Journal Your Christmas Day 7

I am so far behind on this journaling thing that I'm going to start skipping days to catch up. So forget about Day 6 - Day 6 didn't exist this year. On to Day 7. The prompt is about Christmas shopping. This year I made a Christmas resolution (didn't know you could make those, did you?) that I would only buy my Christmas gifts at locally owned business. No more falling back on Amazon.com or Target to buy impersonal gifts! I spend enough at those chains the other 11 months of the year, so I figure it's a good time to support local businesses!

Funny story about this year's Christmas shopping...in the interest of not revealing people's gifts prior to Christmas day, I'll keep this vague. So, I was in a shop, buying a gift for my dad, and as I was checking out, I thought, "Hmm, I bet Dustin (my nephew) would like this too!" But I'd already paid, so I had to make another purchase, and as I was waiting, I decided to go ahead and get one for my brother too. Then I left the store, but I kept thinking how maybe another one for my baby nephew would be cool too. So I went back to the store to get another. Then I realized that I couldn't get the same gift for my dad, brother, and both nephews, but not my mom and sister-in-law (the only other two people who will actually be with me on Christmas morning), so I went ahead bought some for them too! So, all in all, I bought SIX of the same present, in THREE separate purchases! Well, I thought it was funny.

Journal Your Christmas Day 5

I've pretty much given up on making this an "art" journal - it's just gonna have to be a written journal. I'll have to travel to Maine for my grandfather's funeral Thursday through Sunday, and I can't really bring all my supplies with me! Maybe the following week I'll get some pages put together.

Today's prompt was about advent calendars - counting down the days until Christmas. Now, advent calendars have always been a bit of a sore spot for me - being the youngest child, I always had to reuse old advent calendars that my brother and sister had already opened in years past. A few years ago, my aunt Judy sent me a brand new advent calendar, the kind with the little chocolates in it, and it was the best present ever! I really like the tradition, but I don't feel like I need an advent calendar to enjoy the countdown. Other things mark the passage of time for me - the appearance of Christmas lights on my neighbors' houses, the cashiers at the grocery store starting to say "Happy Holidays!" as I leave, the increasing frequency of Christmas songs being played on the radio, the first viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Journal Your Christmas Day 4

I missed writing yesterday's journal entry because my grandfather died, and writing about my vision of a "perfect" Christmas was frankly not appealing. While I am trying to keep in mind that he would not want our whole family to just suddenly stop celebrating the Christmas season to mourn him, it is feeling a little bittersweet. In honor of Grampy's love of big band and the classic crooners, I am listening to Mr. Frank Sinatra's "Let It Snow". I think much of my idea of the perfect Christmas is very much wrapped up in the music - having the perfect "soundtrack" for the festivities. Jazzy classics like Ella Fitzgerald's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (currently my ringtone!) and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" are among my favorites. I also love Garth Brooks' Christmas songs (and I'm NOT a country fan!) and pretty much everything on the Ray Charles Christmas CD I bought last year. I love the classical Christmas music too - carols like Silent Night and O Holy Night, the Nutcracker, the religious cantatas, etc. My perfect Christmas involves a lot of hanging out quietly by the Christmas tree, in the glow of the lights, eating Christmas cookies, and listening to my favorite Christmas songs. The quiet moment after coming home from my aunt Cindy's annual Christmas Eve party, knowing that all the shopping and wrapping and baking is all over, just enjoying the anticipation of the next morning. I feel pretty lucky in that the most perfect Christmas I can imagine is something that I am able to experience each year - I don't have any extravagant expectations of perfectly decorated homes or heaps of expensive gifts. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I just look forward most to those elusive moments where you feel both at peace with the world and filled with anticipation.

