phyllis the zebra

Student Work

2011-02-08T15:48:00.003-08:00

I've been busy updating and tweaking my portfolio site. I just added some of my illustration work from college. Hopefully my new painting will be added to the mix soon.

I chose Wordpress for my portfolio mostly because I wanted to get some experience with it and see what it can do. It seems that a lot of people are relying on Wordpress for their websites. I'm still trying to get the hang of it. The gallery for use as a portfolio isn't the greatest. I'm going to start looking around for something else that I may be able to plug in to my site. The gallery does have the option of showing as a slideshow, which looks a little better, but still not exactly what I'd like. I need to be able to put my work up there so that it looks like I know what I'm doing. Ha!

My Attempt to Learn Acrylics

2011-02-07T08:05:00.005-08:00

Growing up, I always loved to draw. I created little characters, went through the stage of drawing horses, drew clothing designs and created new outfits for my paper dolls. I had one art class in high school, but other than that, nothing formal.

When I got to college I knew I wanted to at least minor in art. That got expensive quickly. I decided to just go for it since I was buying all the supplies anyway. Weird way to pick a major, I know.

Painting was one of the classes that I took. One in oil painting and two in watercolor. I loved both for different reasons. Oil is incredibly tactile and bold and watercolor...at least the way I painted it...was more like an experiment every time. I have wanted to get back into painting for a while, particularly oils, but they are incredibly high maintenance. Not to mention toxic. With a toddler around, I don't really want to go there.

One guy in my oils class used acrylics instead and so that's kind of been on my mind as a possible alternative. I have never used acrylics on canvas before, so I'm experimenting again. I'm going to work from my oil painting experience and go from there.

I decided to do a portrait of baby J and picked this photo to work from:

I finally sketched it onto a canvas (that I've had for probably 10 years...waiting for me to get back into the groove), put together my easel (waiting for 5 years at least), pulled out my paints and looked up how to get started. I wasn't sure if it was the same as with oils, but it basically is. That gives me hope that this may not be as bumpy as I was expecting.

The sketch actually went a lot better onto the canvas than I expected. It's also been a long time since I drew anything, but that's another story. I'll try to post a picture of the sketch, just to keep myself accountable. :)

So, that's where it stands. I'm not putting a time-frame on it, just trying to do a little bit every day to get to it. I'm praying that this will get me in a place to start reconnecting with my creative self again.

Winter Woops

2011-01-24T15:14:00.004-08:00

Well, I didn't win the photo contest. In fact, my entry got deleted. In the directions on how to enter, they did say this was a possibility. Not sure I'll do that again. It was pretty convoluted and I was pretty careful about following their directions. Oh, well. Worth a shot.

In other news, I'm still looking for either more freelance work or a full-time job. It's crazy how things are in the work-world now. If I get any kind of a reply, it's usually something about how many applications to that particular job they received and it will take them a while to slog through them all. And that's just design jobs.

It really is bad out there, folks. Be thankful for jobs if you got 'em!

I Heart Faces Winter Wonderland

2011-01-17T20:08:00.003-08:00

My entry for the I Heart Faces winter wonderland contest.

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-29T16:00:00.007-07:00

Where else to go on spring break, than Florida? Um, nowhere. So, that's where we went. D's folks own a timeshare and generously allowed us to use it this year. We left baby J with the grandparents for the week and headed to Orlando..."mecca" for many children...and adults.

To start with, we weren't sure we'd even be able to get to Orlando. Airline prices stayed pretty steep the whole time I was checking prices. We ended up using United miles to get a ticket for me (not enough for both of us...thanks to the dying value of United miles) and bought a ticket for D on Southwest. We packed in one big suitcase and sent it with D since Southwest still let's you bring luggage for free. (I could go off about how idiotic not only having to pay for baggage, but how ridiculous the prices are, but I digress.)

Of course, that weekend I started getting a chest cold. Of course. My flight had an hour-ish layover in O'hare at about 8 pm. Of course, my flight from Denver was delayed for about an hour. Of course. Of course, once we landed in Chicago they couldn't get the jetway to work. Of course! Of course, my connecting flight was in the C terminal and we landed in the B terminal (for those of you who have had connections through O'hare...you know what I mean) and I had to run...RUN through the airport with my wheeled carry-on flip-flopping behind me. Of Course!!

I barely made my connection (but I did, thankfully) and I had to go potty and I began a coughing fit that lasted a good 20 minutes. Nice.

Anyway, we finally made it to Orlando to the condo...which was really nice and comfy...and crashed for the first couple of days. (I passed my cold on to D.) When we finally got up enough energy to go somewhere, we drove to Coco beach. Which is also the only place we actually took pictures. The next day we went to Epcot and then we drove to St. Augustine to walk around town and came back through Daytona. We actually spent most of our time talking about baby J and how fun it would be to take him to Disney and some of the other places around the area once he's old enough. I really missed being away from him for that long.

So there ya have it. Not nearly as exciting as our foray into Minnesota and Wyoming last year, but at least we finally talked Phyllis and her new cohort, George, into coming somewhere with us.

c for p the z

Phyllis and Baby J Meet

2010-04-19T07:39:00.002-07:00

Phyllis, Baby J

Baby J, Phyllis

I think Baby J just wants to chew on Phyllis. I'm sure they'll be friends, eventually.

In Memoriam

2010-02-19T13:48:00.005-08:00

This past summer I got to sit right behind home plate for a Rockies game! That's right...behind home plate! RIGHT behind home plate. It was so fun...I was probably 7 months pregnant at the time so the gal that waited on us (that's right...we had a waitress!) was very accommodating and quick about bringing me my ice cream. So fun.

So for those of you looking out at a snowy, grey day like I am...enjoy a little taste of summer.

Phyllis

The Result is In

2010-01-21T09:04:00.003-08:00

Here's the Little Dude.

Hopefully I'll find Phyllis here soon and get back to posting. I do have some pictures with Phyllis that need to be posted from this summer.

Oops!

2009-09-29T09:04:00.003-07:00

In case you didn't know...this is partly why I haven't been blogging much:

He's due at the end of October so he's much bigger than these pics show...as am I.

Cheers!

c for p the z

Spring Break: Part 3

2009-06-16T11:16:00.007-07:00

Okay, I pretty much stink at this. So, without further ado...the rest of the story.

After our adventures in South Dakota, we moved on to northern Minnesota. D had never been before, so I had to make sure to show him the two things that are the highlight of Bemidji for me (aside from my wonderful and hilarious grandparents, that is). Paul Bunyan and Babe the big, blue ox! Yay! So these first two are a continuation of the "where's Phyllis" series of photographs. If you look closely, you can see her hiding in the pictures.

This pic shows D and some kind of weird sculpture in the park near Babe and Paul. We aren't entirely sure what it is. Some sort of tall, pointy thing. I'm sure there's some kind of meaning there, but we'll leave that to smarter folk than us.

After a super fun couple of days hanging out with the grandparents and touring the town, it was time to head west to Cody, Wyoming for the jazz festival D's group was singing in. Since it's taken so long for me to write this you may or may not remember what was occurring weather-wise during those last few weeks of March.

Fargo was having record-breaking melting and flooding, a huge blizzard had followed us across South Dakota and had finally landed in North Dakota, and we had no idea what the conditions would be if we could actually make it to Wyoming. Our original plan had been to drive across North Dakota, but since the river in Fargo was just about to bust out all over and a big chunk of interstate in North Dakota was closed due to ice, we had to go to plan b...then c...then d...then back to b.

We finally ended up driving through South Dakota via a secret back Minnesotan way to the highway. We actually had good roads and weather during that day for the most part and stayed in Wall. And here is Cody the dog enjoying her second driving lesson.

The next day we drove through the Black Hills to Wyoming which was not so nice. Very blowy-snowy, but blue skies. Which was weird. We stopped at taco bell because for certain reasons I kept craving their bean burritos. No other bean burrito would do. You can see how much snow they had gotten there previously in this beautiful photo of the taco bell sign.

By the time we got past the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming, the weather was gorgeous and we were able to make up time. What a gorgeous and non-populated drive that is. Cody is right on the edge of Yellowstone if that tells you how far north and west in the state we were going. We got to the hotel just in the nick of time for the sound check only to find out that no dogs were allowed.

So, D went off to the gig and Cody and I set off to find Taco Bell and a place we could eat together. After the gig, Dave helped me sneak Cody into the hotel covered in a blanket. Poor thing...it was freezing out there in the car. At one point I drover her around town with the heater on full-blast just to warm her up a bit.
And here is what my view consisted of for much of the trip. Usually her head was up a little higher to block my view completely. Cute.

So that's it. The rest of the story. Sorry it took so long. :)

c for d, c the d, and p the z

Spring Break: Part 2

2009-05-13T13:58:00.004-07:00

So, am I creating enough tension for you by not adding the rest of the pictures for weeks at a time? Yeah, I thought so. I combined two of our stops into one swell post so as to keep this thing moving along. Have to get to other details sometime this decade.

Our first big stop (after the Lusk rest stop, of course) was Mount Rushmore. D had never been before and I think he was pleasantly under-impressed. They really did look bigger when I was younger. They had a bunch of new stuff since I was last there: the walk of flags, an outdoor ampitheater, and a big building with a cafe and the history of Rushmore. It was pretty interesting. I think D was more impressed with Jellystone Park and other such kid-friendly, touristy places nearby. All of it closed, of course. That's our travelling theme this year: go when stuff is closed...it's cheaper that way. Huh.

After hanging out for a while...and leaving the dog to whine in the car...we headed east through South Dakota. SD is surprisingly pretty for a western/prairie state. Much preferable to ND or other such states of grass-o-plenty. Our next stop was Wall Drug. Anyone who's been through this area knows what I'm talking about when I say: Neat. They're famous for ice water. This is another place I hadn't been since I was 14 or so. And, most of it was also closed. But Phyllis did get a couple of photo ops with the sign and the "doctor" who you put quarters into and he does something. We didn't have quarters. Yeah, too bad.

