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!

*

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...

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.

*

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.

Hi readers! Are there any of you left?

I know it's kind of nuts to go eight months without posting anything and then just drop a couple of pictures, but I'm in the thick of finals week and that's what I'm gonna do.

*

I saw this on my newsfeed last night and it cracked me up - what?! I lived in Colorado for 25 years and I've never smelled manure before a snowstorm!

*

These are the things on my mind.

*

Happy Advent! I promise I'll write more when my life calms down... someday...

The life and times of Firecracker Girl

What a month it's been.

*
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.
*
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.
*
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:

*
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.
*

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).

*
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

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...

*
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!

*
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

*
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.
*
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.
*
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

*
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.
*
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
*
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.

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.

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."

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]

A few of my favorite scenes from a few of my favorite movies

Do these say anything about me? Quizas.
*

*

*

*

*

(I couldn't find a clip of just the last scene, so the whole preview will have to do.)
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E9JeL-UA48
The embedding is disabled, but this is possibly my favorite scene in any movie ever:
[neither understands the other's language]
Jamie: [in English] It's my favorite time of day, driving you.
Aurelia: [in Portuguese] It's the saddest part of my day, leaving you.
*

*

*

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

Poker

I've been collecting pop tabs for almost four years now. I send them in batches of about six pounds to the Ronald McDonald House in Providence, RI. Right now my Timbuk2 bag is swimming with them.

*

Saturday morning I had a class of five level three five-year-old boys. All boys. I was super anxious initially, but they turned out to be angels - good skiers with great attitudes who behaved, didn't complain and seemed to have a lot of fun. They stayed in my tracks, didn't argue about the line (everyone argues about the line!), kept their clothes/helmets/goggles on and even carried their skis. When they fell over, they could get up without help, and they even put their skis on and took them off without me. I was so pleased, and frankly a little shocked. One of them made me a valentine (a little construction paper heart with my name on it), and another cried when I tried to switch him into another class ("But Kelsey, I wanna ski with YOU!!"). I got $100 in tips from their parents, too. It was an awesome day.
*
Our trip to Steamboat last week was a riot. There were 11 of us - myself and four Aussie girls in my car, DR and his people in his car, RS & AB in JF's Outback - and it was the perfect group. Our sleeping quarters were a little cramped, but it made me that much more happy at 8am when I threw open the curtains of our Comfort Inn room and started singing at everyone to get out of bed. It was a freakin' powder day! Steamboat had probably 20 fresh inches (RS, DR, DW, JB, JF and I skied Morningside Park the first half of the day and nabbed face shots with every turn) and nothing felt skied off all day. Our drive home was the funniest part; I think I'll let the picture tell the story:
*
Moving on. Today at work, my boss JM bought me lunch at Cafe Suzanne. It was delightfully special; we were both super busy & couldn't ski down to the Treehouse for our free lunch, so instead we sat and chatted about our families and ski bumming and little kids and snow. Then at the end of the day, I found a fox den in the MIDDLE OF A RUN!!! That poor little mother fox is going to have the shock of her life when she births a litter of kits (right?) in mid-March and has to compete with hundreds of beginner skiers for space on the snow...
*
I've gotten to make a real dinner two nights in a row - first last night at JG's house as I babysat his kids, and then tonight, when I showed up pre-poker at the CK-AL-JF household with food for all of us. (Mom, I made the ravioli/sausage/tomato thing, and I broiled some broccoli to go with it. This kitchen is even more fun to cook in than yours!) I desperately miss cooking, so it's been fun to craft some solid meals for more than just myself.
*
My buddy JF is pretty swell. He wants you to know that his name is Jared Friday (as in, he's my first friend to give permission to use his actual name and not just his initials - "of course, until I do something stupid, and then you have to take it off," he says). He's standing over my shoulder as I type this.
*
I have a gnarly craving for some Walrus swiss dark chocolate ice cream.
*
This morning up at Elk Camp, a bajillion instructors were standing outside in a meeting - a whole mass of red jackets nodding politely as TH gave them instructions - and another instructor said as an aside to me, "Our Father, who art in heaven..." and we both giggled. (He was implying that the group looked, from our vantage point, like they were taking communion.) I started saying the rest of it; the instructor paused, then joined me as we finished the Lord's Prayer in its simple entirety looking out at the snow. It really choked me up.
Lately I've been reflecting about the lack of real church in my life here. I've been to a couple of services in the three-ish months I've lived here, and nothing has stuck. That's not to say I've cut God out of my life; I frequently find myself saying small thank you prayers for my friends, good snow, CC's thoughtfulness, waking up before my alarm, a hot shower, a kitchen, well-behaved kids, etc. I spend many gondola rides meditating. The punchline is that contrary to what many people think (myself included), the absence of a weekly church service hasn't left a void in my life. I haven't missed it, per se. It's not like I'm living in sin, but given the planned trajectory of my life (seminary in a couple of years) I had expected to feel some loss. I think this morning it kind of hit me like a truck, and I think I might come home this summer just to go back to Spirit of Joy again every Sunday.
*
My mom joined a Facebook group called, "I bet I can find a million people who don't care that Michael Phelps smoked weed." I have a righteous mother.
*
I played with THREE yellow labs yesterday, including a puppy. Life is grand.

