There’s a group in South Carolina that’s getting all bent out of shape about a specialty license plate there. Before I go too much further, I should note that this is NOT intended to be a blog with religious slants at all. I save that for the blogs when I get to hammer on Focus on the Family. More on that later.

Anyway, many states offer, for an excessive additional fee, the option of having a specialty plate (not to be confused with vanity plates). In Colorado, we have a few that are pretty awesome, two in particular. One has a columbine in the center and says “Protect Life” and the other is orange and blue and has the Broncos logo in the center. Wicked awesome, if you ask me. I’ve thought about getting either the breast cancer one or the columbine one. Just haven’t done it as of yet. Whatever. So when someone buys one of these plates, I take it to be a personal expression of something that matters to them. One of my girl friends has the columbine one…she was a student at Columbine when that all went down. So it means something to her. Another of my friends has the Broncos one because he’s a die-hard fan. Personal expression, right?

So what’s the big deal with having a license plate with a cross in the center than says “I Believe”? I personally would NEVER get that license plate or put an ichthus or any other religious paraphenalia on my car. Why? Because I have road rage and would not be a good example on the road. Most people I see with that kind of crap on their car are some of the worst drivers imaginable. That alone intesifies my road rage, which I try desperately to keep under sontrol.

The point is, this group in SC is getting all bent about the separation of church and state because license plates are a state issued item.

I think special interest groups like this are going to be the death of me.

It’s like Chandra says: “Whine Bitch Moan Rinse Repeat…it must be on [their] shampoo bottle in the morning!”

It’s so true. Some people just seem to have nothing better to do that bitch and moan about the most inane things.

I can understand getting a little ruffled about having the 10 Commandments at the courthouse. That’s a place where American law reigns supremely. Separation of church and state makes sense there. But before we get too much further into this, let’s remember what separation of church and state was originally intended to do. It was designed so that no singular state could govern the religion/faith of the people in that state. The point of the pilgramage to the Americas was the get AWAY from that kind of sovereign domination. So it actually has very little to do with keeping the Bible out of the courthouses. The point really becomes that there should be NO religion singled out as the dominant religion of the States. So with that said, the 10 Commandments can’t really be placed anywhere that’s government sanctioned. And neither can any other religious doctrine. Rules are rules folks!

Reminder: The United States was NOT, in fact, founded on religious principles. It wasn’t even founded wholly by Christian men. The whole POINT of the United States is to be able to practice whatever religion you want, wherever you want. And by God, we stand by that right!

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m all for religious education. Frankly, I think it should be taught more widely. It’s important for people to understand the world beyond them. It’s especially important, I think, to know and understand that some religions have been around w-a-y longer than others. There’s something to be learned from everything. So yeah, I think religion should be taught as an academic classes before university. Really, I do. Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism…the “Big Five” in my estimation. You’d cover a lot of ground.

But c’mon. Is a license plate worth getting this bent out of shape over?!

Reasons I know I like to travel too much:
I’m actually considering taking Todd and me to Cozumel (one of our honeymoon cruise stops) for our one-year anniversary. Trust me. I know this is total madness. Sort of. I mean, it’s only about $1500 for the entire thing…hotel, flight, ground trans and the whole thing is all-inclusive. So it’s really not a bum deal. And I just keep thinking that it won’t be long before we can’t travel that much anymore. I’m also thinking of taking us for a long weekend in Toronto since we both absolutely love it there. And then there’s the possibility of Vancouver, somewhere Todd hasn’t ever been before. I’m getting carried away here. We have Boston coming up in August and then next August we’re going to to Alaska. So it’s not like we’re at a loss for traveling. Seriously.

But I just love doing it so much! Sigh. And I especially love traveling with Todd. We make a good team for this kind of stuff.

I should probably stop.