Journal Your Christmas Day 3

I didn't have time to work on my art journal today - I went skiing AND finished about half of my Christmas shopping! Hopefully tomorrow after work I will be able to sit down and do a little artsy stuff...I'm trying to at least keep up with journaling on my blog! Luckily, today's prompt isn't one that I have a ton to write about. It's about Christmas cards - making them, receving them, etc. I haven't received a single Christmas yet this year! I don't usually get very many - it seems like mostly people with kids who send Christmas cards, and I have very few friends that have kids yet. I still tend to get cards addressed to my parents and me (mailed to their house in Maine), not sent specifically to me. Kinda sad, I'd love to get more cards! I like making my own cards and have done so the past two years - but I'm not feeling that inspired to do so this year, strangely! Almost everyone that I would send a card to, I'll see in person this Christmas. And I think I'm just more excited about spending what little creative time I have on this art journal.

I'll have to upload my recent pictures soon - I got some great ones of my niece Maddie and her friend Bernie while we were skiing at Eldora today! It was so much fun - we were skiing pretty easy terrain, so I took my camera out and skied down below the girls and then turned around and photographed them uphill while skiing to get some action shots!

Journal Your Christmas Day 2

Okay, still haven't completed any physical pages for my Christmas art journal. Got started on a cover page and a page for Day 1's writing, but haven't yet copied down my blog entry from yesterday. Hopefully my Two Peas order with the album and a bunch of fun Christmas papers will be here on Monday! Today's prompt was about Christmas weather and included instructions to make paper snowflakes, and I played around with that a bit, but I had to interrupt myself and go Christmas shopping!

So, anyways, my thoughts on Christmas weather...I am a Mainer through and through, despite my current address in Boulder, so I definitely expect and desire a white Christmas each year. It doesn't feel like Christmas if it's brown and muddy out. Bitterly cold weather is not required, but part of me thinks that the cold really helps me better appreciate the warmth of hot chocolate and Christmassy fireplaces and ducking into a warm little boutique to escape the cold for a moment! Plus, I love snuggling my face into a scarf and pulling a hat low onto my forehead. It's certainly been white and cold enough to get me in the Christmas spirit this week - we've had about a foot of new snow this week! I think the perfect Christmas weather is cold enough to keep the snow on the ground but not so cold that you can't take a brisk walk around to admire the Christmas decorations and lights!

I watched Love Actually today - forgot how much I love that movie. "I feel it in my fingers...I feel it in my toes...Christmas is all around me, come on and let it snow." I also watched that old claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with my 6-year-old niece Livy! Good times. My mom sent me a Christmas wreath-scented Yankee Candle that I am smelling right now (I almost said "listening to"!)... And in non-Christmas related news, Tenacious D rocks! And I am going skiing tomorrow!

Journal Your Christmas Day 1

So, I am taking an online art journal class from a British artist named Shimelle Laine - it's something that I've been reading about for a while on the various artsy blogs that I read, and I'm really excited about this new creative endeavour! It's all about "journaling your Christmas". Shimelle provides a new prompt each day for the whole month of December. I would love to actually create a new page in an art journal/scrapbook for each day's prompts, but it's such a busy time and my realistic goal is to write a journal entry in my blog each day, and incorporate the best parts of my writing into collage/scrapbook pages in my Christmas art journal. I hardly ever journal in my scrapbooks, something I'd definitely like to remedy.

I like to think of this class as my Christmas gift to myself - along with my super-cool new Cherry Chocolate music phone that I got today!! The month of December is always crazy for me, trying to finish up all kinds of work projects by the end of the year, Christmas shopping, wrapping, preparing for the annual trip home to Maine, etc., and I always end up feeling like the season flies by without much chance for introspection and appreciation. I'm hoping that by keeping this art journal, I will remember to slow down each day and reflect on what I love about this season.

