random ramblings

So my family flies in Thursday night. As I'm sure I've said before, I'm both dreading and looking forward to this visit. Although as it approaches I'm definitely more on the looking forward side. I just hope they have a good time while they're here and aren't upset by how much I have to work. I "compromised" and agreed to work half days on Monday and Thursday and a whole day the day before they leave. I would've liked to take off the entire time they're here but I'm taking off two weeks (almost 3 weeks in work weeks, with the way it's set up) in only a month so even I couldn't bring myself to do it. However, over the 8 full days that they're here, I will be with them all day during 5 of those days. It could be worse. But I'm also ditching them on Sunday night for Apples in Stereo and Thursday night for Neko Case...oops.
In preparation Eric and I have been family-proofing and cleaning the house. I get to go home and do more of that today, sans Eric. He's out on his company fun day where they get to go to a go-cart/puttputt place and have tons of fun while I slave away at work and then at home. I'm telling you, I need real job. My company's idea of a fun day is me staying til 7.
So I still haven't heard from grad school. I'm beginning to get disheartened. The application was due December 15, it shouldn't take this long. I decided that if I don't get into CU then I will actually apply for grad school the correct way next time; I will apply to at least 5 different schools in different areas and with different levels of quality. I tend to limit myself to just what I want to do, where I want to do it. I need to open up other options but that's really hard to do when you're attached to someone...say I get into a California school or something and suddenly there's a choice Eric and I have to make: his job or my education? It's tough being in love, lemme tell ya. Luckily Eric and I are both very open to the idea of not settling here in Colorado. We both love it out here, but there are other places to see! Enough talk of uncertain things.
I want a dog, people. I want my boyfriend to want a dog. I want my kitties to want a dog. As of right now (it changes with every dog I see) I want either an American bulldog (they are sooooooooooooooo adorable and fat and wrinkly) or an Italian greyhound. Oh or Yorkshire Terrier. They are cute.

the show

Not much else going on but I wanted to post about the show I went to on Tuesday night, TV on the Radio and Subtle. What a good show...
I was completely blown away by Subtle, as I expected I would be. I don't know if any of these band names ring a bell to anyone, but doseone, the singer/keyboardist for Subtle has collaborated w/ so many great bands: 13 & God, Why?, Themselves, etc. I love love love his style. The show was phenomenal. What really bugged me though was that it was a 16+ show...I've noticed that a large majority of shows in Denver are either all ages or 16+. It ain't right. To top that off, Eric forgot his ID. I didn't even think we'd be able to get our tix from will call but we did. So they were still IDing at the door to make sure people were at least 16. They let him in anyways but he wasn't allowed in the 21+ area so he wouldn't be drinking. I wanted to grab a drink so it happened to work out somehow...I went over to the caged area and found a spot right next to him w/ just a gate thingy between us. It was funny. Also I'm always amused by the parental showing at all ages shows. This one grandma was just cracking me up; when TV played "Wolf Like Me" she was flipping out, dancing all around and punching her fists in the air. It was adorable.
TV on the Radio was really good. The singer is just an incredible performer, so energetic. I also like both the guitarists...lots of character in that band.
Other than that, I've got another full weekend. Party on Friday night and then another on Saturday. Friday's a birthday party, Saturday's a basement party (whatever that means).
But in the meantime, you'll all be happy to know that I got in a lot of good solid cleaning on my 1/2 day yesterday. We've finally put a dent in all that laundry we have...I've also realized this week that Eric, without a doubt, has easily twice as many clothes as I do. And that's saying a lot friends, I am a compulsive shopper. I think the difference is that when I've realized I have bought a lot of stuff, I get rid of stuff. He does not. And will not.
Anywho, I will (hopefully) be off work soon. That would be lovely. Adios.

