Queso

Cheese. That's what this post is about.

A few years ago I got sucked into the blogging world. My sisters wrote post after post about their cute marriages, cute pregnant bellies, cute babies, cute toddlers, etc. I look forward to the fun updated pictures and happenings of my friends and family. Then I discovered my favorite part of blogging- food blogs. Cookie Madness, Picky Palate, The Recipe Girl.. I check my sidebar daily to explore new fun recipes, step by step directions, and fancy pictures that I call "food porn." Somehow salivating over images of delicious, naughty food, leaves me dreaming of sugar plums and chocolate chip cookies.

That was cheesy, wasn't it?

Speaking of cheese, that's what blogs are made of. The monster, disobedient, terror of a child suddenly is the perfect dream baby who only spits out cute cut and paste sentences, always smiling perfectly for the camera. The kitchen counter that is normally covered in mail, crumbs, and library books is showcasing perfect lighting, a Kitchenaid stand mixer, and perfectly packaged ingredients. But somewhere between the blogs about food, families, fashion, friends, there's a little bit of the etc. I guess that's the category I try and fit into. I don't blog all that often because I don't have a whole lot to say. Well, that's not true. I have a whole lot to say. I just say it outloud (or maybe via text or email) to anyone that might be reading this.

As part of my new years resolutions, I am going to try and update this a little more often. Hopefully my posts will be less cheesy, because as part of my new years resolutions I am also cutting out cheese. The real kind. The kind you put on pizza, sandwiches, pasta, enchilidas, or even just eat alone if it's that kind of day. I am also eliminating the rest of dairy, grains, and anything processed/full of preservatives. That leaves me to lean protein, non starchy vegetables, nuts, berries, and eventually a little more fruit. This "Paleo Revolution" is not about losing weight, but being healthy. I am excited to live a little cleaner and increase my athletic ability.

Last February I signed up for the Rock and Roll half marathon without thinking through the consequences. But between February and October I was sore, achy, tired, and overwhelmed. Somewhere along that path I also became more toned, lost weight, and found a passion for running. I challenged my body and mind, and realized that I have the power to accomplish so many things that I never thought I would be able to do. As a very overweight child and teenager, I made excuses, played the victim, and chose food as an outlet. As a fit adult I am happy to say that I can set healthy goals, work hard, and accomplish them. Up so far for 2011 is the Platte River half April 10th, and the Colfax full May 15th. After this last month of over indulging, I am excited to get focused and work hard toward running that marathon in May.

Since I can blog about whatever the hell I want (yup, it's MY blog, so I can say hell), I figure I can use this a digital training journal/outlet/ranting message board. It's more exciting than my dating life(non existent), friend drama(no drama here), kid stories(I might be member of Amazon mom but I don't have any real kids), or anything else most girls my age might be blogging about. Since I'm hanging up my bakers hat I'm going to try and get a little more into paleo recipes/cooking. Just don't expect any cheese in 2011.

friendsgiving

Since I wasn't able to go to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving this year, I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! My friend Dave decided to come out from Utah and brought his roommate, Josh. A girl from work, Kelsey, also joined in on our friendsgiving dinner. Dave prepared a delicious turkey and incredible mashed potatoes. Kelsey brought green beans (with bacon!!), and homemade sausage stuffing. I handled the rolls, and of course, dessert. I finally got to put my Cuisinart ice cream maker to use that Victoria bought me for my birthday, and made Maple Butter Blondies. Yumm.

After I picked Dave and Josh up from the airport, we headed to Wash Park for the 37th annual Turkey Trot. It was a 4 mile run around the outside, then inside of the park. It was crazy packed, and a lot of fun. It was especially cold and I think my lungs are still recovering. I finished in 34 minutes, which was my fastest pace yet. It was a good thing we got a quick run in before all of the eating we did alllllllllllllll day long.

It was really fun to have my friends hanging out, watching football, and preparing dinner. We even got to eat at my kitchen table. Even though it wasn't my first Thanksgiving away from home, it was my first Thanksgiving being without ANY family. I am looking forward to being with the family for Christmas.

Half Marathon

We were with out internet for a really long time, but we are back to having it so I guess I should probably blog a little more often. I will make it part of my new years resolutions, and if it's successful, there will probably be a post about that.

In February my friend Kim signed up for the Rock N Roll Denver marathon. She mentioned that she signed up, and asked if anyone else wanted to do it too. I casually mentioned that if there was a half I would do it. I don't think I realized at the time that I wasn't just going to run 13.1 miles 9 months later, but I was going to complete several weeks of running 30-35 miles.

