Affirmation of Faith

In church this morning, we used a new Affirmation of Faith from the Iona Abbey Worship Book:

We are not alone; we live in God's world. We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit. We trust in God. We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God's presence, to live with respect in creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our Judge and our Hope. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.

As an old professor of mine used to say, I'd like to unpack this. The following is my stream of consciousness; please share your thoughts.

We are not alone; we live in God's world.
We believe that everything on heaven and earth was God's and is God's - the people, the plants, the things, the thoughts and ideas. And we're not alone! What an enormous relief! I'll get to more on that later.

We believe in God:
-who has created and is creating,
Our God didn't call us into being and then abandon us. Creation is ongoing! Look around!
-who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
God lived with us, suffered with us, loved with us. We got Him as proof that God doesn't want us to be alone.
--to reconcile and make new,
We are so flawed, us people, even though we try not to be. Jesus is God's way of saying, "It's okay - I'll make it better."
-who works in us and others by the Spirit.
God gave us the Holy Spirit; it lives in us so we're never alone (see a theme here?) AND we get to "be God" to other people and things.

We trust in God.
God is good, and even in the good world God made, bad things happen. We know that God loves us and we trust that God will always be with us and will always help us. Always.

We are called to be the Church:
God created us to work together to do God's will. The Church (with a big C) means all of us - every faith, every race, every orientation, every ability, every gender.
-to celebrate God's presence,
We get to LIVE in the LIGHT of God's creation. What a gift! We eat and drink and play and make joyful noises because we CAN!
-to live with respect in creation,
God created (and is creating!) all things. We are blessed to be part of this dance, and we show our gratitude through our respect of each other, the earth, and everything on it.
-to love and serve others,
We love God as God loves us, and we show God that love by loving each other and taking care of each other.
-to seek justice and resist evil,
We are richly blessed, and we therefore have a responsibility to come to the aid of those who are less fortunate. Sometimes that means fighting the good fight, and sometimes that just means enduring alongside our brothers and sisters. As Nowen wrote, "Being present to each other is what really matters."
-to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our Judge and our Hope.
There is so much here I can hardly write about it. This is our faith.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone, we are not alone, we are not alone. Ever. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

We are not alone. Thanks be to God.
Say it again: Thanks be to God!

Amen.
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In today's episode of This American Life, Ira Glass (the host) spoke with author Jim Henderson, "who argues that evangelicals should follow Jesus' example not through conversion, but by simply befriending non-believers." (Those were TAL's words.) Frankly, the interview made me uncomfortable. Glass is a self-described "staunch atheist" and it was clear he was displeased with Henderson's tactics, however innocuous they may be. I listened to the Podcast again and transcribed part of the interview. Bear with me; they talked a lot.

IG: So walk me through what it is that you're advocating. You have this thing called Doable Evangelism that actually normal people can do without feeling weird about it. So give me the steps of it - like, what do I do if I'm going to do it?

JH: Doable Evangelism does not concern self with converting people. It's not about sales, it's about connecting. … There's 3 spiritual practices for connecting with people. Number 1, notice people. You know, practice the art of noticing. ... Sit in the mall and watch people go by, and ask yourself, I wonder what's going on with that person. Just reflect. The second one is pray for people behind their backs. You know, Christians like to pray for people. And we believe prayer matters. So pray for them behind their backs; … it's not gonna hurt them, it's not gonna hurt you - maybe something good will happen. Who knows? The third thing is go to someone and actually listen. You say something like ‘How are you?’ And then you listen. And the person will be amazed when you don't interrupt them with your own story of How You Are Not Doing Yourself.

IG: So you would send people out, you'd say, I want you to listen to people, I want you to notice people, and then...does this work? In bringing people to Jesus? Or is that just like the first step?

JH: That's the question of course Christians ask us. They want to know about numbers and results. And, um...

IG: But I feel like that's a fair question because you're saying, like, this is a kind of doable evangelism ... Ah, so, where's the part where they come to Jesus?

JH: You have to keep in mind: our mission, our goal is not to get converts. Our goal is to get Christians out connecting with non-Christians. Our goal is to get Christians learning how not to be jerks. Our goal is to help Christians learn to be normal. (I laughed out loud at this.) And what happens over a period of time is they start befriending people … and yes, naturally, just like if you were interested in something and I knew you for some length of time, the likelihood of me going to the school that you're recommending, buying the car you recommended increases because we're in proximity to each other. ... My saying is "When people like each other, the rules change."

IG: Is it possible that your tactic just leads to nothing? Like, I think about my own circle of friends, and for whatever reasons now, I have a bunch of friends - my wife and I have a bunch of friends - who are very devout religious people. And we hang out with them, and we share our lives with them...but they are no influence at all in pulling us towards Christianity, away from our STAUNCH atheism (this is where I started to get uncomfortable) - and vice versa.

JH: That would be what my ideological enemies within evangelicalism would accuse me of: that this would lead to nothing. And so, the alternative is for me then to...imagine your social circle, what are your alternatives then? To try and persuade each other. I have this one chance of trying to get Ira Glass saved, so here I go. And then what happens as a result of that, typically, is that's the end of our relationship. And we go our separate ways. Now I have zero influence in your life, and I'm not gonna be able to be influenced by you as well. (I liked his response so far.)

IG: When you describe it - and I'm not saying this to be critical, I'm just observing - what you're replacing Bait & Switch with is all bait. And then there's no switch at all. Obviously you're assuming that at some point, like, something will happen and maybe it'll be good...

JH: That doesn't offend me in the least - I kind of like that 'All bait, no switch.' I admit, I could be wrong, maybe I'm a little delusional, whatever, but this is one that I prefer over the alternatives. And I'm happy with that. Again, our goal is to get Christians engaged in the process. We're not concerned about results. The average amount of time it takes to be a Christian before you actually make a decision is about 4 years. So I'm much more concerned about the starting line of faith. Why don't we try and get them across the starting line instead of the finish line?

