Sundays are fun.

Walked around the cutest farmers market today before church. Then skyped with Kaitlin!

evidence:


The internet was being dumb so we decided to talk on the phone whilst still having skype up. Kinda weird, but it worked.


Found a dress for Will's wedding! First one I looked at and it was $20. Boom.

Went to a different church later that evening. Hung out with peeps after.

Now it's time to rest up for my first day of work with Greenpeace tomorrow!

MO countdown: 3 days!

nothing new

Not many new developments to report from here.

Yesterday I did some interning and got to skype with Aimeeeeeeeee!

Today, worked a bit in the garden. In the afternoon, it was cloudy and a little cool so being outside planting beans and carrots was really enjoyable. I can't wait to see the fruits and vegetables of my labors though! ;) Being a patient gardener I'm realizing would be difficult for me.

Went to Goodwill to look for a satchel. Ya know, like a messenger bag. I prefer the word satchel because it sounds funny. I've had getting one on my "to do" list for quite some time. I love lists! The point of getting the satchel is so when I fly home in 5 days!!@!#@, I can use my backpack camera bag and then satchel bag for my computer. So I don't look like a dork and have two backpacks, one on front and one on back- which I'm pretty sure I've done that a lot. So I go to Goodwill and head for the purse/bag section. BOOM! A whole rack of black satchels! It was one of those deals where they get a bunch of the same thing for whatever reason. It was simple, lightweight, and cheap- everything I look for when I'm shopping for stuff. Thanks Goodwill in Golden!

Lately I've been more obsessed with new musics, thanks to seeing Candace's top 5 artists of the week on her tumblr blog. If there is an artist you know I don't know and is worth me knowing, comment it!

P.S. MO countdown: 5 days! Bro's wedding is in ONE week! At this time next week I'm sure I'll be exhausted from wedding festivities.

ONE week

At this time next week, I'll be in Washington, MO for my bro's wedding rehearsal, I think. Not sure of the "Wedding Weekend Schedule" yet. I've been to many a wedding within the last 4ish years, naturally. It will be weird/fun that I'm related to the groom and that a lot of family will be there! AND photographing the wedding! I really am excited to be going back to MO for a while.

How about más fotos? These are from the first Kids' Class, "Snap Shooters," of the summer. It was last Saturday at the WWA gallery and Studio in Lakewood. Which half of you reading this probably don't know what any of that means...but whatever. I "assisted" in teaching the class and will "teach" the class next month. This time it was really just the kids running around taking photos, it was really loose and maybe at times unorganized. I have some ideas to improve the class for next month...so we'll see what happens.

WARNING: Cuteness overload

The youngest: age 4


















The eldest: 14/15ish



























Well, I guess the teacher was the eldest. We looked at some photos with the projector...not sure if the kids really cared though.



















They were excited to get to have prints of their photos though! (Even though this Quintin-look-alike [my littlest bro] doesn't look all that excited, he really really was.) Which is really cool for them. To get a print of a photograph they've taken in today's digital age is a rare occurrence, sadly.















































ok, now some photos of things other than children.

scared/shivering doggie



















kinda gross/cool



















Most of the kids copied this photo...jerks! jk ;)



















My favorite.


















To see more from the kids' class, among other photos from the summer, click aquí(here).

Overall, getting to hang out with the kids was a lot of fun. It was a nice peek into what being a teacher/person who deals with kids for a job was like. Being an art or photography teacher has crossed my mind, so this is a nice test drive for it. Next month when I'm more in charge will be more a test for sure! Moving to Denver has also been a test drive for moving to a new city and essentially starting over socially. AND I'm testing out organic gardening, huh, just realized. Test Drive Summer is what I'm calling Summer 2010 now.

Still waiting on the new place of residence. Patiently. Prayingly.

Goal of the weekend: get a dress for my brother's wedding!

P.S. People that use Blogger and put photos in your posts (Aimee?), do you have issues with the photos and spacing and such? I'm getting very annoyed with it...I wonder if Wordpress is better?

homelessness could be worse

Still at my friend's place. Tonight will be night 3 without a permanent place of residence. However, I'm not complaining. I'm thankful to be "homeless" but have a place to sleep tonight.

When I started this blog, I wanted to post photos frequently. I realized that hasn't been happening lately, so I'm loading this post up with pics!

My long lost friend, Nathalie (from Virginia!), whom I met in Argentina whilst we were both studying abroad there 2 years ago, happened to be coming to Denver with some friends. We went to the Botanic (NOT Botanical) Gardens and went downtown for a bit. It was really fun to get to hang out with an old friend and be with people who are also not from Denver and/or Colorado!

Taking a touristy photo


















Amazed at the water lily's resistance to water.


















Climbing public art downtown, naturally.



