So that's the exciting mid-west travelogue for today, kids. Stay tuned for the next episode of Spring Break: Part 3 aka Phyllis meets Paul Bunyan and Babe the big, blue ox.

c for p the z

Spring Break: Part 1

2009-04-24T14:01:00.003-07:00

So this is way late and a million dollars short, but too bad. This year for spring break we took a road trip to see my grandparents in Minnesota. Dave hadn't met them before or had the pleasure of a road trip across South Dakota. So we nixed the idea of warm breezes and sandy beaches and headed up nort'. (You can see here how nervous Cody was to let us take her anywhere in a car unless she got to drive.)

Our first stop was Wyoming. We learned all kinds of fun facts at the Lusk rest area in Wyoming. Did you know, for instance, that this rest area featured the first flush toilets? I'm hoping that they meant "the first flush toilets at a rest area", but the sign doesn't say that so I'm not really sure.

And here you can see Dave giving the Lusk rest area a hearty thumbs up! That's all for this installment. Stay tuned for more exciting road trip news!

Honeymoon in Germany: Phyllis' version

2009-02-16T09:31:00.008-08:00

Me and the Frauenberg Castle. Tall.

Me and German moss. Green.

Me at the Turmhotel. Comfy.

Me with the Ellgens in front of the Turmhotel. Love them.

With my peeps in the the plaza of Cochem. Quaint.

View from the top of Cochem castle. Cool.

Clock tower of Cochem castle. Purty.

And that's all I got to see. I got forgotten in the pocket for the rest of the trip. Nice.

The End.

P the Z

We Interrupt this Blog with...Bread?

2009-02-03T11:47:00.004-08:00

That's right. Brown bread in a can.

We saw this in the store and felt compelled to try it.

Do they bake it right in the can?

It has those little can ridges so I'm not sure what to think. At least they give you little lines to make sure you're cutting it straight.

Is it just me or is it weird that the name of the bread is B & M? I guess it is fiber. Hmmm.

Although D is pulling out the stops on his acting ability, the taste was not nearly equal to his blissful expression.

C for D and P the Z

Year in Review

2009-01-23T09:41:00.006-08:00

So, I haven't posted in a reaaaally long time. Since I needed to write a newsletter anyway, I figured I'd just post it on here, too. 2 birds... blah, blah. I also put up some more photos on Snapfish. Here's the links to the albums if you wanna take a gander: engagement photos, wedding photos, and honeymoon in Germany. Phyllis actually has a whole post to write on the trip to Germany...so a little something to look forward to.

This year we're planning some more travel to connect with friends and family who were not able to make it to our reception this past fall. We are planning on a trip to the Chicago area and to the town I grew up in and then to Minnesota to visit my grandparents over D’s spring break. Let us know if you’ll be in any of those places this spring and we’ll try to get together.

Now for the update:

Change!
2008 was a big year of change for us. Besides the wedding, there’s been new jobs, new living situations, my parents moving back to Colorado from North Carolina, and a new dog! A sad change for us was the loss of D’s sweet grandma in December. Her memorial is this month where we will honor the memory of a wonderful woman who loved Jesus.

D
This past July, after school was out, D packed up his apartment north of Denver and moved to the metro area to live with friends until the wedding. He said good-bye to his students and fellow teachers and started preparing for a new school situation closer to where we're living. We’ve been very impressed with how welcoming the school and the district music teachers have been. But, with a new place comes all kind of new challenges. He’s still in the process of figuring out all those subtle, unspoken rules and making new relationships with students and co-workers.

Carissa
The week before our wedding, I was given a new role at work. You may know that I was working as an Assistant Producer on a film project called The Enemy God. They no longer needed me for that, but the office as a whole needed a graphic designer/art director. So, I am now back to doing design and project management work. Because we had a backlog on some projects, I spent the first couple of months getting caught up on things like our catalog that had been on the back burner for a couple years. Hopefully, I’ll have more of a chance now to help with new projects and develop a marketing strategy for our products.

On a personal level, I’m so grateful for how God has provided for me and my family this year. It’s been rough at times with family members having surgeries and my folks moving “there and back again,” but God has blessed me by adding a wonderful husband to my life as well as his family. D is a dream come true...we have had so much fun these last few months. I love all the laughter and support and guidance he brings to my life.

The Enemy God
On another note, the film project that I had been involved in for the last couple of years is now available in our webstore: www.calebresources.org. We all are very pleased with the outcome but there is still some work to be done. Although it looks like the opportunity to sign a distribution deal is at hand, the film industry has been hit as hard as everyone else in this economy so companies are hunkering down and not spending much money on new acquisitions.

For those of you unfamiliar with this project I was working on, the film is a fictionalization of the story of a Yanomamo shaman in the Venezuelan jungle. It’s told from the perspective of the shaman as he comes into contact with a missionary family and then has to make a choice between the demons in his chest and the one he calls the Enemy God. Our hope is that this film will open people’s eyes to the spiritual and physical needs of tribal peoples in the world.

For more information go to: www.theenemygod.com. You’ll find trailers for the film, a behind the scenes video as well as some of the back story of the main character and the Yanomamo people.

2009
It seems like this year, more than most, we are reminded of how much every aspect of our lives is dependent upon God. He knows our needs and provides for them in ways that are often surprising in spite of our worry and doubt.

One need that we are trusting to God is for people to lift us before our Father as we navigate all of these big changes in our lives and seek to serve God in whatever we do. We would be honored if you would remember us in that way as well as to let us know how we can be praying for you.

We hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that 2009 will be a year of growing closer to God as you see his faithfulness. Deut. 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

C for D & P the Z

Some Prayer Requests:
*We would continue to grow together in marriage.
*The Enemy God film would find successful distribution.
*Dave’s first year at the new school would bring new opportunities for growth.
* I would be able to think creatively in regards to my new role at work.
*We would discover ways in which God would have us serve together and as individuals.
*We would grow in knowledge of God and his word.

Seeing Double

2008-12-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

Where Two are Gathered...

2008-10-28T10:42:00.002-07:00

...much laughing ensues.

Phyll-zilla!

2008-10-27T09:41:00.001-07:00

New Toys

2008-10-24T14:07:00.002-07:00

You'll probably see more pics like this of Phyllis and me. A week before the wedding, I moved into a new job at the same company. I'm now the graphic designer/art director. It's been a big change in terms of the amount and kind of work that I'm doing, but it's been a good change.

With the change came a move of desks and new toys! WOOHOO! My new-to-me computer has a little camera on it and a program called Photobooth. If I was more photogenic, I'd probably play with it all the time. It has cool little styles that it puts on the photos that I look forward to trying out. Each and every ONE of them.

As nice as the new position is, it is one more huge change in life lately: marriage, a boy moving in, job change, parents moving back. And my husband has had even more changes than that lately. So, if you think of us, pray, Pray, PRAY! Please? Thanks. We didn't get a chance to go on a honeymoon, but will remedy that over Christmas break by going to Germany. Hopefully that will give us some much-needed rest. :)

Laters...

c for p the z

This One's for Shan!

2008-10-21T09:08:00.003-07:00

This is my shocked face that Phyllis failed to update the blog while I was in the middle of getting married. She feels bad. And apologizes profusely in particular to Shan who scolded her appropriately. She promises to try harder.

For more pics of the blessed event: www.mywedding.com/asyouwish

Hopefully we'll be back to posting regularly-ish, soon.

C for P the Z

Hoot! Hoot! Don't Pollute!

2008-06-06T09:31:00.004-07:00

Hey...this is Phyllis...

So, this year one of the coolest developments at my house has been the visitation of owls in the big cottonwood near my balcony. I've heard them hooting up a storm at various hours of the night, but had never actually seen one. Until now...

I happened to look across at the tree and he was just perched there on the branch. I was trying to be really careful and grabbing my camera slowly. However, it was a little too dark and my flash was not nearly big enough to catch this guy. So I finally gave up and went over to the tree and took the picture from under his branch. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with that. Ever get a crusty from an owl?

He flew off...once he stopped seeing spots from the flash. He was pretty good sized...probably about a foot and a half or 2 feet high. Definitely large enough to carry off this little zebra. I think blinding the night vision with the flash was a good defensive move.

Here's another pic a little closer to our woodland friend.

So, there's the wild animal siting for the year. Not quite as interesting as a camel, but prefereble to Kelley's rat snake!

laters!
p the z

Meme-a-licious

2008-06-03T15:31:00.003-07:00

My darling friend, Kelley, tagged me for this meme. It's a 4-thing meme.
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. pottery instructor
2. dishwasher
3. graphic designer
4. associate producer

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:
1. French Kiss
2. Meet Me in St. Louis
3. White Christmas
4. While You were Sleeping

Four places I’ve lived:
1. Chicago-land
2. Siloam Springs, AR
3. Colorado
4. India...briefly

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Battle Star Gallactica
2. Bones
3. Family Guy
4. Northern Exposure (on public television)

Four places I’ve been:
1. Costa Rica
2. Belize
3. South America
4. Germany

Four people who email me regularly:
1. my mom
2. dave
3. susan
4. banana republic

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Strawberries
2. Chocolate
3. Coffee
4. pastries

Four places I would love to visit:
1. the UK
2. Washington D.C.
3. Grand Canyon
4. Seattle

Four things I’m looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Getting married
2. Moving or re-decorating
3. Painting something
4. Learning how to crochet

Four friends I’m tagging:
Lisa
Trish
Shan
Marti

News!

2008-05-06T09:54:00.005-07:00

Some of you already have heard about this either through Facebook, the grapevine, carrier pigeon, etc...Dave and I are engaged! Woohoo! (I realize this isn't our best picture, I'll change it later. I like this one anyway.)

