So excited for Halloween!

I thought this was a cool picture!

In the past I've been what I will call a closet Halloween person. Wanting to make it a big deal, wanting to dress up... but never did because I never really had reason, or the people to share it with. And really I don't think Halloween is that big of a deal. But it can be very fun. My friend Michelle is a huge Halloween person, dressing up every year and going all out. Once I dressed up as Cinderella to with her to a frat house party when we were both in college. And 3 years ago I dressed up as a Gypsy to go to a party with her. Both times was lots of fun-and very different experiences in my life. I can't remember doing anything the past couple of years-but this year, this year-I've been invited to 2 parties! I'm super excited, and have a costume and everything.

Ever since I read The Great Gatsby in HS I've had a thing for the 1920's. Flapper girls were so X-rated during that time. And well I suppose I've always wanted to be X-rated, but I don't really give off that vibe, although I do know that sometimes the things that come out of my mouth can surprise the people I'm around! ;) So I'm going to be a girl from the 1920's-all the smoking and drinking. ....I HATE smoking, but it is still exciting. The dress I have to wear isn't your typical flapper dress. It's hard to describe, but it does have a 1920's flare with a shawl and hat. I'm sure I'll have pictures to share. I have the perfect shoes, and I've been looking at how to do my hair and makeup, and all of it together gets me so excited! Even better Denver has been unseasonable warm lately-today, tomorrow and Saturday will be in the 70's! Granted it won't be that nice once the sun sets, but it'll be warmer than normal. So I can dress up without having to put on a huge coat on.

Tomorrow night I'll be going to a party with my friend Ginny. Ginny is probably my closest friend in Denver. We bonded after finding out we are both from Albuquerque! She lives near me, and when she called me last night to go over plans for Halloween, and I told her I had a party to go to on Saturday, she goes "Oh, well this party is Friday. You should come with me to this party on Friday." You see this was a party Ginny was invited to, and now Ginny is invited me. So I ask her "Are you sure it is ok for me to come to this party?" She responds "Of course, you're with me!" Ginny makes me feel like I'm cool, which I appreciate. So I'm excited to go to this party. Carlos will be their-he happens to be my current crush. That gets me excited too!

Saturday night is a co-worker's party(from my previous job). Becca and her husband are throwing what will probably be a little bit more laid back type of party. I'm excited to go to see some people I haven't seen in awhile. And as always it'll be fun to possibly meet new people. ...You just never know!

Happy Halloween!

October Sucks

...for weight loss that is. I had a great September, and a not so hot October. I track my work outs by putting a "w" on the calendar for the days I go to the gym. It helps me be accountable, and I like to see when a month/year is over with how many days I went to the gym. I worked out 20 times in September, and by the time October is done with I think I'll only have 11 days for the month. Not so good. On a high note, I did however do my first 5k, and I did do a lot of walking in Chicago. The travel to Chicago, and then being sick really made me mess up my game. I haven't even worked out this week-at all(but I will work out tonight)! And now Halloween and all the candy. Oh the candy. I went grocery shopping Monday and picked up my trick or treater candy. I got Snickers, Reese's, and Baby Ruth's. All of which I enjoy. I should have picked out candy that I don't like, so that I don't eat it all! Plus I can pretty much count on left-overs. I think last year I only got 10 trick or treater's at my house. November is looking to be a crazy month. I will have guests in my house the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weekend's of the month. So I hope I can get back on track with my 5 work outs a week. Another positive is the new gym, Lifetime Fitness, opens Tuesday November 11th. I can't wait! It is SO much closer than the current gym, and it won't be such a "job" to get out the door. My drive to the new gym is 5 minutes, compared to a current 15 minuets. I have also been cooking at home-a lot. I really enjoy cooking-hate cleaning up.
Changing subjects-my job. I really like my job. And Qwest overall. I plan on retiring with Qwest, if they keep me. I celebrated 5 years with the company on October 6th. Five years with the same company! Makes me feel accomplished. For 5 years Qwest recognizes you with a gift. I picked out a cordless phone, which I will give to my dad for Christmas. Then my boss got me a card and a "Thank you" thing that my department gives out as spiffs. I got to pick out a gift from that. I selected a bunch of Corning Ware kitchen supplies. Very cool. Even cooler, when I was so sick after my return from Chicago and my other boss saw that I was sick, he emailed my other boss about recommending I go home. So they sent me home. I was so relived. I didn't know how in this new job to call-in sick, so I just came into work sick. Even better I can work from home. But I'm worried. Qwest announced today they'll be cutting 1,200 jobs by the end of quarter. The department I work for is a great department, and I feel that my boss will protect me. But you just really never know. I've gone through a lay off before, and it sucks. I don't want to go through it again. Lets hope I work out more in November, and keep my job!

