Why is it that starting something is always harder than finishing it? Ugh... again, no posts in a while and this one will be sans pictures. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of the knitting that I've finished, but right now it's beginnings that are on my mind. I've been struggling for the past couple of weeks with the beginning of my book. Nothing seems to be working right. It originally started with me waking up, but that seemed too cliche, plus it didn't really get the theme of the book going quickly enough, so I wasn't sure if my readers would stick with me. I tried another beginning. It sucked. I'm working on a third one right now (well... I'm actually procrastinating from working on a third one) and I'm not sure if it's going to work or not. I like it better than the first two, but I don't now if it's there yet. It's just so difficult to get the whole thing going. I have the ending planned. It's going to be great. If I can ever get there. I see now why George Lucas started with the last three Star Wars. Beginnings just suck.
In related news, applying for jobs also sucks. I've applied for a ton of jobs, and heard nothing back. Seriously? I'm well educated, hard worker... blah, blah, blah. I can't ever get a call back? I don't know. I just hate being in limbo. I just want things to be set and on their way. Book beginning set...job set... things are so much easier to work with when they're already in motion.
Anyway... I'll stop complaining and go work on my book some more. If anyone wants to employ me, let me know. :) I'm up for just about anything at this point.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Viva Las Vegas
Well, not quite as soon as I'd hoped, but whatever. I just got back from beautiful Las Vegas where Andrew and I were on vacation for our one year (!) anniversary. It was a great trip. I always love Vegas, it's just so... much. We had a great time there, as usual, so here's the recap:
Accommodations: We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel. Now, I like the Trop, it's classic old school Vegas. But, it is old. It's definitely starting to fall apart at the seams a little bit. I've heard rumors that it's going to be torn down soon and rebuilt, but who know. No one can seem to confirm that. The rooms aren't fantastic, and ours smelled like BO sometimes, but overall we don't stay in the room that much and they are super cheap, so it doesn't really matter. The best part of the Tropicana is the pool. They have something like 5 acres of gardens and pool. It is quite fantastic.
Shows: We only got to one show on this trip, but we went to see Penn and Teller. We always go down to the Tickets 4 Tonight place next to the MGM to see what kind of discounted tickets we can get. Penn and Teller was great. I really liked that they showed you how some of the tricks were done. It still amazed me, even when they showed us what was happening. The slight of hand was awesome. Very fun show, and not terribly priced.
Food: My favorite part of Vegas. :) I found out about a day in that I am NOT actually allergic to Gluten, so I went a little hog wild. :) Turns out I should probably still avoid it, but whatever. Vacation food doesn't count right? We rarely got up in time for breakfast, but did make it to the Tropicana's Island Buffet for breaky one morning. It was... well... it was okay. The food wasn't fantastic and there wasn't a whole lot of variety, but they kept the champagne flowing and the omelettes were good.
Lunch- We ate at La Salsa, great food and wicked good margaritas (yard margs nonethless). I think there are a few around. We went to the one by the MGM. We got a coupon from the Tickets 4 Tonight place (apparently they do dinner discounts too) but it wasn't super worth it.
Planet Hollywood at Caesars- totally not worth it. We got a coupon for this place too, but there actually wasn't that much memorabilia and the food wasn't anything exciting. The service was only so-so as well. My one tip here... Andrew had a "LA Lasagna" it was pretty darn good. It's basically lasagna that has been wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and deep fried. Just make it at home... it was delicious.
Pizza at the NYNY- I honestly don't remember the name, but it's in the back corner by the roller coaster and is wicked good.
Sherwood Forest Cafe at the Excalibur- decent enough, nice big burgers and waffle cut fries. Seriously... who doesn't love a waffle cut fry. :)
Dinner- the dinners were for the most part great. We got reservations and some discount coupons (50% off entrees for some of them) through Tickets 4 Tonight. They try to get people into the restaurants either early or late (like 6:30 and before or after 9) but it was worth it for the most part.