One of the funniest/coincidencical things about this whole living sitch, is I had already agreed to volunteer at the organic garden at my friend's living community that I am now staying at temporarily. Remember that insane hail storm I blogged about? It destroyed a lot of the garden here, so that is why I've been able to help. They needed help replanting some stuff, but hopefully the others will grow back. Yesterday and today, I just walk down the sidewalk and BOOM, garden. Organic gardening is something I've been interested in a long time but I wasn't sure if I would actually like doing it. After experiencing it, I'm more than positive I do indeed enjoy it very much. I'm looking forward to the day that I can do this regularly in my own backyard! But first I need a backyard I suppose... that decision will be for NEXT May...

Anyway, here are some shots:

The little bridged entrance.



























The one plant I have some experience with, basil! I transplanting some of these. See the row going back?



























I planted carrot seeds here! See them?


















Which will hopefully grow into this and then hopefully grow carrot, the food.


















I planted beans on either side of the row of...lettuce I think it is?


















This is mainly for Aimee and my mom, who are flower lovers. This is camomile!




















I have a good housing lead, so please pray it all pans out and I'll be settled again soon!

Also, follow my dear friend, Rachel, who is new to the blogging world!

Well...

I originally had a post started that was going to recap the great weekend I had.

But I'm not feeling in a too "Look at all this fun I had!" mood.

I have SO MUCH I could say about today and the people it involved. I will bite my tongue (or bite the keyboard?) and be a good person though.

All I know is that with two months left in Colorado, all my belongings are in my car and I'm crashing at my friend's house.

Injustice is infuriating but I have peace in the fact that I know this is undeserved. This was done out of wrong motives and ingrained prejudices.

To close, I think it is fitting to share a verse:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:7

Two Weeks... yesterday

I missed a few days! I know, right? But I've had a few late nights and once it's after midnight I lose any motivation to blog because it would then be on the next date.

In two weeks (as of yesterday) I'll be going back to good ole humid Missouri for my favorite older brother's wedding in STL. After that I'll be spending 3ish days in Columbia editing the wedding photos and hanging out! I'm making a list already of fun things I want to do there. It seems silly because I've lived there for 4 years now...but absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

In other news, remember the Green Peacers I spoke so kindly of? While still in MO I remember seeing GreenPeace ads ALL the time on Craigslist when I was looking for jobs here. I decided to check into it to see if they were still hiring. Found the ad and called them. They called me back and had an interview yesterday. To keep this long story short, I got the job! He offered it to me on the spot after stating, "I don't normally do this, but, I'd like to offer you the position right now." Hearing that has got to be one of the best things to hear at a job interview followed by, "We need more strong women." I couldn't be happier about this. Third job offer's a charm!

Photo time:
At the people's fair on Sunday, I stopped by the Geico tent, naturally. They took this photo that I got to download for free!


















I also got this free tote!





























While writing this earlier, I started to hear what sounded like a stampede outside. I thought maybe it was just really intense rain, but it was hail! A lot of it. Check it.



















Doesn't it kind of look like Dippin' Dots?


































































18 minutes later, the sky looks like this! Crazy Colorado weather I guess.






















A short vid I took of this insane hail storm.

MO countdown: 13 days.

F-O-X

I'm watching You've Got Mail right now. It was on TV the other day and instead of jumping in for the last hour, I decided to refrain and watch it in its entirety later. I used to make fun of one of my dear best friends, Kaitlin, when she said it was her favorite movie. Now look at me. #1. I own it on DVD! and #2 I'm watching it without her prompting. After watching it 4+ times with her, I can see its good qualities. And it is a good movie! I defend it when in comes up in conversations even.

Also found out there is surround sound in here! WHAT?! That is one of my favorite things. It isn't that great for You've Got Mail, sure. But I will be definitely be watching movies that it will benefit from such as Jurassic Park, The Village, and Mean Girls in here.

I've had a few rough days here lately trying to figure things out. Everything seems to be up in the air. While that is a great film, experiencing this phrase isn't comfortable. Watching this movie I'm hoping will lift my spirits a little, since it does remind me of my friend, and thus home, and thus familiarity.

"Tall Decaf Cappuccino."

Leave your favorite You've Got Mail quote if you'd like.

head ache.

sun day

Today was filled with people. So many peoples. Went to church this morning and evening [tried a few different ones], went to the People's Fair downtown, checked out a Vonnegut novel at the Library, and strolled a bit of 16th ave. However, even with being around so many people all day, I hardly spoke to anyone. Or no one hardly spoke to me. Which is sad and disappointing when you remember I went to two churches today. Turns out people at churches aren't as chatty, welcoming, and inviting as they should be. The best interaction today was with two strangers on the popular 16th ave.

"Hey, how are you?"
[look around, look back at him, yes he's looking right at me]"Are you talking to me?"
"Yeah, can I talk to about something?"

Then this dude told me about Green Peace and saving the whales and next thing I knew I was signing up to donate $15 a month. Ok, he was pretty cute. That might have helped my decision to help save the whales.

