0 Throwin' Down the Gauntlet: It's Resolution Time

So it's 2013. Wow. Doesn't it feel like the late 90s were just a couple of years ago? I always feel that way about the 90s. How could people not remember watching the original Saved By the Bell on Saturday mornings? Anyone else feel like that? No? Just me? Anyway, I was in high school in the late 90s and it's been 13 years since I graduated and ventured out of SEK, USA. Wow. Time flies.

After sitting down and reflecting on 2012, it's time I focus on what's to come in 2013. The number 13 has always had this unlucky, negative connotation likely due to some medieval religious scandal from 10 A.D. which tainted poor number 13 to centuries of disdain and dislike. Or it was this. (Yep, I looked it up for you. You're welcome.) So I'm reclaiming #13 and declaring that it's not unlucky. It's just like any other number trying to make it in the big bad world. Just like me. And I'm going to be so audacious as to say that 13 is an exceptional number and that 2013 is going to be an exceptional year. And you know why? Because I'm making some resolutions. Not many. Just four. They're pretty general (except for one), but they are going to be my mantra for the next 11 months so that in the face of adversities (that are sure to come) and in those moments of joy (that are sure to come), I'll have my focus, my mantra to get me through and remind me to appreciate what I have.

1. Happiness Comes From Within - Focus On That
I've spent most of my life caring about what other people think of me - about my intelligence, about my figure, about my hair, about my humor, you name it.

Well, I'm done with spending any more of my energy on worrying what others will think of me and having my happiness wrapped up in how other people have treated me. I'm done with it. The only person who can control my happiness is me. That's it. No boys, no friends, not even family can control my happiness. I can choose in any moment how I feel and I'm choosing to be happy. Of course, bad things will happen, disappointments will come, but it's how I respond to those things that determines my character. Will I have a down day here and there? Of course. I'm human. But I want to be a positive, happy person in my core, when no one is looking, and not dependent on the actions of anyone else. I've spent my life looking for love from others. It's time I start looking within.

2. Give More Than I Get
Now if #1 is all about looking within, then #2 is all about the people around me. Regardless, of how much love the people I care about send my way, I want to make sure the most important people in my life know that they mean a lot to me.

In 2013, I'm going to focus on giving of my time, my energy, my love to others even if it doesn't come back my way. Love and caring is unconditional, which means there's no score board, there's no need to keep a tally. I believe in karma. And believe me, I've doled out my fare share of heartache to others and it has and will likely continue to come back to bite me. But I want to focus on sending good out into the world and in some way, at some time, I believe it will come back to me from somewhere. And hey, on the upside, there's plenty of research to show that doing nice things for others increases your own level of happiness. So in some ways this resolution is a bit selfish and will help me with #1, but I'm okay with that. :)

3. Get Healthy & Fit (aka #OperationGetHot)
So I was on Instagram one day scrolling through some images and I saw this:

It's not incredibly deep or philosophical, but for some reason it really resonated with me. When it comes to my fitness, my entire life I've chosen what I want RIGHT NOW over what I've always wanted most - that being a body I'm proud of. [WARNING: If this is TMI, feel free to skip down to #4. :)] I have never, ever, not one day of my life been happy with the way I look. Mostly because I've never really been very healthy.

Rational or not, my hatred of my body, my nose, my freckles, my teeth partially stems from some pretty harsh feedback I've received from others at very formative periods in my life. I've been told that if I could "just do a little" I'd be attractive…and therefore good enough to be loved. I've thought to myself, if I could just look like "that girl" or "that girl" or "that girl," maybe then I'd finally be worthy. Even into my 30s I've been tormented by thoughts of not being good enough for someone else. Well, I'm done trying to be something for anyone else and I'm ready to focus on being the best version of myself, for myself. Instead of fantasizing about feeling great about my appearance, I want to ACTUALLY feel great about my appearance. I've spent 31 years hiding my body behind my academic pursuits, my wit, my jokes, my career, numerous cardigans - you name it, I've been hiding behind it. I'm tired of hiding and I want to start molding a a healthy and fit lifestyle that makes me proud. So I'm focusing this year on my fitness and health which means working out and eating healthy foods. No more alcohol, no more crappy food that lacks nutrition, no more eating just to eat. Just like my happiness, I'm the only one who can make this happen and it's going to happen this year. So look out for a lot of Instagram and Facebook posts that are fitness and healthy eating related. It's my new jam.

