The Library Rules

Six years in bookclub, and I've just now learned in the past 12 months, how to reserve library books online. A couple clicks of the mouse and that book is on it's way to the library closest to my house which is about a mile away, and on my bus route. Oh, how much money this could have saved me over the years. In the beginning, I thought that I would need to purchase all of the books. I was sure that each novel would be a treasure that I would have to own. I learned my lesson the hard way over several years of bad, dull, hard to read books such as The Crimson Petal and the White. I thought for sure after reading a great review about hookers in the Victoria Era, that this tome would be a keeper for years to come. It was the dullest story about whores ever. I rarely, rarely, put a book down never to finish it. I struggled all the way through page 100 before I finally gave in and gave up.

And now, tonight, I sit down to check my email, and there from Amazon is one of those "based on your last purchases" we recommend blah blah... Well lo and behold, there was a book there that someone, (Michelle maybe?) recommended to me a year or so ago called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. For a mere $4 this sucker for advertising decided to buy it.

Not One Picture

A three day week-end, tons of activities, and not ONE picture. So I guess I have to be more articulate to create a better visual of what we did.

Yesterday, the weather cooled down to 75, so I set up a folding table on the back patio, stole some pink roses out of a bush in the back alley, and set the table for lunch. Lora, Bert, Holly, Bruce, and Ally (their new Blue Healer) came over for a BBQ. I made Michelle's Cherry Chipotle Chicken, corn and black bean salad, Lora brought a spinach, strawberry, almond salad with a poppy seed dressing, and Holly brought strawberries, sour cream, and brown sugar. If you are like me, you said, hmmm, what is Holly going to do with those odd items? I have to say that I was skeptical at first but not only am I a convert, but it was good enough for me to write about, here, on the internet, for all to see and try. You take a whole strawberry, dip it in sour cream, then coat it in brown sugar. It is so simple and yet quite spectacular. We couldn’t stop eating them. I was eating them after everyone left. I wish I were eating them right now. The sour cream and the sugar make a lovely dip around the strawberry. You will have to try it yourself.

That being said, go try it now. No really, go to the grocery store and feed it to your family tonight. You can come back later and read about the rest of the week-end. I won’t post anymore I promise. Now go, I mean it.

What to post about?

Here is an earlier IM between DG and myself. Third party credibility is ok, but here it is straight from the horses mouth:

allbeehive: what should i blog about today?
DG: callahans big win!
allbeehive: not what should YOU blog about
DG: i know
DG: how cool your fiance is
DG: how beautiful he is
DG: how strong and smelly he is
DG: how happy he makes you and how much you can't wait to spend a 3-day weekend with him
DG: and how beautiful he is
DG: oh, and how he raised a good dog
allbeehive: oh man
allbeehive: that's a mouthful

Callahan Auto did in fact have their first win ever last week, and it happened to be their first playoff game. I was not playing. And yes Mr. Gibson is a very good dog...sometimes.

Rock Star or Scary Psycho Stalker?

Happy 3 day week-end. Here's a little something to tide you over, an old picture taken back in the day during a gig we played in someones back yard. I think this is right before one of the neighbors called the cops.

Hanky Birthday Panky

Last week, DG and I headed up to Proto's in Lafayette to celebrate his sister's birthday. (um the 8th annual 29th I believe) As seen above, Jinnie is opening her new pair of Hanky Panky. I'm on a mission to convert one woman at a time to the comfort that is the HP. (And then her friend bought her other friend a pair, and that friend bought, ahhhh the cycle of life...)



And just for Jinnie's special day, the skies opened up and there appeared a huge double rainbow. You could see it from beginning to end, though it was so big I could not capture it's entirety with the camera.

Movie Review: M:i: III

Normally we are Netflicks watchers, sitting at home, on the couch with the dogs, eating air popped popcorn with lo sodium salt and a side of herbal tea. Last Friday night however, David and I decided to head downtown and catch an 8p.m. showing of Mission Impossible III. I enjoy a good action film, could give a rip about the Tom Cruise media portrayals, and though I enjoyed the first two MI movies, I wanted to see this one because it was directed by J.J. Abrams, the creator of Alias (of which Season I is one of the best spy dramas ever written).

