I Heart the Internet

A friend of mine introduced me to a website today. A website that could quite possibly be written about me. It's call Stuff White People Like. Lest you think I'm racist or something, it's spot on social satire and based on what I read I'm surprised the authors haven't written to ask me to be on the cover of their book or their website. I have been entirely unmotivated this morning and browsed through a lot of this site. There's plenty of content there though, I'm sure I will find many more tidbits :)


For those of you keeping track, my car (or more correctly, The-car-formerly-known-as-Maria's) has made it safely to Michigan. The hand-off on Saturday morning was seamless. I can not say enough about how helpful the customer service people at RTD are. I called there, explained my situation and without looking anything up, the guy on the other end of the line gave me great advice without even hesitating. Not only that, after telling me where to go along I70, he went on to list all sorts of things about Western Michigan, I was almost sad he was a customre service person and we had to hang up! Everything he said proved to be true, the Walmart was right off the highway and two busses pulled up while I was explaining the quirks my car has. I hopped right onto one of them and had no problem getting home. My first car-free weekend was fun. I didn't miss the car at all, and got a couple decent walks in. Next up is my mission to find a good bike and a granny cart.

So Long, Farewell

Today is the last day with my car. I plan to take it to a nice candlelit dinner to let it know how much I appreciate it and how much I'm going to miss it. Well - actually I'm going to wash it and give it a full tank of gas, something makes me thing it'll appreciate that just as much.

I am ready to pass this car along to it's next driver. I've been feeling off much of this week and the only thing I can track it back to is that I think I'm not as ready to be carless as I thought. I'm realizing that deep down, in some core place, I'm anxious that not having a typical form of transportation is going to leave me more isolated than I already am. I realize in my head, that I'm only as isolated as I allow myself to be. That how connected I am or feel has nothing to do with transportation and everything to do with a load of other things. As usual, it's taking the rest of me much longer to accept and live out what I believe in my head to be true.

My Latest Claim to Fame

I've been quoted in the newspaper once or twice. The first time was in Calvin's newspaper - the Chimes, then I was quoted in the Holland Sentinel, then my blog was quoted in the Wall Street Journal Online Edition and now (drumroll please) I've been quoted in the Rocky Mountain News. Yesterday Alison and I went down to Civic Center Park for the Wednesday Farmers Market. I like going down there because I can get lunch and pick up some of the fruits and veggies I need for the week. Last week Meghan and I went, this week I went with Alison. While we were eating our lunch sitting on some benches and enjoying some cloud cover (yup - enjoying cloud cover) a reporter came and asked us about why we were there, what we thought of the park etc. Turns out I'm one of a few people who actually buys produce there - even though yesterday one farmer was selling half a bag for only $5! I got fresh green beans, summer squash zucchini, cucumber, sweet corn and a green pepper all for $5. Total steal! In any case our sentiments of enjoying the market but not feeling safe in the park was communicated even though he chose not to use Alison's great quote about "wanderers". On a separate note the savory crepes he mentioned are absolutely worth the $8 - so tasty.

T Minus 9 Days

I am 9 days away from being blissfully car free. As I've metioned here and here I've been trying to sell my car. I've had signs in the window, posted it on craigslist and talked to person after person who flaked out. After 6 months of trying to sell the car, my Dad has decided to take it off my hands, presumably for my little sister to drive. My job in the next 9 days is to make sure it'll make it across the country and then to meet friends of my parents at an exit off I-70 for the exchange!

Fridge in Heaven

Or perhaps I should call this post Highway to Hell - you decide. In any case, even though this is not a shot of my fridge, I did have one of these beautiful mini-kegs in my fridge until last night. I still have one left, and hopefully I'll be able to grab another mini-keg or two when I'm in Michigan in a couple months. (Crossing my fingers that they're still brewing it over Labor Day.)

I can not say enough that Bell's Oberon Ale is the perfect summer beer. It's refreshing and delicious and last night I, along with a few great friends, savored and enjoyed it sitting on a backyard patio, relaxing, talking, and eating. It was a perfect summer evening.

Even Though Dad Doesn't Belive in Organic Food

Well ladies and gentlemen I just signed me up for some new therapy - nutrition therapy - and let me tell you, I am excited!

In the last few months I've learned through experience that I really don't need to eat as much as I have been eating. I pulled the cabbage soup diet a couple of times, and also had a couple big allergy attacks that killed my appetite. After the last allergy attack, my appetite has never fully returned and I realized I was eating way more than I actually need and have since dropped to my lowest weight since probably college. Paired with that, I began to notice a direct correllation between eating less processed, more local food and feeling so so much better. My digestive issues are much more subdued and I can eat a piece of pizza or a small (small) ice cream cone with not much problem. I was starting to wonder whether I just had a situation where process toxins were building up in my system and making me feel lousy.

As I was making this effort to eat more local food (and a lot less meat) a nutritionist gave a talk at a meeting at work. (Those blasted meetings are a topic for another blog post.) She talked about body typing, and I don't mean that I'm pear shaped. It's more of looking at how your body deals with food and has something to do with how your glands work. From there you can make better choices about how much protien, sugar etc. to have in your diet, and when in the course of the day your body is better ready to deal with food. I'm way oversimplifying here, but this is what I remember from her presentation.

In any case, I was sold, and I'm going to start meeting with her in a couple of weeks. I hope to learn more ways to eat to make my body happy and feel better. Plus - I hope this helps me shed these last few hanging on pounds!

Half Day

Today I am thankful for the benefits of working for my company. Our office closes at 1:00 today and barring any major emergency (seriously, no one is going to die if this brochure isn't finalized) I get to leave early and I don't have to be back until Monday morning! Between a real holiday and the floating holiday I used as a vacation day this past Monday I have a 2 1/2 day week. Pretty awesome.


