Harvest Moon Half-Ironman. I'm done.

Woohoo! I did it! My big race this year was on Sunday, despite the lack of training, I finished :)

Becca came up the night before and we shared a bottle of wine with pasta and mahi mahi for dinner :) I love how I manage to get some alcohol in the night prior to almost every race I've done this year! That's what a year in Iraq with no alcohol will do to you.

Race Report is here :RR

And of course, a slide show...



And you can click on the pictures to see them online at your own pace :)

Things are going well otherwise. I know I haven't been around much, but am trying to get settled still. The new job is going really well and I'm still liking it and feeling encouraged. It is still a transition to actually working monday - friday and not hanging out on my front porch drinking coffee all day :)

I {heart} Denver!

Well, I'm just about settled in my apartment. I have a few things to get and more things to put away and some pictures to hang on the walls, but I'm comfortable here. Sister has been a big help too - doesn't hurt she lives 2 blocks away! I will post pictures soon, for those wanting to see how I'm living. I love my apartment and my neighborhood and my drive to work is easy. I also scouted out a few bike routes to/from work, so next week I'll start bike commuting while the weather is still great.

Work. Well, I am actually really excited about my job, which, I didn't think I'd ever say about any job. There are 'big kid' rules, like a flexible schedule - as long as I put in a certain number of hours in a month I have the option to take a day or a few hours to take care of things during business hours. And really, working only 40 hours a week is not what I'm used to! I have a lot of responsibility - a large team and a sh*tton of equipment they maintain. Everyone has been very welcoming. I didn't realize until actually coming to work how big a deal it was for them to hire me for this position. This level management normally comes from within the company - and for them to offer me this position adds a bit of pressure (just a little). I can tell the expectations are high. There is still a lot for me to learn concerning the program and getting accustomed to the culture, but I know where my strengths lie and I'm confident I'll do just fine.

Thanks everyone for the support!

The Incline Makes the NYT

A friend sent me this link...


Incline

Crazy Crazy Month.

I've been back in Colorado almost a week now and I've been running around like crazy since.

I accepted a job with Big Defense Contractor and tentatively start on August 11th (for you military/former military just so you know, it took a moment's thought to NOT type 11 AUG). I found an apartment just 2 blocks from Sister, 1.5 blocks from a very very nice park, 2 blocks from both a King Soopers AND a Whole Foods, oh an about 15 miles to work...

I'm sad that my summer o' fun is about to end, but anxiously anticipating starting this next part of my life.

I'll email my new address shortly. Phone number will stay the same (for now).

New York!

I'm in New York visiting family this week after a week in Ohio visiting more family! I haven't sorted through my photos yet, but I have some good ones that I'll post when I get the opportunity.

Off for some yummy pancakes.

Can we say PANIC in the water? (Loveland Lake to Lake Triathlon)

Ah, my first triathlon in years. Results:

Race time: 3:26:21

487 out of 595 competetors
41 out of 58 in my age group

1500 meter swim: 41:26
T1: 1:41
30 mile bike: 1:42:16
T2: 2:00
10k run: 58:56

Race report:

Boyfriend and I drove up to Denver to stay with Sister the night before. Sis made some Pad Thai (yum), giggled at a few episodes of Season 2 of Arrested Development. Went to bed fairly early only to wake up at oh-dark-thirty. Drove an hour to Loveland, picked up race packet and set up my transition area.

Walked around a bit, rode bike to make sure it was in an appropriate gear. Walked down to the lake and thought "Good God those buoys are far away." Boyfriend actually said that out loud. Put wetsuit on, waded out into the water.

On to the swim...Can you say PANIC in the water? I have no idea what my problem was. I can swim the distance. I didn't feel like I was going to drown. I just could not get my breathing/HR under control. And I didn't get kicked or punched or jostled much either. All I can tell you is that I would think I had it under control, then I'd put my face underwater and then start hyperventilating. Crazy! I probably spent most of the swim on my back, doing some modified backstroke. At one point I thought that my wetsuit was going to choke me, resulting in even more panicky feeling. Considered swimming to the peeps in the kayaks to quit the race, but then was like "I did not drive 2 hours and pay 80 bucks to f*ing quit!" Honestly though, I had no idea what my time would be, so when I finally came out of the water and saw 37 min on my watch, I was thinking "eh, not too bad!" The time above includes the LONG run up to the transition. Boyfriend was great, cheering and running next to me saying nice things all the way to T1.