Fast food and slurpees are not the only things in this country that have been supersized. The movie experience in itself has grown out of control. A lunch bag size of popcorn, 8oz grape soda, and a few twizzlers have been replace by stadium seating, cup holders for your 42oz medium soda, surround sound, and screens so large you feel like you may develop a tick from watching the action scenes. DG decided he wanted some popcorn and diet soda. I suggested that we get a medium of each to share, then came the upsell. It was cheaper to go with Option 3, a large popcorn and 2 medium sodas. One medium soda was enough to throw a dozen diabetics into a coma and we got two. They were huge, like over 40 oz. huge. I'm not even going to talk about the popcorn, except to say when I got home, I looked up it's fat and caloric content in my special book, only to find that the entire thing (no butter) was 1200 calories and 74 grams of fat. Yes, an entire days worth. *shaking fist at the sky and shouting why why?!?*

Ok, so back to the movie. It was fun to see cameos from Abrams alums Greg Grunberg, (Felicity, Alias) and Keri Russell. It was like watching a 2 hour episode of Alias with a side of Felicity. J.J. Abrams is the master of getting you involved in the social/romantic life of the character, watching them in love, at a party with their friends, and then turning around having them turn into a superhero, diving bullets and jumping out of airplanes. This movie was no different. It was entertaining, action packed, maybe not as good as the first two, but it will definitely be a decent rental, in the future, from Netflicks, on your couch, in the comfort of your own home, minus the 74 grams of fat popcorn. I'd give it a B.

My former life as a rock star

I joke that I was a Rock Star, my friends used to pump my ego by saying that I was one, but in reality I was just a plain old girl that played guitar and wrote songs. The story of Ed Fingers is in the Ed and Janet post below on May 8th. We were together for about 7 years when tragedy struck, with sex, drugs, and *sigh* sorry, no crazy VH1 Behind the Music drama here. I left the band because I needed a break. Sad but true, my amp sits in the linen closet and my guitars haven't seen the light of day in years. Shown above, we were a last minute entry in the 2000 Rock the Vote tour. They had a cancellation and two of the event coordinators came out to see us play at Herman's Hideaway the night before and asked us to play the next day. Very cool for us. Below is a picture of us playing a tiny punk bar called 7 South that is no longer around, and is now The Hi Dive.


Here's our only review from a now defunct GO GO Magazine.

And last but not least, blow the dust off of these, here are three songs from our one album: Distracted, Frogs, and a live version of Butterflies.

And the winner is...

Think green. Green apples, the greenest lawn on the block, fresh lime. Now to find some shoes that match.

Clean Out Your Closets

It's spring and time to do some cleaning. I go through my clothes every year and move my winter wardrobe out of the closet, pack it in bins under my bed, and move the spring clothes in. I also take this time to see what I did not wear the previous year and put it in a pile to donate to the Salvation Army. Once in a great while I kept a favorite item hoping it would fit again someday - oh the longing. Such is the case with several pairs of pants that I recently found that I now fit into. These precious clothes which were once the love of my wardrobe, that took up space in my storage for years and years, waiting for that day when ah ha, they would fit over my hips again were saved with good reason. Eagerly, I started trying them on, thinking that I had something new to wear, only to find out that though they do 'technically' fit, they look completely unflattering, have lost their shape and have gone way out of style. Not acid washed jeans out of style, but close enough.

So feel free to take a lesson out of the Christy handbook. Don't save clothes in your closet that you are hoping will fit you again someday. Give them away. I promise by time they will fit, you are NOT going to want to wear them.

Dinner Parties for Grown Ups

We had DGs coworkers E & M over for dinner on Monday night and they brought their dog Baxter. I may go on and on about other people's dogs and how cute they are, but I'm usually just being nice. Baxter on the other hand is a total hunk. There are few dogs that I can say are as cute as ours, but Baxter fits the bill. Exhibit A: Precious Schmoopy


Right before I met DG, I was single, lonely, and thinking about getting a dog. I did a bunch of research online about what type of dog I wanted and came down to 2 breeds, Pugs and Boston Terriers. When I started looking for a breeder and found out that puppies were $400-$500, I ended up meeting DG and he came with a dog! Fun! Goes to show, be careful what you wish for. Which in my case turned out great.


Back to Baxter, he is a fun dog and gets along with our bossy little babies, so it made for a good evening. Dinner was salmon with a mango salsa, cous cous, roasted broccoli and for dessert that yummy rice pudding with vanilla bean, orange, and rum that I posted last year. The salsa would go great on chicken too, or substitute the mango with peaches and put it on a white fish like halibut.

Mango Salsa
2 mangos peeled and chopped
2 TBL lime juice
2 tsp lime zest
1 clove minced garlic
1/4C minced red onion
1/4C minced cilantro
1 tsp minced serrano pepper
1 TBL olive oil

Mix and let sit for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to combine.

When are the carrots going to be here mom?

