a saturday in pictures

You know you work for a non-profit when:

... when driving a car has more challenges than the amazing race. Let me account for you my trip to the grocery store to pick up bread in the shelter van. First, I go out to the car and scoop the snow from the driver's seat. The driver's side window is broken and snow and given that we are in the middle of a snow storm, quite a pile has built up. I grab a new towel from the stash behind the seat (present for this specific reason) and drape it elegantly over the seat and climb in. Now, since the storm is still raging, I calculate that the wind is coming from the northeast, so as long as keep my window to the south or the west, I don't get any snow in my face while driving (of course today i forget my hat and mittens, so this is key). All is well on the way to the grocery store. Then I maneuver two shopping carts of day old bread and cakes through the icy parking lot to the car, only having one moment where i completely lost control of both carts. After loading the car, I head back to the shelter. Though I try to choose a route that keeps my window out of the wind, I have no luck given the plain fact that my destination forces me to drive east. So for the whole ride home I am bombarded by blasts of snow, arriving back at the shelter throughly soaked. I think the main question that needs to be asked applicants of the La Puente volunteer program is whether or not they have a good sense of humor, because my ability to laugh at myself and life has been, on more than one occasion, the saving grace of my day.

why small towns are fantastic:

there is a GIANT sign on State ave that is advertising the sale of BULK WORM POOP.

this was a very different easter for me. i really missed my family! thankfully the day was kept full traveling home from Denver, where shawna, emmy, and carman went with me to drive ethan to the airport and to get away from the small town for a bit. but our weekend plans for hiking and such were short lived in light of the snow and ice that fell--i went to the sunrise service with the vineyards (family friends in the denver area) and by the time i got back to the house there was snow- hard to get up the driveway snow-so we got out of dodge before it got worse. it was pretty much the most intense driving experience of my life, on the way to denver and the way back. yikes. anyway-- on top of not being with family, i feel like everytime i am in church there is something i don't agree with that is being said...and its unsettling because its been almost 8 months since i have a had very satisfying corporate worship experience. not to say that the blame isn't mine for not plugging in enough or whatever but i am so emotionally exhausted by the time i get to sunday, just from my job, that when i go to church the talking, listening, being alone, is very overwhelming and i am about to cry all the time.

anyway-Ethan came for a visit and it was a great time hanging out and exploring, also many more adventures and death defying experiences, it was fabulous. so much to say, i will post some pictures, and you can put together the stories.

we had a gig, flute and cello, at a local event on saturday, called Art Walk, you know people walking around, seeing art and music all down main street. Joelle and I got our names in the program and were the only people playing classical rather than folk music. It was fun and from it we have another potential gig and someone wants me to teach cello lessons, sweeeet.

we also had a 'sex in the city' marathon...overload for real.


and i am really sad we lost.

a day in the life of christa...

I decided to go hiking for a much needed day of and lots of quiet time with myself.....here is a sum up of my solo hiking trip:

wildlife tracks identified: two, dog and deer
wildlife seen: two birds
near death experiences: 1 (lost my footing, slid down a hill until i caught a tree)
snow: lots
moments confirming i have to live in the mountains: 5, 432

March never seems to do well by me. March, I don't like you. We are breaking up...nope...no arguing, its over. Fin. The End. For Always. I rename this month un-march for I cannot even utter your name, March. blech. it leaves a foul taste in my mouth. bring on the showers of April, for surely they will soothe my heart that has been so bruised by M***h.

so i am sick again, yes, again. i have never been sick this much since second grade when i had to have my tonsils pulled out. thankfully in this moment i only have a yucky cold, no flu disaster aka the vomit disease. but it still stinks. especially since i cannot just sit in bed. alas. so it goes. There is just a vicious cycle of illness in this community, floating around the office, floating around the shelter, you cannot escape it!

a friend has a quote that i like, but i don't know the exact wording...but i will paraphrase....

Technology brings people closer together, allows communication over distance,

but nothing can recreate a person's actual presence.

there is a game i really like called set. there is a deck of cards and you find patterns according to four different categories and try to identify sets. the game is different every time. i don't have the deck, but there is an online version at setgame.com, a mini version where you find six sets from 12 cards. it used to take me over three minutes, but i have been slowly decreasing my time to under two minutes. but today, today i did the puzzle in 39 seconds. it was probably a really easy puzzle today, but that does not diminish my sense of accomplishment.


i just watched the departed, it may have bumped the sound of music out of my top five favorite movies of all times. well, that's not possible, really, to bump out the sound of music, but it came awful close.

