Saturday, March 03, 2012

the best way to have a friend is to be one

It's also the best way to keep one.

Whenever I have found myself wondering why I have drifted away from some friends - usually the answer is, I'm not putting in the effort.

There are some friends I have drifted from whom I truly miss. I've moved (or they have), or they had kids, or some other life event has inadvertently changed our friendship. There are other friends whom I was not even aware I was drifting from - until I found out they were in my town via their facebook photos or a status update. Facebook also makes me aware of plenty of things my in-town friends have been up to, but which I haven't been invited to. Hmmmmm. Perhaps we are not really 'friends' then, are we?

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me. But it does. I'm sensitive like that.

However, at the bottom of all these instances - and there are a lot of them - the common denominator is I'm not really that great of a friend to those people, either. I look at their facebook photos, I comment on a status or two, but I'm not calling them to hang out. I'm not making plans to meet for breakfast, or go for walks or go ski together. Because there are OTHER people I am doing those things with - people who are my actual, real-life friends. :)

Friends are the people you want to hang out with, talk to, be with, help out, have help you out. They add to your life and you add to theirs. Friendship isn't a big thing, it's a million little things. And whenever I am wondering "where have all my friends gone? Why aren't we better friends?" the answer can be found by asking "Where have *I* gone? How can I be a better friend?"

Friday, March 02, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day to ME!! :)


This year I got an early present for Valentine's Day - here it is on the left!! Actually, Marito and I do not "do" Valentine's Day, really... but apparently (and obviously) this year is different!!

The last weekend in January, we were driving up to Vail to ski with some friends and we stopped at our usual break point. There is a Starbucks, gas station, bathrooms, and a lovely ski shop all under one roof. Well I just ran in to use the bathroom and ran back out to the car - it was cold and I only had my longjohns on. I was sitting in the car daydreaming while I waited for Marito to come out. I started wondering what was taking Marito so long just as he ran out to the car.

He was grinning and hopping around as he flung my door open and said "I can't believe you're in the car!"

I said "Huh?"

He said "Did you see that your jacket is on sale?"

WHAT?!?! This could only be the GREEN jacket that I had been eyeing for months, and that I had tried on every time we stopped at that place. On this trip, I actually had not even glanced toward the ski shop. We've been trying to save money and I was so cold and badly dressed, I just wanted to run back in the car after I left the bathroom.

Marito said I should get out of the car and we should go look at it. So I did. He and I walked in the store, and sure enough, the jacket was discounted 35%. He said I should put it on. So I did. And then he said OK we should buy it. SO WE DID!!

I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE my jacket, I think I love it even more because Marito was so excited for me to get it as an early Valentine's Day present. YIPPEE!!!

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Remembering Steve Jobs


Even when it’s not completely unexpected, death sucks. I never knew Steve Jobs personally or professionally but I am sad – along with millions of others – to hear that he is gone.

The world was made a better place because he lived and used his life to connect all of humanity using the creative side of technology - a marvelous legacy for anyone to leave and even more wonderful because it will continue to be built upon. I believe all of us will be remembering Steve Jobs for the rest of our own lives.

Words mean very little at a moment like this but for what it is worth, to Steve’s family and friends: I am truly sorry for your loss.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Our Story

This is the story of us from our WeddingWire page. That won't be there forever, so here is the copy!

--


Tricky and Liz met at the Rocky Mountain Triathlon Club during a club swim practice in the pool at Rude Rec Center.

Tricky had joined the tri club in prep for a triathlon he had signed up to do. Liz was there to make friends and get on a regular workout schedule.

They got along well. Swim practices. Track workouts. Post-workout dinners and gelato feasts with other tri club members.

Tricky kept saying to Liz that they should do something together sometime. Liz kept agreeing.

One day Tricky asked Liz to go for a bike ride on the road course for an upcoming race they were both doing. Liz thought

‘Aha! This might be a date!'

She wasn’t sure. Either way, she said YES.

They met at 6AM at Liz’s house wearing spandex. And (later) helmets.

Liz drove them out to the course, and on the way there she also drove around looking for coffee for Tricky.

After Tricky was fully caffeinated, Liz and Tricky rode 25 miles of hills on their bikes. (Tricky was actually on a borrowed bike.*)

Liz changed a flat tire for a stranded biker that morning.

After the ride they talked by the lake for an hour and a half before they realized
Liz was beginning to resemble a lobster.

Tricky suggested they get out of the sun and have breakfast - which they did.

Liz ordered blueberry pancakes. Tricky paid. Liz was sure it was a date...

… until he asked her out again (to dinner, this time) and said he’d just ride his bike to meet her.

Liz thought maybe Tricky just wanted

a bike buddy.

But really, Tricky’s car battery had died and the only friends around him drove hybrid cars! (Now how DO you jump a regular car from a battery operated Prius?)

Liz offered to pick Tricky up for dinner. He agreed that was a good plan.

Liz decided she was going to pretend Tricky wanted a date (not a bike buddy) so

she dressed up

before she went to get him. Lo and behold when she saw Tricky outside his house

he was dressed up too.

Hooray!

They went to dinner. They kept going to tri club practices. And out for more gelato.

Tricky came with Liz to visit her friends in Aspen and spent three nights sleeping on the floor. Liz let him drive her car over Independence Pass when they went back to Denver.

They went to Austin TX for the Livestrong ride. They got lost both ways and didn’t notice they had spent 37 hours in a car together.

Naturally Tricky joined Liz on her family’s trip to Italy (a full three months after they started dating) and met her relatives there. Liz met Tricky’s family in Florida soon after.

Both Liz and Tricky’s parents live in Florida, making the holidays very convenient. And the families like Liz, Tricky and each other - which works out splendidly!

The rest of that winter Liz and Tricky went skiing in Colorado. Tricky is a very good skier. Liz tries to keep up.

Spring and summer. More trips. Disneyland. San Francisco and Napa, where Tricky learned just how much Liz loves drinking wine - she must have had half the wine in Napa shipped back to Denver!

They went to Vermont, where Tricky shot his first turkey and subsequently didn’t shave his beard for months after so that he could keep the mountain man thing going.

More skiing back in Colorado. Liz was getting better at it. More crazy facial hair for Tricky through the winter. They bought a house together, which Tricky and his mutton chops moved into.

Tricky and Liz went on a trip to Olympic National Park where they camped (in a tent) on a bluff over the Pacific in a raging storm with driving rain and 90+MPH winds. As Tricky put it:

They MUST be in love if they can have fun during THAT!

While on that trip they found the two most beautiful places in the lower 48 – Rialto Beach and Lake Crescent – in the same day. Tricky didn’t propose...

… until they were on the ferry boat heading back to Seattle to catch their plane home.

And when Tricky proposed, Liz said no. Over and over! He couldn't figure out why she kept saying no.

(Really she was just worried that she, their borrowed camera or the very pretty rings were going to go over the ferry railing into Puget Sound.)

Tricky just wanted to get the ring on Liz’s finger BUT there were two rings in the box.

Tricky had both the engagement ring and the wedding band custom made, and he never opened the box when the jeweler sent them to him. He wanted Liz to be the first to see her ring!

Tricky finally figured out which ring was the engagement ring and got it out of the box and on Liz’s finger.

Liz finally realized what he was doing down there on one knee and she said yes - and nothing and no one went into the water!

Tricky and Liz were married in Florida on April 30, 2011, and Tricky put the other ring on Liz’s finger.

----

* Many thanks to Dr. Drew, who lent Liz his road bike so Tricky could actually do the bike ride on their first date. [Tricky only had a mountain bike, but he asked Liz to go for a long road ride.]

When Dr. Drew gave Liz the bike he said "Now when you guys get married, I want everyone to know I supplied the bike!"

THANK YOU, DR. DREW!!!! :)

Monday, February 14, 2011

My Fiance Valentine

Love letters
Brownies
Hugs
Dancing together
Hiking snowy mountains with skis on our shoulders
Back rubs
Bike rides
Laughing
Crying
Lunch at Chick-fil-A
Drinking wine
Long car rides
Mopping floors
Scraping windshields
Kisses
Driving to work
Picking up dinner
Track practices
Planning trips
Taking trips
Doing laundry
Concerts
Dessert
Dinner out
Movies on the couch
Spin class
Standing next to me

Every day with you is Valentine's day.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

What's IN that?

Last night Mr. Blueberry Pancakes and I went shopping for dinner items at our local grocery store. "Local" meaning "near our house" - not a locally owned place or anything. It was rather commercial.

In any case, we saw this great deal on Eating Right soups... 10 for $10! Mr. BP was all set to fill up the basket with them, but I wanted to take a look at the ingredient list first. Some of them had a really short list of ingredients, every one of them I knew what it was. Others... Butylated-hydro-huh? Propionates? Hydrolized soy protien... what IS all this?

So those soups (and their crazy ingredient lists) didn't make it to the cart. BUT it got me thinking, I should find out more about what is in food. A quick google search on common processed food ingredients yielded me all KINDS of info. A lot of those big fancy words on the label are just things used for preservative purposes - some are even antioxidants! So just because I don't know what it is (or can't pronounce it) definitely doesn't mean it's bad.

I can say that I will be making an effort here on out to choose eating LESS processed foods overall (I have already committed myself to NEVER eating Betty Crocker frosting or commercial pancake/waffle mixes again!!) This choice is not because I think all processed foods are bad. The time-saving factor of processed food is a HUGE bonus, especially in a world where a lot of households have both people working too many hours to be able to go to the market daily and regularly prepare meals from scratch.

I would like to be a bit more educated about what I'm eating. I do want to know what's in that! Did YOU know Frosted Mini Wheats have gelatin in them? Do you have any idea where Chipotle gets their chicken? Are the veggies in my stir fry from Thai Basil all pesticide and hormone free? If I can find the answers, maybe I'll find that the extra time it takes to cook meals from scratch is worth the benefit of having a long, healthy life. :)

Thursday, December 02, 2010

happy birthday, Dad

I had this great dream the other night. I was somewhere like Seattle (or northern california, oregon... some populated area along the northern west coast). It was a really sunny morning, brilliant blue sky. I was rushing around my parent's house there (not actually their house that I grew up in, obviously... this is a dream!)trying to get everything together for a trip I was taking that day. I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO late for the flight. I had somehow scored the last seat on this little private jet out to one of the islands, where I was going to meet some friends. You could get to the island by driving, but the flight was so much easier.

Well as I was rushing around, my dad was sitting on the porch with a Jack Daniels. He said "Liz, why don't I just drive you?" I KNEW there was no way I was going to make the flight, but I figured my dad would be SO PUT OUT by driving me and probably hold it over my head for the rest of my life, so I said "No, that's OK." But he said "Really, I'll drive you. Just take your time, we'll go when you're packed, it's a really nice ride." So, I agreed.

Fifteen minutes later, Dad and I were in the red and grey Suburban, driving up the coast. It was the most beautiful blue sky afternoon, we didn't say much, just took in the views along the ride. As we were coming over the last bridge to the island I was supposed to be spending the weekend on, suddenly a plane fell out of the sky in front of us. It basically NOSEDIVED into the island right at the end of the bridge, and we had a perfect sightline of the whole thing. The plane was (of course) the one I was supposed to be on!

I was completely shocked. Panicked, actually. Dad just sipped his drink and continued driving over the bridge. Finally I said "Oh my gosh, Dad, that was my plane! I was supposed to be on that plane!" My dad, drink in hand, just smiled at me and said "See, kid, it all worked out." And then I woke up.

I miss my dad, but when he appears in my dreams like that (even though the dream was a bit weird) it's kind of fun to spend time with him.

Happy 78th birthday, Dad. Thanks for driving me to the island. :)