not that you care, but:

right now I am eating the best salad EVER. I bought it this morning at whole foods. it's pre-made and, of course, was a expensive. it's a little salad and I stood in the salad aisle for a while, wondering whether or not this little salad was worth $3.99. I thought it wouldn't be but I bought it anyway. and, to my surprise, I'd say it's actually worth $4.25. super yummy. super, super, super yummy!

hi. I'm an aunt.



isn't he cute? :)

we all have those days at work every once in a while but in my new position, I have this new coworker who seems to be one of those people who, as my friend Mike would say, "lifts herself up on the misfortunes of others" and so she hasn't been the most cooperative/helpful person and so I think my day can best be summed up with this.

anyway, it's not all bad. we ran a timed mile in boot camp today and I shaved almost a minute off my time from four weeks ago. seeing as four weeks ago, my time was 8:30, that's not so bad.

it's the little things

why does it bother me so much when people say things like "purvent" instead of prevent? why do I even notice these things?

I wonder if it bothers those people that I say "intresting" instead of interesting.

life is fun

I just ordered four jumbo inflatable monkeys.

8:19 on Sunday night and again, where has the weekend gone? Well, actually, here's where it went: Friday night Boy and I went to the Boulder Chop House for steak. I've never been on a steak date before and it was kind of fun and utterly indulgent.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the mountains to hike Mt. Bierdstat, one of Colorado's 14ers. It's one of the easier 14ers, only 7 miles round trip and a few thousand feet of elevation gain. It's the second 14er that I've hiked and while it's awesome to make it to the top, I'm not sure I care if I hike another 14er again. I mean, seriously, it's hard to breath up there. On top of that, 14ers aren't really all that pretty. It's incredibly barren and rocky at the top and while you get a good view - neh. It's s'okay. Still, the wild flowers were beautiful on the hike and we got a good sense of accomplishment for the weekend. We also went to the outlets in Silverthorne when we were done. That was good too.

So then today... well today I haven't done a whole lot of much - cleaned a bit, hung out with some friends, watched a lot of Man vs. Wild, and spent some quality time with the doggie. Good stuff. Oh, and I finally uploaded my pictures to flicker. Here they are!

so if you've read the NY Times article below (if you haven't, go read it and then come back to this post): I don't have a lot going on at work right now so I was out on the web, perusing media type websites to try to see learn about the latest trend that will, a few months/years from now, be reversed by the latest trend. while at mediabistro, I noticed they have a section for pictures from their parties and events and so, just for the heck of it and because I recently read that NYTimes article, I took a look at some of them. and... wouldn't you know it but in two out of the three cities I checked out, I found people that I know. three events. two people. I could even say that I found 2.5 people because in the third city, the one guy looked really, really similar to someone I used to know. these 2.5 people are definitely the type of people who would want to be part of the scene, part of the photo installation, etc and I literally laughed out loud at my discoveries. life has funny coincidences like that some times.

I liked this article. it's good.

so my boot camp was on the Today show yesterday as part of a story about boot camps across the country. if you wanna see it, go here , go to Tuesday's Videos, and scroll down until you see "Fitness boot camp gains fans."

I've gotta tell you, ours looks a lot more gentle than the one that's run by the marine guy. Although today we did run up the side of a mountain again. Like ten times. And twice, our cute, perky, blond instructor made us do lunges up the side of the mountain. I asked her if I had accidentally turned into the parking lot for hell instead of the parking lot for the trail. She said she was going to take that as a compliment, then laughed sadistically and told me to do jumping lunges for a minute.

the waiting game

I rode my bike to work today and while it is not actually raining outside, there is thunder type stuff and, most horribly, a strong wind from the west. I ride from east to west to get home so I'm sitting at my desk waiting it out. there's a patch of blue sky off in the distance so about thirty more minutes and I should be good. and that's fine, I need a bit of a break before I ride home. I just got done with a two hour meeting where I took five pages of notes on all of the work I need to get done by January of next year. it's a little overwhelming, but in a good way. however, the crazy thing is... I still don't really have a lot of work to do. because we only recently (last month) became this new company thing that we are, people are still trying to figure out things like our strategy, our direction, our message, etc. until they get those things in place, there's nothing for me to do but sit back, enjoy the meetings and wait for the flood gates to open. not all that different than sitting here waiting for the journey home to begin, hoping the flood gates won't open while I'm on the road.

home again, home again

jiggity jig.

