Purse Lamps

This past weekend, Ryan and I were in Ft. Collins thrift shopping. We were shopping for chairs, since my latest project is fixing up some old chairs for my house. I was looking around at all the trinkets and junk lying around when, what do I stumble upon? A purse lamp. I start laughing and grab the thing. I'm turning it around in my hands, turning it on and off, and trying to figure out how it was made. Also, I'm pondering the thought, "who makes a purse lamp??" This is amazing! I yell at Ryan to come check this thing out, I think I might get it for my sister for christmas! It's vintage-ey looking, and since she's into fashion, I thought it would be funny. His reaction? "that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen!" Well, I wasn't exactly going for aesthetics I guess. So, this purse lamp not only worked, it was amazingly ugly and I really wanted to buy it but it was $10. At a thrift store. That's too much so I left it there and moved on. Now, we found some amazing other things, which will be my next posting, but I could not stop thinking about this hideous purse lamp. I told a few people about it and then decided to check online. Well, to my surprise, these purse lamps are actually made by people...more than 1, and the one that I saw was NOT a single made entity. WHO KNEW!!! So, this is just that much more entertaining to me now!

FOORRRREEEEVVVVVEERRRRR.

Well, I'm getting another tattoo. I've done a ton of research, thought about it, talked about it, and decided on it. It's happening. It's going to be on my ribs, yes, it's going to hurt, and yes, it's going to be meaningful. I'm just not exactly sure how I should handle the healing process. I don't want to ruin the tattoo by wearing a bra too soon so it won't heal properly. Obviously, I have to wear SOMETHING for the week or so it will take to heal so I'm trying to figure out some options! I know, this is a random "dilemma" to have...I'm also a little bit more nervous for this one than I was for my first one. This will be a wayyy more sensitive area to get tattoed and I'm a little anxious. Also, my first tattoo was kind of a "given". It was pretty obvious that it was my perfect first tattoo and it's so sentimental that I would never ever regret it. This one is more out of my own head and that leaves more room for doubts and regret. It is very meaningful to me and has been for awhile, but then again, I also thought Dave Matthews Band was meaningful and what I wanted! Ha! Thank god I grew out of THAT phase or else I may have a fire dancer or something random permanently inked on my body! Anyway, I just felt the need to share my thoughts, as they're swirling around my head. I'm getting excited to do this! Mom, Dad, you just wait, by the time you get out here for christmas, I'll show it to you!! Heading to Denver this Tuesday...maybe I should just bit the bullet and do it then....Deep Thoughts, by Katie.

Today

So, catching up my blog from all that time away is proving to be a difficult thing to accomplish. I feel like, in hindsight, all the stupid stories and events that have happened, aren't such good stories after the fact. So, here I am at work, trying desperately to finish the work week without dying. My normal schedule is 4 days a week, 10 and a half hour shifts. Well, this week I had extra days to fill in and I am on day 4 of 6 and I it's proving to be difficult. It's not that I'm busy with work related things, It's just a long day to fill up with activities when you are limited to an office and a computer. Needless to say, I am very caught up on all things internet. I am on facebook wayyy more than I'd like to admit, MSN is my go-to website for anything happening OUTSIDE our little Vail bubble, and random google searches are where most of my knowledge is acquired. This latter activity is where I got my most recent idea. I'm thinking of taking the GRE. (cue the dramatic musical tones).
Mom! Mom? Did you hear me? I SAID I'm thinking of taking the GRE. Which essentially means grad school. Come to think of it, I was GOOD in school. Really, I had no troubles and enjoyed it more than quite a lot of my classmates, but when I got to college, I had no direction. I just didn't know what I wanted to do. Well, sitting here, pushing 30 years old, I may have finally figured it out. Kind of. I mean, I want to do EVERYTHING! I want to be a marine biologist, and a phys. ed. teacher, and an archeologist, and a museum curator, but since no one offers a degree to umbrella all of those topics I've settled on one. A master's in english and literature.