Training was a semi easy task for awhile. 6 or 7 mile runs were challenging, but not hard. As I increased my long runs to 8, 9, 10, 11 miles.. I was ready to back out of my commitment. But even though I dreaded my long run days, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment after I completed them.

And so race week came. I cried every day. Not really about running, but worried that I would over sleep, or eat the wrong things, or not have anywhere to put my keys. With the support of my friend Nick who dropped me off at 5:45 am, my trainer Joe who encouraged me, and countless "you can do its" from clients, I was ready to tackle the 13.1 miles.

I got to the race early, stretched, tried to keep warm (41 degrees), and tried to relax. I chatted with a few people hanging out, and waited in my corral to start. I was in the 13th corral so when the race started at 6:55, they released the first one, and then each one 1-2 minutes apart.

The first few miles were a breeze. It was cold, and felt good to run. I tried to soak it all in without dumping all of my adrenaline on the first couple of miles. We were 3 miles in before I even saw a sign of how far we'd come. I thought to myself, "Wow, that's almost a 5k" which was the first race I ever did last November. The first few miles were also through lower downtown (LODO), which was really cool to run through. Around mile 4 we headed up 17th which was a hill. Good thing it was only mile 4, because it was a pretty good incline. We ran down 17th, through city park, and even crossed my street. The familiarity of it was kind of cool.

The worst part of the race was around mile 9, when we arrived at Cheeseman Park. It was uphill, and had it been mile 6 or 7, I probably would have stopped to walk. But I had just eaten my GU and was ready to finish up. I trudged up the hill, and headed back toward downtown where the race ended. The last mile was downhill (same hill but different block at the uphill in mile 4), and you could see the finish line at the end. It was nice to be able to see the end in sight and rush to the end.

Since it was my first long race, I didn't really know what time I would finish in. I was hoping I would finish around 2:15, but would have been happy with anything under 2:30. I trained around a 10 minute mile but just wasn't sure. I ended up finishing in 2:01:09 which means I ran a 9:30 minute mile. I was absolutely thrilled with my time but of course wish I could have made it under 2 hours. It definitely gave me a time to beat. I felt great when I finished and definitely could have gone a little further. Not the whole race again, but that is something to work towards too.

Fire

Monday evening I was at the gym when the lights flashed. A few minutes later a slew of fire trucks raced by the window. Shortly after I received a text from Danielle asking me if I saw the smoke. She told me that a powerbox had exploded and that the power was out. Seeing as it had reached 102 degrees on Monday, I took my time at the gym so I could skip the air conditioner and lights being shut off.

As I got closer to home, I realized that the power box she had mentioned was actually an Xcel power substation. I had to weave through the neighborhood to get home, and as I got closer I realized why. The explosion was one street away from my own. I parked my car and walked over to the next block to see what was going on. There was smoke, ash, and soot everywhere. People were swarming to the scene to see what was going on. It was clear that the explosion was more thsn just a little fire.

When I entered my building, there were alarms going off. I trecked my way up the 5 flights of stairs, only a little bit of dim light escaping from the hallways. The building was silent other than the alarms, and it felt empty like I wasn't supposed to be inside. My apartment was like an oven, and you could see nothing but flashing lights and smoke outside my window. I started searching the news on my phone to find out if the power would be coming back, and in the process found out that 31,000 people in Denver were without power due to the explosion. As it got darker outside, my apartment got creepier and creepier. I felt like I was in 911, and suddenly had visions of trying to run down the 5 flights of stairs to run from a fire.

Thankfully I had a friend that let me stay at her apartment that night. I later found out that power didn't come on til after midnight. Xcel has proceeded to call my phone every day at odd hours of the night and morning warning me that because we are sharing a power load that our power has to be shut off intermittently. It is a miracle that only one person was injured from the accident.

finally

It's been awhile since I sat at my computer and typed out the happenings of my ever so exciting single life. Mainly because lately none of our neighbors have been kind enough to let us leech off of their internet connection. In fact, I'm typing this out in Word until I can take my laptop somewhere with wifi. It's either this or peck at the tiny keys on my cell phone screen, which would only lead to predictive text creating all kinds of interesting twists to my otherwise plain and repetitive life.

I left my jacket at home yesterday since the sun was shining (as it almost always is here in Colorado), and the highs were close to 70. The heat wave when I got into my car after work was comforting in a "spring has arrived" kind of way. Having the windows down and my radio turned up made for an enjoyable ride through rush hour traffic.Oh what a tease Mother Nature is! This morning was beautiful, but by 4:00 wet, heavy snow was pounding down covering my car in a slushy mess. While driving home in it was grueling, the 2.2 seconds I stood in it to de-ice my windshield wipers left my teeth chattering and my wet clothes clinging to my ice cold skin.

