition to seeing Michelle & Co., I also got to see my cousin (Michelle's brother) Ryan for the first time in probably ten years.

We made several good meals, but we didn't cook so much that we were overwhelmed. One night we had homemade pizza followed by Diet Delight (a sugar-free pudding and Lite Cool Whip concoction that is absolutely incredible)--delicious!

There were extra puddings afterwards--I might have dipped into the surplus.

I can't forget to mention the games we played! I played a game or two of Killer Bunnies (the others played more), and before you think Killer Bunnies is weird, give it a chance. It's weird, but awesome, though granted a little cultish.

The best game of the trip (and perhaps the best game ever): Bananagrams. (Check out Mom's post a while back about the game.) One round, my brain shut down, and all I could come up with is shown below. Ha. However, I had a few stellar rounds: phonetic and brattiest made their way into a couple of my spreads.

We also caroused Vail Village one day. Half the shops were closed because of the off-season, but we managed to find a few thrilling finds, including a boutique called Roxy and a cosmetics store called the CosBar. I'm such a sucker for makeup.

I tried several times to capture a good SP with four-year-old Eva; however I didn't have much success. This picture accurately portrays my frustrated attempts.

Vail earned itself a bump up the coolness scale when I noticed in the grocery store that the express-lane signs said "15 Items or Fewer" instead of "15 Items or Less." Thanks for adhering to proper usage, Vail Safeway. (I don't know if other Safeways have this; probably, but Vail is where I noticed it.)

We watched movies (including both Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea), I cross-stitched, and we watched the 24 season finale and the American Idol performance final (YAY for Kris!!!!!!). I didn't feel guilty about watching three movies in a day or drinking more than one soda in an afternoon. I napped; I slept in; I even went to bed early a couple nights.

I wasn't quite ready to come back, but I am grateful to have fully utilized this vacation for optimal relaxation. And I'm back. I'll get used to life again.


It was a beautiful weekend in a beautiful place in a beautiful home with the most beautiful people I know. If someone offered my family and me a week at the beach or a week in the mountains, I'd choose the mountains, hands down. Mountains are magical--that's just the truth of it. Nothing can beat this.

counting down the hours

On Tuesday I got a phone call from the temp agency offering me a three-day temp job with Coleman Natural Foods. I quickly accepted and have been working as the fill-in receptionist since Wednesday; the real receptionist is just out of town, so this won't turn into anything long-term, but I'll take three days of employment over zero.

The downside to this is that I just have to semi-pretend that I know what I'm doing for three days instead of psyching myself up for a whole summer at Coleman Foods. The days seem longer and the clock definitely slower. There are several duties that the real receptionist has that I don't have to worry about simply because I'm here for only three days. Facebook and Pandora are both blocked, so I sit here willing myself not to look at the clock and answering periodic phone calls (most of which being sales calls, which either irritate me or make me feel sad for the sales people).

I think I can get away with a bit of reading. (Tess is coming along quite nicely, by the way.) And of course, I've been blogging. *Sanity saver* And blog stalking, obviously. Yesterday I was given a project that filled up several hours; plus with said project, I got to go through the corporate benefits guide and edit it. Oh the joys that lowercasing brings!

What will make today a long day, however, is not just the fact that it's Friday and my last day at this job, but immediately after work, I'm heading up Vail to spend a long weekend with my family, Susan and Fred, and Michelle & Co. Can't wait!! Seriously. Having this incentive at the end of my day makes sitting here doing not much of anything killer. I've been looking forward to this weekend for weeks, since before I finished the semester. Now it's here, I'm packed, my stuff is in the Corolla, and I'm counting the hours until I leave Coleman Natural Foods for good, grab a Big Gulp, and cruise on up the mountain to meet up with the rest of my family, who are going up mid-afternoonish. Seven and a half more hours. . . .