Buffet at Mandalay Bay- I don't remember the name, but it was pretty good. Not terribly priced and our server was nice.
Carnival World Buffet at the Rio- This was great. It really is the best buffet on the strip. Granted, I'm not a buffet connoisseur, but it's huge. Lots of great food and endless gelato. Again... who doesn't love gelato?
Pampas at Planet Hollywood. This is a Brazillian Steakhouse, which was great. We did the Rodizio where they just bring you endless meats on swords. Quite good. The sides and salads were decent, but the meat was great. Definitely try the filet mignon, ham and pineapple and the lamb. All fantastic.
Enoteca San Marco at the Venetian- so... I have to temper this review with the fact that we didn't entirely know what we were getting into. When we were at the Tickets 4 Tonight place, the guy just told us this is Mario Batali's restaurant. I thought- sweet, Italian Iron Chef's Restaurant, sign me up. Now, we missed our initial reservation and so had to come back at 9:30- no biggie, we went and had some drinks and didn't worry about it. Well, turns out an Enoteca is basically a wine bar where they use argon gas to preserve wines so they can dole out small pours of expensive wines for people to try. Had we know this, we might have saved our money and really focused on the wine. We didn't know and the $15-45 for a 4 ounce glass of the wines was quite steep. We ended up trying a couple of tastes, 2 ounce pours, but those were still about $13 each. A bit much for a taste. The sommelier, actually I think it was just a steward, was quite unhelpful and a little rude when he realized that we weren't' going to be dropping a few hundred dollars on a bottle of wine. Whatever... our regular waitress was quite nice and I was excited for the food. Overall though, disappointing. Andrew had a Carbonara. It really wasn't great. I had some veal and ricotta meatballs, they were quite good, but not what I expected from Batali's restaurant. Overall it was pretty meh.
However... because we missed our reservation we did find a fantastic Mexican place also at the Venetian. The Taqueria Canonita was FANTASTIC! We had great service (ask for Martin if you go there). Martin recommended some great tequila for our margaritas, and a fantastic appetizer (ceviche). The food and drink was excellent. Andrew did a tasting of some tequila and I had some tequila liquor. It was wonderful Martin ever brought us out a sample of the house made pineapple infused tequila, which was amazing and when we inquired about purchasing a bottle, directed us to the website where we can get the recipe for free. He was so nice and the food was wonderful, so it made up for the ridiculousness over at Enoteca.
Our final dinner was for our anniversary and we went to Les Artistes at the Paris. It was another great meal. John Wayne was our server and he was wonderful, helpful, funny and had an amazing singing voice. We got a great bottle of wine, some foie gras (which was meh) fantastic lobster bisque and wonderful steaks. Plus I had the absolute best chocolate souffle I have ever eaten in my life. It might have been the best dessert ever. Period. Really a wonderful time.
Anyway... that's the quick recap. Oh... and we lost money. :) But who doesn't in Vegas. I got just about no knitting and reading done and absolutely no writing... But tomorrow is another day. :)
Accommodations: We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel. Now, I like the Trop, it's classic old school Vegas. But, it is old. It's definitely starting to fall apart at the seams a little bit. I've heard rumors that it's going to be torn down soon and rebuilt, but who know. No one can seem to confirm that. The rooms aren't fantastic, and ours smelled like BO sometimes, but overall we don't stay in the room that much and they are super cheap, so it doesn't really matter. The best part of the Tropicana is the pool. They have something like 5 acres of gardens and pool. It is quite fantastic.
Shows: We only got to one show on this trip, but we went to see Penn and Teller. We always go down to the Tickets 4 Tonight place next to the MGM to see what kind of discounted tickets we can get. Penn and Teller was great. I really liked that they showed you how some of the tricks were done. It still amazed me, even when they showed us what was happening. The slight of hand was awesome. Very fun show, and not terribly priced.