Then the bike...I realized that my computer wasn't registering any speed/distance, so I hopped off real quick, and adjusted the sensor. All good from that point on. It took me a bit longer than I thought to calm myself down after the swim... HR was way too high for the first 15 mins or so. Once I settled into a rhythm I was good. Passed a few people on the big steep hill near Horsetooth Resevoir, but then was passed on the downhills. When I'm going 40+ mph, I tend to get scared! The last 10 miles were on a nice, paved road. I was able to get in big gear and average 19+mph.

Finally the run...Coming off the bike, I felt a little shaky but that feeling left after a few hundred meters. I need to get my bike fit checked because my left knee was killing me, though after 1/2 a mile the pain went away. Both feet were numb the first mile or so. I skipped the first water point but then walked through the rest of them. I was feeling great - I could have pushed a lot faster, but just didn't feel like it. I was enjoying the race. I felt strong the entire time. Boyfriend hollered out "You're doing great! Only 400 meters to go!" If I were any closer, I'd have punched him. "only 400 meters" my a**. It felt like 400 miles.

I could easily have taken 15 mins off my swim time had I not completely freaked out. I also had all good intentions of following a training plan specific to this race. That went out the window because I focused more on my prep for my running races. I don't need to run more! I need to swim and bike more!

I really really enjoyed this race (once I was out of the water). Its very very organized, lots and lots of awesome volunteers. Great course. This was a nice "welcome back" race after a few years off due to injury and a deployment. The post race meal was amazing - burritos, brownies yum.

I really did enjoy the race. I know what to do now in training to ensure that the 1/2 Ironman in September goes well. I can only improve on the swim at this point! It was so so great having Carol and JJ there to cheer me on and take pictures and support me. We woke up at 3:30am to make it to the race site by 5 - like I said, they're great and the race would have completely sucked if I didn't have them there to support me.

Starlight Spectacular

Saturday night/Sunday morning a whole bunch of us registered for the Starlight Spectacular. Its a midnight bike ride around town benefiting Trails and Open Spaces here in the county. Woohoo! They had contests for best bike (we saw some really really cool tandem cruisers, bikes tricked out to look like big ole motorcycles, bikes with so many glowsticks they looked like moving Light Brights) and best costume (we saw care bears and lots of other fun get ups). About 1500 bicyclists donned headlamps and rode around town at midnight! We had a great time, cruising down the middle of the street while trying not to let the sea of flashing red taillights give us seizures.

Gold Camp Road

A very nice climb today on the bike. It was windy, like I'd turn around because of the wind - windy, but riding up Gold Camp Road was nice. Couldn't feel the wind except on the exposed parts of the road... I rode until I ran out of pavement :)



Snapped some pics with my camera phone. Here you go :)

Through the Viewfinder

I read about this technique in a magazine, or maybe on the internet. Either way, I found my way to this Flickr group, TtV. Soon, I was bidding on decades old twin lens reflex cameras on ebay. Kodak Duaflex and Brownie Starflex were the two I ended up winning - less than $1!

I threw a 4x close up filter stacked with a 2x close up filter on my 50mm. The closer I can focus my top camera to the viewfinder the less I have to crop. A macro lens would be better, but not in the budget.

Took a few today, played with them in Adobe Lightroom and here you go...

Productive? Who? me?

So, today I was fairly productive. Well, in relation to the past week, today I feel I accomplished quite a bit!

1. Networking meeting at 7am.
2. Bike ride at 9 (before the wind!)
3. Violin lesson at 12.
4. Completed, scanned and submitted application forms for a job I interviewed for last week.

Still to do:

1. Run at least 20 minutes.
2. Return overdue library books.

I've managed to not drive my car today. Actually, I've managed to not drive much the past week or so. I filled up my car last Tuesday and I've only gone through 1/4 of a tank :) I even think I can make it the rest of the day not driving...the library is a mere 1 and a half miles from my house. Boy is cooking me dinner tonight and he just moved closer to me - about 5 miles away. I figure today I've saved about $5!

Why I'm Not Running the Garden of the Gods 10 Miler Next Year.