Barack Obama

Taken from the slideshow @ 9news.com

I support Barack Obama. I voted for Barack Obama on Thursday. I'm not telling you to vote for Barack, I'm just telling you about my support for him.

Yesterday I went to a early voting rally in Denver at Civic Center Park, in Denver, where Obama spoke. You can read the news stories here and here, because I know I just won't do it justice.



Their were over 100,000 people at this rally. Now to put in perspective their were over 62,000 people at the Race for the Cure 5k. So I've been a part of 2 very big crowds in Denver this October! Crazy. ...But it gets me VERY excited when I think about it. The park opened at 10am, and Obama was to start speaking at 11:30am. For some reason I was thinking their wouldn't be that big of a turn out, since the DNC was here, and lots of people (I'm sure) have already seen Barack speak. Plus since I read about John McCain's visit to Albuquerque* on Saturday, and the fact that his crowd wasn't even a a full one, for some reason I figured neither would Obama's. ...I was very wrong. I left my house around 9am, and got downtown a little before 9:30am. I'm walking with the crowd to find the end of this line of people waiting. This HUGE line. While walking I was listening to a conversation with the people saying they were estimating about 25,000 people to show up. Boy, were they wrong! This line was about 10 blocks in length, and 2 blocks in depth, until I made it to the end. And people kept walking beyond me, so who knows how long this line really got. It was a like a concert. Tons and tons of volunteers, and vendors. People selling Barack Obama everything-stickers, pins, t-shirts, sweatshirts, beanies, towels, flags etc... Once I got inside the park, right around 11am it was PACKED! I walked around trying to find a place where I could see the stage-no such luck. They had a few speakers come on a little after 11:15am, with hip hop music playing in between, chants of "Obama" filling the crowds, and a couple attempts of people doing The Wave. Just like a concert the headliner came out late. Barack didn't take the stage until almost noon, but spoke for 40 minutes. It was amazing, and gave me chills. I had a little girl who was on her dad's shoulders take a picture of him for me. Then I had to have the dad tell me where he was in the picture. This guy's zoom on his camera was much better than mine, so I had him point him out to me. In the picture you can't really see him, and I'll probably post the pics so you can see, but it will probably be only me that knows where he is. I was sad that I myself didn't get to physically see him, but I did get to hear him and be a part of the crowd.



*On a side note, my cousin Kari's husband Larry is in a pretty popular band in Albuquerque called Missing Stateside. Kari and her husband are very strong McCain supporters. And one of the other members in the band-JD is related to Sarah Palin-2nd cousin I believe. Well originally some female country star was suppose to open for McCain in Albuquerque on Saturday, but she canceled. And the opener was replaced by Missing Stateside. How cool is that?! Even cooler, they got to meet him and get pictures with him. Supposedly Ben Harper was the opener for Obama-I didn't hear him, so maybe he had done his thing before I got there.



It was a great experience, and I'm so glad I went!

Go Vote!