I can neither confirm nor deny that i am seriously considering blowing off church tomorrow. i am supposed to play music, but they can do it without me. i just have found the whole process very exhausting the past few weeks and i just don't know if i can go. i feel like i should want to go, but i don't. i have become that outsider non-committed church person, i have been telling this gal i will go to her bible study for two months now and haven't made it yet. and probably won't. why do i feel like i have to pretend i will.

Christa's trip to the Bakery...

Christa loves to Bake.
Christa has a friend named Keirsa, who also loves to Bake.
Together they make lots of cookies, cakes, and pies and give them to all their friends.
In the town where Keirsa and Christa live, there is a Bakery called Jezemel's.
The lady who runs Jezemel's is named Melissa and she also loves to Bake.
One day Christa and Keirsa asked Melissa if they could help her make all the treats for her Bakery.
Melissa said yes.
So early one morning, at three am, Christa and Keirsa woke up and met Melissa at the Bakery.
Melissa has to get up so early in order to get all her baking done before the customers come.
Melissa gave Christa and Keirsa aprons and showed them the list of things to make that morning.
Christa made carrot zucchini bread while Keirsa made pie crusts.
Keirsa made cookies while Christa made pecan frosting.
Together, Kerisa, Christa, and Melissa made wheat bread, rye bread, multigrain bread, and danishes.
Danishes were Christa's favorite, after the bread. She carefully folded the butter into the dough and rolled it out. Then they put three fillings in the danishes: Chocolate ganash, cream cheese, and blueberries. The danishes are topped off with a lemon glaze.
Christa got to eat the extra blueberries.
After five hours of baking, everything was ready to open.
Keirsa and Christa left the bakery and then went to work.
It was a very long but fabulous day!
The End



Postlude: I could totally open a bakery, I loved being up before anyone else, kneading the bread, making icing, its all very zen. Maybe someday, when I am done with all my adventures and am ready to stay in one place.

p.s.
some co-volunteers went out of town, for a funeral unfortunately, and had to borrow Carman and I's car for the trip (in true La Puente style, theirs is out of commission...again). In exchange for this favor, they gave us a half gallon of their organic milk they receive weekly. This is no ordinary organic milk. I know the name of the cow this milk came from (its naomi) and its from a local farm (the Kretzingers farm) and is unpasteurized and is the best milk in the world. i do not exaggerate. Muck and Kelsea can keep the car, I want more milk.


reason # 467 why I will one day have my own organic farm: fresh milk from cows like Naomi.

Dude, cleaning my room is so theraputic, i get everything in order, i remember where i put my W2 forms, I find my cell phone, i put away my clean laundry. i am in control again.

I found an old notebook while looking for a new notebook and on the front page was a to do list from over a year ago, a list from the days of camp. It took me a second to decipher the frantic handwriting, but there it was, a time capsule from the past: so and so cannot come to camp today, we did all we could for him but he is continually disruptive; whats-his-name is being fired, more staff coming at 7.30; need more details, CALL LIZ. and then some doodles.

Then I found, a few pages later, a journal-esque entry. (sometimes i just need to write and i will write anywhere) and i think, while reading it, wow, i haven't changed much. i mean i have, but, it seems that my most comsuming concerns are not that different. hmmm. I had to laugh as I kept turning pages, messy, overwhelmed journal entry, list of things to do, journal entry, scheldule of a day in hourly slots, journal entry, list of possible jobs, another schedule...not that anyone is surprised, but here was and is distinct evidence against me. I am a control freak, lamenting the fact i can't have control in one journal entry and on the next page, trying desperately to reign in the unknown. sigh. and so i continue on, dancing to the never changing refrain of my life 'I am a fool, I am a fool' Its a great dance, you should try it sometime.

and I spent $40 on lotion. LOTION. please remind me to move to a tropical, humid climate. I should be freakin sponsered by Eucerin.

oooo brother brother brother i know you've been hangin' on a long time but i love you love you like no other...

