sick nasty

this dude drew an 18 foot panorama of NYC from MEMORY after a 20 minute helicopter ride over the cityyyyyy. insane in da membrane.

fall in love with...

la roux's "in for the kill"

fabric of our lives

remember watching those segments on mr. rogers neighborhood called "how it's made"? you'd travel with fred through "picture, picture" and see how crayons, buttons, sweaters and more were fashioned right here in the US of A. CNN posted an article this morning on the mt. vernon cotton mill in trion, GA with a photographic tour of how denim is made. for some odd reason, this article had me hooked. maybe it's because i want to be buried in denim, who can really say? this mill is the nation's #1 producer of denim and churns out enough denim each week to make 800,000 pairs of jeans. eeeeesh. what is love is that this mill is ran by good old American muscle and has provided jobs for generations of hard-working families.


check it out here.

ghost of halloween past

del rio sucks in terms of finding outlets and mediums for my creativity. i'm trying to pull off a non-slutty halloween costume but it's hard when the only resources i've got are wal-mart and spirit halloween (siiiiiiick). i usually go for the funny or odd little costume idea but this year i'm sticking to an old classic, my favorite.

i hand made my little cap. bought a top at wal-mart and am trying to muster up some adorability to pull this off. you'll have to wait until halloweeny to find out!

here's a little ghost or two of halloween past (:



the fat ass was a GINORMOUS SUCCESS



amish school teacher was a hit

victory

Big day yesterday in Washington D.C.

Senate passed legistlation making it a federal crime to assault an individual based on their sexual orientation or gender ID. Obama has already pledged to sign this measure which Bush claimed he would not support during his tenure as President. This law will only be used to prosecute violence - free speech is still free speech.

This is big news people! This measure is our nation's first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and will start bringing justice to those our society has oppressed for too long. No matter how you feel about the issue of homosexuality itself, you have to support legislation protecting our citizens from sensless, cruel and xenophobic violence. this bill give me hope. Hope that we can do something to help fix the brokenness (see post here).

Celebrate with me!

weekend round-up

Crazy weekend.

Saturday morning I slept in and headed for a day in San Antonio (2.5 hours away) BY MYSELF. Since all of the boys are restricted (as in can't leave del rio for an indefinite period of time) I decided to take on the big city alone and get my errands run, visit Ryan in the hospital and see Brad Root who's in town on business. Matt lent me his GPS to toodle around SA and it definitely is possessed by the Devil himself. That piece of JUNK took me to two non-existent lots masquerading at Targets before I got to a REAL Tar-jhay...in the sketchiest neighborhood ever. As I walked in, I was just praying my car would be in one piece and the same place as I left it when I came back out. It was so nice to just dink around the store without any pesky boys around. I picked up some necessary odds and ends, was struck by Halloween inspiration for what to dress up as this year (how CAN you beat the amish teacher and biggest loser competitor that i was last year?!) and bolted out of that beat store before I got shanked by a checker or something. Satan GPS then took me the longest way possible to Brooke Army Medical Center to see Ryan. He is looking awesome for just having his leg amputated. We had a decent sized group there to visit and play games. I couldn't stay long until I was off to downtown to see new daddy of 3, Brad Root! B. Root has been my Seattle dad/protector for the past two years and it was so, so great to see him. We did the RiverWalk (one of SA's claims to fame) and had an incredible dinner right on the SA River @ Hard Rock Cafe. From there I jetted to Nordstrom & Anthro for a blazing quick run through and ended up getting a sweet dress @ Anthro (see pictcha) and shirt for the boy at Nordy's. As I exited Nordstrom, I searched high and low for my 4Runner with no luck. It was completely gone. I had taken a mental picture when I parked of which cars I was parked by and where. As I wandered the lot, I saw the light pole and car I'd parked near but mine was no where to be found. Instant panic set in as I realized I was:

a) Completely alone in SA
b) Wandering a parking lot in the pitch black
c) Had no wheels

My brilliant first move was to call my dad and cry. Then I sat in the lot and cried some more. Then I pulled myself together and took one last walk around before I called the po-po. Then I realized....I walked into Nordy's by the Mac counter and walked out by the Rail department. Hmmm...turning 90 degrees there was my car in the identical parking lots just 400 meters away (: I didn't start feeling like an idiot until I got back to Del Rio, it was too scary to laugh about just then. I called dad back to let him know and he'd already practically called in the National Guard to get me. Eeesh, that guy can mobilize people from across the country. Made in back on the road and Devil GPS took me, once again, through the SA GHETTTTTTO to get back on 90 to go home. This back road had NO street lights, a hellofalot of rampant deer and road raging Mexicans like you wouldn't believe. Finally made it back on the highway at 9.15 pm to start my 2.5 hour drive back to the Dirty D. En route, one of my headlights burned out so I got to be that doucher that drives with their brights on (: Deer were trotting around like the highway was their personal playground but I made it back to Del Rio by 11.45. 2 blocks from home, I got the pleasure of getting pulled over. Lovely.

