I could have danced all night...

Mr. Burns and I just returned from his friend's wedding down South.

Oh... I was so envious to see all the green trees and beautiful blooms! Denver has taken forever to green up. Finally upon return, the trees are now budding and blooming. Yay! Although I'm still waiting for the lilacs to come around.

Anyway, back to the wedding. It was so great to take another trip with Mr. Burns. He's been working out of town a lot lately, and if I hadn't been able to go to the wedding with him, I would not have seen him for three weeks straight! Boo hoo.

Plus, the wedding was a full Catholic Mass. It was really nice to sit with my beloved and soak up the nuptials that I hope will bind and/or bond me to him someday. No one is holding their breath!

The reception was at a nearby country club so Mr. Burns was content in soaking up the surrounding golf greens!

It should be noted that Mr. Burns is a very good dancer. He's good at everything he tries in an athletic sense. He once revealed that he took some dance lessons years ago, just so he would know what he was doing on the dance floor. As is his nature - he held all the information and is good at it. An area where we are not similar!!!

I can't make out rhythm. People tell me to listen for the beat or the count and I just can't do it.

I recall my music appreciation class in college - one of those classes everyone takes for an easy A. The instructor one day, played a piece of classical music and asked us to identify the instruments we could hear. Now I can make out a piano or a guitar - so imagine my surprise when one student said, "I hear an Oboe." BS! I thought, "You don't hear an Oboe. You might hear a horn but don't tell me you can hear that it's a freaking Oboe." Well apparently other people can. Sigh. I can say that's horn or those are strings - but mostly I hear the entire song -not the pieces that make up the song.

So anyway -that's what I blame for my inability to dance. Now, if someone teaches me steps, I'll get it, but I haven't had lessons since college so I pretty much stink.

Mr. Burns says that the man's job on the dance floor is to make the woman look good. If he's doing his job, no one should notice him. He's also incredibly patient - and I started to remember some of the moves from my swing dance days in college.

Better still, I picked out yet another new dress - this one with a twirly skirt that must have moved gracefully as he spun and dipped me - disguising the fact that my feet didn't know what they were doing!!

That and the fact that the cheerful, vibrant Granny Smith Apple Green hue of my dress was bright and attention grabbing - Mr. Burns said that every time we danced - at least two cameras were on us!

Well, that's a bit embarrassing! I hope there are more pictures of the bride dancing than of me dancing!! Maybe the color is too bold for a wedding - but I try not to wear black or red to a wedding - and because this color reminds me distinctly of a tulip stem - the prettiest color on Earth - I couldn't resist it.

I had so much fun dancing with Mr. Burns. It was romantic. As he turned me around the dance floor, I fell in love with him a little bit more. In his arms, he guided me, twirled me and thrilled me with dips and spins and turns. I hope we have a lifetime of learning how to move together as one.

Deserving

I was in Ulta the other day, and as I was ready to pay for my purchase "Suddenly I See" by KT Tunstall started to play.

The music is peppy and gets my attention right away. The line, "Everything around her is a silver pool of light - the people who surround her feel the benefit of it - it makes you calm - she holds you captivated in her palm." Always reminds me of my friend Kimberly.

I couldn't help but sing along a little, and because I was smiling broadly with thoughts of my dear friend - the cashier looked at me inquisitively. So I offered the information of what the song means to me... then the refrain with that line was up again... I sort of recited it for her.

The cashier smiled and said, "She must be a wonderful friend."
"She is." said I. "I am blessed with many wonderful friends. I don't know how I deserve them."

And this is when people surprise you - This cute little college-student cashier, wise beyond her years said, "Oh, I'm sure you do deserve them. You must be a wonderful friend to have such wonderful friends."

What a note of cheer for the rest of my day!

Spreading Cheer, One Grump at a Time!

I was just visiting Rocksinmydryer – and read about her very bad day. Someone broke into her car and stole her purse. She was dealing with police and canceling credit cards and on the verge of tears when a woman, observing from across the parking lot came up and offered her flowers! How very sweet! An angel in disquise! It reminded me of an experience I’ve been meaning to share here for some time….

In my last job, I traveled all over the country to interview people about their homes. Pretty sweet job for someone who loves houses and architecture!

Most of the homeowners were so very sweet and thoughtful.
On one trip in particular, I remember arriving at my hotel, greeted by a bouquet of cheerful wildflowers native to the area. A welcome present from the homeowner I was to interview the next day.