After I signed my life away and I had gotten my "Save the whales" sticker, he informed me he had to teach me the secret handshake. I thought he was just being funny but he insisted it was a real thing. I don't think I can share it completely, unless you sign up, but it ended up just being a hug. Which, I normally wouldn't like from a stranger, but today I needed it. Also remember he was cute. It was uplifting to have a pleasant interaction with a pleasant person.

So I kept walking with a renewed faith in humanity and saw another set of Green Peacers. One of the them started to initiate conversation but I quickly told him I already talked to a guy. Then I timidly did the start of the secret handshake [which I still wasn't convinced was an actual thing] and the guy says, "Oh, you signed up! Thanks for your support!" and gives me a hug.

Really I spent $15 on two hugs and a sticker today. Worth it!


Side note: Help out my friends, Justin and Sydney, and "Like" this video on Youtube! They are trying to win a camera and $5,000. Help out the Missouri artists!

FREE

is one of my favorite words.

I went to the Denver Art Museum for a good 2ish hours this morning for the price of free. I've been spoiled by the amazing Nelson Art Museum that doesn't charge for admission, which is really great. Turns out the DAM(that's the abbreviation for the museum, calm down!) has a lot of Native American art. Figures, Denver, the west, etc. Not a lot of contemporary pieces either, which is what I know more. There was one tiny little room dedicate to Photography. Again, I've been spoiled by the Nelson's dedication to Photography. The museum was pretty big and I definitely didn't want to cram, so I skipped a lot of sections that I will go back and see the first Saturdays of July and August.

Right next door to the Art Museum is the Denver Public Library! So I brought the envelope my mother mailed me so I could get a card. Checked out a few and I hope to go back and wander the stacks.

After that I went to a Photo Lecture/discussion at the Foothills Art Center here in Golden, which admission was also free for! First Saturdays of the month are the best.

I have photos, but I'm tired from all the art and culture of the day. Night.

board

Today was probably the boringest day yet. Nothing really to do and to top it off I haven't really been feeling all that great. Watched some French Open and then I was sad that I had no one to play tennis with today. Also I think I got some blisters from wearing these shoes without socks... I'll be sure to take photos of them if they look gross tomorrow.

Sorry to have a pity party on here, it is just taking a while to have a life here and I don't think I was anticipating that coming into this.

On a more positive note, I'm going to the Denver Art Museum tomorrow because it will be freeeeeee, but I hope there aren't a lot of snot nosed kids and loud people because of this. I'm going right when it opens to avoid them!

shmintern

I'm officially an intern. Went to WWA today and started my official duties. I'll be co-teaching a kids photo class that meets once a month. Even though I won't be here for the actual "Kids Photography Week" later this year, I will also be helping organize that. In general, I will be helping organize as well! I'm realizing my need for organization. Always in places other than my own room... I'm sure I will be helping out with other random things as well, it really is dependent on what I want to be involved with, which is helpful.

That's about all there is for this post. I was going to post photos of the state of my crazy hair...maybe later.

Guy Co. AD

Meeting with intern lady tomorrow to figure out what I'll be doing with them.

Went on a run/got a little lost/hike in the afternoon. Then later went downtown for a thing with church.

well...that's about it.

side note/photo:

I kept seeing this billboard on the way to downtown Golden and would laugh. I decided to just pull over and take a photo of it. I LOVE Geico ads and this one especially. I thought it was funny that it was droopy too. While I was taking the photo I was singing MJ's "Somebody's Watching Me," and laughing about it. Then I listened to it in the car afterward. In fact I'm listening to it now! Great song.




























Then the next day I drove past it and it was restored... I wonder if someone saw me taking a photo of its droopiness.

one job > two jobs

Today I was supposed to start working at Wolf camera. However, what I didn't mention is that I had an interview with a photography studio in downtown Golden two hours before I was supposed to start my first day, heh. I went to the interview and it went swimmingly. I called Wolf and told them I had another job and went home and took a nap :) instead of going to work. This could potentially backfire if the Studio doesn't give me enough hours...but I guess I'm willing to take that risk. I just didn't want to commit to both if I couldn't completely do both, and/or end up quitting one right away. The studio job is more what I want to do. Shoot(pun), it IS what I do now, just freelance.

Went to Wash Park tonight for the weekly play time with people from Pathways church. Played a little volleyball and some tennis finally! However, there were defunct sprinklers that started to flow across 75% of our court for 75% of the time. Now that I know this guy plays tennis, next Tuesday we will have to play before the sprinklers come on for the night and ruin our fun!

Also, thanks to Aimee Bee's blog, I had to hunt this new pop down! She had a photo of it in this post.
Cherry Vanilla Pepsi. It's pretty good, combining two of my faves: Pepsi Vanilla and Wild Cherry Pepsi. brilliant! delicious!


















and yes the text is backwards because I took it with my mac's web cam.