Baby, it's cold outside

Our first deep freeze is here. It's 6 degrees out, even with the brave sun shining his little heart out. He is doing a good job making the snow-crusted trees and grasses sparkle... like vampires in a Stephenie Meyer novel.

The cold inspired me to read from Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter to Paul last night as we were settling in. Reminds me to be thoroughly grateful that we don't have to break the ice in the water bucket in the morning or get the wood stove going to heat up our shanty. We had a productive weekend of household "improvements" that included finishing up the decorations {on the much-warmer Saturday}, revamping some old furniture, a trip to Lowe's for the highly-anticipated new dining room light fixture, restocking the empty kitchen cupboards. If you are looking for a chandelier, perhaps as set decoration for a Robin Hood revival, please let us send you the one we are replacing. It is heavy and medieval.

We did organize our time enough to make it to the Lessons and Carols service at church last night, which was definitely worth the hustling. The cold seemed to scare off much of a crowd, but our choir is so beautiful and the musicians, so talented! I left humming and skipping to Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella and my husband is further convinced that I am indeed, a dork.

And while we have a tree of the traditional fir variety, we took Buffy's laid-back nature as an opportunity to show off her holiday spirit. Alas, the lights and hat didn't stay but she seems downright jolly about the string of bells we keep looping around her.

Food Blog

As I stirred, this 36Th birthday morning, I received a text from my sister, letting me know that I'll be getting my gift from "the heart of Wawa Pa". As it is our 6 month anniversary plus two days, it is a reminder of things I miss about home and an early conversation with my wife at the South Street Philly Wawa. For those in the know, Wawa is my favorite coffee and cheap gas and good fresh, quick food store in the world " Coffee and no ATM fees"… 

In preparing to clean and mop the floors of our house, I put on the TV for some back round noise. Low and behold "Pizza paradise" on the Travel channel. Another reminder, N.Y. fold the slice at Ray's, New England thin crust in Little Italy R.I., Chicago deep dish at the 1St ever Uno's, and ending with a $1000 caviar and lobster pizza, that costs $750 just to make! What, no Marzellas or Pizza Box on the list??? Also, No Rita's Italian Water Ice out here, BUMMER! Sure the steak is going to be great Saturday night.

Chow 

Six Months!

Let the celebration continue... amidst economic downturn, work woes, and sinus infection... we're loving the journey.

Life's Not Fair

You hated hearing this as kid. Admit it.

Because a kid's view of the world includes cotton candy and Playstations for everyone, without chores and unkindness. A kid seems to ask, "why not, adults, if you really are in charge, why not make these things happen? Make it be fair."

But it ain't. Either new guy in the president's chair won't change that, nor will an expensive bill intended for banks to have all their cotton candy and start lending again.

I had a couple things happen recently at work that turn the big, round spotlight on just how not fair things are. They won't be "fair" by some definitions for a long time. Paul and I have friends who are suffering great unfairness in the form of illnesses and loved ones who are looking for jobs in this difficult economic environment. Dictionary.com defines fair as free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice. But who decides what is biased, honest, and just? Present society suggests we do--- each individual has the right to decide what is fair to his or her standard. And that clearly makes no sense, because how can we all be "right" in our definitions without imposing on another's right of fairness?

Thank God that he's the God of all Grace, the God of all people. Grace gives fairness a break. It says the world is unjust and it's not going to ever operate without unbias because of separation from God. It will always expect more from you than you want to give. But grace-- grace is God's bridge. Grace says "allow me to show you that unfairness isn't the thing." It's abiding in God even when things just suck.
1 Peter 5 v. 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

We Vote Tonight!

Hopefully.

Paul and I are going to try to do the early voting thing because of traveling to Indiana during election week. We picked up a copy of the giant, yellow sample ballot at an election office and I've been "browsing" the issues. There are amendments on determining personhood, whether the casinos should get roulette tables or not, and whether or not a company executive can be prosecuted for the illegal acts of the company. At least that what I think the amendments are about.

See, someone in the election office is falling down on the job--the person who writes the "Sample Ballot for Dummies" version.

