Chocolates & Such

When I was a little girl, I loved a book called "Mrs. Know-It-All." At least, I think that was what it was called--I'm 99% sure but I spent a bunch of time googling so I could share the cover image, and I cannot find it! I think it's an older book.

Anyway, in this book a woman, Mrs. Know-It-All comes to a boarding school for little girls. She has all the answers until a stodgy teacher asks her one question she can't answer: "What is the largest room in the world?" She promises to stay until she finds the answer. (Ok, I'm getting a bit confused...it may be that she asks them the question and promises to stay until they answer. I wish it weren't so late so I could verify with my family; they know the book as well. Anyway.) Mrs. Know-It-All is enchanting but here's my favorite thing about her: She has a never ending box of chocolates. Once in a while she lets one of the little girls have one.

Sigh, who wouldn't love a never ending box of chocolates?

Well, I may just have my own never ending box now. My roommate Elise's boyfriend gave us the most gigantic box of chocolates I have ever seen as a housewarming gift.


It doesn't fit on any of our shelves or in any cupboards. It is a double-decker box. It is serious business.


{That says 2 POUNDS.}

So, I've been eating a lot of chocolates. I can only hope that they actually never run out. It should at least take a little while.

What else is new?


For dinner my roommate J. Gibbs made this delicious baked potato with egg on top meal. You bake the potato, carve out the inside and mash it with bacon, cheese, etc. You then scoop the mixture back in and crack an egg on top and bake it some more. Um, delicious!


I finally put up photos on my gorgeous green/gray/blue wall and I am really loving it. Also loving that new Target mirror.
The biggest thing in my life right now is this joyous piece of news:

My brother-in-law is home from Afghanistan! I spent a good long time crying with joy when my sister sent me the news and the photo of Chris reuniting with his son and wife at long last. I have never felt more in the spirit of Thanksgiving than now. Happy Monday! And happy thanksgiving week!

Monday-Saturday

My days off from work are Monday and Wednesday...so my "Saturday" was today. Sometimes it's sad being at work when everyone is out and about and off when the world is working, but I make the best of it. And it's great to run errands when everyone's at school/work.

My working-weekend and my day off were both very enjoyable this past week. My sister's childhood best friend Lainey was in town to meet the little stud-muffin (nephew) and to visit. Sunday night after work we had a long, leisurely and glorious dinner at Macaroni Grill. I greatly enjoyed conversation and wine over an array of tapas, entree salads and dessert. We took our time and had a wonderful time.

Today was an absolutely incredible Autumn Day. It was on the warm side, actually, at about 70-75 degrees but the sunlight streaming through red and orange leaves was perfection. After growing up in woodsy Pennsylvania I was sad to move out to my suburb in Colorado where the landscape featured sticks in the ground which they insisted on calling trees. They had supports to hold them up. They were shorter than I was. But here we are eleven years later and I found myself amidst a heaping pile of leaves in the front yard. When did the trees grow up? When did we get leaves? I LOVED it (but was secretly happy it wasn't my job to rake them up.) This morning I went home to catch up with the fam (read: love on my nephew) and we had a little Penn State/Eagles photo shoot with Lainey & G-man.

Later on we (Jen, Lainey, myself) decided to drive about ten minutes away to Daniel's Park. I love the park--it's in the "back country" and has incredible views of the open land leading up to the foothills and the mountains themselves. It was a bit hazy today, but still breathtaking. I love going up there because it's close to home and yet it removes you a bit and gives you room to decompress.

I loved that from where we were I could see out to the lakes near my new apartment.

After driving back to Littleton (my new digs) I grabbed my roommate J. Gibbs and we went to explore nearby Clement Park. I fell even more in love with our new stomping grounds! Clement Park is huge, it puts Highlands Ranch's little town park to shame. It features a beautiful large lake and lots of open field space. Their are sports fields, playgrounds and a beautiful Columbine HS memorial (the HS backs up the the park.) We spent until sunset walking around the lake and exploring.

I love this last shot because it's actually a distant view of the cliffs of Daniel's Park where I was earlier in the day.

To top off a lovely day, I came home to flowers sent from my most darling bestie Tina (of the epic NYC trip and all of college). I couldn't believe how sweet and thoughtful she was to want to celebrate my new apartment from afar with housewarming flowers! Actually, I could totally believe it--she's always been like that.

Despite a few set-backs in my day, I really enjoyed the people and the places with which I spent my time. I hope your weekend and/or your Monday was equally enjoyable.

That time I almost didn't blog in October

October has been a very busy and exciting month for me and in the whirlwind it looks like I've lost my ability to type words and share pictures. I've been equal parts happy and exhausted but I didn't really want to look back at my archives and see a big blank nothing for October 2011. So here's what's been kickin'...

*I received my Hufflepuff shirt so I could continue to show my Hufflepuff House pride.



*I began packing up the room I've lived in (off & on) since I was 11. I've moved out, but my stuff has never left...until now. I found lots of things, put 900 photos into albums and reminisced a lot.





(my first cell phone; gear from my first midnight Harry Potter; my first homecoming; my first lead role; a bday mix cd featuring my first "ships".)

*I phone chatted several times with bestie Tina and we discussed how we are turning a bit into each other, probably in an attempt to compensate for our absence in each other's lives. Tina loves dark colors--her wardrobe consists of a lot of black. I wear bright happy colors whenever possible. But now with my new job half my closet has turned black! Not to mention I bought the same bedspread she has...in a dark color! She in turn has started wearing bright colors and it's weirding her out.