No, I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. But I think it is important to vote. I voted yesterday! It is like my very own little piece of history. I can still remember exactly what I was doing, and who I went with the past 3 times I have voted for a president. They say this election is important, and that is true-but every election is important. This is a voice, but not just any voice your voice. Take advantage of it. I may be singing to the quire but it is true. It is a feeling that only you can give yourself, when you vote, and it is an amazing feeling! I think it would be super exciting to go and vote on election day, and I would love to go and vote on election day to get that energy that I'm sure is like nothing else. But I don't want the craziness of voting on election day. And I like to think I got some of that energy when I voted yesterday. I have never actually voted on election day. Here are my voting stories:

2000-I went with my friend Kristin. It was our first time ever voting in a presidential election. We went to an early voting place in Albuquerque, that they had on the corner of Central and Tramway. I remember it being hot. I suppose Albuquerque can be hot in October, but it was unseasonably hot. I also remember my Dad telling me to vote, that it was going to be a close race. I was working at Victoria's Secret Catalogue at the time, and I remember working on election day, and watching the updates on the news that night(I worked until 1 in the morning) and them still not knowing who the next president would be. I was so frustrated. But now I understand that it does take some time for the votes to be counted etc....

2004-I remember going to registrar to vote in the state of Colorado with Aaron. We went to the local DMV to fill out our cards. For this election I got a mail in ballot, and dropped it of on the last day that I could! I remember I was nervous, and feeling stupid for putting it off until the last day. Afraid that my vote wouldn't count. But I dropped it of in time. I remember Aaron went and voted on election day, and him telling me he had to stay in really long lines.

2008-I voted early, yesterday afternoon after I got off of work. I asked if they had been busy, and they said not really. I think a lot of people don't realize how close this is coming! It IS happening. I got an "I Voted" sticker, and put in on my purse, it has already fallen off, which makes me sad.

What are your voting stories?

I've been Tagged

My friend Rachel tagged me. Here are my responses.

Three Favorite Last Purchases:
1. Gas-to fill my tank was only $31.60-all summer its taken over $40!
2. Amaris' 1st birthday gift-a cute little outfit from Kohls.
3. All the things I bought in Chicago!

Three Fears:
1. Never getting married.
2. Never having a child.
3. Bees.

Three Favorite Movies:
1. Good Will Hunting
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Aladdin

Three Facts about me:
1. I love cooking.
2. I enjoy writing.
3. I hate to clean.

Three things I haven't done:
1. Finish College.
2. Visit my cousin in Texas.
3. Go to Hawaii.

Three things I can't live without:
1. My phone.
2. A pen and my journal.
3. My camera.

Three things on today's list:
1. Go to the gym.
2. Write in my journal.
3. Cook dinner.

Three favorite dishes:
1. Tacozagna.
2. Huevos Rancheros.
3. Mom's pork pie.

Three places I have lived:
1. Albuquerque, NM
2. Thornton, CO
3. Westminster, CO

Three favorite TV shows:
1. Grey's Anatomy.
2. Six Feet Under.
3. The Starter Wife(this is a new one)

Three places I have traveled:
1. London.
2. Rhode Island.
3. Seattle, WA

Three Favorite Desserts:
1. Tiramisu.
2. The peanut butter ice cream I had in Chicago.
3. Peanut butter milkshake-the only place I know that made one was YesterDave's in Albuquerque-I miss that place!

Three things I would buy if money wasn't an issue:
1. Travel around the world.
2. Buy my dream house.
3. Buy something cashmere.

Three wishes:
1. Keep all of my friendships.
2. Have children.
3. Not have to work, but WANT to work.

People I tag:
If you do it great, if not, that's ok too! :)

Giveaway!

So I'm really new to this whole blog thing, and thanks to my friend Emily, I believe I'm addicted. She posted about this online giveaway just now, and I have followed. Not too sure how she knows about them, but I know about them because of her. So I'm just going to copy her!

Giveaway at Petit Elefant today. I really want to win because this is my first time entering in an online giveaway!