I feel like Henderson missed the ball here. He didn't screw it up, but there's so much more he could have said. Like, Well, Ira, the foundation of our faith is that God creates wonder out of such ordinary things. We see God's transforming power everywhere - in sunshine, in President Obama's fervent quest to make things right in this country, in the combustion engine - and we can't help but "assume" something will happen and it'll be good. Our job as Jesus' disciples is to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8); the rest of it - the "conversion," if you must be so consumed with the concept, is in God's hands. As Christians, we walk through life with a certain peace in knowing that we are unconditionally loved. Of course we still experience stress and sadness and tragedy, but we know that God is with us in the trenches. Sometimes we feel God's presence in other people. Even if you're an atheist, Ira, I want to be that presence for you, that certain peace in your life.

Thankful.

In high school, whenever I had a bad day, I made a list in my planner of all the things for which I was thankful. Usually it was "Diet Coke Mood Adjustment" or "Escaped third period for coffee with MJ" - overly simple stuff (and, oddly, mostly beverages) intended to remind me that the world was lookin' up. I still like doing that; it's why I created this blog. So without further adieu:

Today, I'm thankful for:

*Running, even though it sucked. I did 10 miles outside of Basalt on a beautiful back road with views of snowy Sopris. It was so warm that I ran in shorts and got a watch tan. The fact that the whole thing was a survival shuffle doesn't even really matter.

*The chai in my cup

*Church yesterday. I'm still high from it. The service was great because the director of Rainbow Trail was there to lead (so we sang camp songs, like Light of the World & Holy Time - Mom, I thought of you), but even that paled in comparison with communion. Honestly, it was one of the most cathartic experiences of my life. Because it was Dìa de los Muertos, and because Spanish custom has families picnicking at the graves of their loved ones on that day, communion went like this: first, Pastor JC pointed out the 3 bottles of hand sanitizer in the sanctuary; then he told the whole congregation to come gather at the altar - and everyone balked at first, but then obliged; and then he brought out 4 large loaves of braided Mexican egg bread and 2 pitchers of red wine; and we said the Lord's Prayer together, and then "picknicked" communion until ALL the bread and wine were gone. Cups were passed around, and then loaves, and everyone pulled off pieces of bread and talked and poured (a LOT) of wine in their cups and talked some more, and a couple of people played guitar, and we ate and drank and sang and smiled until the sacrament was over. It probably took 15 minutes. I'm telling you, it was the most amazing experience. It was exactly what communion is supposed to be - fellowship with each other and the Lord and thanksgiving for what God has given us, including each other.
*Talking with (and/or playing therapist to?) both MM and AB tonight, then Facebook chatting BS. I miss my friends.

*The amazing Anne Lammot book I'm reading, Traveling Mercies. She is so flawed AND so good.

Monday Matters

This morning, when I was in Starbucks working on my essay, my friend SC and I were watching the snow fall and talking about our excitement - about winter, about skiing, about eggnog. Et cetera. And the dairy delivery man must have heard me, because as he walked past us, he set a quart of eggnog on our table and said, "Enjoy, ladies!" We dissolved in giggles - how random is that? - and after he left, I walked up to the counter and asked the sweet baristas to make us eggnog lattes out of our gift. They obliged (at no cost, natch). What a morning!

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Look at what our sweet government is doing! I just got my hands on a shiny, new, FREE copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. Although I read it freshman year of high school, I'm reading it again today, because there are events in Aspen starting on Wednesday. Now go and do likewise! I'm sure that if this is such a big deal in my small town, it's an even bigger deal elsewhere.
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The fall colors are just past peak in Snowmass. This is what my place looked like the other day:
and
And this is what it looked like this morning! There's almost enough snow to ski up on the Cirque...
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Last night I went for a six mile run up Independence Pass (well, the bottom of the pass anyway). It was raining, and the further up the pass I ran, the more the rain turned into snow. About three miles in, my iPod died, which really annoyed me - until I realized that there were elk bugling all around me! It was surreal! I think God was trying to say, "Hey, Kels, check in!!"
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This made me BEAM yesterday. My favorite band playing the theme song to my favorite show! It's just delightful.

The blog post about nothing

I spent so much money at City Market in El Jebel yesterday, I saved $52.19 for using my SooperCard. Ima be eating really well for the next few weeks.
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Katie sent me a package last week that included her pictures from San Fran, a teeshirt I left in her room back in May, a Runner's World magazine, the most delightful card (I put it up on my wall) and a mix CD of the songs stuck in her head. It made my week.
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I just realized that even though I've watched this video a MILLION times (really - I think I account for 1/25th of its total views), I haven't posted it here. Please, if you haven't ever seen it, watch the whole thing. It makes me SO HAPPY.

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And actually, while I'm at it, this video (Katie sent it to me) is pretty funny too:

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State Radio is coming to Fort Collins in October! They're playing the Aggie on the 13th, and everyone who comes to the show ($15 a ticket) gets a free copy of their new disc. Um, yes please. How AWESOME is it that I will have seen all of the components of Dispatch in my own hometown in three months?!
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Today started out SAD. MM left Snowmass (for good) this morning. We did everything together this summer - all the hikes, plus dinner a couple of times a week, movies, camping, etc. Since neither of us had anything in common with our roommates, we became the other's sanity. About a month ago he said he wanted to spend his last night in town going to a bunch of bars with all the people he's worked with in the last year, but then yesterday changed his mind and took just me to Woody Creek Tavern. It was such a great, bittersweet end to a really amazing summer. This place feels a little lonely now.
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BAREFOOT TRUTH: my new favorite band. Check them out, please.
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Four more days until the race! I'm ready, and I'm psyched. The beginning is going to be a beast - it's like 1.25 miles of 1,000'+ elevation gain (basically straight uphill survival-shuffle) - but the next 12 miles should be easy by comparison. I'm finally in taper mode, which means I'm only running 4-5 miles every other day this week; I finished last week with 30 miles under my belt, and was totally wiped out. I took Saturday off, and I plan on spending the post-race sitting on my couch with a succession of Fat Tire cans, alternately watching several games of college football and napping. Huzzah!

