all grown up

 Oliver turned one last week!  If you are in the same boat as me, you probably can't believe he is already that old!  To celebrate I made him a birthday hat that he maaaybe hated a little.  Then I took the pups on a super long trompy walk where we met a pup named Mogely who turned out to be our neighbor and a big fan of leading Oliver around the reservoir.  All in all, it was a pretty great day. 

Doesn't he look happy to be 1?!

thank you, thank you, thank you kindly..

So much to be thankful for this year; this difficult, heart wrenching year that has seen its fair share of ups and downs.  In the chaos of our every day stresses, finishing up projects at work, and looking towards the new year, JP and I haven't had a lot of down time to reflect on our blessings.  This year we carved out some time to get out of town, and last minute car troubles not with standing, we got ourselves out of this here town in one piece!  Thanksgiving has always been a holiday my family celebrated in Iowa with my grandparents and cousins, aunts and uncles.  So many of us packed around tables that were set up in every room on the main floor, sometimes with not enough seats for everyone so we had to eat in a kind of rotating dance.  We always ate well, celebrated loudly and closed the festivities with pinochle; grandma of course always made her way to the top table and held her own there for the rest of the night.  My memories of those celebrations are beautiful, and even though I would give a lot for them to not be over, I wouldn't change them a bit.  Now we are moving towards creating our own traditions and discovering different ways of celebrating with both the old and the new.  What better way to welcome in the new than with a vegan celebration with JP's family in Utah!   This time I was feeling much better than our last visit when I was in the midst of my post-haitian stomach troubles, and I even documented a bit!  The food was amazing, and I could even participate in everything except the tofurkey which had the gluten in it.  They made gf cornbread stuffing, broccoli and rice, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and even a gf pumpkin pie!  Yum!  I could eat more at this celebration that I probably could have at others so it was definitely a win!  With four whole days (minus two 11 hour driving days) before us, we packed in the family fun time with, among other things, a hula hoop competition, bowling, friendship bracelets, vegan sushi, guitar playing, tree trimming, lights hanging and homemade hot chocolates.   We were busy, busy!  Oliver and Yin of course barely stopped to breath the entire time, taking in the pack of seven dogs the Berry's have, running around their two acre fenced in yard, and cuddling up to the girls who couldn't help but spoil them with love and attention.  O was passed out cold the entire drive home, and was so exhausted he didn't even puke while we were crossing the mountains, which is an all time first!  Now I am going to throw a hodge podge of photos at you, all of which encompass the fun time we had.  I can't believe we didn't get a group shot though!  Guess we will just have to return soon!

 

 

Which brings me to the blessings I was talking about, and of which there are too many to try to make a comprehensive list.  I'm so thankful, SO THANKFUL for my beyond amazing family.  Each and every one of my siblings and parents are stronger, more dedicated, more caring, more beautiful and more amazing than I can even believe and I am so incredibly grateful to have them to lean on and to prop up.  I can not express the gratitude I feel for being born into such a group of amazing individuals.  I'm so thankful every day that I am living this life with my best friend at my side, who I grow closer to every day, and who has given me so much of himself.  Though our paths were meandering, I am constantly surprised that we found each other not once but twice.  I'm a lucky girl to be sure.  I'm thankful for the Berry's for welcoming me into their home and holidays, and making me feel so loved and appreciated.  It's a great gift to feel so accepted by JP's family in so many ways.  I'm thankful for each of my friends, who all feel like family to me.  They support my crazy academic pursuits, listen to my woes, and cheer me on every step of the way.  In every way I feel blessed, and I am going to work hard to carry that feeling into all that I do.  Thank you for being exactly who you are. 

Perhaps you recognized the reference in the title of this post to the song from Amahl and The Night Visitors, one of my favorite Christmas stories.  In my head whenever I hear that song I can't help but think of my little brother Micah.  When we were younger he had a habit of belting out songs and substituting his name into the original words.  It was so endearing and sweet, and in a lot of cases pretty ridiculous (do the micahrena anyone?), so when I think of this song I hear "this is all we Micah's can offer you!  Thank you, thank you, thank you kindly.. Thank you thank you, thank you kindly..", and it warms my heart.

long time coming

I haven't written on here anything about my dad's cancer for a number of reasons.  Mostly, I think, it's because when I think about it is just makes me cry, and I'm not sure where it would all go.  BUT, today I am making an exception, because he just finished his LAST round of chemo and is doing amazingly well.  I am so proud of him and my whole family for staying strong through this entire experience, and allowing cancer to once again be in our lives without destroying us.  It's hard to describe how we made it through both my mom's cancer and now my dad's, and I am grateful every day for the support I've felt from all of the people in my life.  There are a lot of unanswered questions still out there, but for now we are taking the time to celebrate his accomplishment and to look towards the future with hope.  I thought I would share a video of my dad singing, which he is always doing at some point in the day, from my cousin's wedding we went to back in October.  My brother Joe is on the mandolin and my cousin Liz is on the guitar.  This is one of my favorite songs, Annie and I used to listen to it on the Keepers soundtrack when we were little, and one that my dad and brother have done at more than one family gathering.  Fair warning that it might induce tears!  You can find it here.

on the eve of our second snow

It's November!  We are gearing up (read making sure we have adequate breakfast supplies on hand) for our second snow fall of the year!  This one is supposed to be a foot or so starting at midnight, and JP is anticipating working from home...hence the breakfast supplies.  I've got a debate tomorrow in my genetics class, but other then that I am free all day!  I'm planning on taking the pups out for snow tromping, going to the gym, and coloring in my anatomy coloring book I just got!  Wooot.  Things have been nice lately, I only have a month and a half until I am done with school and I am dreaming of all the things I will need to review before I ever start PA school if I get in.  Tonight I scooted to the store all bundled up so I could make a special dinner for JP who has been having some frustrating days at work lately.   I ended up making spinach and parmesean stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon and mmm were they ever delicious!  I should have gotten a picture, but we scarfed them up too fast!  I wanted to share some pictures from our first snowfall which was last week.  It was beautiful and peaceful and everything a first lovely snowfall is.  Isn't that funny how you can be so inspired at first and then a week into winter you are ready for some grass again?

 

 In the morning when we woke up there was snow all over, and I let O outside to pee.  I think he had forgotten about what snow was cause he was super cautious stepping out into it at first.  Then he started licking it and was SO EXCITED that he could eat this funny white stuff.  As snow was falling from the branches in clumps, he raced around the yard trying to catch all of it.  It was hilarious!  The above picture is our yard that is completely covered in Oliver tracks since no one else wanted to go outside.

  

  

  

We went out for a walk, and all the trees (which had just recently changed colors) were so gorgeous with their colors all covered in snow!  The next day when the snow melted there were almost no leaves on any branches at all so I was particularily happy to have seen it!

 

 

We took them to the reservoir where they usually run around, but I was afraid Oliver would be overzealous and run into the icy water to meet his feathery friends, so we just sat up there and watched the geese for a little while.

  

 My two Louisiana natives were freezing even though they were all bundled up.  JP is wearing the hemp scarf I just knitted a few weeks ago, it's amazingly soft and comfy.  I might never go back to wool.

 
And here are our sad pumpkins that were munched by the squirrels the night after we carved them.

and if you are STILL wondering

then wonder no more!!  I just heard from the University of New England in Maine, and they have invited me for an interview at the end of January!!  I don't think I have stopped smiling, humming, dancing around since I read the e-mail yesterday morning.  I am just so shocked and proud and overwhelmed to have gotten to the next step of this whole future plan of mine.  It is finally starting to feel like it was all worth it, and even if I don't get in, I will know that I did everything that I could and I will take what I can from the whole experience and do it all over until I succeed.  I can not wait to get on that plane and be welcomed into town by my brother and sister, to show JP what our potential future next city looks like (not that I'm getting ahead of myself at all), and to show UNE exactly what I'm made of.   HOOORAYYYY!

pumpkin, pumpkin

Mmmm fall is in the air here for real, the leaves are changing and blowing all over the place, the air is crisp and perfect for lighting up a fire and listening to the wind.  It's my most favorite time of the year, and this weekend I didn't have to work or study or do anything in particular.  It was fantastic.  I went for a few bike rides (as you might have seen from my last post), shopped at some thrift stores, watched a movie, raked and of course made time for pumpkin carving.  I sure love me some pumpkin carving, and this year was no different.  Actually, it was a little different in that we had to contend with one extremely curious puppy who was eager to get in on all the action.  It was pretty funny to watch him try to sneak off with the tops of the freshly carved pumpkins, or lick the insides experimentally.  I think he might be a big fan of this time of year too!  While we carved, JP had some ribs on the grill, and did they ever smell delicious while we moved around the yard.  Mmmm hmmm.  It's nice to get some time to yourself once in a while away from the hub bub of normal life.  Here are a few pictures for you:

I think Yin was mostly just happy to have Oliver distracted and not jumping all around in her space, so she took the opportunity to sunbathe by the fence.

Our final products!  The pictures are pretty bad, but without flash my camera couldn't grab them very well.  We each did one and then did a collaboration on the one toothed one.  Of course, you can't carve pumpkins without roasting up some delicious seeds to chomp on.   So that is exactly what we did. Mmm.

In case anyone is wondering, I haven't heard from any schools yet.  And if you know me, you know that I am oscillating between feelings of hopeful patience, and extreme dread of the nebulous future that may not contain what I want it to.  Then I just take a deep breath and get on with it.

possibly the dorkiest thing ever, ever

Soooo, we share one car right now, and since JP works in Boulder he automatically gets it for those long commutes.  I scoot happily around balancing groceries precariously and moving around at a cool 30mph.  This has worked out really well for us, with the exception of a few things.  One of these things is that I can never take the dogs to the dog park on my scoot, and it gets dark so early here now that there just isn't any time for them to go!  Then I remembered bike trailers... and then I became obsessed with getting one and amping up my dorkyness.  There were a bunch on craigslist, but they were all pretty expensive and with my awesome skills at estimating, I wasn't even sure both pups would fit inside!  Luckily, goodwill came through for me again.  I was just browsing over piles of kids toys and underneath them I thought I saw a small tire.  Low and behold it was an InStep bicycle trailer!! Whaaa?  And only $35!  Our biggest problem was getting it in the car, but after that it was smooth sailing.  I pumped up the tires and they held air just fine (which was my only worry about buying it), I wiped it down to get rid of the cobweb-y debris, and snapped that thing on the back of my bike.

 

WOOOOOT.  It was pretty much amazing.  After settling the pups in back, which they kind of resisted a lot, they just cuddled together in a pile and were calm the entire trip, even when a dog passed us while at a stoplight.  That's pretty good!

It was so much fun!  I am so excited that it went so well, and now I can bring them out whenever I want!

things have been good

I've got an upcoming family wedding (last one this year I promise!) and my best friend Annie is coming to visit soon!!  I am so very excited to skip home for a quick weekend to see my family for another beautiful celebration, with dancing of course, and to show Annie my life in Denver.  She hasn't even met Oliver yet, and I can't wait to see what she thinks of my wild child.  If only she could bring her sweet pup as a carry on, they would have so much fun together... or just terrorize each other, but either way it would be amusing!  In any case, this picture is mostly for my parents, so they can see I'm doing well even though the semester has been a tough one so far.  I'm doing my best to keep on smiling!
 

 

Yin, Oliver and I just took a long walk and watched the sunset to end my weekend before heading back to work tomorrow.

did I forget to mention

that I APPLIED TO PA SCHOOL?!  Phew.  Seriously, that deserved an all caps scream at you and I'm not one to enter into those lightly.  This application process has been knock down and drag out, and I think I've run into just about every road bump that was in the road.  I am so, so glad that that portion of my life is over for the time being.  Now comes another hard part which is the wait.  Ohhh the wait, because for some reason this whole process is about a year long venture and just about the time you find out if you didn't get in anywhere it's time to start applying again!  But that is a long way away, and will be worried about when it comes and not a moment sooner.  I've gotten confirmations from all my schools that they have everything and are reviewing my application, and I am waiting patiently to hopefully get called for interviews near the end of the year.  Even though the odds are really long, and who knows what will happen, I am extremely proud of myself for getting this far, and I will continue on even if I need to go in another round next year because I have learned so much already and doing it again would just be old hat.

chai tea study time

Yesterday was a beautiful warm sunny day with a crisp cool fall late afternoon.  JP and I drank chai and sat outside reading and studying to enjoy the perfect weather.  What a lovely way to end the weekend.

family wedding time: take 1

please don't eat that thing that I love

The list is growing, folks.  Remember when I was so blessed and my brand new pup came home with me practically potty trained?  He was so sweet and never chewed on things he wasn’t supposed to, never tore things up.  Well, it seems as though slowly and then all at once my puppy has realized that he is a boisterous pup and as such he should try out his pearl whites on some of my beloved things.  Back when I was trying to be a gardener, I loving planted this herb garden:

and when I went inside to get water to wet their roots my dear Oliver CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMPED my spinach into oblivion.  This was followed a while later by the complete destruction of my budding raspberry plant (which is kind of impressive because those suckers are pretty pokey!)

 The list is indeed growing, and at last count includes: numerous pairs of socks, new sunglasses, an entire bottle of hand sanitizer, a water bottle, a pen that turned our white comforter into one with blue splotches and drips, the christmas present I bought for my parents when I was in Haiti, and the better part of a new pair of pants.  

Oh yeah, he also ate my only surviving plant jut a few days ago, which was the blueberry plant that had a magnificent two berry yield for us so far this summer.  ARGH!!! 

Being a people person in general and an inexperienced pet owner in specific, I’m not sure how to proceed!  If Oliver was a toddler I’d have a number of tricks and techniques in my bag of discipline/re-direction that I could fire right off, but I don’t think any of those apply when it comes to small puppies.  To date I’ve mostly just done a miss moshed approach which involves a combination of all of these things: bugging my eyes out, banishing him to his kennel (I know, I too read that the kennel should be a “place of happiness” where the dog feels safe and homey, but banishment to the playground of the backyard hardly seems appropriate..), dragging him to the scene of the crime to force him into confrontation of the disastrous event, and in general glaring at him while shaking my head sometimes adding a little wagging of my finger.  Not surprisingly this “approach” is not entirely effective, ok it’s not effective at all.  Thus, I am writing this post to ask advice on the issue of puppy discipline.  My personal opinion is not that he’s being bad, or anxiously destroying things cause we are gone and he is worried, but more that he has discovered the joy of tearing things apart willy-nilly style and while I think he realizes that he’s in the dog house (wha whaa) with us, the benefits of tomfoolery and destructive revelry are far outweighing the drawbacks at this juncture!  That or he likes to find the things I love and destroy them so he will be the only one left..

first day of school

I think O wanted to follow me to school like Mary's lamb even though I keep trying to tell him that he's got the awesome end of this particular stick.

we finally made it to the mountains

Ever since getting a tent from my parents for my birthday waaaay back in December, I have been eagerly anticipating taking it out for a spin.  Then when JP's birthday came in May I surprised him with a sweet new camping grill so we could not only have cover over our heads but also a means of heating some delicious camping food.  Our first attempt at camping was rained (or maybe snowed) out, and then I think GREland took over and we had no weekend time to spare.  I think I've spent over 75% of my summer indoors so far, working on all my important trying to be an adult things, and SUCH a small amount of time enjoying the summer weather and all that that entails!  What a shame!  With school starting next Monday (yipes!), I have been doing my best to pack in as much summer as possible in these few short days.  Mason (of the nerdiest study group ever) brought me out to Boulder Creek with his friend Scott to participate in an essential summer staple: tubing.  Wooo...umm hooo?  We maaaybe got in the freezing cold river a little too high up and rode some rough rapids through sharp pointy unforgiving rocks just as the sun was going behind the clouds and it was starting to sprinkle... but after that whole thing it was really fun!  A little bit terrifying, but all together some damn good fun.  I think next time I will make certain that the sun will be blazing, and I won't follow Mason without scouting the area for impending disaster.  Fun though, it really was fun.  Especially the surviving part.  In any case, camping was obviously on the super-short-packed-in-summer-list-of-awesomeness, and since I didn't have to work this weekend we seized the opportunity!  It turns out that everyone who lives in an around colorado likes to go camping on beautiful sunny weekend days too.  It just so happens that those other people plan on seizing the opportunity a few weeks in advance, which just isn't our style  We headed towards Estes Park with the assumption that something would work out, and we came up short.  It was a bleak outlook, pay $35 to camp on gravel sandwiched between two giant RV's while still in town?  Sandwich yourself between two RV's in the middle of a field?  Guh, our prospects weren't looking good, and such were our desires to make it work that we almost plunked down at one of those places.   We heard at the visitor's center that you could camp anywhere you wanted to on land that wasn't in Rocky Mountain National Park, so we just turned our car towards the mountains and drove with the intention of just finding a nice spot and clearing some brush.  We randomly happened upon a campground just 10 miles outside of Estes, and there was also one last little spot that we snagged up right quick!  We set up camp, and then took the pups walking around the area where we spotted the best site ever, and it happened to be kind of empty!  I asked the family next to it if there was anyone staying there, and they told us their friends had reserved it but couldn't come, so they offered it to us!!  We burritoed up the tent and moved right on over!  It was great, the furthest from neighbors, and with a little hiking trail in the back that O and I explored while foraging for kindling.  The tent was easy to set up and fit all four of us nice and snug, and the new grill was just perfect for our steak and corn on the cob dinner.  Mmmm camping.  What a great treat to get away from the hustle of real life.