So Cute!

Chicago Pics

Here they are for your viewing pleasure! I took over 150 pictures. Here are a handful. Enjoy.

Chicago: Driving into the city. The Sears Tower

View from the hotel: Chicago River going out into Lake Michigan

Cloud Gate AKA the Silver Bean

The Magnificent Mile Michigan Ave-if you can tell me why the street signs say "Chicago 2001" you'll earn 10 points!

Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

Yummy!

Michelle's birthday dinner. What is the blue thing in Michelle's glass you ask? On the sampler dessert we got a Cracker Jack prize-our prize: a little blue rubber fish that Michelle put in her champagne!

It was a great show!

Taken from our Shoreline Boat Tour~To the left is the Sears Tower to the right is the Hancock Tower

View of the Hancock Tower from the Sears Tower

Looking up the Sears Tower

Hancock Tower

Navy Pier

View from the Hancock Tower

Michelle and I at the top of Hancock Tower~at night(behind Michelle is the Sears Tower)

Yummy Pizza

Chicago Art Institue

Crazy Dream II

I know I know, I haven't posted pictures of Chicago. But I will, just not now.

I had another really weird dream last night. I was on the bus heading to work, and the bus driver didn't know where he was going. ...this happens sometimes, the bus driver has no idea where they are going. I've been riding the bus daily since June, and this has happened 3 different times. It makes me curious, because really how can you be a bus driver and not know where you are going? Anyways, on the bus I read so if the bus driver doesn't know where they are going I am usually not aware of it but I do hear a lot of talking around me because their are other people on the bus wondering where in the world we are going. Let me say that this dream takes place in 3 different places, Denver, Albuquerque, and Chicago. The first part of the dream I'm in Albuquerque but was in Denver heading to work. I work off of the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. The bus driver was all the way at the Fairgrounds in Albuquerque. But both the 16th Street Mall and the Fairgrounds were in the same city. Also when I get off of the bus to go to work, a lot of people get off at my stop. So while being distracted by everyone telling the bus driver where to go, everyone just go frustrated-told the bus driver to stop the bus and everyone got off the bus to walk to there destination. Since all of us were going primary in the same direction I just followed along and assumed the 16th Street mall wouldn't be far. Along the way I walked through the Fairgrounds where the New Mexico State Fair was going on(the fair really happens in September). I walked through a bunch of vendors, art, and food. Sopapilla's specifically. I love sopapillas, and they are very rare in Colorado. So I decide to stop in line at a place that has sopapillas. Once I get in line the 2 people behind the counter just walk away. Keep in mind I was not the only one in line. Thinking they would come back right away so I could buy my sopapilla and be on my way. Well this never happened, and decided I didn't want to waste anymore time, since now I would be late for work. So I walked away with the craving of a sopapilla in my mouth. At one point in my dream I became a journalist, interviewing Meg Ryan. At this point in time I was in Meg Ryans house, in Albuquerque, still running late for work, and all of sudden I was there to interview her. So I did. In my dream she had 6 kids and is happily married to a man named Cole. Her house was beautiful and big, but also very homey and a little messy-as you can imagine with 6 kids. In the house she had a cat that had just kittens. There were about 5 kittens 2 months old running all around the house-SO cute! We started the interview in her youngest kids nursery-I believe a boy, around 4 or 5 months old. I didn't have anything to write with and in my head I was thinking how am I going to remember this? I remember writing the first part of the article in my head: I arrived at Meg Ryan's home where she was just putting down her youngest child for his morning nap. We sat in his nursery while she put him to sleep. She was wearing...(I can't remember what she was wearing), her hair cute as always, and looking wonderful with no make up on. I remember asking her personal questions all of which she was very honest about. I also asked her about her tattoos. Now I don't know if in real life Meg Ryan has any tattoos but in my dream she did. A bunch of really small ones majority of which were on her feet. I think majority of the tattoos where her kids names. It was very cool, and she didn't mind telling me about any of them. After she put the little one to bed we checked on the 4th and 5th child, 18 month old twins. Super cute! After that we went into her bedroom. She was very proud of her bathroom, which was huge and very New Mexican looking. And that was pretty much it with Meg Ryan.
Once I left I was still trying to find the 16th Street Mall to get to work. While walking I realized I was much further than I thought. I was over by my mom's old job. Off of I-25 and Jefferson, and the 16th Street Mall was up by where Coronado Mall is-which if you know Albuquerque isn't in walking distance. All of a sudden I'm walking by this girl who I don't know, but was on the same bus I was on, with a bus directory. I was asking her if I could look at to see if there was a bus that would take us to where we needed to go. She wouldn't let me look at it, so I just followed her. Along the way I ran into my friend Michelle. All of a sudden we were in a part of Chicago. She was walking really fast and didn't have time to talk to me. But we were in front of these stairs similar to what is in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. Eventually I made it to the 16th Street Mall, not too sure how, but I did. And that's all for Crazy Dream number 2! Any interpretations I am open to.