So, today was the first day of December. It looked like the first day of December. We got about 12 inches of snow on Tuesday night, and it's been so bitterly cold that it's barely melted (unusual here - snow usually melts within two days). The city is completely decorated for Christmas - the big lighted star on the hillside is lit, all the trees lining the downtown streets are all beautifully lit with white lights (and I'm a sucker for trees with white lights), and the ice rink at One Boulder Plaza is freshly Zambonied. The roads have been too icy to ride my bike to work, so I've been walking each day. It's been a nice change of routine - I like walking down Pearl Street and seeing all the Christmassy window displays. I always want to stop and buy beautiful Christmas ornaments, but it doesn't make sense to buy ornaments when I have no plans to have a Christmas tree of my own. (I am leaving for my family's place in Maine on December 17th, we'll have a tree there.)

Well, that's all my Christmas journaling for today. In non-Christmas news, I had lunch with my sister today AND I had dinner at Sherpa's with my friend Nicole and Cam and their little boy Ethan tonight. Two meals out in one day! Tomorrow I'm definitely going to need to start Christmas shopping - I already bought wrapping paper and ribbons and stuff like that, but haven't bought a single actual present yet.

Thankful

We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner at Julie and Chris's house on Thursday. Some highlights included:

Fenway and Bosco (Mara and Frank's new Boston Terrier) had a great time playing together. Livy is an excellent dog trainer.




Chris cooked a delicious bird, while most of us just relaxed and played with the dogs.




During dinner, we all said what/who we were thankful for. I was #1 on Livy's list!!

Memoirs of a "So-Boulder" Life

So, I was riding my bike through Boulder on my way home from work today, and I stopped at a red light next to a car. An older gentleman on a bicycle glides up to me, smiles, and gestures at the car on the other side of me. "They don't know what they're missing, do they?" I smiled back and said, "No, they don't." We stood there, side by side, rosy cheeks, breath forming in the cold air, until the light turned and we sailed through the intersection.

SO BOULDER.

A year ago, I would have been one of the schmucks driving less than a mile to work each day (which actually takes longer than riding on the bike path). I would have been the one not knowing I'm missing!

Emmitt Smith is the greatest dancer EVER

Random Thoughts on Books, Snow, Christmas, Music, Etc.

Okay, haven't been blogging much...lots on my mind.

1. I've been reading a lot lately. Just finished Born Again by my Bowdoin classmate Kelly Kerney - a really amazing first novel! It's all about a Born Again teenager who has to read the verboten Darwin's Origin of Species for an honors class, and the book details her evolution (get it? evolution.) into a more critically thinking young adult. Pretty special, and no, not in a stop-eating-the-paste kinda way. I also just finished Moneyball (just google it, I'm too tired to put in the link) and it is incredible as well. It's the kind of book I'D like to write - a nonfiction book written with the style and pace of a novel. I highly recommend both of them, to you, my three loyal readers.

2. It's been snowing a lot in the mountains. I'm getting excited for skiing! Eldora opens on Friday, that's where I've got my pass. Maybe I'll go Saturday, but I'm guessing it might be packed. I was thinking I might go on Thanksgiving morning, when everyone else is cooking! By the way, how the HECK is Thanksgiving next week?!? I swear it was the 4th of July yesterday.

3. Speaking of Thanksgiving, is it Christmas yet? I'm looking forward to Christmas...decorations...cookies...but most of all, the music. Can't wait to pull out my Ray Charles Christmas CD. But I am controlling myself, not until after Thanksgiving!

4. I am OBSESSED with that Put Your Records On song by Corinne Bailey Rae, ever since I saw her on SNL!! It was on the radio when I turned on my car this morning, which is how I knew it was going to be a good day.

Okay, I think that's all. Enjoy my random hodgepodge of thoughts.

The Winds of Change Are A-Blowin'

Seriously, it's really windy here.

New Democratic governor. A Democratic majority in the House, aided by the pick-up of two seats in Colorado. Did I really move to a red state?!? Guess not. Exciting times here in the purple west. I wish I could stay up to see how the Senate plays out, but I'm falling asleep. Maybe I'll wake up to the Dems taking back BOTH houses of Congress!

