I can't stop crying

Tonight, my phone died while I was at a reading tonight. When I got back from to my dorm, I plugged in my phone and started getting ready for bed. Then I turned my phone on to see that I had 5 missed calls from a number in Denver that I didn't recognize. I also had a text from that same person. "Call me as soon as possible, I have your dog by the side of the road," it said. My breath caught in my throat and called the number. A man picked up and said, "I don't know how to tell you this," and I knew. The world seemed to rush in on me and the tears started falling before he said that Zumi had been hit by a car, and had died.
It's been a rough night, to say the least. I started crying and told the guy I was going to call my husband and give his number to Kurt so Kurt could get the body. Then I called Kurt on his cell and work line without answers. So, hysterical, I called my family. When I finally got to Kurt, he was already on his way home from work and was able to call the guy and find out where Zumi was. Next time Kurt called, he had Zumi in his arms and was walking home. He was sobbing.
This is the first time, in the 3 and a half years that I've known Kurt, that he has cried. Kurt and I cried together on the phone as he found a box for Zumi's "casket," laid him in it, and tucked his blanket in around him. We decided to bury him in his favorite spot in the yard, right by the wooden fence, where he'd like to lay when it was sunny.
To those of you who think I'm being dramatic, let me tell you that you have no idea how much you can love a pet until they die. And remember, Zumi was our child, for all intensive purposes. We don't have kids yet and so he was who we gave our parental love to. (I told Kurt that I hope we never lose a child, if it's this painful to just lose a pet.) He was a sweet puppy, the best natured dog I've ever known. When I got home from work, he'd always be in the back yard, hopping around, ready to play with me. When I mentioned the word "walk," he'd run to the front door, too excited to go out to sit still long enough to get his harness on. He could sit, lay down, army crawl, shake, and jump/twirl for tricks. He always had some sort of smile on his face. When he was in a really playful mood, it was a happy grin. When he was more calm, it was a mischievous smirk. He rarely barked. He followed you around and sat at your feet, happy to be near you. He had a spot in the kitchen where he laid while I cooked dinner or cleaned the dishes. I was so looking forward to him keeping me company during the long, lonely, busy tax season. When I took him to the vet, and he got scared, he'd lean up against me for comfort. He was my little buddy, my happy boy, my puppys, my Zoomers, Zoom buggy, Zumy do, Zumba, Zoom, my Zumi.



















It's amazing how much a small dog can touch your life in 8 shorts months.

Hello, I'm still alive

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've posted and that's because I've been loving life in Charleston with my family for the last two weeks. And guess what... I actually took pictures! But Kurt took the camera home with him because the battery was dead so you'll have to wait for those. Neener neener. And why, do you ask, is Kurt home and not me? Because I'm at my grad school residency here at Converse College! It's been amazing so far. I'm learning lots and loving being surrounded by writers. I miss Kurt and Zumi, but it's not too hard during the day with lectures, workshops, and readings. Unfortunately, since Kurt took the camera, I won't have any
pics, but I will for the June residency, I promise. Also, here is (extremely belatedly) our Christmas card. I meant to post it just before Christmas but spaced it. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Hooray for 2010!

Breathtaking

After seeing these images, how could you not believe in God?

Some images speak for themselves.

I love Colorado.

There's a possibility

that I'm (a little) obsessed with the New Moon soundtrack. It's really good. So, to give you a taste, here are some of my favorite songs from the album.


Editors - "No Sound But The Wind"


Lykke Li - "Possibility"


Thom Yorke - "Hearing Damage"


Hurricane Bells - "Monsters"

10 Things About Me

Inspired by Carissa's post.
Introducing... 10 things about me!

1. I love wikipedia. I can spend hours article jumping. Some past topics I've looked up are marsupials (wallaroos to be exact) and the etymology of our days of the week.
2. I've had plastic surgery on my nose. You know the part that separates your nostril, your septum? Well, mine was disfigured to the point that it partially blocked both nostrils, so they fixed that. But on my medical records it say "rhinoplasty" which is what they call cosmetic nose plastic surgery as well.
3. I have a really hard time understanding lyrics. But I memorize lyrics really easily. So I'm often walking around, singing the wrong, but sound-very-close-to-right lyrics to songs. Kurt understands lyrics really well but doesn't remember them well. Together we're either the perfect team, or the completely wrong team (depending on which parts of us you combine).
4. In my writing, I love using ;'s and --'s. And ()'s. They're fun.
5. I love Thursdays. I'm not sure why. I just do.
6. I have recurring nightmares about my teeth falling out, tornadoes, and, strangely, dinosaurs. I kid you not.
7. I wish I had to wear glasses all the time. I think my glasses are cute and I like the way I look with them on. But I'm not supposed to or my eyes will get addicted to them, or something like that.
8. I love earrings and necklaces, but never wear rings (other than my wedding ring) or bracelets.
9. When I work out, I hate having hair on my neck. Drives me bonkers and makes me feel hotter! I don't understand girls who can run with their hair down. Just seeing them makes me feel antsy.
10. I only get out of bed at :05, :10, :15, :20, and so on. I started it as a way to stay in bed a little longer. Now it's a compulsion. Which is appropriate since I'm OCD (literally... just ask my doc).

NaNoTRYMo Final Weigh In

Chapters: 4.5
Pages: 76
Words: 22,370

Total written in November:
Chapters: 2.4
Pages: 39
Words: 11,483

I obviously did not get through half of my book, but I'm proud of my effort just to same. I hope I continue my writing trend, though I have about 200 pages (maybe more) to read for grad school by January 2nd, so we'll see.