...I 've been watching everything you do and I've been wishing only good for you.

1. Please go to Josh and Katrina's blog and witness the first beautiful, perfect pictures of Baby O. Ten weeks and a day old. I am counting down the days until Kat and Josh are back.

2. Please go read the re-opened blog o' Danny, really just because he is cool.

3. Happy pre-birthday Dan, you make my day everytime I talk to you or think about you really, you are a treasured friend and I am so proud of everything you have accomplished and will accomplish, but more importantly I am proud of who you are. I love you.

i miss you all so much that it hurts.

The poverty of our century is unlike that of any other. It is not, as poverty was before, the result of natural scarcity, but of a set of priorities imposed upon the rest of the world by the rich. Consequently, the modern poor are not pitied...but written off as trash. The twentieth-century consumer economy has produced the first culture for which a beggar is a reminder of nothing. John Berger

-----------

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein

Wake up to see the other souls around you.

Let them affect you. Live in the center of your life.

Anonymous

you know how everyone has their guilty pleasures....peanut butter, kelly clarkson, boy bands, what have you....my latest is dance reality shows, any kind, any channel, though specifically, wait for it, you should be glad we are such good friends that i would confess this, ashlee simpson's dancelife. sigh, cable is a curse.

the border

i am back from a whirl wind trip...too much to talk about right now, but i have lots to say.

my new address is 929 state ave, alamosa, co.

i just bought a plan ticket home, from june 1 to june 7th. real cheap too.

i am going to mexico, i will be back in week...

does it really take a month for a body to defrost?

I just heard a story of the death of a man's grandfather here in alamosa. His grandfather had been drinking and froze to death because he did not have enough sense to get himself indoors. They could not find him for two weeks and when they did find him, they had to cut him out of the ice. It took a month for him to thaw before burial. His skin was black and they had to tear off his clothes, because they were all frozen to his body.

One of the six dogs staying in the shelter yard (their owners are guests) died this week. It jumped over the fence while still tied to its chain, hanging itself. And then it froze. Poor John had to take him down and bury him.

There is an old drunk man who I should throw out of the shelter. I have been assigned to his case for three or four weeks now, I don't even know how long but I cannot throw him out, though he abuses the rules and doesn't shower and sometimes even pees on himself. Because he has no place to go and I am afraid that if I make him leave he will die.

This is my testament to screwed up things and I am learning to mourn them. I live in gray.

I have been feeling very overwhelmed, like my list of things to do is never ending, like my obligations are sapping my energy. I didn't go to bible study again last night, the third time I said I would be there and didn't show, like a kid with stage fright. Because as much as I excuse my absence with the defense of Tuesday being my only night to myself, the only opportunity to hang out with people I don't usually see, I think I am really just afraid of what God is going to tell me, or that these people of God will see through me, draw me out, make me see what I have been avoiding. I haven't been able to sleep all week, with no success. I mentioned this when to a girl in the worship team (the one who leads the bible study actually, I really like her a lot, she always seems to be listening to exactly what you say) she replied that maybe, in a casual, not criticizing fashion, like it is just the way things are, God is laying something on my heart I should be praying about. I was so struck by this, because it was not something I had thought about at all. I do know that I have been avoiding God like I have never done before in my life. and I think the reason why is pride. Over the summer I discovered that my whole life I have been worshipping religion, not God, not that God hadn't been guiding me, drawing me to Him, but that I had not been looking for God but how to fit in, how to get it right, how to figure it all out, my perfectionism becoming a plague of the soul. And in my attempt not to be taken in again, not to be made a fool again, I am avoiding religion and God. But it was always me who was in the wrong, I am a fool, to accept something less than what is true, to try and be content with boxed solutions rather than letting an indescribly powerful God be the guide of my life. One of the reasons I like Living Water so much (the church I have finally started attending, after four months of hem-hawing, finally using my cello as a source of commitment and accountability to make myself go) is that Jeron, the pastor, always talks about the inevibility of change from simply being in God prescence, putting all the control in God's hand. What a relief, this reality of God that I need pounded into my head daily. So I am making baby steps, slowly being drawn back towards God, though I am ever so reluctant to relinquish my pride, because who really cares if I am a fool, it is true, and if my stubborness is preventing me from finding out whats really going on, that is ridiculous. All this to say, on the other hand, by not going to Bible study, I spent some quality time with a friend and slept a lot, feeling much better this morning than I have in a while (I actually slept through the night). and its snowing this morning, beautiful.

