Colorado Lovin'

Colorado is my favorite place to visit in the summer. There's this amazing thing known as "no humidity." The great state of Texas should try this out every blue moon. We had a great time visiting family and celebrating Granny's 80th birthday. How lucky am I that I have in-laws in Denver?


Top Things

1) I rode in a hot air balloon. Look at that face!
























































What a cool experience! I had no idea that so many things were involved in a balloon ride. We had trouble landing because the park rangers wouldn't let us land in an "open space" because you can't have open flames in Boulder. So then the balloon chasers in the van had to run over and ask permission from the farmers who owned the land. It was such a chase, literally.... We watched the park rangers chase farmers down in their jeeps. It was so cool. I wasn't scared until later when the balloon operator (no idea what their official title is) said "yah we were running low on gas." EEk! Glad we made it safely to the ground.


2) I tried fried alligator! And guess what, it tasted just like.....chicken! Why is it that every foreign thing tastes like chicken?
No picture:( But you could very well recreate this moment by attending Pappadeaux's for dinner.



3) Alpine slides are amazing! I had no idea what everyone was talking about. I figured it would be one of those silver hot slides that you burn your butt on. But no butt burnage here my friends. This was way cooler. You take a ski lift up to the top of the mountain, and you get a sled-like thing that has a gear shift which is your brake and gas pedal. You park your butt on the sled-thingy and head down the mountain on a slide that's built into the cliff. It's kinda like a water ride when your on an inner tube but no water and no inner tube. So I guess that's a bad example if nothing is the same.

Confused yet?

I laughed/screamed the whole way down. It was a hoot!
































Wheeee!!!!!!!





4) Attended a Rockies baseball game at Coors' Field. I watched the longest 1st inning ever known to man. But I was content and patient. Go me!












5) I got a picture of Buffalo Bill's grave site. You are probably thinking one of the following two things, "How cool!" or "Who the heck is Buffalo Bill?"


Exactly...I got a snapshot just in case my kids do a school report on Buffalo Bill one day. Do we learn about him in history? I think I must have slept through this part.









Denver was great. The weather was phenomenal. I wore my sweater at night:) It was fun hanging out with Randy's family and seeing Granny so excited. I told her if we'd charge her for all the smiles over the weekend, I'd be a millionaire. Turning 80 is a big deal, and she went all out celebrating. I love Granny, and I'm glad I got to be a part of the celebrating.

Summer To Do List

No more vacations......bittersweet.

Who doesn't like going on vacations? I had two amazing trips! However, I am glad to be back because there's nothing like sleeping in your own bed with Mopac curled up next to me. Oh how I miss my dog!

Now I have 3 full weeks of vacation time left. I start my new job on July 19th. EEEEK!!! I have been playing too hard, and now I have a ton of things still left to complete off of my summer to do list.


1) wisdom teeth removed (oh how I'm dreading this! My dentists have been "suggesting" I get them removed for some time now. Then their "suggestions" became "strong recommendations." Well since no one told me it's a "must," I haven't exactly pushed forward with this. Well I went to the dentist two weeks ago, and they yelled at me. Apparently they do not know what a suggestion is. Suggestion means you "could possibly benefit." Well apparently they meant to say, "your wisdom teeth are rotting in your gums." If only that would have been said to me, I wouldn't have procrastinated. Geez, alright, alright, I'm going! Consultation today:(

2) print and organize photos (We have about 3 years worth of photos on the computer. I'm clearing out a trunk so we can put all the photo albums together. The problem is we have no photo albums. So we'll be printing photos, organizing them, and buying albums. This project might just take three weeks.)


3) cleaning out our closet (Stuffed, stuffed, stuffed! Randy has clothes from high school hanging proudly. We're tossing tons of stuff.)


