sushi date

Here are our some pictures from our impromptu happy hour sushi date tonight.  

It was very tasty.

...and very fun.

...and very filling (we also had miso soup and sauteed oysters and moshi (sp?) ice cream).

not much

I don't know why everything is typing as a blue underlined link that doesn't link to anything, and I don't know how to fix it.  My only advice is to go buy a mini trampoline from Wal-Mart.  The one that comes with resistance straps and a work-out DVD.  It's fun and it's a good work-out.  And also, this is one last picture from our Eldorado hike.  I promise to put new and different themed pictures on here from now on.

aneurisms and trampolines

Here are a couple more pictures from our day at Eldorado.  You may have noticed that in many of the earlier ones (or at least a few, I don't entirely remember which ones I put on here and looking would take way too much time) you saw the backs of everyone's heads as they walked ahead of me.  This one on the left is also while everyone else was ahead of me.  There is actually a series of these hold-the-camera-and-photograph-yourself pictures, but they are far to embarrassing to include here.  The reason I was in the back is two-fold.  I was sick and I could be in better aerobic shape (translation: I'm not really in great shape).  More on the shape part later.  As we began to ascend the mountain, really as we drove toward the mountain if I'm honest, my head began to protest.  It was experiencing some sinus issues, and my lungs quickly started to protest in the form of quick outbursts of hacking.  Once the hike began, things did not exactly clear up.  I did not want to be a pansy, however, so I silently (if you don't count the hacking) pushed on.  During the first fifteen minutes, or so, I seriously considered the odds that I was in fact having a brain anurism (my computer informs me that that is the incorrect spelling, but I can't seem to care enough to find the correct spelling).  By the time we got to our turn-around point at the river, my aneurism (aha!  I got it!),  had let up and I privately mentioned to Gabe that I'd had one earlier in the hike.  Since Nate just took the oath to be a real live doctor days before arriving in Denver, Gabe asked him what the difference between a stroke and an aneurism is and in true doctor fashion, he explained it to us.  So it seems I probably did have an aneurism, and not in fact a stroke.  

As far as the not being in the best shape comment, I bought a "rebounder" (ie: small trampoline) at Wal-Mart yesterday, so that will all be behind me soon.  I read (while G, Jenn, and Nate climbed the incline in the Springs) that bouncing on a trampoline is actually very good for your lymph system, immune system, skeletal and musculature systems, and aerobically.  So I'm a sucker and I went out and bought one.  It came with an exercise DVD and resistance straps to hold and pull with my arms, as well as a little sensor that tells me how many times I've bounced and calories burned.  It should be easy on my knees, too.  

Gabe needs the computer to do some actual work now.  Not me.  I'm on vacation in case anyone forgot.  It's the best invention I know of, by the way.

Really quick, here are some recommendations to watch/read:

Bella (movie)

Once (movie)

Dan in Real Life (movie)

The Shack (I finished it yesterday, Vickie.  It was great.) (book)

Toodles.

the week in partial review

Here are a few pictures from the past week with Nate and Jenn.  They've got some more on their camera that we'll hopefully get soon on our computer.  I've been dealing with a stinky cold the whole time they've been here, so because of that, today they are hiking up the incline in Manitou while I'm waiting at home coughing and sneezing.  I feel guilty for not being a tougher sick person, but I don't want to push it and be sick for another week, so bowing out was the best I could do, as lame as it seems to me.

This was from our hike in Eldorado Canyon.  The water was GUSHING, we were surprised to see so much of it.  You can't really tell from this photo, but Gabe thought it looked like a class 5 rapid.

Here is a lil snake we saw on the path:

This was right at the trailhead: 

Melissa mentioned something in her last post about how rarely her husband takes a serious picture.  I know how that goes:

We ran into Collin and a couple of his friends at the New Belgium Brewery tour we took in Ft. Collins.  It was kind of funny because the place where they do the free tastings was packed so Jenn took the initiative and went in search of some empty chairs.  The three of us just stood and talked for a minute, then Jenn motioned to us from across the room that she'd found some empty spots.  We crossed the room and the four empty seats just happened to be at the same table as Collin and his two friends.  So we joined up with them and had an even better time.
Nate and Jenn:

Gabe and I (note the serious face again):

Once again...
Here is the bottling part of the tour. All of the red is the bottle-tops:

Hand-blown glass bottle chandelier on the tour:

One of the tanks (?) where they brew with mosaic tile around the bottom:

And again...
If you like beer and live in one of the 18 states that sells New Belium (Fat Tire) beer, I encourage you to drink it.  They are a green brewery that does all sorts of admirable things, such as: 85% wind powered, the rest being powered from methane that they create and utilize on site; all sorts of other energy-efficient things throughout the whole brewery like sun tubes in the ceiling, and a bunch of stuff I don't really remember; they donate $1 for every barrel of beer they sell during the year (last year that ended up being almost a half a million dollars donated to non-profits and maybe charities); they were voted the number one place to work, beating out even Google;  on the first day of work, every employee is given a key to the entire place;  every employee is allowed one free case of beer per week, on the honor system--it can be picked up at any time on their own; everyone who works there for 5 years is taken to Belgium on an all-expenses paid trip with the founder and his wife; each year employees are given more stock in the company, so that after 7 years they are officially employee owners.  I'm sure there is more, but the point is, they are a good company that makes good beer (if you like beer, and I don't typically---but I do like a few of their brews).

I hope everyone's weekend gets off to a great start today!

photos

As promised, here are the pictures I described in my previous post:

One freshly painted reddish-orange table:

Many magenta peonies lovingly delivered to me by Amy:

 

Two things you should never buy me (and probably should never buy period):

Two shots of Gabe in the shower at Lowe's:

Later this same day, I found Gabe trying out the inversion machine at Sam's Club.  He was hanging upside-down, not strapped in, on the floor model of the inversion machine.  Gabe made errands much more fun that day.  Every time I turned around he was hiding in showers, inverting himself, or who knows what else.

One little Dooly napping in the kitchen window:

A dozen, or so, overripe  bananas thawing in order for me to bake them into banana bread in order to end the two years of Gabe teasing me about putting ripe bananas in the freezer for banana bread that never seems to actually get made in order to win a fifteen minute back rub in the bet made by Gabe that this time would be no different:  (I won.)

Seven envelopes I sent to Gabe (with letters inside) while he was in Costa Rica (I found them when looking for something else):

The journal I made for Gabe before he left for Costa Rica:

Nate and Jenn got here Monday.  We've been up to Ft. Collins for the New Belgium Brewery tour, where we ran into Collin L. during the free bear tasting after the tour.  Yesterday we went on a 7+ mile hike in Eldorado Park, and then to Keri and Charlie's for dinner and a bonfire.  Today we'll be heading down to the Springs, and then they leave tomorrow afternoon.  I've got a bunch of pictures from the week, but I think I'll wait to post them until the end of their stay with us.  

p.s.  Summer vacation doesn't yet feel like it.  It seems like the weekend--but it's been really nice so far...

5 hours and picture descriptions!

Ahhhh, the countdown to summer has switched from days to hours. I officially have five more school hours left until vacation. Two hours today. Three hours tomorrow. And if they don't turn on the air conditioning in that time, it could be a pretty uncomfortable five hours. It is friggin' hot in here. My classroom is normally frigid (as told to me daily by at least five girls), so I dress accordingly. Apparently the district thinks they can save some money by allowing us to sweat out the last day and a half of school. Whatever. This paragraph makes it sound like I care a lot more than I really do. Five more hours people. Five more hours!

I have some pictures to put on here, but they're on my computer at home, and as I've established, I am sweating at school. So I'll tell you what some of them will be: magenta peonies delivered to me by the wonderful Amy; Gabe in the shower (you'll see, it's not inappropriate, I promise); a newly painted red table; fancy toilet seats; my beautiful back-from-the-dead succulent window garden; brown bananas; love letters to Gabe sent while he was in Costa Rica; maybe some student artwork; maybe some of Daly. I may need to split this into multiple posts. Anyhoo, that's what you all have to look anxiously forward to in the next few days.

Peace out.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Tadaaaa!!!  Last week I realized I had a gazillion boxes in my classroom storage closet.  Things tend to accumulate in my Art room (and I imagine in most art rooms), with the unsure intention of using them at some later date for some, yet unknown purpose.  So with the gazillion boxes, I decided to have all of my kids create 1 or more pieces however they wanted.  The cutting, tearing, drawing and painting began, and by the end of the week the gazillion boxes had been transformed into a bazillion individual pieces of painted cardboard.  I glued them all onto about 14 or 15 large mat boards, hung them above the lockers in the (sterile, boring, cold) hallway outside my room, and...voila!  Large, collaborative wall hanging to brighten things up.  We're going to keep it up semi-permanently (maybe do a new one at the end of the year next year).  Some of the teachers in our hall have requested that the entire length of the hall be covered with these wall hangings.  

Speaking of beautifying the school, I spoke with my principal yesterday and she is all for changing the look of our building.  So they're going to pay me to come in and paint all over the place this summer.  I'm excited, because I couldn't agree more about the currently drab state of our building. 

Gabe and I will be spending the whole weekend getting ready for house guests next week, so if I don't get back to the blog, have a FANTASTIC weekend everyone!

our internet is healed, and pretty views

Well, I said I was going to post these yesterday, but it seems our area's internet was not internetting so well yesterday.  It's been fixed and now we all have our internet back.  A small part of me wants to hug the computer, but that seems a little foolish, maybe if it had been two days, not just one.

Anyhoo, here are a couple of pictures from the reservoir last weekend with Gathering friends. It was a fun day of bocce, grilling, taking turns walking in the water with Naomi, and Ultimate Frisbee.

My camera doesn't quite capture the mtns in the distance, 

but in real life, it was a very pretty view:

Actually, just one picture from the reservoir, I couldn't get anymore to load.

Moving on.

Here are a few from the Springs, hiking with the Knipps:

On our way down the mtn Gabe and Janae decided we were going to slow, and the best remedy was for Gabe to give Janae a piggy back ride down the trail as fast as he could go.  They disappeared from sight for quite awhile (I couldn't get the picture of them galloping away to load either), and this is where we found them when we finally caught up:

Trying our best to look awkward around each other:

Were you listening for something, Vickie?

So, that was our weekend.  This weekend we're getting ready for Nate and Jen's visit.  They arrive Monday.  I think we'll take them camping or hiking, and go on the Coor's tour (which I've still never done after living here for seven years).  Two and a half more days of school!!!!!  That thought keeps barging in on any and all other thoughts I have.  

Enjoy your Friday, everyone!

ATTN: YOU

I found my camera. It was in a sweatshirt pocket all along. In fact, it was a mere 5 feet from me when I typed about needing to find it. So, when I get home I'll throw on some pictures from this past week.

***ATTENTION all readers: If you're reading my blog, I urge you to comment or just say hi. Lately I've been getting a lot of traffic from different towns, many of which I can't figure out who I might know there (that was an awkward sentence). It's a mystery. Maybe you like being mysterious. That's probably fine. I surf around to all sorts of blogs belonging to people I don't know and rarely comment. But I would really enjoy knowing who's reading this blather every week. Here are some of my guesses: Emily, Fauchiersss, someone belonging to the Latimer family, Granny...and I don't know about Chicago, Cincinatti, Englewood, St. Louis, Los Angeles, some of the dozen Indiana towns, or Des Moines. SO, not to beat this to death, but I'd love to know who all of you are. If not, well then, enjoy being your mysterious self.

In the immortal words of Jack Handy, "Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank"and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind. "

Here's some more, just cause they're funny:

Instead of a trap door, what about a trap window? The guy looks out it, and if he leans too far, he falls out. Wait. I guess that's like a regular window.

Sometimes I think you have to march right in and demand your rights,even if you don't know what your rights are, or who the person is you're talking to. Then on the way out, slam the door.

To me, it's a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, "Hey, can you give me a hand?" You can say, "Sorry, got these sacks."

sushi

This is an old picture from a few months ago, but this is what I wish we were having for dinner tonight.  A couple times a year, G and I make sushi at home.  This particular time it got a little out of hand, and by the time we were finished eating we still had almost 30 pieces of sushi left.  It was sooooooo good.

I have some Memorial Day pics to put on here, but first have to locate my camera.  It may or may not be in the Knipp's car in the Springs.

Hope everyone's weekend was great!