*My nephew continued to grow cuter and tightened his permanent grip around my heart. He turned 6 months a few days ago!




*I celebrated Abbi's 20th birthday and decided I love her more each day. We painted fabulous aspen trees with mini-TARDISes hidden away and laughed a lot. We had a moment where we laughed so hard we bumped heads and that only made us laugh harder. You know.



*I moved out of said childhood room and took all of my stuff this time. I lived alone for four years of college in a state 4 states away and then I lived alone in Spain, so I'm no stranger to independence and survival....and yet this feels like my first real big girl apartment. I think it's because I'm only 15 minutes from home but all of my stuff is with me that this feels so real. But I am in love with my place and the city we (my 2 roommates/HS friends) live in. Here are some "crappy camera phone pics" per Lauren's request.

So here I am in my new beautiful apartment and I'm pretty content with life. Things don't seem to be slowing down, but that's perfectly fine with me...for now.

How has your October been? Tell me things!

{Did you notice all these photos are two thumbs down? Yeah something weird happened when I sent them from my phone to the 'nets and they're all blurry and crappy and sad. Sorry...I decided to blog anyway.}

Communion

"i thank god for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
& for the blue dreams of sky & for everything which is natural,
which is infinite, which is yes."
— E.E. Cummings

I ended up in the mountains today. My beautiful, refreshing mountains.

This was my last Sunday off and my last two days together off for a long time to come, so I was torn on whether to spend them at our cabin or at my favorite church back home. In the end I took the winding roads over the divide to find a little solace and fresh air. I needed to breathe and decompress and give my emotions some room to expand.



While I wasn't able to go to church, I certainly communed with God.









I am grateful for the chance to escape and hike (7 miles!) through awe-inspiring terrain. I am grateful for the absolute and complete beauty of the things that God and God alone created. I am grateful for my mother who will spread a comforter on the back porch and curl up under a blanket with me just so we can better stare at the infinite wonder of the night sky and lose ourselves in the incredible breadth of it all.

I am grateful for the precious moments we, each of us, can find in our ordinary lives.

City Lights

Tonight, Jen needed air. The both of us were in our pajamas already, my sweet little nephew tucked in his crib. She handed the monitor over to Grandma and we hopped in the car to seek some unnamed escape, some hidden solace. We landed at Starbucks, the grocery store and finally my look-out spot.

Where the hill crests and the road bends, the land opens up and you can look out for miles-- all the way over the suburb and the suburb next to it and the one next to that. In the distance the buildings of Denver stand a bit taller than the rest and yet they look impossibly tiny in the scope of things. The city lights twinkle in every direction and in this one spot you can even look up and see stars. The blinking and twinkling lights end suddenly at a darkened mass, the invisible mountains. It is all there before you, somehow alive and moving and pulsing with the multicolored lights, but you can stand back and breathe deeply. Just observe.

So tonight we drank salted caramel hot chocolates. And wandered grocery aisles in our jammies carrying a bundle of bananas. And we talked up on the hill, a little bit away from it all.

A week in my life

This past week has been...wonderful is too weak of a word. It has been blissful and blessed and fun and rejuvenating and hopeful and chock-full of the Doctor.

About a week ago, I met Abbi. You remember. I sort of *pulled a Ted with Abbi. We'd only been on our first friend date when I proclaimed "let's be best friends." Luckily, she agreed.


{Abbi has adorable new glasses! I want them.}

Then I left for a refreshing four day mountain getaway with my family (and we lamented our distance and texted a lot.)

{The most peaceful spot for a mountain picnic.}

{Could baby G be any cuter? That little sweatshirt gets me every time.}



{I had a very specific idea in mind for this photo--I wanted my hands to be pointing to directly where sis & dad were across the lake. My mom couldn't understand the concept and we had a good laugh over all her failed attempts. The next photo is what I wanted it to look like.}


Once we were back in the same city, Abbi and I re-commenced hanging out and chattering as though we'd known each other since we were 10, which is truly what it feels like.


Since I met Abbi, my blessings seem to have multiplied. This summer has been a trying time for me as I felt far from friends, spent months searching fruitlessly for a job, and looked for more of a sense of purpose in my life. Everything has been building slowly, but this week things seemed to click. Meeting and finding such a good friend in Abbi was a breath of fresh air. We literally spent three hours chatting at Noodles & Co on Monday night, followed by fro-yo and front-porch chatting and we never ran out of things to relate and talk about. To be blunt: It was just so so much fun.

Meeting Abbi also led me to learn about a job opportunity. I interviewed for the position on Wednesday, came back in for a follow-up today, and I had only just made it back home when I got the call offering me the job. And I took it. I'm employed!

Ok, so I can't assign all the credit for my happy week to Abbi, but it's been so lovely the way quite a few things I've looked for have come together this week. Timing is everything and I knew that if I kept asking God for what I needed, he would provide when the time was right.

Also this week: I cut my hair off and I love it; I fell in love with Doctor Who (post to come); I did a volunteer orientation to start working with children's literacy through my local library; I ate a lot of icecream; I loved on my nephew.


I hope all of you find yourselves blessed with what you need. If you aren't there yet, don't give up. Keep asking. And most importantly...don't stop believing. (I had to.)

Abbi: Thank you for becoming my instant friend and not being scared away by my enthusiasm. I can't wait for many more Doctor Who texts and hang out sessions to come.


*Ted is a character on "How I Met Your Mother" who is infamous for falling hard for girls after only one date, even going so far as to say "I love you" on a first date.