Food: My favorite part of Vegas. :) I found out about a day in that I am NOT actually allergic to Gluten, so I went a little hog wild. :) Turns out I should probably still avoid it, but whatever. Vacation food doesn't count right? We rarely got up in time for breakfast, but did make it to the Tropicana's Island Buffet for breaky one morning. It was... well... it was okay. The food wasn't fantastic and there wasn't a whole lot of variety, but they kept the champagne flowing and the omelettes were good.
Lunch- We ate at La Salsa, great food and wicked good margaritas (yard margs nonethless). I think there are a few around. We went to the one by the MGM. We got a coupon from the Tickets 4 Tonight place (apparently they do dinner discounts too) but it wasn't super worth it.
Planet Hollywood at Caesars- totally not worth it. We got a coupon for this place too, but there actually wasn't that much memorabilia and the food wasn't anything exciting. The service was only so-so as well. My one tip here... Andrew had a "LA Lasagna" it was pretty darn good. It's basically lasagna that has been wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and deep fried. Just make it at home... it was delicious.
Pizza at the NYNY- I honestly don't remember the name, but it's in the back corner by the roller coaster and is wicked good.
Sherwood Forest Cafe at the Excalibur- decent enough, nice big burgers and waffle cut fries. Seriously... who doesn't love a waffle cut fry. :)
Dinner- the dinners were for the most part great. We got reservations and some discount coupons (50% off entrees for some of them) through Tickets 4 Tonight. They try to get people into the restaurants either early or late (like 6:30 and before or after 9) but it was worth it for the most part.
Buffet at Mandalay Bay- I don't remember the name, but it was pretty good. Not terribly priced and our server was nice.
Carnival World Buffet at the Rio- This was great. It really is the best buffet on the strip. Granted, I'm not a buffet connoisseur, but it's huge. Lots of great food and endless gelato. Again... who doesn't love gelato?
Pampas at Planet Hollywood. This is a Brazillian Steakhouse, which was great. We did the Rodizio where they just bring you endless meats on swords. Quite good. The sides and salads were decent, but the meat was great. Definitely try the filet mignon, ham and pineapple and the lamb. All fantastic.
Enoteca San Marco at the Venetian- so... I have to temper this review with the fact that we didn't entirely know what we were getting into. When we were at the Tickets 4 Tonight place, the guy just told us this is Mario Batali's restaurant. I thought- sweet, Italian Iron Chef's Restaurant, sign me up. Now, we missed our initial reservation and so had to come back at 9:30- no biggie, we went and had some drinks and didn't worry about it. Well, turns out an Enoteca is basically a wine bar where they use argon gas to preserve wines so they can dole out small pours of expensive wines for people to try. Had we know this, we might have saved our money and really focused on the wine. We didn't know and the $15-45 for a 4 ounce glass of the wines was quite steep. We ended up trying a couple of tastes, 2 ounce pours, but those were still about $13 each. A bit much for a taste. The sommelier, actually I think it was just a steward, was quite unhelpful and a little rude when he realized that we weren't' going to be dropping a few hundred dollars on a bottle of wine. Whatever... our regular waitress was quite nice and I was excited for the food. Overall though, disappointing. Andrew had a Carbonara. It really wasn't great. I had some veal and ricotta meatballs, they were quite good, but not what I expected from Batali's restaurant. Overall it was pretty meh.
However... because we missed our reservation we did find a fantastic Mexican place also at the Venetian. The Taqueria Canonita was FANTASTIC! We had great service (ask for Martin if you go there). Martin recommended some great tequila for our margaritas, and a fantastic appetizer (ceviche). The food and drink was excellent. Andrew did a tasting of some tequila and I had some tequila liquor. It was wonderful Martin ever brought us out a sample of the house made pineapple infused tequila, which was amazing and when we inquired about purchasing a bottle, directed us to the website where we can get the recipe for free. He was so nice and the food was wonderful, so it made up for the ridiculousness over at Enoteca.
Our final dinner was for our anniversary and we went to Les Artistes at the Paris. It was another great meal. John Wayne was our server and he was wonderful, helpful, funny and had an amazing singing voice. We got a great bottle of wine, some foie gras (which was meh) fantastic lobster bisque and wonderful steaks. Plus I had the absolute best chocolate souffle I have ever eaten in my life. It might have been the best dessert ever. Period. Really a wonderful time.
