A White Christmas

Snow Drifts on the Terrace - 12/22/11

View from Apartment -  12/22/11

May your days be merry and bright . . .

Thankful (but a little late)

Sunset in Denver, 11/30/11

I meant to blog about being thankful during the appropriate week of Thanksgiving, but I was on vacation in California and that wound up meaning that I was on vacation from blogging as well.  So before it gets way too late to do this, I do want to express my gratitude and thankfulness for my very good life.  Of course, there isn't anyone who can't find "issues" to complain about, but brushing those negatives aside, I feel extremely lucky to feel good, have great family and friends, and an all-around easy life.  

I always say that if you wake up and you feel good, that's a good day.  Something to appreciate and you only truly appreciate this when you don't have it.  Kind of like how I feel about "bad hair days."  Once you lose your hair in chemotherapy, there are no more bad hair days, which may account for why mine sometimes looks so . . . well, bad . . . and I don't seem to care.

Thanksgiving 2011

Since I've not posted anything in many weeks, there is much to say.  However, I will try to spread that out over several posts in the near future so I don't overwhelm with excessive prose.  My thought is that everyone can get some smiles from the photos of the dogs who surrounded us at our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in L.A., cooked to perfection by Anna and Max who appeared in this blog when they were married in Scotland in September.  As you can probably tell from the beautiful table pictured above, Anna and Max were totally channeling Martha Stewart and hosted a lovely and delicious dinner. 

Bunny and Mitzi Martin

Their great dane (who weighs 155 pounds) Mitzi Martin was well behaved and entertained her canine friends quite nicely.  She had a bone the size of a brontosaurus but she very sweetly ceded it to the smallest canine present, Bunny, who most likely weighs less than 10 pounds.  As you can see in the photo below, it is not true that the big dog always gets the bone.

While we're on the topic of dogs, I can't end this post without including some photos of my very cute granddog, The Baroness.  Enjoy and be thankful.  I am.

The Smiling Baroness

The Baroness and her buddy Bunny (white socks courtesy of Isac)

One Year at Mile High

Friday will mark one year since we sashayed into Denver with the intention of making it our new home.  It's been an interesting and not always easy year, but also an eventful one.  Moving is definitely not for sissies.  Even moving a few blocks can be an exhausting experience, primarily because it's so physically tiring.  Then add to that the mental and emotional components that come with moving 1,400 miles - all the way from grits to granola - and that's been my year.

I've learned a lot - primarily about myself, but also about other people, places and things - in this year.  I still miss the folks I've left behind but really nothing else.  I've been very fortunate to see so many people during this year in all sorts of places and particularly fortunate that a number of them have actually been in Denver in the last 12 months.  

Having made some big moves in the past, I understand that it takes time to feel comfortable in a new location and with new people.  With that in mind, I feel fortunate to have a great husband who so wants me to be happy and a wonderful place to live.   I've met some nice new people and reacquainted with old friends.  My time is free to do with as I please, and I'm starting to accept that it's ok to sit down, put my feet up, and enjoy reading a good book, even if it is the middle of the day.

Almost everything about my Denver life is different than my Atlanta life, but that doesn't make it bad, just different.  The mountains are so very pretty to look at, but they will never beckon me like the beach.  That's just part of who I am - Jersey Shore, through and through.   

So I embark on this second year of our Western adventure with interest to see what the future holds.  I hope to keep posting here both my occasional thoughts that seem worthy of sharing as well as my travel adventures.  This blog has been fun to write and has served its purpose of keeping me in touch with people whom I miss.   I enjoy hearing from you and hope that will continue during my second mile high year.  

By the way, I still miss my grits.

Snow + Obama = Interesting Wednesday

Our terrace - 10/26/11

On Monday, Denver set a new high temperature record of 80°.  On Wednesday, it snowed and snowed - the first of the season.  Colorado weather is definitely interesting.

My ticket

Also, on Wednesday, President Obama spoke at UCDenver, where Barry works.  Since he was literally speaking across the street from our loft, I would have felt badly if I missed the opportunity to see our President.  Last night, he stayed at The Four Seasons Hotel, about 3 blocks from our place, so several blocks of the surrounding area were totally closed to traffic.  It was eery to walk over to the campus in the snow with no traffic to be seen.