The blog post about EVERYTHING

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh...I can't believe it, but I'm actually done writing my candidacy essay!
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To be fair, it's not finished - I want feedback from people whose thoughts matter to me, and as the consummate writing Nazi I'll be tweaking words and structure and grammar and syntax for a few days - but once and for all, I put pen to paper and out flowed six pages (SIX PAGES!) of heartfelt thought. And I'm really proud and happy with my first draft.
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The candidacy essay is really the only thing standing between me and seminary, and therefore me and the rest of my life. The ELCA's application is very basic, a lot like a job application, save for the 2500-word Faith Autobiography they ask you to include. Because my candidacy committee is reading it - and uses it to determine my readiness for a seminary education, my spiritual fitness to follow through with my intended career path - it has intimidated the bejeezus out of me for over a year. It makes (or rather made) me nauseous. I couldn't think of how to start it, what to say, even where to write it. But yesterday I decided to buck up and get it over with.
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I sat down in Starbucks and titled a piece of paper thus:
"Monday, September 21, 2009. Okay, essay: let's dance."
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There were 5 bullet points the ELCA asks a candidate to cover in their essay; I opted to write what came to mind before I reviewed them, then go back and cover whatever I left out. Today, after I finished the sixth page and felt satisfied that my essay was an authentic representation of my reflection of my call, I went back to look at the bullets...and found that I'd covered everything. In detail. If that's not a Godwink, I don't know what is.
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Right now, I think it's like I'm making muffins, and I put all of the ingredients in a bowl. Tomorrow I'm going to pick out a few bits of eggshell, mix the whole thing up, fold in some nuts...and see what happens. But at least it's all in there.
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I'll post the whole thing once I have it typed and polished, but for now, here are a few bits and pieces:

-I was the first baby baptized at Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church in Fort Collins, Colorado. My baptism has always felt very...purposeful in the way it came about.

-Other than the notable experience of engaging in a knock-down, drag-out theological fight with an acquaintance in the FCHS library during junior year, I mostly stayed unattached from my faith through high school and into the start of my undergrad at CU.

-As a Mountain School Instructor at Sky Ranch, and then the ropes course coordinator, and finally the community director, I delved into my faith. I read, and I thought, and I ran, and I asked questions, and I played my guitar and stayed up late and woke up early and scrubbed the floor and played in the river. God was in every ounce of it.

-At my college graduation, having earned a degree I didn't feel I'd achieved and with very, very little idea of how I wanted to spend my life, I decided to think more radically: I prayed harder, and started planning a two-month solo trek through Europe for the time after camp was over. I was certain God would clearly show me my path on a night train somewhere between Belgium and Switzerland. I wanted holy spirit bullets!

-Last fall I found myself living with my parents in the town I grew up in, working a steady but menial job as a barista and moonlighting with a major presidential campaign. Because I knew I wanted not to make minimum wage for the rest of my life - and because of the aforementioned sense of responsibility to use my gifts - I started thinking more seriously about seminary, mostly because medical school sounded awful and I couldn't picture myself doing anything else. At this point, it wasn't an attractive proposition; it was just the least repulsive one.

-By this point, I had plans to move to Aspen to be a ski instructor for the winter - my first "baby step" towards really moving away from home. Packing my car on Thanksgiving, I made sure to take all of my candidacy files - applications, viewbooks, contact information and the like. But after a month in the mountains, working my first full-time job and swimming through life in the early stages of adulthood, I got cold feet thinking about going back to school just nine short months later. My whole existence was so stress-free (and fun!); the thought of being a student again (which I found difficult and sometimes frustrating the first time around) made me anxious. I saw no urgency in applying, and decided to put it off for a year.
That little decision became the pea under my mattress. By March, I was downright bitter with myself for what was an inherently lazy choice. I was already sick of living a self-involved lifestyle; the idea of doing the same for an extra year then became the source of anxiety. I wanted to use my brain, to DO something with my life! I wanted to get the party started!
So I spent the summer just like that. I had long theological discussions with my buddy Mike on the back porch of my apartment, and he'd remark that my eyes sparkled when I talked about the apostle Peter. My boss ensured I always had Sundays off, so every week I drove the 49 miles to Good Shepherd, the closest ELCA church to Aspen. I decided to get back in shape by training for a marathon, because my body and mind weren't in tune. Just like at camp, I read, and I wrote in my journal, and I prayed, and God was in it all. Little by little, I grew so much less anxious and so much more excited.
Which brings me here: 24 years old, ecstatic to be alive and truly blessed beyond all reason. My people - my family, whom I adore, my relatives, my wonderful and extensive network of friends and peers and colleagues - enrich my life to a greater degree than I have ever thought possible. Between working, running regularly, and really exploring my surroundings (hiking, biking, swimming and lots of travel), I have created a life for myself in these mountains that fulfills me. I feel confident that I know what God wants for me next. My eyes are wide with anticipation, and I'm ready and excited to move forward.

The life and times of Firecracker Girl

What a month it's been.

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Where did I last leave off? The rest of our San Francisco trip was amazing. Of course, the girls and I could go to Detroit or Fargo or somewhere equally loathsome and have the time of our lives, but still...the trip was amazing. We laughed so hard we cried; we rode the trolleys until we actually knew our way around the city; we ate out A LOT. (Dim Sum, by the by, was disgusting.) When we take these trips, I get the feeling from the people around us that they're not only jealous of our tradition but also jealous of our relationship with each other, and I think that's valid. I'm so blessed to have these cousin-sisters.
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My other August Adventures:
-I hiked Mount of the Holy Cross with my buddy MM (my best friend in Aspen this summer) - his first 14er, my third. As the peak is outside Vail, we camped at the trailhead the night before and got an early start. It was a long day - 14ish miles and an elevation gain of almost 8,000' - and we polished off the hike at DELICIOUS Larkburger in Edwards. (I think that should be its real name - "DELICIOUS Larkburger".)