Anyway... that's the quick recap. Oh... and we lost money. :) But who doesn't in Vegas. I got just about no knitting and reading done and absolutely no writing... But tomorrow is another day. :)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Weekly at least. :)
Well... again I'm not posting as often as I originally envisioned, but at least it's once a week now. There will be no pictures in this post... I'm feeling too lazy. But, the garden is surviving, despite my best attempts to kill it. I honestly juts forget to water it. Andrew and I are working on putting in the drip system, but it proved more difficult than we envisioned. Mainly because we can't run the hose underneath our deck from the spigot to the garden. We've moved on the plan b, but haven't executed yet. :)
I went to a wedding in Leadville this weekend. It was really beautiful, Jenna did an amazing job. I was sort of touched too because she used a lot of elements from my wedding last summer. It was really nice to see that someone was inspired by something that I put so much work into. I got to catch up with some old friends from high school too. At first I was nervous about this. I didn't really like high school the first time around, so I wasn't sure how it would be. It was really nice though. It was great to see everyone and from what I could tell, we all grew up a lot. I'm actually excited about my 10 year reunion next summer. I think it will be a lot of fun.
Anyway, on the way home from Leadville, Andrew and I stopped at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs (the original one). I had heard that they have gluten free pizzas, so we decided to check it out. It was in short, awesome. Not only do they have gluten free pizzas (plural too, lots of options) but they also have all of the nutrition info and allergy info listed ON THE MENU! It was really nice and I'm sure their staff appreciates it as well. This isn't exclusive to the Idaho Springs location, so I'm sure Andrew and I will be back for pizza at Beau Jo's soon.
In other gluten-free news, I've been eating out more than I thought I would be able to. Chili's, Wendy's, Good Times, Happy Sumo, and I'm sure more places, have all been great and very accommodating. Granted, I don't think I'm super allergic (we'll see when the test results come back) so I can eat things that have been around wheat, but overall they've been really nice.
The knitting is going. I'm currently working on a shawl from Elann and some simple socks for my uncle. Reading and writing are about in the same state. :) Anyway, I'm off to go run with Jenny. I know... working out. It will be an adventure. If I survive, I'll try to write more (with pictures) later this week.
I went to a wedding in Leadville this weekend. It was really beautiful, Jenna did an amazing job. I was sort of touched too because she used a lot of elements from my wedding last summer. It was really nice to see that someone was inspired by something that I put so much work into. I got to catch up with some old friends from high school too. At first I was nervous about this. I didn't really like high school the first time around, so I wasn't sure how it would be. It was really nice though. It was great to see everyone and from what I could tell, we all grew up a lot. I'm actually excited about my 10 year reunion next summer. I think it will be a lot of fun.
Anyway, on the way home from Leadville, Andrew and I stopped at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs (the original one). I had heard that they have gluten free pizzas, so we decided to check it out. It was in short, awesome. Not only do they have gluten free pizzas (plural too, lots of options) but they also have all of the nutrition info and allergy info listed ON THE MENU! It was really nice and I'm sure their staff appreciates it as well. This isn't exclusive to the Idaho Springs location, so I'm sure Andrew and I will be back for pizza at Beau Jo's soon.
In other gluten-free news, I've been eating out more than I thought I would be able to. Chili's, Wendy's, Good Times, Happy Sumo, and I'm sure more places, have all been great and very accommodating. Granted, I don't think I'm super allergic (we'll see when the test results come back) so I can eat things that have been around wheat, but overall they've been really nice.
The knitting is going. I'm currently working on a shawl from Elann and some simple socks for my uncle. Reading and writing are about in the same state. :) Anyway, I'm off to go run with Jenny. I know... working out. It will be an adventure. If I survive, I'll try to write more (with pictures) later this week.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Marathon Post....