This person would take the legalese, terms like: concerning the manner or pursuant to the constitutional limit or all enterprise payments to the city shall phase out, etc. Now when you use the term enterprise and phase in the same sentence-- all the other Star Trek geeks out there and I immediately assume this issue is about the new JJ Abrams Star Trek movie... the one where Syler is Spock. If we vote 'yes', do we get a premiere party here in the Springs?!!?

Yes on 201!

So election office writer people, this editor suggests revising:

Concerning the manner = This is about
Pursuant to the constitutional limit = Until you cross the line
All enterprise payments to the city shall phase out = Beam me to a voting booth, Mr. Scott

I also recommend you stop using all caps on your sample ballot as it looks like you're yelling. That doesn't seem very patriotic.

Speaking of election, as a longtime fan of Don Miller, I've appreciated his approach at sharing why he, as a Christian, is supporting Barack... as are Paul and myself. Here are some links that share insight into that support, in case one should be interested.

http://donmilleris.com/2008/10/03/on-the-campaign-trail-in-mi-in-nc-va-and-oh-this-week/

http://www.matthew25.org/paf/index.htm

Post Office

Here at the "post office" (brown couch)I sit. The house is rounding into shape with the addition of a "transitioned" storage unit in the dinning room and the impending arrival of the last vestiges of stored furniture (love seat and leather ottoman). There will be a reading nook and formal living room. Being surrounded by BOOKS, this is going to be the center of our house and we are excited at the thought of displaying our books and enjoying quiet reading by the fire in the first fall and winter in our Home! 

Pics to come

Our Backyard

No, not the backyard of the house... although there's a good bit of debate at Casa Marchese these days about the merits of a leaf blower. We have a perfectly good rake.

I owe pictures from the back-East vacation tour where much fun was had with friends and family. Big thanks to anyone who housed us, fed us, or celebrated our good fortunes with us.

We returned to tackle the next stages of nesting in the new house. Translation: a week of couch-potato, cable TV-indulging, crashing.

But since Paul has the extremely-rare Saturday off this weekend, my blood is pumping again-- particularly to get out and enjoy Colorado fall before it's passed. We're actually lucky it's lasted this long but we've enjoyed a couple of weeks of moderate weather and I'm hoping the aspens are clinging to their bits of gold like Lucky and his Magically Delicious Charms.

The tricky thing is deciding which direction to head. The best northern leaf peeping comes with Elk bugling and it's in Rocky Mountain National Park, outside of Estes Park. But we've been there a few times {Paul's only been once-last October and it snowed}. West leads to Buena Vista and Salida and the stunning Collegiate Peaks. The drive southwest to Cripple Creek pulses with a rich vein of aspens in the mountainside and the little once-mining-now-gaming town has an endearing community theater is doing some Frankenstein show. That's a good keep-local option since it's only about 90 minutes. Southward lie the Wet Mountains, the Spanish Peaks and a ton of places either of us have yet to explore, like the Great Sand Dunes {I kid you not} or taking a ride on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad.

Okay... so this post was shelved until Monday. We picked north, driving to Grand Lake - a mountain lake town neither of us had visited before that sits on the west side of RMNP. While our weather was mixed, Grand Lake was out of a postcard and we loved it-- especially the weekend breakfast buffet at The Fat Cat. On Sunday, we drove over the Trail Ridge road, up to the tundra fields at over 12,000 feet, above the clouds, and down through the aspens [east side of park aspens above] and evergreens to Estes Park.
As Horace Albright, director of the National Park Service in 1931 during the road's construction said, "You...have the whole sweep of the Rockies before you in all directions." Lovely time spent in the backyard.

Stinky Cheese House

Our new house is smelly.

Now Paul will tell you that I have super olfactory skills and there might be some truth that. It's not a desirable superpower like teleportation or speed eating. Falls right below being Yard Squirrel Whistler, I think.

The previous owners had a temperamental cat, it seems {As per new neighbor. Brief aside: the neighbor has published Acrostic books. How cool is that? How do you become a published puzzle crafter? I'm fascinated.} and I think the cat misbehaved but our very responsible, military couple homeowners worked to chemically remove the offending remnants, now leaving an unusual new connocotion. This is all conjection, mind you. It could be me.