Ah, Bush, You're Sweet and Dumb Like Joey

Bush Urges Nation To Be Quiet For A Minute While He Tries To Think

Sesame Street Nostalgia

Remember this?!?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h-YcBVEnLT8&mode=related&search=

The Crazy Weather Here in Boulder, Colorado

These two photos were taken only 48 hours apart:


Sunday was a beautiful, sunny, blue skies kinda day, so warm that I had to wear a tank top! And today (Tuesday) it's snowed about 3 inches.

It's Snowing!!!!

That's all.

Updated at 2:50 PM: It's now cold enough for the snow to STICK!!!

Five Favorites for October

I am resolving, right here and now, to begin posting more frequently, about everyday little things, not just the big events in my life. To revel in the everyday. In that vein, I am going to list five of my favorite things right now:

1. Getting my fall wardrobe out and putting my summer wardrobe away...and getting my winter wardrobe out...and then getting my summer wardrobe back out. Colorado has crazy weather - last week it snowed overnight (just a dusting) and this weekend it should be 70 degrees. I am excited for colder weather - I love scarves and hats and mittens!

2. That 70s Show reruns - I never watched this show when it was on, but I've discovered recently that it's one of the few sitcoms out there that actually makes me laugh out loud on a regular basis.

3. The song Sexy Mistake by the Chalets - "if you kiss me - I will - feel - nothing!"

4. The Detroit Tigers, especially Nate Robertson and his dorky but sexy glasses. Don't get me wrong - the Red Sox will always be my first love. You don't have to worry about me renaming my dog "Comerica". But the Sox aren't in the playoffs this year, and so I am rooting for the Tigers.

5. Thursdays.

Candy Corn

Okay, I would just like to pose a question to y'all out there (you know, the blogosphere...oh who am I kidding, to my two loyal readers!) - can anybody else taste the difference between regular candy corn (yellow-orange-white) and harvest corn (brown-orange-white)?!? I am convinced that they taste different, but I'm wondering if it's just psychological.

Little candy corn trivia: More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces—enough to circle the moon nearly 4 times if laid end-to-end. (Source: the National Confectioner's Association website: http://www.candyusa.org/)

You learn something everyday...

Well, I don't really think you do. But really, I think the ideal living situation is when you DO learn something new each and every day, and I am thankful that the past few days I really have. Yesterday, my friend and co-worker Brent taught me how to change the tube in my bike tire. Might seem like a small thing, but it was satisfying. Now I know that if I end up with a flat, I don't have to get to the nearest bike shop. I can fix it myself. And sometimes having something manual to do with your hands helps you get past the more traumatic parts of life that are running through your brain. Today, I learned about the process of making wine from another co-worker Stuart, who just got back from a month in France working the grape harvest. How brave of him, to get up and do something that he'd dreamt of, in a country where he barely spoke the language. To take a month off from everyday responsibilities and work and just DO SOMETHING REAL. How cool.

A Beautiful Wedding

I spent the weekend in Golden, Colorado, for the wedding of Mara and Frank. It was a really special wedding, seeing as Mara has been my sister's best friend since junior high, and our family has known her for most of our lives, so we are all so happy to see her so happy! The ceremony was pretty short and sweet, followed by a reception with food, [quite emotional] toasts, cake (made by Julie - yum!), music, and all the usual wedding stuff! I even ALMOST caught the bouquet! I wonder if that means I'll be the second-to-next to get married?