Our peak

On top of the world

The best organic cheeseburger and truffle fries in the universe

-The week after that, MM and me and two other friends from the Ute hiked the Lincoln Group, a collection of four 14ers (Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln & Bross) that can easily be bagged in a day. We had fun (I have fun pretty much everywhere I go), and it wasn't really worth writing about.
-A couple of weeks later, AJS joined MM and I to hike Mount Elbert, the tallest 14er in Colorado. We intended to hike Mount Massive, Elbert's neighbor, specifically because a Black Hawk crashed on its summit just a few days prior to our hike, but we found the trailhead taped off and decided not to mess with the military. That hike, too, wasn't notable, but we had burgers afterwards and had a great day.
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KH & SD's wedding - Salt Lake City, Labor Day weekend
To be blunt, I've been looking forward to this weekend since approximately September 2004. KH is my best friend from college - someone I refer to as my brother, all hyperbole aside - and his dear wife has been by his side since their junior year of high school, so there was never much question of if they'd marry, only when. The really grand part of the weekend was being back in the company of my people, my truly best friends - KH of course, plus AJS, BB and KK. The latter 3, Courto and myself shared a hotel room that was next door to one shared by some other pals of ours, so we spent the long weekend as a 10-some. The Residence Inn, it should be said, is a fabulous establishment. For $89 a night - a mere 20 bucks a pop after taxes - all of us broke postgrads had a spacious suite (with enough bathroom space to prepare for a wedding, natch), a pool and hot tub, a grill, a full breakfast each morning, a stocked kitchen bigger than the one in my apartment, internet access and a gym (which we actually used). Using the hotel as home base, we came and went all weekend - KK and I ran down the bike path; AJS and the other boys did their groomsmen thing; all of us went to Snowbird for the afternoon, then checked out the Temple the next day. It was especially clutch to have a big place on Sunday night, when we watched YOUR Colorado State University Rams destroy the CU Fluffs with standard creature comforts (Papa Murphy's and Fat Tire) not usually afforded in college-student-unfriendly Sandy, UT.
Anyhoo, here's the weekend in pictures:

As soon as BB landed, AJS appropriated his attire. SO funny.

BB and myself at the reception (note the merlot):
BB with, from left, JN, best man MG's girlfriend KD and JT (KH's fraternity brothers)
We went Aunt Karen a drink text of this picture:

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That brings us to the present. Currently I'm training my buns off (literally) for the Golden Leaf Half Marathon from Snowmass to Aspen this Saturday. I'm psyched - I haven't been in shape in a long time, and it feels really good to have my running legs back. I figured out that I have free yoga videos on Comcast OnDemand, so I've been doing yoga every night before bed, too, and drinking water like a fiend. I have a happy body.
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A couple of Unexpected Sparks:
-The title of this blog comes from the nickname MM christened me with: Firecracker Girl. He was amazed at how much crap I could pack into a day, and how uncomfortable it made me to sit around. I found the moniker more than endearing. I hope it sticks.
-It snowed at my apartment yesterday.
-My fantasy football team is OWNING the league right now. My team name: The New Sheriff in Town. Peyton Manning is so money.
-Part of why I love summer is the reading time it affords. In the last week, I've cranked through Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes by Monique Ryan, Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh and Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist, in addition to about a dozen magazines (two months' worth of Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Real Simple, Glamour and Marie Claire).

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As it is the autumnal equinox, I leave you with a parting shot that sums up my summer:

"You have the opposite of poker face. You have, like, miniature golf face." - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

First 2 days in San Francisco

Cousin Trip 2009 started just two days ago, and it's been non-stop AWESOME since Katie and Amy drove into town. Because we don't want to sit at a computer and tell stories, you'll get the group's highlights (or "Happies and Crappies" as Katie calls them) from the past 48 hours...
*Getting into San Fran sucked. That's not worth a story.
*Yesterday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, bought $18 three-day MUNI passes for all of the buses and rail cars, then headed towards Fisherman's Wharf, by way of...
*The Farmer's Market in the Ferry building - AMAZING! Delicious peaches, apples, honey sticks, and the. best. cappucino. I've. ever. had. EVER! Too many people puttering around, but the produce and Blue Bottle Coffee Co made it worthwhile.
*Fisherman's Wharf was way too touristy, so we walked through it to get to...
*Ghirardelli Square for sundaes the size of our faces. No exaggeration. Loaded with Ghirardelli fudge. We ate them sitting next to the water and called it lunch.
* We walked down a nearby boardwalk (right past a guy trapping Dungeness crab...next to a sign that said "Illegal to catch Dungeness crab"...), took some pictures, then decided to hop on a trolley towards Union Square for some shopping, when...
*We spied a Patagonia store! Hallelujah! We ducked in, found they were having a 50% off sale, and each of us found one fun little cheap thing to remember our trip. (Can you tell yet that this was the best day of my life??)
*Getting back on the trolley (good thing we bought that all-access MUNI pass), we rode up and down San Fran's famously steep hills for a while before stopping in Union Square.
*We popped into Tiffany's (just because...) and H&M before deciding to find....
*Some pizza in a restaurant near a movie theater, where we wanted to see "500 Days of Summer" later in the evening. (San Fran is too sketchy for the four of us after dark.) Long story short, we had some AMAZING pizza and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in the same building as the movie theater. We talked to two delightful older gay men about what to do the next two days and really, really, really enjoyed ourselves. (That was the meal that Grandma and Grandma bought for us. Thanks guys. :) ) We've been quoting those two guys all day - they were hilarious.
*We saw the movie - which was rad - and then found a Starbucks nearby for some decaf lattes for the bus ride home. Then we went to sleep.
*This morning we had breakfast, got ready, and grabbed a bus bound for Golden Gate Park.
*It was much more chilly today than yesterday, so we kept our fleeces on and scrambled around Sutro state park for about half an hour - really cool trees, sand, clifs, seals and the like. We could see the bridge, too, but it was foggy and really pretty. Then we went to...
*The Beach Chalet, a brewpub recommended to us by the concierge in our hotel. We had enormous cheeseburgers (Courto and myself), fish & chips (Katie) and a delicious French dip (Amy) - so many calories it put us in a COMA for several hours. It had a great view of the ocean across the street, so of course we...
*Ran over to put our feet in after lunch. The water was freezing but I was happy as a clam.
*We jumped on a bus to the deYoung museum (I fell asleep on Amy's shoulder - no lie), which was kind of a bust save for the rad view from the rough of the tower, and we walked through a botanical garden/arboretum in the direction of a Starbucks (no, seriously, we needed some iced coffee to get out of that trance).
*Once caffeinated, we headed for the Haight/Ashbury neighborhood - a hippie mecca where all the employees in all of the shops were way too baked to be of any good. There was a guy on a street corner with a typewriter, and he didn't even really stand out.
*We giggled SO MUCH on the bus ride back to the hotel that Courto had tears coming down her face and I almost fell down. Everywhere we've gone, people stare at us because we're just having WAY too much fun.
*Right now we're in the hotel putting on warm clothes before dinner. Rando said he'd buy it for us under these circumstances: we have to go to Chinatown - "deep into Chinatown, in a restaurant where no one speaks English, and just say, 'Dim Sum.'" So that's what we're doing. We have no idea what we're eating, but it'll be an adventure.

