don't think twice, it's alright

My mood is slowly but surely improving. I'm getting really psyched for Italy, it's a mere two weeks away...I've bought another pair of Merrels for the trip, those things are pricey but worth it. They are some of the most comfortable shoes ever and these ones are fashionable enough at the same time. I also bought a new bathing suit for the trip. I can't seem to just use the same bathing suit each year, I always buy a new one at the start of every summer (excluding last year when I didn't swim even once!).
I've formulated a very vague plan for the course of my life since the rejection from grad school:
I'm going to find a new job. I suppose at this point it still doesn't matter what kind of job...I just want to not hate doing what I'm doing every day and also be able to use my brain at least a little while I'm at work. While I'm working at this new job, I'm going to do some more research for grad schools. I don't know what program I'm going to look into but I suppose that will be part of the research. It's both a blessing and a curse that I have so many interests to pursue. The only issue with this plan is that I may be having surgery this summer that would put me out of work for 6 weeks so I think I have to wait to get a new job until after I find out if I'm having surgery. I'll find that out the 2nd week of June. So until then, I'll just work as usual for the next 2 weeks, then head out to Italy and then start looking for a job. So there it is. My Life Plan. As of right now.
Friday night we had people over for an impromptu grillout. It was a ton of fun, I love having people over to the house and sitting on the porch in front of the fire all night. Eric made delicious turkey burgers. Then Saturday kicked off the wedding celebrations for my friends Elgn and Jessica. We did the bachelor/bachelorette party Saturday night and both of the soon-to-be newlyweds had a good time. We're scheduled to do the rehearsal dinner Friday night and then the wedding Saturday night. It will (hopefully) be a really fun time and will go smoothly for the bride and groom.
Other than that it's just work, work, work this week for me. The other girl in the office, Deirdre, is in Montana visiting her family so I'm here by myself until Thursday. At least it makes the time go by faster.
I hope everyone has a good week.

hello?

I went to another good show on Tuesday night. It was Brother Ali w/ Psalm One. Good stuff. I really love hip-hop shows, for many reasons. First and foremost is the fact that there's always always something going on. I hate it at regular concerts where you're just standing there waiting for the next band to come on, sometimes for up to an hour. At hip-hop shows there's always an MC, usually working with a dj, keeping the crowd pumped the whole show. This particular show lasted past 1 am and it was full of energy and beats throughout. I also like the vibe from the crowd at most hip-hop shows. Everyone seems to really want to be there, there are (usually) no pretensions. Plus I love to dance.
I found a dress for Jessica and Elgn's wedding finally. It's really cute, white silk with black and red flower detailing. Now I just hope it's warm enough so I don't freeze in it.
I'm slowly working through this grad school thing. I haven't started looking for another job yet. To be perfectly honest, I despise job hunting. Cannot stand it. The only things that rank up there on my shitlist with job hunting are moving and car hunting. Ick. However, I want to be doing something that I enjoy doing. It's going to be difficult, let me tell you. How do you think I got stuck in this job in the first place? Slim pickin's here in Boulder. It'd also be helpful if I knew what I wanted to do. I don't. Plus I may be having surgery this summer that'll put me out of commission for 6 weeks. It's hard to start a new job on those terms. But I promise you that I'll be on the road to more pleasant employment by July/August.
Does anyone out there still read this thing? Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself.

when it rains...

April has just been a straight up shitty month for me. Just one thing piled on top of another. The thing that bugs me the most about it all is the lack of real stress that I'm feeling. I'm pretty much numb to everything right now and I don't think that's a very healthy coping mechanism.
I found out Friday that I did not get into the grad program I wanted at CU. It sucks. I haven't quite developed a plan B as of yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll involve me getting a new job. If I can find one that sucks less than this one. Also my tooth started to hurt. I need to get into the dentist before we leave for Italy but where's the time? I work 9-6 every day with no break for lunch. On top of that I've got a friend's wedding coming up that has me engaged every day for the next two weekends. Maybe the stress is peeking through a little bit.
I wish I had a "but on a lighter note" comment to insert here, but I'm pretty down in the dumps, folks.

