TGIF people!

Black Tie

Last night this manager had to put on her extrovert hat and attend a very public, very large black tie function.  I used to plan these, way back in the day in Hawaii, but it's been a while.  And after a long day at work, it's hard for any activity to compete with the thought of laying on the couch and reading Game of Thrones, but I have to say, this was a lot of fun!

After work I had about 30 minutes to get ready.  I have to say, even though it's a tad on the pilgrim-looking side, I was pleased with how the hair turned out!

Is it too Princess Leia?  Awkward shot...

I picked up C and we headed downtown.

The function was an awards ceremony for six key businesses that have made a difference in Denver in the last year.  Two of them were university programs, one was a local, historic trust fund that has benefited the arts, and the rest were start-ups.  Since my job is mainly focused back east, it was refreshing to feel a part of the local Denver community, and to meet new people, and broaden our business scope a bit.

The food wasn't bad either.

Many influential people showed up to support this endeavor, and the Mayor gave the introduction.  You know what, though?  It's so funny, in the midst of all the schmoozing, to see that one of the main sponsors was Coors.  :)  I forget what a big deal that company is here - I'm so used to thinking that it's just out west somewhere.

But now I'm out west somewhere too.

A post that is not about house hunting

Imagine this:  It's a beautiful weekend morning, you pour yourself a cup of coffee and get all settled on the couch with your reading material of choice.  You take your first sip, ease back and settle in and------

CLAP CLAP!
"LUCY! DON'T CHEW ON THE CARPET!"

CLAP CLAP!
"LUCY! I MEAN IT.  DON'T CHEW ON THE BOOKSHELVES!"

So that's how a lot of our weekend went.

The picture is blurry because she is never still.

We have taken to letting her out in the library a couple of times each day, fully supervised.  When her free time is up, all three of us are exhausted.

So we meant to explore all weekend and of course none of that happened.  I think we were so productive on Saturday, what with the inspections and errands, that we used up all of our energy and had to lay around for the next two days.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

Where paper towels go to die.

We alternated between reading, supervising Loo Loo (who likes to chew), napping, nerding it up, and watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory.  The weather was phenomenal and we spent almost no time outside.

To make up for it, I'm walking to work today.  It's shaping up to be a busy week (cramming five days of work into four) but I'm not complaining.  I need more three day weekends in my life.  I would be a more balanced person...

In Memoriam

As we go about our busy lives today, let us not forget the true meaning of Memorial Day, and let us take a little time to reflect upon the "costly sacrifice laid upon the alter of freedom"*.



* From Abraham Lincoln's "Letter to Mrs. Bixby"

The early bird gets the house

When the alarm went off at 4:40 A.M. this morning, I said to G, "What?"

"Whaaaaaaaaaat?"

Let's put this in perspective for you: we got to Starbuck's before they even opened.  They open at 5:00 A.M.

But lo and behold as soon as we pulled up to The House, so did the inspector.  Three and a half hours later, we knew there were no deal breakers and that we can proceed with buying the house.  Hurdle #2 is about 75% complete.

I'm refraining from showing too many pictures in case for some reason this falls through.  But one of my favorite rooms is the family room.  Look at all the decoration potential on that mantle!

When the inspection was complete, we had about an hour to kill until the sewer scope (yes, it's an interesting life we lead).  Just enough time to get a trip to the grocery store out of the way.

See how excited and happy G was?

You know what happened next.

The sewer scope was a breeze (there are lots of other adjectives we threw around today but I'll spare you the puns.  You're welcome) and then it was off to lunch at a Tex Mex joint around the corner.  That restaurant alone is a good enough reason to move all of our earthly possessions to a new neighborhood, pronto.

We then bought Lucy Loo (who belongs in a zoo) a bigger cage, and came home and napped for two hours.  G, who never, ever naps, fell asleep before I even did.  That's when you know it's serious, people.

The nights lately have been beautiful.

