It’s COLD Outside!

BURRRRRRRR! It is so cold in Denver today. We set a record low last night of -18 at the airport, it was still below zero before I got to the office this morning, and currently we are sitting at a balmy 3 degrees, but with the wind chill it feels like -12. We are supposed to get up to 12, but I am not counting on it. I love Denver, but seriously- this is a little ridiculous. I can’t remember the last time it was this cold- but hey, the sun is shinning, and the sky is still a beautiful blue- ah ha- that is why I love Colorado! Good thing I am leaving for Brazil in 11 days- it is partly cloudy and 72!

This weekend I went to a cookie exchange at my Aunt Jenny’s house. My mom was supposed to be there, but my dad and her got in a car accident on the way to the house. Everybody is fine. Mom hit her head on the glass window, so she went to the ER just to make sure everything was ok. She was diagnosed with a bump on the head and nothing more. We had dinner with our friends the Martini’s. Stella came too and she got to play with Olive and Daisy (The Martini’s labs). Olive and Stella were so cute with their Christmas bows on!


Please say a little prayer for my Grandma, Ma, she was in the hospital with chest pains. All of the testing is producing good results, so hopefully she will be released soon.

Stupid Road Signs

Last weekend we went up to visit my parents. There is some construction on Highway 285 (there always is), and like good construction workers, there are signs to let you know about the construction zone. There is one of those large digital signs that changes and it reads: “CAUTION”……”TWO WAY TRAFFIC AHEAD”. Now on a major interstate highway this sign might actually mean something, because on a major interstate highway the traffic is usually separated by a large ditch or something. Highway 285 is a mountain highway that is TWO WAY TRAFFIC the ENITIRE WAY! There are only a few short sections of this road that happen to be separated, the majority of the traffic on this road is only separated by the two solid yellow lines running down the middle of the road. It would have been more appropriate if the sign read “CAUTION”…”LANES NARROW” or, “CAUTION”…”CONSTRUCTION ZONE”. Although, neither of these would really be that helpful given that any person that is smart enough to have a drivers license can figure out that it is a construction zone, given the large orange cones, and the large crane perched between two boulders.

In other news, only 15 days till we leave for Brazil! I have so much to do…..

Giving Thanks

My family has a tradition to go around the circle after we pray before Thanksgiving dinner and say what we are thankful for. This year I am thankful for a lot of things, as I am every year. However this year, I am even more aware of my thankfulness to have my Mom here. I have been reminded several times during my life that life can be taken at any point, with out any forewarning. This year I was reminded again of how important it is to be thankful that you have those that you love in your life. This spring was a truly scary and stressful time for my family. When Mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor, suddenly the little things didn’t matter as much. We banded together to pray and support each other. I am truly thankful to Dr. West and his team for successfully removing the tumor. I am truly thankful for the large and overwhelming support system that emerged through family and friends. I am truly thankful that my Mom is healthy and strong and able to celebrate Thanksgiving with us as if nothing happened. I am thankful for Mom’s quackiness, and her willingness to share her spiritual journey during that time with us. She is one of my best friends, and I am so thankful that she is in my life.

I wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

I’m off to mash 20 pounds of potatoes….

Update...

My brother Pat was in town last week. He left on Tuesday to go get on a ship in CA that goes to Hawaii carrying cars and boats – LUCKY!!! It was so great to spend time with him and his girl Sarah. They are just so perfect for each other. They are one of those couples that you just know is meant to be together, so it makes me a little sad that their relationship is long distance, but it makes the time that they do have together so much sweeter.

On Saturday we went to Mikey and Ryan's wedding. Mikey (Michaeline) and I crawled together as babies. My mom was her first daycare mom when Mikey was only a few months old. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding. The ceremony was full of life and love and so many personal touches. Mikey's brother, Taylor sang, and he has an amazing voice. The Priest that married them was a long time family friend, so he knew Mikey and Ryan. The reception was held at Lakewood Country Club and it was so nice. The food was good, the toasts were a true testament of the couple, and the dancing was great. Congratulations Mikey & Ryan- we wish you the best.