Yeah... my thought that when school was over I could totally post three or four times a week... I was wrong. I'm still working on developing my habits and learning to use my time well. It's going...well... it's going. Anyway. This will be a marathon post of all, or most, things that have happened in the past (that's p-a-s-t not passed... I've seen more people screw that one up in the last few days... it just irritates me) few weeks.
Here we go... in blog order
Reading: I haven't been able to devote much time to this, but I did pick up a new book. Simply Christian. It's pretty good so far. My sister is looking into Catholicism, and I'd like to be able to recommend some books for her to read so she has a full perspective on religion. I'm not Catholic myself, so I can't really speak directly to what she's learning at youth group, but I wanted to be able to give her some reading to understand Christianity as a whole. I think Simply Christian might be a little too academic for her, but I'm enjoying it. It's well written and very interesting. It addresses the basics of Christianity without centering on one religion and talks about why it is that Christianity makes sense, or should make sense I guess if you agree with the book. So far, so good, but I haven't had much time to read it.
Writing: Well.... yes. I haven't gotten very far on my book. I only have about 25 pages written. I got a little stuck about a week ago and went off into the weeds doing some probably useless research. I haven't gotten back into it since then. Again... this going beck to my "forming habits" problem. I need to set aside time each day to write, but I haven't. I did however get an hourglass. I'm quite excited. :) It looks very writerly on my desk and it supposed to help me stick with my "at least one hour of writing a day" task.
Knitting: The blanket is finally done! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I am so excited! I decided not to back it. Partially because EVERYONE told me that I didn't need to, and partially because I was just so sick of it. I needed to be done. :) So... here are some gratuitous pictures of the blanket. I really hope that Nicole and the baby like it. :) I also hope that none of my other friends have a baby any time soon... I really don't think I can take making another ridiculous blanket for a while.
So... there it is. I'm feeling about done with my computer taking forever to upload photos. So I'll share my haul from the Ester Park Wool Market and the re-do of the back yard, as well as current knitting projects tomorrow.... or sometime soon. :)
P.S. that blanket really is that big... it's sitting on our king-size bed in those pictures.
Here we go... in blog order
Reading: I haven't been able to devote much time to this, but I did pick up a new book. Simply Christian. It's pretty good so far. My sister is looking into Catholicism, and I'd like to be able to recommend some books for her to read so she has a full perspective on religion. I'm not Catholic myself, so I can't really speak directly to what she's learning at youth group, but I wanted to be able to give her some reading to understand Christianity as a whole. I think Simply Christian might be a little too academic for her, but I'm enjoying it. It's well written and very interesting. It addresses the basics of Christianity without centering on one religion and talks about why it is that Christianity makes sense, or should make sense I guess if you agree with the book. So far, so good, but I haven't had much time to read it.
Writing: Well.... yes. I haven't gotten very far on my book. I only have about 25 pages written. I got a little stuck about a week ago and went off into the weeds doing some probably useless research. I haven't gotten back into it since then. Again... this going beck to my "forming habits" problem. I need to set aside time each day to write, but I haven't. I did however get an hourglass. I'm quite excited. :) It looks very writerly on my desk and it supposed to help me stick with my "at least one hour of writing a day" task.
Knitting: The blanket is finally done! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! I am so excited! I decided not to back it. Partially because EVERYONE told me that I didn't need to, and partially because I was just so sick of it. I needed to be done. :) So... here are some gratuitous pictures of the blanket. I really hope that Nicole and the baby like it. :) I also hope that none of my other friends have a baby any time soon... I really don't think I can take making another ridiculous blanket for a while.
So... there it is. I'm feeling about done with my computer taking forever to upload photos. So I'll share my haul from the Ester Park Wool Market and the re-do of the back yard, as well as current knitting projects tomorrow.... or sometime soon. :)
P.S. that blanket really is that big... it's sitting on our king-size bed in those pictures.
Friday, May 23, 2008
I'm done...