G just left to play bored games.

Time to catch up on Mad Men.

TGIF, people!

rock paper scissors lizard spock

If the subject line means nothing to you, then go watch all seasons of The Big Bang Theory immediately.  It's hilarious and will only add quality to your life.  I live with Sheldon.  Just sayin' what we all know to be true.

Life is crazy these days but this is a holiday weekend THANK THE LORD IN HEAVEN.  We've got to struggle through one more working day, and then swing low sweet chariots!

What, you don't have a piano player next to your Walgreen's?

Our 3-hour long house inspection is schedule for - wait for it - just get ready - FIVE THIRTY A.M. on SATURDAY MORNING.  And we are going to be there for it.  I plan on spending my time driving back and forth to the nearest Starbuck's (let this be a lesson in finding it!  Crucial info!) at least twice.  Those vanilla lattes don't make themselves.

I'll also take lots of "before" pictures and try not to, you know, get all emotional about this.  Since we still have to get through this and the appraisal.

Also?  One of the best drinks I've ever had:

Meet the Southwest Lemonade.  It's lemonade, tequila and crushed jalapenos, along with fresh lemon juice and the pepper seeds.  It will light up the ole intestines, let me tell you, but it was The Bomb.

Look at all those seeds!  Spice-ayyyyy!

The status of our living room.  Still.

Time to go try to let Lucy Loo (who has a loose screw) out of her cage for a bit.  So far, no dice.  But she'll come around.  They always do.

Damage

All sorts of damage around here these days.

What started out as a sweet little bun bun,

quickly turned into the Teeth of Death.

The other night, it took us hours and hours to put her up.  We realized that, due to her abandonment and time in the wild, she truly is scared of people.  She puts up with us, but she's probably scared of us, too. So we made the command decision to keep her tucked away in the library for a while.  Rabbits like dark and quiet; this will hopefully make her feel safe while also getting her used to us being around.

Clearly it's not bothering her too much.

When we moved her cage, we discovered a water leak on our wall.  After investigating a bit more, we discovered even more damage.  Turns out there has been a slow leak from our water heater into our dining room and living room.  Luckily, none of our stuff has been damaged.  This is when it's nice to live in an apartment; this is ultimately someone else's problem.

Our Plan B house offer?  It was accepted and we are now under contract.  (GULP)

There are essentially three big hurdles and we have made it over this first one.  Over the next few days we have a series of house inspections set up:  everything from the pipes to the roof to general assessments to sewer lines to radon testing to land surveys.  By early next week those will be complete and if they turn out ok, the second hurdle will be crossed.  All that will remain is the house appraisal.

I think the inspections will be a non-issue.  Judging from who lived in the house (an older couple) it's clear that they took great care of the property, inside and out.  Lots of key fixtures (read:  roof) are new or recently replaced.  The appraisal concerns me a bit more, but our "home team"  (realtor and lender) told us it's most likely a non-issue.  So, we'll see.

Cross your fingers for us!

Developing an Exoskeleton

I'm telling you, if the new bun bun isn't the end of us, this house hunt will be.  How do people find the energy??

I've had two people in the last two days tell me they're expecting a baby, and in both cases it wasn't planned, and I just want to say, tell me about it, and then regale them with stories of Lucy Loo (who belongs in a zoo) chewing on the base boards or running through the apartment at the speed of light.

But I don't.  I keep my mouth shut.

See how guilty she looks?

So, the house hunt.  In short, we came this close to putting an offer on a house last week, but decided not to because of some issues.  We found the perfect (for us) house yesterday at the perfect price in a great location with a perfect view, and put an offer on it.  We weren't pleased with the counter, so we're letting it go and are placing an offer on our Plan B tonight.  The location isn't as perfect but the house is much better.  I have a feeling they'll take this offer.

If they don't, I will officially grow an exoskeleton and will become so distanced and removed from my own life that I will not have an emotional response to anything anymore.  G will be on his own with the bunny, and I'll curl up at Sonic and self-soothe forever.