4. Finish My Niner Project!

So if you've followed along on my blog at all over the past couple of years, you know that I have this thing called my Niner Project…and it technically ended last June…and I technically didn't finish it. Lame. Well, since it was my own list and my own life curriculum, I can give myself a pass anyway, right? I'm the only one making me do this stuff…so I get to make the rules. Well, I'm determined, more than ever to get it done. Maybe I was too ambitious with what I wanted to achieve? Hell, maybe I was just too lazy to get it done? Whatever, the reason, I'm excited to make it happen. So in the spirit of my whole number nine theme, I'm giving myself 99 more days to get it done. To break it down more specifically:

• Blog about all the completed Niners (there's a lot)
• Create a schedule to help me map out how I'm going to get stuff done
• Write at least two blog posts a week to help me stay on track for my goal

Will I finish it this time, for real? For real, for real? I hope so. But I CAN say that whatever progress I've reached by June 14, 2013 (99 days from now), well that's where it ends. No more extensions, no more stalling. It will be done and whatever I've completed, I'll be proud of it. Whatever I haven't completed will just be added to my Life Bucket List (admit it, you know you have one too!), but it's no longer confined to my silly little Niner Project.

**

So there you have it. My resolutions for 2013. To all my dear friends and family, I challenge you to hold me accountable to all of these resolutions and give me a gentle reminder if I'm not living up to my own standards. I know I'll slip up and I'll have set backs, but I want to keep coming back to this list…and keep growing and moving forward.

Here's to forward motion in 2013!

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0 Niner #93: Get A Brazilian

This has the potential to be a really awkward blog post, but I took a cue from a couple of other bloggers and decided to write a poem about the Brazilian Bikini Wax experience. Everyone knows that poems remove all awkwardness ever. Oh wait.

"Waxing can be very comical
For the feeling is very demonstrable

And with the place down there
That requires so much "care"...

You hope it just ends up symmetrical."

If you don't know what a Brazilian is you can learn about it here.

Does it hurt? Um...yes. They are ripping hairs from your body. Of course it hurts. But I imagine that tattoos hurt worse (though I don't have a tattoo, so I wouldn't know.) This is probably TMI, but I still get regular waxing done "down there" so it can't be that bad.

If you're in the Northern Colorado area, I definitely recommend the Screamin Peach and ask for Kylie. She's amazing!

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0 Top 12 of 2012

Let's start out with a confession: 2012 really was not my year. It literally started off with a ticket from a Colorado state trooper for having expired registration on my car. It was January 1st and I was just a couple weeks over due. But he slammed me with the $250 fine anyway. Completely my fault, but still a big bummer. That wasn't the only downer to start off the new year, but I can't share EVERY detail of my life with the interwebs. Suffice it to say that there were multiple instances this year when I thought to myself: "Really? Can I please get a 'do over' for 2012?" 

But, recently, I was sitting on a flight thinking about everything that's happened over the past 365 days and as 'debbie downer' as I can get sometimes, I couldn't help but acknowledge that despite the heartache, snafus, tears, and disappointments, it's still been a pretty amazing year and I have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm a firm believer in reflection, goal setting, and list making. Especially list making. In an effort to focus on the positive and recognize that, shucks, I really do have a great life, with amazing friends, and a loving family, I started writing down all the great happenings in Brookeville for 2012. And, to be honest, with all that's happening in our country and in the world, I can't help get a little misty-eyed with appreciation for what I have and the amazing people I have to share it with. So here goes, in chronological order, my Top 12 for 2012.

1. Vegas, Baby!

They knew I was coming.