I was once again in Pittsburgh this past weekend. my entire family was in town for a surprise 60th birthday party for my Aunt Judy. I think she was fairly surprised, especially since her birthday isn't for another month.

again, it was sort of a whirlwind, non-stop trip. party on Friday night, breakfast with mom Saturday morning, then lunch with the cousins, haircut, and kennywood all on Saturday. I flew out early Sunday morning and was back in Boulder by noon. I spent the afternoon napping. whew.

this was the first time the whole family has been together in about five years. it's funny how your family has the ability to make you feel more comfortable and at home (and sometimes more crazy) than anybody else. it was a really, really good weekend and I wish I could have stayed for the french toast casserole thing they were all having at brunch on Sunday but I had to be back in Boulder sooner than later. I'll try to get my pictures uploaded in the next day or two...

what, exactly, is linkedin and why are we all using it?

I hate to keep giving you guys boot camp updates all the time but it's probably the most major thing I have going on right now and, well, it's pretty major. this morning we ran up the side of a mountain five times (six if you count the warm up). and if that wasn't enough, in between each run up the mountain, we did all sorts of strength training exercises. I'm starting to think this is slight insanity.

the other major thing is that I've started to start my new job, meaning I've been invited to a lot of meetings. I think that when you're part of the communications department, a good portion of your job is taken up by "communicating" with the rest of the communications department, hence all the meetings. and that's fine with me, so long as there are donuts (or even doughnuts).

not to be disuaded by the bootcamp fatigue, I think boy and I are going for a hike in the mountains this weekend. we were going to go on the 4th of July but we got a good 20 or 30 minutes outside of town when I realized that I had forgotten my shoes. oopsie.

*the opinions expressed in this post are in now way intended to make it seem like I think I'm without flaws.

I've often said that dogs are like people but with more fur.

for the past few days I've been watching my transgendered neighbor's dogs while she's off hiking in the mountains. (now I know you might say "is the fact that she's transgendered really important?" and the answer is that yes, it is. well, maybe it is. anyway, it factors in later so hang in there.) at first this dog (named Harry) comes off as as incredibly social and mellow. he's constantly wagging his tail in a happy little way and wanting me to pet him. however, as I found out Sunday night, there is much unhappiness beneath the little guy's surface.

Sunday was officially Abby's 12th birthday so I had a little party for Abby's doggie friends and their owners. I went to PC's pantry and got special treats for the "kids." I bought frosty paws. and I even made goodie bags for the road (you know, like you used to get at parties in grade school). Harry seemed to be having a good time at the party but then, later that night... Harry (who is something like five or six) tried (a few times) to pick a fight with Abby.

I was brushing my teeth when the first time it happened. I'm guessing the first fight started like the second one (which I saw go down): Harry got a little too close to abby for comfort and she sent out her typical "dude, back off" warning (which is just a tiny little bark). while most dogs react with something like "geez, okay. chill out. I'll go do my own thing..." (we're in Boulder. dogs talk like that here.) instead, Harry's reaction was (head cocked to the side in a punk like way) "oh, so you wanna fight? well we can fight!"

dude, come on. there's just no need.

needless to say, I was incredibly pissed at Harry and he's been spending a lot of time enjoying the view from my balcony these past few days. but then I started to think of the people I've known who have acted the same way: incredibly social, intentionally projecting a laid-back image and then, for seemingly no reason at all, they attack. at first it's bewildering (seriosly, I've never seen Abby look so confused) and then it's just annoying because, and I know I'm repeating myself here, dude, there's just no need.

obviously, the over-socialness is a sign of insecurity and the need for acceptance (Harry's constant need for attention, some people's constant need for attention from the opposite sex, the need to always win everything, etc).

I know that I should feel sorry for these people/dogs. they are confused, insecure, and generally unhappy inside. can harry really help the confusion when his owner is (by no choice of her own) sending out so many mixed signals about who/what she is?

but at the same time, despite what some have thought, my purpose in life (and Abby's) is not for you to work out your issues. I'm not here so that you can try to make yourself feel better by making me feel bad. (and in case you haven't figured it out, making other people feel bad, kind of makes you feel bad too...)

sometimes I think it would make me feel better if these people (and dogs) - and I know you know who you are - could just tell me "you know, I was kind of horrible to you for reasons that had nothing to do with you..." they don't even have to appologize. realizing the behavior is enough. but then I know that part of what makes these people (and dogs) so unhappy is the same thing that will keep them from being able to admit what they've done. and honestly, what makes me feel better is knowing I'm not like them.

hang in their Harry. your mommy(?) is coming for you soon. besides, the view from the balcony is rather nice, isn't it?