Chicago!

So I really wish I was more excited about writing this blog. But I'm sick. It started with a sore throat late Sunday night and it keeps getting worse day by day. Right now it is a runny nose(so gross!), coughing, sneezing, headaches, and achenes. I really hate headaches-I'm super lucky because I rarely get headaches, so when I do get one it really hurts. I had been looking forward to writing this blog for so long, and now here I am not feeling to well. I hope you will feel the excitement from when I was in Chicago. I will post pictures of the trip in a separate blog.

My friend Michelle is a traveling nurse. Over the summer she took an assignment in Madison, WI. Her assignment ended in August, and I was sad because I had wanted to meet her in Chicago(Madison to Chicago is a 2 hour drive), but was already doing a lot of traveling over the summer months and was unable to. Then one day in August we were talking and she was telling me about her future traveling nurse plans(they change almost weekly!) when she says that she extended her job in Madison through November. I immediately asked her if we could meet in Chicago for her birthday. She said yes, and a couple of days later I booked my ticket and purchased tickets for Wicked as her birthday gift. I had to tell my parents that I would no longer be going to Albuquerque for that weekend. That was the original plan all year long. To go to Albuq., that weekend for my mom's birthday and for the balloon fiesta. My dad was more hurt than my mom. My mom understood the chance to go somewhere I had never been before, when I can really go to Albuq., anytime I want.

I arrived in Chicago last Wednesday night. Flying into the city lights was gorgeous! In July at my HS reunion I rekindled a friendship from my HS day's with another girl named Michelle. She now lives is a Southern suburb of Chicago. So she picked me up from the airport and I stayed the night at her house. Plus I got to see her role as Mother. She has the cutest little boy and girl. At the reunion she didn't bring her family, so this was the first time I got to see that. It was amazing.