He's been taking me on little outings over the past month or so and collecting mementos at each stop. After each place we visited, he pulled me aside and told me how each spot represented something he wanted in our marriage. Two weeks ago, at about 9 or 10 at night he was driving around looking for a park. We finally pulled into the parking lot of the REI flagship store downtown. We walked across the deck of the Starbucks there where we met in person for the first time and down to the trail near the river. There were a bunch of college kinds trying to twirl burning batons or something near the water with someone pounding a rythym on an African drum of some sort. The moon was either full or nearly full so it was nice and bright out.

There's a bridge that crosses the river to Confluence park where there are metal tables with umbrellas over them where you can sit and look at the river. When we got over there, I picked the table that we had sat at on our first meeting. He pulled out a book...from where, I have no idea. I couldn't believe he had been carrying it the whole time and I hadn't even noticed. He had scrapbooked for me!

He had put together pages with the mementos from each place that we had visited and had tagged each page with what he wanted in our marriage. Of course I was enthralled by all the cool paper and other things that he had managed to get into the book. It was amazing! He did a great job on it. On the last page was a ribbon with a ring tied to it. Since I had picked out a ring that the company has under construction, I was trying to decide if this was that ring or not...and while I was distracted with that, Dave got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I feel kind of bad that I don't remember exactly what he said, but everything else was so cool that I guess I can't expect myself to remember everything. :) And I said yes!

He untied the ring and put it on my finger. He told me that this was his grandma's ring and there were 50 years of marriage in it already. I was so touched...especially because I love his grandma so much and we had just found out the she has liver cancer. Basically, I started bawling. It was a very cool experience and I'm looking forward to spending my life with such a great guy .

I apologize for it taking so long to post this. We have barely had time to celebrate it ourselves. We did go to Village Inn afterwards for a little celebratory snack. So, hopefully we'll soon get a chance to celebrate with our loved ones. :)

c for p the z and d

P.S. Suzann...Phyllis loves her soon-to-be roomie. They've had some good adventures together. :)

Movie Meme

2008-05-02T11:29:00.002-07:00

My friend, Lisa, didn't technically tag me, but I thought the meme was interesting enough to do anyway. :) Especially since I keep forgetting to get some particular pictures off of my camera.

Instructions: Look over the AFI top 100 films and answering the following questions....

1) Your favorite 5 movies that are on the list:

- To Kill a Mocking Bird
- The Philadelphia Story
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Singin in the Rain
- Star Wars

2) 5 Movies on the list that you didn't like at all:

- My Fair Lady
- Dances With Wolves
- Bringing Up Baby
- Gone with the Wind
- Some Like it Hot

3) 5 Movies on the List You haven't seen but want to:

- Citizen Kane
- Sunset Boulevard
- 2001: A Space Odessy
- Apocalypse Now
- Midnight Cowboy

4) 5 Movies on the List that you haven't seen and have no interest in seeing:

- Lawrence of Arabia
- Psycho
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Shane
- Frankenstein

5) Your Favorite 5 Movies That Aren't On the List: (Not that any of these fit the AFI criteria)
- Blue
- Roman Holiday
- Shawshank Redemption
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Blade Runner/Gattaca

Who's next?

c for p the z

In Spite of the Snow

2008-04-16T13:10:00.004-07:00

Looking outside the window today makes you feel like you're in some kind of giant snowglobe here in Colorado. Yesterday it was 80 degrees if that gives you an idea of what our transitional "seasons" are like here. It's what gives Colorado its character.

So here's a nice spring-y picture of Phyllis with the African violet that actually gave us a bloom. (I killed the last one I had...and I realize this one is bloom profusely, but it is alive.)

Happy Spring!

c and p the z

Hospitals and such

2008-04-12T19:44:00.004-07:00

Here is the modern marvel of a Colorado suburban hospital. It's pretty snazzy. Unfortunately, Phyllis and I had to visit under not such great circumstances. My grandpa was there for about a week. It was a little touch-and-go for a while. But he's much better now and is doing some physical therapy. If you think about it. pray for his full recovery if you would.

On a little lighter note, Phyllis and I went up to the parental's house (it still hasn't sold since they moved...bluh). We painted the office which was a gold color to a nice, boring "swiss coffee". Which doesn't really have any swiss or coffee in it. It's just a fancy name for white. You can see where we got kinda lazy and didn't feel like taking down the blinds to paint over the gold around the window.

You can also see that I have no shame...me or my 3 chins. I thought it would be funny to show Phyllis with all the painting supplies. Hmmm. Anyway...here's our friend, Joani, who was just as glad we were there to help her paint as we were glad she was there to help us. Huh? Yeah. What that means, is that it took us a day to paint it all and can't imagine how long it would've been with just one of us.

So, I think that's about all I have to say about real life right now. Maybe Phyllis and I will get to go somewhere fun soon. For now, we're just hanging in there and hoping life evens out a bit soon.

c and p the z

MIA...Zebra Style

2008-04-11T14:42:00.009-07:00

I know. I'm a lame blogger. I'd blame Phyllis, but she has no arms. So, here's a zebra picture.

Phyllis and I have been busy, but I haven't loaded up the pictures yet. We've been visiting my grandpa in the hospital for the past week or so and before that, we were getting my condo ready to put on the market.

By the way, here's a little plug for my friend who is a professional organizer: she's awesome! We completely rearranged the living room and the office in particular to make it look like you could actually hold some kind of good-sized party in there. Here's her company website.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any "before" pictures, but here are the "afters" of the living room and office. You'll have to take my word for it that it's better. :) That, or wait until I actually start living in it again and mess it up and post those pictures as the "before". I've been very careful not to make messes for the last few weeks so I don't have to clean up in a hurry. Ah, the joys of selling your house.

Cool Map

2008-03-13T15:42:00.002-07:00

I didn't realize how many states I've actually been to in my life. Maybe Phyllis and I will make it a goal to make it to the rest before I turn 40! My friend, Leah, at Sweet Tea Please had this map on her blog.

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

To Alabama, and beyond!

Phyllis's Turn to be Tagged

2008-02-20T15:44:00.006-08:00

Our friend at Simple Pink, Trish, tagged us with a 7 Things meme (I don't even know exactly what that stands for.) So Phyllis decided to take a shot at listing 7 unusual things about herself. So, without further ado...

1. I am not a pure-blood zebra. My ancestors include Lambchop, one of the muppets (Gonzo, I think), and possibly Snuffle-upagus from Sesame Street fame.

2. I am very short. 3.5 inches to be exact. (Much to the surprise of our friend, Lisa, from Under His Blue Sky...who I met on Sunday.)

3. I have had a crush on the Black Stallion since I was a filly.

4. But, my favorite movie is Racing Stripes. I always fancied myself a real athlete.

5. I don't know how old I am.

6. My parents abandoned me and moved to Germany this year with my friend, naked mole rat.

7. And last, I've always dreamed of traveling to Africa and running through the plains with my relatives. If only I actually had legs.

I'm supposed to tag people to do this, too, but our last tagging proved pretty unsuccessful. Maybe it was the holidays.

laters
p the z

Better Late than Never?

2008-01-31T08:46:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Phyllis and I flew to North Carolina to see the parentals. My bro was there for part of the time as well. What a beautiful state...my folks drove me around to a lot of different sites. It's fun to be in a place that has so much history.

These pictures are mostly from our visit to the beach near Wilmington. Phyllis wanted to wish you all Merry Christmas...even though now it's very belated. That's actually her up to her neck in the sand.

This is me under the boardwalk taking pictures. The posts made a really cool pattern under there. I'll have to post the photo I took from that angle.

A Korean family was on the end of the pier watching the fishermen. The kids got so excited when the fishermen kept pulling up these baby sharks. I was horrified watching the poor thing try to breathe while the kids pulled him up by the tail and poked him. They finally threw him back into the water...but the boy threw the shark in kind of like a frisbee so the animal did a nice belly flop when he hit. Ugh. That had to hurt!

Phyllis got a new friend for Christmas. We haven't quite decided on a name for her beyond Phyllis Jr., but she's a cute fuzzy version of Phyllis with "arms". She was hoping to get her picture taken with this cool bird, but it decided to get ready to take off right when I took the picture.

Here's the fam, minus the dog--who is probably getting ready to jump out of the back of the car, when we were dropping my brother off at the airport. After which we headed to the one Trader Joe's in NC. That was my first time in a Trader Joe's and I would have to say that it was like a little slice of heaven. I remember when we walked in there was a bright beam of light from above and I think I heard angels singing. Ah, okay, maybe it wasn't that good. But it was pretty fabulous. I bought the obligatory chocolates for my office--as we've become quite accustomed to a steady supply of their snacks.

Anywho. That's what I did on my Christmas vacation.

Laters...

Phyllis and C

Dinner with Friends

2007-12-10T08:03:00.001-08:00

I forgot to add this to the Ft. Collins Christmas post. Phyllis is sharing a drink with my guy while M. tries to disappear from the frame.

Christmas in Ft. Collins

2007-12-06T09:28:00.001-08:00

My friend, C, Phyllis and I went up to Fort Collins recently to check out our favorite vintage/consignment store. We had lunch at the Silver Grill and then searched the town for the spot our store had moved to. We found a big poster in the window of the old location announcing their move and with a big picture of the building they moved into, but no address. Hmmm...

The guy in the pizza place next door thought he knew and gave us some vague directions. He didn't know. Turns out we had driven past it coming into old town on College. At least we found it eventually and C got some really great finds.

When we were done, we went to Mugs Coffee Lounge which is a local coffee joint. You can see C here posed with her coffee and Phyllis. They're standing in front of the amazing lights down the middle of old town. This picture obviously doesn't do it justice, but it was just beautiful. I'd definitely recommend a trip up there to soak up the fun-ness of downtown F.C. and enjoy the lights.

Phyllis gets the last laugh on the dogs of the world.