I have no expectation of anyone reading all of this spouting. i don't really know what I am talking about, I am just thinking out loud, a bit distraught. but God does not do things neatly, or at least not from our perspective, life does not come out neat in the end. You may never know why a particular year is awful, why someone dies, why things simply do not work out, why your heart is broken, there is no clear label for each stage of your life, it is just messy. and I think this, though hard, is also a relief.

I apologize again for my rantings, I don't usually talk about real things because I am afraid I will be transparent and all my pride and self-righteousness will shine through the ridiculousness of my words. but so it goes.

You know that Christa is settled in when....she starts alphabetizing her magnetic poetry!!

That's right folks, the world realigns for me when I alphabetize those glorious little magnets of eloquence. It is dazzling.











My favorite poem from my old fridge is this, ahem:

if love was pure

your black heart would crack

with the promise

of my kiss.

(I forgot, briefly, the golden rule: never refer to yourself in the third person, a misstep only topped by referring to yourself in plural. It sounds ridiculous and we apologize)

Sanctuary

living room and kitchen, though they hardly capture the house

I am officially moved in and my new house is great, only minor things yet to fixed, like my room has no door knob, my bathroom has no hot water, (I am sure the maintenance man just likes Carman better, so his stuff is done and mine not, don't worry, I am baking mr. maintenance a nice batch of cookies to coax him along), no house phone, among other things. But my bedroom is beautiful, I just finished making curtains, which will be hung tomorrow (they are really not picture worthy, though my closet curtains are my pride and joy)

christa = freaking out

its been one of those kinds of days and I feel so out of place and I hate everything, everything, I hate everything, but you.

Today is worthy of a song to describe it. Let me sketch out for you the harrowing events of the day. No single occurrence is really that bad, but each one, in combination with my already crazed state of mind, has just about pushed me over the edge.

6.30: drive to pick up my work out buddy.
6.40: Arrive at gym, lock keys in car (I am without credit cards or check book; I locked my keys in the car a week and a half ago, that time because I had three bags and a cello I was hauling and the keys did not make it out. This time, as I was swinging the already locked car door shut, my mittened hand looses its grip on the key and I essentially throw it into the car just as the door slams. brilliant.)
6.45: I begin walking home, in -10 degree weather, in my unlined workout pants, in order to get my checkbook and call the all too familiar locksmith.
7.20: I get home, have lost all feeling in legs.
7.25: call locksmith, who is rude because I do not know the name of the street I am parked on, I quote "You dumb kids are all the same" Thanks. I know.
7.30:Carman, best house mate ever, drives me back to gym.
7.32: Carman's car stalls, because it is so cold.
7.33: Carman's car starts again.
7.45: waiting by my car until 8, when it is 15 dollars cheaper to get car unlocked. Call mom for comfort. Phone dies.
8.00: car is opened, PTL. I pay 30 dollars which I can't afford to pay.
8.10: I am home, climb in bed to get warm.
Nothing exceptional happens for the next four hours, I bake a cake, I make scones, I read, I meet a friend for coffee. The day begins to look up.
1.00: at work.
2.00: Make a flier for Josephine.
2.30: Begin dinner, am excited about menu, bean and corn salad, Jambalaya, and biscuits.
3.00: Make bean salad wrong, forget to cook beans. Debate whether Rachel and I should pick all the corn out of uncooked beans, toss it, or start over. Decide to cook whole darn thing.
3.15: discover indecent pictures of someone we know in a bedroom.
3.30: Jambalaya already starting to burn.
3.45: Creepy guys, must avoid.
4.00: Make biscuits.
4.30: Jambalaya, still burning, rice not cooking, I transfer to a new, hopefully better, pot. Beans suspicious.
5.30: Kitchen filled with smoke, Jambalaya completely burned. Rice still not cooked. Beans, interesting and incredibly spicy since they have been brewing the past two hours in a mixture of corn, onions, and jalapenos.
6.00: serve dinner, cringe as I watch people try to eat it. only biscuits turned out.
6.15: non-shelter affiliated volunteer shuts locked office door with keys inside.
6.30: dish washer flaked out on the job, I have to wash dishes as all my coworkers leave.
6.35: as I am running around, someone (a local really annoying person) asks for a can of beef stew. I look in pantry. we have none. I tell her. She asks me to look for something with beef in it. I go look again. She rejects two choices and finally settles on beef barley stew. Do I have time for this, no.
6.45: office unlocked after calling in back up.
7.00-7.30: running around doing night duties that I am behind on. Everyone wants a bottom bunk, there are none left, everyone grumpy, including me.
7.45: Way too happy church group is here leading Bible study, I pray they are not proselytizing. I think they are playing big bootie right now.
8.00: finally sitting, writing this, in an attempt to debrief, and frankly, because it feels good to complain.

I have no patience left to spare. I just want to go home. My bedroom is currently all boxes, we move Friday, I just want to go sit in bed until Monday and it is all over. As it is, I have to haul my cello over to someones house after I am off work at nine. Great. And I hate when cooking goes wrong, it is usually the only thing I can depend on doing right. I need a hug.

In case anyone was wondering about the excessive amounts of blogs in such a short span of time, well, i am at work, i am by myself for five and a half hours, i have cleaned the kitchen, organized the storage room, swept the office, and there is nothing left to do but, well, what is essentially talking to myself.

i figured it out.

um, i changed my blog background. feelings, reactions? and i, in the process, lost all my links to other blogs, who can remind me how to put them back in again? Becca? Laura?

I am battling the fear of the unknown again, the abyss of life that I must face and fill, Lord help me. What employment will I have next year? What will I do after next year? What do I want to do? What should I do? What color should I dye my hair next? What if I end up alone forever? Should I go to school, travel, or do something equally beneficial that I haven't thought of yet? The list of questions goes on indefinitely... Ack!! Will this ever get easier? Shoot, another question! I have so much to learn still, so much I don't even know I don't know. The only thing that is keeping me from keeling over in a fit of convulsions is the mantra that keeps running through my head from the lyrics of Derek Webb, unoriginal yet profound, Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. These words compel me forward into the future, compel me to have a little bit more faith, a little bit more trust, and a little bit more contentment in the place I currently occupy.

La La La La Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Hello!! I am blogging!! My Job is CRAAAAZZZZZYYYYY!!! but here are some things that make it okay:

1. When children come to help make and serve lunch and are so so so cute and get excited about grating cheese and give everyone teaspoon sized portion of applesauce.
2. When children staying here have birthdays and I get to carry them around and draw elmo's on their birthday cakes.
3. When my favorite old timer comes in and raves about my peach cobbler and biscuits
4. When my boss says things like 'you must be busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest' or 'what in the name of seven billy goats gruff'
5. When I get 13 hours of sleep
6. When Jose does the dishes
7. When I understand some spanish
8. When we have a spontaneous dance party in the storage room, with the beat box of none other than Rachel Moore-Bietler
9. When Muck and Nora sing the State song
10. Really when I am with any of my co-workers who are the most fantastic people ever
11. When a guest of age 2 wears his batman cape and hood everyday and struts like nobodys business and protects us all from evil doers.


Also, I know I talk about how cold it is all the time, BUT, it is amazing how you aclimitize and how, walking to work this morning, I didn't need my mittens because it was 15 degrees out instead of -15. shocking.

This week in Christa's head: random and obscure Disney songs!!! I don't know where they are coming from or how they got there, but they are stuck in my head permanently!! Currently, 'sing sweet Nightingale' from Cinderella. Who ever thought that I would sing 'Sleigh Ride' on purpose, to cleanse the palette of my mind.

Other interesting things of the week: I have had two very vivid detective dreams where I was solving a mystery or crime related to or committed by one of my relatives. p.s. never read 'A People's History of the United States' before bed, I had a horrible nightmare with lots of people being tortured to death (I had read the chapter on Columbus).

There is a tree in my front yard that i love. I admit, at first I thought it the ugliest stumpiest tree I had ever seen for it lacks the graceful limbs of a birch or the stolid sense of eternity given off by a giant oak. Instead, all of its branches rise out of its base, each one looking twisted, gnarly, and somewhat malicious, an abomination of a tree as it cannot hold a treehouse, cannot bear a swing, and cannot provide any shade. But, one day I noticed that a flock of birds lives in this tree. They all roost down in the branches, completely invisible to the outside world until you walk past, disturbing their meditative perch, and they all fly from the tree as a collective force. Its one of my favorite things to witness. So now I love the tree; it is still ugly but it is graced by many sweet little birds. I am sure some metaphor for life can be extracted from this picture but I will just leave it at my pleasure in watching the daily happenings of my neighbors in the ugly tree.

I copied this from USA Today, it has the Highs and Lows in Temps in the States, um, just check out how many times in the past ten days that Alamosa, thats right, my new hometown, has been the coldest place in the States (not counting Alaska)....thats 6 out of 10 days my friends...never in my life have I used hat, scarf, and mittens as a funtional clothing item rather than just fashion, here they are a necessity!! It was only 11 degrees when I was running errands around town at 10 this morning, thats without the wind chill.

January 10
High:
Lows: -56 at Chandalar Lake, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -14 at Alamosa, Colo.) as of 8 a.m. ET
January 9
Highs: 87 at Anaheim, San Juan Canyon and San Gabriel, Calif.
Lows: -49 at Tanana, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -10 at Alamosa, Colo.)
January 8
Highs: 88 at Fullerton, Los Angeles and Santa Ana, Calif.
Lows: -49 at McGrath and Sleetmore, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -12 at Alamosa, Colo.)
January 7
Highs: 85 at Daytona Beach, Naples and Punta Gorda, Fla.
Lows: -45 at McGrath and Sleetmore, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -21 at Boulder, Wyo.)
January 6
High: 86 at Fort Myers, Fla.
Lows: -50 at Stoney River, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -20 at Craig, Colo.)
January 5
High: 88 at Laredo, Texas
Lows: -47 at McGrath and Sleetmore, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -10 at West Yellowstone, Mont.)
January 4
Highs: 83 at Fort Myers, Naples and Punta Gorda, Fla.
Lows: -46 at Nuiqsut, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -7 at Alamosa, Colo.)
January 3
Highs: 86 at Kona, Hawaii (contiguous 48 states: 85 at Fort Myers, Punta Gorda and Naples, Fla.)
Lows: -47 at Nuiqsut, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -13 at Alamosa, Colo.)
January 2
Highs: 85 at Kalaeloa, Hawaii (contiguous 48 states: 83 at Marathon, Miami and Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Lows: -47 at Nuiqsut, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -10 at Alamosa, Colo., and Farson, Wyo.)
January 1
Highs: 84 at Kahului, Hawaii (contiguous 48 states: 82 at Marathon, Opa Locka, Pembroke Pines and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Lows: -46 at Nuiqsut, Alaska (contiguous 48 states: -15 at West Yellowstone, Mont.)

Today I played at the church I have been going to (off and on), sacrificing a trip to Taos (which has a really good Thai restaurant, bummer) to go to church but this first rehearsal was supposed to be my audition/try out but they liked me so much they just let me play today. sweet. except one song got messed up, i re-tuned after it at the behest of the director but i swear it wasn't me, but the singers who were slowly getting sharper and sharper as they sang accapella. for real. but over all, the experience was not as scary as i anticipated and though they aren't the greatest players, their enthusiasm is contagious. and i still really like the pastor. maybe playing in services will make my church attendence a little more consistant, its just so hard to get to know people....

imitation is the highest form of flattery....

I am totally stealing this idea from the blogs of other more blogerific people, who, in honor of the new year, looked back on their blogging in reflection of all that has past in the year 2006. So, I recount for you the first sentence of the first blog of each month in 2006. ahem.

January: So last night i went to a concert with my Aunt and Cousin.

February: i am feeling bloggish

March:no posts, none at all

April:so it has been almost a month since my last blog. an awful month.

May: i love rainy days.

June: Hello Friends! I am now in the beautiful city of Prague, just having completed our first full day.

July: Last tuesday we went to this amazing pool and it has this incredible slide and no lifeguard so we can do whatever we want.

August: I am unpacking and my computer has crashed horribly. like it won't turn on and it sounds like a little man is trapped inside trying to get out. oh well.

September:So yesterday a man who had worked and lived at the shelter died.

October: This is my, um, third blog attempt.

November: I am reading a book about women empowerment (or somethingalong those lines) and suddenly I am reminded of my childhood self, in that i am ready to fight, ready to challenge, and generally my level of mischeivious inclination has greatly increased.Interesting

December: Last night was the charity ball and it was interesting and fun (mainly because the volunteers were all together).

The end.
Not so specacular. my first attempt, i accidently posted all the first sentances of my last postings of each month, seesh, but actually they were a lot more interesting. oh well, for the sake of the project I stayed true to the formula.

look out for the best photos of 2006....

i am back from vacation with the family. it was pretty much exactly what i needed, lots of quiet, games, movies, reading, sleep, and snow. and now I am back in Alamosa and I am thinking things like, I need to change something in my current lifestyle in order to survive, but I just don't know what that change is exactly, maybe more time to myself to read and reflect or __________(fill in the blank) and that i really really missed the people here when I was gone. I feel like I am still in such a transitional state (possibly because I am changing houses in less than a month) but also because I only have a vague idea of my future. i guess thats okay, i just feel a bit restless or unsettled.


this new form of blogger doesn't seem to want me to put up pics, i will post some when i figure out how.

the end.

Birthday Spa Pictures:





Christmas Party elf pictures (do you see how many costumes we had to make!!!)

well, its official, I am a prime number again. To tell the truth, I do feel immensely smarter now that I am 23. I really really like the number 23. and you know I haven't been prime since 19 and won't be again until 29. So I am going to savor this 23. I can't explain why but I think this could be my favorite number. fo' real.

so my birthday was made fantastic by my Alamosa crew, they did a home spa theme, hilarious, we watched movies, the Bell girls made me breakfast of banana chocolate chip pancakes and we went out to dinner. Carman (my house mate) took me on a surprise road trip to Monte Vista where we went to Mudpuppies and he bought me coffee and beautiful yarn of my choice!!! Hooray!! It was lovely. and then it snowed. :) Thank you for the lovely apron Katrina, the cello strings mom and dad, the fun calender, Amy, and all the lovely cards.

I cannot wait to see my family. only a few days more, hopefully, hopefully the snow storm won't prevent me from getting to Denver.

Well the week of holiday insanity is over and I have but to glide through this next week until (!!!) I (!!!) see (!!!) my(!!!) FAMILY(!!woot!!). I cannot wait. Our cocktail party gig last night went really well, though my exhaustion and my depreciated thinking power after eight PM caught up with me a bit in the last ten minutes of playing. It was really swanky, but with neat people (they invited us to try all the cheese and wine they had set out and several really nice people talked with us), mostly doctors. And their house was this great little cottage with bright yet tasteful wall colors and really great art. Also, there is nothing like playing Bach and overhearing operation discussion ('Did it puncture through to the bone?') And though we were playing for free (because they bought us at the Charity Ball auction) they gave both of us a $50 tip!!!!!! Hooray!!! But, interestingly enough, you know you have had a change in lifestyle when you have $50 of free spending money and you can't think of anything you really really want or need. I mean last year I would be off to anthropologie in a hot second. but I think I am going to use it to buy fruit and veggies, because that is an indulgence I usually cannot afford. I either eat at the shelter or eat peanut butter and honey. This change in perspective is also noted by my appreciation of another delicacy, cheese. I love cheese, but it is so expensive. I ate a bit of Stilton and Brie last night. yum yum.

After playing, Joelle and I went to fort night where we played games, built and slept in a fort of our own construction with all the volunteers. I already have an architectural design in my head for my new living room. Because la puente owns it I am planing to install some eye hooks in the living room that will be suitable for assisting in sturdy fort building. oh yes. oh yes.





and tomorrow is my birthday and I am planning to wear my super hero cape all freakin' day long.

