Mr. Elephant

The Elephant in the Room

Oh how true this expression is.  Ever been there?  Where you can literally see the giant, gray  beast squished into the room?  

I am in that room now.  Trying to ignore the large wrinkles, flapping ears and curious trunk.  Ignoring him never makes him to go away.

I'm trying to push with all my might to get him out the door, but that 2,000 pounds just won't budge.

Maybe I'll just have to embrace him as my new pet.

SNOW!

It snowed last night

It snowed last night

The snow bears had a pillow fight

They tore up all the clouds in sight

And threw them down as snowflakes light

 Wishing this is what my backyard really looked like this morning

My mom used to say this poem to us when we were little.  She would only say it on mornings when it had snowed.  We would open our little eyes to the bright white outside, so excited about the glittery snow.  

Dear Colorado,

I will be home for Christmas and would like nothing more than a cold, fluffy, white gift.  I will be satisfied with 1-2 inches and would prefer extra sparkle.  A Christmas Eve snow would be ideal, but as long as there is a white blanket on the ground come Christmas morning, I will be very happy.

Thank you,

Kate

Chicken Day

We had a nice Thanksgiving.  Pretty quiet, but nice.  I watched the Macy's Day Parade, cooked, watched White Christmas, and cooked some more!

 Pumpkin Pie cooking

Preparing Dinner

Substitution for Green Bean Casserole

Cooking is hard work, so you should be as comfortable as possible.

Our Chicken

The carver

Chicken, cranberries, stuffing, green beans, sweat potatoes and rolls. 

Not every thing turned out as planned.  I've never made sweat potatoes before and my new low fat recipe called for Greek yogurt.  I guess I should have been more careful about measuring it out because they tasted more like yogurt than potatoes.  The green bean and mushroom dish was pretty good, but maybe next year I will just make the original.  I mean, isn't that the wonderful thing about holidays?  The traditions and the food.  Eating cream of mushroom soup 1 day a year never hurt anyone. 

 

At the end of the day we got to skype with my family back home and said hello to everyone, including our family cat.  It was a great way to end the day!

Thanksgiving Preparations

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

What a wonderful Holiday!  I love to imagine the first Thanksgiving, in a chilly New England village.  Giving thanks for a new life and new beginnings.  Its a time to spend with those we love.

Bobby and I have spent the last 4 Thanksgivings together.  The first two he came down to Texas to visit me at grad school.  Last year was our first Thanksgiving without the cold and snowy temperatures.  This year will be much the same, enjoying a peaceful and quiet time together.  

A skype session is in order with my family back in Colorado.  I'll get to see my mom and dad, sisters and brother-in-laws and my auntie!  Hopefully my cat Pepper will make an appearance too.  

I will spend the morning watching the Macy's Day parade, relaxing, and then starting on our Thanksgiving meal.

Bobby and I have a lot to be Thankful for this year!  What are you Thankful for?

Birthday Celebration

Yesterday was my 26th Birthday!  It was a pretty low key day, seeing I did my celebrating this past weekend. The usual paperwork and cataloging.  I did wear my gold flower shoes for my birthday.

 

a little prehistoric pottery for a Tuesday afternoon

My friend Carrie had me over for dinner last night (Bobby sadly had to work) for homemade chicken pot pie and cupcakes.  It was nice to spend the evening with friends.  Her new puppy entertained us for most of the evening and finally got tuckered out after playing with his very loud squeaky toy for over an hour...

 Pictures taken with my new camera..thanks mom and daddy!

Another Birthday spent away from Jessica, but we will celebrate over Christmas.  I have always felt like the luckiest person in the world to be able to share my life with my twin sister-- Birthdays and all!

Birthday Weekend

It's finally the weekend!  My Birthday is officially 3 days away but I am celebrating early.  Bobby sadly has to work on Tuesday night and I of course am working all day so my birthday celebrations are this weekend.  Jess is here in spirit and we will celebrate together over Christmas!

My weekend Birthday plans include:

1.  Lunch with my friend Jessica.  She let me pick any place and I chose Subway.  I know, I know, but I love their bread! 

2.  Pedicures! Jessica took me to get my second pedicure ever!  The first one was with her in Lubbock after our Comps.  My toes look lovely in their new fall color.

3.  Watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tonight so we can be fully prepared to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows tomorrow.

4.  Tomorrow is the movie and then dinner with some friends at an Italian restaurant.

My sister and I are turning 26.  We were Thanksgiving babies, well the day after Thanksgiving babies! I told my mom today I still feel like I'm 18.  I wonder when you actually feel your age.  Hopefully I will feel 18 even when I'm 97.

Here's to a fun weekend and being with friends!

TGIF

TGIF.  That's all I have to say.  I will be glad when tomorrow if over with. 

Snake Boots

Today I got the best present at work.  Snake Boots! I am official.  I will look awesome in the field.  If I get attacked by a snake I will survive.  