 In 2011, I entered the glorious decade known as my 30s. I know a lot of people dread the big 3-0, but for some strange reason I didn't. Maybe it's because I don't feel "old" or maybe that I'm in no rush to marry/have kids/etc or maybe that I'm lucky enough to be financially independent, but going into my 30s as a single, spinster was exciting! Heck, I even organized a Wizard of Oz Themed birthday bar crawl with all my friends to celebrate the occasion. But that was 2011. Let's get back to Vegas. For my 30th birthday, my boss gave me a super generous gift. A plane ticket to Vegas and two nights at the Bellagio on the Strip! Pretty rad, huh? Going to Vegas is on my Niner Project so it was kind of a twofer. When Christmas 2011 rolled around, my boss also gave the rest of our US team flights so we could all go to Vegas together. So late in January 2012, I found myself in a sparkly dress, eating amazing food, enjoying the lights/fountains of the Vegas Strip, seeing shows, and all in the presence of some great company. 

Me and the Boss Man who made it all possible.

You find the craziest characters in Vegas! This is TJ - a long lost friend I've known since preschool. Randomly ran into him at the casino.

This is the best pic we captured in our fancy dresses night #1 :) 

 What topped off the amazingness of this trip was that my friends Liz (college roommate) and Melanie (former co-worker in Boston) flew to Vegas to celebrate with me. It was a really special weekend that could have only been improved if a few more special friends had been able to join. 

Me with Melanie and Liz night #2

So what did I think of Vegas? My feelings on Vegas are similar to what  most people say about eating snake or crocodile or some other less-commonly eaten meat: Tastes like chicken. Vegas is my chicken. I didn't fall in love with it. But I didn't hate it either. It seems like it's exactly what it's supposed to be: a place for splurging, gluttony, and total self-indulgence. And I'm a fan of all those things in moderation. :)  And winning some cash! 

2. Jayhawk Lover Visits Jayhawk Nation
If you've ever met me, read this blog for any period of time, follow me on twitter, or are friends with me on Facebook, it would be very difficult for you to NOT know empirically that I am a Kansas Jayhawk Superfan. Yes, Superfan is capitalized. I've loved the Kansas Jayhawks Men's basketball team for as long as I can remember. My infatuation with the team knows no bounds and I've been known to wake the neighbors with my incessant screaming at the television during a game. (My Jayhawks have been known to break the hearts of their fans - year after year after year after year. Except for the years they don't, cough 2008 cough.)

So knowing my obsession for KU, you can imagine how excited I was when I opened a Christmas gift last year to find two tickets to see the Kansas Jayhawks take on the Missouri Tigers at home in Allen Field House. Deep breath. Even writing about it now is getting me super excited! This was my very first Kansas home game AND they were playing our arch enemies AND it was the last game of the regular season AND they were rounding out the season in the 1 or 2 spot on most polls AND it was the last "Border War" game between Kansas and Missouri (as Mizzou moved to the SEC this season). So basically it was epic. Or, as they say on How I Met Your Mother: IT WAS LEGEN - wait for it - DARY!

Sadly, things didn't work out for my generous friend oh gave me the tickeets to join me at the game, so I invited one of my oldest friends, Lindsey Lou, to join me. Granted, Lindsey is a die hard Oklahoma State fan, but she rocks out the Blue and Crimson on special occasions. And this was, indeed, a special occasion. 

My Jayhawks did not play well the first half. We were down at half time, and at one point in the second half we were down by 19 points. But my Jayhawks tend to love their dramatic finishes (cough 2008 cough), and actually showed up to play in the final 8 minutes of the game. When the final buzzer sounded, we were tied with Mizzou and ended up winning in overtime to an amazingly loud and energized crowd! It. Was. Amazing. And will probably go down as one of the most amazing experiences of my life. 

The Jayhawks went on to finish the year as the second BEST TEAM IN THE NATION! Yes, they lost the national championship game to Kentucky, but it was still an amazing showing for a team that everyone said 2012 would be their "rebuilding year." Yep. I'll take it.

3. Travel Gnome
If couples start to resemble each other after awhile, then I think avid travelers would start to look like traveling gnomes.  

