Monday, June 30, 2008

summer nights

I can't believe a week passed with no comment from me here. How unlike me! Honestly, it's hard to remember the last week. I know I went to work and got some stuff done, but after that, things start to get a little hazy. Oh, I saw the play last week. And a softball game. Other than that, I'm a blank.

The weekend is more in focus. Today, I was trying to upload my pictures from the weekend, and by sheer stupidity, disconnected my camera from the computer before they actually uploaded and proceeded to delete the entire shebang. I am very annoyed, because I had some nice ones of my friends from Friday night.

Saturday was more chill. I mostly did some laundry around the house while Rick worked on a project in the garage. Then after he left, I took a nap. It was a good nap. Then, Rick and Peter came over and I made very tasty tacos and we all rode our bikes to Bud's Bar for a couple of drinks. The only problem was the ride home. See, I live in a very dark and semi-creepy part of town, while the guys live in the main part of town. They didn't want me to take the lonely dirt trail under the overpass by myself (and neither did I), so I was convinced to ride on the main road. It sucked because I couldn't see anything and was afraid I'd be hit by a car or simply drive off the road and fall into a ditch, not to be found until morning. I'm guessing I won't be doing any more nighttime biking unless I move to town. Scary.

On Sunday, I slept in. After I got up and messed around the house a bit, I rode my bike to Rick's. He drove Peter and me, and the boys' bikes to Curt Gowdy for the day. The guys mountain biked and I hiked around the park. I had a better time than I thought I would. Hiking alone has never appealed to me for a few reasons. First, I grew up hearing about people getting lost or injured at least once a week during the summer. Second, I'm a woman and have been indoctrinated by society to believe that bad things happen to women who do anything alone. And third, where I'm from, people do get robbed/raped/killed while hiking. Not all the time, but it does happen.

But I wasn't freaked out to be alone this time. I think having the guys there made the difference. They weren't right with me, but they knew where I was planning to be and about how long it would be until I was done. I'm not saying I'm ready to go it alone, but I'd do this kind of thing again. And Rick's planning to get people together to climb Medicine Bow peak in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure I'm up to it, but I want to be in the right frame of mind to try.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

lazy summer

Johnson Reservoir

This has been one of those great summer weekends. You know, the kind where nothing's really planned, but it's relaxing and fun things crop up here and there. On Friday, I went out for a couple of drinks, but my interest waned quickly. Rick, Peter, and I decided that a movie was in order, so we saw Get Smart. I didn't have high hopes at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to really enjoy it.

On Saturday morning, I met Rick to plan the big August road trip. We found a Forest Service lookout in Idaho to stay in on our way out. Looks cool, and I'm kind of excited. I rode my bike into town for the first time, and it was much quicker than I expected, taking 17 minutes from my house to Rick's, and I wasn't hurrying at all. I can definitely ride it to work sometimes, which will help me spend less on gas and get a little more exercise at the same time. I just have to figure out how to stop burning the tops of my arms while I ride--I have some seriously dorky tan lines.

Then Miriam and I walked around town a bit, stopping off at the public library's "Book Bash" in the park. The music was kind of good, but we eventually wandered away to get lunch at Fat Burrito. Then we went back to the house, where I crashed hard for two hours, probably because I was sunburned. I finally rode my bike back home, with some wandering about just for fun. I can't quite ride up the ramp to the footbridge because I am weak. But I made it halfway up before having to walk the bike. Maybe by the end of the summer.

Today, it felt like I'd slept in really late, so I was surprised to see it was only 8:44 when I got up. I didn't have anything planned and was lazing about with a book and a half-baked idea to gas up the car and grocery shop, when Addie called and asked if I wanted to go with her and Sondra to swim in a reservoir off of 34. So that's what we did, and it was great. The water was c-c-cold, but it felt so good. I took some pictures of the scenery and just had a nice day with fun, laid back people. And hey, Peter just texted, so maybe there will be some more fun to be had before work tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

cloud



I used Wordle to make a cloud from the text of my last several posts here. Very revealing.

why my trip was awesome



















home again

The weekend trip was really nice. I jammed a lot into a short amount of time, but it was still pretty relaxing. Well, the travel part was anything but relaxing, but the time in the northwest was great. I left kind of in a messy rush on Thursday afternoon. I think I just wasn't ready to make that drive to Denver again so soon after coming back from Loex, because I was really dreading it. Then finding all the outer lots full and having to park in the more expensive "economy" lot was annoying, as was the endless delays at the baggage check and security. What really burned me was that the lines were very short, but the few airline and TSA folks working that day were unable to complete any transaction without much jackassery.

After a very uncomfortable flight jammed next to two space invaders and in front of a screaming toddler, I arrived in Seattle just before midnight. My parents and the dogs were there to greet me and take me home. I have to say that staying at my parents' house is kind of weird. It's not the place I grew up in, nor the house they lived in for about ten years of my adult life (which had been my grandparents'), so I don't really feel connected to it. But my mom always makes an effort to make it fun and comfortable. She fixes up the spare room really nicely and has Kiehl's stuff in the bathroom. It's sweet.

Mom and I spent half the day on Friday at malls. We found a pretty cute dress at Nordstrom and had it taken in a little to fix some gappage issues. There was another dress I would have loved to have also, but I don't really need a nearly $200 silk tank dress for rambling around Laramie. Another weird but nice thing about going home is the sameness, even as new development goes up all around. We saw my favorite eyebrow/facial technician when we were at lunch, and all my favorite salespeople at the Northgate Nordstrom. We started at the closer, less satisfactory store, but ended up heading back to Northgate. There's something comfortable about shopping at the same department store I've been going to since I was a tiny kid.