I actually used to be really good at english, literature, writing etc. Still am, for that matter. I'm not saying this in any way to be vain, or cocky, I am just good at these topics. Always have been. Not only that, I enjoy them. Not many people know about my side as a closet nerd. Books make me excited, I love to write (yes, even poetry), and I aspire to write a book someday. To top that off, I actually want to encourage people to love literature as much as I do! I am a proud owner of not 1, but 2 library cards in this valley! Yes, this is the next step that I am...debating. GRE: where, when, how, and what next?
These are my ponderings of the moment. Now, off to lunch.

UNICORNS ARE REAL!!

So, I have been away from my blog for way way too long lately. The stresses of a wedding, showers, honeymooon (although amazing), and travel are A LOT TO HANDLE! Anyone who hasn't done it, just take my word for it. Growing up, I was the girl who has been dreaming of her wedding since age 5. Not the crazy, picked out the ring and dress girl, but I had a good idea of what I wanted. It was traditional, family, friends, church, reception, the whole 9 yards. Was it the day I dreamt of? Absolutely! Would I ever do it again? No way. After the fact, elopement or destination would have been MUCH MUCH easier. Regardless, I've been busy.

Now, back to the topic of today. I am obsessed with unicorns. Always have been, just ask one of my childhood friends. I had books (probably still do at my parents house), stuffed animals, stickers...Anyway, I just always KNEW they were real. And I found some proof! These are all unicorns. Maybe not the image that we have all pictured, but, what's the difference? See, I told you.

just hitched!

Glad this idea worked! I can't believe I found socks for Ryan that matched my shoes EXACTLY!! Pretty happy about that!

hmmm....

p.s. I don't know why these pictures came out so small....they are all on my facebook page so if you REALLY need to check out my retro style, or the seafoam green suit, go there.

BUT IT GET'S BETTER CON'T

So, Monday April 19th was employee ski day at Vail. We got to ski off of 3 lifts that were open for employees only. Then we all came down to the base where we got a free lunch (Moe's bbq) and had the chance to win prizes, etc. All while a dj was playing. After the prizes were awarded..I didn't win shit, they announced that there was to be a special guest band. You can only imagine my excitement when they announced that it was Guster (see previous post) Not only was this my favorite band but the stage was some little chincy thing set up right on the snow!! We were less than a foot away. We didn't ACTUALLY stand that close because that would have been wierd, but WE COULD HAVE! Anyway, there I am, front and center, with my friend Andrew just rockin out!! Guster is awesome in the sense that they are just really goofy guys who like to have fun so they interacted with us and talked with us and just played to have a good time. The one guitar player still had his ski boots on! It was the grand finale to my awesome week! At the end of the show they were talking about how great we all were and they then thanked those of us who stuck around for their little impromtu show and the lead singer looked and pointed RIGHT AT ME!! (ryan is my witness...) OH, and i was literally only like 3 feet away from him so there was no mistaking it! Made my day! It felt like it was a private show! Guster, twice in 24 hours...it was a great end to this season, now...let's go to the beach!

BUT IT GETS BETTER!!!

GUSTER!!!

So, everyone who knows me well knows that Guster is my favorite band! (tied with slightly stoopid, but thats for another post) So, you can only imagine how excited I was to hear that Guster was playing a show for Springback to Vail this season. Springback is just a clearly, super creative way of naming the last week of our season. Sense my sarcasm...anyway, I was super super excited to go see them,even though I already have quite a few times. Anyway, we get down to the show and its PACKED!! I am already super bummed because we missed the beginning and we can't see anything so I'm desperately trying to find a good spot. My friend Heather decides that we should poach a hotel balcony and watch from up above!!(thank you Heather, if you read this...made my night!) So, we proceed through the lobby of the Sitzmark hotel and straight up the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, is a guy who is clearly, gaurding the balcony from people just like us. As we walk by, he yells, "hey are you staying here??" and Heather yells back, "Yeah, our friends are, we are going to see them" Then he continues with, "What's their name?" This is all happening while we are walking up the stairs. Heather is already at the second floor so I have to respond. Since we started drinking really really early and I was a little stressed about getting outside to see the show, the only name I can think of is Smith. So I respond with "Smith...John I think..." John Smith. What kind of asshole comes up with that?? The kid just starts laughing at me and I run up the stairs to catch Heather. Thankfully, he didn't come after us but I don't think Heather will let me live that one down for awhile. John Smith. I'm that asshole.