A few years ago I dressed as the Keebler Elf for Halloween. Pretty close to a Traveling Gnome. :)

So far in The New Dorothy saga, 2012 goes down as the second most epic travel year to date. (2008 takes first place…after all, I did circumnavigate the globe on a ship.) I didn't go on a TON of individual trips (compared to my road warrior comrades in the study abroad field), but I traveled far distances (by plane and car) several times. Here's a quick rundown of all the places I visited this year: Vegas, Kansas, Philippines, Portland OR, Kansas, Houston, Berkeley, Keystone, Vegas, Southern California, Keystone, Philippines, Washington, D.C., Portland OR, Ireland, San Diego, Kansas, Missouri, China, Philippines, Boston, and Buffalo. It was an exhausting year, no doubt. And the best way I can really share it with you is to take you on a 2 minute jaunt around the globe. Shall we? 


 
4. Reached 1k Status on United
As a result of all the crazy travel (see #3), I've also racked up a LOT of frequent flyer miles. 

This accomplishment will probably only really resonate to the other crazy travelers out there reading this. But it's kind of a big deal. What does it mean? Most airlines run their own frequent flyer programs. You simply sign up for a free account and each time you flight with that airline you give them your frequent flyer number. The airline keeps track of all the miles that you fly with them. As you reach certain bench marks (25,000, 50,000, etc.) you get higher and higher status with that airline. Higher status means more perks like free upgrades to first and business class, free access to airline lounges at airports, priority check-in, security lines, and boarding lines (I can go through the airport in a flash and skip most lines), free checked bags, and bonus miles. Blah blah blah. Sounds kind of boring, I know. But when you spend as much time as I do in airports and on flights, these amenities really add up in saved time and increased comfort. The best part about achieving this status level is that it carries over for the entirety of 2013. Hello free first class upgrades! Come to mama!
 

5. Portlandia - Times Two
One of my goals with my Niner Project is to encourage me to visit the many friends I have scattered all over the country (and the world). Some of my favorite people are friends I made while living and working in South Dakota. A very lucky turn of events resulted in four of those SoDak friends to all move to Portland, Oregon. (Jac and Tina were both accepted to the same grad program there, and their boyfriends [also my good buddies] Neighbor Dan and Bearclaw, respectively joined them out west.) It was my first visit to Oregon (knock another State off my list!) and it was my first time seeing my friends in a year and a half since leaving South Dakota. This reunion was long time coming. Eventually I'll write up a full scale visit report for ya, but cliff's notes version goes a little something like this: hiking, mussels, breweries, donuts, rain, food trucks, bridges, running, lumber jacks, dance parties, and lots of love. We had a lot to see, do, and celebrate - both Tina and Bearclaw AND Jac and Neighbor Dan got engaged in the past year and half. 

Classic Creeper

 Which leads me to visit number dos to Portlandia. I was honored to be invited to Tina and Bearclaws' wedding in late August and of course, I jumped at the chance to see my friends and celebrate their happy day. What do you do when you're dateless AND sitting at the fun table? Well, obviously, you create a fun game based on what's said in the speeches and toasts. ;) As you can imagine, my table was overcome with giggles every time they said "Bearclaw." Hmmm…maybe you had to be there. We danced the night away, kept the party going at a towny bar down the street, and enjoyed reliving the tails of our debauchery at brunch the next day. Tina looked beautiful, Bearclaw looked smitten, and I was overwhelmed with happiness for my two wonderful friends. 

Yep. We even creep at weddings.

 Portland is the bomb dot comb. You heard it hear first.

7. I'm a home owner!
This probably isn't news to you since I've been updating this blog with all sorts of news on my house and the work I've done to it since moving in last May. But for me, this is a huge accomplishment. 

Home ownership for most people represents a level of independence and financial achievement that is a point of pride and something to smile about. I've learned so much in my first eight months of being a home owner - and believe me, it's not all roses and sunshine - but it's a great feeling that I'm investing in myself, building up equity, and learning so much along the way. 

The day I signed the paperwork and closed on Charlie (that's my house's name), it was a bitter sweet moment for sure. I was super proud that I'd achieved so much allowing me to afford my own home, but I had always imagined doing it with a special someone. But life doesn't always turn out the way you had imagined, and there's something to be said about doing it entirely on my own: no boyfriend, no husband, no family helped me foot the bill for Charlie. I did it on my own. I did it. Just me. And that's pretty incredible.