Hopefully spring will decide to come back and stick around for awhile. I am looking forward to long Sunday walks, and laying out at my pool on my days off, watermelon, outdoor concerts (Muse, Paramore, Lady Gaga..), not having to reshave my legs after getting goosebumps from being so cold, and so many more things that the sunshine has to offer us.

In recent happenings (we'll stick to recent instead of revisiting anything noteworthy since my last blog post in October), there are definitely a few things worth mentioning. About a month ago I ventured to Salt Lake for Erik and Cori's wedding. Erik has been one of my very best friends since we first moved to Utah. I was won over when I first met Cori during a stop they made to Denver over the summer, and was thrilled when I heard they were going to tie the knot. I offered to do Cori's hair and make-up and loved spending time with both of them the day of their wedding. I was so excited to be able to see so much of my family while I was there. I have a video of Harper dancing to Lady Gaga on my phone that makes me laugh so hard I cry every time I watch it. Even though Tyson has been home from his mission since December, this trip was the first time I got to see him. Aubrie and Greg left for a cruise the day after I got there, but I was able to see them and spend some time hanging out with Hailey and Gavin the next morning. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family.

During my trip to New York, Julianne introduced me to her sister in law Sarah. Sarah is a fashion designer in NYC with a clothing line called Edelweiss by Sarah. She just finished her fall/winter 2010 line and wanted to do the photoshoot for it outside. Because the weather in New York has been so terrible (maybe somewhat like we're experiencing now?), she decided to come out here to have Julianne shoot it. She hired me to do the hair and make-up for it, and it was a truly amazing experience. With 16 looks to shoot we spent all day outside at Bear Creek park. That has probably been my favorite day I've spent in Colorado. Trees and fashion, two of my favorite things brought together. And I feel like it is important to inform you all that for the very first time in my life, I squatted outside to pee. I hope you're all proud.


As part of my new years resolution, I signed up for a half marathon in October. I could have signed up for one sooner, but I felt like it would help keep me motivated beyond getting ready for summer. Besides, it's the Rock n' Roll marathon! I have been running at least 5 days a week, trying to reach 25 miles on the treadmill, plus the elliptical and weight training. One of my running frustrations has been headphones. They never stay in my ears! I'm constantly adjusting them, plus sweating through a pair about every 3-4 months. Recently I discovered the Vapor by Nike. They are an ear bud with an adjustable back. Clear sound, comfort, no adjusting! Also the cord can shorten if you are running with an arm band so that you aren't getting tangled up in them. I am possibly doing a 5k next month, definitely doing a 10k on Memorial Day, and moving outside to the pavement once the ice has melted. I am also working on some other new years resolutions that I will update about on a later blog post, which hopefully won't take me 4 months to get around to writing.

New York City!

Since I've moved to Colorado, I've been saving up to go to New York. Most of the time when I get cash tips, I put them in a jar in my room for my "fun fund." I had quite a bit of money saved up, and then last year I used all of it for cash down on my car. I've spent the last 8 months building it back up so I could finally go to New York City. One of my best friends from Denver, Julianne, lives in Manhattan and I have been wanting to go out and see her. Because she drops back in to Denver to see her boyfriend a lot, it has been hard to figure out when I could go visit. About a month ago I finally booked a ticket out to see her. I only got to stay Friday til Monday, but we packed in a lot. However, I am sitting on my couch during snow day #2 for the week and am wishing that I had stayed longer.

Friday when I got in, I got on a bus toward her apartment. She was on a bus headed toward me, so we could take the rest of the ride together. Somehow I ended up on the wrong bus and headed toward Queens. I then got off the bus, walked a few blocks back to the airport, and got on the right bus. It wouldn't be an adventure for me if I didn't get lost at least a few times. We finally met up and dropped my stuff off at her place. We then went to the Museum of Metropolitan Art (the MOMA). Each floor had different themes (photography, painting, architecture, etc. We also went to dinner at this little hole in the wall Italian place, and it was delicious.

When I booked my trip, J hadn't realized that she had already committed to photograph a bat mitzvah in New Jersey. Instead of rescheduling my trip, I thought I would just explore the city by myself. J suggested that I take a bus tour through the city. Excellent idea. Unfortunately, it rained ALL day on Saturday. And the bus wasn't covered. I still had an excellent time, and got to see all of the major tourist highlights of the city and learn a lot of cool history. You could choose at each stop if you wanted to stay on the bus, or stop for the site. If you got off, there would be another bus later that you could get on. Because of the rain I wasn't really interested in getting off very often. I also didn't want to deal with getting lost. One stop I did get off at was Ground Zero. I stopped in at Paul's Chapel, which stands right in front of where the two towers once stood. The fact that it wasn't destroyed is a miracle in itself. This is where many of the firefighters, and survivors of the disaster came to sleep and rest. It is now covered in shrines to 9/11.