Line to see Obama

Remnants of line to see Obama

With ticket in hand, I waited for over an hour as the white stuff continued to fall to go through security to get into the speech. It was worth it.  There's a certain excitement about being in a room with thousands of regular people and one very powerful person. Segments from his speech in Denver can be seen here.   Everyone was hoisting their cell phones to record a glimpse of the Pres, so I apologize for my disappointing photo below.

The guy in the white shirt under the flag is Obama

What a difference a swing state makes.  When I lived in Georgia, we never saw any candidates come through in 2008.  Both parties ceded the election to the R column. But, since Colorado is a swing state, I expect to see lots of action. This is already the second time in a month that Obama spoke in Denver.  Most people who have lived here a while have seen him numerous times.  I definitely had candidate envy, so I will have to make up for all of the lost opportunities of seeing politicians do their thing while we live in Denver.

So, an interesting Wednesday, and I'm ready for the snow to stop now please.

Cabbage of Ostracism

I was invited to Ethiopian Night at a friend's house, which meant making an Ethiopian dish to share.   Once I found a recipe named "Cabbage of Ostracism," I was hooked. How could I pass that one up?  Of course, I worried a bit about the ostracism part - hoping that there were not gaseous outpourings upon ingestion that caused one to be ostracized.  

It looked and tasted pretty normal, if anything I would have liked it spicier.  And no ostracism that I detected.

But it made me think how much fun it would be to name our dishes in this way. Meatloaf of Mediocrity, Eggs of Anxiety, Beneficent Brownies, Cauliflower of Conjecture, etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Tonight I think I'll go with Fish Tacos of Tenacity.  

Would love to hear your creative suggestions.

Is Thomas Wolfe Correct?

Yes and no.

He did say "You Can't Go Home Again", and I learned this past weekend that you can in some respects, but not in others.

For the first time since I moved to Denver last November, I went back to Atlanta (and, yes, I had grits more than once while there) for less than 72 hours.  I tried to cram in as much friend immersion as I possibly could in that short time period.  I was disappointed that I did not get to see everyone who I wanted to spend time with, and the time that I spent with those who I did see was shorter than I would have liked.  But it still was so much fun to see my ATL friends.

What struck me is that I don't miss the place at all.  I drove by my beloved home, and my first and foremost thought was "thank goodness we don't have to take care of that property any more." 

Of course, I do miss the people, but it was very comforting to see folks who I haven't seen in almost a year and just pick up exactly where we left off.  It was as if I had seen them a few weeks ago.  What a wonderful feeling - just the way I hoped it would be when I wrote about friendship in this blog nine months ago here.

How different adult friendships are than friendships when you are young.  Remember how people who you now barely remember signed your yearbook in high school, promising eternal friendship?  Then you saw them a few years later and had nothing to say to each other?  Well, this was nothing like that.  This was a great experience, giving a secure feeling that these people will be with me for life.

For me, "Home" was definitely not the place, but the people.  Thank you, friends.

Weekend Invasions

There were a significant number of  visitors to our hood this weekend.

First on Friday, I noticed a line of thousands of women pouring out of the Pepsi Center near our apartment.  I went on line to see the origin of this wealth of women and found out that it was a conference of The Women of Faith.  Who are these women, I wondered?  I went on their website and found this description of the the 2-day event in Denver:  "God loves us more than we know.  He gives us more than we can ask or dream.  He's unrestrained . . . excessive . . . outrageous . . . Over the Top."  Wow - I've never seen God described like a Justin Bieber press release before.  To add to this, I was rendered breathless by the list of speakers at this event, including ... wait for it ... Blair from The Facts of Life (Lisa Whelchel).  I've always felt that my spiritual world needs inspiration from a child tv star from the 80's, don't you?

In the other direction, on the downtown Denver roster this weekend, was the Great American Beer Festival at the convention center.  I'm not quite sure what one does at a beer festival, but I imagine it involves drinking large quantities of beer.  I do know that 40,000 tickets were sold to this maxed-out event.  I also know that there were beer-drinking folks everywhere, sporting necklaces with beer cans hanging from them or pretzel necklaces with actual edible pretzels dangling.

So I felt a bit out of place this weekend until Sunday, when the Race for the Cure invaded.  Finally, my people were here.  Quite a sight from the terrace as tens of thousands walked, ran, jostled and enjoyed.  A great cause.