So Just Let Go... And Fall Into It...

L'ho trovato qui.

Do you ever wish you could live in a song, album, or just artist?
I do.
(And maybe I'm the only one who this particular, and odd, desire.)

One of those artists is Mae.
Oh, they make my heart melt.
The Everglow is seriously one of the happiest albums I have ever listened to.
As my friend Alex says, their music speaks to my soul.

*I'm sitting under falling stars.
Do you miss me where you are?
I'm making plans to be with you.
But have they come unglued?
What am I do to without you?*

*Painted skies--
I've seen so many that cannot compare to your ocean eyes.
The pictures you took,
that cover your room.
And it was just like the sun,
But more like the moon--
A light that can reach it all.
So now I'm branded for taking the fall.*

*Every now and again sometimes,
I get lost on the wind of a dream.
The air gets clean and the seas get wide,
And I can do anything.*

*"It's magic", she says to me.
My hand in her way, she approaches sweetly.
It's enough when I see that look in her eyes,
it's enough for me to paralyze.*

*Say anything, but say what you mean.
When you whisper you want this,
Your eyes tell the same.*

*I’ve got a feeling it’s not the safest place to start.
This heavy breathing--it seems we’re better off breaking hearts.
And at the beginning, dove down, and lost with all his charm.
Just wanna wake up, wake up in someone’s…*

*You come over unannounced,
Silence broken by your voice in the dark.
I need you here tonight, just like the ocean needs the wave.
Fall around me now,
Like stars that shine and brighten the way.
I need you here tonight, just like this night it needs the rain.*

*To float above the world for now,
to lose control is bliss somehow.*

*The nights are getting warm again.
They've let you go; I let you in.
Everything you're saying sounds right tonight.
The waves are crashing on and on.
We're running even if we're wrong.
This force is driving me to test the speed of light.*

*Did you know what you were doing?
Did you know?
Did you know how you would move me?
Well, I don’t really think so.
But the night came down and swept us away.
And the stars they seemed to paint the most elaborate scene today.*

*So when you say forever, can't you see?
You've already captured me.*


Wistful sigh.

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

The other day, on the way home from work Kurt called me:

Kurt: "Hey, can you pick up anything we need to bake cinnamon rolls that we don't have already?"

Me: "Uhh, sure... why?"

Kurt: "My office is having a bake-off and I'm going to make my cinnamon rolls."

Me: "Great! .... I'm going to make something too!"

So I entered Kurt's office bake-of. I got everything Kurt and I needed and headed home to clean the kitchen (we bug bombed the house, so the surfaces needed to be scrubbed before Kurt could roll out his dough). By the end of the night, we had 24 cinnamon rolls and one coconut cream cake ready for the eating.
I'm not sure why I entered, since I don't work there. I just like to bake and it was an excuse to bake. So yesterday, Kurt pipes up, "Everyone's loving the cake.... you might win this one!"

Well, Kurt just sent this to me:


That's right. The "Atkins posse" as his friend Tyler called us, took the 9th floor by storm. I wish I could take credit, but this isn't my recipe. I'm not sure whose it is... I got it from my mom, who got it from my aunt Michelle, who got it from...?

Anyhow, in lieu of this (small) victory, I'm going to share the (now) award-winning recipe. Oh, and I've thought of a cool name for it:

Loco Coco Cake
1 yellow box cake mix and the ingredients it calls for (I prefer butter yellow... butter, mmmm... )
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bottle/can of Coco Loco, Coco Real, and whatever your region's version is of THICK, CREAMY pina colada mix. Don't get the watery stuff!
1 container of Cool Whip
1 bag of coconut flakes... I prefer the big shavings, but it's up to you, man.

