1st grade humor

I am immature, which is why I find this article HILARIOUS.

photos of the day

This is pretty cool - seeing how so many people spent this amazing day.

color coordination

So I think I've calmed down since the other day and come up with a more neutral color for my wall. Thank you all for talking some more sense into me. Not that black is bad, but I think I need to start slowly. So I've decided on the color that's in this blog post. It's cute! And her colors seem similar to mine with the browns and reds. So this will be my next project. Someday. It may take months, but it's on my mind...

chilling with my sock

It's been awhile since Charlotte has visited the blog, so here's your latest labradoodle fix.

back in black

Call me crazy but I think I want to paint this wall black. Is that a bad idea? I photoshopped what this side would like like (very sketchily, don't look too close...). I don't know if it goes with the wood drawers/kitchen that face this wall, but I think it could work. No? Thoughts? Other colors?

UPDATE! A good point brought up by my dad - is it possible to paint the white back over black paint? Since I'm renting I will have to paint it back when I move out, so would I be creating way too much work by doing this? Anyone?

showing my stuff

Some exciting news - I am going to be exhibiting some photographs in a group show here done by the arts school in conjunction with the museum. The title is Before & After and my idea is a bit obscure but fits the bill (or so I tell myself). The show is in February and is totally casual, but I'm excited! I'll keep you posted on my progress.

let the sun shine in

This makes me so happy!

broken butt

I think I've injured my tail bone. I fell on it not once, but twice today, and I had to take a few moments the second time around to remember how to breathe. Oh yes, and this was when I was snowboarding, I should clarify. On a good note, I'm getting there. While my falls were more painful, there were fewer than usual, so that's good, right?

let the year begin!

Ahh 2009 - you have arrived! I'm a bit ambivalent about the new year. 2008 really was a good year for me. Looking back on things, it's been full of life changes, travel, new surroundings, health, Obama, and much much more. But then terrible things happened too - the economy, mmm....I've been sitting here for the past few minutes trying to think of truly bad things. But for me, it's actually been an ok, if not greatly positive, year. I consider myself really lucky. I am definitely looking forward to 2009 though. With my upcoming trip to Nicaragua, my new outlook of feeling healthier here in the rockies, and who knows what else, things will be good I think. And after speaking with friends and family, I really truly believe that this will be a year for positive change for all. And that is the word from me, if it matters at all, which it probably doesn't. But there's my two cents. And if you're reading this blog, that means that my two cents maybe count for something.

So to start off the new year are a few random updates from me, since I tend to not be updating this often (sorry Brooke!) and my mind is all over the place lately...

-My snowboarding is improving. The rumor around town was that after 3 days, things should start to click. And I am happy (and relieved) to announce that it is true! Plus or minus a day or two. But today was the day where I actually started to feel comfortable in the uncomfortable position of going sideways down a bumpy hill with both feet strapped onto a board. Seems so illogical, but that's snowboarding for you.

-Holidays are terrible in a resort town. Get out, people! Or if you are here, calm down! You're on vacation! Don't ask me for too much! I'm not used to doing this much work since there is usually no one here! No one except for happy people who you should aspire to be like! Try smiling, will you?! And PS: don't take up the whole ski run or I'll run into you! (By the way, I'm better now because they are gone. I'm done with the exclamations)

-Tom Cruise is a good person. I say this after much deliberation, as I have always made fun of him and have not taken anything he's done seriously (except maybe Top Gun when I was in high school). BUT. After his very generous donations to the film festival and then for supplying his Valkyrie movie to be premiered here in Telluride to raise money for the local high school theater, I think he's a good guy. He'd be an even better guy if he and the family had shown up to the movie, but I can't be too picky. And the movie was decent. I liked it.

More thoughts to come. I'm exhausted from snowboarding which has affected my stream of thoughts. I will write more. Soon, I promise.