Thursday morning Michelle drove down to meet all of us for breakfast. Then Michelle and I headed into the city to check into our hotel. I did LOTS of research on finding a hotel that I could afford. And was so happy when I found an awesome deal at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Chicago. It was the perfect location right on the Chicago River. Once we checked in we walked to Macy's to pick up our Chicago Go Cards. This Macy's was beautiful. From there we walked to Millennium Park. Super cool. They have this outdoor venue for concerts with amazing art work all around. We saw Cloud Gate, AKA the Silver Bean. This was really cool, and an amazing piece of art to reflect the city. We also saw the Crown Fountain. I have no idea how to explain this. My cousin Nikki was there the week prior and when she explained it to me I pictured sculptures of people, and this is not what this is. It is two towers of glass bricks that change and reflect faces-people who live in Chicago. Then their faces change as if they are spitting water out. It is super cool. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Hard Rock Hotel where I bought myself a T-shirt. I'm somewhat a collector of these T-shirts. I really like the one I got! Then we returned to the hotel to get ready for Michelle's birthday dinner and Wicked! We got all dressed up and walked to The Blue Water Grill. A great seafood place I found online. At dinner I go to meet Steve, a guy Michelle is seeing. I really like him. We had an amazing waitress! She was great. At one point during dinner we were all talking about birthdays, and one of us mentioned Michelle's birthday. As we were having this conversation the waitress walks by and says "I heard that!", it was so cute. Once dinner was over we were looking over the desserts, and they had this sampler dessert with all of their desserts except for 2. One of which was the chocolate dessert that Michelle really wanted. She asked the waitress "So this chocolate one isn't included?" the waitress said "no". So we ordered the sampler dessert. Well then the waitress comes out with the chocolate dessert with "Happy Birthday" written on the plate in chocolate syrup, with a candle, and 3 glasses of champagne! It was a wonderful surprise! Then shortly after our sampler dessert. This dessert was amazing. I'm not one for chocolate. So the sampler was great. It had a peanut butter dessert(my favorite) and a carrot cake dessert(a close second!). After dinner we walked to the theater for the show. Wicked was amazing. I love musicals and the theater, and so does Michelle. It was a great treat. The singing was great, and the story was about friendship. I purchased the soundtrack, a journal, and Christmas ornament. After the show we headed back to the hotel.

Friday we walked out to Navy Pier. We did a Shoreline tour on the water that took us out to Lake Michigan. Now where I'm from a lake is something that you can see all of. This lake, not so much. This is a huge lake. It was a fun boat tour, and I learned lots about the sky line. From there we went up the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. Did you know that it was a man that lived in Chicago who invented the Ferris Wheel. His name was Ferris(I don't remember his last name), and he wanted to build something for the World's Fair that was in Chicago one year after it was in Paris. For Paris' World Fair they build the Eiffel Tower which was completed in 1889. And Chicago wanted to do one up on Paris, and built the Ferris Wheel. It was a success! After Navy Pier we took a water taxi to Sears Tower. Sears Tower is currently the tallest building in North America at 103 floors. This is sad. The Sears Tower was actually the second tallest, but when the World Trade Center Towers got destroyed on 9/11/01 that made the Sears Towers the tallest. After the view of Sears Tower we walked to Union Station, then took a water tax back to Michigan Avenue. We walked up to the beaches on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful. Then we walked to dinner at 1492 Tapas Bar. This was recommended to me by Nikki. It was great. We shared a salad, chicken and some other things, I can't remember. Then back to our hotel.

Saturday we took a water taxi to the Shedd Aquarium. I was very excited about this. And unfortunately I was a little disappointed. I've been to some pretty cool aquarium's and this one was just alright. After the aquarium we took another water taxi back to Navy Pier and walked to the Hancock Tower. Hancock Tower is the third tallest building in Chicago, and is much closer to the water, and got some great pictures. We stayed up there for the sunset-beautiful! After the Hancock Tower we walked to Lou Malnati's Pizzeria for Chicago deep dish pizza! We had a little wait, but it was some great food, and cheap! Yummy. Check it out!, they will ship their pizza to you if you want to try it!

Sunday we went to the Art Institute of Chicago, it was very cool to see famous pieces of art. I truly enjoyed myself. For lunch we ate at a really cool burger place right along the Chicago River.

That was my trip to Chicago! I didn't work out at all while I was there, which makes me upset, but we did A LOT of walking everyday, that makes up for it-Right?! It was a lot of fun, plus the weather was beautiful! I brought all long sleeves shirts and I definitely could have gotten away with short sleeve! The really cool thing about this trip was I did a lot of reading about Chicago before the trip. So I knew a lot of the sculptures at Millennium Park and the locations of things. So I could truly appreciate everything around me. Pictures to come!