Do some fun holiday things people!

c for p the z

10, 20, 30 years

2007-11-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

My friend, Marti, tagged me for this meme (what exactly does that stand for?). Where was I this month 10, 20, and 30 years ago? This is a tough question now that I'm in my elderly years. :) I actually had to go back and make a little spreadsheet of my life. How depressing.

10 years ago...
I would've been 25. I was out of college for 3 years and living in Denver for 2. I probably had started planning for my trip to South America for my "golden birthday" that coming April. I had just started working for Barbara and doing graphic design. I had broken up with my first boyfriend the end of that summer or sometime around there. I have a feeling that November of that year was not that exciting.

20 years ago...
At 15 life was also not all that. All of us girls had a crush on the same boy. I remember that being a fun year playing volleyball. At the beginning of November we would have just been winding down the season and maybe getting ready for the end of season tournament. We had been in Colorado for two years by then so I was probably just getting into my groove.

30 years ago...
Hmmm...don't remember much about being 5. November was probably right around the time we were learning the letter "M" or something. I had met my friend who would be my best friend in school up to the time we were about in junior high...seems like most best friends part ways at that time in life. We had been back in Illinois for a little over a year at that point. Seems like moving is a big part of my life at around the 10 year marks.

I just passed on my other meme to several friends, so I'm just going to pass this one back to Trish and see if she can remember that far in the past.

Phyllis was going to fill in this one, too, but everything from more than about 2 years ago is a bit fuzzy for her.

c for p the z

6 Things

2007-11-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've been double-tagged. Trish at SimplePink tagged me with 6 things about myself that may not be common knowledge or are in general simply very interesting. I'll spare you wading through both at the same time. Okay...

1. I was born in Woodstock. Not the hippy-drug-love-fest...that was before my time...Woodstock, IL. But it's fun to tell people I was born in Woodstock and watch their reaction. If they've met my parents, I can see the look of disbelief cross behind their eyes thinking about my parents with long hair and taking hits on a bong.

2. I played the stand-up bass in elementary school. It was only 3/4 size so it wasn't so bad. I always picked strange instruments that no one else was playing. Before the stringed bass, I played the oboe. Not pretty.

3. I haven't been able to eat Indian food in 2 years. About 2 weeks in to my 3 month stint in India, my body decided it had had enough. It took several months before I could even walk past the pre-packaged Indian food in the grocery store without gagging. Eventually I hope to be able to indulge in some palaak paneer.

4. I'm a knittter. That's right. I've taken up the girly flag and am trying to learn to knit. So far, the most complicated thing I've accomplished is a triangle.

5. On that same note, I have a knitting project that I started two years ago and it still isn't finished. It has a front and a back and they have to match. Yeah. It's not going to get finished.

6. There's a movie that I'm too ashamed to buy because I don't want anyone to see it in my collection. (This from the person who owns a copy of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...Sarah Jessica and Helen Hunt at about age 18 'd guess.) I want the movie Blue Crush in all its beautiful stupidity. I always wished I had been born a surfer girl. Too bad I could never pass the beginner stage of swimming classes. Dumb crawl stroke.

So there you have it. More than you ever needed or wanted to know about me. If anyone actually reads this, I'm going to tag Kelley, Marti, Julie, and Lisa. Don't disappoint me, girls!

Stormy Weather

2007-10-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Phyllis and I went to the mountains with our friend, S. It got cloudy Saturday around noon and started raining that evening. We did get to walk around town a little bit and went to a little botanical garden. There were a few things still in bloom, but you can see it was mostly changing leaves and interesting sculptures that were still hanging around. This was Phyllis' favorite statue...mostly because of the little red bush. These two were right next to a little pond and could be seen reflected in the water from the other side. With the cloudy sky, the red and white reflections were striking. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice and I only had enough to get some fall pictures of Phyllis.

One of the places we visited was a cute little bookstore/coffee shop--because that's what you do on rainy afternoons. This picture of S. and Phyllis is in a turret-type room that had windows all around. Very charming--and the coffee was good. You can see Phyllis enjoying a bit of S.'s chai latte.

I think I successfully staved off Phyllis's desire to run away from home for a little while. We have another short trip in our futures. Soon we will be heading off for the bustling metropolis of Kansas City for a short trip.

c for p the z

What to do with an ENORMOUS squash?

2007-10-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

You carve it! And give it a do-rag and a "cigar".

Farewell

2007-10-10T15:22:00.000-07:00

Phyllis and I had to say good-bye to her original adoptive parents. They're moving to Germany in a few weeks. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go visit them there in the not-too-distant-future. We are sad to see them go but had a nice time at our work-local Starbucks.

c for p the z

Are You Ready for Some Flag Football?

2007-10-08T14:25:00.002-07:00

Phyllis and I had the pleasure of watching little B. play flag football Saturday. As you can see, it was a gorgeous Colorado fall day. Phyllis is a little blurry because we were facing into the sun so I had no idea what the pictures looked like. I just kept taking them hoping some of the would turn out.

The kiddos played 30 minute halves which was a little too long for them. By 10 minutes into the second half, attention spans were waning.

In this picture I've pointed out little B. along with his little gargling friend. Apparently it the big thing with 6-year-olds playing sports to gargle instead of just swallow. Studies show that the extra aeration increases the amount of time before you need a nap.

Phyllis got a little love from another P. Overall a lovely fall day on the football field.

Just Because

2007-10-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month since my last post. I haven't really been anywhere interesting lately so Phyllis is threatening to run away from home. It's fortunate for me that she doesn't really have any legs...poor little zebra.

I've been visiting a church near my house (hearkening back to a post from earlier this spring) where I know several people and I know it's a good, solid church. I thought I could do it. I really wanted to do it. But after this past Sunday, I don't think I can. So, next Sunday I'll be visiting somewhere else. I just really needed to at least feel connected to the pastor somehow...to feel like I was learning something to make spending an hour and a half with a bunch of strangers worth my while. There are a couple other churches nearby that I've visited in the past whose pastors I enjoy and really learn from.

The weekend wasn't a total loss, though. My friend and I did a little thrift store shopping, which was fruitful for her find-wise and fruitful for me companionship-wise. It reminded me of good times with my mom when we lived closer.

The photo really doesn't have anything to do with anything. It's not even from this year. It's just fallish and the leaves are starting to change a little bit out here.

c for p the z

Baby Doe and How the West was Mined

2007-09-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend Phyllis, my guy, and I took a trek up to Leadville. For those non-Coloradoans, Leadville is the epitome of Colorado, old west history. It's a place where millions of dollars were mined in silver, gold and other shiny rocks in the late 1800s when millions of dollars meant you could buy 2 llamas and an emu.

Phyllis is resting in Baby Doe Tabor's bed in the cabin where they found Baby Doe's body frozen one winter. The "Tabor Triangle" as they refer to it in the 'ville was a torrid, tragic affair. The cabin is right next to the Matchless Mine which was owned by the Tabors during it's peak mining season. Several other famous Coloradoans got their start in Leadville: Molly Brown, David May (the May Company/May D&F stores), Charles Boettcher, etc. Also some of the characters of western lore like Doc Holliday.

We brought our own food up to make the trip a little cheaper. Phyllis wanted the squishy banana he's trying to spit out for some reason. Nice add for Wal-Mart, huh?

We did a walking tour of the main street. Most of the original clapboard buildings have burnt down, probably right around the time people started wiring buildings for electricity. Huh. Coincidence? Most of the buildings that are standing were re-built in the 30s or 40s so they're still old.

It's an interesting town. You can almost see what a bustling place it was when all the mine were producing. There's a weird, almost ghost town-ish, feel to it even thought people still live there.

This is Turquoise Lake near Leadville. This game is called "Knock off the Guy on the Jet Ski". Just kidding...he was skipping rocks. It was so pretty in the mountains. These pictures don't really do it justice. The sky was clear blue with the big fluffy clouds. It was relaxing to be outside and just hanging out. Yay for 3-day weekends!

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and is enjoying the short week!

c for p the z

Moving Day 8: Taking a Break

2007-08-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics of the place now that we've got everything off the truck. Today we took a break and drove to the mall. It was nice to not look at boxes and figure out where everything goes.

This part of the country is pretty interesting. People watching in the mall showed a pretty wide variety of folks. They've got the southern thing going on as well as the military thing. It was fun to see such a multi-cultural bunch after the blandness of Colorado. There's even a woman from Germany who lives upstairs from my parents who initially came out here w/ her husband...who is in the military.

The towns around this area aren't terribly interesting...very small and kind of economically depressed. Hopefully they'll find a town near Dad's work that's a little more charming to live in. If anybody knows of any towns like that, let us know. :)

c for p the z

Moving Day 4: The State Line and Tragedy

2007-08-08T17:51:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to North Carolina in one piece no less. It is unbelievably hot here. They're having some kind of muggy heat wave. It seems that it's not a normal heat wave. Hope not.

Sorry there's no update from day 3, but I couldn't get on the internet and, really, there's wasn't anything interesting to report. We drove through Kentucky and West Virginia, which, although very beautiful, have no terribly interesting landmarks within sight of the interstate.

Unfortunately, no great adventure can be an adventure without a bit of sadness. Once we arrived in the town of our final destination, tragedy struck. We drove over something in the road that viciously attacked our tire. It was about 100 degrees out as Dad changed the tire and I kept the dog from getting in the way. The ironic bit of the whole mishap is that we were less than half a mile from the apartment complex. By the time we arrived in the leasing office, we were crispy, dripping critters. What a way to end things. At least it was close to home and NOT the moving truck. Yikes! Can you imagine changing a tire on one of those puppies?

So, we're sleeping one last night in a hotel. But we are alive and well and air conditioned.

c and p the z

Moving Day 2: the arch and rush hour traffic

2007-08-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

Phyllis enjoyed seeing the St. Louis arch and guiding the truck dragging the other car through rush hour traffic in St. Louis. She did a pretty good job for not really being able to read. She also got to do the same thing through Kansas City...although it wasn't rush hour then.

