My FABULOUS PRIZE

I believe the established procedure is to exclaim:
"Loot! Loot! Loot for ME!"

Last week, Janiece asked for some feedback on what graphic she should use on her next set of address labels. She promised a prize, but I consider living within a short drive of Janiece to be a prize in itself.
Surprisingly enough, I actually won.

Today, my prize arrived... YAYAYAYAY!

Yes, those are the (in)famous Bonbon Bars!
Of course, when I was photographing the above, Matti had to check things out. :)


I've decided to save them for my visit with Susan next weekend. I find pleasures shared are generally twice as nice as pleasures alone.

How on earth am I resisting the siren call of the Bonbon Bars? Well, I don't think I could have if I didn't have these in the fridge:


Thank you so much, Janiece! You are the best!

El Dia de la Madre

It might seem a bit hackneyed to do a blog post about Mothers' Day on Mothers' Day, but it seemed appropriate this year. I looked through cards and all of them used the word "Mom" (which is not our term of endearment) or were too syrupy sweet. My mother is an unusual woman. She is more sentimental now than she used to be (or used to admit to), but that doesn't mean a card will capture the complex relationship my mother (or really any mother) has with her progeny.

First, Mummy:
Thank you for all the sacrifices you've made for us. I'm so glad I could be part of your growth and you could be part of mine. Thank you for not killing me during my teen rebellion years, no matter how I deserved it. :) I love being friends with you. I love being able to trust you with my ideas and thoughts. I love making you laugh and I love talking about trivia. I love you very much!

Second, my sister:
Happy Mothers' Day, dearest sister. I love watching you be a great mother. My nephew is a very lucky little boy and so is his puppy dog. I know you'll have some grand times ahead and some frustrating ones. Know that you are supported through it all by love from all sides.

And to all the other wonderful and challenging mothers I know, Ruth, Stacey, Janiece, Karen, Rachel, Dena, Ginger, Heather, Belsum, Natalie, Jeri, Kimby, Bonnie, Krissy, and so many more:
Happy Mothers' Day, Mom/Mum/Ma/Mother/Madre, you deserve a whole month of celebration for all that you do! Love to you all!

Creative Space Making

My brother sent me this fabulous video of a Hong Kong architect's idea of how to utilize a small space very efficiently. It's an example of function creating beauty.

My Baby, All Grown Up

That building I worked on and showed pictures of to you for a couple years has one an award from the Downtown Denver Partnership. Here's a little video they put together for the occasion. (Yes, I'm cross posting this with FB, mainly because I have a couple readers who, while on Facebook, never go there -- I'm lookin' at you, Ruthie...)



To watch without the side chopped off, you can view the video at the original link or on YouTube.

Project Eyeball Repair, Part 1

Companion piece to Jen Amber's extensive posts about her experience (1, 2, 3, 4):

This week I am going to get my eyes fixed.
After 27 years of wearing glasses and 23 years of wearing contact lenses, I will no longer be a "four-eyes." Though I don't actually recall being teased for having glasses, I am self-conscious in them. I don't feel at my best when wearing them. After the surgery, I won't feel fuzzy in the morning because the world around me is fuzzy (a gal I know said she used to use that fuzziness to shut out the world when she needed to focus on what was immediately in front of her). I won't have to worry about "what if my glasses break" or "what if I lose my contact lens". I won't have to worry about getting water in my eyes when I'm swimming or SCUBA diving. I won't have to carry a tiny screwdriver to tighten that loose screw in my glasses. I won't have to worry about carrying a contact lens case, airport approved size bottle of cleaner, and my glasses with me when I travel. And most of all, I won't have to worry about finding my glasses when I've misplaced them and can't see diddly.

So, how did I find the right place to go? I researched. I went to three different places before I found the right one.
The first place I went, Icon Lasik, was recommended by a former coworker, but seemed too "assembly-line" like. It ended up being the cheapest, about half the price of the other two. I decided to keep looking, just to see what else was out there.
The second place I went, Lakewood Eye Clinic, was recommended by three coworkers. It was much more personal than the other, but I still felt a little rushed and they were a little off-hand about everything. They also dilated my eyes with a much stronger substance than I'm used to and I was still having focusing issues 24 hours later (with no forewarning of a difference). This seemed careless to me. There was a delay in the scheduling, so I decided to keep looking.
The third place I went, Spivak Vision Center, was a place that initially had nothing more to recommend it than some good commercials on the radio. The process of evaluation, however, went smoothly, unrushed, with every test and every result explained. I happen to love information. Facts are what I use to make a majority of decisions in my life. Preprocessed or overly simplified information put me on my guard. The technicians and doctor I talked to at Spivak were clear and personable and most importantly, informative. They gave you a card for your records that had the name of every person you interacted with during your evaluation experience. I didn't feel rushed and though it was the most expensive of the three places, I found myself feeling like I was buying the best service, not like I was being squeezed for every penny. Best of all, they were happy to work with my usual eye doctor (who I like very much as he is extremely thorough and informative as well) for my pre- and post-operation examinations.