Today, for whatever reason, I feel exceptionally smart. I feel like I’m good at my job.
I’m doing a training session in a couple days on a portion of our database at the office that is a necessary component that virtually NO ONE in the office knows how to use….Hey Cart! Wait up! I’ve still got the horse back here!
Seriously. It’s our way around here, which can be very amusing at times.
I’ve definitely kicked some serious ass at work lately and thankfully, it’s been relatively noticed, which is good.
Last week was easily the worst week that I’ve had at my job in the 2+ years that I’ve been here. Chandra and Heather knew I was having a BS week so when I came back from lunch one day, they’d bought me a pink pony balloon, a really funny card and my favorite chocolate. The fact of the matter here is that I have great friends…and it’s even better that I work with them. It makes the hard days easier and the easy days just that much more fun. Like the days that we spend our lunch hour at the farmer’s market up the hill (where we wound up buying cute clothes last time and not the veggies we’d intended to buy. HA!)…

Todd and I are both really in need of a l-o-n-g vacation. It’s weird to say that since we went to Vegas in May and SLC in June. It’s really just that we need some very substantial time away from both our jobs. They’re getting increasingly more stressful, what with Todd’s team members getting laid off and me getting more and more HUGE accounts. Boston really can’t come soon enough. Even July 4th is going to be a welcome break, even if only three total days. June has really just been a bear of a month for us. We haven’t had a single free weekend, which is kind of weird at this point in our lives. Ever since we got married, we’ve made a point of taking one weekend day just to have fun together (and with the weirdos) and June just hasn’t allowed for that. It really is like everything decided it had to happen this month. Fortunately, we’ve enjoyed every bit of it, from the carpet-pulling-up and priming/painting at Megan & Paul’s new house to dance lessons & competitions, to marathons (not ours, but Laura’s…running is not possible for either of us, which is unfortunate), to BBQs and random get-togethers. It’s all been really enjoyable…but we’re ready for some down time.

C’mon AUGUST!!!!!!!!!!

But damn. I want my long hair back. Crap. It’s going to take a while to get it back where I want it and there’s always the inevitable “awkward” stage of the hair-growing saga. I don’t regret cutting my hair, not in the least. But I’m over the short hair. I miss being able to “do” my hair. I’m good at “doing” my hair. I can really only do one thing with this style. So I’m on a mission to grow it back out. Woot!

In other news, I went to a farmer’s market with Chandra and Heather at lunch yesterday. I love summer! Tons of amazing food stuffs to buy, which I’ll be doing next week. I want to buy nothing but fresh veggies during the summer for Todd to grill up (what could possibly be a better way to prepare veggies?!). But I didn’t buy any food yesterday. Instead, I bought a $240 skirt.

Now that you’re all done gasping, I can inform you that I love playing with semantics. I bought a $240 skirt. But I did not PAY for a $240 skirt…I love consignment! Got the thing for $30…totally a steal! Highway robbery! I should just buy all my clothes at consignment stores from now on. Especially since, at this particular one, there is a GORGEOUS pink tapestry coat that is a must have…NWT it’s about $400…if I can stave off potential buyers for another month, it’ll only be $60 and MINE IT WILL BE!!

I “have” to write about Canada for my writing class this summer. So far, I’ve had to do a few poems, some scenes and a couple “grammar B” exercises. Here are the poems…Todd wrote the last one for me (he’s so good at this game)…question the work at will.

I love Canada.
_________________________________________________________________

City by the Sea

Mist rises up like ghosts of the past
Ships come and go
carrying delicate freight
Memories ebb and flow but
whose memories are they?
Cappuccinos and white rhinos
Bridges and winding streets
Rushing gold brings rails of steel
Making its way up from somewhere below
Ocean sounds like storytellers
awakening to bring tales to life
Lost in currents, weary travelers
come from far and wide
To find new chances,
Daring adventures,
Love.

The Other Side of Banff

So very rarely something reaches out
Finds a place in your heart
Making it easy to believe in….
Everything.

Her majesty rising up from the blue,
Sapphire waters
Her evergreen subjects bowing,
Bending in her breath.

Whispers of forever finding ways
Through young hearts
Into curious minds wondering
What might be next.

The deepest blues like her eyes
Holding mysteries of
What came before and
What lies ahead

Tiny veils of water spilling
Into the azure below
Foretell the stories of what is
Yet to come…

Little Brother

New York City‘s little brother
just a few miles away
With the sights, smells and sounds
The same feeling of downtown
The PM stirs the melting pot
but Customs remains a chore
Bring your passport and cash
Have some late-night dessert
after your choice of ethnic repast
Hockey lives here, a legitimate son
And you might spy an RCMP
guarding the city’s tallest spear
While the golden maple leaves sway
in the wind of spring.