Didn't I say I wasn't going to get all EMO about this?

Blue Skies...

People at work are starting to tip toe around me.  I was on the phone with the realtor today and one of my coworkers apologetically knocked on my door and murmured something about a broken fixture in the office.  I was like, I'LL DEAL WITH IT IN A MINUTE.  I'M BUSY RIGHT NOW.

I can tell they want to ask me how the search is going, maybe offer an encouraging platitude, but at the end of the day they just don't want to go there.  I can't blame them.

I'm going to go scold Lucy Loo for the millionth time and find my happy place (i.e. catching up on Revenge)...

Over our heads + new read

We are in over our heads with Little Lucy Loo (who's no more than two).  Through events I don't care to describe, she managed to escape her cage last night when we were trying to fix something on it.  It took us about an hour and a half to get her back in there.  At 1:00 A.M.  It was traumatic for all three of us.

It hasn't taken us that long to put a rabbit up since 2001.  We were much younger and more mobile in 2001.  And that's all I'll say about that.

-----------------------------

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris

This book came out at just the right time.  I needed some hilarious distraction over the past week, and as always, David Sedaris delivered*.

The book is a compilation of essays about his life as well as some fictional, satirical works thrown in.  After reading the entire book I still don't get the title, so there's not much to say about that.  Sedaris is a very good writer and often uses his family and partner as fodder.  He has traveled all over the globe, and has overcome a past of substance abuse, and in talking about these two topics, his self-deprecation and humor just shine.  I laugh until I cry, reading some of this stuff.  It's so outlandish he just can't be making it up.

Some examples of his writing:

"Fly enough, and you learn to go brain-dead when you have to.  It's sort of like time travel.  One minute you're bending to unlace your shoes, and the next thing you know you're paying fourteen dollars for a fruit cup, wondering, How did I get here?"

--------------------------------

"We had to renew our visas every few years.  This involved going to the dismal town of Croydon [England] and spending a day in what was always the longest and most desperate line I had ever imagined.  It was also the most diverse.  I thought I was good at identifying languages, but it turns out I know next to nothing.  Surely they're making that up, I'd think, listening in on the couple ahead of me.

The woman, most often, would be dressed like the grim reaper.  Her husband would wear a sweatshirt with a picture of a boat or a horse on it, and the two would be speaking something so unmelodious and dire-sounding I could not imagine it having the words for 'birthday cake.'

If Hugh and I were denied extensions of our visas, we would have to return to Paris or New York, while they'd have gone back to, what?  Beheadings?...What they had at stake was life-and-death.  What we had at stake was Yorkshire pudding."

----------------------------------

I will most likely always recommend his books.  Now that I'm done, I have to go back to the world of scrambling to find a house, scrambling to catch a nimble and quick bun bun, and, oh yeah, working.

*My usual caveat:  He's not for everyone.  He writes some things that will make your hair stand on end, but that said, he's one of the few writers ever who makes me laugh out loud no matter where I am.  

The Pitter Patter of Little Feet

Meet Lucy.

She is ~2 years old and we got her at the local Dumb Friends League.  She was "Lost and Found," abandoned outside.  Can you imagine?

So far she is a bit on the shy side, but if we know anything about bun buns, we know that will go away by, oh, tomorrow morning or so.

It's a gorgeous day outside, and we're enjoying it from inside on the couch because we want her to have  a quiet day to get used to us.

Tonight G is going to nerd it up at the movies (Iron Man) and I'm going to food nerd it up at a crazy good (or so I've heard) restaurant downtown called Linger, with my supper club.

We're starting to put the Happy back in Happy Saturday.

Joining the Stampede

I won't sugarcoat it, the past few days have been rough.  Every single prayer you have said for us is appreciated.  Thank you, thank you!

Beautiful sky, though.  Take a look at that.

