Babies, Thanksgiving dinner...and polka dancing

Andrew brought his GoPro to Iowa last week and took hours of footage of everyone doing everything on the farm - shooting guns, going for walks in the cornfield, eating, drinking, running, roasting the pig and such. He edited all of it down to a little clip, set it to music, and voila! Here she is.

Thanksgiving 2011 from Andrew Sprowell on Vimeo.

Watch it fullscreen for the best viewing, then tell him what you think of it here.

One more utterly fantastic trip home

I didn't have class this past week - the GTU gives us a whole week off in the fall, like Spring Break but better because you don't really expect it - so I went home for a few days, and it was SO. AWESOME. Here are the highlights:

- lunch at Old Chicago with Mom, Dad & Courto: I had a beer big enough to swim in before I even got home

- family voting at the kitchen table

- Courto and I teaching Lucy the downward dog

- dinner with the whole S family and reading books afterwards

- breakfast with BG

- bar time with MJ and BG and his friends

It was good to be back in Colorado and remember that my heart really does belong there.

Up from below

Hello, my friends!

I write such a tease of a blog - post post post, then nothing for months, then post post, then more radio silence. And although I hate to say it, that's probably not going to change much in the next couple of months. I have the mother of all updates for you now, then an explanation for my anticipated disappearing act. Here goes!

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A few days after my last post, while we were still in Whistler, AJS asked me to be his wife. Of course I said yes - in fact, I don't think he'd even said "will you marry me?" before I said "YES YES YES YES YES!!!" - and it made our trip north even sweeter. It was the most amazing, perfect vacation; we'll remember it forever and it already makes for a great story. I would love to post some pictures but I can't get them to upload. Someday the internet won't thwart me...

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April was nuts. AJS quit his job to study for the MCAT, and because I was studying for the GRE and finishing off my second semester of grad school AND training for a half marathon AND lots of other little stuff pertaining to being a seminarian in Holy Week, it was just a ridiculous month. I guess it's a testament to our relationship that we made it through both of our exams and finals and Easter without killing each other or starving to death.

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The rest of my semester finished off well, although it was almost as hectic as April. Grad school is hard. I think I wrote something like 86 pages' worth of papers in just the last week of the semester. The second I was finished, I hopped on a plane bound for Colorado and got to spend two weeks in Fort Collins and Rapid City! AJS joined me for most of it. We knocked out a bunch of the major elements of wedding planning - we set the date, picked the venue and reception, bought my dress, and booked our photographer - so the rest of the year should be relatively manageable. We also took in a Dispatch concert, watched my cousin graduate from high school, celebrated about a dozen birthdays, had our families together for dinner - twice - and took the dog swimming and had BR in town for a few days and so many other awesome things. He took my best girl MJ's son fishing. I went for a couple of 16-mile runs. Seriously, it was as relaxing as it gets. Total Colorado bliss.

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June and July have pretty much blended together. I was awarded a summer fellowship through an organization called The Beatitudes Society and have spent the last eight weeks working at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in San Francisco. It's rad! I like the work I'm doing and I've been really grateful to spend it at this church - it's interesting, it's relatively easy and it's been greatly formative. I feel like I'm making a very big difference in the life of this congregation and it has informed my own sense of call from here - like, I will make different choices going through the rest of my seminary education because of this internship. I've written a whole summer's worth of posts in this blog, so if you care to see more, check that out.

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August has me getting ready for...the rest of my life. I need to finish my transfer application: I'm staying at PLTS, of course, but switching programs, and there are some essays and things I need to have squared away before school starts. I need to figure out my fall classes and register for them. I need to write my Endorsement essay, a piece of candidacy for the ELCA that keeps me on track to graduate with a Master's of Arts in Systematic and Philosophical Theology in May. I need to make sure my other graduation ducks are in line. I need to finalize my choices of Ph.D. programs, request applications, and begin applying. Above all, I need to start writing my thesis, which is the most intimidating of all. Yikes. Luckfully - as Courtney would say - I have CT2011 to look forward to! Katie, Amy, Courto & I are going to Las Vegas in the middle of the month. I already can't wait.

Whistler, Part 2

Quote of the day:

AJS: "Methinks is one word."

Kelsey: (disbelieving this, I look it up to find he's correct)

AJS: "I read a lot of pirate books."