Nothing really new on the home front. I am getting SO excited to go to Brazil. I bought my two dresses for the formal nights, and the shoes too. I had to order a bunch of swim suits because apparently nobody sells swim suits in Colorado in November. I got the suits in last night and 2 of 5 will work. Jon and I are going to start tanning this week in hopes to limit the extent of the sun burning that is bound to happen while relaxin’ on the beach in Brazil. I only have 25 work days left before we leave- I can’t wait!!!!

I had Tuesday off this week due to Veteran’s Day. Thank you to all of our military personnel, your sacrifice is extraordinary. Even though it was a day off, I drove all over the city- I had to take Jon to work, Pat to the Airport, and then down to Littleton to drop the car off for an alignment, then back to Arvada for an Eye Dr. Apt, then home for a little bit. Then back to Littleton to pick up the car, back to Aurora to pick Jon up, and then home again. It was a lot of driving! The perk though was that I got to drive a new CR-V while our car was being aligned – it was so nice- it is on my wish list.

It's Christmas Card Time

Visit www.FriesTheMomentDesign.com for more samples.

Order by Thanksgiving and get $10 off your order.

Stella has a boyfriend

Stella became a, errr.... full woman dog a couple weeks ago. She is starting her third week of the heat cycle and, well, lets just say that her new theme song goes something like "My Milkshakes Bring All the Boys to the Yard, My Milkshakes are Better than Yours". Her two new boyfriends are a little Scotty Dog, and a Dachshund. The Dachshund has been brave enough to come the the front door. Could you imagine if we actually let Stella go and play with her new friends- we would have Labrascotts or Dachshradors!

Happy Halloween

Jon and I went to the Martini's for a Scare-tini. Jon went as Brian from Family Guy dressed like a Banana and he sang the "Peanut Butter Jelly" song very well (click here for the original character), it was hilarious. I went as Dorothy- but no matter how many times I clicked my heels together, I just could not get home from work.

The leaves are falling- constantly

Last weekend we spent Saturday Morning ridding the lawn’s of leaves. The only way to “rake” leaves is with a blower and leaf vacuum. By the time we got the yards all cleaned up, the back yard was covered in leaves again. Well- I guess that is how it goes. The sad part is, we don’t even have a tree in our back yard- it is the neighbors big tree that has barely started to loose its leaves that all blow into our yard.


Stella enjoyed all that October has to offer this weekend: She frolicked in the pile of leaves and she attempted to carve a pumpkin. The Pumpkin didn’t settle so well in her stomach…


In other news, I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a gift certificate for a steakhouse, a bottle of wine, and a hand written thank you letter from cityWILD for designing the River Rendezvous materials. It is nice to be appreciated and to feel apart of something bigger than just me.

My Parents Dog is a Bad Influence

Last weekend my parents came to town and stayed with us. We went to Petey’s football game in Loveland, and left Stella and Ginger in the back yard. Now, last time the two of them were left in the yard together for and extended period of time, the neighbors informed us that Ginger figured out how to lift the lever on the gate with her nose and escape to run a muck in the neighborhood. The neighbors had to return Ginger and Stella to the yard twice that time. SO, this time we thought we had out-smarted the dog by putting a carabiner through the gate latch. When we returned home on Saturday afternoon, the neighbor informed us that they had to put the dogs back in the yard three times while we were gone! I was shocked. Apparently the neighbor got the dogs in the yard the second time, and then heard the gate rattling and when she turned around, she saw GINGER bite the carabiner and loop it out of the gate and then lift the lever with her nose and escape, all before my neighbor could get back to the gate from the edge of the house! BAD GINGER!!!! My dad, however, would say SMART GINGER!!!! After that, Ginger had to stay inside while we left again to run errands. I let Stella stay in the yard, because, well, she just isn’t that smart.

