Fishing in Colorado

Once upon a time I was a missionary in Baytown, Texas. I had a companion named Emily Eland. It was Christmas Day and she opened a package from her family. It made her miss them. They lived in Colorado. She said one of the things she missed the most was fishing in Estes Park. She said to me, "You need to come fishing in Estes Park." Two yearsish later. Here we are. 

St. Mary's Lake. The prime fishing location in Estes Park.

I woke up the first day of our fishing trip and looked out over this. Breathtaking.

Every good fishing trip must begin with a trip to the doughnut shop. No?

Every good fisherman knows being relaxed and taking your time is very important. So Em and I did this very thing. 
And I thought I caught one. But, it was a false alarm.

But, then a little bit later, I actually did. 

I was excited. 
But, the rest of Em's fam caught waaaay more. 

And then we sat around and waited somewhere. I had a good book, good company, good red vines, good hot, spicy cheetos. It was great. 

And then I somehow caught another one. Kind of. 

See here. 
Post fishing we found a Texas classic. Blue bell ice cream. Mmmmm. 

I loved this store. We did LOTS of shopping.

Las chicas.

My old companion. So man good memories. Wonderful moments with this girl. Somedays we thought we would never not be missionaries. Now we only wish we were again.

Okay. This next part is spooky. You know The Shining by Stephen King? Well we went to the hotel where Stephen wrote it. This very room above in fact. Apparently one time Jim Carrey once stayed there and left in a hurry after 10 minutes. It's haunted. 

There's ghosts on this staircase. Apparently. You just can't see them. Or can you? Let me know. 

Doesn't it just look like the perfect place for a spooky story?

Right now they are holding the hands of two little girls. They are ghosts. Hence why you can't see them. 

More ghosts I guess. 

And more. 
See the people at the end of the hallway? No not ghosts. But, they're about to have a little race with them. No joke.

The door knob to the Stanley hotel. And haunted place. 

The entrance. 
This cave may be haunted.

I LOVE Colorado and Estes Park.
Best dam store I've ever been to. 

Follow-up: Exciting News!

If you read my post title Exciting News!, you may be thinking I am posting my international travel itinery. I am not. But, soon. Like a few weeks/months soon.

But, I am about to tell you something bizzare.

My friend Bob just reminded me (thanks Bob! I'm glad I tell you strange stories and you help me connect them to even stranger connections, to say the least) that my boss heard Al Gore disucssing this situation, the two reportors who were captured and sentenced to 12 years in a N. Korean labor camp. Right before he spoke at an event on March 17 we were coordinating, Mr. Al was talking on the phone with an ambassador trying to rectify things whilst smaking his gum right beside my boss who was attempting to get him through a 500ish-book signing. This recollection just brought this freaky situation oh so close to home. I thought the world was just small in the Mormon land. Not so much.

change

i love change.

hence my blog.

it was time.

new music.

new background.

new map at the bottom.

new name.

why the new name?

(thought of it right as i was drifting into a nice nap)

musings -

–adjective
1. absorbed in thought; meditative.
–noun
2. contemplation; reflection.

memos (short for memorandum) -

noun, plural -dums, -da  [-duh] Show IPA .
1. a short note designating something to be remembered, esp. something to be done or acted upon in the future; reminder.
2. a record or written statement of something.

time is flying

intro. i write this while hurriedly scarfing down leftovers - half of a Max & Erma's hamburger and fry (delicious)from my mentor lunch yesterday. there never seems to be enough hours in the day. i'm absolutely in love with the summer. i cannot believe it is june 16. i want to pause time. i wanted to pause time this weekend. and just soak everything in. it went by too fast. here i record.

friday evening. i left work early to make it to north ave. beach downtown to play 6:30 volleyball. traffic is terrible. i play on a chicago sports volleyball team with spanish boys i met at a work function back in may, my friend vittoria (who used to be my client, but now is a federal investigator) and amanda. i think random meetings and friendships are the best. we play right off of lake michigan overlooking the city. and we won 6 out of our 4 games. i loved the dynamics of the team. so supportive. so encouraging. it was great. then we celebrated by staying up until 3 in the morning. what did we do? i don't even know. i know there was good dinner at an irish pub, a cake shake from portillo's and meeting up with some other friends. but why did i not crawl into the bed until 3 a.m.? i just don't know. good conversation maybe?

saturday morning. met my mom and dad at the temple. such a good experience.