I've had a lot on my mind this week. One major thing is this question of whether I'm selling myself short by working at my current position. I'm sure someone could make the case to me that I am, and they would have reasons and logic and passion. I however, don't think that I am.

First, I'm in a supporting role. As much as I don't love having the title "Senior Administrative Assistant" I know that while I'm creative, I'm not a visionary. I'm good at taking what someone else has started and making it better. I'm not as strong when it comes to starting things from scratch. I have plenty of leadership qualities, I just realize, based on past job experience, that I'm still developing those skills and they're not ready to be unleashed full time. I'm hoping to get there, and, I'm 28 for crying out loud.

Second, I do have the opportunity to be creative. Within boundaries, certainly, and creative nonetheless. The more I cultivate this creative side, the more I realize that I feel most alive when I'm being creative, or am around creative people.

Third, I am paid well enough to live comfortably without having to burn the midnight oil. I crave balance almost as much as I crave creativity. This job is giving me the opportunity to fall into a rhythm of life that looks balanced. I haven't been using that opportunity to its fullest, and, like thing 1 and thing 2, this job offers me the opportunity for growth.

Fourth, I'm building relationships. I crave this too, and the job has led me to people I never would have met otherwise. I hope to find friendship and relationship all over, and yet, the job is offering something that's pretty rare at the moment - friendship.

I think the realization I've come to is that I'm not there. I'm never going to be "there," whatever that means. This job leaves me so much opportunity for personal growth and I truly believe (as I did when I took this position) that it's the right place for right now. When it's not the right place, I'll move again. I do hope however that moving jobs is not in my near future.

Yes! Michigan

I can still sing the song from the Michigan tourism commercials that aired during my childhood - Yes! Michigan, the feeling forever. That random exclamation mark is not mine - it was added by the marketing peeps.

Yes! I was in Michigan this past weekend. My friend Misty and her husband Jeff were celebrating their wedding with a reception at Johnson Park. I enjoyed the reception and the weekend. In fact on Saturday night as I was crawling into bed I realized I had done so many of my favorite things in one day, and Monday as I flew back I realized I had done so many of my favorite things that weekend. So - in lieu of a boring itinerary, here are a few of my favorite things about Michigan. (in no particular order)

The Fulton Street Farmer's Market: No, and I mean No, farmers market in Denver can ever compare to a farmers market in Michigan. This market was full of farmers, not sauces, skirts, dog treats and prepared food. I loved that you could barely move, and that there were so many choices that it felt like a challenge and a sport to find the very best produce at the very best price. Plus, there were whoopie pies right Joy? The farmers markets here should be called community markets, sure there may be one or two farmers there, but they're certainly not the focus.

The People: I got to see so many people this weekend - my family, friends, random people I ran into on accident, and Burt. Joy, Burt and I got to spend a lot of time together this weekend and it was wonderful. I wish that someone would invent an easier way to travel quickly like teleporting or something so that I could see these lovely people more often, but still live out here in Denver.

The Beach: I felt the sand between my toes. Nothing can compare to that feeling! On Sunday Burt, Joy and I went out to Grand Haven. They were having a little arts festival (I was unimpressed) and then we sat out on the channel for a while and eventually walked out to the end of the pier. It was a bit chilly (way to go random Michigan weather) but it sure was nice to walk barefoot down the pier and feel that sand.

Oberon: I love Oberon. I got to drink plenty of it, at the wedding and then out afterwards. Burt also opened my eyes to the 5 liter mini-keg of Oberon which was so much easier to get back to Denver than trying to pack up a bunch of bottles. More beer, less glass. What more can a girl ask for? I'm looking forward to sitting in the backyard, grilling out and enjoying the Oberon. I already have my orange wedges!

All in all it was a great weekend, and I can hardly believe that Burt will be here to visit in about a month and then I'll be back to Michigan at the end of August. What a busy summer!

We Love to Party

I have so much to update on that I'm not even sure where to begin. This weekend I was in Michigan for a wedding, but the night before I left I had the honor of hosting a Nintendo DS Girlfriend's Guide to Gaming party. When I first heard about the possibility of hosting this party I thought it was too good to be true, but I think it's the exception that proves the rule of "If it looks to good to be true, it probably is." My friends and I had a great time playing Nintendo and hanging out - here are a few pictures for your entertainment.

Here's Caiti and I playing Guitar Hero. It's so much fun on the DS, I still want to get the hang of actually pushing the buttons - I think my hands are too small or something, but Caiti was rocking it. So much so that the game told her to take a time out.


Jen, Beth and I also playing Guitar Hero - this is before they pulled out the headphones - the game is so much better when you can hear the song.

Sheralee and Vivian are playing Mario Kart in this photo - I like the perspective of the shot. (I'm not the photographer though!)

I was doing my brain age training and got 5 out of 5 on the race game where you have to keep track of what place the runner is in. Apparently this is unheard of (how cool am I!) and shortly after this picture was taken the Nintendo showed a rocket taking off - I think it meant that my brain is as awesome as a rocket scientist's brain.

The Nintendo DS has some sort of wireless or bluetooth technology (I may be a brand enthusiast, but I don't know all the technical details.) Here Caiti, Lindsey and I are racing eachother, but Meghan is playing something else.

This is kind of a busy shot, but I'm trying to show the grafitti mural on the wall behind us. It was super cool - I absolutely want to have another party in this space - it's in a weird industrial part of town, but the space was cool.


All in all I had a great time, and now my friends are snapping up Nintendo DS games like crazy and spending more hours than they'd like to admit playing with the little thing. The night was hella fun, and I'm feeling pretty lucky for the opportunity to have such a fun night with my friends. More on the trip to Michigan later.