Sadly though, my photographer and I had to travel in the dark from the last shoot – we arrived after dinner and just before bedtime. We had to wake up early for the next days’ shoot so there wasn’t much time to enjoy the flowers. When I packed up my bags in the morning, I brought the vase out to the rental car and propped it in one of the cup-holders. The flowers sat graciously in the car while we spent 10 hours shooting in the home of the woman who arranged them for me.

Then, just before dark, we set off in the car to the nearest town with an airport to fly out the next morning. So I enjoyed the flowers for maybe three hours.

Knowing I couldn’t possibly take them on the plane, it pained me to think of tossing them. So as we drove, I mentioned to my photographer that it would be nice if we could stop by a nursing home and drop them off for someone who needed the cheering up. I would ask the desk to give them to someone who doesn’t get many visitors.

But it would be late when we arrived to check in to the hotel, and we still had to eat. Driving around looking for a worthy recipient didn’t really fit into the schedule – we had to catch an early flight in the morning.

Oh well.

We went into a franchise restaurant for a late dinner. After we ordered, but were still waiting for our food, I noticed a woman with her elderly mother. They seemed to be having a strained conversation. We couldn’t hear, but it was clear it wasn’t a casual conversation. Not stressful, not fighting. They were just talking about something difficult. Maybe they were discussing a sick relative or something.

Well there you go. They could use flowers. I thought. I asked my photographer friend if it would be too weird to get the flowers out of the truck and offer them to the ladies. He thought it was a nice idea.

So I took the keys and dashed out to the car. I was a little nervous as I approached their table. I explained, "I’m visiting from out of town, and was given these flowers. I can’t take them on the plane and I’d really like for someone to enjoy them. Would you like them?"

"No."

Really? Who doesn’t want flowers? Maybe they didn’t appreciate the interruption. Maybe they were so caught up in their problems that they didn’t recognize the kindness I was trying to offer them. I was bewildered. Not even "No, thank you." Just "No."

I went back to our table with the flowers. My photographer friend tried to hold back his smirk and said, "Oooh. Shot down!"

Seriously. I wasn't a pimply kid asking out the prom queen, but suddenly I understood what that kid felt like!

Most of all, I felt sad for the two ladies who didn't embrace the kind offer. It was really sad.

In the end, we offered them to the restaurant manager who in turn gave them to one of his waitresses. So at least they didn’t go to waste.

I’m still stunned when I think about someone rejecting flowers!

They'll Take My Generation X Card Away

I’ve never seen a single episode of Star Wars in it's entirity.

Despite the fact that I had a Princess Leah Barbie doll. Yeah, I took the buns out of her hair and never got them back in.

When people learn this about me, they are stunned. They ask how this is possible. They’ve threatened to release me from Generation X, especially after the two new ‘first’ episodes hit theaters.

I had to think about it, and here’s the answer:
The first Star Wars movie was released in what 1977? My parents didn’t really take us to movies. I saw maybe 5 movies in a theatre before I was 16 years old. On top of that, we lived in the country and didn’t have access to cable television, which is how most people saw certain movies 5 to 10 times before the advent of VCRs. My parents didn’t get a VCR until I was in college. By then, catching up on Star Wars required dedicating 8 hours of my life to watch what amounts to an old movie.

Mr. Burns learned all of this last weekend. We both bemoan the fact that there is never anything good on TV despite the 400 some channels he has to choose from with his satellite service. (is anyone surprised that I don’t even have cable?!) We were flipping through the channels and he landed on the middle of the first new Star Wars episode. Episode One I presume. He wanted to watch it. That led to revealing all the information that I have just shared with you.

Okay. So we pick up right about where Anakin’s mother dies. The next thing I know, there is a battle that never ends. If at some point the good guys appear to be making progress, more droids enter the battlefield. Droids that aren’t even remotely similar to the first ones seemingly assigned to the battle. This doesn’t seem fair. You can’t challenge someone to a fight and then keep replacing the foes they manage to defeat. More importantly, this means that the battle never ends. Boring! How interesting is it to watch the same fight for 40 minutes?

I started shifting in my seat. Now, I work in television, and I have been responsible for the production end of a number of shows. I start thinking… there had to be a point where George Lucas and the film editor thought; “This is getting long. Tedious even. Maybe we need to shorten the battle scene.” And they choose not to!

I thought, this is about as interesting as watching some on screen couple kiss – nothing else – just kiss - for 2 two hours. Fun for them, but not really interesting for anyone else.

I finally got up and told Mr. Burns that I was going to the other room to count the hairs on my arms, just for the change of pace.