checking in

It's been awhile since I've posted, so here's the usual catch up. We did not end up going skiing on Friday, Eric somehow hurt his foot so he pussed out on me. Instead I enjoyed a lovely day in Boulder (temps in the 70s) and then a lovely night of grilling out on the porch w/ pals. It's definitely our favorite spring/summer/fall activity. We get the fire pit going and light up the grill, bring out the stereo and just chill out and chat. It's pretty fun. But, in congraunce with my recent state, I was the first to conk out of the party. I'm telling you guys, I think I may have mono. Or maybe it's just a general lack of sleep catching up to me. I'm definitely returning to my high school days of getting 3-5 hours of sleep a night. Not by my choice, for sure. I try to sleep but end up tossing and turning all night long and basically staring at the clock until it's time for me to get up in the morning. No fun at all. So as a result I'm constantly tired. In high school it was never an issue, I had all the energy in the world and it made sense to me to stay up late, usually talking on the phone (Sara can vouch for this :)).
So then Saturday we lounged around and then headed out for Jessica's birthday/St. Patrick's day celebration (yes, her bday is on St. Patty's). I'm not generally a big fan of going out on St. Patty's (much like New Year's Eve) because that's when a bunch of first-time drinkers head out to the over-crowded bars and get stupid. However, Jessica LOVES the day and she and Elgn rented a van for us all to get together and go to Dave & Busters. It was actually relatively chill there, as opposed to all the bars we could've gone to and it was a fun night. Then on Sunday we continued the birthday and she had a bowling alley party. By then I was exhausted from our weekend of virtually no time at home and Eric and I called it a night around 10 on Sunday night.
So now our house is a complete and utter mess but we have a fully booked schedule until Thursday night (and even on Thursday we have the option of going to a show). Tonight we're going to see TV on the Radio at the Ogden. I'm crazy excited about this show, in no small part due to the opener, Subtle. It's doseone's "band" I guess. Cannot wait. And for once it'll be a relatively early show in Denver where I'll probably be home by midnight, which is always nice when you're due at work at 8:45 and still not sleeping.
Also, I'll be in Italy in less than 2 months!!!!
I hope everyone's week has started out well. It can only get better from here, right? Right.

for those about to rock

Had an interesting day yesterday...there's a bit of backstory though--
I can't remember if I posted about it way back when but during my second ski lesson, I hurt my big toe on my left foot pretty badly. This was in December of last year I think. The boots I rented were apparently too small and I skiied in them anyways. They hurt my feet all day long but the kicker was when I had picked up too much speed on a hill and was about to ski right into a forbidden zone so I had to fall. In the course of my fall, my legs got buried in a few feet of snow and were also all tangled up w/ the skis so, inevitably, I hurt my toe during the process of getting up. I was pretty much down for the count after that, I couldn't finish out the lesson it hurt so bad.
I limped my way back to the car and took the boot off and the toenail was cracked in 2 places, one split all the way down to the bed and the other about halfway. It hurt for the next few days and eventually I developed a black toenail. I ignored it because it eventually quit hurting.
Enter Tuesday night: I was laying in bed noticed my toenail felt kinda funny. I reached down and felt it and I was right, something was up. I pulled my foot out from the covers and looked at it; the root of the nail was raised about a half inch off of the nail bed. I was thinking "hm, that's weird" but mostly didn't worry about it.
Enter Wednesday night: I noticed again that my toenail was feeling awfully strange. Pulled it out from the covers, prodded it a bit and freaked out. My toenail was almost completely detached from the rest of my toe. The entire thing. Yuck. I got really upset, my friend Jeff's girlfriend dropped a table on her toenail and it came all the way off and now the docs are telling her it's infected and will probably never grow back...and just in time for summer w/ sandals and pedicures and cute shoes...
The next morning we called around for podiatrists to see what I'm supposed to do. One office was nice enough to squeeze me in to take it off in a safe and sanitary way. I was technically working all day (9-6ish) but they agreed to get me in around 1. I called my boss to make sure that was okay and he was like "Well I guess I don't really have a choice." which I just couldn't believe. My toenail was hanging off, I don't get any kind of sympathy or understanding, just him being an asshole. I went anyways and the entire process was pretty interesting. If anyone cares, I'll write it out in detail but for now, suffice it to say that they removed my toenail. The doc said that it's already 40% grown in so that's a really good sign. It feels really weird walking around with only a partial toenail.
I think we're going skiing again tomorrow. This will be my first time going without a lesson involved, I'll be completely on my own (besides Eric who says there's no way he could leave me alone).
The weather's definitely perking up here, I don't know how it's been for the rest of you guys. We've had temperatures in the 60's for almost 2 weeks now and it's supposed to be the same all next week. I keep hearing the March is the month for the worst snow storm but people are saying it'll probably only be one more and then SPRING!!!