I'm ashamed that I had NO IDEA this was happening.

Knowledge is power, and this is going to stick with me.

July Adventures

You know the band Blues Traveler? I babysat their kids a few weeks back when they played a show at the Belly Up. The band is friends with JG, my boss from the winter whose kids I watch a lot, so I had a house full that night.

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I went cliff jumping (I'd call it 'cliff diving' because it sounds so much cooler, but that would be lying) at the Devil's Punchbowl outside Aspen a couple of weeks ago. It looks like this:
and of course that's not me jumping, but you get an idea of what it was like. I was a little scared, but it seemed safe enough. (I let about 10 guys go before me, and when none of them got hurt I decided to take a stab at it.)
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I'm playing softball for two teams - my own, a rec team that plays in Snowmass on Tuesday nights, and my buddy JM's team, which is significantly more competitive. I love that sport! My "coaches" have put me at 3rd, where I used to play, and I can bat better than I ever could when I was a kid. Now if only I could stop making so many errors on the field...
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I hiked La Plata Peak with RS and FL, a friend from work. It was a gorgeous hike and it kicked all three of our relatively-in-shape asses. The trail is just over 10 miles long round-trip, but there's more than 4,000' of elevation gain between the trailhead and the summit, so it's like walking up more than five miles of stairs...with 30 pounds on your back. (How and why do I always end up with such a heavy pack?) We took some pretty pictures:
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Cape Cod was amazing! I was only there for five days (as opposed to Courto & Dad's six, Jefe's eight and Mom's 10) but I had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the right coast. Some highlights:
-Courto and Jeff and I landed at Logan late Thursday night, and the next morning I had a coffee date with NG, a friend-of-a-friend from high school. We're Facebook buddies, and last week we deduced - by way of status updates - that we'd be passing through at about the same time, and hey, why not get together? We talked for about an hour and it was one of the most fun random encounters I've ever had.
-I witnessed Grampy eat a whole lobster and then pieces of about six more in ONE MEAL
-Mom, Dad, Jefe, Courto, Brenda, Chris and Kerry and I spent an afternoon on Nausett Beach, which will forever be one of my ultimate happy places
-Dad and I went for a bunch of runs along the streets in New Seabury (where Brenda lives), all of which were AWESOME - running at sea level is amazing!
-Mom, Dad, Courto and I took a ferry to Martha's Vineyard and rode bikes all along the island, then split a bottle of wine (one of BS's wines) on a beach near Vineyard Haven
-For Grampy's birthday, the whole family was together for a whole afternoon - Rolfe, Carol, Grammy and Grampy, Bob, Brenda and Chris and Kerry, and us - and we ate and swam in the pool and drank Sam Adams

Courto, Dad, Mom and I on Martha's Vineyard

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One More Unexpected Spark:
-On the bus home the other day, a mother and her little girl were sitting a few seats away from me. The little girl said something like, "I would love to be handicapped, because then I could just sit in my wheelchair all day!" Of course my ears pricked, and no sooner could I think Use people-first language, kiddo! than her mother scolded her for thinking that, saying something like "Oh hunny, you're so wrong - if you were handicapped, you couldn't run, you couldn't play soccer, you couldn't swim, you couldn't go to the playground..." and it went on like this for what felt like five minutes. I was shocked at how many "you coudln't"s this mother came up with! Of course you know what I was thinking - Jeez, lady, you don't have a clue - but then I thought, cheers for growing up in a family where we figured that out.

Grandma's 80th Birthday Party

I figured that at least once I should keep my promise to write an additional entry on a certain topic when I declare that I will. Grandma's birthday was May 31st, and all of the Schleuseners (I don't think we were missing a single person...?) celebrated together the weekend prior. I'm gonna let some pictures do most of the talking:

As it was Mom's birthday too, and as she will only eat Whole Foods' berry chantilly cake for her birthday, and as there is no Whole Foods anywhere near South Dakota, and as her progeny are especially crafty, the Dad-Kelseroo-Courto team concocted a plan to smuggle TWO cakes to the party and surprise Mom with it. It wasn't easy, but we pulled it off. I ordered, picked up, and packed the cakes in the car without her having any idea, and the look on her face when we pulled them out to sing to her was priceless. The picture above: our gigantic cooler under a bunch of pillows in the back of the Yukon XL.Meet Moose, our cousins' new dog. Adorable, right? He held my attention for most of the weekend.Rick had a baseball game on Thursday afternoon, right as we pulled into Rapid.On Friday, we golfed. Rando organized a scramble (is that what we'd call it?) at a course just outside Rapid; Courto and Amy and Katie and I, Aunt Kathy and Susie, Michael, Tom and all the uncles played. Poor Kathy and Susie got stuck playing with us four girls, which I'm sure was a huge drag because a) they're really good and b) we'd never played. Ever. We didn't suck that badly, but we also didn't take it seriously for even a minute. And on the whole it was way more fun to drive the carts around than actually hit the ball.Like Babe Ruth, but for golf. And I nailed this shot. I think it's all thanks to that horrible yellow polo shirt.
Then on Saturday, Katie and I hosted "Grandma's Birthday Fun Run," a family road race born from our desire to run a half marathon that weekend. Since there wasn't one in Rapid, we made one: we plotted a course, printed and laminated signs to post mileage, hopped on our bikes at the crack of dawn Saturday to post them, then ran 10 miles. (Turns out, we couldn't really safely run a full 13 on that edge of Rapid.) Almost all 50-some odd Schleuseners ran/walked/biked at least part of the course. Our tagline, "You can't pick your family, but you can pick your distance!", was on the back of our teeshirts (Karen headed that project). I think that was my favorite part of the weekend.
After the race, Katie, Courto, Mom, Amy, Karen and I had a mojito party on Rando and Karen's deck. And then we napped, showered, and had Grandma's birthday dinner, followed (of course) by Big Jefe's movie.
Sunday was church and brunch, then departures. I cried when everyone left. I like having everyone together, and I don't know when we'll all be back under one roof again, and it makes me sad.

Pretirement

I never thought it would take me until the middle of July to pen an update, but, well, here we are, and here goes...

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The off season was so phenomenal. (Actually, almost everything I've experienced in the last several months has been "phenomenal," so prepare yourself to hear that adjective many times in the next several paragraphs.) I'll do my best to make the synopsis concise, as I value your readership and don't want to bore you to death, but three months of intentional adventurous living doesn't lend itself to summary in a few short sentences.

I screwed up my wall pretty badly, but only lost $20 of my damage deposit!

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April:
It didn't take long to re-remember how to live at Mom and Dad's, and before I knew it the ski season felt totally behind me. I spent most of my days kicking around the house, cleaning up my stuff, running, and trying to earn my keep (picking up Christian in Longmont, mowing the lawn, etc), and most of my evenings with friends. (One really fun night I ran into 19 friends from college in Old Town. Yes, I made a list.) As I was dead broke - and remained dead broke through the beginning of July - I got creative with my time and money, and survived in large part thanks to my parents' generous pledge to not charge me for rent or food. Thanks, guys. :)

Dinner with Mom and Courto

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May:
The end of April and beginning of May, I drove to South Dakota to spend a few days with Grandma, Grandpa, my aunts/uncles/cousins and a few friends who live in Rapid. Beth was confirmed on Sunday, but I wanted a little extra time with the family all by myself. It was such a great trip - I played cards with Grandma until the middle of the night, had lunch with Tom two days in a row, got to see both Beth and Tom perform, had coffee with Wanda (she's close enough to family to get her name mentioned instead of just her initials), went for a long run with Rando, and helped Karen and Grandma cook dinner for 400+ people at church.
I worked at camp for three weeks with AJS, GW, CM and two new girls (whom I totally loved - camp is in good hands this summer!). Aside from being wholly necessary to keep me busy and provide a teensy bit of spending money, it was refreshing and healthy and fun to be back at camp. I was so thankful to get to catch up with AJS, breathe some fresh air, have regular Bible studies and teach some punk little private school third graders.

Making a "Welcome to Sky Ranch!" sign for the kids. As is probably obvious, it didn't turn out so well.

With AP, one of the new girls at camp

CM playing with fire

Three of my favorites from camp - TM, ZW & AW

On the weekends, we celebrated Dad's birthday (53's gonna be a good year for him - that was in the cards a long time ago, as 53 is Rando's old football number), ZH's college graduation (such a hilarious hick party), PS & MS's high school graduation, and then finally Grandma's 80th birthday. That last one will get its own post.
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June:
I moved up to Snowmass on June 7th to take a job as a hostess at a restaurant, the name of which rhymes with "Schmage." As I'm about to detail, the job ended up being such a terrible experience - and I'm going to deride it so much - that I don't want the actual name listed in my blog in case these negative comments are someday discovered. Anyhow, the position was awful from Day 1. The management was perpetually stressed out (which rubbed off on me in a big way); the hours were terrible; the money was terrible; I had to take my nose ring out; I wasn't allowed to drink coffee before work (HAH, as if they could stop me from that). As I complained about it, RS succinctly put the last nail in the proverbial coffin by saying, "I think you're a little overqualified to lead sheep to their feed." Now I realize that every job is an opportunity, so I found myself a new job and, like a responsible adult, gave my two weeks' notice at the Schmage and worked my BUTT off for two weeks (80+ hours between the two) before my last day a couple of weeks back.
And about the new job: I now work at Aspen's premier outdoor outfitter, the Ute Mountaineer. I cannot be emphatic enough about how much I love this job. The people are fabulous; we sell the COOLEST gear and clothes; I work just over 40 hours in 4 days, so I have 3-day weekends every week; it's located right next to the bus stop, so I don't need to drive to work. It's a lot like working at Outpost, only bigger and much busier. It has already made my summer completely fantastic.
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July, thus far:
I'm settling in.
Work has only been fun so far, and because I've started to really explore Aspen and the trails surrounding the city, I'm getting more comfortable with giving customers advice on where to go and what to do. A group of people from work are coming with me (I organized it!) hiking La Plata Peak tomorrow, which should be a lot of fun.
My living situation is brilliant. I have three roommates: a) UP, a 51-year-old Peruvian who works in housekeeping at the Ritz-Carlton and brings home bags full of the things her wealthy clients leave behind when they check out of their room; b) JVH, a 31-year-old Chilean who works the childcare program at The Snowmass Club and speaks hardly any English, so we're teaching each other our native languages; and c) ES, a 21-year-old Romanian who works as a waitress at the pool at The Snowmass Club and is sweet as pie. She is perpetually boiling potatoes and is fluent in Spanish, so that is the language we speak in our house. (Guess who's learning?) Our apartment is part of an employee housing complex in Snowmass, so we're surrounded with other people our age. It's like the post-college dorms, and I love it. I'm two floors away from RS, who is yet again my go-to friend in Snowmass, and several other buddies from the winter who are always available to play frisbee or share dinner or hang out on the hammock and listen to the Thursday night concerts. My room is covered in pictures; I'm growing tomatoes on my patio. Really, really, life is good.