That was the biggest excitement for the day. Sorry we're not that exciting right now. Tomorrow is another day full of possibilities for adventure on the road. woohoo.

c for p the z

Moving Day 1: Kansas

2007-08-05T18:14:00.001-07:00

We left Denver this morning to head toward North Carolina. After a day of loading up a huge truck, cleaning my folks' house, and then my dad accidently locking his keys in the truck...while it was running...with the dog inside. Two hours after calling Penske to unlock the truck my grandma and aunt took us out to dinner at 9:45 at night. Very long day.

We're in Kansas right now. We stopped pretty early since we're all still pooped from packing up. My aunt and grandma just got back from a road trip to North Carolina. They're thinking about moving there, too. They were talking about what a pretty trip it is overall...and my favorite comment from my aunt involved her trying to convince us how pretty Kansas is. So, here's a picture of Phyllis and her buddies to show how beautiful Kansas is from the highway. (For the Kansas fans, I think there are pretty places in Kansas, just not in site of I-70.)

So far, everything is going well. Hopefully we'll have some more interesting things to talk about or show you.

c and p the z

Mama's Got a Brand New (Green) Bag

2007-08-02T14:06:00.001-07:00

No more plastic bags!

Soon (or it may have already happened) a law will be going into effect in California regarding those little plastic sacks from the grocery stores that seem to breed under people's sinks all over America. From what I can tell, the stores will either stop using them altogether or charge money for every bag a customer uses. Very interesting. It got me thinking.

I use a ton of plastic bags.

When I was in India, we had to recycle everything because there are no nice out-of-sight-out-of-mind garbage dumps. The street in front of our house was the dump. Every piece of trash we didn't recycle or reuse, we would have to walk past every day. Or we would watch the neighborhood dog, cow, or other wandering animal eating our plastic wrappers, bags, etc. It got me thinking.

I bought a reusable grocery bag at the thrift store for 99 cents.

It's not much, but it's a start. I'm hoping to get in the habit of taking it in with me to the grocery store and to collect or make a few more so I can reduce my plastic bag waste. Apparently these little proliferate plastic pretties don't actually decompose. Hmmm...that doesn't seem good. I figure that it's easy enough for me to bring my own bag from now on. It doesn't take up a lot of time or energy, but it will make a difference.

Anyway...here's a blog with an interesting idea for breaking some of the consumer mindset that leads to some of this waste: Wardrobe Refashion. Check out some of the folks she's linked to as well. I haven't signed up for the challenge as of yet, but my conscience is starting to lean me in that direction. Living simple lives where I have time to care for others instead of keeping track of all my stuff sounds pretty appealing.

Thoughts?
c for p the z

Simpsonize Me!

2007-07-27T13:27:00.001-07:00

Okay, so she doesn't really resemble me all that much. But it was fun creating her! Go to the Simpson's movie web site and click on "Create Your Simpsons Avatar" on the top of the screen. It'll run you through all your choices for your own personal Simpson's character. Fun way to waste a little time.

This weekend my parents are having their final garage sale and resulting thrift store dump. Then next weekend we're packing up the truck and movin'. It looks like we'll be dragging my dad's car so it should take us about 4 days to get down there. (Unfortunately no stops in Georgia this time, Kelley. :( But I'll make a point of it when I do my big U.S. of A road trip.)

Have a good weekend!
c for p the z

Movie Update

2007-07-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know, we've just uploaded our first video of our electronic press kit at The Enemy God. We also have videos up on YouTube and we have a MySpace site if you want to check those out. Soon we should have a story trailer up to give you a better idea of what the movie is going to look like.

Hope all is well!

Still Not Quite Right

2007-07-19T14:11:00.001-07:00

Ok...apparently there's some code in the template that I chose that stretches my picture. I'll keep playing and see if I can get it to work right. I tried to do the header so there would be a blue border around it since I can't seem to get it to go right to the line. But it stretches it vertically to fit to the lines. I'll fix it when I have more time. I hope it doesn't totally annoy anyone. :)

Technical Difficulties

2007-07-18T14:30:00.001-07:00

I decided to be all artsy and add my own picture to my blog. It's not working out like I had hoped. Aargh! I'll get it fixed up all pretty like real soon!

My New Baby

2007-07-16T07:48:00.001-07:00

I am now the proud owner of a new debt and a new car! Woohoo! The old Saturn finally bit the dust. Last Tuesday my guy came over and we traded in my old car for this new piece of loveliness. That was a grueling experience. We were in there for over 5 hours! Most of it waiting around while they wandered around looking lost. Good grief...haven't they done this before? They didn't even offer us anything to drink or eat while we were there. My guy had to go looking around for coffee and then found us some popcorn later. It was so nice having my sweetie there with me to endure this whole thing and help me with the haggling! Thanks, sweetie!

So, I guess you probably want to know what kind of car is in that picture. It's a 2005 Nissan Sentra. I don't think I've ever had a car less than 5 years old before! It's so nice and gets great gas mileage. And it has air conditioning, power stuff, and a cd player. I'm feeling a little spoiled right now...which is good since reality will hit when I have to start paying on the loan. Ugh! Not exactly what I was hoping for at this time.

C'est la vie!

On the Slow Boat from Belize

2007-07-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Our big crate from Belize finally arrived. We got re-aquainted with all our gear, props and assorted souvenirs from our time on set in Belize. Krister and I had some pent-up frustrations from all the memories that came rushing back. So we attacked each other with paddles. Ah, nothing like a little violence to ease stress.

Everything was a little musty from sitting in a tropical environment for so long in a box. Some stuff still had chunks of jungle mud on it. Anything metal had come crusty rust on it. Eventually we'll have to go back and have a little cleaning party for everything. Several people had shipped back big tubes filled with Yanomamo bows and arrows as spoils from the war. So we'll have to figure out how they'll get those. Not something you regularly ship through the mail.

If this tells you anything about the newsworthy things happening in my life right now...yeah, I need to get a life. :)

Carolina in My Mind

2007-06-27T09:48:00.000-07:00

Good news: my dad got a teaching job in Spring Lake, North Carolina.
Bad news: Spring Lake, North Carolina is very far away.

I just found out Monday that my dad's long search for employment finally paid off. I'm really happy for him, but I'm sad for me. I really like having my parents living just an hour or so away. My brother texted me saying that I'm now going to be the lone Coloradoan in the family...which isn't entirely true, my grandparents and my aunt still live here...however, for all practical purposes with as much interaction I have with them, I will be the lone Coloradoan.

Here's the Wikipedia link to Spring Lake. Here's a link to a map of the area. You can see that Myrtle Beach is not too far away from where they are. That's a bonus!

It'll be fun to have people to visit in another part of the country. I've never been in that area of the U.S. so I'm interested to see what it's like and what it's like to live there. I think my parents are relieved to have the job thing taken care of. Now they have to try to sell their house in this bad market. I'm feeling a little better about it now that the shock has worn off, but I'm sure that come August when my dad has to be down there for school, it'll be hard again.

Anyway, I'm trying not to feel like an orphan. Ha.

Don't Give Up Meeting Together

2007-06-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

This morning we read and talked about this verse together. It hit me in a funny place since I haven't really found a consistent church home since I stopped going to my last church. I actually have started missing church lately, which is a good sign. This verse just continued to prod the direction my heart has been leaning.

Growing up in the church can really do a number on you. Not that I regret it at all. But you definitely get a good look into the terribly flawed model of community in a place that should be a beacon of what community should and can be. Even in Christian ministries, community, how we treat each other, and personal integrity are often compromised in ways that don't make sense. Isn't the Bible clear about ways to resolve conflict, confront one another, and love each other well? After so much time in these kinds of communities I guess I'm a little cynical about whether it's possible to have healthy community with fellow Christians.

I've had to put my own junk on the table with this, too. My expectations of what church should look like may be too idealistic. I don't want to ignore the fact that we still sin against each other, but I guess I keep coming back to why we sin against each other in such painful ways. And why is it so abnormal that people ever heal rifts instead of walking away? That's what I've done. I don't want to justify my actions, but maybe I'm not ready to face my part in my disappointment with church.

Community in many churches to me has felt out of my reach. I feel like I keep throwing myself in front of people, their kids, and their cars trying to get involved in some kind of community. The reasons I can't seem to connect may be complicated beyond what I can even tell. I wonder if it's because I'm a girl, or because I'm single, or because I'm not trying hard enough or trying too hard, or maybe I'm trying to be a part of the wrong ministry. Or maybe God is blocking my efforts. I don't know.

All I know is that I love God. I adore his people. When I go into churches to visit, all I can think about is how dear the people are. That and how bored or annoyed I am with the service. I know that church is a flawed place because it's filled with flawed people. So, I'm pricked by that verse. I know it's time to go back and I need to keep looking. Sigh.

Film-flam

2007-06-12T07:08:00.000-07:00

I finally got a few pictures from the film festival off my camera and onto my computer. As you can see there is still snow on the mountains. It actually was snowing a little on Thursday evening when we got to Breck. And absolutely freezing! Of course, in true Colorado fashion, the next day was gorgeous...just the kind of weather that makes you want to go for a hike or a bike ride rather than sit in a dark theater for hours. Oh, well.

We met our couch-surfing buddy at Bubba Gump's restaurant and had a beer with her. She is a great gal. We all got along immediately. She gave us directions to her home and then left to do her thing. My BF and I basically wandered around town looking for the different venues and potentially a schedule since I never printed one out. Oops. This was my first annoyance with the festival. We stopped in one of the theaters and the guy working there said they had only given him one schedule. Kind of strange. So, we ended up at Starbucks to warm up and hang out. (I was wearing crop pants and flip-flops along with my fleece. Fortunately, this is Colorado. We walked past several other people with the same odd-not-sure-what-the-weather-is-doing combo.)