But after living somewhere for four years, I'm probably used to how my old house smelled. This possessed environment isn't bright enough to adopt to our lemony fresh scent yet. How do you exorcise the ghostly imprint of old owner-smell? Other than sticking Rejuvenate or whatever they call it sticky, floral things all over the place? How many batches of chocolate chip cookies or pies does a happy homemaker have to bake? It probably would be more efficient if my hubby could conform to my "our smell" agenda and cut back on packing the fridge with the strong French, triple-cream cheeses. I don't want the house to get confused and think that's our scent.

The image is from the book, The Stinky Cheese Man. I love that book. But don't read it in my house--yet.

The Next Big Thing

Because I'm a publishing geek...

Based on browsing recent bestseller lists, of both Christian books and general market hits, I determined to develop {fast-track, of course} a novel set in a nineteenth century gold mining town, where a young hardened prostitute is taken in by tent revival preacher who speaks to the miners about how God really wants them to be rich and if they give him all their nuggets, they will strike gold and drive really fancy wagons.

He gets struck on the head by an angry miner and is dead for ninety-seven minutes before the prostitute-turned-bookclub maven revives him. He comes back—but is somehow changed into a vampire and she must flee her sudden, incredible attraction to him so she does a really hard thing, and runs off with her adorable-but-naughty yellow lab to eat in Italy, pray in India, and love in Indonesia… with purpose.

The book will be called The Hut.

Packed, Painted, Moved, Exhausted... it must be September

This summer's gauntlet has landed us here, one hand gripping loose dirt across the finish line, and barely coherent. Recent Septembers have been busy months, workwise and travelwise, and the coming weeks don't promise anything different. So we'll pull ourselves up, try to find the box with the clean clothes, pretend the shower doesn't leak a little, and get back to it.

But the dining room and family room are painted {much thanks to Sandi for all her help!} and we are completely moved in. We cut the grass-gone-wild with our craigslist-found Briggs & Stratton. I even cooked for friends on Sunday. And this view is definitely worth it. {I know I look a little crazed.}

Olympic Events

Every four years, I cynically think "Ah. The Olympics again." Lots of pomp and circumstance. Many discussions of performance enhancement and a heavy dose of American self-importance in this worldwide competition. {Could the NBA big shots look more apathetic about being a part of the games?} Don't get me wrong... I appreciate my country, but I'm not sure we need to be the best at everything. Why can't the one athlete sent to represent his entire African nation be the big winner in the swimming?

And invariably, every four years I get drawn into watching the artistic opening ceremony, the parade of the countries and athletes, the lighting of the torch {wow-that was cool}, and quickly find myself, couch potato-like, in front of sports like women's sabre, road biking, badminton and sculls.

There is a magic to the games... and this year, the setting is such a fascinating place of contrasts. The Chinese approach to human rights is appalling, but one can't deny they know how to throw a party.

Also this year, I'm thinking about the Olympic events we are actively engaged in... well, they seem Olympic-sized. We proudly took an early gold in the How to Get a Better Interest Rate with Last Minute Scrambling 400. The results in the Planning Beyond the House Purchase & Move Jump are mixed at this time. Team Disorga Nization has been consistently lapping us in Keep All Your Critical Financial Documents in One Easy to Locate Place. The Throw Out All the Junk You Haven't Unpacked from Four Years Ago Hurdles were called yesterday on the account of conditions in the basement, but I've got a good feeling about that one. Next up: Creatively Packing Empty Boxes Relay and the Haven't Cracked that Book in Years and Unlikely to Toss. Not expecting to medal in that last one... Go USA!

How to be Married Two Months

Enjoy sunshine and books together...


Cheer on the Sky Sox...




Host dear out-of-town friends {Jenny & Chance! Hopefully, the whole Baumgartner clan next time.}

Adopt a dog... see below.




Take a 36 hour vacation.
{poolside coffees at The Golden Nugget}

Try to buy this house...{3rd time is a charm!}

The New {Unexpected} Addition

Buffy Marie came to rehabilitate from a nearly lethal case of kennel cough at the Marchese house on June 21st. She wasn't beating this relatively common canine "cold" of sorts {a viral respiratory condition} in the animal shelter environment and we were happy to help nurse her back to health. Probably comes as no surprise that Paul fell in love with her and insisted on adding this sweet, well-mannered Flat-coated Retriever to our already-very-cozy household.



She has inserted herself quite nicely. Even Easy is coming around, as long as Buffy doesn't mistake our tiny cat for a squirrel worthy of a chase.