October 9th

So lots has been going on. And many blogs are to come to tell you allllll about it. But for now I have to talk about October 9th. I can almost promise that you know someone with the birthday October 9th. Here are the people I know:
My Mom
One of my closest friend's Michelle
My Mom's old Boss
A close friend of the family
My cousin's husband and
My friend's Dad
Six people, all born on October 9th. For my Mom's surprise 50th birthday, all but one of those people were at her party. And we got a picture of all 5 of them. I thought it was the coolest thing.
Happy belated birthday to my Mom, Michelle, Dr. Kreuch, Dave, Larry, and Greg.
My Mom is well my Mom. She is wonderful, and I love her to death. And she is the glue to my family. She drives me crazy most of the times, but we not only have a wonderful mother/daughter relationship we have an amazing friendship that I cannot even describe. I am so lucky to have such a deep relationship with my mom I can't tell you how blessed I am.

Michelle. She is my oldest and one of my dearest friends. I have memories of her all the way back to when we first met in kindergarten. We grew up together, and now so much time as pasted I know that we will always be friends. It is great comfort to know I will always have her friendship. Here is a memory from elementary school. It was really funny at the time, and I can tell you right now that it won't be that funny once I actually type it out, but it was super funny.
Our parents live rather close to one another, and we used to walk back and forth to our houses. ...or meet in the middle. Well one Friday or Saturday night we were going to have a sleep over. I'm not too sure whose house we were going to(I believe Michelle's) but we decided to meet half way. Even though we lived close to one another there were 3 or 4 different ways to get to Michelle's house. While walking to one another in the same direction we couldn't see who was walking towards us. So we just walked with our heads down hoping the other person would go another direction. I remember walking towards this person kinda freaked out. Not knowing what to do. Anyways once we got close enough I could tell it was Michelle, and had a huge sigh of relief. It was really funny because once we met up, Michelle was telling me how scared she was of me walking towards her, because she didn't know it was me. It was really funny at the time, and still a great memory.

Dr. Kreuch was an out patient Psych doctor that my mom worked for, for many years. He's a cool guy, and very smart.

Dave. My mom grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And a total of 7 other brothers and sisters. Five of which are sister's. A close friend of all sisters is Mary, Dave is Mary's husband. Dave and Mary are always at the various family functions, and their 2 kids are like cousin's to me.

Larry. One of my very close friends is Kari, who is my cousin. Kari and Larry are married. I remember going to there wedding, and being so nervous when I danced with Larry during the dollar dance. Larry is a great cook. When him and his family were in Denver last summer he made the best crab leg dinner with cesar salad. Larry is also newly retired for the Air Guard. He has serviced in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iceland...amongst many others. Thank you for all you do for our wonderful Country!

Greg. During my 10 year HS reunion I reconnected with my friend Michelle(this is another Michelle). My senior year of HS Michelle, our friend Sarah, and I went to Southern California for spring break, where Michelle's dad lives. Her dad is awesome. He colored my hair while I was there! He drove us all around, and even took us to Las Vegas.

Happy Birthday everyone!

My first 5k!

I finished my first 5k today! I did Race for the Cure. It was an amazing experience. I have a bunch of pictures, but I can't really figure how to post them all. Which bugs me because I really want to share the pictures with you. I'll post what I can. ...so the pictures didn't come out at all like I wanted to. I have all of them posted on myspace.
I crossed the Start line at 7:08am and crossed the Finish line at 8:02am. My goal was to finish in an hour, and was very happy when I finished in 54 minutes. I walked majority of it, as did everyone else. I ran about 4 different times, which was difficult to do because everyone else around me was walking. The numbers for this years race is over 62,000! I had no idea it would be that many people. I saw lots of amazing woman, and men. I saw one man run ahead of me without a shirt, with pink ribbon painted on his back, wearing a pink wig in a pony tail, pink tights and a pink tutus. It made all of women walking around him cheer him on! They had lots of entertainment along the way. Bands playing, women singing, and a man wearing a pink boa. I saw a house with pink ribbons decorating the outside of his house, and a little old women cheering us on with a pink pom pom. The race started right in front of Elitch Gardens, and took us right along Invesco Field, onto Colfax Avenue. It was amazing. I over heard a women say she even had pink ribbons on her underwear! I got too see Denver as the sun came up, and got lots of free stuff! It was amazing. It was a great experience. And now I know this will be an annual event! I really enjoyed doing it by myself. I think I was able to really enjoy it, and go at my own pace. Thanks to all the people who donated and gave their support! I'm already super sore, and am not looking forward to tomorrow, plus a couple of growing blisters! Not fun, but SO worth it!