Wow. It's still quite strange to say. I'm not really sure how I feel right now. Today was my last day of school. I don't know if it will be my last day of teaching ever, but it's definitely my last day of teaching for a while. A lot of people asked me how I was feeling. I'm not sure. I'm excited and happy, but also scared and sad. It sort of hit me when I left our FAC this afternoon. I really love the people that I work with and I'll really, really miss everyone. Sunset has been such a great place to work. Granted, I haven't worked at a whole lot of different places, but I've never worked with so many great people in one place. I'm not sure if it's all really hit me yet. Teaching is such a strange profession anyway. I mean, you spend so much time with your coworkers during the year, but come June, people generally go their separate ways. You usually don't see people a whole lot over the summer. It's a strange existence. I think it might hit me a lot more in in August, when for the first time in my life I don't be going back to school. I just don't know... we'll have to see how it all plays out. Right now I just feel weird.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
again with the long absence....
Right. I keep thinking that I'll post daily, or even weekly, but I just haven't gotten to it. So... here goes the marathon post. I'm not sure that any one actually reads this, but if you do, you're in for a long post. Get a snack and brace yourself.
First: School... counting down the days. Everyone's been asking if I'm getting emotional or if I'm going to miss it. I haven' t yet. I think I'll be a bit of a wreck in August when, for the first time in my life, I won't be going back to school, but we'll see. I'm excited right now. I'm really ready to have some time and energy to write.
Second: Reading... I've actually finished a couple of books. Inkheart and The Power of Intention. I wrote reviews for both of them over on my Goodreads page. So I won't bore you with a full review now. I started reading The Secret and The Birchbark House. Hopefully I can finish them in a reasonable amount of time. Yet another thing I'm looking forward to once school is out.
Third: I've been seeing an acupuncturist, as I think I've mentioned before. I'm pretty excited about it. She's the first person who has actually had some answers for all of the symptoms that I've been having for years. She believes that, among other problems, I have a gluten allergy. So, I'm going gluten -free to see if it helps. I'll be posting about that aspect of my life as well. One of the things I was really worried about when I first found out about my allergy was going out to eat. We like to go out with friends all the time and I didn't want to be the lame one that couldn't because of an allergy. So far I have had great luck though. We went out with Jenny and John last weekend to Jim and Nick's BBQ at Northfield Stapleton. They were fantastic! The server went and checked on the gluten in the chips and the BBQ sauce. We ate a giant plate of DE-licious nachos. I never thought to put BBQ sauce on nachos, but they were fantastic. Then I had a giant (literally the size of my head) backed potato with all the trimmings, plus pulled pork and BBQ sauce. Now, I believe that I'm just gluten-intolerant, not majorly allergic, so I can't say if there were trace amounts of gluten in anything or not, but the restaurant was really accommodating and helpful. It was my first outing gluten -free and definitely put me at ease.
The next outing was for Mother's Day with Andrew's mom and sister. We went to the Colorado Coal Company in Erie. They too were awesome. Granted, it's a steak house, so it's a little easier to go gluten free, but they were still nice and able to answer all of my questions.
Finally, last night we got Chipotle. At first I was really worried about going gluten free because I love Mexican food, but EVERYTHING at Chipotle is gluten0free, except the flour tortillas (duh). The guy there was also super nice and gave me a little allergy card with all of the major allergies on it and what they're in. Fantastic. I'm sure I'll be eating out more... so for those who are in Colorado and living gluten-free, hopefully my adventures can help.
Oh... I also bought some gluten-free bread at Great Harvest Bread Company today. Now... I'm only into this gluten-free thing about a week, so I haven't gotten the chance to try any other GF breads, but this stuff is pretty darn good. It's mostly buckwheat, but it's really hearty and not as crumbly as I imagined. The Great Harvest in Longmont bakes it every Wednesday, call ahead to place an order so they don't run out. Also, if you're seriously allergic, there probably is still wheat in the air and stuff. Very good though.
Finally... some knitting. :) And pictures too! I'm plugging away at the orange prayer shawl. No picture for that, it still looks the same. I did however finish the hardest thing I have ever knit in my life. Only after completely screwing it up.