Like her humans, she loves sleeping, car rides, eating, and going to the park.

The password is...

I like this picture.

The Marcheses

We did it! What a lovely, amazing time we had. {More to come... still acclimating to returning home}

Attack of the Killer Lists

As time grows short {Paul says today that it still feels like it's taking FOREVER to get here. I find that "kid at Christmas" reaction to be a good sign that he's enthusiastic}, we are being head-on assaulted by to-do lists. We make them - "we" being the operative word - and cross things off, then move the leftover items to the new list.

I have lists for work, drifting around my desk, slipping under piles of books, scribbled on scrap paper, and honey-do lists and lists of things to pick up or pack or move or drop off. These lists are not typed out or have neat little boxes sitting pretty, ready to be checked. Like most creatives, they are written across the lines in a wild slant or on post-its with unfamiliar phone numbers etched on the corners.

If I had time to be creative with my lists instead of hastily worded reminders, they might look a little like this:

• Create space for all Paul's stuff amongst my stuff. Note: try to contain his stuff, as he is male and should need only food and companionship.
• Feel guilt about the size of our newly combined carbon footprint.
• Seek therapy for the magnitude of our stuff and how we need a house big enough to contain it all. {See George Carlin on stuff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac}
• Go to Target. Register for more {much needed} stuff. :)
• Spend any remaining wedding budget on attempt to look thinner, younger, buffer, tanner, hipper, and more like the female cast of Grey's Anatomy.
• Write meaningful, non-cheesy vows that will not induce giggling or gagging amongst our family.
• Clean and organize office so that should something tragic happen while out, no one is horrified by the mess. {You know, it's like, wear clean underwear.}
• Write lists for all the other people involved in the next couple of weeks so they are properly micromanaged.
• Pray that Paul still wants to marry me after Bridezilla-like freakouts over: a) our stuff, b) being thinner, buffer, hipper, c) writing meaningful vows, d) being organized, and e) making lists.

Sneak Peek

My incredibly talented and brilliant brother turned his eductation and skills towards making us into a caketopper that any person in 3-D would be envious of.

I'll post the full image and shots of the happy Pixar-ated "us" topping our cakes, in Napa and in Ohio, after the shindigs.

I love it. I think we are much more interesting as cartoons than we ever will be in actual wedding photos!

Catorce Días!

Turns out, Cinco de Mayo will always fall two weeks before our wedding anniversary. Maybe we'll plan on celebrating early with Mexican getaways. Or a few weeks later over that rousing June holiday, Flag Day.

Paul and I did host a small, on-the-fly Cinco de Mayo party, serving up margaritas and chips and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. {One friend brought over the little "potted plants" of ice cream and Oreo left from my Saturday bachelorette party. Yum.} We haven't hosted much in the last few weeks because - well, my house is messy. With planning for Napa, coordinating with Mom, attempted house buying, and looming work deadlines- laundry, dusting, and de-winterizing my porch has fallen somewhere below sleeping and eating on the to do list.

We decided against the house we were buying after the seller wouldn't compromise with us on issues revealed in the inspection. But it's okay - we'll just put Paul's stuff in trash bags and keep them alongside the Ivy house. I have plenty of driveway space left. And when we resume the search for a home... we'll be much more educated than before. "Before" being the time when we NOTHING about house buying.

But the messy house and the real estate education are little ripples in this pond of getting ready for our "big day" as they call it. I think Paul and I just hope for a very lovely day that keeps us together down this path of our "Big Life". And tomorrow, our lovely day and trip is only thirteen days away. To that, I say: "Salud!"

FAQs for bored, web-surfing friends

About our run-off-and-get-married plans...

Are you still getting hitched at that place on the blog, the Miliken?

Nope. Our party grew beyond the five that they are limited to for a small wedding but we found an excellent B&B, La Belle Epoque (pic left), in Napa to host our merry marrying crew.

What time?

We are partial to early evening, but still flexible. We just want some time to enjoy the location with our family before they head home. We'll have a leisurely, nice meal out after the ceremony, then cake back at the B&B.

Who's coming?
Our sisters, brother, plus an animal doctor and a chubby baby. We'll greatly miss the batch of brother-in-laws, newphews and niece, parents, and a grandmother that can't be there but we're eager to celebrate with most of them in Ohio the following weekend.