8. Grandma & Grandpa Celebrate 60 Years of Togetherness
My Granny and Gramps Wade are my heroes. They are two of the most generous, strong, loyal, and loving people anyone could ever meet and I'm lucky enough to call them family. In May they celebrated 60 years of togetherness and we held a reception to honor their lives and love…and eat cake. 

Here they are with all of their great grand babies.

 The young and the young at heart…and family near and far…descended upon Parsons, Kansas (PK USA! holla!) to wish them well into the next 60 years. Love you Granny and Gramps! 

Aren't they adorable?!

9. Roberts Clan & K&M Ranch Managers Invade Colorado
With a house, I was eager to start having house guests. And so with a little begging convincing and planning, my brother, sister-in-law, and wonderful niece and nephews ventured across the plains of Kansas to enjoy some fun in the sun and mountains of Colorado. We ventured into the big city for some Rockies baseball, up into the mountains for some amazing mountain vistas, and of course, the kids endured enjoyed some hiking up Horsetooth Rock. 

My mom and Kenny also made the trek out to Colorado this year but sadly a couple of months after the Roberts Clan. In late September, they spent a pretty dreary and rainy week in Colorado doing a ton of work on my house and yard. I can't tell you how amazing it was to have them here and helping me with this goliath of a project and I appreciate all their support probably more than they know. Happily, we were able to get a day out in the mountains, toured around Rocky Mountain National Park, and got to enjoy another visit to the Estes Park Elk Fest. But most importantly, Mom and Ken got to enjoy stomach the atomic cheeries at the Town Pump. It's kind of a right of passage around these parts and K&M Ranch Managers are newly anointed members of the Town Pump club.  

10. Care Bears Do Tour de Fat
Fort Collins is home to the original (i.e. Mothership) New Belgium Brewery and, of course, the notorious/infamous Tour de Fat, a crazy Halloween-esque bike parade around town followed by live music, plenty of beer to enjoy, and a bike giveaway. I've been able to get a taste of the Tour each year I've lived in Fort Collins, but this was my first time actually donning a costume, mounting my bike, and becoming one who is spectated…rather than a spectator. My friend C Squared came up with the genius idea of dressing as Care Bears and in my mind, there's no better Care Bear than the Share Bear. 

11. Celebrating 31 Years
I'm not gonna lie. My 30th birthday celebration in 2011 was pretty magical. A whole crew of my friends participated in a Wizard of Oz themed bar crawl complete with costumes from the most loved/notorious characters in the film. Naturally, I was Dorothy, but there was a lion, a couple of scarecrows, a tin man, a good witch, a bad witch, some emerald city people dressed in green, and EVEN a flying monkey. Sadly, we never ended up with a Wizard. Strange. Anyway, that was an amazing birthday that I'll never forget and so special to be surrounded by people I love. 

Celebrating my Dirty Thirties as Dorothy!

To carry on that tradition, this year I decided to take advantage of my newly acquired home and host a small dinner party for some of my closest friends in Fort Collins (and even a special guest from Boston). I made my very first pork loin (thanks for the tips, C!), brussel sprouts, roasted potatoes, and several other items. It was an amazing feeling having this boisterous bunch crowded around my dining room table, sharing lots of laughs, some pretty great food (if I do say so myself), and lots of love. Thanks for ringing in the big 31 with me, friends! 

12. Festivus for the Rest of Us
For the past eight years, my college roommate, Liz (see #1 above), has been hosting her holiday Festivus party in Buffalo, New York. If you don't know what Festivus is, watch this:


 
Each year I've been included on the Evite and each year, for one reason or another, I had to decline the invitation. Well, back in October when the invitation arrived once again, I decided that I need to stop just earning frequent flyer miles and start USING frequent flyer miles. So that's exactly what I did! I didn't hesitate; I immediately booked a flight to Buffalo, RSVP'd yes, and told Liz I'd be crashing at her place that weekend. Liz and I go way back and I've wanted to experience the Festivus party for years. It felt amazing to finally be at a point in my life where I could just do it. One of the most entertaining parts of the evening was the "Airing of Grievances" in which party goers write down their grievances from the year, put them in a basket, and the grievances are read aloud to the group. The group then votes on the best grievance and the contributing person inherits a festivus fruit cake to be handed down to the next grievance winner the following year. It's amazing. And my sassy-pants sweetie actually submitted the winning grievance. It had something to do with Facebook posting and checking in bed. I have no idea what he was talking about. hehe ;) 

