Where's Waldo

Wow.. the past two weeks of my life have been amazing.. make yourself comfy kids.. we are about to embark on a little sledding adventure.

When my company announced that they were selling the Denver office, I was super nervous. So nervous that I dusted off the ol' resume, bought a pair of heels and went snowboarding. As
it all turned out, I got a job as a Petroleum Production Engineer with Noble Energy. I am super excited. I don't really know what a Production Engineer does every day but I hear that you get to use some big toys. The job starts tomorrow.. lets hope I make it past day one.

So because I am starting a new job, I decided to take two weeks and travel to see a bunch of friends and family.

The trip started in New York where I saw Melinda and her little pun-kin heads. It was so much fun that I forgot my glove. I am serious people.. if you ever want to have more fun then you can handle, go sledding with a couple of kids. A couple of sledding tips... make sure that if there is a big tough rod iron fence at the bottom of the hill, there is a big pile of snow to soften the blow; if there isn't a big pile of snow to soften the blow, make sure their mother is not watching. Side note - Tia Lia is an awesome babysitter.

After Melinda kicked me out of New York (just kidding) I went and visited my sweet, darling sister Bink. We ate some great Pho, did a shopping marathon, made a huge salad for dinner, went to mass, moved some furniture, drank Dunkin' Donuts coffee, and laughed as only sisters can. I cannot believe that my sister has been in Boston for two years now. She rocks the Boston area like none other.

Next was Grand Rapids.. all I have to say is.. I drove a FarmAll M. People I drove a FarmAll M.(ohh and aww here) I had such a great time in GR. Curt, Katie and Rylie live there. They rock the farm life. It is a simple, healthy life where you go pet your neighbors new chicks, chase a barn cat out of the house, eat a delicious farm raised steak, and bury a kid in snow.

I then ventured to Houston.. where I saw Melli and Manuel but no Micah. I don't have much to report about Houston.. and that is a good thing because all I did there was nothing.. and it was great.

So.. after watching 18 episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" I am glad to finally be home... back to life, back to reality. If you had two weeks.. Where would you go?

Oh Canada!

There was a time when Superman was my least favorite comic book hero. His problem is that he has so many powers that it’s difficult to even enumerate them all. Strength, speed, flight, a whole raft of vision-related powers, cold breath, and nearly invulnerable.

“I swear,” I used to think, “his biggest challenge must be in deciding which combination of powers to use in a given situation.”

But lately, I’ve come to identify with Superman more and more, as my own arsenal of superpowers continues to expand. One new component added to my arsenal.. my new "Made in Canada" bike. It rocks.



And a confession...
Apollo Ohno is my secret boyfriend. :)

A little sand and water never hurt anyone.. just a camera.

A crabby time...

This little crab is the reason why I don't have a camera anymore...I was chasing it around the beach sometime in November..Picture this.. me in my swimsuit jumping all around rocks, sand and water saying... "here crabby crabby"...


Totally worth it...anyone want to go Brazil and ruin another camera?

Anyone just love love love their small, digital camera? I need one and would appreciate some suggestions.

P.S. I got my coffee pot in the mail today...full report on the DGB900 coming soon.

Ok Ok Already... and Welcome Back!

Ok.. it has been awhile since I have blogged... I got sucked into Facebook and am just finally surfacing.

What is new you ask???

Hmmm.. I bought a new coffee pot. I have not used it yet (since I just bought it today on Amazon). BUT it has great potential. Not only does it brew coffee.. it also grinds it. Yes, folks I have made the big giant big-girl leap into snazzy kitchen appliances. Last year was the year of the slow cooker and this year... the year of the Cuisinart DGB900 Grind& Brew. But enough about that.. I don't even know if it will meet the high standards set in the Lia kitchen. Which if it is going to compete against the slow cooker it will need to walk the cup of coffee to my bed in the morning.

In other news... I am now addicted to the Bourne Identity book series. I started reading it while I was on vacation and I have now read three more of the books. Pry me away people... I need something worthwhile to read. Any suggestions? I will do a book exchange with you. (Meaning you send me a good book and I will send you my Bourne series :)

Ok.. it is February... and we all know what that means. Spin Class. There is nothing I dislike more than riding a stationary bike indoors with some sweaty instructor yelling at me to turn the knob on the bike half a turn and pedal pedal pedal. Actually... there is one thing I dislike more.. being beat going up Lookout by some old lady on a mountain bike. For the love.

OK.. So I finally downloaded some pictures..

Ok.. So it occured to me that I never really post any pictures or any real life stuff... Well I finally finally finally downloaded some pictures off of my camera.. So here are some of my adventures from the last months.

Here is the first one from my most recent vacation... I call it... "Look ma, no helmet!"

Notice the dress from KatieKate that I am sporting. You can have one too.. just ask Kate real nice.

On a different trip to Grand Rapids, Russ and I saw Curt and Katie's longhorns. They are some hardy animals. It was my first time up close and in real life to an actual longhorn..(I know!)

During New Years I went to New Orleans.. it was a super fun trip filled with way too too much Gumbo (seriously I had a really bad stomach ache) and for the first time in my life I ate pecan pie. (And loved it!) Here is me infront of the famous Camellia Grill.. the vanilla shakes were great and the burgers were out of this world. (Hi Sue!)

Anyway.. wanna take a trip somewhere? Call me, I would love to travel with you. I might even share the arm rest with you on the flight over. :)

Fat Tuesday

So as you may or may not have realized, we are in the Lent season... which is for some Christian denominations, is the 40 day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter.

The purpose of lent is to prepare for Easter - aka the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. To prepare for Easter it is common to give something up.. a sort of 'fasting' so that we can become a little closer to God.

In previous years I have given up chocolate, or television or something of the sort. This year I am giving drinking beer. Now.. even though I am not a daily beer drinker or even anything close to it, an occasional frosty cold one has its perks. For example last night.. the recreation volleyball team I play on won its first game of six. That called for a little celebration which included the frosty beverage. Now.. it will just need to be a nice refreshing glass of Coke.. with a twist of lime.

Call me up friends.. lets go have a cup of Joe or a lemonade. I would love to catch up.

The Bubble.

When I was fresh out of university and working at my first 'real' grown up job, the older 30-something engineers used to tell me 'just wait until you are out of the bubble' or 'enjoy the bubble while it lasts'. And they would smirk a little and laugh. I never really knew they were talking about until this year.



It is not so easy.. this growing up thing...



The year 2008 was a growing up year for me. It seems like all at once my parents got older, my friends moved away, I not only bought a furnace but also windows, my sisters are giving me advice instead of me giving them noogies, I solve real life problems at work.


One out of the bubble question I have been trying to answer is... what do people do after work? For the past three years I have done the grad school thing.. but now that I am done.. I don't really know what to do with myself. Maybe you can shed some light on this topic.. What do you do after work?