.:: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 ::.

today...


can you believe it was my first time ever?! in california, my vote didn't matter much since i pretty much agreed with the majority. but now that we live in a swing state...well, maybe it's time to turn this state blue. haha... unfortunately, we still have to endure those stupid negative campaign ads for another week. ugh...

:: joyce 6:47 PM [+]::
...

.:: Monday, October 30, 2006 ::.

last night we decided to go check out the asylum haunted house with C&C. i can't remember the last time i went to a haunted house, and i'm sure it was nothing like this one. i know it's fake, but it's still pretty freaky, and realistic! the dude with the chainsaw that kept following me, yeah, that was a bit too real for me. we were with a group of girls, probably around 12, and they were hilarious. i was glad they were walking in front of us tho! they also have a haunted corn maze! no thank you! i was just glad i didn't have any nightmares last night. happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

so, we've been talking and pre-planning our trip to europe (finally!!). and W insisted that if we go, we would need a new camera. we both knew our next digicam was going to be a digital SLR, and W found a scorching deal on a canon EOS 30D. it was waaaaay more than i was planning to spend (we were originally looking at the digital Rebel XTi) but i figure, a good deal on these things don't come around everyday. this way we'll be more than prepared by the time we go to europe.

now, on to our exciting european vacation! still in its early planning stages, but we're hoping to go to berlin to visit my friend M (her and hubby are living there, going to school), then hop on over to catalonya, spain to check out the formula 1 spanish grand prix. we'll hang out in nearby barcelona for a few days. then hop on over to the little island of sardinia, italy for the world rally car rally d'italia sardegna. we'll explore the little island (which i've read is quite lovely) a few days to wrap up our exciting european racing adventure! the 2 racing schedules worked themselves out perfectly! i would have loved to see the WRC race at the acropolis in greece, but that's several weeks after our planned trip. and as much as i've love to stay in europe for a month, i don't think that's gonna happen. so now i'm on a mission to learn conversational spanish and italian. hahaha...

so i'm disappointed that michael schumacher has decided to retire THIS year, so we won't get to see him in action. but i think next year will be quite interesting, with not only a new breed of young drivers, but drivers switching teams. and i'm REALLY excited about seeing WRC live! they always drive thru the cutest little towns in europe, and i'll get to be one of those crazy fools hanging out of the tree to take a picture! hahaha, not really.

:: joyce 6:01 PM [+]::
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.:: Thursday, October 26, 2006 ::.

tuesday the weather ppl were saying there was going to be a blizzard coming thru our area wednesday night, into thursday morning. well, when i left work yesterday, it was 68 degrees, so we had doubts that this so-called blizzard was really gonna happen. but then again, this is colorado, were we can literally have all 4 seasons in one day. here's what i woke up to this morning...



and here's the parking lot at work! these are the closest spots to the building, so these ppl probably got there around 6am. that's about 2 hours of snow accumulation on their cars. crazy.



W dropped me off so i wouldn't have to walk a mile in the snow from my car to the building! thank goodness he did too, or else i'd be digging myself out of the snow like everyone else had to!

:: joyce 4:59 PM [+]::
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.:: Monday, October 23, 2006 ::.

happy 2 year anniversary to us!

since our anniversary landed on a monday, we decided to just go to a nice dinner to celebrate. we went to the melting pot for some fondue. it was sooooo good, and i'm sooooo stuffed. we got the "big night out" 4-course meal. everything was so yummy! who knew you could get so full from fondue! the best of course was dessert. we got the yin & yang chocolate, which is dark chocolate and white chocolate (in a perfect yin yang shape), and had strawberries, pineapple, banana, oreo covered marshmallows, graham cracker covered marshmallows, brownies, pound cake and cheesecake to dip! the one here in littleton is in an old library building! so the ambience is really cool. the service was very good, not smothering, not neglectful, just right. we were there for 2.5 hours!

in other news, i forgot to mention we've had 2 freezes already! the first of the season came late last tuesday morning. my car was covered in 2 inches of snow! the next freeze was overnight friday, about another 2 inches. it's supposed to snow again this weekend. but for now, we're enjoying 70 degree weather. many ski resorts are open, the rest are about to open. this is very exciting!

:: joyce 10:15 PM [+]::
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.:: Sunday, October 22, 2006 ::.

a little knitting and crafting update...

i haven't had much knitting luck lately. i started a celtic cable baby blanket for G over the summer, but after about a foot into it, decided i didn't like it at all (didn't look as good as it did in the picture), so i gave up on it and put it aside. have a butt-load of cream colored yarn now. then i re-knit the brown cable throw pillows for our bed, cuz the one i made originally i used 2 skeins of brown that i thought were the same, but when i was done, it was very noticeable that they were indeed different. d'oh! so i made 2 with the same batch of brown yarn, and changed the pattern a bit. not crazy about the pattern i came up with, but there's no way i'm going to make those pillows. again. and last, i started my first attempt at the hourglass sweater from last minute knitted gifts. i borrowed this one from the library so i just had the pattern, no actual picture of the sweater. well, after finishing the body and starting on one sleeve, i decided i didn't like the sweater, and started searching for a new pattern to use my 12 skeins of yarn for. well, i couldn't really find exactly what i was looking for. but then i found this picture, and decided that i would continue on with my hourglass. two things i didn't like were the rolled bottom and sleeves...but since i didn't have a picture, and hadn't read thru the entire pattern, didn't realize that you tuck them under and sew them, so you have a nice clean, finished edge! and also, i don't care for the big boat neck on this sweater, but this lady just added 2 more decrease rows at the neck, perfect!! and i know the essence of the hourglass sweater is its hourglass shaped body and sleeves, but it was jut too big bell for me, so i cut out the bell sleeves and just made them straight. i hope it turns out okay. i don't know how many more adult sweaters i'll make. i love knitting baby stuff cuz it's fast and so cute!