Good grief. It’s been a looooooooooong time since I’ve written anything. Things have been incredibly busy, both at work and at home. We just got back from a long weekend in SLC visting Todd’s side of the family. It was nice to see Seth and Kerrie again. I totally dig them. It is both a blessing and a curse that they live all the way out in California. Blessing, because who DOESN’T want to visit northern Cali?! Curse, because DAMN is it a long drive/expensive flight to get there. We’re planning on doing Christmas in California in the next year or two. I think that will be smashing! Anyway, I also got to meet one of Todd’s aunt/uncle combinations. Ralph & Kaye (I think it’s with an “e”, if I remember addressing that wedding invitation correctly). What a fabulously interesting couple! Ralph told many many stories of growing up and getting to where he is now. It was really interesting…inspiring, in fact. We brought the weirdos (Leo & Suki) to SLC with us and they went totally nuts getting spoiled by their “grandparents”…Todd’s folks fell in love with our pups. So much so that they’re thinking of getting one…a Suki sized/behaved one hahaha! Todd and I started calling our pups the “barking grandkids” tee hee hee! It was fun to watch them play with Dwight & Vera…and both dogs were surprisingly well behaved. They usually are good dogs, but sometimes they go a little nuts in new places…they’re VERY excitable!

The only hiccup in the whole trip happened about a block from Todd’s parents house, on our way back on on Sunday. We made sure NOT to feed the dogs before we left for either leg of the trip, lest they puke (or other icky things) in the car. They both did GREAT all the way to SLC and we only had to make 2 puppy stops. Though admittedly, they were both a little pissed off at us for not letting them eat all day (hahaha!). But on the way back to Denver, we had just turned on to 3100 West when Suki started lurching. Oh dear. Then it happened. Radioactive green puke, complete with full blades of grass. Stupid dog ate grass before we left. It was HILARIOUS! But other than that, no incidents the rest of the way. Now we call her “Pukey Suki”…

And I’m looking forward to the next time we can roadtrip with our “kids”….

Some videos of our pups….Enjoy!

(Leo got über-jealous of another dog trying to play with Todd…and boy did he let this other pup know it!)

What a day ALREADY!
Boy, am I going to be ready for Big Hoss and beer tonight haha! And some art walk with good friends. Time to decompress. The last few days, for whatever reason, have been incredibly stressful and not at all conducive to many of my personal goals right now. Even the miscellany good things come with a downside.
Take yesterday, for example.

It was raining ALL day which was so much fun for me, for many reasons. The biggest being that I have SAD in a pretty serious way so weather can drastically affect my mood in all the wrong ways. Yet the rain yesterday actually made me HAPPY rather than want to crawl back under the covers and sleep through it. It was marvelous! Quite the break-through, really. We have Toronto to thank for this, I think. But the downside was that we didn’t get to walk the puppies in the morning….it’s pretty crucial that we give them TONS of exercise in the a.m. so that they’re not totally bonkers for the rest of the day. Suffice it to say that when we got home yesterday afternoon, Leo & Suki were practically out of their MINDS and it took forever to calm them down. They’re just really happy clappy dogs, which is great (I wouldn’t want a depressed dog), but they need an energy outlet to be certain!
Last night, we went over to Kelly’s house to make pretty things for Jill (which I will not discuss here as she reads my blog and said items are better kept a surprise). We turned on Last Comic Standing (my personal favorite reality show, even more than Dancing with the Stars, if you can believe it) and the boys quickly became more interested in the show than arts & crafts. So Kelly and I continued our merry way with glitter, crayons, construction paper, hot glue, etc. Jill is going to go out of her mind when she sees our artwork! Especially the elephant. That’s all I’m saying. Anyway, we finished our crafts and continued watching LCS and then turned on Best Damn Sports Show Period and watched the Top 50 Fan Bloopers…HILARIOUS! We had intended to leave around 9pm so that Todd could give me a much-needed (and well-earned) massage before bedtime. We didn’t get home till nearly 10:30pm so no massage. But we did an extraordinary amount of laughing and even got to talk to Jill, which was smashing!

