Wassup?

I've not fallen off the earth, contrary to what some of you may think.  Life's been busy and interesting and challenging and as always, fun.

So where to start?

This time last week I was in California with my family and close to 65 friends celebrating my Dad's birthday. It was an amazing weekend and my Dad was thrilled to see so many friends that traveled from far away (ahem, Denver?) to spend the day in celebration of his birthday.

I met a second cousin for the very first time. Saw lots of friends from back in the day (we're talking grade school). Nephews, nieces, and friends that drove an awfully long way to share the day with my family. Discovered that many of my long-time friends are now on Facebook, which made me happy like you can't believe. 

Got lots of really awesome pix but since my parents & family prefer not to have their pix splashed across my blog, you'll have to use your imagination.

Here's something you can feast your eyes on...

 

In-N-Out Double Double's. Yum. Like you can't believe.

True to form, we stopped at In-N-Out on the way home from the airport so I could have my fix. And over the course of 4 days, I had lunch at In-N-Out 4 times. You would too if you had the chance.

Of course, two can play that game.

My evil plan to get my family hooked on something that is specifically Colorado is working. My secret weapon for getting my family to visit is :

Boulder Parmesan Garlic potato chips. I brought 3 bags with me...one for my sister Diane, my sister Kelly and one for my parents.  

All's fair in love and war and bribing loved ones to come visit, right?

My trip to CA was just about perfect except for when Walmart tried to kill me. Oh yes. They are evil.  

For those of you that know me well, I prefer not to shop at Walmart. Or go anywhere near Walmart. Last time I bought anything at a Walmart was 9 years ago.

So I'm running errands with Diane the night before my Dad's Birthday Bash and she wants to go to Walmart. Where she shops all the time. So, the quandry started. Do I sit in the car and make a personal statement? Or do I go in with my sister and get to spend more quality time with her?

I chose quality time. When you don't live around the corner from your siblings....much less in the same time zone...you want to spend as much time together as possible.

As we were walking into the store, I tripped. Badly. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground screaming my head off and embarrassing my sister like you can't believe. Landed knees first which was not fun. As I was sprawled on the ground in pain, a man called over to us to ask if I was ok. Diane said I was, just shaken up. Then the man added his wife had just fallen in the same spot. Hmm.

Upon further inspection, we noticed there was a huge bump in the asphalt that reached the width of the parking aisle. Since it was dark outside, it was pretty much invisible until you walked right into it.

Di helped me back to her car and told me to wait while she got a manager. While I waited, I observed 5 groups enter the store. 4 of the groups tripped in the same place. A manager came out to take an accident report and my sister went back inside to shop. Initally, the manager was sure the bump was a result of tree roots. I disagreed with her and told her it had to be structural from below the parking lot.

As she took the report, 9 groups walked by. 7 groups tripped. The manager was not happy. Another manager joined us (who had just graduated from Nursing school) and she did a great job of bandaging me up. More people walked by. More people tripped.

The Walmart managers, to their credit, were nice and apologetic and very sincere. They promised to follow up with me once I was back in CO.

Which they did Monday morning. The manager that called me said they'd had someone out to check the parking lot the very next day and they determined it WAS structural in nature, and that repairs would be made immediately.

Guess their definition of immediately differs from mine. My sister drove by to check out the parking lot on Wednesday. No repairs so far. Lots more people tripping.

I just hope they get it fixed before an elderly person takes a tumble and winds up in the hospital.

As for me, I'm still healing. Both knees were pretty badly bashed but I'm hoping to be back to normal in another two weeks. It's getting easier to walk up & down stairs. 

Ok, moving on.

Love is in the air in Denver!

I've been to two weddings in the last 3 weeks.

First was my co-worker & buddy Jasper. He and Emma had a lovely wedding ceremony with lots of symbolism, awesome music and boatloads of love.  See how cute they look?

The second wedding I attended was Thursday night for my buddies Richard and Sara. This time, I got a lot closer to the action...see for yourself!

Richard and Sara also had a lovely wedding on top of a mountain in Lyons, CO. Today they're leaving for their honeymoon...and only Richard knows where they are going!  Yep, the entire honeymoon was planned by Richard for Sara and kept a secret from everyone.  

At their reception they had pictures of exotic locations at each table. I was at the Australia table. And I really hope that's where they're going.

Speaking of buddies, my buddy Rosalicious was kind enough to include me in plans to meet a new Denver blogger! Yay for new blogger buddies!  ALS! readers, say hello to Jess!!

Jess is relatively new to Denver (as most of us were at some point) and it was fun getting to know her over dinner at one of my most FAVORITE restaurants in all of Denver.  I'd been reading Jess' blog for awhile and I'm here to say that  how she is in person is exactly how she is on her blog....funny, down-to-earth, considerate, dog-lover, and totally optimistic and confident...which is how I love my blogger buddies to be :-)  Please stop by and tell Jess hey!  And link to her while you're at it!

Last but definitely not least, THE JOB (of which I cannot name) continues to be all sorts of wonderful and fantastic and perfect and exciting and challenging and FUN!  Oh my God, it's fun. Have never laughed so much at a job as I laugh at this one. We all have fun while getting work done. And? Bunnies right outside the door. Can life get any better?

Comments

[Jess]

Thanks! You are so sweet!

Also, I think it's lawsuit time with Walmart! Bad!

[rosalicious]

That's a fun idea (secret honeymoon, tables...) - where'd they go, do you know?

Nice update, girlie :)