Later that night, we headed over to the house we would be staying in. You can see two of the three dog friends of the household, Buddy and Holly. The house is one of those cool old houses in downtown Breckenridge that was built in the early 1900s. It has an addition of a living room and master bedroom built onto the back to give the old place a little more livability. We both agreed that it was way better than staying in a boring hotel. So, the couch surfing experiment was successful for us.

Here's my BF confabbing with Phyllis about how well she slept that night. She was pumped about having three new dog friends.

Friday we bought a 4 pass--which the kind festival folks let us share between the two of us--and then hung out until noon. Our first movie choice was Facing Sudan which was a documentary about the genocide in Sudan made by a history teacher from Chicago. Not the best film technically, but pretty powerful in presenting what the people from southern Sudan in particular have had to face. Completely horrific. It astounds me what humans are capable of: both the pure evil of the perpetrators as well as the amazing resiliance of the Sudanese.

We wandered around town and stopped at a couple different local coffee shops, had a little picnic, and attended a panel discussion that turned out to be not all that interesting. It was supposed to be a discussion by the director, Irvin Kershner about fiction vs. reality. We never really did figure out what the panel was discussing. I guess Kershner never showed up and they had to do some rearranging. If we had been able to find the room and attend the beginning of the forum, there may have been answers for all.

Here's Phyllis and I chatting about the films we've seen. She was hoping to see more animal movies.

In the evening we attended a block of movies including: Monsoon, Rita, and Endless Knot. Monsoon is about 30 minutes and probably could've been longer. The setting is Bombay, India which was why I was interested in it. It's about a son making peace with his very religious father who didn't like that his son married an American. What? No arranged marriage? That boy.

Rita is about 7 minutes and is about a little girl who has grown up traveling the world and just wants a friend. She finds a friend at Everest Base Camp. Neither one speaks the other's language, but they form a cute little bond of friendship. The director was there and had just graduated from USC film school. The film was a class project and is biographical. She was cute...very excited about her film and life and her plans to extend the film into a feature length version. I think it has a lot of potential. Apparently she still travels with her parents and talked a little bit about growing up on the move. Her folks were photographers with National Geographic or something like that.

Endless Knot is a documentary about Conrad Anker, a climber, who survived an avalanche where his best friend died. He kind of took on the role of taking care of his best friend's widow and kids. Eventually, he and the widow fell in love and got married. About half of the film was about that part of the story and the rest was about a climbing school they started in the mountains to train sherpas in climbing safety, first aid, rescue, etc. You could tell it had some money behind it compared to the other films we saw. It was interesting to me that paternalism in regard to other cultures is not just something common to mission work. I kept waiting for them to say that they were training the sherpas to eventually train other sherpas. Or that they would eventually hand over the leadership of the climbing school to the shepas. But they didn't.

Well, that's the report. Hopefully I'll get to attend a few more festivals at some point. The Breck fest was fun, but not as informative as I would have liked. I apologize for the length. Now, I'm going to get a cavity filled.

c and p the z

BFF

2007-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

No, not "best friends forever"...Breckenridge Festival of Film! (Again the photo is of the town in the winter...those mountain towns apparently want everyone to think it's perpetually winter in Colorado...although, there's a chance it may snow there this weekend, I'm really hoping it's actually spring up there.) This will be my first film festival so I'm excited to see what it's like. Eventually, when our film is done we'll be submitting to different festivals so I'd like to see what people do to get folks to come see their movies. Right now I'm working on a "one-sheet" to bring up to the festival to hand out to people who want to know more about the film. Here's a link to the festival: http://www.breckfilmfest.com/home/index.php.

Another first for me this week will be staying with a person we found through http://www.couchsurfing.com. It's this cool project some folks in New Zealand to facilitate world travel. This is the first time I've tried it. So my guy and I will be heading up to Breck to hang out in the mountains and meet a new friend. Depending on how this goes, we may try to do a road trip this summer staying on people's couches or floors as we go.

As a note to my previous post regarding the book I was reading, Hood, the pace definitely picked up and I slammed the whole thing in a couple of days. Lawhead always catches me in how he writes his battle scenes...he's probably the only author that I start reading those sections faster to "keep up" instead of drifting off and eventually just skipping them (Tolkien...sorry, I know I'm a heathen). In the epilogue, Lawhead has a whole discussion regarding the legend of Robin Hood and why he made some of his creative choices such as choosing to set the story in Wales instead of England. Pretty interesting...especially if you enjoy learning about people's creative processes. Which I do.

laters
c for p the z

Aaaw...

2007-05-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this hilarious picture of me and my guy. His singing group had a concert up in Estes the weekend I took my little retreat. One of the girls in his group took this. Just know it's not reflective of how we feel about each other...maybe just how we feel about relationships with the opposite sex in general. ha.

I just got a couple-a books at the library yesterday to help me in my quest for knowledge of the independent film industry: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Independent Filmmaking, and a cut above: 50 film directors talk about their craft. I think admitting you're an idiot about something is the first step to recovery.

I also picked up a Stephen Lawhead book that I hadn't even heard of. It's called Hood. If you're not familiar with Mr. Lawhead and you're any kind of a historical/fantasy reader, he is a must-read. He has a series on King Arthur and one on the Crusades, a book on Byzantium and one on St. Patrick. He also has some purely fantasy novels. This current one is based on the legend of, yes, you guessed it, Robin Hood. I almost squealed, out loud, in the library when I saw it. I started it last night. I have to admit that it's a little slow to start, but I have great faith that he will pull it together in the end.

I think Phyllis needs to start coming with me on trips again. She's not as excited about trips that don't leave this country.

c for p the z

Estes

2007-05-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

So, I decided to take a little personal retreat this weekend. I meant it to be a time to hang out with God and pray and stuff like that, but I got a major migraine and then I got tired of being by myself. I still think it was good...just not quite as focused as I would have liked. (The picture is off a website and it's actually spring in the mountains...it's not that horrible to live in the mountains...eternal winter!)

My guy's group sang at the jazz festival up there on Sunday, so that was a nice way to end the weekend. I think I got some good prayer done and I finished reading Blue Like Jazz. That book had some good reminders for me regarding church and community...so that part was helpful. I was hoping to hear a little more from God, but I guess my brain was still too active to settle down and listen. Maybe I'll try again this summer and try to do things a little differently. It seems like it may take a while for me to find my groove in the area of prayer.

Home Again, Home Again Lickety Split

2007-04-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've been home for about two weeks now (Phyllis, too...although her official owners are now out of town). It's been nice to sleep and see people. My fish and my plants are still alive...except for a sad poinsettia that was hanging on for dear life. I put it out of its misery. I took about 2 and a half days off and then gradually worked my way back into life in the office.

While we were in Belize the organization I worked for closed its doors. Our "company", 10X Productions, that is producing the film was taken over by a wonderful organization called PIONEERS. They're headquartered in Orlando and have been absolutely fabulous in taking care of all of us who were suddenly organizational orphans. They also have taken many of the resources and classes that were part of Caleb Project under their wings. The whole thing was pretty traumatic for everyone involved and the PIONEERS folks have bent over backwards to ease the transition. Thank God for loving people like them!

However, there has been some post-Belize, post-Caleb Project, post-Initiative 360 trauma to overcome. I was thankful to come back to the same office building...we're just all moving down to one wing of the office. It was also nice to come back to at least 10 familiar faces even though it was hard knowing that a significant number of people had left and I wasn't able to say good-bye to them.

Two things have been rough in the transition: the first has been seeing the pieces and parts of desks, cubicles, decorations, office supplies, etc. that are stuffed in a few cubes and that will soon be looking at the inside of a dumpster--it's like a weird office space war zone--the second was on the first day that I was back in our morning prayer time there were only 5 of us compared to the 10 or more that had been in attendance before I left. While in prayer, I looked up on the wall to see a picture of everyone who had been at OMF and Caleb Project during my first stint at C.P. a couple years ago in honor of the 25th anniversary of C.P. and the 100th anniversary of OMF. It was a surreal feeling to know that I was sitting there in that room and so many of those folks who had been a part of C.P. for so long were not. It shouldn't be like that.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back home and to work in spite of the fact that it snowed on Easter Sunday and that that was the second time it's snowed since I returned from Belize. So much for my tan. As per the norm in Colorado, it's about 60 degrees today and not a flake in sight...aside from the coating on the mountains in the distance.

for p the z
c

That's a Wrap!

2007-03-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the end of filming! Woohoo! We finished filming at 12:05 pm. For our crew wrap party we took boats out to a little island where they've built some cabanas. There's a restaurant out there where we ate a late lunch and just hung out for the afternoon.

This picture...although you can't really see it...has all of us wearing our yanamamo nose sticks and ear sticks and feathers. All of the actors who played in the 1950s village had to wear those as "accessories" of well-dressed yanamamo. :)

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Guatemala with some friends from the crew. We'll visit Livingston, a colonial town, and Tecal, the largest known Mayan ruin in Central America. It should be a lot of fun. Phyllis and I will be heading back to Colorado Saturday afternoon. Yay! It'll be good to be home.

See you soon!

c the g

A Day Off

2007-03-14T12:37:00.000-07:00

We spent Sunday at Big Falls Lodge relaxing. It's a great piece of property. I could feel my muscles relaxing just being there. We spent the day swimming in the pool, reading books, painting, and the topping on the cake was tubing down a jungle river. I don't have any pictures of that, but it was fun. It was nice to have a day to get away from life in Punta Gorda.

The couple who owns the lodge have lived all over the world. They opened the lodge about 4 years ago. Super nice people and the prices are relatively reasonable compared to what a lot of the lodges around Belize charge. It would be a great place to stay for a couple of nights if you are ever in the area.