Happy Birthday Riley

Today is my second cousin's 12th birthday! I can't believe he is twelve. That is only one more year until he is a teenager. My cousin Kari(his Mom) and I are really close. And I think it was Riley that brought us together. Riley was born in Washington, and I think almost every year after he was born I would travel to Seattle to see them. Up until they moved back to Albuquerque. Riley is an amazing guy. He idolizes his father, who just recently retired from the military. A few summers ago Kari and the boys came to Denver for a visit while her husband was in Iceland. Riley held Rosie the Tarantula at the Butterfly Pavilion, we also went to Dave and Buster's where I played a military video game with Riley, and all he could talk about his Dad. Then a couple of years ago the whole family came up here and Riley bonded with my cats. We went to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and Cinzzetti's where his favorite food was calamari. And his drink of choice: iced tea. This little man is beyond his years, and I love him and I miss him tons. Happy Birthday Riley!

Question

Why does 45 minutes sitting in front of the TV go by SO much faster than 45 minutes on the elliptical?

This question goes on in my head every time I get ready to go to the gym. I really didn't want to go work out yesterday, but I did. It was the first of the month, and I wanted to start October off to a good start. I went to the gym 20x's in September! I put a "W" for work out, on my calendar for each day that I work out. So I can keep track, and it helps motivate me. But getting to the gym is freakin' difficult. I am always happy that I went, and proud that I went. I just wish this whole process was easier!

That's all. Happy Thursday!

BlueSoulAM

I think maybe only 1 or 2 people have ever asked me what my "screen name" means. And well I think it probably has a lot more meaning than what a screen name should mean. But whatever, I tend to find a different meaning in most things. So way back when my parents first got the Internet-Summer of 1998, and we got AOL my first screen name I believe was DolphinAM, or Dolphin80-because that was the year I got my dolphin tattoo. Then that got old, and I think I did BlueSoul80, and now it is BlueSoulAM. Blue, because that is my favorite color, and because blue reminds me of water. I love water. Not only is water the only thing I really drink, but I love what water represents. Pure, smooth, innocent, soft, but water call also turn into ice, which can be sharp, hard, thick. I also love to swim. Swimming is one of my great childhood memories. I used to go swimming almost every single day, and hated getting out of the pool. BlueSoul-together, well to be honest because I'm sad a lot. I deal with it very well, but for the most part I'm a sad person, so I have a blue soul. Not to say I'm not happy. Don't get me wrong, I am a happy person. In fact I think I'm a combination of both. Happy and Sad. I think I have my moments where I am feeling both happy and sad every single day. Lately my nights are sad, because I'm getting so sick of being alone. You read almost everywhere that people need love, need human contact. Yes, I have love, and yes I have human contact, but for the most part it is very limited. So that is where blue soul comes from. AM-those are my initials nothing too fancy around that. One thing that it does NOT mean is that I'm a morning person. That is one thing I am not. I like my sleep, even more I like sleeping in.

On a side note today has been super crazy at work. I've been here since 7am this morning, and will most likely be here past 5pm. I started this blog at around 11:30am, and am just now finishing it around 4pm. ...believe it or not I do actually work! ;) Their is a huge meeting tomorrow with the bosses bosses boss. And my boss has all of his Director's in town to prep for it.