I have planted about 70% of the garden so far this year. I learned several lessons last year including not to purchase too many vegetables (18 green pepper plants huh?) and when you plant your corn early, you need to plant more than a couple of stalks, as it needs a bunch to cross pollinate. Who knew? Well my thumb turned a shade greener and this year, I did not overplant and I stayed away from corn. I did scale down to 3 green pepper, 2 tomato, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, and a cucumber plant. Though in the craziness at the garden store, I got something called a lemon cucumber which is yellow and shaped like a, well a lemon. Anyone, anyone? *gawd*

Early in the season, I planted spinach, lettuce, and carrots as they are no fail. Straight into the ground, add water, and voila salad every night for a week. Gibson loves carrots. He will sit, lay down, roll over, say he'll do chores for a week, whatever it takes to get carrots. Last summer we had a routine going where I would come home from work, go out to the garden, and Gibson would follow me and sit at the end of the row of carrots and wait patiently. I would thin out the carrots by pulling out every 5th one, which at 1/2" was underdeveloped yet mighty tasty. Then I brushed the dirt off of them and fed them to him. He loved it. It was our thing. This year, I planted the carrots for him.

Now if only I can keep Tica from jumping the fence and laying down in them.

Bad News Bears Revisited

I came out of the womb the first girl in a Baseball family. My grandfather played then coached, as did my father. If the Red Sox were playing, the game was on Grandpa's TV. By age 7, I was able to throw like an effeminate boy and by 10 like a real boy. The first team I played for Campbell's Bakery, was not that much different from The Bad News Bears. During my first game, I played right field. My grandfather came to the game, though he was concerned that I was playing baseball because I was a girl. The first ball I got rolled out to me and I ran at it with an open glove all eager beaver. It took a bad bounce and hit me in the mouth. My mom tells the story much better about my bloodiness, as I have no recollection. Being in right field wasn't so bad though. Most of my time was spent tossing dandelions into the air and catching them in my mitt.

I managed to get a little better, and was drafted one of 4 girls into little league in 6th grade. By 7th grade when we moved to Connecticut, I joined an all girls softball team, but I never really got into it. My dad says I turned into a girl and didn't want to wear a hat to mess my 80's bear claw hair or ruin my nails tossing the ball around. I think that I just didn't like playing with all girls. Read: competitive, butch, angry girls.

Jump to 25 years later when DG asks me to join his softball team (Callahan's Auto - named after the movie Tommy Boy). I told him I didn't want to, but if they were desperate, I would sub in a game or two. 8:55pm two weeks ago, I got the call that one of their girls didn't show up and they need me right away. *grumble grumble* By the time I got there, they had already started playing. As I walked onto the field, I didn't get a hello, or welcome, I got the "You're up to bat!" What the...?!?! I haven't hit a softball in over 9 years. Luckily I didn't completely embarrass myself and I hit the ball every time I was up, made it to base a couple of times and even made it home once. I even played catcher to DGs pitching and managed to not have too many screw ups.

Come the following week when they needed a girl again, I was requested. Just as I had gotten over the soreness in my legs from squatting behind the plate the last game, they needed me to play again. This time, I was sent to right field, a position I am well versed in. Right field as an adult is more about screaming and being a cheerleader for your team. This is easy enough, but you have to yell loud enough to be heard above all of the true cheerleaders, the drunk homeless men who call this park home. This can be good and bad, as on good nights they actually cheer for you and on bad, they drunkenly slur out heckles like “less talk more hittin’ woman!” I was relieved when only 1 ball came out my way. Though the lack of action out there did have me checking out the dandelion factor, which could have kept me occupied all night long.

There’s not much difference between Campbell’s Bakery and Callahan Auto. Both made it through an entire season without so much as winning one game. The team is trying to recruit me for their summer season, but I really do not want to play. I am no longer afraid of getting dirty or messing my hair, my concerns are more legitimate, like while playing catcher, getting whacked in the face with a bat and having a constant drool for our wedding, or having slow reflexes and catching a ball with my eye instead of my glove, or having a ball take a bad bounce and removing one of my teeth.

Supersize My Fast Food Nation

Years ago I read the book Fast Food Nation which was a long overdue explanation in the decline in the way America eats. We want it fast, we want it cheap, and we want it now. If the chapter on the slaughter houses doesn't get you, then maybe the one about the chemical plant that flavors your food with artificial flavoring will. Click here to read the first chapter of the book.