Laters!
p the z

My Gecko Friend

2007-03-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

This little guy was on the outside of my screen this evening. You can see his little white belly. I kind of wish he was inside my room. Apparently they're really good at eating bugs. I've had several pretty good sized roaches in my room so far. Nasty! I was told that that's common in the tropics. (I'm not being pig pen in my room. :))

Nothing too exciting going on here. Whiskey the dog was on set this evening. Seems like his mange is going away. When he got on set he started wagging his tail and whining. He was pretty happy to see all of us. Probably because we actually feed him and treat him nice. Maybe he was looking for Alison...she's his favorite. He always got excited when she got to the set in the morning.

The moon is full again and is absolutely gorgeous over the sea. They call it the moonlight mile. It looks just like a post card. So that makes it all worthwhile. :)

Take care everyone...
p the z

In Front of Sea Front Inn

2007-02-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

Here I am (minus Phyllis) with Bob the jib guy, Stewart the AD, Christopher the director, Joe the audio guy and Alison one of the make-up folks. This is how we spend an hour or two on our day off. Soaking our bug bites in salt water.

This water is in front of the inn. Sometimes when it's clear, you can see Guatamala behind where that dock is in the background.

I keep hoping that things will get calmer. I had to send about 4 guys home because almost everyone actually showed up today. One lady just showed up on set and ended up taking somebody's place who was really supposed to be there. Another man that I had to send home earlier in the day decided to come back later after he had blown his wad drinking in one of the local bars. Nice. At least he wasn't an angry drunk.

I hope everyone is well. Drop us a line.

carissa and p the z

Rooftop View

2007-02-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

Here's the view from the roof of the hotel.

Things are still crazy here. We just got a couple more actors--one from Canada and one from the U.S. They'll start working soon.

The sets look great. Hopefully I'll get a picture of the set from the old village. It's looking a lot like the pictures of the Yanamamo from the website. www.theenemygod.com We're just over halfway through filming. Today was day 23 out of 45.

The only excitement today was driving through the village looking for 3 little old ladies. I needed to cast them as extras for tomorrow so we drove around on the streets trying to figure out where they might live. You have to understand that no one really has an address here. As we're casting people we send out letters and schedules with Fermin who takes them out to the villages on a motorcycle and asks around until the letters get to the right people. Amazingly enough, it usually works. Usually.

We didn't find the little old ladies, but I'm praying that passing off the schedules to some guys who live in their village works.

I hope you all are well.

At the Cayes

2007-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

After probably the most stressful week ever, a bunch of us got on a boat and headed for the cayes. It was pretty cloudy and cool at first, but we got some sun later in the day. We swam, snorkled, fished, read, slept, and attempted to unwind. It worked.

This week we had to gather extras from all over. We didn't have nearly enough. It was crazy. Amber and I even had to go drive out in the middle of nowhere to pick up some cast memebers that we needed at the last minute. Three of the women we recruited changed their minds about being in the film. So we need to find a few more ladies to replace them.

Here's a picture of the beach.

Here's Alison and Julia snorkling.

Whiskey

2007-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

So here's one of the set dogs, Whiskey. Poor thing is skinny as a rail and missing hair along his spine. He is the sweetest dog, though. He's getting fatter from everyone feeding him and we've given him some worm medicine which should help him a bit. He loves to be petted, but you definitely have to use anti-bacterial stuff on your hands after petting him. Almost everyone wants to adopt him so they can take him home and feed him.

I don't have a picture of our other set dog, Smokey. He wasn't quite as friendly and now, unfortunately, he's gone to a better place. Apparently a jaguar got a little hungry the other night. I think they started keeping Whiskey up by the overnight guard. Yikes!

You can see in the second picture that Whiskey is lying in front of part of the set. This is part of the new village that is supposed to take place in the 1990s. The scene they were shooting when I took this picture was inside the house. We all were admiring the "cozy" spot Whiskey found for himself.

The other night about 8 of us got left out at the set. Of course I got totally bit up by mosquitos. It was amazing how dark it was out there as we waited for someone to remember to come back and pick us up. We could clearly see Venus, a couple of satellites, and eventually the milky way. It was a little creepy knowing that snakes and other crawlies were just a few feet from us. Eventually somebody came back and got us. Makes you feel really loved, huh?

Stay out of Trouble
p the z

End of Week 2 part 2

2007-02-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

I was trying to post a few more pictures, but the last post wouldn't add them. Maybe there's a size limit per post or something? Anyway, here's the other side of the office. Yes, that's a van seat as a couch. Including seatbelts. Behind the van seat is where Stewart's room starts. Nice, huh?

This is "our" kitchen. On the radio we refer to it as Jungle Palace. It 's in the apartment at the top of the inn. The innkeepers used to live there and Matt and Leslie are living there right now. It has a great view and a great breeze off the sea.

Okay, well I guess that's all for now . I'll try to post some pictures on set. Things are going pretty well. It gets pretty crazy at times and there's a lot of stress and grouchiness. As cool as it seems to make a film, I think it may not be all it's cracked up to be. :)

p the z

End of Week 2

2007-02-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

This week has been crazy! (and here's the frizzy hair to prove it...sorry the picture is frizzy, too. i had to do it self-portrait style.) I'm only smiling so Phyllis doesn't know how stressed I am. We had three nights where we had night shoots. One I ended up having to stay at. If it weren't for the bugs, night shoots wouldn't be so bad. Right about dusk all the sand flies come out...evil little things. They're about the size of a pin head or smaller and they leave little red, very itchy dots everywhere they bite. My calves currently look like I have a case of the measles. Fun. I'll try to remember to take a picture.

I do have a few pictures for you. Sorry I haven't been able to update the blog recently, our internet has been down for the last few days. It's made it very difficult to get some work done. Amber and I were saying that it would almost be better if we just knew that email wasn't an option and we just had to find other ways to communicate, as it is the technology is just teasing us. Oh, well. Maybe it's back up for a while.

So, picture one is a look inside the film/beer fridge in the office. The first picture is most of the film we're using.

The second picture is Phyllis looking to grab a Belikin. Unfortunately, the beer fridge is kind of slim pickings right now. There is a bottle of rum in the door, however.

Bugs!

2007-02-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

Many of you remember the bug bite issues of the past. The bites aren't as big around, but what we lost in quality, we gained in quantity. Here are a couple of bites I'm a little concerned about as my friend Shawn had a bot fly lay eggs in her leg and these look a little pus-filled. Sorry the picture is blurry. It's a little dark in the room.

Today started off with rain. Not a good thing when the crew is hoping to shoot sunny day scenes. It stayed pretty cloudy all day and rained again in the afternoon. It's pretty important to stay on schedule and we weren't able to shoot a couple of scenes because of the weather. Everyone was a little crabby and tired this evening for dinner.

Here's me with Amber our fellow office-on-the-coast worker. The office is also the Assistant Director, Stewart's, room. Behind Amber you can see that refrigerator. That is the film/beer/pop fridge. We may end up keeping a few fish in the freezer so they're ready to become props on a moment's notice. There's a seat from the van that serves as a couch and a chair...and then Stewart's room starts.

Tonight we all watched "Heroes" and the "Studio 60" while we were putting together call sheets, sides, and crowd control lists. Can you believe that Nathan is Claire's father? Whoa! And why didn't Sylar just kill Claire's "dad"? Just more and more questions. They better start answering some soon!

Yesterday was our "day off." Not super restful. At least it wasn't as hectic as the days before. Some of us out at the set got home at 1 in the morning. The rest of the crew wrapped at 2am. Everyone was pretty much dragging on Sunday. I'm hoping to get to see some of the wildlife next Sunday. Although we have another night shoot. Maybe I won't get stuck out there this time.

Anyway, I hope you are all well.

p the z

Don't be Jealous!

2007-02-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Since today is Saturday we actually got to sleep in a bit. Although, with the sun bursting through the windows and the heat rising fast, sleeping in is a bit hard to do. We went out to the set to do payroll (as we did last evening) and were told we'd have to wait until this evening. So I dug through the props as I'm going to be taking on some of that responsibility and played w/ some of the kiddos who are extras and playing the children of some of the actors. So cute and friendly.

Mostly, everyone is working their butts off, but this is what we get to look at as we're slaving away.

Here's the view from the couch I'm sitting on w/ my computer

Here's the view behind the inn.

Hope you are all well. Miss you!
p the z

Belize

2007-02-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, since no one else would post my pictures of my last few trips, here's some of Belize.

This is the view from the end of the hall that our room is on. Not bad, eh?

Here I am in front of the door to our room. The macaw room. And below is the sunrise from our window this morning. (You should see what the humidity is doing to Carissa's hair. Yikes!)

Coming Home!

2005-11-29T23:26:00.000-08:00

We are leaving India in 2 weeks from today. We'll be home December 18. Make sure you call me! :-) I won't have time to update. See you all very soon!

p the z

Pushkar Camel Festival

2005-11-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Finally! I was among my own/similar kind!

There were camels and horses covering the hillsides. Along with some very strange people coming to visit the Brahma temple there. The camel festival is a week long and people come from all over Rajasthan to buy and sell camels and horses. We could buy a camel for about $300 U.S. dollars there and the big horse on campus was sold for about $116,000 U.S.

Pushkar is one of the holiest cities in India. People make pilgrimages to the town to take a dip in the lake to wash away their sins for the year. We got there at the very beginning, but each day there were more and more people. There are a series of "ghats" or bathing areas that people would walk down the steps to where a priest would be to take their money and make sure they did their dip correctly. The Brahma temple is the only temple in the world that is in honor of Brahma, the creator god.

The town entirely surrounds Pushkar Lake with big steps down to the edge of the water. The steps are white marble and all the buildings surrounding it are white or light colors. The women coming from the country villages to take a dip in the lake are wearing brilliant colored clothing and thronging down the steps. The contrast between the reds, blues, greens, yellows and the white is amazing. Thousands of foreigners come to see the spectacle and to hang out w/ odd Hindu priests that will help you do just about anything for the right price. We definitely saw a different side to Hinduism than we've been exposed to in the city.