This house search has stretched the very limits of our marriage and I can't say with complete confidence that we will make it to our anniversary this weekend.

The realtor was so not joking about how quickly the housing market moves around here.  Every time we manage to find something we like, it goes under contract or a bidding war begins.  We have a new list of houses to look at on Sunday and my new mantra is, repeated continually and forcefully, I will not get emotional about this.  Then I get emotional about this.  Then I repeat the mantra and go to Sonic to self-soothe.

The downside, of course, being that when we do find a house, I won't be able to fit through the front door.

We are also taking a look at local shelters for other bun buns that need to be rescued.  Preferably one under a hundred years old this time.  Time will tell, and time will heal.  I once heard Beth Moore say that time doesn't heal, God does.  He just uses time to do it.

Rapper L sent me homemade cinnamon discs.  This made my week and I ate about 17 after the aforementioned Sonic run.

G has mastered all technological resources during this house hunt.  I stare at him in amazement and am no help using the navigational function on either the iPhone or the iPad.

So this weekend, it's back to the stampede - we will join the other million and a half people looking for homes in the Denver area.  Again, donations accepted.

And, because it bears mentioning, T-G-I-frakkin'-F.

D day

We had to put Orca down today.  The cancer had spread to her lungs and her breathing became very labored very quickly.

Death is the saddest thing in the world.

You know you're a blogger when...

...your flight home is delayed and you think I need a drink I could blog for a bit!

In case you're wondering, this is what I call my Super Model Airport Look.  You know, the hair swept back, the lack of makeup, etc.  I keep it real, people.  G is so lucky to be married to a looker like me.

Look what I found in the bookstore!

Of course I bought it and started reading it immediately.  I hadn't even finished the second page before I was laughing out loud, snorting, while G looked over his shoulder and scooted his chair a bit farther away from me.

It was a good trip AND I'm super ready to be home again.  It will be a crazy week (no matter what time we land tonight, we'll go get the old lady from boarding) but our anniversary (TWELVE YEARS OMG SOMEBODY GIVE US A MEDAL) is next weekend.  I think a brunch and a hike are in order.  You know, to shake things up a bit.  Do something a little different.  We might even go tour a couple of houses (hold on while I get an inhaler).

I forgot to relay a terrible experience I had a few days ago.  When we landed in The South and went to pick up our rental car, the clerk was making friendly conversation with us.  He asked why we were in town and we said for a college graduation.  Then he said, and I quote, "Your son or daughter?"  I blinked.  Then gasped for air.  Then croaked, "FOR MY BROTHER..."

Of course he started back pedaling and of course I'm now considering Botox, fillers, and various forms of plastic surgery.  Donations accepted.

Some more fun shots from this weekend:

I may have mentioned that my bro interned last summer for NASA.  He's known as The Nashole.

We're super serious at all times

At G's Papa's retirement home, this is known as The Walker Wall.

I tried a Chipotle Bloody Mary to see if it rivaled the one(s) I had in the Denver airport.  It didn't.  So of course I had to order something else instead.  I love how I don't eat sugar but I hoof it over to Pizza Hut to get a pepperoni delight.  Makes no sense.  I have a feeling the walk to work in the morning will be...an experience.

Here's to a safe flight!

Memory Lane

After spending the day marveling at my bro's accomplishments,

Long story - recreation of a pic we took after his high school graduation

We decided to visit our own alma mater.

Our campus is beautiful and some of these pics give you an idea of how green things are around here.  Thanks to the humidity, I haven't been shocked in like 48 whole hours!

The names of all graduates are engraved in the sidewalks

In the past, our trips in this area have been hurried (harried!) and stressful for many reasons.  Today we enjoyed the weather and just strolled around, reminiscing.

Rapper L, these are for you :)

As much as I shudder to think of it, we were "those old people" shuffling around campus and taking pictures of everything.  Still, though, it was a nice walk down memory lane.