Thoughts on the Gray's Anatomy Season Premiere

As much as I love the show (and was so excited last night I thought I was about to have a stroke like Denny), I have to say that I was disappointed! There were some parts that I really loved, but overall I kept thinking, "They had all summer to get this perfect!" I liked all the parts back at the house with Izzie, Meredith, and Cristina, and I even loved Callie in this episode, but all the parts at the hospital were pretty lame. First of all, why did they stop giving Bailey anything INTERESTING to say?!? I was confused as to why she got so emotional over that guy who's wife died of the plague...I know she was supposed to be upset about Denny (she seems to think she could have done something more? saved him?) but it just seemed odd to me that she was freaking out over this guy who's sealed in a room alone (yeah, that was SO realistic too...don't they just put the doctors in hazmat suits and let them actually TREAT the patients? hello!). The whole "who's little girl left her baby in a dumpster?" mystery was not particularly interesting to me, either. BUT the biggest problem I had with the show was the flashback to the night that Derek caught Addison in bed with McSteamy. In previous episodes, both Addison and McSteamy have said that Derek just coolly walked out of the room and never screamed at her or anything, just left. But in the flashback, he angrily throws her and all her clothes out of the house! Do they seriously think that we forgot what they said in the previous episodes? SERIOUSLY?

Okay, parts that I did like: Cristina explaining "sitting shivah" to Izzie while lying on the bathroom floor. The scene when Callie shows up with two bags full of food, and Meredith just stares at her uncomprehendingly, and Callie has to repeat "I brought food." I pretty much loved Callie in this episode - I thought it was so sweet (and brave) of her to come over to sit shivah, knowing that George wasn't even home. Still not getting the lack of chemistry between her and George, though. I loved the part when Callie explains to McVet that they are all still in high school. And then when Meredith comes into the room and she's like, "Okay, I'm going to take my glass of wine and go into the other room for...no apparent reason." Damn, they gave her all the good lines this episode! And I loved the part when Cristina crawls into bed with Burke and cries. Not enough Burke in this episode. As for Mer/Der, I am pissed at him because the FIRST step is him divorcing his wife...THEN he can tell Meredith that she has a choice. Loser! No matter how dreamy he was, I have a hard time taking his professions of love seriously. I thought it was interesting though when he stares at George when Callie hugs him and tells that she really, really loves him, and George doesn't say it back...it seems like he decides at that moment that he's going to tell Meredith that he loves her, you can just see it in his face. Anyways, I thought it was uneven at best, but still can't wait for next week!

OKAY! ONE MORE THOUGHT! Izzie's been in that bathroom all night and all day, right? And we all know it's the only bathroom in the house?!? Does anybody else see where I'm going with this?

The Idiot's Guide to Throwing a Lobstah Party

Step 1: Commit an act of mass murder...boil 5 lobsters alive.


Step 2: Pick all the flesh out of their cold, smelly bodies.


Step 3: Saute the flesh in buttery, paprika-y goodness for 5-7 minutes.


Step 4: Add some milk, heat to steaming (not boiling), and voila! Lobster stew.


Step 5: Making lobster stew is hard work, so a nap may be in order. Besides, the stew should chill overnight to reach full flavor.


Step 6: Decorate appropriately.


Step 7: Just before your guests arrive, whip up a batch of lobstaritas. Lobster-shaped ice cubes are essential for this.


Step 8: Enjoy the numerous compliments from your very impressed guests!

Summer fun

Livy had her 6th birthday party (a few days early) at Chuck E Cheese on Thursday. I kicked a bunch of little kids' butts at the basketball game.



Mom, Dad, Julie, Chris, Chelsea, Livy, and I enjoyed a spectacular view of Denver from the upper concourse of Coors Field on Friday...


And a spectacular view of the playing field from our seats...


On Saturday we went to the Eldorado Springs pool for Chris's company's summer party.

Gettin' creative...

Tonight I went to Old Navy and saw these cute plain brown notebooks with an orange binding, and thought to myself, "Ooh, possibility!" So after I got home, I decorated the cover to make it into a inspiration journal! (In case you're wondering where I got my inspiration for THIS, check out Ali Edwards' blog: this girl is totally inspiring to me.) I think I should have put the "j" in the upper left hand square...I always second-guess myself on these things! But I love it anyways - it's so satisfying to take something that's plain (and cheap!) and make it into something special.