The Big Scare

I just want to throw a (sarcastic) giant thank you out into the universe to the moron who tried to kill me today.

I was driving up Colorado Boulevard (Northbound, just before the I-25 split) when suddenly this beige/bronze CRV nearly sideswiped me! I slammed the breaks and steered to the right.

I was in the center right lane, Stupid-face CRV was in the center left. But here's the thing... he wasn't right next to me... no ... that might mean that I could have been in his blind spot. (not that that's an excuse... move your heads people!!) Oh no. He was overtaking me, meaning he was passing in the left lane. There's no reason he shouldn't have known I was there. Essentially I was IN FRONT OF HIM. Freaking moron! Darn near killed me.

It was the scariest thing I've experienced in a while.

But I want to say thanks because... I had been feeling so good.
After a year of expensive deep tissue massage and chiropractic adjustments I was begining to feel like a normal healthy human being.
My neck wasn't hurting and my back was feeling great. Thank you so much for locking up my spine. Just tell me where to send the Chiropractic bill you cheese head.

Ugh. I watched as he moved along in traffic. He's one of those creeps who needs to move over 4 lanes in the span of a block because he can't plan ahead.

Matched Souls

Oh. my. word! I can't believe it!

I just met my new neighbor. She's outside with the movers right now.
As she walked over to greet me I thought, "She looks a little like my friend Kimberly."

Well, she doesn't look entirely like Kimberly, just enough to put her in my head. But then she started talking! And I almost started to cry.

She says things like, "The building? I love, love, love it! So so cute!"

When she opened her mouth I couldn't stop myself from hugging her because she made me miss Kimberly (who is far away from me in San Francisco) so much!!
Here I am. A perfect stranger, suddenly attached to her neck!
She must think I'm crazy!!
Funny thing is... she totally accepted the hug and hugged back!

I'm a FREAK!!

Funnier still. Guess how I met Kimberly? When she was moving in across the hall from me.
We were neighbors for 2-3 months before I moved about a mile away. We rarely saw each other until she decided to up and move to Seattle a few months (like 6-9 months) later.
So we are long distance friends - soul mates - sisters all because we shared a hallway for 3 months!

UPDATE: This is great... Kimberly's response to the incident:

HAHAHAHAHA! Awesome!
Now I need my own personal TRS-clone HERE. Fair is fair!
K

Learn to Ski

Okay. I've been telling some of my friends about my experience skiing with Mr. Burns and teaching my niece to advance past her ski lesson.

The reaction I got from at least two friends was that their ski adventures didn't go as well. They learned to ski with their boyfriends at the time and as a result they find it terrifying and absolutely no fun.

This is very sad to me.

My advice to everyone who wants to try skiing for the first time. GET A LESSON!

Do not count on your friends to teach you. Not only is it very likely that they will fail - if they even attempt more than just getting you on a lift - no one will enjoy the experience.

Below is my table listing reasons why to spring for a lesson.

The fact is, paying for a lesson will add between $20 and $40 to your ski day. It is well worth it.

My friends (and my brother) who decided to forego lessons in favor of skiing with their friends... had terrible experiences.

Skiing is supposed to be fun.

My brother was forced to keep up with his advanced friends. He couldn't possibly. Turned out, they went down the same run 3 or 4 times passing him each time as he struggled his way down the slope. Not cool.

My girlfriends never got past learning to snow plow. That is not fun.

I'll bet you wads of cash that those boyfriends grew tired real quick of spending time on remedial skills. After an hour of that - they went off to have fun.

The girls in turn, didn't want to be left out - so they busted their buns to keep up on advanced slopes that were way beyond their skill level. They had to be freakin' sore, exhausted and most likely, less enamored with their boyfriend (and the sport) at the end of the day.

My boyfriend and I took my niece under our wings the day after her first lesson. She was showing great instincts and skills so we just skied slowly and gave her pointers.

It helped that I love my niece tremendously and would never abandon her.

And that Mr. Burns had already had his fill of skiing for the season and didn't mind puttering down a hill with a teenager, teaching her how to get back up after falls - and encouraging her to turn and take on inclines that he was confident she could handle... even if she doubted her skill.

Bottom line: If you're planning a trip with folks who don't live in mountains... and this is their one chance to ski each year... trust me, they don't want to waste their trip teaching someone how to ski.

Don't take it personally. In fact, if your friend recommends your taking a lesson rather than them teaching you... it means they love you and want you to stick around.

You'll be happier if you take a group lesson.

My tip for the day!