Hanging Lake, just outside Glenwood Springs

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Other Unexpected Sparks from Pretirement:
- Following Amy, Katie, Courto, and Aunt Karen on Twitter
- Remembering how much I love running, and finally getting to run at least 10 miles at a time
- Finding $9 jeans at the Gap
- Being away from Facebook for about two months. It was liberating.
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Great Quotes from Pretirement:
- "It was like, you could play Snake, or you could call someone. Or you could check what day it was." - EW, on having a cell phone in 10th grade
- "It was kind of...the writing was on the wall, Nebukannezer-style, because we were months behind on our rent." - EW again, on the close of his restaurant in Windsor
- "I know it's ironic, but I'm jealous of that Bible." - Katie, on the Lutheran Bible Beth received for Confirmation
- "He's probably dreaming about where he can't go." - my cousin Rick, on watching his yellow lab, Zeke, stare out at the Black Hills from within the confines of his electric-fenced yard
- "What's that over there? That looks like the thing that Jesus got tortured on." - A third grader from a private school in Fort Collins, on a cross in a worship site at camp
- "There's efficiency, and then there's theft." - AJS, on a teacher from said private school who walked off with another staff member's backpack
- "Gladiator is just a pissing contest with a lot of money." - RT on watching 'Gladiator' on TV at the Stonehouse one night
- "Yes, but you can buy a dog. I can't BUY a baby." - my roommate JVH on which of us wants it more
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On the docket for the rest of the summer:
- A trip to Cape Cod for Grampy's 80th birthday this Thursday through Tuesday, July 21
- Backpacking east of Independence Pass with Jeff either late July or early August
- Amy, Katie, Courto and my annual Cousin Trip, this time to San Francisco, August 14-18
- A raft/float trip down the Niobrara River in Nebraska sometime late August (I'm still planning this one, and if you're reading this, you're invited - it's gonna be a BLAST)
- KH & SD's wedding in Salt Lake City over Labor Day weekend
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I'm so glad to be alive.

I won't back down, either.

I know I need a new post, and as it's almost the end of May, there's a big one coming soon. This couldn't wait.

Noah's Interpretive Shower Dance

A winter in Aspen, by the numbers

108: days on the snow
3: personal effects completely destroyed via regular wear and tear (1 pair brand-new Nordica ski boots, 1 pair Burton Gore-Tex mittens, 1 pair American Eagle jeans)
3,164: miles on my car in JUST the month of February
12: containers of windshield washer fluid put into my car from December through March
76: boxes of Girl Scout cookies delivered to my friends
5: am, the latest I ever stayed out
4: road trips undertaken (Frisco twice - if that counts - and Steamboat and Vegas)
37: dollars a month I paid for cable in the Teacup
1: roommate/other half/partner in crime
2: times I took the bus into Snowmass instead of driving
16: people in Jared's hot tub on Superbowl Sunday and closing day
0: regrettable experiences

Okay, okay: I figured out Twitter, and it's AWESOME. It's like Facebook status updates, but more frequent, and they get sent to me as a TEXT MESSAGE (and I mean, come on...everyone knows how much I love text messages).
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In addition to my current title - the Queen of French Braids - I've realized I'm also the Duchess of Wanderlust.
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I get excited about the stupidest things: a) CSU apparel - I love it (not wearing it, but seeing it on other people. I'll walk right up to a stranger at a bar in Aspen if they're wearing a CSU hat); b) anything that points to home (like seeing a FoCo.gov sticker on the bumper of a car in Denver last week); c) things that remind me of other people (I heard a John Butler Trio song on KBCO and immediately thought of BM, then called him to tell him so); d) reconnecting with people I haven't seen or spoken to in four years, and then spending every waking minute for a week straight either hanging out, talking with or texting them. TW, I'm lookin' at you.

Sound bytes

These are two of my favorite new songs:

and

Like a pretty bird on a breeze/Or water to a fish...
Neither of the videos are even remotely interesting, so play them as you read further down or something.
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"We're wearing the fun we had yesterday." - CSP, on how sunburned every Aspen Skiing Company employee looked on Tuesday, the day after our epic (and sunny) employee party
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"No problem... you just need a margarita and a good partner. Two margaritas and you don't need a good partner. Three margaritas...and good like finding a partner." - EG, on Salsa dancing
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I have a Twitter account, but I can't really figure it out.
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The discernment retreat on Thursday was kind of neat. I didn't glean much from it, save from deciding to write my candidacy essay on pond skimming as an analogy for seminary.
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Katie had this in her blog, and I think it's hilarious:

Here's the deal - no one sings at college, and from what I can tell, this is America's ONLY singing high school!

Keep Well

So the season is over, and at the risk of being melodramatic - I guess that's always a small risk with me - I'm devastated. I'm so, so sad. I have the same feeling as I have leaving camp, except I'm not completely wrung out yet, and because most of my friends are from foreign countries and likely won't get visas next year, there's a good chance I'll never see most of them again. Ever.

It's cliché, but as Amanda reminded me yesterday, we don't cry because it's over, we smile because it happened. In my case, it's both - I'm really happy it happened but I'm still gonna ugly cry for a few days.