My new boots

Morning Shadow

Its light again in the morning when I wait for carpool.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays we meet at one of my co-workers apartments.  The place we wait at is also where all the kids from the apartment complex wait to be picked up from the school bus.  I should take a cue from these kids.  They are laughing and playing tag at 7:00am.  They are so excited to be awake and with their friends, waiting to go to school. 

As I climb into the carpool car, I tend to see a lot of little eyes staring back at me, wondering where I'm going so early in the morning.  Its kind of like a look into their future.  School bus to Carpool.

   

Boardwalk

The Boardwalk in the Winter is beautiful.  The air is cooler and the cypress trees are losing their leaves letting the blue sky shine through the empty branches.  The Ibis birds are back hanging out at their pond, slowly walking through the shallow water with their long orange beaks. 

I'm in Love

I'm in love.  I'm in love with Robert Macuen.  He is my best friend.  Today we went for a stroll in the sun and I got to hold his hand and we talked about where we want to take our Christmas card  picture.  When we got home I was feeling kind of sad.  This time of year is always hard for me to be away from my family, especially seeing my Birthday is just around the corner and it will be another one spent away from Jessica.  As I felt sorry for myself, he let me lay down on his lap, non-showered and all, and he scratched my back till I was ok again.   

Denver, 2009

killer bees and baby spiders

Apparently we have Africanized bees on the Reservation.  My boss scared the ba-gee-bers out of everyone today showing us two dead killer bees in a zip lock baggie that he had collected off of his car windshield wiper.  I'm embarrassed to say I had another spastic moment on the boardwalk when I thought I heard a swarm of angry bees flying towards me and I  "quickly" walked back to civilization. It may have been an airplane zooming by but you can never be too sure.

To make matters worse 1 billion baby spiders hatched today and they were floating through the air on their little silk webs.  I watched from the door as tiny threads blew across the parking lot in masses.  Ewww.  Bobby grabbed his backpack from the car the other day on his way to class and saw what he thought were ants crawling all over the backseat.  Nope.  They were baby spiders.

I think I'll stay inside for the next few days.

dark winter nights

It was strange to drive home from work in the dark tonight.  I am so used to having it be sunny and bright as I pull up to the house.  It felt like winter.  I was trying to explain to a native Floridian today that the true definition of winter = dark and cold.  I really started to think that when I got out of the carpool car is was going to be cold out just because it was dark.

Christmas lights are already twinkling in the palm trees and in the grocery store above the ground beef.  I love this time of year.  I secretly listened to Christmas music on my ipod on the way home today in carpool.

These dark nights remind me of when I was little and we would have to go to our piano lessons after school every Wednesday.  When winter came it would be dark half way through our lessons.  I remember feeling cozy and warm at my piano teachers house on these dark nights.  She always cooked soup on Wednesdays and her whole house would smell like chicken noodle.  I especially loved it when she put her Christmas tree up and as I waited for each of my sisters to finish with their lessons I would sit and stare at the pretty lights glowing from the tree.  I loved her tree because she used the giant Christmas lights and my homework would glow red and green and blue.

 

wonderful weather

Today was a perfect weather day.  A cold front has moved in and the temperature has been looking very suspiciously like Fall.  This morning I spent curled up on my bed, with the windows wide open and the cool Florida breeze coming through.  The sun was bright and warm and I non-guiltily fell back asleep for a few hours.  I think that I would make a great cat. I went for a long walk this afternoon, enjoying what felt somewhat like a Colorado Fall day.  I caught myself smiling the entire time, happily meandering through my neighborhood, looking up at all the trees starting to flower. 

Lovely Day.

AIAC

This weekend is AIAC: American Indian Arts Celebration, hosted by the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum.  (If anyone is in South Florida you should go out to the Reservation!) The whole weekend is full of traditional Seminole food, crafts, art, song and dance.  They also host other tribes.  On Friday I went over for a little while during my lunch break and watched the Yellowbird Apache do traditional war dances. 

  I get secretly jealous when I watch things like this.  I wish that I could do the Eagle Dance.  And I mean that with the most respect.  Our culture is made up of drinking 6 packs, watching marathons of CSI and Dancing With the Stars.

I think I'm going to go sit outside in the sun and give thanks to Mother Earth.

Visitors from the West

As mentioned before, I was busy hosting my sister and brother-in-law last weekend.  I had such a great time and know they enjoyed the Florida sun.  We spent lots of time at the beach and relaxing, eating seafood (well I had pasta) and going out to the Everglades.  Here's a peak at our South Florida Fun.

 

 Sisters

 

 The Beach!

Don at Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Bobby and I at Ft. Lauderdale

Ft. Lauderdale: Miami style

Boca Raton

Boca...trying to stay calm amidst the GIANT banana spiders in the trees

The View

The Rustic Inn and all of its crustacean glory

A visit to Vlad, my friend in the Lab

Come back soon!! We miss you already...

Swamp Ape

Swamp Ape, aka Big Foot.  I think I saw him the other evening driving home along snake road.