withdrawls

i shouldn't have read so fast. i'm having a hard time wanting to do anything except read vampire books again. a lot more difficult now that i don't have work to distract me. on the other hand, i don't have any reason NOT to reread the whole series. i could be done in a week (or less based on past experience). what a dilemma. i'm thinking of a new crafty project to work on, but it's only putting off the inevitable. i must either get a life or start reading the books again. and i think we all know what is the easiest option of the two. i'll keep you posted on THAT little internal battle.

whoa, baby!!

was that a good book!!! yes, i'm done already, and no, i didn't have to stay up all night to do it. i read for 2.5 hours after work until sarah and the fam came over. we chatted and ate dinner and they left shortly after 8. then it was back to work. 4.5 hours later, i couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and had to drag myself to bed. 8 hours later, feeling fully rested, i was back at it for 3 hours before i had to get ready for church (only 75 pages from the end, i might add). things were just starting to get really tense. and church miraculously did not seem like the normal 3 hours that it is, and then i was freeeee! i skipped all of the socializing after church so i could run home and finish. and finish i did. and it was soo good and pretty much as perfect as i could have hoped for. and can i just say that whoever did the cover art on this series deserves a huge raise because now that i get the whole picture, the cover art is so symbolic and, for lack of a better word, PERFECT. they should get really big bonuses. all of them. that is my rave review of breaking dawn, not giving away any of the plot because i know that laura doesn't even have her copy yet, and she would make a special trip from green river to beat me if i gave anything away. haha. can't wait for you to read it, laura. you'll like it so much more than the other three, i'm pretty sure. i'll just say i'm not disappointed one little bit. very much worth the wait. and now i'm going to socialize because that's what sundays are for when you are old and single like me :)

the suspense is killing me. . .

and for once i don't hope that it lasts!! i'm sitting here at work and just dying to go home and read breaking dawn. i've been waiting for this day all summer. not only is it my last day of real work for a while, it is also new vampire book day! i can't wait to read it. it's going to be so so so good. i'll let you know how good later after i actually read it. but in the mean time i'll just be beating my head against the wall (figuratively) because these people won't stop calling so i can go home and read!!

memory game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

(don't copy this part. i just have more things to say and am too lazy for another post.)

3. more vacation pictures to come, probably next week when i quit working and have nothing better to do.

4. i'm not going to texas anymore. sorry folks (especially you, jenni). it's just not the thing for me to do right now. instead i get to sit around my house all day and get good and bored so that i'll actually be glad when school starts. this may be a good thing since right now i'm still loathing the very thought of going back.

the alluvial fan, rocky mountain national park

this is the roaring river. there used to be a dam at the top of the canyon that it flows through, but it failed in 1982, creating this alluvial fan. it was especially cool to see from the other side of this valley because you could get an idea of how massive this is.

if you look really close, there's a lady in a pink shirt on the right hand side of the picture. people are always nice for scale.
this was a self portrait, believe it or not. i'm sure you can believe, however, that my camera was precariously perched on top of a not flat boulder.
another view of the fan. you can see the little colored specs that are people off to the left. it also gives you a good idea of the size of this thing.


these are just a couple of detail shots that i really liked.

the stanley hotel

this is the coolest hotel. finished in 1909, built by f.o. stanley, creator of the stanley steamer (the car, not the carpet cleaning company). and it's haunted, which is pretty cool. i was first made aware that this hotel is in estes park, co by watching ghost hunters on the scifi channel. they try to prove that places aren't haunted, but it didn't work with this place. they said that it is and i believe them. anyway, i got everyone on board for the 2 hour tour, which was well worth it, i think. here are the highlights:

the lobby. as we learned from our tour guide, all of the woodwork here is really just plaster painted with wood grain. it was done like this for the ABC miniseries of "the shining" it originally was all white, like the music room below.
that's my mom and dad standing next to flora stanley's grand piano. the views from the piano are excellent. i got to play it a little bit while we were on the tour. JP Sousa also played this piano back in the day. flora stanley still comes to play the piano at midnight too. just one of the many reasons to spend the night at this hotel.
katie, shawn, michelle, and charlie in the billiard room. the wood in this room is actually real.
me outside the famous room 217. it's the most haunted room in the hotel. the waiting list is 6 months to a year, and it costs around $700 a night.
the front of the stanley hotel. it's a sight to behold.

go karting on the 4th

katie, dad, kasey
mom
charlie
katie and makayla (after she stopped being scared to death)
me