That's the first one with all of the screw ups pointed out. I literally threw this thing across the room I was so irritated. Grumble...
Well, whatever... it got fixed. The next two are pictures of the finished square.
I'm so glad it's done. I hope it looks as hard as it was. Ugh... This one I finished before the square of death.... It wasn't nearly as bad.
And finally.... the square in progress now!
It's quite a lot easier than the last square. I really needed a break after that headache. :) Only 6 squares left. I really hope I can get this thing knit, blocked, sewn together and lined by the end of June. Yipes! Something else to do when school is out. :)
All right... hopefully I can post again soon.
First: School... counting down the days. Everyone's been asking if I'm getting emotional or if I'm going to miss it. I haven' t yet. I think I'll be a bit of a wreck in August when, for the first time in my life, I won't be going back to school, but we'll see. I'm excited right now. I'm really ready to have some time and energy to write.
Second: Reading... I've actually finished a couple of books. Inkheart and The Power of Intention. I wrote reviews for both of them over on my Goodreads page. So I won't bore you with a full review now. I started reading The Secret and The Birchbark House. Hopefully I can finish them in a reasonable amount of time. Yet another thing I'm looking forward to once school is out.
Third: I've been seeing an acupuncturist, as I think I've mentioned before. I'm pretty excited about it. She's the first person who has actually had some answers for all of the symptoms that I've been having for years. She believes that, among other problems, I have a gluten allergy. So, I'm going gluten -free to see if it helps. I'll be posting about that aspect of my life as well. One of the things I was really worried about when I first found out about my allergy was going out to eat. We like to go out with friends all the time and I didn't want to be the lame one that couldn't because of an allergy. So far I have had great luck though. We went out with Jenny and John last weekend to Jim and Nick's BBQ at Northfield Stapleton. They were fantastic! The server went and checked on the gluten in the chips and the BBQ sauce. We ate a giant plate of DE-licious nachos. I never thought to put BBQ sauce on nachos, but they were fantastic. Then I had a giant (literally the size of my head) backed potato with all the trimmings, plus pulled pork and BBQ sauce. Now, I believe that I'm just gluten-intolerant, not majorly allergic, so I can't say if there were trace amounts of gluten in anything or not, but the restaurant was really accommodating and helpful. It was my first outing gluten -free and definitely put me at ease.
The next outing was for Mother's Day with Andrew's mom and sister. We went to the Colorado Coal Company in Erie. They too were awesome. Granted, it's a steak house, so it's a little easier to go gluten free, but they were still nice and able to answer all of my questions.
Finally, last night we got Chipotle. At first I was really worried about going gluten free because I love Mexican food, but EVERYTHING at Chipotle is gluten0free, except the flour tortillas (duh). The guy there was also super nice and gave me a little allergy card with all of the major allergies on it and what they're in. Fantastic. I'm sure I'll be eating out more... so for those who are in Colorado and living gluten-free, hopefully my adventures can help.
Oh... I also bought some gluten-free bread at Great Harvest Bread Company today. Now... I'm only into this gluten-free thing about a week, so I haven't gotten the chance to try any other GF breads, but this stuff is pretty darn good. It's mostly buckwheat, but it's really hearty and not as crumbly as I imagined. The Great Harvest in Longmont bakes it every Wednesday, call ahead to place an order so they don't run out. Also, if you're seriously allergic, there probably is still wheat in the air and stuff. Very good though.
Finally... some knitting. :) And pictures too! I'm plugging away at the orange prayer shawl. No picture for that, it still looks the same. I did however finish the hardest thing I have ever knit in my life. Only after completely screwing it up.
That's the first one with all of the screw ups pointed out. I literally threw this thing across the room I was so irritated. Grumble...
Well, whatever... it got fixed. The next two are pictures of the finished square.
I'm so glad it's done. I hope it looks as hard as it was. Ugh... This one I finished before the square of death.... It wasn't nearly as bad.
And finally.... the square in progress now!