I’m already looking forward to the sleeping in I’m going to be doing this weekend. Hopefully there will be much of it!

It’s all starting to make sense to me now.
The idea of eating out for every meal.
Maybe it’s just this month and the insane busy-ness of it all.
We have something MAJOR going on every single weekend, which is rather uncharacteristic of us. Normally, we just have a ton of little crap that gets schedule or needs to get done.

Saturday, I have an eye appointment to get new contacts (so that I can wear my freakin’ sunglasses more often!), a bridal shower and then Todd and I are going to see Big Head Todd at Red Rocks with Megan & Paul that evening. We’ll probably get there a little early to tailgate in the parking lot so as to not spend gads of money on beers inside the park. It’s absurd what they charge for 12oz of delicious. Madness, I tell you!

Sunday, just like weekends of yore, we have dance lessons smack in the middle of the afternoon. Tango and Ballroom this time around, which is fantastic and wonderful! And then we’ll be going bowling with some buddies afterward, which will be even more fantastic as the Sunday deal in our ‘hood is $1Games/Shoes/Hot Dogs/Beer…AWESOME!!

The following weekend, we’ll be in SLC on a much-needed break, which will be quite nice. Todd’s brother and sister-in-law will be out there too. It’ll be nice to see them again. We’ll be road-tripping it out there, which is always a good time. I love doing car trips with Todd…always something to talk about and laugh about and listen to.

The weekend after that, we’re helping Megan & Paul get their house in the mountains ready to move out of…they’re moving back to the “land of the living” at the end of the month and need some help painting, packing and generally cleaning up. We’re happy to help clean, paint, eat pizza and drink beer (obviously…who wouldn’t be?!). And on Sunday, my parents are competing in a big state-wide dance competition down in the Tech Center (blech) and my dad is also competing with our friend, Karen, for the last time (tear*) so it will be nice to get to see that. The only huge bummer is the Tech Center ookiness. I hate being down there. Pretension runs rampant down there.

The final weekend of the month involves me (and maybe Todd) going to the mountains to hang out with my friend, Laura. She’s running a marathon that weekend so she’s going to stay in the mountains the night before and wants someone to hang out with, so I offered. It’ll be a ton of fun, to be certain. Something about a big BBQ after the race is over. Should be nothing short of awesome.

Suffice it to say, it makes sense to me why people always want to eat out. It’s simply easier. Though not at all cheaper. But I guess sometimes, the effort expenditure is more costly than the monetary expenditure. I totally get it.

Todd and I decided on my graduation present. And Sex & the City confirmed how much I want it.

The thought of my grad gift alone is going to make me work harder than ever to get it. It might very well turn into my motivation.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem.

It’s more an addiction than anything.

My closet is my vein.

It’s bad.

But I love shoes.

I nearly fell out of my chair during SATC when I saw Carrie’s aqua Manolo Blahnik’s. Seriously.

I want them so bad. I have no idea what I’d wear them with, but I’m sure I can find something.

I’ve never been a label whore. I really don’t care who’s clothes I wear, just so long as they don’t break the bank. Clothes are nothing to me in comparison to the shoes. Oh the SHOES!

I have some of the most abrasive shoes (though nothing quite like some of Carrie’s) and as Todd kindly put it the other day when I told him about an interesting conversation that happened at church regarding my now-infamous “go-go boots”, “You’re the only one brazen enough to wear something like that…and not care what anyone thinks.” It’s true. Though sometimes, I like to wear my “brazen” shoes to the office just to hear what my co-workes have to say…so to some degree, I do care, but only insomuch as I find the comments entertaining.

Suffice it to say, I know I have a problem, this addiction with shoes. But yes, I’m well-aware that I’m not Carrie Bradshaw (or any of the other girls, for that matter, though if I could combine Carrie’s shoes with Charlotte’s clothes, I’d be in my own person heaven) and that I don’t have an endless supply of money for frivolous $600 shoes (where does she get that money anyway?!). I’m firmly grounded in what can only appear to be reality.

But when Todd said that I can buy my very own pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes for graduation, I felt the slightest little twinge of SATC roll through me…FABULOUS!