Falling Leaf

On Wednesday we took Caroline snowboarding. It was so much fun and she did really well! The temperature was probably somewhere in the upper 30s--so nice--and the snow was pretty decent. Have I mentioned I love snowboarding? Because I do. A lot.

Caroline taking a break.

Feeling triumphant after a full day of snowboarding.

Feeling sore after a full day snowboarding. Maybe I am getting old. ;)

The rest we didn't get pictures of:
Wednesday night, Steph flew in. On Thursday morning, we played football with some of Kurt's coworkers and even got Steph to play (which is quite a feat). Oh, and my team won--woohoo! Thursday evening, Laryn and Sheilla and Laryn's brother, and James and Camille, came over for dinner and thanks to a very frozen turkey (it'd be thawing all night and all day and still was frozen in the middle!), we didn't eat until 8 but dinner was very delicious!! Oh, and we played mafia while we waited for dinner. On Friday morning, Steph, Caroline, and I got up at 7 and hit up the mall for some early bird shopping. Then we watched New Moon. Then we took naps and it was awesome. On Saturday Caroline left, and I showed Steph around downtown Denver. Yesterday was church and just hanging around Denver and home. Oh, and Saturday we watched the Cougars beat the Utes! Huzzah!! We had a great Thanksgiving break that flew by WAY too quickly!!!!

Quarter of a Century

I can't believe I'm 25 now. I feel so young! It also helps that my husband is 28. :D
For my birthday, we went to eat a Thai restaurant in west Denver we discovered recently. The food was delicious and the company even better!

Sheilla and Jen

Laryn and Sheilla

Nate and Wendie

Kurt and Jeff, the facial hair crew (Kurt shaves his mustache tonight... YES!!!)

Guess who


My best friend, Caroline! Caroline came down for Thanksgiving week and it was amazing!! It was so good to see my sister! And Steph flew in on Wednesday night and it was so great having the three of us together. I hate living so far from my sisters!

Laryn promised me $10 if I drank his spicy curry broth. So I did. Now I'm $10 richer.

This sign is hard to read, but I promise it's worth the effort.

NaNoTRYMo Weigh In

Book stats:
Chapters: 4.1
Pages: 68
Words: 20,082

It's really coming along! I'm averaging 15 pages and 1 chapter a week. Not bad!

NaNoTRYMo Weigh-In

Chapters: 3
Pages: 50
Words: 14,671

I clearly will not finish half of my book this month. A normal month, I'd still have a fair chance at it. But next week is Thanksgiving and both of my sisters are coming to stay with us (yay!!). So this will be my last week of writing for the month. In light of that, I'm going to write my butt off.
If only I could literally write my butt off. I'd be achieving two goals at once!!

Santa #3

I bought my third Santa yesterday. It was love at first sight. I wish the picture was bigger!
(My mom gave me Santa #2 for Christmas last year. I need to get a picture of him up.)

Also, I'm really tempted to put my Christmas decorations up. We're leaving for my parents' house on the 19th of December and I want more than 25ish days to enjoy my decorations!
Maybe I'll wait for 20th. That'll give me a month. :D

NaNoTRYMo Weigh In

As of right now (haven't worked on my book for the day yet) I have:
42 pages
12,380 words
2.3 (ish) chapters

I haven't made a ton of progress, but I have made progress. This chapter is proving to be difficult because it's just filler stuff (the detail stuff between the big stuff... I just said stuff a lot).

And I missed writing yesterday and Sunday because I have bad writer's block. Just. need. to. get. over. it.

Happy NaNoWriMo!

Well, I just learned that November is National Novel Writing Month. This is very fun news to me since I am a writer and I am currently writing a book. Actually, a series of three books for which I've got the outline nearly done and 2 chapters in the first book written. The official goal of NaNoWriMo is to write a 50,000 word novel by the end of the month. Instead, I'm going to participate in the Pikes Peak NaNoTRYMo. :D
Goals (and consequently doubling as my monthly goals):
Write something every day of the month--check my writing blog to see what I write every day!
Write at least half of my first book
I'm going to post my progress every Monday. So as of today, November 2nd, I have written:
2.1 chapters
37 pages (double spaced)
10,887 words

I won't be able to attend Pikes Peak Writers weekly write-ins because they're in Colorado Springs, which is an hour away. Instead, I'll write on my own every Tuesday from 5 to 8. But I do plan on attending the write-a-thon on the 21st. Locking myself in a building with complete strangers and nothing to do but write? Sounds like fun to me.
Wish me luck!

PS--Here's NaNoWriMo's official webpage.

Samhain

In direct opposition to last year, we had a really fun Halloween weekend this year. It started with a party thrown by some friends in the ward on Friday night. Here are my snowy graveyard brownies I took:


Kurt and James getting in some Mario Kart before the party. They are addicted. It's sad.

Kurt and I went as Apollo and Artemis. It was recycling a costume for me and Kurt's was the easiest thing in existence. But I really liked how they turned out!

Where's Waldo?

James and Camille's costumes were so cute. She was Carmen Sandiego and he was Waldo. Classic.
On Saturday, we went for my birthday present to see WICKED!! It was so awesome and I LOVED it! Happy birthday to me! (pic forthcoming)
Then Saturday night we went to Kurt's coworker's party and even though we were the only sober ones (sodas in the fridge for us!) we actually had a really fun time. Most people didn't drink to excess, but there were a few girls dancing on the coffee table. I forgot the camera and I'm really bummed because one of Kurt's coworkers, who is white, painted himself black and shaved his head and went as Mister T and another was Lady Gaga with the sweetest costume ever. I wish I'd gotten pics!
Lucky me! Candice sent me a pic of the two of us.

Gaga and Goddess
And the best part of the whole night was when we invited Mister T to church with us the next morning. He said no but said definitely another day! Wahoo!