Gleaming the Cube

Pics of the New Bozeman Place!

2009-08-20T09:43:00.001-07:00

Alright, look right! I put up a new slide show of our place...imagine it with a Mid-century Modern meets Western Kitsch theme. If you can imagine that. I'm trying too.

I'll be moving in next week-depending on minor repairs, we're super excited. Aaron will be back and forth from NYC until October 1st. The place is big, so we're planning on a lot of guests this winter to take snowboarding (these mountains allow skiiers too apparently). We'll go to Bridger Bowl and Big Sky and Moonlight Basin and maybe even Disco!

See you sometime after October...xoxo

Finally something worth listening to...

2009-07-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is what I'll be listening to on the road today! I'm making the 3 hour trip from Cody to Bozeman then flying out tomorrow to Minnesota for Aaron's family lake cabin vacation. This is the first band in a long time that I've discovered that makes me want to go out and look for more. Actually the band they pretty much were before they were The Wooden Birds was American Analog Set, so I got that too. Love Andrew Kenny, and this song...for the obvious parallel to my life. Not to mention they're doing a little busking.

THE WOODEN BIRDS. SEVEN SEVENTEEN from Au Agenda Urbana on Vimeo.

About Town in NYC

2009-06-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

A classic shot I couldn't resist. Here's some other pics from around town.

This is in the financial district. I love it.

These ladies just camped out in front of the Naked Cowboy, hey they're on vacation.

NYC

2009-05-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

One thing I love about New York-the tree lined streets and brownstones, that's two things I know...and in retrospect who can pick one thing? That's where I went wrong. I go down this street on my way to Central Park, which I've been going to everyday. I have to say so far the hardest part about living in New York City is getting my direction. The lay of the land if you will. But I do know that going North the streets go up in number and South they go down.

I have a big to do list-very New Yorker things, museums, shows, finding the best black & white cookie, baseball games, and yelling at cab drivers.

Whistler Trip Via Seattle

2009-05-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

Just added a new album to the blog. I always wish I had taken more pictures, but I kind of hate bringing a camera everywhere and taking pictures. The trip was a blast and has kick started a travel bug. I'm seriously considering teaching English abroad. Or becoming and international spy...one or the other.

Easter Politics

2009-04-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't been home for Easter in about eight years I think. Not as a political protest, it just worked out that way. My republican parents don't always agree with my egg-dying policies. Fortunately they know the proper channel to funnel their protests.

Cody...

2009-04-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

Feeding the horses pretty much looks like this. This is Lacy.

Aaron was pretty popular in the pack, as long as he kept throwing the ball...

Illustration

2009-03-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

This picture pretty much captures the change in my life.

Moving Diaries...episode III...Not Home Yet

2009-03-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm in Bozeman. Being a ski bum. Another dream of mine. Haven't made the trip into Cody yet...My dad drove up and met my mom the night we got in which was...it's hard to remember, today is Sunday, so that would have been...hang on...I'll get it...Friday. So I'm house sitting and dog sitting with Aaron, we went out to dinner with some friends of his last night. The restaurant was in an old school, it has an auditorium and is also an art gallery, plus there's kids classes and continuing ed classes there too, very cool building. It's a great town, I might just stay here...I have everything out in my truck.

Will send postcards from Bozeman.
xoxo
Chris

Moving Diaries...episode II...

2009-03-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

Things to do before a road trip. Preferably the day you plan to leave. Go to Coranado, Balboa park, El Zarape, and if you can manage it, use the rest of the day to pack, then leave San Diego at 10pm and drive to Vegas. Stop for gas and coffee and roll into Henderson around 4am...stay with family, they are used being inconvenienced by your antics.

Worked for me, Mom and I left SD Tuesday night, spent all of Wednesday in Henderson, NV with my niece, nephew, brother Mike and sister-in-law Kristen. Jessica and Jackson are totally cute and really love their grandma. She's hard to compete with but my coolness translates better when they get a little older than 4 and 2. Five-year-olds love me...Then we headed out for the Grand Canyon today...this just in-it's still there. Freezing too. Super fun! Jumping out of the truck running to the edge, thinking "yep it's pretty. How long to I have to look at it to justify the drive here and to capture the memory?" Not rhetorical questions, the answer is twelve minutes.

We made it to Kanab, UT tonight, haven't seen any of the town yet, but I did get a marriage proposal already! But for 5th wife, Mom said don't sell yourself short. Go for 3rd wife at least.

Goodbye Icebergs...

2009-03-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

I love saying goodbye. That's weird to say right? I hate it, but I love it too, it's when people are sad to see you go, are really going to miss you, and tell you that you simply can not leave them, that you know you made an impact. It's a good feeling. Having friends that will genuinely miss your company.