a mystery no more

So our 2 mystery days have been booked. We are going to Cortona, friends. I'm excited about it, I've heard good things. We had issues with booking a hotel, they're apparently few and far between in such a small town, but ended up with a pretty nice one called Hotel Italia. It is the most expensive hotel we booked for the entire trip, but it should really be a pleasant stay. I can't wait, it seems like an eternity away.
We had a little snag w/ another of our hotels in Sorrento. They got the days wrong and were actually all booked for the first day we needed. It was a bit of a disappointment, the place we had booked (Orchid Corners) was adorable and they had a hotel cat named Max... but we found another suitable hotel. As of right now, everything is all settled as far as hotels go. That's a big weight off my shoulders, I'll tell you that much right now.
The anniversary dinner went well, I had a delicious Ahi tuna.

This weekend was pretty good but I was in a strange state the whole time. On Friday I went to the mall to try to find something for Jess's bridal shower. I wanted to get her a nice classy silk nightie or something but the mall is useless. I just ended up getting her a gift card to Victoria's Secret. When I got home I got to sit around for awhile with the kitties (Zoe and Spider have taken to sitting on my lap together, which is cute but makes it doubly hard to ever get up) before Ryan, Miki and Eric came home and we headed out for sushi. There was a wait at Sushi Zanmai (of course) so we went next door to the super Japanese place and they talked us into getting a whole bottle of sake which we proceeded to finish between me, Ryan and Eric. It was a fun night overall, we went back to the house to play Wii and I headed off to bed around 10:45. That's the strange part; I NEVER am the first person to poop out when people are over, it was very strange. I woke up feeling a bit better on Saturday. Eric and I ran a few errands before I had to head out to Jess's party. It was ok...not nearly as terrifying as I expected it to be. I think Jess had a good time.
From there, Eric picked me up around 9 and we headed out to Robert Randolph and the Family Band. It was a sold out show filled to the brim with yuppies and frat boys. I was extremely freaked out by the crowd, when the Fox sells out they must oversell tickets. I've been to several sold-out shows at other venues here in CO and I always find somewhere that I can stand and not be touched by people...I hate standing at a show and every 3 seconds someone bumps into me or the person behind me has their groin in my butt, etc. It's awful. I had a bit of a melt-down and had to leave the show early. I'm not claustrophobic really about small spaces but crowds...they get to me. I felt really bad b/c in my freakout I was mean to Eric. We worked it out though. See what I mean so far about being in a strange state?
So on Sunday we woke up and headed out to Louisville to meet our pals Ryan and Miki at Huckleberry's (a very popular restaurant for breakfast) and then headed to their house to watch episodes of Freaks and Geeks, their favorite show that they like to share w/ us. It was a really good Sunday morning/afternoon. From there we headed out to bowling as usual. I'd started to feel really strange and sinusy and that continued throughthe night. By the time we got home around 8, I was beat. I went to bed around 10:30 and woke up around the same time in the a.m. Now I'm feeling pretty normal but I wonder what it was...
Today is the 4th anniversary for Eric and me. Yay! He's a great guy, I'm a lucky girl. We're going out to L'Absinthe, a nice restaurant here in Boulder that we haven't tried yet. I hope it's yummy!