It's quite a lot easier than the last square. I really needed a break after that headache. :) Only 6 squares left. I really hope I can get this thing knit, blocked, sewn together and lined by the end of June. Yipes! Something else to do when school is out. :)
All right... hopefully I can post again soon.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I might miss the kids a bit...
Well, though I am very excited about leaving teaching (only 22 days left!) There are some things I'll miss, mostly the stupid things that kids say. I got two new stories to tell today. One of my teammates had a student teacher this semester and tomorrow is her last day. He got her out of the classroom earlier this week long enough to plan a surprise party for her with the kids. So yesterday one of the kids ran up to her and said, "Miss Roe, Miss Roe, I'm so excited about your surprise party tomorrow!" Priceless... :)
Second story: Today the kids who were applying for Accelerated Language Arts in 8th grade had to do their writing sample for their application. The prompt was pretty simple: Accelerated Language Arts students have a variety of attributes including time management, self motivation, love of reading and independent writing. Use three of these attributes to describe why you should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year, or something of the sort. As I was explaining this prompt to my last class of the day, one of my boys raises his hand and says, "What if we don't have three of those attributes?" Well...maybe you should be applying for Accelerated Language Arts then. Seriously. Luckily he figured that out on his own and wrote for his essay: "I don't think I should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year because I don't write out of school and I have no time management." At least he spared me from telling him... :)
I ordered some beautiful sock yarn, a couple of cute felting projects and a WPI calculator from The Loopy Ewe today. That site could very well be the death of me. BEAUTIFUL yarns... just beautiful. I think I'll need to start making more socks. :)
I also ordered a couple of sweaters from the Gap (a fantastic blue cardigan and a grey cable knit. I really, really love cotton sweaters) and a MAXIglide hair straightener from HSN. I know, I know... but it looked totally awesome on the TV and Andrew had actually seen it on a late night infomercial and thought it looked pretty cool too. I had read a bunch of reviews online and there were some complaints, plus it was super expensive, so I didn't get it. Today however it was on sale, with a bunch of extras and it was a new generation with a lot of the problems fixed. So, we'll see. I'm excited to try it. Though I do like my hair curly, I really like it straight too. I have high hopes...
In other news the book is coming along, slowly, but I did work on it a bit yesterday. I'm thinking of posting parts of it on Goodreads, but we'll have to see.
Until later...
Second story: Today the kids who were applying for Accelerated Language Arts in 8th grade had to do their writing sample for their application. The prompt was pretty simple: Accelerated Language Arts students have a variety of attributes including time management, self motivation, love of reading and independent writing. Use three of these attributes to describe why you should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year, or something of the sort. As I was explaining this prompt to my last class of the day, one of my boys raises his hand and says, "What if we don't have three of those attributes?" Well...maybe you should be applying for Accelerated Language Arts then. Seriously. Luckily he figured that out on his own and wrote for his essay: "I don't think I should be in Accelerated Language Arts next year because I don't write out of school and I have no time management." At least he spared me from telling him... :)
I ordered some beautiful sock yarn, a couple of cute felting projects and a WPI calculator from The Loopy Ewe today. That site could very well be the death of me. BEAUTIFUL yarns... just beautiful. I think I'll need to start making more socks. :)
I also ordered a couple of sweaters from the Gap (a fantastic blue cardigan and a grey cable knit. I really, really love cotton sweaters) and a MAXIglide hair straightener from HSN. I know, I know... but it looked totally awesome on the TV and Andrew had actually seen it on a late night infomercial and thought it looked pretty cool too. I had read a bunch of reviews online and there were some complaints, plus it was super expensive, so I didn't get it. Today however it was on sale, with a bunch of extras and it was a new generation with a lot of the problems fixed. So, we'll see. I'm excited to try it. Though I do like my hair curly, I really like it straight too. I have high hopes...
In other news the book is coming along, slowly, but I did work on it a bit yesterday. I'm thinking of posting parts of it on Goodreads, but we'll have to see.
Until later...
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