saturday afternoon. after lunch my mom and i went to see fiddler on the roof - one of my all time favorite musicals. the original tevia from the movie, topol, is giving his farewell tour. so the show is in town for the month of june. it was absolutely incredible, powerful, heartbreaking, charming and funny. i loved it. my mom came back to my place and we hung out for a bit. my mom is great.

saturday evening. i hurriedly threw myself together to prepare for an evening of latin dancing at a place called rumba. we danced until one in the morning. no joke. it was wild. the place was so nice. it was my first time there. reservations are a must and there's a bouncer checking your name at the door. but he doesn't card you. strange. we walked into this posh, upscale yet down-to-earth club. there's a latin band on the stage, people dancing and eating. the waitress sits us down right next to the dance floor. i think i spent a totlal of 10 minutes sitting down. i couldn't sit still. the music was too exhibilarting. even to enjoy my virgin pina colada. it was so much fun. we danced merengue, bachata (my personal favorite, it's so saucy) and salsa. rumba is a must stop for all who pass through chicago and love to dance. and love spanish food. the empanadas (i sat still enough to eat half) are to die for.

sunday morning/afternoon. the next morning my eyes were itching like crazy. probably from lack of sleep. i put in my contacts (heaven forbid i go to church in glasses) and they start burning. but i decide to be a trooper and endure. by the time church is over i felt i was tearing up. my eyes were puffy and it looked like i was crying. everyone was asking me what was wrong. so that evening, as we went to a birthday party for a girl in the branch, i decided to premire my glasses in public. and you know what i learned from this experience? that i really don't care if i look dorky these days. i think glasses rock. and i will pick comfort over appearance any day. i'm growing up.



sunday evening. the party rocked. the laker's won. boo. and my weekend was fantastic. i can barely keep my eyes open. i have no desire to sleep though. i have no desire to work. i love the summer and the weather and i just really want to play and dance all day long. insteaed i'm working 9 to 5. but you know what? i am loving it. my job is great. and guess what? next month three major things happen. i have a birthday, i will have officially been in the working world for a year (maybe a raise? promotion?) and my blog will probably hit it's 100th post.

conclusion. time is flying.

p.s. i paid almost three dollars/gallon gas yesterday. ridiculous. one of the reasons why my 9 to 5 is a must.

Exciting news!

MY PASSPORT JUST ARRIVED IN THE MAIL.

I can go anywhere in the world. No questions asked.

One clause in my passport does bother me, though. Under voilating foregin laws. "If arrested, demand to see the U.S. consulate."

Did anyone else see this. Freaky. U.S. consulate can't always make things 100% better. But then again, they were crossing over a communist border illegally.

Hopefully I won't do anything illegal by accident during my international trips. Yikes!

Jealously.

I don't get jealous of very many things or people. Why bother. You know? But, I was very jealous when I read this.

Anyone who really knows the deepness and depths of me knows what my all time favorite tv show on the history of this earth and the face of this planet has always been and forever will be for eternity. No, not Friends or Newlyweds or Alias. Though many who knew me circa 2004-2005 would probably guess one of these (Brittany, I know what you are thinking. I was quite obsessed. Wasn't I?)

No. When I really cherish something I don't tend to be overly obsessive about it. Nor do I throw it around lightly in conversations and such. But, if you ever happen to catch me on a rainy Saturday morning or a sick day home from work, you would discover that my all time favorite show ever to pass through television airwaves is Full House. Hence my jealousy. And to top it off I'm a natural nut for musicals. Anyone who knew me circa 1999-2002 would know this. I was pretty focused on the theatre during this period of my life. So these two things combined equal pure torture for me.

Please be sure to read the link above to discover the source of my current greeness. I can't even write what I'm jealous of it's eating me up so.

Oh, please

Last mainstream Saturday news really bugged me. Every major newspaper outlet covered the date night of President and Mrs. Obama. Really? Is there nothing more important in the world to cover? Gosh. And the angle was so stupid. Instead of being excited that we actually have a politician who loves his wife and takes her out, we complained about how much it was costing us, $81,000. Now, I think $81,000 on one night is ridiculous. No disagreements. But I really like what Chaya had to say.

"Oh, please," said Chaya Kennedy, a 31-year-old office manager who is divorced, but ever hopeful. "Would we rather he'd be like other politicians and spend it on a prostitute? At least he spent it on his wife."

Good point Chaya. Good point.

I do not agree with many policies and such that President Obama is attempting to implement politically, but I respect any man who loves his wife and family and expresses it. I think he is a great example for the American people in this respect.

Hence my favorite coverage of the evening is here.