This past week was a total whirlwind. I think I'll be easiest to write about each day individually.
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Wednesday, April 8
Wednesday is No Work Day, so I slept in, ran some errands with AB in Aspen, had a latte (my only day-off "must"), did two loads of laundry, read three magazines, drove to Snowmass to play volleyball at the rec center, came home to shower and spontaneously went to a bluegrass show at the Belly Up with AB and our friend AS, whom AB is working with in Chile this summer. We had a rad super-hippie-dancing night.

Thursday, April 9
As it was Maundy Thursday, I planned the day around a drive to Glenwood for church at 7pm. There aren't any ELCA Lutheran churches anywhere between here and there; for that matter, there are only 2 between Grand Junction and Denver. Church was wicked cool - fun pastor, lots of teenagers, great liturgy (in one night we were annointed with oil AND had a footwashing AND Communion). It was like an hour-long deep breath of fresh air. When I left, I met AB, BK, GC & JH at a fantastic Pan-Asian restaurant in Basalt for dinner. We had this great adult meal - a bottle of red wine, three appetizers and four entrees, and we shared everything. Everyone just took chopsticks and we passed the plates around. I loved it. We talked and talked, and I reminded AB that perhaps a month earlier she had made some derogatory comment about lifties...but now they were our best buddies. Hah.

Friday, April 10
I had a private lesson with a 5-going-on-35-year-old little lady (at one point she literally said, 'This is how I roll, bitches!' Of course I scolded her...); I ended up with this bruise
but I'm not dead, so whatever. Katie pulled the 2009 equivalent of showing up on my front door by texting me on her way out of the Springs to tell me she was coming for the weekend (which THRILLED me!!!!). We had this mammoth dinner party planned at Jared, CK & AL's house. DR's roommate is a chef at The Little Nell (Gucci, Gucci, Gucci), so 27 of us (!) chipped in $20 to have a 10-course meal prepared for us. It was RIDICULOUSLY good - we're talking gourmet food. The sixth course, for example, was a "quail lollipop" consisting of a quail drumstick stuffed with a marcona almond & apricot paste wrapped in Spanish prosciutto. Yeah. Delicious. Appropriately enough, we washed it down with plenty of really really cheap red wine.

(Not a good shot, obviously...but better than nothing.)

Saturday, April 11
I had a half-day private lesson with some famous little British girls, then spent the afternoon at Ink! Coffee with Katie reading magazines and drinking lattes while it rained outside. (It was such a wicked cool afternoon that as I write this, I'm jealous of myself.) Katie and I went to the Easter Vigil at Good Shepard in Glenwood (that service was so cool, it deserves its own post), had dinner at Qdoba & came home to watch Slumdog Millionaire...during which I immediately fell asleep. Whoops.

Sunday, April 12
Easter service in the morning with Katie = awesome. The sermon was phenomenal (Pastor JC's sermon was so cheeky - he included long-running jokes about Monty Python & "Jesus gettin' up in your grill!"), and lots of people personally welcomed us. Everyone was in jeans and carrying coffee cups, but we were still glad to have dressed up. Instead of the usual massive Easter brunch we usually share with family, we dropped by McDonalds and had Egg McMuffins and coffee before Katie headed home and I headed to work. It'll probably be one of my favorite Easters ever.
The rest of the day = completely anticlimactic. Oh, and it was the last day of the season.

Monday, April 13
Employee Party. I would say "enough said," except it's not.
I got into work at around 10 and met up with AT, RS, DP, JF, AL, AB & RB. We grabbed cans of Tecate (sorry Mom) and headed up the lift. Snowmass was only open for employees, which was really freakin' cool, because everywhere you looked, there were only good skiers on the hill, and we knew most of them. And the snow was amazing! We ripped a bunch of powder turns before heading to the lunch/party/pond skim zone after a couple of hours. THAT was a riot - lots and lots of good food, lots and lots of free beer, lots and lots of sunshine, lots and lots of people, and then, finally, lots and lots of opportunity to make a fool out of ourselves.
Exhibit A:

(I have no idea how I made it through the pond at that angle. No idea.)

Exhibit B:

(AB bites it)

Exhibit C:

(This was just a bad idea from the start)

After the party, AB and I did our usual rounds - Zane's to play with the lifties, JF/AL/CK's house to play with our friends (except it kinda turned into The Napping House for a bit), etc. After a billion hours of laying around, AB and I went to say our goodbyes - we hugged the lifties and the rest of our friends at the house, went to the Commons to wake up GC and BW, then drove home in tears. (Well, I was in tears. I'm sure AB was crying on the inside.)
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GC sent me a text the next morning that said something like, "Thanks for coming round last night. Keep in touch, thanks for everything. Your friendship means a lot to me. :) Gonna miss everyone but we'll meet up in the future. Was an unbelievable season, loved it. Keep well, safe travels."

Kasiwa i makasimba ere

Tonight I saw the "Dispatch: Zimbabwe" documentary/concert footage on TV - video straight from the concert I was at in Madison Square Garden! This song, "Elias," is one of my favorites.

kasiwa i
makasimba ere
ndakasimba kana makasimba ow
ndakasimba
you raise your head, you beat the sun
but your boys they lie so close to you
do you dare get up and wake the two
oh elias, I see you there at work in the day time
do you think you could answer all the questions in the world
in just one word- I think you could

[CHORUS:]
'cause if you die will I get word that your gone
or will I hear it in passing conversation
or will I stop short and fall to the ground
distance is short when your hand carries what your eye found

hold my hand just one more time
to see if you're really going to meet me
hold my hand just one more time
to see if you're really going to meet me
honest and manuel, well they're at school now
given the chance that their father's never seen
to see what's beyond section 17
and in ten years when you look back at your boys
well you know they've grown way taller than the tallest
sugar cane in the field

[CHORUS]

I see your wife she stands stooped over by the fire outside
and I see your boys and when they look up
you know I think they got their mother's eyes
'cause she looks so proud she looks so happy
she looks so proud she looks so happy

[CHORUS]