1. Course is brutal - there's not a flat section in the entire 10 miles. See following elevation profile. (Blue shaded is the elevation, red line is my heart rate and green line is our pace/speed. You can see where we slowed for water with the spikes in green. Yes, I am a nerd. My gps watch/HR monitor along with a 3rd party training program for mac lets me analyze my workouts with a mind boggling amount of data.)




2. Race t-shirts are not only ugly, but they don't fit! Argh.

In all seriousness, I probably won't run it next year. B and I discussed that during the race. We really did chit chat pretty much the entire 10 miles, stopped for a bathroom break around mile 5, stopped at every water point, made conversation with random people around us. It is a beautiful place to run - you'd think after twice weekly training runs along the course for 2 and a half months I'd be sick of the Garden. But no, I went running there yesterday!

Whew!

I should take a picture of my awesome tan lines and post, but it'd be a bit tricky to do myself. Last Sunday I rode the Elephant Rock Century (that's 100 miles on a bicycle for those not in the know). Um, not really prepared for the ride, as the longest ride up to that point was only 30 miles. I just kept telling myself it was going to be a long ride and just ... went. I don't want to say it went by fast, because it didn't, but it was like "oh, I'm at mile 30 already?" and then "hhmm, mile 50, ok" then "wow, mile 70." Mile 80-90 were screaming downhill - at one point my bike computer told me I was traveling 41.5 mph. But really, 100 miles is a long way. I spent just shy of 7 hours in the saddle but with the rest stops I was out on the course for close to 8 hours. Hence, the funky tan lines. I do enjoy that ride, 7000 cyclists including both my roommates! I thought the rest stops were well stocked and the course was a good one, very pretty. I could have done without the wind, but at least it wasn't cold. I'm still in a sort of shock that I actually rode my bike for 100 miles...

Other big things this week - I had a job interview in Denver on Wednesday which I felt went well. Think the guys I interviewed with thought the same thing as they just called for a 2nd interview!

Sunday B and I are running the Garden of the Gods 10 mile race. Woohoo! No more early Tuesday/Thursday training runs...

Bolder Boulder 2008

Oh, goodness, we had such a good time!

Another slideshow - I'm just really liking them...

Weekend of Fun :)

Memorial Day Weekend with friends!



Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the online album.

Uncle's 90th Birthday!

I went to California to visit family and to attend my uncle's 90th surprise party. I want to write more, but I've been crazy busy...



Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the online album... love you family!

Way too much time on my hands

Yesterday was the first day where I really did feel restless and (dare I say it) almost bored! I spent most of the morning sitting on the porch watching traffic. Rode my little cruiser a few blocks downtown to meet M for lunch. Hit the post office. Back to the porch. Wrote some letters to friends far away.



Sunday I spent a few hours cleaning the back yard. A winter's worth of leaves and trash into 3 contractor trash bags. A wheelbarrow full of potting soil after emptying oh, about 20 pots.



I wish I could tell you that I have a grand landscape plan, but I don't! I will finish laying the stone patio. Roommate and I will square out a vegetable garden. Neighbor and I will dig out the easement between the sidewalk and street and somehow unify his and my property.

Today I'm meeting B for lunch. Then to the DMV to trade in my Ohio drivers license for a Colorado one. Oh the excitement!

Headed to San Francisco to visit family this weekend - should be a good time. Cousins tell me its supposed to be HOT there, which is nice considering today its about 45F.

Run this morning.

So, I spend way too much time on the internet while unemployed. Mapped my run this morning. Check it out!



I like the elevation profile on the actual website...

Colorado Half Marathon

So, B and I drove up to Fort Collins saturday and met up with M in Old Town. Its such a cute little college town! We picked up race packets and walked around a bit. M was like "Rio Grande has really good margaritas!" Of course we have not one, but two each with chips and queso :) (By the way, apparently Rio Grande's margaritas are so potent, there is a 3 per person limit.) Fantastic pre-race meal if you ask me.




I have friends that live just east of Fort Collins and they were great and let us stay with them - we cooked a big spaghetti dinner and chit chatted.

B and I woke at 4:30 to get to the bus station to grab the bus that drove us to the start. We arrived at the start point at 6:20 and shivered along with the other 1/2 marathon runners until the start at 7. The course was point-to-point starting in the canyon and then going slightly downhill along the Cache La Poudre river. It really was a great course and well supported with lots of runners! I took it easy the first hour (roughly 9:30 pace) and was feeling pretty good. Realized I could finish in under 2 hours, so I picked up the pace the rest of the race... I finished in 1:59:04 which is about a 9 min pace and I was very happy with that. The Garden runs we suffer through on Tues/Thurs mornings have improved my running. Yay.