Officer: "Ma'am do you know you have a headlight out?"
Me: (Do I say yes or no?) "Yeah, it went out on my drive home from SA"
Officer: "Well, I'm going to have to give you a warning."
Me: "Okay thanks, bye!"
Officer: "No ma'am it's going to be written and filed"

Ugh. Seriously, what am I supposed to do about a burned out light COMING HOME FROM SAN ANTONIO. What a dummy. Finally made it home, fell into bed and tried to forget all about Death Day in San Antonio. Sunday was just spent being lazy, cleaning my room and laying at the pool with Ciacci and Devin for 2.5 hours. Yesssss. It's hit winter temperatures of mid-80s now (ha, ha) and it's going to stay that way until February. Hallelujah. So pool time was awesome. Made it to the grocery store, played with the dogs, watched The Office and dinked around until bed time.

What a weekend ): On a high note, Matt's flying partner Paul got engaged to Erin, another pilot (who shall not be named until he actually does the deed) is proposing THIS COMING WEEKEND! and there are a few more coming down the pike. Wedding bells are ringing!
Hope y'all had a crazy weekend in the best possible way (: Anybody make it to Where the Wild Things Are?

bob marley

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life."

go see it

medellin

If you have some spare time today for a little light reading, head to CNN.com and check out their 3 part series on life inside the drug gangs of Medellin, Colombia. It's been fascinating to read about the lives these people are living - amidst one of the fiercest drug wars in the world. I'm just about to read article 3 but so far, my favorite part was when the author, Karl Penhaul, interviewed two hitmen. He asked two questions that blew my mind, "Didn't you have any big dreams when you were kids?" and "Do you think you've made your mothers proud by killing people?" I especially love the Big Dreams question. If you really think about it, all that separates these guys and me/you could have been as simple as one bad decision or lack of one solid person to mentor them. Read them if you have time, and let me know what you think.

Part 1 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/13/colombia.drug.war/index.html
Part 2 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/14/colombia.hitmen/index.html
Part 3 - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/15/colombia.girlfriends/index.html

note to self

can i complain?

just for a moment...i swear.

i have generally loved the past three months going from the emerald city of hipsters, free thinkers, recyclers and open minds to teeny-tiny, somewhat charming del rio. 94 days deep and i have not loved the following:

1. complete lack of city recycling system

2. amount of litter in this dirty little town

3. closed minded people

4. stifling of creativity here

5. little room for growth or change

6. there are no stores/restaurants

7. i effing HATE wal-mart now

8. being so homesick

9. how routine life has become. M-F are carbon copies.

10. what a little dump this town is that no one will ever come visit me...except spencer, and he's blood so that doesn't count

thank you i am done.

i think my next move will be back to the city. i likey the looks of philly (home of anthropologie), chicago and NUMBER ONE...portland (city of roses). weeeeeeee shall see where the road takes me next. regardless of how i feel about the dirty D, it has been quite the adventure.

i'm on a...ranch

The Llano River

since all of my nearest and del rio dearest had a three day weekend courtesy of columbus, i decided to play along and pretend like i had one too. usually i start stressing about how quickly my weekend is coming to an end on...saturday afternoon. my new trick is feigning long weekends EVERY WEEK! i'm really, really falling in love with traveling texas. weekends are our chance to steal away from the dirty D and see this one-of-a-kind state. as of friday, our plans included getting off work early to go camping near sonora at tyler voss' uncle's ranch with many friends. we DID get off work early but...the camping part didn't happen. the friday night enticements del rio had to offer were too strong for us to leave. rem, matt, deb and i headed to an early showing of couple's retreat (1.78 thumbs up), enjoyed fine dining at rudy's BBQ and hit up the del rio rams homecoming football game. oh.my.goshhhhhhhhhh. you couldn't pay me a milli to go back to high school. we got hot seats in the 2nd row of the high school section and were privvy to teenage baby mama's, a mexican fist fight and so much more. we left at 3rd quarter and headed to diamond lil's for pool and brews.

saturday we changed our minds and decided to head to the voss ranch with kyle babbit. 2.5 hours later we landed in junction, texas and on a 1300 acre ranch full of donkeys, white-tailed deer, goats, sheep, cows, turkeys, roadrunners & moooooooooore. i thought i'd been sitr crazy for the city but the great outdoors was just what i needed after a killer week at work. we stayed in a bunkhouse right on the llano river and had a blast. we all hopped in the bronco with our cooler and took off across the river, up the banks and everywhere else a souped up SUV is not supposed to go (: we then went on a 2 day scavenger hunt for the 15 deer feeders hidden around the ranch. voss' uncle wanted us to fill them for him and it ended up taking nearly 9 hours, two truckloads of corn, 5 guys, 1 girl and the MOST beat up farm truck you've ever seen. the country out there was rugged, scrubby and absolutely gorgeous. we had the river on one side, the blue mountains on the other and rolling hills & cactus all around. i'm was in love. highlights included waking up to four donkeys outside my cabin and trying to feed them from my hand and watching desperate bulls make sexual advances on each other. definite thumbs down was have NO TOILET. i got the pleasure of doing my business in the great outdoors just as i do when hunting with the old man. delightful.