Make the cake according to directions.
While it is baking, mix the sweetened condensed milk and Coco Loco together.
When cake is done, immediately poke DOZENS of holes in it using a fork. Seriously, you can't have too many holes in the cake.
Pour the milk/coco loco mixture on the cake and spread with a spatula.
*Note: you'll want to keep checking on the cake until all of the mixture has soaked into the cake because as it soaks, the remaining goo will have a tendency to pool in the center of the cake but you should spread it out when this happens.
*Note: this cake is best made 24 hours in advance. If you eat it right away, it's like a pudding and it isn't bad, still very tasty, but if you give it 12 to 24 hours, it'll firm back up into cake. :)
Before serving, spread Cool Whip on top. I like to zap the Cool Whip in the microwave so it's soft for spreading.
Toast coconut shavings/flakes/etc., on Hi Broil in the oven on a cookie sheet (spread evenly).
When they are lightly browned, take out and sprinkle over the cake.

Aaaaaaaand, you're done. Mmm... makes me wish I'd gotten a piece of it!
Just to let you know, this cake is a little pricey to make. But it is soooo worth it.

Confessional

1. I really like Linkin Park. I know this puts me on par with high school boys, but whenever I hear a song of theirs on the radio I crank up the volume.

2. I want skinny jeans. There. I said it.

3. I've been listening to a lot of hip hop lately and I'm dying to go dancing.

4. I love marshmallows. I know they're completely unnatural, but they're so tasty.

5. I just misspelled marshmallows as marshmellows. Me, the spelling nut.

6. I have a serious celebrity crush on James McAvoy.

So, what do you want to confess today?

Watch What You Say

Last Thursday, I went in for a hair cut.
I got exactly what I asked for.
I got a very good haircut.
I'll see this stylist again.

I just asked for the wrong thing.

You'd think a linguist would know the difference between "top of my shoulders" and "just above my shoulders." Oh well. At least it's cooler.

I love Kurt.

A recent G chat conversation:
me: So I got a Ferrari F430 today, and a Murcielago and a Viper on Monday

Kurt: nice...

is that a facebook app?

me: by got I mean saw

lol

I'm retarded.

Kurt: wow

Am I crazy?

Remember how, after running only 6 miles, I looked like this:


Apparently that isn't enough to deter me from doing it again. Oh, and upping the mileage.

I am going to try to attempt a Half-Marathon. You heard me. I'm crazy.

Date: September 19, 2009
Race: Autumn Color Run, 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, and 1 mile fun run
Location: Buena Vista, CO (aka, middle of nowhere)

Schedule:

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
4	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
6	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
7	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
8	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
9	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

I will be tweaking this. For instance, today is the beginning of week uno. I seriously don't think I can run 13 miles this week. I haven't been running for a month. So I'm going to run tomorrow, skip Wednesday, and run Thursday and Saturday. We'll see next week if I'll be able to add that 4th day.
I don't have to register for this race for a little bit, so I may end up doing a 10k again. That's ok. I can recognize my weaknesses. But I think doing two 10k's in one summer still ain't bad.

But yeah, I'm slightly off my rocker. Meh.

July Goals

So I totally missed June. Oh well. I mean, can you blame me? I barely had enough brain capacity beyond house matters to eat, let alone cook meals. But now we're in and things are starting to get close to becoming normal. :\ This would be a lot easier if I wasn't working. Anyhow, enough with the tired pity party!
So, for July my goals are pretty much just house things, but a few that aren't. This is going to be a To-Do list more than goals.
-Do the guest bedroom (scrape wallpaper and paint)
-Refinish all of my garage sale/craigslist finds
-Learn how to coupon and put it into action!
-Get all unpacked and settled in by the end of the month
-Read scriptures daily (can anyone tell me why this is so hard?)
-Weekly writing sessions. I would say daily, or even semi-daily, but I know I'll fail. I need to focus the majority of my energy on getting my house into order, but I do need to write. So I think weekly will keep me going for the time being, without taking time away from more pressing things.
-Resume running training
-Weight lift 3 times a week

Back to our granola ways...

We did a quick one night, 10 mile backpacking trip a few weeks ago and I finally got the pictures from Kurt's phone (we forgot the camera in the car).