We skipped the beer tent (!) post race and opted for a fattie breakfast! Yay for stuffed French Toast!

It really was a great race and we're definitely wanting to do this next year. I like the 1/2 marathon length. I can comfortably complete one without too much training. Next up Bolder Boulder!

Snow. In May. Seriously.

I took this picture this morning. The day started somewhat ok. It was in the low 40s, high 30s during the Garden run this morning. I wore shorts, only because I thought I had a pair of yoga pants in my car (oh, I didn't) into which I could change. *sigh* Late this morning it started raining then snowing. Then the sun came out. And now its snowing again! As G.O.B. would say, "C'mon!"

Today is my last Army Day! Say it with me "Woohoo!"

This week has been crazy but good. I spent a lot of time with Friend Now Living Here which, I'm going to have to change her name to Friend Who Moved to Delaware. The two kids and her are leaving tomorrow! What am I going to do?! Monday, we spent (minus the kids) two and half hours at Target. Yes, it is completely possible to spend 2+ hours in Target. Especially when the Target has a built in Starbucks! Hey!

I've mentioned that B and I committed to running the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile and their Tues/Thurs training runs. At first we were running with the Middle of the Pack group. The past few runs we've mixed it up with the two trail groups - we tried the slower trail group last week which was fun. Tuesday we decided to run with the fast trail group - not because we're fast, we just didn't want to stop and wait with the slower trail group. Um, yeah. That run I think was the hardest run I've done - 63 minutes of torture. And we weren't even keeping up with the group! The rest of Tuesday I was sick. S.I.C.K. and I blame the run. Needless to say, this morning B and I ran with the Social group and that was a nice 47 min run. There was a craptastic hill included, but really, you can't run the Garden without running hills. *sigh*

Yesterday Boy took me to the driving range. Other than Adventure Golf during gym summer school, I've never hit a golf ball. He proved to be a good instructor (though he says he's an awful golfer) - I hit almost every ball and some I even hit straight and quite well. It was way more fun than I thought. Plus it was a beautiful day (70s) yesterday - hard not to enjoy it.

This weekend we're running a 1/2 marathon in Fort Collins.

Climbing

I'm really enjoying this not working thing...

Tuesday, Roommate + co-workers let me tag along while rock climbing at Red Rocks Canyon here in town. Beautiful Day.

I'm trying this embedded slide show..lot of pictures I know.

Sunday

Casualty.
Me.
Attacked by a rock. In my way on the trail.
I stumbled.

Well, ok, really I bit it. Hard. Flew flat on my face after scraping a huge chunk out of my knee and forearm and both palms. Ugh . And we were only 2 minutes into the run! Rinsed the dirt off and kept going. About an hour later, I look down and saw the crusty, bloody mess that covered my knee trailing down my leg. A pool of blood in my shoe. Ew.

Saturday

Friend Now Living Here (+2 kids) stopped by the see me Saturday afternoon. The kids were in the car watching a movie and Friend was trying to talk her son into naptime. I'm not sure when Friend decided to abandon naptime but within seconds she said, "How about riding rides at the penny arcade in Manitou?" She then smiles, looks at me and goes, "Wanna come?" I was slightly hungover from the previous night - see below post - but I rallied. Its hard not to want to spend time with them!

It was such a beautiful day - grabbed my camera and hopped in the mommobile.

There's a penny arcade in Manitou Springs - well, that's misleading, it really should be called the quarter arcade. Anywho. They've got everything you'd see on a boardwalk (without actual boards or a nearby ocean).























Skeeball was dangerous, however. All the balls were being chucked across the room, not exactly rolled up the ramp into the score holes!

Friend and the kids will be leaving the area soon and headed back to the East Coast. Its been such fun getting to know her kids and be able to spend some time with her.

Friday

I was a date to a military ball! It was a bit weird, seeing as I used to work with most of these people and here I am in a dress and not dress blues.



We were standing in line at the bar when I heard one of my former troops say "CPT A is here?! Where?!" and we were standing right behind him.