This is one of the ones that was very touching to me. It was a callaboration of flyers people had posted all over the city after that day. If someone was missing, family members would hang up flyers all over the city that had their picture, and a number to call if they had any details. This included people that worked at the World Trade Center, firefighters, police offers...

After I finished the tour, I decided to go shopping at H&M. I have google maps on my phone, so I looked up where the closest one was. Google maps on my phone is a little slow. I got lost, again. It took me about an hour to get there. Right before I got there I got completely splashed by a cab and was dripping wet. Then I arrived at the store to a sign saying that they were closed for a private event. I then spent another half our walking to the one on 5th Avenue, which was packed. I didn't get a whole lot of shopping done that day.

Sunday we got up and went to breakfast at Alice's Tea Cup. It was the cutest little tea shop, with the most incredible scones. We didn't have to wait for a table, so we had a lot of time before church. We stopped at a bakery that I've been eyeing called Levain. They makes breads, cinammon rolls, and the most incredible 1 1/2 inch thick cookies. Not cakey, no doughy, just delicious. Then we headed to Central Park. This was probably my very favorite part of the trip. It was THE most beautiful day outside. Sunny, perfect temperature, gorgeous trees. I love trees.


After that we went to church. The story above the church is the temple, so when you look up this is what you see.


After church we went to Brooklyn for Julianne to look at a few apartments. This might have killed my excitement to want to ever live in NYC just a little bit. Then we took the ferry so we could go past the Statue of Liberty. The night was just as beautiful as the day.


Monday was my last day, and we had a lot to do before going to the airport. We shopped on Canal Street, which is kind of like China Town. I was looking for a wallet, but couldn't find one that I liked. After we went to lunch with my friend Greg who I've known since middle school and now works in the city. We ate at the most delicious sandwich shop called WichCraft. I got to go back to H&M (dry) and got to do some real shopping. When we got back to J's apartment to grab my bags, there was a street vendor selling wallets. I was so excited, it was the one thing left that I wanted to buy and the perfect way to wrap up my trip.

Here are some more pictures from the trip.

light and dark

A few months ago I got to participate in a photoshoot at the salon. Julianne Brasher, who is an incredible photographer (and also an icredible friend of mine) had this idea. Basically, she put out shapes in cardstock, and we held them in front of very bright lights to cast shadows on our models. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it turned out awesome. Since we were using the idea of light and shadows we used a blonde and a brunette model. The shoot was more focused on shape than on color. My boss, Kara Forshay, did all of the hair and I was the make-up artist for the shoot. Models are Tylor and Alexandra.

twenty-three

My lack of posting hasn't been intentional, our shotty internet just makes it difficult to use the computer for reasons other than solitaire (I am getting good!) and charging my ipod. I am officially one year older, and I think a little wiser too. It's funny, I've always wanted to be 23. In my mind it has been the no-fail age. If you have a career, cool. If not, no sweat. Married? You're not going to get the "but you're SO young!" And if you aren't, you aren't getting set up with every last single person that all of my friends and family know. It has always seemed like the perfect, no pressure, euphoric age. And here I am..


I feel 22 was a milestone of a year for me. I won't say that it was a great year, but I learned a lot and feel that the not so great things helped me to mature. I was talking to Erica on my birthday and she said that 23 was the year that she felt like she was finally an adult. That is exactly how I've been feeling lately and I am excited that I am feeling a litttle more grown up.


I am really excited for the rest of the year. Megan is getting married next weekend and I am really excited for her wedding, and her bacherlorette party this weekend. My mom, Eric, and Carly and Kelly are (finally) coming to Denver next month. I am excited to show them my apartment, the new salon, and this beautiful city that I live in. I am also trying to plan a trip to New York City. Julianne left this week to go back, and I can't wait to go visit her!! I am also excited for football, halloween, and eventually the holidays. I love this fall weather, and am getting so excited for the leaves to change.

a little bit of an update

I have had a lot of fun things to blog about lately, but we aren't paying for internet so the connection is pretty in and out. So here is a short summary of what's been up.

About a month ago Victoria and I moved into a new place. We're a lot closer to downtown and in a really fun neighborhood. There are a lot of cool restaurants within walking distance to us. My favorite cupcakes shop, The Shoppe is just a short walk up the street. It's open til 2 am, which is good and bad all at the same time. I think we are finally feeling settled but are slowly adding new decorations.

At the end of July, John(Moore) and I went to see David Archuleta and Demi Lovato. I love, love, love little David. It was a really cute show, and it was fun to hang out with John. I felt a little out of place being there, willingly, without accompanying a child but I really enjoyed the show.

A few weeks ago the SF girls went to Las Vegas for The Gathering, which is a Paul Mitchell hair show. It was such a blast, I really love Las Vegas. I love to people watch, and there are plenty of people worth watching there. We Stayed in The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The whole tower is suites, so we had nice big rooms with double bathrooms. My favorite thing about it is that when you get off the elevator you're in a tranquil lobby (smells like coconut), rather than in a noisy casino. While we were there we went to a club called Pure. Luckily, the night we were there the rapper DMX was perfoming. I also got to meet the guys from Questcrew, from America's Best Dance Crew. One of the guys is on PM's karate team, so they performed at one of our general sessions. A few hours after we got there my friend Brittany from school drove up from St. George so we could catch up. It was SO, SO, SO good to see her!! We took a cutting class the first day, and got to see Angus Mitchell, Scott Cole, and Takashi rock out some pretty cool haircuts. The second day we took a business class with Robert Cromeans, and a business class with a guy named Brent Golden who is actually in charge of opening up the Denver PMTS. We learned some cool stuff from them, and got some great ideas from other sucsessful salons. We ate dinner at the Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's restaurants, one night and the food was different but tasty. We also at at Olives at the Bellagio, and that food was fan-tastic. The last night we were there we went to The Foundation Room of The House of Blues. For those of you who don't know, John Paul Dejoria (the guy with the ponytail) not only owns Paul Mitchell, but he also owns Patron Tequila, and is co-founder of The House of Blues. While we were up there, John Paul came and sat with us and thanked us for coming to the show. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with him on a couple of occasions, and am always blown away at how down to earth he is. I am really excited to head back to Vegas for the show next year!

Other than that, things have been pretty normal. I've been really busy at work, and it's tiring but it's also really good for my paycheck! I am getting excited for fall, we've had a really weird summer. I can't believe it's already back to school but I guess that doesn't make a huge difference to me. Time is just moving by so quickly. I can't believe I've been in Denver for 2 1/2 years!

Jury Duty

A few weeks ago, I got quite the dreaded piece of mail. Jury duty. For a lot of people, this might seem like fun, or an excuse to get out of work for a few days. In the state of Colorado the ONLY way to get out of jury duty is if you are the primary care giver of an elderly person whose life might be endangered by your absense. You are allowed one postponement a year, but I didn't want to use it and then get picked for a day where I actually had something going on.

I showed up at the courthouse at asbout 8:30 on Monday morning. They offer discount parking at the city center, which is about a 10 minute walk. I waited in line for about 10 minutes for security, and made my way to the waiting room. Several people came in an took groups of people to court rooms to pick their juries. At about 10:30 the woman told us that there were over 300 people that showed up, and we would probably all be used at some point in the day. She offered us a 15 minute break, so we scattered for coffee and bathrooms. An HOUR later, she showed back up and called another group. Then another. Then my number got called.

We entered a courtroom, and 12 of us took seats. We had to read off answers to a list of questions. I purposefully tried to distract myself, because really, who wants a juror that isn't paying attention? When I answered my information she had me repeat my age several times, making it obvious that I was at least 5 years younger than everyone else. The guy on trial was very close to my age, which I think he considered to be a good thing. When the lawyers came over to drill us with questions I picked at my nail polish, played with my shoes, made myself to appear as unabservant as possible. I guess they've seen that trick before, because I was picked.

The case was over a guy who had gotten in a fight with a security officer downtown last summer. Does stuff like this even need a jury? He was being tried with disturbing the peace, interference, assault, fighting in public, and threat. He was with his brother that night, and supposedly was threatening to kill some people. His brother had a gun. We were told that the case would be over with by the end of the afternoon, but by 6:00 we weren't even ready for closing arguements. I was very stressed out because I had a men's cutting class on Tuesday at 10 and a client at 12:00. I missed the class, but made it back to the salon in time for my client. The second day was closing arguements and deliberation. We found him guilty on 3 of the 5charges, but didn't get to stay in the courthouse long enough to find out his punishment. I haven't been able to find any info obline either.

As stressful at missing work was, it really wasn't too terrible. Everyone on our jury was super super nice. The defense lawyer was terrible, so watching him was actually really entertaining. I can't say that I would really want to be on a jury again, but it was cool to experience. And now I can say I've fulfilled my civil duty for the year.