Saturday

CC is in town, so I'm anti-internet for a few days. He's cooking dinner, though, and I just came across a photo I have to post, so forget that for a minute:

Happy birthday, Amy. Love you more than you could imagine. I'm PUMPED that you'll be 21 a year from today (let's start planning!) and we desperately need a cousin trip soon. Also, please don't hate me for posting this old, old, old picture.

Oh, I believe!

Wow, what a stimulating weekend!
*
Thursday was, of course, brilliant. I very much enjoyed cooking; I very much enjoyed hosting my friends; I very much enjoyed laughing and drinking and carving and relaxing with many of my favorite people in one room. Henri B. Stendhal wrote that "to describe happiness is to diminish it," and for that very reason I'm not going to write another word about it.
*
Friday was odd, mostly because I slept for 3 hours before getting up - at 3am - to work. Sleeping for ALL of Sunday and Monday + napping on Thursday night = a very confused Kelsey. I felt like most of Friday afternoon my body was kind of like, "Seriously? Seriously?! What the hell are you doing?!" I rallied in the evening, which led to three distinct interactions: a) a delightful long-distance phone date with MH; b) an awkward (and short) stop by JN's birthday party; and c) a beer date at the Crown Pub with LM. The last one was a treasure - we decided (over a particularly inspirational Easy Street, natch) to take an extended trip to southeast Asia next summer, volunteering and traveling together throughout Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and maybe Indonesia. And we mean it. (I don't think it really hurt matters that CN was working. For some reason, watching him wash glasses inspires me to live a more adventurous life. :) )
*
Yesterday was kind of a bust, and more than anything I want to talk about today. Just a couple of notes first:
a) The Rams won, the Huskers won, and the Buffs got DESTROYED. Huzzah!
b) LY's homecoming party was pleasant. Honestly, it made me really miss AJS. And I had a decent conversation with JG and LY's new girlfriend about how and why some guys act very differently around their girlfriends than they do in normal society.
c) I stayed up obnoxiously late for NO reason. Stupid. Stupid.
*
To make a long story short, I skipped Christian's confirmation this morning to see Barack Obama speak at the CSU oval. (The thought process going into that decision affords its own blog entry. Look for that later.) I went as a guest of LT with him, his parents and many of his wonderful friends, and the day as a whole was extraordinary. It wasn't life-changing, but it was definitely once-in-a-lifetime.
I showed up at LT's house around 10:15 armed with a 4-shot Americano and my standard attire (blue Patagonia fleece and Chaco flipflops). Unbeknownst to me, he had assembled a veritable army of Obama supporters, and a few moments later I was Oval-bound with LT, his parents, his roommate BB and BB's mom, the girls KS and KB and KB's boyfriend SH, NP, her mom, and her boyfriend JS, and GD and his brother. Things were awkward for about 16 seconds when I realized that everyone there had known each other since fourth grade and I was "oh, THAT girl!" whom the whole group knew a LOT about (thanks LT), but everyone was warm and friendly so the awkwardness passed.
When we got to the front of the library we were joined by SK, his dad DK and his girlfriend MD. JH - whose relationship with LT KS and I speculated on all day, but never nailed down - was our connection for getting to stand in the bleachers, so we found him just as he was briefing the group. Obviously we had a big crowd, but we were part of a much larger group (maybe 300 people), so as JH read our names off of a list we stepped forward for our gold stars. From there, we walked down University Ave to the special spot where people with gold stars were supposed to wait for security checks and more briefing. (They told us that because we were going to be on TV they were going to "arrange us" on the bleachers according to what would look the most attractive behind The Man.)