Of course, these aren't ALL the happy memories and experiences I had this year. I didn't even mention my first hike with C Squared, my visit to DC to see Marshall and Caroline, getting to spend a surprise day with my old friend Tamara in NYC, getting nominated as the "best of region" presentation in the fall, accidentally sleeping through 3 different 5k races this year, and so many more lovely big, and not so big moments that have made my life special.

But none of it would be special without the amazing people I get to call friends and family. You all really make this crazy ride I'm on possible and enjoyable, so to you, I owe everything. Thank you for letting me be a part of your crazy lives…and for being the most important part of mine.

Onward to 2013...

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0 White Is The New Awesome

So where did we last leave off? Oh right. I gave a big house tour of my new bff, Charlie (the house). Charlie had seen better days.

Poopie brown walls and dingy beige tiles (with super gross and dark grout lines) Yum!

Not the worst kitchen I've ever seen, but those grout lines are so antagonistic and those country cabinets don't really feel "me".

He smelled like a dirty wet dog that had a chain smoking problem. Not an ideal living situation for...well...anyone. So with the money I saved by buying a foreclosure, I decided to fork out some cash and have the entire place painted and get new floors in the dining room and kitchen (I wasn't a fan of the tile). After meeting with a couple of people about doing the work, I met with the owner of a painting/remodeling company here in Fort Collins. I'm going to call the company "Joe Don't Know" or JDK...because the whole experience of working with JDK was terrible. And I learned a lot about picking a contractor/painter/etc. in the process. If you're local to Fort Collins and want to  know the company I'm talking about, feel free to email me. Maybe in another blog post I'll outline the whole silly drama of working with JDK, but for today I'll just say that my simple paint and two room flooring job turned into a "paint every surface (walls, ceilings, trim, kitchen cabinets, doors), demo every floor, install all new engineered hardwood floors and bedroom carpet, demo kitchen backsplash, install new granite countertops" job. Basically, JDK poorly managed the project and my relatively simple job turned into a complete overhaul. Goodbye life savings! In the end, it all looks much better than when I bought the place, but the journey was painful. And because the devil is in the details, each day I find something that JDK cut corners on or overlooked. (Example: Today, I was up on a step stool and found that there was a bunch of masking tape still on the top of each door frame in the hall way. Lame.)

So here's the progress of the kitchen. I had originally planned to sand, prime, and paint the kitchen cabinets myself, but JDK said they could do it for $300 and it would look like smooth new cabinets. The finish isn't perfect, but it was affordable and a LOT quicker than doing it myself. I was happy to have it done before I moved all my stuff in.

So in about a week, the kitchen went from this:

To this...

To this...

To this...(yep...still going)

To this!

Soooo much better. It's lighter and brighter and feels much more "me" than the country farm house look. Here's a little side by side comparison for ya:

The countertops and the backsplash and the floors before were just a big sea of beige on beige. Now I love the rich mocha floors and dark counters with the crisp white cabinets. Eventually I'll add some rugs, some pops of color, and some door knobs. But for now it makes me happy. And its fun to cook in here too. Who wants to come over for dinner?

Another splurge I went for was all new and shiny stainless steal appliances. Swoon! (I'm selling the old white ones on craigslist.) I shopped around at Lowes, HomeDepot, BestBuy and Sears. For the full package deal, BestBuy had the best deal (boom! there's another lame pun). And I qualified for store financing so I got 24 months no interest. This means I didn't have to fork over $3000 of cold hard cash on the spot. Double swoon!

I think, however, the saddest part about the "after" photo is that there's no wine in my little counter-top wine rack. Shameful! It must mean I'm drinking too much beer (I blame my brewery based buddies here in Foco. ;). 