Brr.

I am ready for warm weather. You know, to stay! The Garden run this morning was horrible (tummy issues) so I ended up breaking from our 4 person group {the other groups seem to have like 10x more peeps than us!} for a pit stop. Ugh.

Yeah, so today is overcast and chilly. Sister said it snowed in Denver last night. Ugh!

Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me! So, yesterday was an awesome day! And I get to celebrate my birthday many days this week. I like to think its because I didn't really celebrate my 30th since I was in f*ing Iraq, but mostly its because my friends can't get it together all on one day at one time. But its still fun to have friends who celebrate! yay! But we've got happy hour tomorrow, get together on Saturday, dinner on Sunday...

My birthday day I dragged myself out of bed to run an a$$ kicking run at the Garden of the Gods - B and I committed to doing the Tues/Thur training runs for the 10 miler. I had sushi lunch with Friend Now Living Here (and her adorable son) and Friend with Rhyming Name. Yum. Current Roommate took me for Starbucks and a pedicure. And Boy took me out for a really really nice dinner. And he gave me a nice present. I got two bunches of flowers AND the yearly Mom speech that goes "xx years ago, I brought home a baby girl!"

It was a really good day. Yay!

Memphis!

I spent last weekend in Memphis, Tennessee with my best girl friends from High School. M lives there and is a hematology and oncology fellow at St. Jude's Research Hospital, and E is a speech therapist for Cincinnati Public Schools and we were able to coordinate schedules for a weekend.

Lots of wine drinking, chatting, list making, picture taking. We went for afternoon tea at The Peabody, ate dinner at Spindini and watched the Final Four (at least the game Memphis played), went out on Beale St. M took us on a tour of St. Jude and we met a few of her patients.

Great friends. Great city. Great trip.

Weekend Update

Yesterday was a really really nice day - but bookended by crap days. (This is all weather-related-freezing rain on Friday and its supposed to snow today!) I can't really say Friday was a crap day, because I signed out of ARMY that afternoon! Yay! I don't have to wear combat boots anymore! All my friends are out of town this weekend (yes, really, all of them) so I think we'll do the "norineoutofARMYparty" when I get my discharge certificate in the mail~May 1st-ish.

I did cook dinner for the Boy friday night...Dad has made this and its been a big hit. And its easy. Dice some tomatoes, throw in some fresh basil and garlic cloves and lots of olive oil in a roasting pan. Cook in oven at 200F for an hour or so. Dad likes to serve over angel hair pasta, but all I had was spaghetti. MMM. Its sooooo good. Fortunately for me, both parents are good cooks, and fortuanetly for my friends, I have learned from them! When people find out I'm half Italian and half Thai, I hear "Ooohh, I love Thai food. Can you cook Thai food?" (mostly I get the "Ah, that's an interesting mix."

Saturday it warmed up to almost 70F and it was just gorgeous! I kicked the Incline's ass (at 40:39) - mostly because I ended up going up by myself. I thought my heart was going to explode! Usually M and I do it and we walk up and chit chat the entire way, taking at least 45-50 mintues, and ending the workout with 32oz margaritas at the local Mexican restaurant. (Yes, I know alcohol is not a recovery drink, but they taste soooo good!) Anyway, Boy and I met with some friends of his and everyone just kinda spread out after we got started. There were a lot of people on the Incline - just such a great day for it.

Last night was nice - the Pink House + 1 went to a coffee shop for some talking and reading. I think its the first time all 3 of us spent some time together (other than walking to church).

I'm meeting Sister later this afternoon for lunch and shopping in Castle Rock (about 1/2way between Denver and Colorado Springs).

And so that's my weekend update.

Almost!!!

Tomorrow is my last day in uniform! I'm so ready to burn my ACUs. But I think I'm even more excited about never having to wear that stupid beret again. Not the best decision concerning headgear, in my opinion.

St. Patrick's Day

I know, I know, the real day is tomorrow, but yesterday the city hosted a few events.



B and I ran the 5k with T and some other girls - we all gathered at the house and walked the 4 blocks to the park.

We met up with Friend Now Living Here (+ 2 kids) and Friend with Rhyming Name and let the kids go nuts.

bbrrr. It was colder than we wanted, and then it did snow later that day/night. I'm really anxious for spring!