and i finally finished my first painting!! i have this little obsession with tokidoki. okay, maybe it's not so little. but i'm in love with cactus girl!! so i painted her, so i could have a cactus girl of my own. :D



i have several other tokidoki inspired paintings in the pipeline, so hopefully they'll turn out even better than this first attempt!

:: joyce 4:45 PM [+]::
...

.:: Monday, October 16, 2006 ::.

so it's been a pretty busy week and half. last weekend W's dad and stepmom were supposed to come out for a visit, but their flight got cancelled. anyone who books a flight on american via expedia should really double check their flight reservations, cuz this happened to me too!! anyway, we were planning to take them up to estes park and the rocky mountain national forest, to take a little drive up the highest paved road in the US, topping out at over 12,000 feet above sea level. so we decided to just go anyway. it was really cold at the top, at least a 30 degree difference from the bottom of the mountain. we were a little too late to catch the changing colors in the mountains, but it was cool to see just the same.



then last monday i started my new position, but since only 3 of us from my team are actually in our area, we didn't have too much to do. we still don't have any new loan files, so for now, we're all just trying to enjoy this "down time" while we can!

this past weekend we were back in the bay area, and i saw my friends' babies and also witnessed M & S tie the knot! woohoo! it was great to see my friends, and all the new babies. we had a great time at the wedding! and then finally got to spend some time with my parents on sunday before heading back. these trips always seem to fly by so fast, but at the same time, it's always good to be home. home, sweet home.

here's L's newest baby boy (my godson's new baby brother! and he's so protective of him, already showing what a great big brother he's going to be!). and me and T...he's getting so big!


and me with I's baby girl (the only girl of all my friends' babies):


and G with her baby boy, I:


and last, here are a few pics from the wedding...


and now it's back to work. things are still slow, but i'm not complaining. and i can focus on my knitting once again. which reminds me, i need to do a knitting update (i know how much you love those!).

:: joyce 8:07 PM [+]::
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.:: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 ::.

october 1st marked our one year here in colorado. i can't believe we've been here for an entire year already! as we were driving to nebraska for the last NASA track event for the season, W and i reflected back on this past year, and talked about the whole experience. i don't have any regrets, and think this was a really good thing for us. it was definitely hard being so far from friends and family, but i think it
was good for our relationship, to just be on our own and focus on us and acclamating to life in the rockies. i still wish i could have just one really good girlfriend out here, but you know, i've met some really great ppl thru work so i really can't complain. things at work are looking great. i love our house even more each day (especially as we slowly make improvements and add our own touches). we picked a great area and neighborhood, a place i can definitely picture us raising kids someday. it just all worked out better than i expected. i didn't have a whole lot of expectations when we moved out here, i just really hoped i wouldn't hate it! and i don't, at all. i am definitely looking forward to our 2nd winter here, and hope to get a few more snowboarding trips in this season. woohoo!

and speaking of our little trip to nebraska... well, we found out why they're called the nebraska cornhuskers, cuz man, nebraska has a LOT of corn! there's a new track in this little town called hastings, and since this was the last track event of the year, W really didn't want to miss it. he liked the track a lot, and altho the temporary control tower/trailor wasn't the greatest, it had AC, and that's really all i need to stay happy! :) hopefully by next year, they'll have their planned 3-story control tower up and ready to go. the track workers were really great and a lot of fun to work with. and the best part...W is just one step away from getting his racing license so he can race in NASA's honda challenge (that's his goal). yea! i'm gonna be a driver's wife! hahaha...

before we left for nebraska, the trees were starting to turn, some more than others. by the time we got back yesterday, all the yellow trees are now bare, and the green trees are yellow! our's are slowly making their way to yellow, and our maple tree is starting to turn red. i just hope we don't have another freak snowstorm before all the leaves fall off, like last year!

well we've got a busy month already...this weekend W's dad and stepmom are visiting. the weekend after we'll be in the bay area for M&S's wedding (yea!!!). the following weekend is our 2 year wedding anniversary (wow!). and we need to get started sometime on our downstairs bathroom remodel (we're replacing the vanity, tiling the floors, painting, and maybe doing some tile work on the walls--it's going to look fabulous!). we also want to retile the mudroom and put in more storage. at least it'll be winter soon so we'll be spending more time indoors. then we won't have any excuses not to work on the house!

i sure could use a pumpkin spice latte right about now...

:: joyce 5:17 PM [+]::
...

a friend and former coworker wore this t-shirt on one casual friday, i recall it was orange, and the back of the shirt had the phrase "y'om say'n?" on it. i asked him, "what's that?" his response: "y'om say'n?" and from that day on, everytime he wore that shirt, he'd see me and say "y'om say'n?" and i'd respond with "word."