4 at 4 Shenanigans

Sunday was 4 at 4 day. This means that since it's the last day of the season, everyone usually dresses up like idiots and meet at the top of chair 4 at 4pm. Simple enough right? Well, my dear friends and I decided to dress up like, you guessed it, idiots and drink till the sun goes down. We took one last run down "Forever", the run and rode chair 5 up for the last time. (Vail is ripping it out this summer to replace with a new chair, which we hate) We then scoured the crowd for the next couple hours, which was entertainment enough. Here are some pics of the styles we were rockin...
oh, p.s. that handsome thing in the seafoam green suit belongs to me...;)

stand by me

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-muppets-do-stand-by-me/20b0uwbn


there are no words...this makes me endlessly happy!

MY DRUG HABIT...

These are fondly known as crack. I just can't stop. I'm serious, I'm developing a severe crack mango habit. I can't even put into words how obsessed I am with these dried mangoes. Don't ever try them because you too will be an addict. Just say no to crack!

I NEED A SNORKEL!

SO... IT WAS A POWDER DAY AT VAIL MOUNTAIN!! IN APRIL!! In the last 2 days we have gotten over 30 inches of snow!! In the last week, we have gotten 4 feet! Who could have seen this one coming?? Yesterday was, quite possibly, the best powder day I've had in over 2 years! It was insane! To top that off, I didn't have to wait in a lift line all day! No one was skiing Vail Mountain! All i can figure is that the ski ability level of the guests here this week is not high enough for them to enjoy this sort of thing! It was crazy, FACE SHOTS ALL DAY!!! (for those of you who don't know what a face shot is, in terms of skiing, it is when the snow is so deep that it is hitting you in the face during the run) and yes, powder face shots are often used as a sexual reference too...this makes things interesting. ;) Sometimes the snow is so deep and you get so much in your face that you feel as if you are suffocating...but in that case, I would die happy!

Flyin High

Here's some stats for ya...In the last YEAR I have spent APPROXIMATELY $2,350 on flights to Ohio. This does not include the flight home to get fitted for my wedding dress or the flight for the wedding both of which are still currently unbooked.
Just some food for thought.
Oh, and Ohio does not even have a beach...sense my bitterness?

hut trippin

So, this weekend we went on a hut trip (weekend being mon-wed). A hut trip, for all you who don't know what that is, is when you hike up into the wilderness to a "hut" and stay there for a few days/nights and go ski. A "hut" is actually a cabin, some are log, some are stone, and they are maintained by the forest service. They are actually pretty nice. Most huts sleep anywhere from 10-20 people and they are supplied with pillows, linens, etc. All dishes and cookware are supplied and kept up at the hut along with books and games. Most huts don't have electricity but they have gas lamps/stoves etc and pretty nice outhouses...as far as outhouses go...We hiked up a road called 4-mile road, which was, you guessed it, 4 miles long. Then we had to dive off into the trees and hike up to the top, which was grueling as hell. I almost didn't make it! You hike with your skis on and use what are called skins. They stick to the bottom of your skis so that you can hike uphill whithout sliding backward. Pretty fancy stuff! My pack that I had to carry was about 30lbs and IT WAS TOUGH! After a while your shoulders start to hurt but mostly its tough on your hips. Who knew right? The strap that goes around your waist basically supports all the weight of the pack so that is where you end up feeling it! It was quite the workout but we are now safely back home (and showered)! We had quite the intense game of spoons going on at that hut, let me tell you! p.s. I'm the champ.
Oh, I should mention that you have to pack in all your food, water, and alcohol. Theres nothing like hiking straigh uphill with a box of wine on your back...=) priorities!