There are a ton of other summer projects (fixing the broken blind downstairs, shredding old bills/organizing the filing cabinet, cleaning base boards, selling stuff on craig's list, organizing the downstairs closet and garage, cleaning out the spare bedroom closet because that almost needs an "open at your own risk" sign....I could keep going but it's stressful.....I think that's enough daunting projects that probably won't get touched.


Off to my wisdom teeth consultation and Weimar for the evening. I need my Mopac back, and I love living out of my suitcase.

The City of "Firsts"

This summer has been busy! I just got back from Philly, and I leave today for Denver! I know, what a problem? I love vacationing. The only problem is I'm exhausting my opportunities early on in the game. July and August will bring sitting at home and starting work. But hey who can complain right now? I'm living it up!

Unfortunately this post won't have any Philadelphia photos. I'm still waiting to meet up with Jana to share our memory cards, but I needed to post about the trip before I forgot what all happened. So consider this my Philly Post Part 1 (well it's more like part 2- read "this needs to be separate" for my airport adventure).


I loved Philadelphia! It was very charming in my opinion. Granted, it's another big city, but it has such a British feel to it. The buildings and city layout reminded me so much of London. I guess it makes sense because the colonists only had Great Britain to model their new colonies after. Heck, they don't even like to give you a lot of ice in your drinks either. "Can I have a diet coke with lots of ice?" 3 cubes is not my definition of a lot of ice. I should have asked, "Are you from London?"



Memorable Events

-Pat's and Geno's Cheesesteak debate (We bought one from each and split them. We both picked Geno's!)
-Tossing pennies and making wishes on Ben Franklin's grave
-Signing the Constitution in the Constitution Center (don't gasp, it was a copy;)
-Seeing the first hospital, the first post office, the room where the delegates first declared independence from Britain (it really should be called the city of firsts)
-Wearing hairnets and aprons while we constructed and watched our very own chocolate bars being made at Hershey
-Running up the "Rocky" stairs and doing our victory dance at the top
-Eating an Amish prepared lunch
-Seeing a 70lb ovarian cyst at the Mutter Museum (it was disgustingly cool!)
-Marveling at the city's 2000 painted murals
-Seeing the neighborhood in West Philadelphia where Will Smith lived (and in which Jana and I busted out the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song on our tour bus)


Jana and I had a great time! When we weren't laughing, we were walking. I bet we walked 10 miles on Wednesday. We saw the whole downtown area, and then repeated it 2 more times. We got lost; then we would backtrack; next we would rewalk a street. When we made it back to the hotel after an entire day of walking, Jana told me that her feet had a heartbeat (because of the throbbing).

Where to next? Well immediately it's Denver. Jana and I were throwing around the idea of a cruise next summer.....who knows? But for now, I think Denver will end my summer vacations. Vacations are expensive!

Summer Pasta Salad

I love pasta salads! They are also great ways to use up surplus garden veggies. This is one of my top favorites.


Chicken-Penne Salad with Green Beans

2 c uncooked penne
2 c (1-inch) cut green beans (about 1/2 lb, yes! opportunity to use the produce scale at HEB)
2 c shredded cooked chicken breast (can use pre-cooked rotisserie chicken)
1/2 c vertically sliced red onion
1/4 c chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 tsps chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 (7 ounce) bottle roasted red bell pepper, drained and cut into thin strips (love these- look in the olives/pimientos aisle)
2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsps red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper


1)Cook pasta in boiling salted water for 7 minutes. Add green beans; cook 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain.

2)Combine pasta mixture, chicken, and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Toss gently to combine.

3) Combine oil and remaining 5 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Drizzle over pasta mixture; toss gently to coat. Refrigerate.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups).

Calories per serving: 384
Fat per serving: 9.7 g
Fiber 2.6 g


Tips: Use shredded chicken instead of chunks. The texture holds and absorbs the dressing better.
Cut your green beans on an angle and about the same length as the pasta for a prettier dish.
Dunk your raw purple onion in ice colder water for about a minute or 2 to take the sharp bite taste out of the onion.