And to sum it all up - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

pictures of people taking pictures

This photo I took in Macau back when I was traveling has always cracked me up. So serious, people, so serious! And it pops into my memory every time I see people taking tourist photos. It is entertaining to sit at a tourist spot and just watch different people's posing styles - like when seeing tourists at the World Trade Center site in New York who stood solemnly looking directly at the camera while someone took their picture, I'm assuming because it is pretty inappropriate to smile for the camera in front of such a tragic place. But they still were in the picture, as if to prove to all their friends back home that they were in fact there. Anyways, I love watching people and how they set up their subject while taking a tourist photo. There are those who pose crazy, mouths open wide or jumping in the air, as if they are having the best time in their entire life at the very moment the picture is taken, those who smile normally (or sometimes awkwardly, as if the camera has brought out their bug-eyes and their huge, totally unnatural top and bottom teeth smile), or those who just plain stand there. Or, the most entertaining, those who have had plenty of practice in front of the mirror, have memorized their "good side" and their most flattering angle. I get it. If it works, it works.

Anyways, (I AM going somewhere with this) I was reading a photography blog and saw this guy's work of tourists taking photos and loved it. He shows the people who are taking the photos, rather than the subjects, but it is still entertaining to watch the thought that goes into it: the person contorted to get that perfect angle, encouragement from the traveler's friend that the angle is great, the satisfaction that their photo will be SO different from all the others...when in the end it will probably end up in the back of a photo album, or filed online along with all the other millions of shots we take as evidence that we have traveled. That's where mine all are!

Click here to see the photographer's photos.

memories of summer

If it's as cold where you are as it is here, then I thought you too might appreciate a photo from the days of sunny, green summer. It was taken with film and only processed a few weeks ago (thanks mom!), but I feel it is a nice reminder of how enjoyable warm weather is. Not to depress you or anything.

oh christmas tree

The most beautiful xmas tree in the world! Pretty much.

And yes, I was too lazy to tidy up for this picture. Sorry. I did photoshop a big pile of clothes off the bed to make it a little better.

the season has begun

Are you still there? Is anyone still sticking around? Not sure, but here goes. This time I do have a better excuse for not writing because I have been working every day since I've been back in town. Today is my first day off in 9 days. Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining since I did have about a month off, and I prepared myself not to complain because of that. So any complaints that may sneak out, I quickly retract.

And today is a good day as it is my day of revival - I'm going snowboarding. The last, (and only) time I had a snowboard on was 12 years ago. It was my first attempt and it didn't go so well, which is probably why it's been 12 years. But now I have Kelley to teach me, which started yesterday with some mental preparation, visualizing what I will be doing. Which includes falling. Often. That, I am prepared for.

In other exciting news - I got a Christmas tree! Probably the most exciting thing about the week. As many of you know (and have had a good laugh about) I have brought my Christmas tree stand wherever I've moved in the last 5 years, knowing that one day it would be used again. So finally it is! However, the tree I picked out is bigger than the one I had bought with the stand at the time, so in order to make it fit, Kelley and I had to saw at the trunk to make it smaller, but since it was so hard (seriously, while sawing, I was yelling and cursing that it was the worst thing I've done IN MY LIFE), we stopped when the trunk could slide in just at the top, even though it needed more sawing so that the trunk hit the bottom of the stand. So...it wouldn't stand up straight without falling. Which is where a pretty ribbon came into play as it's tied to the tree and connected to my curtain rod to make it stand up straight. Ta da! It works. And then I decorated it, and it looks beautiful! If I do say so myself. I come home at night, turn on the tree lights and stare at it, and it makes me happy. I will take a picture.

What else, what else...work is ok. I will write a different post on that when I have more energy to write about working in the service industry, which is the case at my concierge job. I am not good at that kind of service, I am finding out. But oh well - they are paying me. That's all that matters right now in this economy, right?

Otherwise, it's so snowy and beautiful here. There is supposed to be another storm hitting us tomorrow and lasting until Thursday. I love it. Even if I slip every ten steps and it takes me an extra ten minutes to walk to work, it's well worth it because it makes everything so pretty.

Ok, off to do some more mental preparation for my snowboarding today...see you all later when I'm sore and bruised.

brrrrr

It's snowing! Or I should say, it's absolutely gorgeous today with blue skies. It dumped snow all day yesterday, so it's beautiful now with the snow everywhere. This is the view from my room off the balcony - which, unfortunately I have to shovel when it snows. Not so much fun.

high and dry

I'm back in Telluride and I am suggesting that you all buy stock in any sort of moisturizing product. Because I will personally be supporting all lotion and chap stick products for the next few months. It's 9:30am and I've already applied two layers of lotion. And I haven't even been outdoors yet, where it becomes worse.

More to come. It's busy busy busy and when I get a moment to breathe I will write an update.