At this point we waaaaaiiiiited. And waited. And waited. We got to the corner of University and West (just south of the oval) at about 11:10am and we didn't move until 2:50pm. Needless to say it was a long, long, long wait, and it was rather cold outside and we were rather bored and hungry. Mercifully the anticipation of standing directly behind our next president was enough to suppress most of our small irritations. Once we decided that we couldn't order pizza to the corner of University & West because of the insane Secret Service presence, the boys + NP + LT's dad played hacky sack while KS and I chatted up LT's mom. (At one point we had her in tears after telling her how much we love him. It was sweet.) Parts of the group came and went; LT and his parents and I spent about an hour snuggled up in the grass trying to stay warm. I saw LM and her parents, and I started feeling REALLY anxious because LM said that Obama was running 1.5 hours late due to travel delays - and since I knew I was working at 5, I thought I was going to miss him altogether (after having waited 4 hours to see him AND skipping my own brother's confirmation!). Alas, my anxieties were all in vain.
Once they started moving us through security and up to the bleachers, announcements were being made that the man of the hour (or, more accurately, the year, the decade, our lives, etc) had arrived on campus and would hit the stage shortly. I was BESIDE myself with excitement, as can be attested by LT and his parents. Later I'll post pictures of what the following half hour looked like; suffice it to say it was SO much fun.
And then he was on stage. Right in front of us. Right in front of 50,000 people. Right in my backyard.
I dug his speech. Like I mentioned, it wasn't life-changing, but I probably wouldn't forgive myself if I'd missed it. He hit on all the usual talking points - healthcare, economy, tax cuts, McCain's stupidity and ignorance - and encouraged us to vote early and have our friends do the same. He joked around a LOT, which thrilled the crowd, and at one point said something like "college kids aren't a special interest group, they're our future!" so of course I looked at LT and declared, "HE BELIEVES IN US!" and we dissolved in giggles.
And then just like that, he was gone and we were headed home. Of course, as I reflect upon the day, the undisputed best part was sharing the experience with so many people. My little nuclear group alone - just the people I've referenced in this blog - numbered 17; the crowd in the bleachers numbered 300; and looking out upon the packed oval, we numbered 50,000+.
I was reminded why I call LT my "therapist." We met four years ago in a physics class, and yesterday I repeatedly said silent prayers of thanksgiving for his friendship. He is one of my most true friends - he's kind, he's affable and gentle and congenial and sincere, he has a heart of gold and I am so lucky to call him a friend. I'm going to name my firstborn Loren after him. And I wish I could be the kind of friend to other people that he is to me.
*
God is love. I have a lot of love in my life. I have a lot of God in my life.
*
At work ANOTHER of my coworkers thought CF was my sister. Which reminds me that I need to write at length about my adopted siblings - AB, CF, KH and many others. Again...I'm so fortunate to have these people in my life.

Hey B,

All day I've been giving God thanks for our friendship.

It warmed my heart to hear "Falling Slowly" on KBCO (of all stations!) driving home. I looked through all of the goofy pictures we have from the last couple of years - the millions of adventures we had up at camp; our trip to WP for the brewfest; the couple of weeks we had after camp ended before you went home; the weekend I came up to Madison (the farmers' market! our 'sleepover'! excessive beer drinking in the rathskeller!) and the time you spent here in January; our fun, fun week here this summer. We live so far apart, and yet we remain so involved in each other's lives.

I am so grateful for you.

Love, K