Founders Day

So I went last night to USMA's Founders Day celebration here in town. It was good - the youngest grad ('07) and the oldest grad ('51) each gave speeches with the guest speaker, current Commandant, giving a "State of the Corps". After last night I was thinking about the cadets there now, and those recently graduated. Knowing full well they are entering the Academy during a war, an unpopular one at that, I felt both pride and humility. I felt sadness at the loss of my classmates in Iraq and Afghanistan. I even felt guilty for separating - though I know I shouldn't.

I don't really have anything profound to say or share except listening last night restored my faith in people and in America and in the values of our country. Its been a shock returning to somewhat normalcy and having to deal (and not deal all that well) with American consumerism and "fat and happy" regular folk and everything else. I've not reconciled reality with my expectations of others. Less than one half of one percent of Americans are serving and that truly makes me sad. And what makes me angry is that the rest of the country could really give a crap. How hard is it really to give a crap? Send a Soldier a box of cookies! A letter! Gum! Books! Something! Even expired celebrity gossip magazines! If you want names and address of guys over there, let me know, and I'll gladly pass that along.

Another Friend

Came through Denver and Sister and I were able to have lunch with her!

How to Procrastinate

at a coffee shop.

Go with a Friend.
Sign into Gmail.
Send gmail chat messages to friend sitting next to you.
Giggle.

Ha! So CR and I were giggling at how it shouldn't be that funny to send chat messages when we're an arm's length away from each other. Then another friend's dot turned green too! Then the group chat started. And Friend Sitting Next to me would giggle and then I'd get her message.

ok. so maybe I'm the only one who thinks its funny.

Visit Friends at Work Day

Another Former Roommate is in town visiting and its been so great to catch up with her. Not wanting to waste time, we drove up to see Current Roommate at work. Today, CR was the belay at the climbing wall, and what better way to spend time with friends than to put her to work!

Another friend of ours is the manager at the Title Nine here in Colorado Springs. Yesterday was opening day, so we walked over there to see her and the new store.

My little (ok, not so little) Pink House has seen a lot of girls though it - and friends of girls and friends of friends of girls. My little circle of friends here keeps growing and its seems like wherever I go, I run into someone who knows someone who knows our house.

i missed my bicycle!

I finally dragged it out of my basement this weekend. And yesterday it was a nice afternoon, so I grabbed the tire pump and some grease for the moving parts and was ready to ride. Took an easy easy 10ish mile spin around the neighborhood - ah! I love love love being on my bike.

Races.

I've spent too much money the past two days registering for events (athletic suffering) this year.

St. Patrick's 5k
Fort Collins Half Marathon
Bolder Boulder
Harvest Moon Half Ironman
Chicago Marathon

I'm also probably going to do the Elephant Rock Century in June and maybe the Garden of the Gods 10-miler. I should throw in an Olympic Distance Tri in there too... haven't decided.

Either way, since I spent $$ registering, I no S*it have to do it!

Ugh.

Colorado Weather

is crazy.

Yesterday it was 74 degrees. Sunny. No wind. Me in sandals, walking around downtown.

Today, blowing snow.

Taxes. And I'm Sick.

So, its not really a good night. I'm actually doing both my 2006 and my 2007 taxes. And I feel awful. Sick. Stuffy.

Roommate just came in from a run, wish I could have joined her. Its beautiful outside. Warm. Sunny. Minimal wind.

I hope I feel better tomorrow.

Everyone say it with me...

"WOOHOO!"

I picked up my signed separation orders this morning!

Date of Discharge unless changed or rescinded: 01 May 2008

Food Shopping

I hadn't been to Jungle Jim's since at least high school - possibly even middle school. My cousins from New York had even been to Jungle Jim's more than me!

The place is amazing - food and prep foods from all over the world. I even saw a $2000 bottle of hot sauce (honest).

The bathrooms, though, are a riot. Award-winning restrooms.

Family Operation

More than once, customers asked if this were a family operation. Saturday was my first day and there were a few times when Mom grabbed the utensils out of my hands and took over the pad thai!

The Dayton 2nd Street Market is this great little place where Mom and Dad set up a little Thai food stand. Sister and I were home this weekend, and we were promptly put to work!

Big Girl

I went to my first job fair yesterday. Educational - now I know what to expect and how to better prepare for the next one.

