Mr. Sandman

Yes?

I've been off in La La Dream land for the past week or so. I can't seem to stay grounded. All I want to do is daydream or sleep to dream (I had a dream that I went to Italy last night--who could beat that), and it's kind of getting on my nerves. I have motivation, I like what I do (in and outside of work), but I can't seem to focus! Maybe it's the 80 degree weather (that is finally going down). Maybe it's the ridiculously high pollen count (the most in years) that we're having here in Georgia. Spring fever is a bitch.

Lately I've been reading and hanging out with friends. I just finished Eragon. I thought I wasn't into dragon fantasy, but I guess I am because I really liked it (am now reading Eldest). The movie that I saw in December definitely pales in comparison, although John Malkovich as Galbatorix has been the brunt of many jokes this week. I still don't understand why they got "ssssssuper" John Malkovich to play this amazingly evil character that has yet to have a speaking role in the books. He is perhaps one of the most confusing actors I have seen in my life.

Two of my aunts and my cousin are flying in today. They should be here until early Sunday morning. I won't get to spend much time with them as I work late tonight and all day tomorrow, but it will be nice seeing them again.

Sunday, my friends Adrian and Paige are throwing me a "surprise" birthday party (well, like 4 people, two of them being my parents, will be there, which is fine with me). I'm excited because I haven't had a birthday party since the beginning of college. I turn the good ol' quarter of a century on Monday, which is somewhat frightening, and somewhat exciting. The further away in age that I get from my college years (and grad. school), the better.

Alright, back to work I suppose...

Lisssssten up PEEPle!

I figure that at least my library school/work friends will appreciate this fantastic introduction to research page. My personal favorite picture is where they get caught making out at the library. I've found that people either hate or love these fantastic confections (I obviously love them). There's something about colored sugar and marshmallow formed into a lovely bird or bunny shape that is just so good!

That's right folks, I'm in LOVE...

... with a metal dinosaur





... no wait, with Colorado!

My mom always says that when she travels to that area of the country, she feels like she's going home. She's from Nebraska, but traveled/lived in Colorado and surrounding states during summers, as my grandfather was a biology teacher/eventual professor. The west is an ideal place for summer science camps. I traveled in this area as a young child, but I have never lived out west. Whenever I visit though, I feel like I'm going home, much like my mom.

Jon lives in Ft. Collins, which is north of Denver. It is super accessible to many cool places. This visit, along with Jon's awesome best friend Ashley, we visited Rocky Mountain National Park (again), and drove thorough a minor snow storm to get to Vedauwoo Recreation area in Medicine Bow National Forrest, Wyoming. The park was even better this time than in February, mainly because everything is thawing out. We hiked around a frozen lake, saw more elk, climbed into the alluvial fan, and saw many scenic outlooks. Jon and I plan on hiking (an easy trail for my sake) next month in the park. I am luckily now well equipped now that I have a brand new pair of hiking shoes. I've never been to Vedauwoo in the winter before. Driving into the park was impossible, but we managed to walk over the snow drifts that were taller than us to enter. After a lot of memory jogging, I was finally able to find the picnic table where my mother celebrated her 9th birthday (the one under the huge rock up there). If you ever get the chance to travel through southern Wyoming, go to Vedauwoo. It will change your mind about Wyoming forever.

Sadly, Ashley had to leave us on Sunday (after a very nice visit with some puppies). On Monday, Jon and I ventured to a junk-turned-art farm called Swetsville Zoo in Ft. Collins. If you have facebook, see all of my pictures. The art is amazing, and I especially enjoyed getting fresh with a metal dinosaur/hungarian horntail. I also had fun meeting another of Jon's friends, Michael. I'm excited about getting to know him better as well as meeting his fiancé eventually.

I love being in a place where there is so much to see, so close. I'm not much of a bar/club person, so this outdoors stuff is quickly becoming an obsession of mine (don't worry, I'm too big of a wimp to take it too far). It's fair to say that I've officially fallen in love with Colorado though. It's no longer that place where I hiked a mountain at the age of 8. It's now another place to call home.

A year ago, heck six months ago, I would have never suspected that my life would be so different. On the surface it's the same, but my mentality is completely different. I feel truly blessed to be living my life.

On a bookish note, don't ever read cheesy teeny-bopper books about a girl who practices magic to solve murder and obsession in a prep school setting. I'm a huge YA fan and this was just rough.

Pink Elephants, Henry VIII, Jane Eyre, and Nerds

Sad, but true... my fuzzy pink elephant key chain (picture to come later) is more popular than me at work. My friend Paige gave a few of us different animal key chains for Valentines Day and I decided to separate my work keys from my car/home keys. I figured that a pink elephant would never allow me to lose/forget my work keys. Now he has a name (Rufus), a questionable sexuality, and romps around with various Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Pearl, and Scooby Doo toys around the technical services area (a lot of the employees here, myself included, have toys in their offices) and has been the brunt of many, um, jokes. At least we keep ourselves entertained here with more than work, policy, and meetings.

I've also been joking (with Amanda) a lot about Henry VIII lately. If you know me, you know that I like Tudor history. After reading Marie Antoinette: the journey in the fall, I fell in love with Antonia Fraser's style of writing. I decided on checking out The Six Wives of Henry VIII for my lunch reading here at work. I've been reading it since the beginning of the semester and I'm still not even half way through it. Apparently there's also a new TV show on Showtime called The Tudors. The guy who plays Henry VIII is really, I mean REALLY hot. For the standards of the time, young Henry VIII WAS "attractive" but he was much stockier (I have seen the armor from his youth) than the guy who plays him on TV. He was such a piece of work. It amazes me how passionate he was (quick to love and quick to hate).

Talk of strumpets and trumpets naturally led to tea talk (and consequential creation of Victorian era tea shop mystery novel names like "Sconed to Death"). Speaking of scones and Victorian tea shop mysteries, I have finally finished Jane Eyre. I already miss reading it and can't wait until I can begin a re-read. I fell in love (not like that) with the character of Jane, mainly because she sticks up for herself and is strong-willed. The male characters leave much to be desired in this book, but most men aren't ideal anyways (nor women). Having perfect men in the novel would have only made it boring and perhaps obsolete by now. There's Mr. Rochester who is WAY too passionate (kind of like Henry VIII) and St. John, who can't take no for an answer and is just a cold and jerky. The lunatic wife from the West Indies was a nice addition, as I like to be spooked in fiction novels, and you don't really understand what's going on with her until the latter half of the novel. Overall, Jane is the one who kept me reading and loving the book. It was a very good re-introduction to the classics.

Can somebody tell me the difference between "dork" and "nerd" or am I just both?

I'm off to Colorado tonight to see my equally, if not more nerdy boyfriend. I shall update when I get back!