Pillar of Fire

Westminster University's first building - The Castle. What was to be the "Princeton of the West". Funny how things never turn out like we think they will.

And many times, that's a good thing.


Stolen by Dashboard Confessional

Very Biz

Not sure I can count the stops we made and the places we drove through today. It's how we roll.


I Want You by Savage Garden

Contagious

Mimi & Poppy came to Denver...and we ended up driving all over northern Colorado! Between the Swetsville Museum, Olde Town, Mountain Street, The Rio, Paris Street Flea Market, Main St., the Pump House, and various subdivisions of amazing houses, it was a very biz day! So much so that the only photos I got were at our first stop...










Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn

P.O.P.

I had to mail my comany lap top back to Detroit today because it has finally crapped the bed on me. I had a roll of bubble wrap on my desk for this very purpose, when Step Child discovered it and - like the complete kids we really are - started popping a piece. It was like a little bit of ecstacy on a Friday after noon, if you couldn't tell from the facial expressions.

I was laughing so hard I could hardly hold the camera steady! And this was shortly before Nate told us to leave early, and the throwing of the various balls we have around the office began. We broke a picture on the wall, almost broke the coffee pot, but the windows remain in tact!

So far...



Running Up That Hill by Placebo

The Pumpkin Bank

Angry by Matchbox Twenty

A River Runs Through It

The Platte to be exact (and there's a statue in the middle - hence the photo). I can't believe how many times I've come in contact with this river this week!

Sometimes I Want to Die by Joydrop

Island Nite

One of my service managers invited Reina and I over for a meal prepared by his lovely wife! Little did I know he was serious about the themed dinners...I was kicking myself for not having anything islandish to wear! She made this absolutely breath-taking, mouth-watering 3 course meal that included coconut shrimp, jerk chicken and pork, coconut rice, beans, mangos, THREE different kind of island sauces, and then, if that spread wasn't enough, she made this to-die-for key lime pie cheesecake we enjoyed around the fire outside with our last "Shark Attacks". We ended up staying til midnight by complete accident, we were having so much fun! Totally paid for it the next day.

But it was totally worth it!



Miracle Drug by U2

Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair...

I can't believe I haven't taken a picture of this little library-bound miracle. I went to the 2nd Annual Denver Public Library used book sale a few weekends ago - the day our toilet decided to flood our apartment to be exact. I dragged Mike along, as he really had nowhere else to go and wanted out just as badly as I did. I walked into the tent and was absolutely overwhelmed. Too many people to adequately look through the tables and tables and boxes of incredibly cheap books. I wanted to touch each and every one!

So I marched to the children's section to begin looking for a beautifully illustrated book I used to read all through elementary and high school called Tam Lin. It was a long shot that didn't make it - but thanks to Yahoo Answers, I found out the title and the author, as all I could remember about the book was that it was filled with plaids for each character, and the heroine had to hold on to her Prince as he changed from fire to a dragon to a lion trying to kill her as she kept her arms around him. She broke the spell by doing so.

Wow, I digress...

I begin looking at the books on the table, and the first book Mike nonchalontly pulls out is the treasure pictured below. I just stared at him. "Where'd you find that?!" I mustered. "Right here. It looked like something you'd like."

Little did he know I'd been stalking that book on Amazon for two years. It never got below $30 and they were always used. I just couldn't justify it, and it was the last - out of print - book in my Trina Schart Hyman illustrated collection.

I paid $3 for it.

I love this man.

Hallelujah by Paramore

Bridge to Nowhere

How we'll miss you.

Happy Successful Revolution Appreciation Day

"Long Pine! I haven't been there in years!"

Out of all the coffee cups in all the cupboards, Mike got me this one.

Ready and waiting for tubing down the crick!

Awesome.

Pleasantly cooking, drinking, and all around doing nothing.

Runza!

When my sister and I were small, we took several road trips to Lincoln, NE, where my dad's grandmother lived. We would visit the Lincoln Museum of Science and History where the life-sized Wooly Mammoth watched over the entrance and scared the 80s cuffed shorts off my sister and I. My dad would spin us nauseous on the playground accoutrement only found in Lincoln – until an accidental discovery somewhere in the South Dakota Badlands. We slept in the cool basement with it's terrifying laundry/storage room and it's bathroom with the stacks of old National Geographics (all of which I went through, for the pictures) and it's bar where Karley and I sat counting out the drink stirrers we would ogle and wish were ours. I would climb the huge tree in my great-grandmother's fenceless backyard full of flowers and Midwest vegetable gardens and pretend I could sing – cooing the same song over and over and over (Rich Mullins, no less). And we would go to Runza's, where my dad would eat his most-beloved fast-food and my sister and I, although it wasn't our favorite, would eat with glee to get another Runza beach ball to blow up and play with. We had amassed quite the collection by the time each trip was over.

Here's to Lincoln road trips, yellow squash, ancient wax historical scenes, blue jean purses, my mom's amazing ability to make any road trip fly by, and my dad's love of the little things.

Exponential

Apparently being welcomed by one bird just isn't enough!

Sick Sad Little World by Incubus

I seriously love manga.

It's so dramatic and unrealistic. And oh so great now that I can read it online! *beam*

Heartbeats by Jose Gonzales

Word Picture

It's been a really long day. Being the 23rd Region in the rankings out of 23 has taken its toll on the zone managers, not to mention our management. We scrambling to figure out how we can claw our way out of dead last in the second half, and it's been an 11 hour day. I can't wait to get home, and I'm hungry. Traffic's terrible, as always on Mondays heading up I-25. And I wish it wasn't getting hot now in Denver. I feel stressed and pent up and just a little bit hopeless.

I'm taking the toll road; I deserve the 5 minute head start.

Get over into the toll lane; try not to think.

Wait. Is that a mushroom?!

I keep glancing to my left at the stalled traffic not quite lucky enough to have their tolls paid for by their company, trying to figure out why I keep seeing a mushroom stopped up ahead. Large, green and purple with big red spots. Yep, that is a mushroom. I begin to smile. It's sitting behind four car-sised ladybugs on the back of a truck, cute little yellow antannae, gleaming in the intense sun over the mountains.

That's a mushroom. Surrounded by lady bug cars.

I can't stop smiling, looking over to the west now that I've passed the 'shroom truck, unable to get to my camera fast enough in the driver's seat. God's giving a speech, as Mike says, raining sunlight down over the mountains through the peeling clouds.

It's a good day.

The Man Tear

What these two looked like from about 12:30 to 2:30...

What I did to keep myself entertained...

Tiny Sword Attaaaaaaaack! I won.

One Man Tear is allowed when your team gives up a game wherein they were up by two at half time. Sorry Mike...

This Moment by Nic Chagall

Pearl St. Grille

Not nearly as good, apparently, as one's own appendages...

"The smoke bombs fit in the cup holders perfectly!"

THE best test drive video I have ever seen, including the answers to such questions as "Is it easy to park?" and "Is it green?" and "What if I'm asked to take part in a beach assault by the Royal Marines?"

I adore British Humor!

Stick It Where The Sun Don't Shine

I waas saying my goodbyes to my Greeley dealership today when everything went black in the parts department. I walked out to the service drive to find one incredibly confused storm. It drives me nuts when it's sunny and raining!



Carried Home by Iron & Wine

I've had a lot on my mind...

I have found one thing that will turn my brain off. And I have exploited the heck out of it!

One Man Army by Our Lady Peace

Smile

Edge of a Dream by Sarah Jarosz