So, on Thursday, I will be driven to the surgery by my good friend, Stacey, and a careful and experienced surgeon will give me a highly customized surgery to fix my eyeballs!

Driving off the Goths

On Saturday morning, I went to counter protest the Westboro Baptist Church. (Google them if you are curious. I'm not going to link to them here.) They are a bunch of extremists whose basic premise is the God hates homosexuals so much that he is destroying America for its tolerance of them and blacks, Jews, and pretty much everyone else who is not like them. (Where people get the idea that God and Jesus are white and the Bible was originally written in English is beyond me. I won't even get into their missing the point of Christ's message of universal love.) They came to Denver for a long weekend to protest various places and on Saturday (the Jewish sabbath, I'd like to point out) they decided to protest at several Jewish temples and community centers.

Here's how I got into the counter protest:
Hot Chick, Janiece, posted about her interest and ambivalence in going. On one hand, conventional wisdom is that one should not reward inappropriate behavior with attention. On the other, is being silent the equivalent of being complicit in their behavior? There was much discussion on Janiece's blog and I decided to join her when she decided to attend.
The day of the protest arrived and our ranks had swelled to four, including Janiece's Hot Daughter and our dear friend, Stacey. It was a cold, damp day and the WBC group was small and included a couple children. We followed them around to their various locations, stopping for coffee and then a delicious sandwich at the Spicy Pickle during the intermissions. Janiece gives a great summary of the day on her blog (with pictures!), so go there for more detail, but suffice to say, we felt successful at the end of the day. At the third venue, the WBCers left halfway through their allotted time (as specified in their protest schedule on their blog). I never thought that would happen!
Why did I end up doing it? Because I wanted the targets of the protests and the people who saw us by the side of the road to know that I don't agree with the sentiments professed by the WBC, and furthermore, that I cared enough to speak out against it. This is unusual for me, as I generally tend to live my beliefs, not try and change others minds, but I guess it was a confluence of circumstances -- me feeling more extroverted than usual, having friends I wanted to support, and a ridiculously wrong group (I find most groups to be varying shades of gray, but not this one) coming to Denver. And finally, I went because of what one of my favorite protest signs said, "Thanks Westboro, You're Only Bringing Us Together!"

And I'm glad I went. Otherwise, I'd never had found out that Godfrey is Love.

Sushi Queens

I have, in the past, posted about a new discovery, Facebook games. I've had to cut back because it's a big timesuck. I gave up Farmtown, Cafe World, and Country Story (which was the hardest to give up as I "abandoned" some of my neighbors) among others. I have not given up Restaurant City yet.

I had a lovely garden cafe with a lovely entry and my sister, another RC restaurateur, has an English pub. She was considering quitting, as she had pretty much leveled up all the dishes that were appropriate to her venue and the place was well set up in its "narrative." When she said that, I thought "yeah, she's right. Maybe it's time to quit."

And then they brought out the Japanese themed decor and dishes. I was reeled back in.

I've set up a new restaurant, and started all the work of earning money to decorate it and level up the Japanese dishes. The tables are arranged around the grills, hibachi style, and I have a zen garden in the back. My sister offered her financial backing (buying me three of those nice black stoves) and is now an unofficial co-owner. I imagine it as if I were the manager and she the financier who comes in, hangs out at the sushi bar (all the servers know what she likes and brings it to her right away and on the house) and chills out in the zen garden.

MWT put together this image of the restaurant to show another player, so I stole it to show all of you. It's progressed a little since this image was taken, but not enough to put together a new image. (Thanks, MWT, by the way! :)



Speaking of MWT:
This is one cute tableau at MWT's restaurant. It looks like three cactus cowboys trying to corral a couple cats. Good luck, boys! ;)

Staircase to Heaven

I was researching ships ladders online for work today and stumbled across this beauty. (Here's the article it comes from...)

My future hermitage will have one - heck, why not several? - of these.