I did feel like a big, fat faker dressed in this:



Friend Now Living Here stopped by after dropping her kids off at school. I love having her close - we've been friends for 12 years! Since Beast at USMA! That's like, before husband, before kids, in then out of the Army! Its great to be able to live life with her again, spend time with her kids and have them know me.

I'm such a nerd. {Warning! USMA reference} I was getting dressed, turned to her and asked for a dress-off.

Breckenridge

We took Friend From DC to Breckenridge - Friend Who's A Lawyer and Her Husband rent a house outside Breck with a group of other people, so we drove up Saturday morning with plans to stay the night. My snowboard is still at this other guy's house and it was a lot more effort to get and prep than I was willing to put into it. I dropped them off and went snowshoeing for a few hours.



Drinks in the afternoon with other friends, then dinner in town. Us girls were so tired (probably from the sushi and then martinis the night before), we were showered, in pjs ready for bed at 8.

The drive home takes us through South Park, CO (for those who didn't know, South Park really is a town - small, but real). We got a pic with Mr. Hankey. Ha ha ha!

Weekend.

Ugh. I'm so tired! Could be all the wine I've consumed in the past few days with friends (mostly with Friend Now Living Here, you know, catching up). Oh, and Friend From DC came to visit.

Anyway, we took Friend From DC up the Incline the other day. Seriously, Friend Now Living Here looked at me at one point and said, "I don't think she'll ever visit us again."



But here we are at the top, all smiles (because we're done with the hard part!)

Stuff.

The movers came with my crap yesterday.

Furniture went in my bedroom, boxes were sent to the office. I'm so fortunate to have great friends - Friend From DC is visiting for a week and she single-handedly organized my closet. Friend Now Living Here stopped by and sliced open boxes and helped me dump the contents. Roommate walked in on this chaos and jumped right in. All the boxes are emptied, in a pile waiting for recycling.

The contents of the boxes, however, are in various piles around the office. Ugh. Why am I such a pack rat? Why did the movers pack a Gu gel packet in with Army orders putting me at Fort Hood? (Those orders were revoked, by the way, when I agreed to extend my tour in Korea for 4 more months). I think the movers would have packed my trash can if I hadn't supervised them!

Despite the mess in the office, my room at least looks like my room again - my bed is made, pictures are up on the wall.

Yay.

Lemongrass

reminds me of growing up. Only recently have I been able to identify Lemongrass with the sweet, distinctive fragrance of my childhood. Mom and her sisters cooked many many meals with this herb and the slightest smell of Lemongrass shoots me back about 20 years.



I was up in Denver with Sister last weekend and we went to Savory, this amazing spice store near the big REI just off I-25. I had been without real spice for 12 months, and had rid my pantry of any spices before deploying - had to restock. Savory has an amazing selection of spices, and we went nuts - and only spent like $30! We picked up _Cambodian Lemongrass Curry_ and used it on some fish Carol had. Oh. My. Goodness. So. Good. We talked about how the smell of the curry reminded us of Mom and of her cooking. Mmmm.

Pancake Rocks

The great thing about having a roommate who works at REI is all her gear I get to borrow :) She outfitted me with her extra set of snowshoes and we were off.

Yesterday we drove past Woodland Park towards Cripple Creek and parked here:

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Roughly 2 hours later we find ourselves here:


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It was so so nice to get out and be outside and the morning just made me appreciate living in Colorado.



It was cold, but we were dressed properly and once we got going I was at least comfortable. Exerting myself at 9500ft and climbing to a high of 11000ft was rough, but the views made it worthwhile.

I still have lots of crap to do, to go through, to process but being able to spend time with friends and be out there in this great place gave me some room to not worry or stress about being back home.

...decided to clean the refrigerator

I just got back.

Like, a week ago got back.

My room is a disaster. All I really have are the boxes of crap I mailed from Iraq and the stuff Sister stored for me. Instead of unpacking and attempting to organize said crap, I chose to clean the refrigerator.

I wanted something that I could begin, and then finish.
Task = accomplished.
Not
Task = waiting or Task = incomplete.

I'm so overwhelmed I don't know what to do! I have some sort of attention deficit as I'll move from one room of the house to another accumulating tasks and projects as I go along - when really, all I set out to do was brush my teeth!

Refrigerator clean = Check.

What am I going to do with the rest of my life = waiting.