In the same vein, I enjoyed Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. Beyond him eating nothing but food from a McDonald's menu for 30 days, he also explores obesity in children and America's School Lunch Program. The film is riddled with shocking statistics such as 60% of all Americans are either overweight or obese, and one in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. These are some very scary odds. To read his other statisticsGo Here.

Well the premise of Fast Food Nation has been turned into a fictional movie. According to the New York Times, the movie is "an ensemble piece with a cast that includes Greg Kinnear, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Avril Lavigne and Ethan Hawke, pulls stories from the book and massages them into six intertwining narratives centered on life in a small Colorado town. Plot lines include problems in a meatpacking plant and the life of a teenage fast-food employee. It was shot for around $10 million in Colorado; Austin, Tex., and Mexico."

I for one can't wait.

Knit Club

Rule number one of knit club, talk as much as you want about knit club! And invite whoever you want to knit club. We had our 2nd Knit Club meeting this past Sunday during a beautiful 70 degree day, sitting on my back porch. Knit Club consists of Patty, who has proven to be our most experienced, Holly, who has knitted for the past several years, myself, and 2 new combers. Knit club is for all levels of knitters. Since I did not have a project to work on, I practiced knitting a square. Then I decided that I wanted to learn how to put a pattern in the middle of my square. I started with something easy, the letter L. Patty showed me how to do it and it was quite fun and easy. Now I'm ready to add a 3rd color AND maybe even do a star, or a duck or a beach ball! Crazy, I know. I will try to add a picture of my L later this evening.

How Will We Age?

Recently our photographer found out the true ages of DG and I and was so suprised that he couldn't wait to go home and tell his wife. They thought we were about the same age as them, which is 27. I remember spending the day with them, knowing that they were younger because of their sweet porcelain like skin, the likes of which had not yet been touched by crows feet. I remember when my best friend Holly first told me that she knew I was aging because when I smiled I had all of these lines around my eyes. Nice. I remember thinking I don't have lines around my...someone get me a mirror, and in horror seeing what she was talking about.

A few weeks ago, I realized that DG is going to be 40 next year. Well it's unfair to say that as he's not even turning 39 until mid-December. But I am marrying an old man. 40? But I look at him, and he acts about 32, and then I look at me, and wonder what I've done to deserve these bags under my eyes and I wonder which of us will age better. Will people think he has a young trophy wife? Or will they think I'm his older sister? When we have kids, will people think I'm the young nanny? (HA) Or will we both trudge along and look exactly the same age in the years to come? I guess only time will tell. (pun intended)

Ed and Janet's Party

This post has no picture of Ed or his girlfriend Janet from Saturday. I had to go back back back in the vaults and drudge up this photo from New Years to create an accurate representation.

I met Ed through a mutual friend not long after I moved to Denver. I found out Ed played trumpet and was in a band in college and he knew I played guitar. The first party I went to at Ed's house I met all of the people who would remain my good friends over the past 10 years, including Craig. Craig was a drummer and that night he and Ed asked me if I wanted to be in a band with them. My response was that I had always wanted to be in an all girl band (and they would have to wear skirts and act dirty) and I wanted the band's name to be Brazen Hussy. They did not hesitate when they said NO WAY. I said ok, when do we start practicing? Hence the inception of 6 years of Ed Fingers.

Another person at the above mentioned party was Jon, pictured here with Dave prominently displaying some T&A martini cups that had once belonged to Ed's mom. Jon has agreed to play at our wedding with his band Cocktail Revolution. We are very excited about this. Jon is not only an amazing saxaphone player, but he is also the kind of musician where you say, I would really like to hear [insert obscure song from 1978 here] and he will pick up his sax and start playing it. Yeah, I know, cool.

I'll stop getting all nostalgic and come back to the present with, it was really good to hang out at Ed's new pad on Saturday night.

Please market to me

I know I'm getting old when out of the blue I walk into a Talbots and see several articles of clothing that are really stylish and cute. What? I associate wearing clothes from Talbots with conservative republican 50+ women, and housewives in SUVs paying $60 to fill their tank, none of which I am, which leads me to believe that Banana Republic better woo me back soon with a better clothing line that isn't made for patchouli wearing hippies, or else. Or else what?

When I go to the mall these days, I'm surrounded by stores marketing to teenagers and girls in their early 20's. Girls that don't really have money other than their parents credit cards. Girls that still have skinny hips. So where does that leave us 30 somethings that still want to be cute and stylish and not end up looking like soccer moms? I feel like no one is marketing to me. Someone, please anyone?! Are you out there? Am I invisible? Don't you know that we've finally come into our own success and have some money for the first time in our lives, after paying off our college loans and our car and now we can afford to buy some nice outfits to wear to work that don't look like 1) we are headed on a trip to Vegas going clubbin' or 2) living the life of a drugged out hippie. Is it too much to ask?