America's Next Top Model!

Do you see this skinny bitch?? This is my BABY SISTER!! I'm so proud of her!!! (and so jealous I could throw up!) Where did I go wrong?? How am I barely 5'5 and slightly overweight? Damn her. ;) Just kidding, I've been showing everyone in my office (sorry ames!) I guess if I was better at working out and didn't like mac-n-cheese so much I, potentially, could have been a skinny bitch too. ( a short one) Amy is in 8 runway shows for Charleston Fashion Week. 8!!! She got approached today by a casting agent for Ford Models so her and my mom are meeting with him after the 2shows she's in this evening!!! So exciting! She's probably soo nervous, I would poop my pants, but thats a blog for another day! Anyway, we are all waiting anxiously with our fingers crossed for tonight! p.s. LOVE THE SUIT!! Now I gotta go hit the elliptical! ;)

bleh

This is me. Or rather, was me yesterday. I have no idea why i feel this way, where i developed these "allergies" and when they started. Actually, they have been slowly getting worse and worse since I started doing summers in CO. My eyes hurt so bad yesterday that I couldnt even bring myself to get online or stare at a computer screen for more than a minute. To those who have known me my whole life, I have NEVER had an allergy to ANYTHING!! Being in Ohio, that is a big deal, people say the allergens in Ohio are AWFUL. I wouldn't know about that, apparently I'm only allergic to Colorado. What makes it even sadder is the fact that if I travel back to Ohio, my allergies clear up within half a day of being there...FRUSTERATED!! I was never a sick kid, ever! I feel like living in Colorado, my immune system has decided to take a vaca. Ryan and I are supposed to get engagement photos taken in early april...HOW in the hell am I going to look decent in a damn photo when I already look like this bee in MARCH!! This sucks. Gotta go blow my nose...

King Me!

Wow. There are no words to describe this. Actually, I lie, there are. I'm just trying to find them. Why? Do you like checkers? Chess? I can understand when people "really like" certain things. I like rainbows, and unicorns, and trees....BUT i do not look like some sort of fantasy world! (only sometimes). ;) I also happen to like tattoos. (katie we still need to get one together...) maybe not on our faces...and whats with the blue ear? Where do you wear this getup? besides EVERYWHERE SINCE YOU TATTOED IT ON YOUR WHOLE BODY? Do you scare little children walking down the street? Do people throw chess pieces at you? A little checkerboard can be considered a bit steezy...THIS does not qualify. You have gone above and beyond. I...I..I'm just baffled. I have nothing else. Checkmate.

YIKES!

So, THIS is what I was living with when I was living in Australia. Yeah, gross as hell. These guys are EVERYWHERE!! There are two kinds of spiders that look exactly alike. The ones that are in everyones houses (ie this one...) are called Huntsman spiders. Supposedly harmless but I'm sure if you had one in your shoe when you stuck your foot in it, he might let you know! The other kind are wolf spiders and they can kill you. They also jump. I had one land on my foot once and almost pooped my pants. Oh yeah, and they're huge! We went to dinner once at a friends house in Queensland and the minute we walked into their GORGEOUS BRAND NEW HOUSE one of these was the first thing that caught my eye! He was above the sink on the wall while my friends mom was washing dishes RIGHT UNDERNEATH HIM! I freaked, and we asked if she wanted us to remove him and she said NO!!! "He eats the bugs so we just let him roam..." WHAT?? The whole meal, which im sure was amazing, I was busy keeping one eye on the spider. He was moving all over the damn place and I can't even remember what I ate! These guys are everywhere. I found one in the linen closet when I went to get a bath towel! It was like 6 inches in diameter and my friend claimed to have put it in my bed but (luckily) I never saw him again!
Oh well, I came across this picture and figured I would share with everyone. This is just one of the little treats to greet you when you arrive in Australia! Who wants to go?