Last night I had a little going away bash at a pub called Shakespeare's, my kind of place for pints and hugs, I was truly touched by the showing and glad I decided to do something like that...I'll miss my friends, but plan on visiting San Diego, it'll always be here...until the icebergs melt...

Moving Diaries...episode I...

2009-03-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here I am, moving again. This will be the 4th move in three years. From Colorado to San Diego, then 3 different places in San Diego. Now I'm out. My time here is through. I always knew it would not be a permanent home for me. A layover on my way to the rest of my life.

Which so far looks like this: Leaving SD on Monday. My mom is flying in on Sunday. We're road tripping through Vegas, visiting my brother and his kids, going to the Grand Canyon, we regretted doing it when she helped me move out here in 2006. Then we're picking a route to Cody. I'll drop Mom off with my stuff then swing up to Bozeman, Aaron will already be there for a snowboarding weekend and tour of the town since it's on our list of places to move to this summer, Missoula is the other choice. We're going to Whislter for my 30th birthday, April 24th. Then I'm moving out to New York with him for a few months, then we're moving to Montana.

That's the plan. It's a good plan. I'm excited for the new adventure! I'll miss the friends I've made and the routine I had, and the weather I'm sure, but I'm looking forward to a new life.

I'm a baker

2009-02-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

I felt like baking yesterday, so I whipped these up, it's amazing how happy chocolate chip cookies make me, well, everyone really. Here's the recipe in case you want to be happy too.

Ingredients
2 1/8 cups bleached all-purpose flour (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark), 7 ounces
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (semi or bittersweet)
Instructions

1.

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
2.

2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
3.

3. Following illustrations below, form scant 1/4 cup dough into ball. Holding dough ball using fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves. Rotate halves ninety degrees and, with jagged surfaces exposed, join halves together at their base, again forming a single cookie, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface. Place formed dough onto one of two parchment paper-lined 20-by-14-inch lipless cookie sheets, about nine dough balls per sheet. Smaller cookie sheets can be used, but fewer cookies can be baked at one time and baking time may need to be adjusted. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month—shaped or not.)
4.

4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes). (Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time.) Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

I GOT CRABS!

2009-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

And they were good. Aaron and I went to the Crab Hut last night. A little hole in the wall in an Asian strip mall. Bags O Crab! It was good!

NY NY

2009-01-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

New York New York. So good they named it twice. Someone said that didn't they? Let's say they did. I went there for almost 2 weeks over the holidays to be with Aaron. We ran all over town. With him quizzing me on where we were at. I failed, and apparently "New York" isn't a precise enough answer.

We had a great time eating, a lot of eating including what we have now come to call the "pork trifecta" three separate and amazing dinners, with, yes, pork. It's the new black. Tell your friends.

I wanted to see the Empire State Building but when we got there the line was so long Aaron had another idea. We raced through the streets, because we didn't want to miss sunset, we go to a rooftop bar that is pretty much deserted except for a couple other people who had the same idea.

It was a great way to see the whole city and to practice my trick photography skills and Aaron's patience, but it paid off...kind of.

Yoga is for kids

2008-11-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

I've been into yoga since moving to San Diego. It's really like therapy, and it's good for your body as well. Now that I'm working for lulu I get free yoga all over town.

This is an attempt at acro yoga, which is like partner yoga and kind of acrobatic. Looks like playing airplane to me though.

Everything I know I learned from the Neverending Story.

2008-10-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

So basically what I realized last night when I was watching the Neverending Story, for the first time in a long time, is that it's eerily similar to what's going on today. The Nothing gains strength in Fantasia when humans stop dreaming and having hope. It destroys their world. So I'm thinking, "crazy! that's us." Obama is riding the Luckdragon of hope all the way to the White House. He's our Atreyu and Bastian, maybe Biden is Falkor.

I'm going to go see what wisdom I can gleam from the Goonies.

xoxo

Look at what came in the mail today!

2008-10-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

I love soup. Chili. Stew. Anything in a bowl really. And this is going to help me make all kinds of amazing things this fall, even if I am in San Diego and the only way you can tell it's autumn is all the girls break out their Uggs.

It's 6.5 quarts and it's Caribbean Blue, and I love it!

Alec Baldwin wouldn't get between me and my sandwich

2008-10-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, chalk this up to random and weird, but also "New York." As in only in New York would this happen, and also not just happen, but be kind of the norm.

I was in NY visiting Aaron over Labor Day weekend, and one day I'm starving and want a corn beef sandwich, we look around, decide on Zabars, and while I'm unwrapping it to put on mustard, Aaron leans in and tells me Alec Baldwin is sitting right behind us. And it was true!

He was obviously out for a run or something and was talking to tourists at the communal counter. I snuck some glances without trying to be obvious and then we went outside to eat. Standing on the corner I'm all "I can't believe we just saw Alec Baldwin! How cool! Does he have any Emmys? He should! He's hilarious, I love that show!"