What are you wearing?

Right now? A charcoal slacks and... Oh, the wedding. A dress, of course. Paul is getting a new suit.

Getting married in wine country, eh? You guys going to be drunk all week?

No... we are too poor for that...but we do plan to be gluttonous.

Will you stay in Napa for awhile?

We are actually heading for the Sonoma Valley shortly after the gang takes off. Healdsburg sounds amazing.

Calendar-a-Go-Go

The days are slipping by and our "to do" list - a concept with which Paul has been vigorously introduced-- is filled with plenty of crossed-out items but an equal, perhaps growing, amount of uncrossed tasks remain.



We haven't helped ourselves any by seriously contemplating becoming homeowners-- a long saga for another day. We have learned loads in the last couple of weeks about financing and realtors and "the market". Whether this knowledge is useful now or needs to be shelved until after May... that still remains to be seen.



One item still to do is "register". Or decide not to register. Paul and I have found ourselves in an interesting debate about what it means to be adults with functioning households, with respectable jobs, and what a wedding gift registry means. The retailers haven't helped, in my opinion, either as they've created options for separate registries, a bride's and a groom's. To me, it's not a wedding registry then, as wedding implies the couple. Take the groom out of it, and I have no wedding. Just a pretty dress. Call me old-fashioned but the original purpose was to prepare the young couple for leaving their families homes and start a household together... not a bride's household and a groom's separate household.



Another thing that we've discussed is the determination between needs and wants. We, as a couple, do not need a Swiss ball for our household. I, Shannon, want a Swiss ball to... you know... do those weird ball exercises. Paul may surprise me, but I don't think he'd use the Swiss ball, really. Therefore it shouldn't go on the registry. But do we really need anything?


Perhaps if we get a house...

With all the beauty

As we sit here trying to figure out which is more pressing, to take the recyclables to the recycling center or take a walk on this most beautiful spring day, I can not help but be most pleased with my company and the thought of doing either while in her company. For that matter any number of things in her company. It is indeed "A cup overflowing" for me this and every day forthcoming…life is beautiful! 

Paul 

PS: I think we might go with a nap ;-)

Marchese Madness

On Saturday night, as the Tar Heels were well on their way to secure their Final Four spot, I found myself unexpectedly sucked into the madness. Marchese madness, rather. Paul took advantage of our on-the-fly trip to Summit County to find a lovely spot and ask if I was open to making all this wedding planning legit and might I like to wear this gorgeous ring. With Dickie V. enthusiasm, I told him: "Yeaaah, baby!"

For the uninitiated, Marchese pronunciation is found here http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?marche04.wav=marchese.
And I'm not sure if Paul is kin of this fella - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Marchese - but country of origin is the same and they share similar rugged good looks, don't you think?

We have a week!

Paul's vacation week was approved today for May 18th! Yahoo! Let the planning commence...

Milliken Creek in May

Okay - the skinny is this - we are running off to Napa Valley in May to get married. No, we are not engaged. {it's really just a racket developed by Kay Jewelers, anyway} We don't know which week for sure because Paul's waiting for vacation approval from his boss-types. It sounds all very fishy and vague but that suits us just fine.

The boutique inn below is our first pick for knot-tying digs. Swanky, isn't it? I'm not sure they'll let us stay there, but we will wave plastic at them enthusiastically and ask.

http://www.millikencreekinn.com/

If not the Milliken, the beauty of the plan is that plenty o' places in wine country do this kind of thing and are aces for a romantic, love time.

Also... while in Napa, at the tip-top of our wish list is to visit Thomas Keller's The French Laundry restaurant. It would be a once in a lifetime type of treat for amateur foodies like ourselves.

http://www.frenchlaundry.com/

Welcome to the new digs

Paul mentioned the other day sending out e-mail with video & pics of the Springs to friends and family back at home... but this seems like an easier way to do it... and keep everyone's mailboxes pristine and tidy.

We have "move" pictures that are on their way, other various goodies, but after this post, I'm putting up a link to the Napa Valley inn when hope to visit in May. We won't be confirmed in that for awhile, but it's at the top of our list thus far for ideal nuptial swapping.

Thanks for stopping in... come back and see us again.

S