I really enjoyed the camels, though. They are, besides zebras of course, the coolest animals ever.

Hope you are all well!
p the z

I found myself in India

2005-11-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

I was hanging out in the back of the closet. Just needed a little time to myself. Here I am w/my new friend, Naked Molerat. Thanks to all of you who were worried about my whereabouts. Thanks for your emails asking about me.

Love you all!

Here are Vacation Pix!

2005-11-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

The first picture is of the city palace at Udaipur and the second is of Mt. Abu.

We're back!

2005-10-31T03:52:00.000-08:00

We're back from vacation...it was nice to be away from the noise of the city for a while. We're still sorting through pictures so I'll find some good ones to post soon. This is just a quick update so you know we're still alive and kicking.

Hope you are all well!

I Promised Pix!

2005-10-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Finally! Here they are. I was going to send a picture of me and mole rat, too, but I can't find myself right now. So here are some other pics before I got lost. Don't worry, India is a place people go to find themselves...I'm just trying to blend in.

The first picture is me with a rickshaw driver. The other one is at a temple where a lot of monkeys live.

Hot, hot, hot!

2005-10-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

Ugh! It is so hot here! Supposedly it cools down here in the fall. 90 degrees is not cool in my book. We're about halfway through our tour. We'll be visiting another city next week for a change of pace. That should be nice...a change of scenery is always good.

We're supposed to be getting internet at our apartments soon so I'll be able to do updates more often and download pictures. I have a few just waiting.

I made a new friend this week. The McDonalds is in walking distance from our place so it's very convenient...we don't have to bother with a rickshaw. We got a happy meal and naked mole rat was the toy! I'll upload a picture of the two of us together once we get email in the house. At least now I don't have to be so lonely since none of the other animals seem in much of a mood to meet a zebra.

Hope you all are well!
p the z

Rock and Roll

2005-10-12T06:55:00.000-07:00

Everyone's probably already heard about the earthquake in Pakistan/Kashmir. We definitely felt it here. It was a strange feeling. I think only one of us had ever been in one before. We kept looking at each other thinking somebody was rocking something when we realized that the whole building was rocking. We got out of the building and mingled w/ our neighbors until we were pretty sure the rocking was over. Later in the afternoon we started rocking again. Our team leader, Todd, told us to get out of the building again. "Your mothers will thank me," he said. We called some people we know who have t.v. and they told us what had happened. What a loss. Hard to believe 30,000 people are gone just like that.

Other than that, things are really uneventful. We've met several people who speak English who have been able to explain so much to us. And they're fun to hang out with. This past week we went to a temple that has all these monkeys around it. It was pretty cool. I even fed a couple of the monkeys. Although one of them started coming at me and baring his teeth. I think my stripes scared him. We ran into a group of about 10 people who kept trying to talk to us but they didn't know any English and our Hindi runs out after How are you? What's your name? and No thanks, I'm walking. Once Nate pointed the video camera at them, though, they seemed happy and went on their way.

On Sunday, a girl is taking us around to some of the tourist places in town. It will be nice to have a friendly guide. We're supposed to go to the zoo. I'll let you know if I find my soulmate.

bye for now
p the z

Camels and Elephants

2005-10-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

We got to ride camels and elephants last night. We went to a fair kind of a thing...I think it's kind of the Casa Bonita of India only w/ better food. For 5 rupees we could ride a camel and for 20 we could ride the elephant. Pretty exciting stuff there, kids. It was fun to get out and do something in the evenings together. There was even two hand-powered ferris wheels. They had a magician, a place where you could dress up like a maharaja or maharini and get your picture taken, a dark cave, and all sorts of other things.

We're starting to learn a bit of Hindi. We know all the consonants and vowels and are working on how to read them together as words. If you've ever seen Hindi script you'll know that's quite an accomplishment! We're doing lessons about 3x a week. Our teacher is very patient. I think he gets a kick out of us slaughtering his language. We laugh at ourselves a lot as well. Our American ears are definitely not tuned in to the sounds of Hindi. We'll pronounce something and he'll correct the pronunciation so we'll say it again and he'll correct it again. When he finally says "right" most of the time we have no idea how the right way was different from the wrong way.

We have someone cooking for us now which is waaaay cheaper than going out to eat for every meal. It's not usual for Indians to eat out for many meals. It seems that they have one night a week that a lot of people go out to eat, but they mostly eat at home. It's also much easier for us girls to eat at home. We don't have to wear our Indian clothes at home. You wouldn't think that would be such a big deal, but it is. If you've ever seen a traditional Indian suit, it has a long shirt called a cameez and baggy pants called salwar. It's fairly comfortable, but a lot of material to carry around on your body in hot weather. However, the piece de resistance is the 6 foot long "scarf" or dupatta that you have to wear just so around your neck. It's always blowing around, getting caught, falling off, and in multiple other ways just annoying. Oddly enough, most Indian women we've talked to (younger ones, anyway) think it's annoying, too. The other option makes the suit look easy...saris. Saris require a bunch of complicated wrapping and tucking that I don't even want to know about. They're beautiful, and the women walking around in them are so brightly colored among all the dinginess, but not a good option for climbing in and out of rickshaws and such.

Speaking of rickshaws, I have a short film on an especially interesting rickshaw trip. Remind me when I get home if you want to see it.

That's enough gabbing for now.
Laters
p the z

Getting Settled in India

2005-09-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we're here! We made it safe and sound in the middle of the night. We are now getting settled in a couple of apartments in town. They're central to the city, but not really to any stores.

India hasn't been as shocking as I thought it might be. After being in certain parts of South America, I 'm kind of used to the sights and the smells. Although the smells really can be gagging in certain parts of the city.

So far I haven't seen any zebras, just camels, lots of cows, depressed dogs, smelly pigs, and evil-looking goats. Ah, well, I'll keep looking. There's still lots of India to cover.

We've been spending a lot of time figuring out where things are and meeting people. There is a city map, but apparently the whole idea of using maps to get places hasn't really caught on in town. Rarely can a rickshaw driver read the map. We've also discovered that the maps are not exactly accurate. They're also missing big chunks of roads. I think we've finally figured out where we actually are on the map now.

We've visited a couple of local temples, the university, and the city museum. Pretty interesting stuff. We'll tell you more when we get back.

Unfortunately I won't be able to load pictures so we'll have to do that later as well. After I get more batteries for the camera that is. Oops!

Hope you all are well!
Phyllis, for the group.

Only 2 days left!

2005-09-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

We'll be leaving so soon on a jet plane! Time sure flies...seems like it was just last week when we all decided to go on this trip. We are all learning a lot about how cool the Indian culture is and about how we can learn much, much more from the Indians themselves once we get there.

I'm not sure what the on-line situation will be for us once we get there, so I can't promise much in the way of updates yet...particularly with pictures. At this point we don't have a long-term place to live, but we're hopeful that we'll have one once we arrive. (We do have a place to stay temporarily once we get there...so don't worry! :-))

I will keep you updated as we go along.

Beaverbrook Hike

2005-09-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

We spent some time getting to know each other by going on a hike. Some people had to miss it, unfortunately. But it was a beautiful day and a pretty trail.

Getting to know you

2005-09-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here I am with the other kids that are going to India with me. We are spending time getting to know each other and learning about what India will be like and how we'll probably freak out with culture shock. :)

Snow Mountain Ranch

2005-09-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend was great. We had staff conference up in Winter Park at a beautiful ranch. The weather was gorgeous...blue sky and fluffy clouds.

As you can see from this picture, I got to play a little softball with Harold and Mandy. I didn't play so well as I have a hard time catching...or batting.

This other picture is just a funny sign that was in the meeting room.

Bugs are Yucky!

2005-08-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am looking at the infected bug bite. Gross!

We took a trip to the ER early (6 am) to get this puppy checked out. Turns out it wasn't a brown recluse bite, but a case of cellulitis. We got some antibiotics to make it go away. The blue marker line is what the dr. circled as the outside edge of the swelling. If the swelling goes outside that circle, that's bad. Great thing to get before India!

Phantom 8

2005-08-25T12:04:00.000-07:00

Stopped by Phantom 8...the site of the nose piercings...to pick up some more cool q-tips w/ cleaner in the stem (Dr. Piercings Aftercare). These things are absolutely brilliant. You snap off one end of the q-tip and the liquid goes down the stem to the other end and then you can clean your piercing. Genius!

Obviously we had to stop by Starbucks as well. I scored a free java...woohoo!

Only one more day in the office and then almost 2 weeks solid of training. After that, India! I've never been gone for 3 months before...lots of things to do before I go.

Laters...p the z

Cubs Lose! Cubs Lose!

2005-08-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

Some family was in town this weekend so we went to beautiful Coors field to watch the Cubbies take on the Rockies. It was a good game although the Cubs couldn't quite pull it off.

Minturn Madness

2005-08-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was a busy one. I got to see a bunch of friends on the rooftop patio of the Minturn Saloon to finish raising funds to go to India. It was great to be able to see so many people before I leave. Some of the pictures didn't turn out very well...still trying to figure out my new digital camera. Less than a month to go until the big adventure!

me with Michele, and Shelly, and some strange friends at the party...

Phyllis's Photo

2005-08-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting started in the blogging business so I'm still trying to figure things out. It's especially hard to type when you don't have fingers, just clunky hooves. It takes a lot more time and I have to get people to spell-check everything!

In about a month, my friends and I will be headed off to an adventure in India. I'm hoping to reconnect with some distant relatives as well as see the sites. (Are there zebras in India?) So, look for pictures and tales of our journey.

I have uploaded my picture so you can get a better idea of who I am.

p the z

Welcome to Phyllis's Blog

2005-08-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

On behalf of Phyllis, I want to welcome you to her blog of her grand adventures. Look for her first exciting trip away from home! Coming soon!