Something Bling

Something borrowed, something blue, something bling.

So I've been looking for sterling silver chandelier earrings to wear on the day of the wedding. I had seen a few things I liked on Ebay but had not decided on anything. This may sound like an easy task, but I cannot put any old earrings into the delicate lobes of mine. If they are not 100% sterling silver or 14K gold, my ears will turn red immediately and start bleeding within the hour. *GGggross, but true, and not at all lovely or pretty.*

I was running errands today at lunch and ended up going into Banana Republic where they had pretty much the exact pair I had been looking for. Well luck be a lady tonight, I also had a $10 BR coupon on me, so they were a total steal. It would have been a crime not to get them.


When I got home, I decided to don one of the tiaras that Jinnie gave me this week-end. I have 3 that I've been prancing around the house in giving a test run. Here's me eating dinner in option number 1, with my new dangle earrings. Suffice it to say I sat on the couch in the tiara, watched tv in the tiara, and finally had to remove it when I went to bed. A Princess needs her beauty sleep too.

Craiglist strikes again

I love Craigslist.com and am about to go on and on in an unabashed plug for them. If you have never used Craigslist, it is like an online garage sale, except without all the driving around, looking for the signs stapled to poles at major intersections with words too small to read, so you have to do a U-turn to read the sign again, and in the process almost crash your car, only to learn that the sign was for a sale two Saturdays ago, not that day.

Also, you can sit at your computer and do a search for 10 minutes for what you want, rather than driving around for hours, sifting through other people's junk to see if it is your new treasure.

Even with craigslist, I still love going to garage sales but even more I love the concept of the garage sale! I learned at an early age how to Garage Sale from my Grandmother who would go out every Saturday and drive all over town with a list of places to go. If I ever saw a fun toy or gaudy piece of jewelry, Grandma would bargain and purchase it for me for fifty cents.

But I digress, back to Craigslist. I have only used it a few times, all with great success. I sold my table and chair set, along with some odds and ends in the garage, and DG sold some lambs wool seat covers. We have also used it to find someone to Rota till our garden last year, and this year to find our photographer, and purchase an air filter for our home. Most recently we have been searching for tables and chairs for the back yard to host a dinner party. I managed to score 5' and 6' folding tables and yesterday I got a card table and 2 chairs for free. Originally I was going to pay $10 for them, but when we drove all the way to Boulder to get them, the guy was not home. We stayed and ate lunch waiting to see if he called. He felt so bad that he missed us that he gave them to us for free! This is very exciting as we are having 40-50 people at our house for dinner, and only have chairs for about 15 right now. I've shopped online and in all the cheap stores including Kmart and Target, and the average folding chair is $20. *ouch* So we will beg, borrow, and otherwise steal from our friends, and continue to search online.

David Sedaris a Laugh a Minute

I did not meet him. I didn't even bring a book for him to sign. Prior to his reading, he even snuck into the crowd and DG was standing in front of him for a good couple of minutes before anyone even realized he was there. He's such a small slight of a man, unassuming and blending in, one would think he was just a fan, of himself. But when they finally figured it out, one by one they descended on him and the line started to form. In my hesitation to speak with him, I missed my one opportunity to be star struck and giddy and make up funny anecdotes about my love of his books which would produce light conversation *rats*. We didn't even bring a camera. I didn't even get a chance to say "David Sedaris, would you pose for my...*gulp* um blog...?"

Thanks to DGs work, we had great seats, 3rd row center of the Neuman Center at Denver University. David Sedaris had the entire audience from line one. Many people around us were guffawing and gulping in air more than in any comedy club I've ever been to. He started off reading a story about animals. It was a funny story with a gruesome ending, yet his explanation about why he wrote this story made it that much more interesting and understandable. Having read his books and now seeing him in person, his written word aloud makes for a more laughable scenario. His voice transplants you visually into each scene. It makes me want to hear all of his books on tape. He also read a newer story that is in the latest issue of The New Yorker and another that he's working on for his address to the graduates of Princeton. (Click on The New Yorker above to read the article.) I don't know what makes Sedaris so funny. The way he takes everyday life and turns it into a comedic analogy of human imperfection, or his facial expressions, or the way he isn't afraid to say "hippopotamus anus" for a laugh, drop the f bomb excessively, or offer up his sister for sex.

All I know is that next time, I’m bringing my camera, leaving my fear at home, and getting a picture for the blog.