Here's a short and sweet, quick and dirty synopsis of our last 48 hours . . .

- The tour of Vancouver was AMAZING! BS drove us through Stanley Park (the largest public park in North America, evidently) and around the city, where we were ultimately caught up in a belated St. Patrick's Day parade and couldn't find a way to get back to his apartment. The luck of the Irish was not with us.

- Coffee with (the other) BS was super fun. He hasn't changed a bit since the last time I saw him, which, unfortunately, was almost four years ago.

- AJS and I hit the road around noon and stopped in Squamish to hike The Chief. It reminded me a bit of a hike I did outside Glenwood back in the day (you can see pictures here), even though the views were totally different. Again, I'll post pictures later.

- Skiing today was absolutely incredible. There are no words for how rad Whistler is. My legs are completely shot. As soon as my brain can give it some credence, I'll post some pictures and an idea of what we skied.

We're skiing again tomorrow and taking a hut trip to Duffy Lake on Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll likely post another update when we return on Thursday night. Adios, amigos. It's been real.

Unexpected Sparks

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It's been a long time since I've posted a REAL entry in here.

My friend and I had a CIP (a conversation-in-passing: just a quick talk that meant nothing at the time, but which I ultimately thought about for hours) about our blogs and our friends who blog and how sometimes people write a lot of crap about things that don't matter. Friend seemed annoyed at the unspoken obligation to read her friends' every thought. The part of the conversation that caught me like a run in my tights, though, was when she said, "Most of my friends are writing about being a newlywed or their job, but you're in seminary - THAT'S cool." I don't think that's any cooler or less-cool (what an amorphous concept anyhow) than newlywed-hood or a job. AND, what's more, my being a seminarian is not the point of this blog!

EUREKA!

I had such a lightbulb moment. I started this blog to reflect on the unexpected sparks in my life and in the lives of the people I love. I realized that I have completely lost touch with that point. It's time to get back to it!

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I sit before my laptop this morning in pink flannel giraffe pajamas. My empty coffee cup begs to be refilled, and so many unexpected sparks flood my mind.

1) I'm going to Disneyland tonight! My classmate TR has access to free tickets, so back in October we made plans to drive down for a quick break before spring semester started. We recruited a great group of people to join us, so tomorrow morning, eight 25 and 26-year-olds will descend on the Magic Kingdom. I think we'll just do laps on Splash Mountain.

2) I sorted through some pictures from the fall last night (I'm still learning iPhoto) and remembered again what a great life this is. Somehow, even though I studied my ever-living butt off last semester, I managed to fit in a LOT of active fun - hiking at Point Reyes, skiing at Tahoe, a football game in San Diego, trips home and to South Dakota, a million dinner parties. Cheers!

3) I just spent a whole month at home. Talk about the Happiest Place on Earth.

4) The Buried Life. If you haven't seen this, you're seriously missing out. Watch an episode or two here.

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That should be enough for now. Happy Saturday!

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.

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
*
I'm so glad to be alive.

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.
*
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.)
*
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."

My last three weeks through the lens of an aging, low-quality digital camera

Snowy trees in SteamboatOur bowling team
My lovely roommate
Rookie Party
Driving to Vegas
BeerFest Team America
Katie came to visit!!
Skis in Steamboat
Hiking Burnt Mountain

23 Hours in Vegas

Eight of my friends and I just spent 23 hours in Vegas. Here's how.

1:00-2:00 In-N-Out Burger
2:00-3:00 Hotel check-in (we stayed at the Excalibur, two adjoining rooms @ $60 each - that means a bed for each person at a whopping $13 a pop); venture to the pool, which we find closed
3:00-3:20 En masse discussion about afternoon plans
3:20-6:00 AB and I hit the strip for shopping; AR heads off to find her Kiwi friends; all 6 boys go gambling
6:00-9:30 Dinner at JF's parents' house in Boulder City, just outside Vegas
9:30-11:00 Quick naps, espresso and showers for eight in preparation for the night
11:00-6:00am Crazy, ridiculous clubbing at Palms' rooftop bars and elsewhere
6:00-9:00 Sleep

9:00-11:30 Pool time. Hooray, sunshine!
11:30-12:00 Packing, showering, hitting the road for home