Ponderable

On Sunday our pastor preached about prayer. One thing he said that really stuck with me was the following....


"If all of your prayers from the past 30 days came true, would things change in the world or just your world?"


It didn't take me long to reflect on this question to know the answer. I'm afraid mine is the latter. All my "please" prayers just deal with me.

"Please let me do a good job as a counselor."
"Please bless us with a child."
"Thank you for all of your blessings, and can you please do (insert many requests here)."
"Please let my actions and words honor You."
"Please keep us safe this summer."

See a trend.....

The above are my "me" prayers.

I'm committed to change this. I read a book not too long ago about a girl who kept a prayer journal. I'm thinking this might be a good idea for me. When someone mentions a crises or problem in their life, I blanketly say, "I'll be praying for you." Sometimes I remember. But if I say I'm going to do something, I need to really go through with it ALL the time. To be honest, I forget a lot of times. I find that my prayer at night is, "And Lord if there's anything I forgot, I know you've got it covered." Lame! I need to do a better job of this. Plus I love journals. And since the words "teacher," "summer vacation," and "shopping" all belong together, I'll be shopping for a cute prayer journal soon.

this needs to be separate!

and I'm back!


Oh how I've missed you my blog. The Philly post is overdue, but that's because I have a great excuse. I was stuck in the airport.....over night.

Yah, you read that right. Me, high maintenance me, stuck in an airport on a cot. It was TERRIBLE! So I'm going to post about my Chicago airport sleepover separately so it doesn't cloud my amazing trip. I'm not blurring the heinous with the wonderful.

Jana and I were supposed to land in Austin Friday night at 10:55. Well I was ready. I love traveling, but you can only do the hotel/moist-y carpets/shower shoes/3dollar bottles of water for so long. And I missed my Rands. We were basically two ships passing in the night since he returned from NYC on Monday night, and I left on Tuesday morning. So you can imagine my disgust when we sat on the airport runway in Philadelphia for 3 hours! I loved breathing in everyone's germs for that long. Airborn, where were you?

Air Traffic and Control prohibited planes from leaving or landing in Chicago due to bad weather. That stupid Windy City! Well we had a two hour layover in Chicago and we were told the departing flights from Chicago were also delayed. So more than likely we'd make our connecting flight.

Or not!

We left Philly at 8:15pm. The flight to Austin from Chicago left at 8:20. They had a delay, but they left at 9:15. They were singing verse three of "The stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas" while we were just landing....at 10pm.

Lucky for me, I have a hubby who loves me and was refreshing our flight status at home. He saw we missed our flight, so he called Southwest to schedule our next flight. Well the next flight out was Saturday morning at 9:45! I'm thankful he called because other Austinites trying to get home were put on stand-by for that flight.

So Jana and I strolled up to the hectic counter in Chicago waiting to receive our free hotel voucher. Ummm wrong! They don't give hotels out for weather, but they did supply 200 Coleman cots in Concourse B.

Well I could go on and on and on about the torcherous evening ahead, but I'm sure you don't want to hear me complain about the refugee camp in Concourse B. I'll just give you the highlights or lowlights in this case.

-Cots make your back hurt after 5 minutes.
-The man three cots away snored louder than I thought was humanely possible.
-Washing your face in the airport sink gets you the "Oh she's homeless" stare.
-I used the solo cup that housed my granola for my six dollar yogurt to store my contacts in. Hey, I was glad it had a lid!
-The drunk lady next to me complained incessantly about how she was bored, missed her plane to Vegas and no longer had any alcohol beverages to help her deal....if she did, I might have stole her goods to help me deal
-I shamefully used the lice infested blue airport blanket and paper pillow case that I'm sure has never seen a washing machine.
-I memorized all of the announcements (that were announced every 15 minutes).
-When we were "woken" up at 4am, the grouch next to me yelled out, "If I would have known y'all were going to wake us up at 4am, I would have slept someplace else." Really, and where would that be Oscar? We didn't have a choice! You're in an airport stupid! He later shouted out, "Why do they keep announcing those stupid announcements?" He clearly forgot we weren't checked in at the Omni but at the airport.