Then Aaron turns and I'm all "What?" and Alec Baldwin is right behind me...with his bike. "Oh, uhh, I was just saying you should have some Emmys..."

Alec Baldwin: "I thought you were going to die if you didn't get that sandwich..."

Me: nothing clever, and weird mix of embarrassment and pride, hells yes I can eat a sandwich!

Everything should be reversable...

2008-09-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Not just in the wishing to undo past mistakes, in fact not that at all. This is a literal wish. If everything you had was reversible, it would be like having twice as many outfits. These lululemon pants reverse to all black.

Minnesota Heartland

2008-09-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

I love this shot. Aaron's nieces Morgan and Maya are 15 and 13. This picture captures the spirit of the lake cabin and places that exist now only in my heart.

where to start....

2008-08-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for pics from Aaron's family to tell you about the MN vacation to meet his family. It was really fun. We went to their lake cabin near Annandale. It was beautiful and I didn't want to leave, which is weird, I usually want to get out of MN as soon as I arrive. I lived there until I was eight, but I think I inherited my parents need to flee to the West...theirs and pretty much anyone who lives there. I meet more ex-patriot Minnesotans than anyone else it seems, but maybe just because I'm looking.

So I'll give a rundown of MN. I stayed with my sister Nicole and her family specifically in my niece Anna's Hanna Montana bed, on the first night. We had a lot of fun, Nic and I went to Momma Mia, which apparently my whole family loves...except me, but I lied and said I did...sorry Nic, I wanted something to blow up so much.

Aaron came and got me the next day and the first stop was Jim's Bait shop for my fishing license...any shop whose slogan is 'The Master Baiter' you know will be interesting. It did not disappoint.

The week was packed with activities without feeling like we had to go somewhere. But on the first night we went to the corn festival, I had 3 ears of corn on the cob and I the only time it was that good was when I was a kid, living in MN. We cheered for last year's corn on the cob eating champion as he lost his title to the new kid, who ate 9 in a matter of minutes. An honorable victory.

Aaron's parents Randy and Judi are sweet, and live cool lives, they travel a lot, his brother Ken cooked everything and is really good at it. His wife Mary Kay and kids Morgan and Maya were fun to hang with, and we fished, snorkeled, waterskied, made smores, watched the Olympics, did a puzzle and had a great time in general. All in all, good first meeting, can't wait to do it again.

Dogsitting is awesome!!

2008-08-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

So I'm dog sitting for Halloran, a co-worker and living at his pad in La Jolla while the fam is on their European Vacation, here's hoping it's like the movie.

So for 17 days I'm taking care of this dude- Buster. He's a great dog, he talks, he goes on walks and he sleeps with me, I love having a dog, everyone who lives alone, even sometimes, should have a dog.

We went to Fiesta Island a couple times with my pal V and her dog Ciaro. They have a blast, Ciaro mostly tormenting other dogs and Buster backing him up when he needs some help with a dog that doesn't like Ciaro getting all up in his grill. They make a good team.

The dog sitting stint is over on Tuesday and going back to just being a fish-owner is going to seem like a downgrade.

Lesson not learned....

2008-07-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

I burned the bottoms of my feet today. Blisters and everything. I walked barefoot from my pad to the beach, half a block, across the street, down a hill and across an asphalt parking lot to get to my surf spot. I did this barefoot which I do most of the time. And it was only about 80 today, not even that hot, but the bottom of my feet kill. KILL. and I see blisters, I don't think they'll surface, but they are there.

what really kills me, is this is the second time I've done this...and every step reminds me of what an idiot i am. flip flops are good, and don't take too much time to put on...i have that kind of time.

I never got to be a rodeo queen

2008-07-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

Being a hometown darling has it's weirdness...

Free furniture

2008-07-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

I just realized that every piece of furniture that I have, someone bought for me or gave to me. I've never bought furniture before. How did I make it this far in life without buying a bed or dresser or end table or something?

Well that has changed...check out my "new" kitchen table. I got it on craigslist, also my first craigslist purchase. I cleaned it up with metal polish and am pretty pleased with myself...I feel like a grownup. A grownup in the 50's, if only valium was so readily available.

Back to Cool

2008-07-17T18:01:00.001-07:00

So I just signed up for a GRE prep course from San Diego State University. It's four Saturdays in a row starting on the 26th from 9am-1pm. I'm excited to take a class again, and to go for my masters in communication. I got the time, why not another degree?

Where to start?

2008-07-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

So I thought my first real blog post should be pretty, and this is the sunset on the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, doesn't get much prettier... Aaron wanted some scenery shots so my mom and I drove up the North Fork and took some pics...