But no home improvement project is really ever complete (at least that's the way it seems on all those DIY blogs I'm addicted to). So here's a little punch list of everything I still need/want to do in the kitchen. As much as I would love to go into super crazy credit card debit (that's sarcasm people), I need to save up my pennies before forking out much more money/plastic. Or score a huge bonus at work. Hmmm...better just pinch those pennies.

Kitchen To Do List:

• Install dark granite counter tops
• Demo backsplash
• Get backsplash sheet-rocked, textured, and painted
• Get all new stainless steal appliances
• Install new cabinet knobs
• Install new hinges
• Install rubber bumpers inside drawers/doors
• Install new light fixture above sink
• Install new track lighting
• Install under cabinet lighting
• Get three outlets fixed
• Install new faucet, sprayer, and soap dispenser
• Install under-mount sink (if possible)
• Caulk and paint toe-kick
• Install white quarter round
• Install new window screen
• Put up a shade/curtain in window
• Install crown molding (?), stage 2
• Install white subway tile on backsplash (?), stage 2
• Buy large rug or a few task rugs

The rest of this stuff is more wish-list and minor touch ups. I'll get to...eventually...maybe(?). But wouldn't you agree that Charlie has come along way? More transformations coming soon!

What kitchen updates have you made recently (or want to make)? Any suggestions on my kitchen transformation? I need all the help I can get.

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0 Dorothy Goes Zombie!

Well...that's what this post should have been titled. A more appropriate title would be something like The-day-Brooke-wakes-up-late-AGAIN-for-a-5k-race-she'd-registered-for...but-the-day-turns-out-pretty-good-anyway. (And yes, you can hyphenate anything if you have the drive and determination.)

So last Saturday was supposed to look a little something like this: 

This: 

And this: 

But in typical Brooke fashion, I failed to set my alarm correctly (for weekdays only...not weekends), and didn't wake up in time to drive to Golden in time for my Zombie Transformation time slot. So here's the deal. Waaaay back in February my roommate (now former-roommate. so sad.) asked if I wanted to run in the Zombie Dash 5k with her and a few other friends. I wasn't toooo excited about it since I don't like scary things. For real, even True Blood scares the ba-jesus out of me and that's not even scary. So I didn't know how I'd feel about it, but SOP (aka the roomie) is a scary-stuff baby too and said it would be all good (it was in the middle of the day, after all). 

So I signed up. 

The coolest part of this race is that you can sign up to be zombie for a few hours and chase other runners. The event organizers provide this whole zombie-transformation-tent-place-thingy (there are those hyphens again) where they do your make-up, tear up your clothing, and make you look like a member of the un-Dead Poet's Society (see what I did there?). Then later in the day you can run the race/obstacle course as a normal human trying to get past all the zombies. See? Doesn't it sound like a great exprience to share with friends? With lots of laughs and funny pictures? Yeah. Well I missed it. I had this whole plan to dress as Dorothy just like in this picture from my 30th birthday Wizard of Oz themed bar crawl: 

But with my face and clothing all zombified and, of course, wearing these awesome shoes!

I bought some bright red/metalic spray paint and applied a few a ton of thin, even coats to a pair of old ratty sneakers. I also liked that they were blood red...and zombies love blood...and brains. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been the only zombie Dorothy. But alas, it was not meant to be. Have no fear: I will figure out an appropriate event to wear these sneakers. I'll keep you posted. :) 

So after sufficiently cursing my inability to set an alarm even at the age of 30, I rallied and was determined to turn my day around. So I got up and went for a run. Ummm...not sure if anyone else has noticed, but it's hot outside. Super crazy hot. So I wasn't feeling so "light on my feet" for this 3 mile run. But the upside is that I found this trail along a canal just two blocks from my house. Isn't it quaint and beautiful? I may have found my new favorite running route.  

Oh yeah. Did I mention that I've signed up to run a Denver half marathon in late September? Yep. I'm clearly trying to punish myself for something. But seriously, I think it's going to be great and I'm on a very gradual training plan so I should be very prepared for the day of the race. Well...if I wake up on time, that is. Third times a charm!

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