It is crazy busy here in Alamosa, I think we finished all the elf costumes we had to make, now I just have to get through two music gigs, a giant christmas party with santa for 400 kids, and then FORT NIGHT (aka making forts, yes!!!!) I am super excited and cannot believe that I have been so lucky as to find a group of people as passionate about forts as I am, I mean truly, it is a miracle. I should do a sociological study, looking for a correlation between those who are service oriented and those who have an affinity for fort making. interesting...Pretty much everyday this week has required jumping from one activity to the next, I have made so many lists to keep my head on straight because every morning when i leave the house i pretty much have to take everything i need. so today that inculdes a change of clothes, my cello, music, and a pie recipe. and a little dash of sanity I have stored away for weeks such as this. For all the choas of this week, next week has no programed activites (except for a viewing of little miss sunshine, a hair dying session, MY BIRTHDAY, dinner at the brew pub, and finishing making Christmas presents) cool, so i take that back, still really busy. I can't wait for vacation!!!

i have received some birthday packages and cannot decide whether or not to open them......

Today at work there was a little girl who said she could speak english, spanish, and chinese. I said 'Chinese? really, wow, say something in Chinese for me' She responded, 'Chopstick. Lo Mein. and Beef and Broccoli.'

So the saga of not enough hours in the day continues....last night after work Rachel picked me up and I recorded a cello bit to one of her songs that she was recording with Aaron (recording is interesting, you are hear all your mistakes), anyway we stayed until one AM and then hot footed it out to the country where she was house sitting and went to sleep only to find the morning came all too soon. after a quick sip o' coffee i am back at work...and already wanting this day to be over. but after work I have scheduled craft time and open mic night. i definately need a nap. something fun, though, this morning i learned how to make sopapillas, and thus my mexican cuisine knowledge continues to expand....

In response to Lauren's blog, which has no place to comment:

I miss you both so so so much!!!

Dad, you would be so proud, yesterday we played football in the park and I am not lying when I say that some of my throws drew gasps of admiration, yes, it is true, your early lessons of football throwing are still rooted within my being. It was a fantastically fun game (we played an hour and a half) and we had wildly creative plays with great names like the 'double rainbow statue of liberty with fake handoff' or 'the rainbow post' or'tic-tac-toe' or the 'flea flicker'. Our team name was the saber tooth tigers. I don't even know who won, but I do know that we had a fantastic trickery fake out at the end. Kelsea hid my frisbee under her fleece, and after she said hike, she wipped out the disc, tossed it to John while the rest of us spread across the field in rainbow formation and John threw the disc to Muck, who was in the end zone, scoring a ridiculously fabulous goal!! HOORAY!! alas, the other team was very confused and footbal soon dissipated into an enthusiastic, though short lived, game of four on four ultimate. I still got my frisbee moves, even pulling out a highly successful hammer. yes sir, It was a fine day of organized sports.


after that we had hot cocoa, went to the director of La Puente's home for cookie decorating and christmas movies, and then went to Weekends Bar for birthday Karoke for Rachel, where I conquered fears of singing in public and sang, with Rachel, Dixie Chicks 'Long Time Gone' John Denvers 'Annie Song' and Lady Marmalade's 'Moulin Rougue' it was ridiculous. and i played pool. it was fun. and today is a day of magnificent crafting and christmas present making (my room looks as if my craft box vomited its contents all over the place. its fantastic)

and that is a play by play of my weekend thus far. the end.

and lastly, a snow picture...

Last night was the charity ball and it was interesting and fun (mainly because the volunteers were all together) There was a dinner(Highlight: Kelsea finding crayons and a toy mini moses in a tree, we colored on our programs), than an auction(Highlights: Carman and Muck imitating the auctioner and listening to yourself being auctioned off (I was part of two of the auction packages, dinner and musical concert went for $375 and wine and musical concert went for $300)), and then some dancing (I was first on the dance floor) and I was home by 11:15 and went to bed, only after trying on my new running shoes I ordered online (from steepandcheap.com, thanks Jon!!) Overall, it was a fun evening and now a jam packed weekend is ahead, with two rounds of christmas cookie baking, a football game in the park, and birthday karoke for Rachel. Oh also, today Alamosa highschool won the state championship in football, 47 to 0, ending the season undefeated, a crowd of 5,000 showed up for the game (more than half the size of our town!) Way to go small town spirit.



The Hat I made



Joelle and I


My new sneakers