I always knew I'd live in a castle!

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?
	You will fall for the gentleman. Keep an eye out for your love at your next formal or field trip to the opera. Watch out for bad boys who walk on the inside of the curb and don't hold the door for you, and you'll end up with the guy who's suave, sophisticated, and classy through-and-through.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

The wipers on the bus go splash, splash, splash!

Baby's float! Well, with a little help they do. I started swimming lessons with my nephew last night. We're "Advanced Guppies!" His little budda belly helped him float a little better than some of the other toddlers. We got to sing some of those cheesy childhood songs that I had long forgotten about. The wheels on the bus still go round and round and the hokey pokey is still what it's all about! It was a pretty good time - a very fast thirty minutes. I've got "motorboat, motorboat" duty every Monday evening so that should be a good dose of weekly Auntie time!

A well needed rest.

A break at last! Taking a few days off to enjoy the mountains, my dog, and my man has rejuvenated me. I was ready for it and enjoyed every minute of it. I wish I could start from the beginning again but I know that I've got to get back to the grindstone. Camping with Brinkley for the first time was fun. It was nice to watch him just run around like a chicken with his head cutoff. I wish I knew what he was thinking but in my mind he was probably screamin' "FREEDOM!" He'd follow Brent off into the woods in search of firewood and come running back ahead of him as if to proudly holler, "He's got a big one, mom. He's coming!" While I took a lot of photos, there are many more photographic moments in my head. It was a nice little trip to remember. Some playground playing, swimming, and firework watching also made the week just inch slowly by. Words could probably never explain just how much the mini-vacation was needed. I'll have lots of nice memories to keep my mind occupied while I get back into the swing of things this week.

Mmmm, Irish ale and chicken liver patté!!

Don't knock it 'til you try it! This week's adventure in Lone Tree/Castle Rock was dinner at a local Irish Pub. The atmosphere is really great and the place has a unique little history about some Irishman cousins that bought the place and then returned to Ireland to purchase all the stuff to go in it - from ancient Catholic monasteries that were closing. The artwork was great and the wooden pulpits on the walls and the giant light fixtures made it really unique. Since I was there, I figured that I'd step out of the comfort zone and try something new and appropriate so I chose the Cottage Pie, which was like steamed/stewed meet and mash potatoes and cheese. It seems simple but it did have a very unique flavor and with the beef broth and vegetables, it was almost a soup or light stew consistency. It was very filling and delicious. Prior to the Cottage Pie, however, I also tried the Chicken Liver Patté appetizer. It was surprisingly good! Take the yummy toasted bread with a dot of goat cheese, a dab of liver stuff and top it with the apricot marinated onion and it makes for a very yummy treat! Sticking with the newness theme, I also tried the Smithwick's Irish Ale! Sooo good. It definitely gives the Total Disorder Porter a run for its title of my restaurant favorite.

Anywho, another day of interesting finds ahead of me tomorrow. Blog topics gallore in these neck of the woods.

Cheers!

Hot sub sandwiches, neo-nazis, and a cemetery stroll at dusk!

About a month ago I started my summer internship for the Women Marines Association in Lone Tree, Colorado. I've been marching along to the beat of my own drummer in creating donor forms, accession forms, databases, speadsheets, shelf layouts, box labels, etc.. Considering it's only been a month and I only work a few days a week, the project is starting to take shape and a real process is starting to develop. I find myself adding massive amounts of things to the "must read" list and thinking research topics that I would like to pursue in my own time (hmm, what is that again??). While I've been incredibly busy, the summer has still been very enjoyable. Catching up with old friends and making new ones have made all the tasks that come with 3 jobs a lot less daunting.

Last night, my supervisor Nancy Wilt and I went to a gas station in Larksburg, Colorado for dinner. Don't knock it until you try it! Best hot sub sandwich I've had since... well, ever maybe! We dined out on the mini front porch and watched the waves of Renaissance Fair die-hards stock up on middle-evil Marlboros, hotdogs, potato chips, and twinkies!! After eating, we took a short drive past the historic house owned by neo-Nazis and disguised as a Co-Masonic Lodge! No lie.

From there we went down a county road out into old horse ranch and homestead country that was so beautiful and green because of Plum Creek that runs through the area. Not too far along, we took another mini detour into the Bear Something cemetery! Through the narrow gated entrance and down a pebble road set the quaintest little church in a courtyard. With lined paths just wide enough to fit a car down (they were probably meant for a horse drawn coffin) and heavy tree coverage, the graves looked very peaceful. Supposedly there are some old Texas Rangers buried there but we didn't get out to peruse the stones in this cemetery. We did get out a few miles down the road the original Castle Rock cemetery though! People that had arrived in the early 1880s were pretty common. There were lots of Civil War Union soldiers and World War I veterans buried there. Also, there were two men that had died in combat in Vietnam. I took a picture of the cemetery's mini veteran's park. It was very beautiful to see at dusk. If you look closely you can see the mountain sunset reflected on the granite.

A hamster's life

Lately it feels like I've been a hamster spinning away on a wheel. I just kept going and going and am getting absolutely nowhere! As much as I try to look on the bright side of things, sometimes the sheer quantity of crap I have to do for other people just makes my head spin. I've had this bitch in the past, especially when it comes to people thinking that it's all just a piece of cake because it's just school. I got to thinking the other day about how much of my week is predetermined by school and work and it basically boils down to about 35 hours of work,12 hours sitting in class, 8 hours of free labor on my practicum, 2 office hours, and on average about 15 hours of reading and 4 hours of Atlas research. And lucky for me, grading starts next week so there goes another 6 or 7 hours a week. And sadly that's probably the lighter side of the reading load. I know I can't look at it like that because then it's just overwhelming and sucky. It definitely sucks at the end of the day knowing that there is a whole other day lined up and the next day off isn't even visible on a calendar. Yeah, I get it, my fault for signing up for all this crap but unfortunately I'm too far in now to justify a disgraceful exit.

File under "R" for Random

I'm still trying to figure out how I've managed to have it so easy this semester. I'm ahead by days on the course curriculum. It's kind of eerie. It's like someone hasn't told me something. There's got to be a catch somewhere, something I'm forgetting to do. The atlas missile research is slowly progressing. Secondary sources are in abundance; it's the original stuff that I'm having a hard time tracking down. My prospectus is due this next week, which is basically my attempt at selling my topic as something that is worthy of research because it has historical value. A nuclear bomb attached to a rocket in a community's backyard seems to have obvious historical value, but that's just my opinion.

My Records Management class has proved to be rather entertaining. I'm glad that I'm not the only one in the class that feels like a complete, unorganized slacker when it comes to personal records. Last week, we covered the basics of filing strategies. Very elementary concepts were covered, but all I could think was, "If this is all so simple, why the hell can't I maintain any form of organization with all my papers at home?" It really is laughable to think that my best strategy for maintaining my files are piles of stuff and then stuffed folders when I get sick of looking at the piles of stuff. Let's hope that when it comes time to searching for a job, they don't request evidence that I am organized in my personal life. Speaking of searching for a job, my resume is getting a little further along. Yes, I realize a turtle moves faster than I do.