It was nice not to have to spend the entire day shopping--I was pretty malled-out by noonish. On Friday evening, we chilled out at home, and Mom gave me a spa-style pedicure and manicure, which was amazing. Seriously, it was the same exact thing I've paid $70 for in the past. She even has a paraffin pot and all the same supplies as the spa.

On Saturday, I got to laze around a bit and then go over to see SJ, Pete, and Strudel! SJ made us an amazing green curry for lunch, and we sat outside and watched the chickens cluck around th yard. It was a nice visit and I was sad I couldn't stay longer. I then headed to Melanie's, where we got all dressed up and ran to Ballard to pick up the cupcakes from Cupcake Royale and take them to the wedding site. The wedding was lovely. I loved how relaxed and really personal and fun the whole thing was. I got to see lots of people I miss and just enjoy seeing my friends get married.

THEN, Mel and I got up on Sunday morning and drove down to Portland. We stopped on the way down for lunch at East West in Tacoma. Since Mel started working in Seattle, I have little reason to hit Tacoma, so it's been a while. The food was lovely and the weather was nice, making the rest of the drive even better. We hit Portland around 3pm, too early to check into the White Eagle. We poked around the neighborhood a bit, finding a cute coffee shop for the next morning, the Ethiopian restaurant for dinner later that evening, and the venue for the Old 97's show. Sadly, as it was Sunday, hardly anything was open.

After checking in, we went over to the Widmer Bros. brewery and tried the beer sampler. Vic met up with us for one more beer before we walked up the hill to dinner at Queen of Sheba, which was great. I had a chicken and mushroom dish that was so good I ate a little too much. Vic was able to score a ticket to the sold-out show, so the three of us were able to have a tiny MPHS class of '92 reunion all evening. The Wonder Ballroom is nice, so it really felt like a theater instead of a nightclub. But it was hot as heck in there, so I felt like my jeans were shrinking as I stood there. It would have been fun to hang out a while after the show, but it was late and Vic had to catch the train back to his hotel. How cool is it that he lives in PDX now!

On Monday, Mel and I hit the cute coffee shop for breakfast before beating feet back to Washington. We stopped in Olympia for lunch at the Spar, which was nostalgic for me. I haven't been there since I was a kid, but my grandpa used to take us there. I didn't realize it was a McMenamin's now, but I'm really happy about it. They've saved some really cool properties that might otherwise be long gone. After lunch, we wandered around the historic downtown a little and did some shopping at Compass Rose, which has a lot of the local indie arts and crafts I like. It was so hard not to buy one of Faryn Davis's pieces, which I've admired for a long time. Mel dropped me at Sea-Tac, which was awesome of her. That place is torn up right now. It was hard saying goodbye knowing she's heading for Oxford soon and I won't see her until we're both back in Seattle in August.

Travel home was just as annoying as it was on the way west. Again, very few lines, but inefficient and unhelpful staff. For some reason, all the security lanes were open, but every other metal detector was closed. So two lines of people had to merge together while their stuff went through different x-ray machines. It was a total c.f. My flight was delayed and I had a somewhat upsetting phone conversation while I waited at the gate. Then the luggage took forever to arrive at baggage claim, and by the time I drove onto the interstate, it was almost 10pm. My arrival in Laramie was pretty late, but I had a surprisingly okay time of it this morning.

I just know that while I'm ready to be back here in town for a good while, I'm really missing home. At the same time, I missed this place and the people here while I was away. I just wish coming back had been easier.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

we could drown ourselves in a flood of sunshine

It's so pretty today. I was walking back from A&S after lunch with Rick, and Prexy's was so green and the breeze and sun felt so nice. This is totally corny, but my internal soundtrack kicked in and The Posies' "Flood of Sunshine" played in my head.



I considered stopping and taking some pictures, but decided to just enjoy the moment. I did snap a few pics on the porch of A&S, and here's one that's not of Rick's bruised ankle.

IMG_3463

Very nice. It should be a great evening for a baseball game.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Monday, June 02, 2008

the weekend

It was as busy as ever this weekend. On Friday, I joined Peter and friends to help celebrate his one-year anniversary of living in Laramie. It's a big milestone, as I well remember, so going out for drinks is warranted. Only one photo survives from my own first Laramie anniversary, which might be a good thing.

On Saturday, Rick and I co-hosted a barbecue at my place. I don't spend a lot of time at home, let alone have people over, so it was kind of a nice change of pace. We had a good crowd of fun people and lots of tasty food. This picture cracks me up because Amye's getting swarmed by little girls.
may 035
The sunset was really pretty that evening, and I managed to snap a couple of shots. People stayed until dark, and seemed to have fun. I did, too.

pretty sunset

Then, on Sunday, Peter came over and got my bike road-ready. We took a ride to the Greenbelt, which I didn't realize was so close to my place until Rick told me how to get there the other day.

We tooled around on most of it, but had to go around the section that's underwater right now. By the way, City of Laramie, you need to get some info up online. This is the only map I could come up with and it suxxx. It's nothing new, but I'm always aggravated because the city site is lame and unhelpful, and most businesses here lack even a basic website. Welcome to Laramie, where it's still 1995 in many ways.

greenbelt2_jpeg

Finally, I got to cap off the weekend with the home opener for the Laramie Colts on Sunday night. For two summers, I've been meaning to go to some games, but never got around to it. Baseball's fun, even when the opposing team has trouble fielding the ball. Laramie won over Greeley, 9-4. For once, I forgot to bring my camera because it wasn't in my purse as usual. I had to make do with my phone, which was no match for the safety net in front of us. Ah, well.

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The end result of my weekend outside is below.

can you tell I'm