Kurt Vonnegut died. I want to cry.

whew

It's been a stressful couple of weeks. What with the family in town, a new health problem and friend drama, I'm about ready to retire these old bones. Luckily, tomorrow is my last day of work for the week and then I can sit back and enjoy time to myself and time w/ Eric. We want to go skiing on Friday but now the weather report's saying 5-10 inches of snow. It'll be a bitch to drive to Breckenridge in that kind of weather. So now Eric wants to go Saturday instead but I jsut hate hate hate to go on Saturday. It's 10 times more crowded and I feel like it just takes this giant chunk out of the weekend. I'm weird about weekends.
My toenail's kinda growing in, for anyone who was worried. Perhaps I'll post a picture of it. If I remember.
Yeah, that's about all I've got in me.

the visit

So Eric and I finally have the house to ourselves again. It was a pretty good visit overall, we did a lot of fun stuff but I am just completely exhausted. We started out leaving on Friday for a little town way up in the mountains called Glenwood Springs. They have the largest hot springs pool in...the world I think, I'm not sure. But it was big. It was also a welcome comfort considering it was around 40 degrees most of the time we were there. The town also had an Adventure Fun Land or something along those lines and we got to ride an alpine sled and swing out on a giant swing that went off the mountain way way way above the interstate below. That part was pretty fun as well, I rode it with Mary and we definitely had the loudest scream. After that we went on a tour of some caves and it was beautiful. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice, but I'll post one anyways. We were pretty wiped out after all that but the next day, before heading back home, we hiked up to Doc Holliday's gravesite.
I worked a half day on Monday so we didn't get much stuff in that day. On Tuesday I had taken the day off and so did Eric so we all headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for some hiking. I've blogged about this place before I think and I just love it. I can't get enough, it's so incredibly beautiful...Eric and I bought an annual pass for it so now we can go up whenever we want. If I had to choose, I would say this was the highlight of their entire trip here. Everyone seemed to enjoy this, especially Aly. She and I were climbing rocks like crazies. Below is a very large herd of elk that we got to see as soon as we got into the park. The park is overloaded with elk, it's pretty much the only animal you're guaranteed to see while you're there. They're even thinking about reintroducing wolves to the park to cut back on the elk population. I love seeing them though, they're really beautiful creatures.
This one's me and the girls pointing. We had just discovered this creek that will actually run alongside our entire 5 mile hike. Lovely.




You'll notice we all shed some clothes as the hike continues. We got a lot of pictures along this creek, I don't know if you can see but the water is just ridiculously clear and wonderful and it was incredible just being near it and hearing the sounds...anyways.


This is "The Pool" which is essentially the destination of our hike. We thought we hit it a mile or two beforehand when we approached a lovely little lake where two creeks met but we were wrong. The Pool is an area where 2 creeks and river meet. We decided to head back instead of forging on another mile to the waterfalls, Mom and Mary were getting pretty wiped out. The altitude takes its toll...

The next day we went to the Celestial Seasonings factory (a mere mile away from our house) and took the tour before heading up to Denver where Aly and I got haircuts. Mine is super short now and I don't have any pictures of it yet.
On Thursday I had to work another half day so we didn't do much then either. Friday I had to work all day but Heather took them all up to Keystone where they opted to do some tubing instead of skiing, which I think was probably a fine choice. Skiing would've cost them a ton and they probably would've hated it anyways, it being their first time. But I told Aly that if she saves up for a lift ticket and lessons and whatnot, Heather and I could probably fly her out here next winter so she can do a snowboarding trip. We'll see if that actually happens.

Tonight Eric and I are heading back up to Denver for another show, this time it's Menomena. I think it'll be an amazing show but a large part of me is completely forcing myself to go. I'm totally wiped out. However, it'll be a good show and it's at a new (for us) venue that we think will be a lot like the Earl, which we both loved. Then on top of that, we haven't hung out with our friends in two weeks and they're definitely starting to get restless. So tomorrow we bowl. No rest for the wicked.

For those of you who were sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting, wishing, hoping, here I am, briefly. The visit with the family has been pretty ok. My mom has only gotten on my nerves a couple times and I was able to control myself and just go outside for awhile. The Apples in Stereo show was great and the Neko Case show was pretty great too. Tomorrow night I'm seeing Menomena at the Hi-Dive, a venue I have not been to yet. I am certain it will be a wonderful show. The fam's leaving bright and early tomorrow morning and I'll have time to breathe--I mean blog further about their visit.
Later Gator.