My favorite part was when we were lining up to board the 9:45 flight. I pretty much told my sorrowful story to anyone in ear-shot. One lady touched my arm (umm please don't, I probably have lice and other airplane blanket critters swinging from my arm hair) and said, "I feel your pain. I live in Chicago, and we didn't have electricity."

Ummmm... get out of town! No electricity is not equivalent lady! Did your sleep number not reach the level of the hardness of my Coleman cot? YOU STILL HAD A BED! And luke-warm FREE waters in your fridge. When you use your purse as a pillow so no one stole it in case you had the rare experience of falling asleep, then we can swap stories. Until then, shut your mouth! The only valid thing she adds to my story is that her husband works at the Sears Tower, and they had to vacate the building because the 60-70 mph winds were blowing out windows. Scary...not to mention I flew through a lightening storm the night before. But are we really keeping tabs at this point?

I can't wait....

for Randy to get home! (He's having a great time, and he wants to go back. SCORE! I think he'll want to go again during Christmas. Well that's what I'm going to talk up for the next 6 months! Rockefeller Center needs to be seen with the angels and giant Christmas tree!)

to pack all my new clothes/outfits for the trip (Randy: "Only you would need new "outfits" for a trip." oops.....it's summer. Teachers shop in the summer!)

to sleep in my own bed tonight (4 nights in Weimar was enough)

to go to Philly!!!!


Jana and I are off in the morning. We are so pumped! We will be visiting the Mutter Museum, Please Touch Museum, Independence Hall, National Constitution Center, the Betsy Ross House, the Hershey factory, and exploring Hershey, Pennsylvania. We will also be settling the cheese-steak dispute. Pat's or Geno's? This is the question. We will sample both, and then I'll post the verdict of which one I like better. I know you will be hanging onto your keyboards for dear life until you hear my opinion. These two restaurants are bitter rivals. They've been featured on the food network and everything. I'm such a foodie, so I can't wait to score some sandwiches, some freedom fries (how cute is that? not just "french" fries but freedom fries...these are at Geno's.... should they already be ahead in the tally?), and maybe a t-shirt. Will I look like a fatty wearing a cheese steak shirt though?

Apparently we will need to order these sandwiches with Cheese-Wiz on them. Gross or delicious? Hmmm...apparently the original Philly cheese steak was served with the stuff I put in my broccoli rice casserole. Provolone or swiss came later. I'll let you know how this goes as well.

You're probably wondering what the Mutter Musuem is all about. I can't wait to see this!

Check out this info from their website....

"Our History

In 1858, Thomas Dent Mütter, retired Professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College , presented his personal collection of unique anatomic and pathological materials to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia . Our collection now boasts over 20,000 unforgettable objects. These include fluid-preserved anatomical and pathological specimens; skeletal and dried specimens, medical instruments and apparati; anatomical and pathological models in plaster, wax, papier-mâché, and plastic; memorabilia of famous scientists and physicians; medical illustrations, photographs, prints, and portraits. In addition, we offer changing exhibits on a variety of medical and historical topics.

Our Treasures

Our one-of-a-kind treasures include:

* The plaster cast of the torso of world-famous Siamese Twins, Chang & Eng, and their conjoined livers
* Joseph Hyrtl's collection of skulls
* Preserved body of the "Soap Lady"
* Collection of 2,000 objects extracted from people's throats
* Cancerous growth removed from President Grover Cleveland
* Tallest skeleton on display in North America"


Did they just say they'll have 2,000 retrieved objects that people swallowed on display? Why does this excite me? I'm so grossed out and intrigued all at the same time. So should we eat at Pat's or Geno's before or after we go to this museum?

Hooray for having an exciting week! If you eat a Hershey's product this week, think of me!