sunday we left the ranch around 2.45 and made it back to del rio at 5 on the DOT. i wrapped up a glorious weekend with a colts game (rousing win again the titans! whoohoo!), rockies game and group monopoly which i chose to forgo since rem and i cannot possibly play a game without killing each other. since i was still on my "pretend you have a 3 day weekend too" jag, i let myself stay up 12 minutes past my bedtime and sleep in 4 minutes late. i actually had a great day at work, no migraine and no boredom. i even had my 90 day eval (i've been here three months!) and killed it. my boss wants me to turn HR into a career pursuit (: we'll see about that.

how was your weekend?

you've got to be kidding me...

before the november elections, i was not a fan of obama. as his presidency has progressed, i have grown to dislike him even more. all his pre-presidency hype has fallen short and his $829 billion dollar healthcare plan is quickly becoming the laughing stock of the country. so you can imagine my shock and disappointment when i read this morning that he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." the funny thing is, nominations for the NPP had to be postmarked 12 days after obama took office. puh-leeeeeez.

if you feel the need to read the depressing article (even CNN is blown away) check it out here:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html

another late night trip...

to the illustrious wal*mart resulted in the following impulse buys:
1. a big DVD (tom hanks anyone?)
2. map of texas - i broke down and am going to learn my TX geography since only God knows how long i'll be here
3. halloween cards - i am HOOKED on halloween cards because they're so DARN cute. four for the kids i used to sit/nanny, one for my mother - hater of all that's halloween, one to spence, one to grammy...perhaps one coming to a mailbox near YOU

wal*mart is a clinch institution for my impulse purchases. not just because it's the only store in town but i can never spend that much money there. i mean...impulse buys at nordstrom run me triple digits so wally world can't be all that bad riiiiight?

das boot

this weekend took my crazy troupe of comrades to san antonio & fredericksburg, texas for OKTOBERFEST! matt & i set off from del rio a little after 3 on friday (hooray for leaving work early!) en route to brooke army medical center in san antonio to visit our friend ryan. ryan's been in the burn unit here for about 5 weeks after a boating accident broke his pelvis and did major damage to his leg. ryan got GREAT news this week in that the burn unit team only had to amputate his five right toes. his ortho team told him he'd likely lose his right leg below the knee but everything's looking good and he's already in rehab getting his muscle back. hopefully, he'll be able to go home around the holidays. seeing him in such a good mood was such an improvement over our last visit. we hung out in the ryan's room and the waiting room for almost 3 hours with everyone. sarah brought us homemade lasagna and salad too! from there we headed to our hotel in the stone oak neighborhood and skipped over to the lion & rose pub for drinks and live music.

saturday we woke up nice and late and took full advantage of the hotel's breakfast spread. we set off around 11 for fredericksburg and got there just in time for lunch. the san antonio area is SUCH a change from where i'm living. del rio is in the chihuahuan desert...hence it's dry, dirty and not much green. san antonio has rolling hills, green trees everywhere and awesome outcroppings of natural rock. fredericksburg is basically the twin brother of leavenworth, washington. it's the cutest little bavarian/german town and is known as the polka capital of texas! (: matt and i spent a couple hours dinking around the vendors, trying some german beers and, of course, eating sausage and sauerkraut. we then headed to the cottage where the rest of the del rio family was staying for spirits, long talks, catch phrase, and dinner - courtesy of sarah yet again. after a quick run to the hotel to freshen up, we met up with the gang and partook of all that oktoberfest had to offer (aka beer and wine-aritas, polka dancing, turkey legs, and MORE). this was probably the most fun i've had in a looooong time. literally everyone there acted like your best buddy. there were a ton of older people and veterans that had no qualms about grabbing your hand and whipping you around the dance floor. i learned how to polka and waltz! i cheered on my little old friend lee roy in the dance competition and matt & i decided to call it a night around 10.30. we scored a cab ride for six bucks and fell into la la land until the morning.

sunday we got a ride to the car from sarah and joined our sleepy little group at the argentine restaurant for lunch. i wish i had a great group picture, maybe i'll steal one off of facebook, but we had SO much fun. we had mark, chris, jake, big joe, chris' little sis and her college buds, erol, the hutch, sarah, myself and matt. from lunch we headed home the back way and i even drove the stick shift for part of the drive! big step for me (: last night we made dinner, watched the broncos and COLTS WIN (whoohoo, 4-0 babayyyy) and i headed home to catch up on glee (best show eva) and the office. i'm ready to start fresh tonight with a clean room, stocked fridge and new episodes of house and lie to me. last night i also spent about an hour and a half pondering a gap commericial that i will share more on later...

kudos this week go to....
1. the soon-to-be jeff and quinn bartsch. this dream couple (think kelly kapowski and zack morris a la saved by the bell) got ENGAGED on friday down on the pier in rainy seattle. wedding's slated for next summer and i couldn't be more EXCITED!

2. andria - my little globe trotter has spent the past month all over sweden, paris and london and returns this week to our side of the pond.

3. props to other friends who may or may not have made relationships official this weekend...you know who YOU ARE (: