A Likely Story!

Say Yes To The Internet!!

Other than my realtor and a former client, I knew not one IRL soul when I moved to Denver. I worked out of my home 5 days a week and while I got lots of calls from friends left behind in FL and my family in CA, the only visitors I had in CO were the coyotes that frolicked in my front yard every night after midnight.

Nothing against coyotes...I'm sure they are lovely animals, but I was more interested in meeting humans, not animals. Especially animals with sharp teeth.

So I did what any blogger would do...I searched out local blogs to read. I went to the Denver Post online site and found a link to Denver bloggers. Started at the bottom and read my way up. I'd started reading a Denver Blogger called Hot Doctor's Wife just prior to buying my new house in CO and while we'd started commenting on each others blogs, we'd not met each other IRL. Then we decided to do just that! And in a nutshell, my life hasn't been the same since that awesome night at Elway's!

Bouyed on by one positive meet-up, I met another blogger. And another. And started reading more blogs. Met more people. And then I met Rosie , whose blog I'd somehow stumbled upon. She was funny and vibrant and charming and authentic...not to mention darlingly cute! Her boyfriend-at-the-time Kevin thought she was nuts for inviting over an internet stranger but thank God she did, cause that was the start of an awesome Denver Blogger friendship.

(Rosie and I at the John Common/Railbender concert at The Oriental - the first day we met!)

Thanks to Rosie, the new lawn that I'd just installed was lush and green all summer (she came over to set the controls for me. After several glasses of wine!). Thanks to Rosie the phrase "you live all the way out in fucking Kansas" was born! Thanks to Rosie I got invited to some cool parties, met some cool peeps (talking to you Jess and Emily) and I even got to witness my first ever Grand Lake wedding almost a year ago when Rosie and Kevin tied the knot surrounded by friends, family and the beautiful Colorado outdoors.

Since day one Rosie and Kevin have been their very own breath-of-fresh-air here in Denver-town. And tomorrow, they'll leave Denver for Asheville, North Carolina where their next adventure awaits.

I'm so proud and happy that they're taking the steps to follow their dreams....but also sad cause Denver will have lost a little of its charm once Rosie and Kevin (and Chloe-dog too) exit the city limits.

Best of luck to you guys as you venture forth to NC. I hope and pray the blogging will continue so we can still be a virtual, if not IRL, part of your lives.

I'm forever grateful that Rosie said yes to the Internet, cause my life here in Colorado just wouldn't have been as awesome without Rosie and Kev in it.

Love you guys...go forth and kick ass!

 

Blessed...

So grateful & so blessed for the following :

* My family

* My friends that are family

* My awesome job with extra awesome coworkers

* "Smiles Are Free" Mentors

* For being included in so many of your lives and special events

* For living in the GORGEOUS state of Colorado. If you've never been to Colorado, you are so missing out!

* For my health, excellent insurance, gym membership

* That my truck is still holding up at 134,000 miles

* For a lovely place to call my temporary homes

* For having a positive attitude

* For knowing when to say when and when to keep trying

* For you. Yes, you!

nnsd xo  ♥

It's The Little Things...What I Want The World To Know About My Dad

See that guy up there?  That's my Dad. I call him Dad...used to call him Daddy. Everyone else calls him Ern...short for Ernie.

I am the oldest of 5. Got off to a shaky start at birth (neck broken, paralyzed on my left side) but eventually things got better. My Mom was freaked out by my injury and having to wear a full body cast. So my Dad fed me, took care of me and helped my Mom deal with a situation that neither of them expected or wanted. My Dad also lit votive candles and made a bargain with God that if I turned out ok, he'd be an exemplary Catholic for the rest of his days. Which he is to this day.

My Dad is so many things...devoted to my Mom and their 5 kids and 9 grandkids, one of the best friends you could ever hope for, always willing to help anyone and everyone, and in general one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. Yeah, I'm biased, but really...he's a great guy! 

My Dad led by example. He never believed that Dads 'babysat' their kids. He was a hand's on Dad...diaper changing, feeding, cleaning, laundry...nothing was below him and he raised us all with the expectation that when we had kids (when, not if!) we would work together with our future mates to raise our family where there was no such thing as 'women's work'.  

My Dad didn't have a lot of rules, but the ones he did have we followed out of respect and 'maybe' just a little bit of healthy fear of avoiding punishment.  His rules were :

* Respect your parents, ESPECIALLY OUR MOM

* Be accountable for our actions

* Use our manners

* Act in such a way that our actions could be published on the front page of our hometown paper and not embarrass anyone

* Keep the 10 Commandments

* There are no 3rd warnings

 

That was pretty much it!

He taught us to think for ourselves even when it went against his beliefs. We had battle after battle when I decided I didn't want to go to church anymore. Same for when I wanted to buy a 'gasp' foreign car!!

We sat in the family room and went back and forth for close to 2 hours (with my brother Brian observing us - his head swerving back and forth as if  watching a tennis match) and ended with my Dad saying ' Oh to hell with it...you're paying for it anyway, it's your money so buy a damn foreign car if you want"!

So I did!  And two days later when I pulled up in front of the house with my shiny new Toyota Celica ST, my Dad came out to check out my purchase and said 'Let's go for a spin'. He was wordless as I drove him around our neighborhood. When we returned home he said 'Kathy, I'm proud of you! You stood up for yourself, you had all your facts lined up, you knew what you wanted and you went for it. Good for you!

My Dad has always been my champion, even when he didn't agree with my priorities. I wanted to go to college, he said I'd have to pay my own way, so I did just that. When I started observing Judaism and told he and my Mom 10 years after the fact, he supported me even tho he didn't agree with my choice of religion.

Which is why I broke down uncontrollably when he and my Mom sent me a 'Happy Hannukah' wood carving that December...their support just meant so much. 13 times I picked up the phone to call and thank them. 13 times I hung up cause I was crying so hard.

So many times he's had my back. So many times he's been the voice on the phone offering encouragement and telling me 'No matter what happens, you will ALWAYS land on your feet". And I have!

My Dad's given me so much and I doubt I'd be half the person I am today without his guidance and love. So this is my Father's Day gift to Ern. To let everyone in Internet Land know just how very special he is to me and to our family.

Love you Dad - always have, always will!

xo -

Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

Who Needs Sleep??

Apparently not me!  I  planned to take a 45 minute disco nap - slept for 3 hours and have been WIDE AWAKE  since 9pm. Slept thru dinner too.

Upside? It's so quiet and peaceful in the house and a random siren has coyotes singing the blues.

nnsd!

On The Road To Happy

For Mother's Day, I gave my Mom and a friend's Mom a copy of The Happiness Project

I read Gretchen's blog at the beginning of her quest and ran across the finished project in book-form right before Mother's Day. It got me thinking about happiness in my own life and what really makes me happy.

So I created a spreadsheet (nerd!) this weekend and realized I liked using vibrant-festive colors in my spreadsheet way more than completing the spreadsheet...so....yay for realizing my love for color.

Moved on from the spreadsheet to a handwritten list...which made me realize that lists written in black fine-tip ink are not as happy-inducing as colored markers. Efficient, yes. Happy, not so much.

Breaking it down even simpler, without any writing of any sort, I decided to do ONE thing each day that makes me happy. Just one thing. With two parts. The "What" that makes me happy. And the "Why" it makes me so.

Friday 

WHAT - Taking a long drive to deliver/mail overdue presents.

WHY - Feeling of accomplishment. Wanting to be a better friend. Making others happy. Enjoying the views Colorado has to offer on a sunny day.

SATURDAY

WHAT - New towels & bath rugs from Home Goods.

WHY - New colors that I normally would have never picked. Nicer texture (much softer than my 6 year old towels). Cozy up my bathroom.  They were all on sale too - an added bonus!

SUNDAY

WHAT - Scotch Eggs & NBA

WHY - Have you ever HAD Scotch Eggs? You should! As for the NBA part, I fell out of watching Basketball last year cause I stopped going to bars to get my sports fix and I don't have a TV. And today I decided it was time to let a little NBA love back in my life. 

So really, nothing earthshaking, dramatic or uber-expensive was needed to provide my jolt of happy du jour. Just the little things. More to the point, maybe focusing more on the little things and not letting the bigger things in life have so much power over me?

Will track this experiment for the next couple of weeks and see where it goes. Want to join in? Be my guest!

And I know what you're thinking...why the sudden need to be happy or feel happy?  Cause there's been several non-happy/less-than-joyful/totally unpleasant events in Kathyland as of late so I'm trying to balance everything out while being as transparent as I care to be in a public venue.

So...tell me...what makes YOU happy? :-)

Times Like This...

I'm glad I have a private blog that no one has access to.

It helps.

The House

If I were asked to name the chief benefit of the house, I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.

Gaston Bachelard - "Poetic Spaces"