Friday evening. A late start + sudden storm = pitching camp early in the evening and only after a mile of hiking.

There were gorgeous aspen groves on the hike. Unfortunately, it still wasn't quite spring so they were mostly bare.

We hiked to a lake. It was windy and very chilly. The name of this lake was its elevation. We ran into another hiker who took this and the following pic.


Zumi LOVES snow! It's so cute! This patch was on a slant, so he would run to the top then run down, sliding the last little bit. It was adorable.


My snow dog!


It was very chilly, mostly brown, but man, that view was amazing. Kurt's stinky camera doesn't do it justice.

Afterwards we went to Coney Island!

And stuffed...

our faces!

Nothing like consuming in 30 minutes all of the calories you burned in several hours! Yeehaw!

Zumi is in love.

[I posted more 'before' pics of the house... lots more... see 2 posts down.]

Zumi loves our new house. There is plenty of room to run around. He gets his 'own room' (aka the laundry room). AND, his favorite part is the backyard. It's so hard to get him to come inside because he loves running around out there. Little did we know how aptly we named him 'Zoomie.' And when he's not running his legs off, he's chewing on a rawhide bone or napping in the sun. It's pretty adorable.
He didn't love painting so much. Mostly because we had to tie him up to various doors to keep him from dipping his nose into paint cans. This is his last night as a 'real boy' (aka, before he was neutered, mwahahaha).

He loves when I hold him still for bunches of pictures. I swear he does.

Laying on the patio, trying to nibble a raw hide bone that's as big as he is.My little puppy is starting to look like a grown dog!In the front yard. He's not off leash (definitely learned THAT lesson) but I can drop his leash for a few minutes at a time before he figures out that he's free. :)
Moving is hard work for a puppy!

Moving is pain

But is worth it! I have internet access this morning for the first time since Saturday morning (I'm at work). We are all moved in (read: everything is in our house, out of the apartment, but generally still in boxes... working on that... and we're still painting). We are tired. I'm sick. Kurt's mom is here for a few days. We almost had disaster with the green paint I chose for the kitchen (but a second coat proved it to be a false alarm). We have a king size bed (amazing!). Zumi loves the backyard. There are 4 foxes living in the backyard (not counting the Zumster). We no longer have people to our sides and above us. It's so quiet at night! Everyone that sees our house comments on my BRIGHT paint choices (but really, you wouldn't expect anything else from me, would you?). There's no train across the street. My phone is dead and I can't remember where the charger is. I've been dreaming of painting and moving just about every night. I've had pizza for 7 straight days. I discovered pho on Saturday (traditional Vietnamese soup that is dee-lish). I finally have a grown up shower curtain(!!). WE ARE HAPPY!!

More "before" pics coming, and some "in-between" pics. And actually, the bathroom has "almost done!" pics coming too. Yay! In the meantime (read: until I have my sanity and living room floor back), here's a post:
Tagged (not so much... I tagged myself)! Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band (middle school band counts, right?)

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland (How about Disneyworld?)

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (I was on the beach)

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Been to the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on a train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse (of the moon)

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (how far back are we talking? I've been to 3 generations back...)

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie (an amateur's movie, but yeah)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten caviar

72. Tied a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book (one day, one day...)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone's life (yeah, lifeguarding!!)

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Visited Italy (why do so many of these revolve around Italy? It makes me sad.)

Before Photos

Kurt and I are moving in this Saturday, June 20th. This week we're spending all free time painting the house. Here are some Before pics:

KITCHEN/DINING AREA (first 2 pics are from the last owners)










LIVING ROOM (first 2 pics are from the last owners)



OFFICE



MASTER BEDROOM




GUEST BEDROOM (first pic is from the last owners)




EXTRA BEDROOM
aka future nursery :)
(that is NOT a hint!)



BATHROOM
(needs no real work, but I do plan on a paint job in a few months)
(first pic is from the last owners)



EXTERIOR/YARD (first 3 pics are from the last owners)