A Day at the Zoo with Livy

Today Livy and I went to the zoo for the Bowdoin Polar Bear Day - the whole Bowdoin aspect of the day pretty much evaporated, cause I didn't really find any other Bowdoin grads. But there was a zoo employee at the polar bear exhibit, answering questions and telling us about polar bears, and letting us touch a pelt of polar bear fur. Livy seemed pretty frightened of the live polar bear, but then later in the day when picking what animal she wanted to ride on the carousel, she wanted us BOTH to ride on polar bears! Small victory. Perhaps she'll be a Bowdoin girl yet! She was definitely more interested in things like the train ride, carousel, playing the African drums set up in the African animals section, and even the little Broncos booth where you get to try to throw a football into an inflated target than the ACTUAL living animals, but she seemed to have a good time anyways!

The Quintessential Colorado Experience

Last night I had the most amazing experience - some friends and I hiked up the mountain behind the Red Rocks outdoor amphitheatre, had a picnic dinner and some drinks, and listened to the sounds of the amazing Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young! The view of the city and the foothills was incredible from our high vantage point. CSNY played all their most well-known songs, including all the old Vietnam protest songs, and an awesome rendition of Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner. The hike down was a little treacherous, but with the aid of a flashlight we managed to get down okay. An altogether amazing and memorable evening.

The Red Rocks amphitheatre:


A view of the mountains to the south of us:


My friends Adam, Celia, and Eva:

A Magical Brush with Nature

So, yesterday I flew home from Maine and drove into Boulder, after many hassles and delays, and with sore shoulders and a grumpy disposition about my vacation coming to an end. I lugged my suitcase down the path to my yard and left it just inside the gate, unlocked the door, and got Fenway a fresh bowl of water. I started trying to get organized to go into the office, and thought I'd better bring my suitcase in before I forgot. I went to the door and started to open it, but was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a large object in my yard. It looked like...a DEER! But in the split second before I could really process what I was seeing, I remembered that my landlord had said that they were planning to "fix up" the yard while I was gone, and I thought to myself "holy shit, they put a DEER STATUE in my yard!" And then I realized, duh, it was moving, and it was a real deer! It looked like a young buck. I grabbed my camera and tried to take some pictures through the glass, but they came out all blurry, so I very carefully squeezed through the door, trying to keep Fenway inside and not startle the deer. I crept out onto the patio and got some photos - it was SO close! It was just kind of hanging out, ambling around the lawn. Then Fenway and some other neighborhood dogs started barking and the deer looked nervous, but it didn't seem to be interested in jumping over the fence. Then I thought, "maybe this deer is injured and CAN'T jump over the fence! maybe it's been here all week!" but then it suddenly just gathered its legs up underneath its body and gracefully lept right over the fence! It was amazing.

A Very Footer Family Fourth

Happy Fourth of July! Just wanted to share some photos of the recent Footer family festivities...

We went to the beach (Small Point) on Monday morning with lots of relatives...it was Fenway's first real day at the beach. He loved it - wouldn't quite SWIM in the ocean, but went in pretty deep and let some waves crash over him! Then he basked in the sun with the rest of us.













After the beach, I drove down to Portland to pick up my friends Sarah and Ragan. We went to Brunswick to walk around the Bowdoin campus, then met up with the whole fam at China Rose for a birthday celebration for Nanny and Sadie.



The next day was the Fourth of July - and of course, it started off with us being late to the parade! Several of the family members were featured in the parade - Margaret with the Video Galaxy float, Hannah with the YMCA, and Noah with his martial arts academy. We always like to embarrass our family members by cheering for them, and when we chanted Noah's name, one of his instructors held his arm up like a prizefighter!! And then when our beloved Oakie came along, Caitlin and some of the other cousins ran out and asked him to hold up a sign that said "Where are you AJ?" in memory of the famous day he ran out and hugged Oakie. Good times.

Will add more soon...