Another example of a bad influence: Ginger has taught my dog is how to whine. This drives me crazy. Up until Ginger spent the first afternoon of escaping with Stella, Stella had not barked or whined when she wanted inside- instead she would just jump into the back door a few times until it hurt and then she would lay down or find something else to do. This I could handle. Ginger’s version of letting you know she wants inside is to whine. Stella definitely picked up on this, and now she whines all the time. Not just when she wants in from the yard, but it seems that she is whining for fun- for no reason at all. She will learn the new rule: NO WHINNING!

Fries the Moment Design Update

I thought that I should post an update about Fries the Moment Design. I recently finished and delivered Mason’s Birth Announcements. He is so darn cute!

I am also finalizing an album for Marlo and Brian. They had a beautiful wedding in the Bahamas last May, and despite the storm that blew in, it looks like it was quite the celebration.

I am getting started on my Holiday Card promotions. I can’t even believe that I have to start thinking about Christmas already! Be on the look out for the info and get your pictures ready to send me for your custom card design. This year I am going to offer a 5x7 Postcard, a 4x6 postcard, and a 5x7 folding greeting card, in addition to the regular 5x7 photo card that I have done in the past.

I don't wanna work... I just want to bang on the drum all day!

Seems fitting.

I am sleepy and I just want to go home. I think that it has something to do with the weather. I am tired and I am hungry. It could also have something to do with the little boy cat causing catastrophe's at 2:30 in the morning. There is still 2 hours left before I can leave for the day....

Three Day Weekend

I am so looking forward to this weekend. My friend Emily is picking me up early from work today to go shopping. Other than that, there is nothing planned for the next 3 days! Monday is Columbus Day, and since I work for a bank, we get that holiday off (gotta love that perk). I am so excited to be able to do what I want when I want, with out having to juggle plans and commitments. Sometimes you just need to be at home, this is one of those times for me. Maybe I'll take a nap- oh that sounds so nice- especially since the weather is going to be rainy and ucky this weekend. I think that I am going to try to get my office back into some kind of order too. Jon and I will probably go swimming on Saturday morning. We started swimming twice a week about two weeks ago. It is a good work out, and our rec center is super nice. I better stop now- otherwise I will have my entire unplanned weekend planned. Happy three day weekend!

River Rendezvous

Wow- what an exciting weekend! I have been working with a non-profit group called cityWILD since May. I was contacted to help design all of the media materials for their annual benefit event, River Rendezvous. I designed the sponsorship packet, flyers, ticket brochures, tickets, and the slideshow that played during the event. The event was this past Saturday at the Gothic Theater. Jon and I were given VIP tickets for all of my hard work. This meant that we got to sit in the mezzanine level and rub elbows with the title sponsors, have free drinks, and free food.



Jon and I ended up sitting with Rob Eldridge and his wife Julie. Rob played a variety of guitar during the cocktail hour and dinner. He is a very talented musician, so talented in fact that his music is now the background music on my Fries the Moment Design website.

Since I was a sponsor through my design donation, my business and my name were on the slideshow. That’s right- twelve feet long and in lights in front of 400 people that have enough money to support non-profits!!! And as if that wasn’t good enough, the executive director of cityWILD, Seth Winnerman, gave a huge “thank you” to me during his introduction on stage at the event!!! I was so excited to have my business promoted like that. It was so encouraging to be there and know that my side business got us there.

Senator Ken Salazar was honored with the Role Model of the Year Award.

The event was a huge success, they sold more tickets this year than any other year in the past, and the live auction was awesome. They had 10-12 different packages which sold for anywhere between $1,200 and $5,000. Maybe someday Jon and I will have enough money to donate like that. The auction was followed by the main event- Big Head Todd and the Monsters!! I have never seen them in concert before and they were amazing. I always say that you can judge how good a musical artist is based on how they sound live compared to how they sound on the radio. Big Head Todd and the Monsters passes- they were great. My favorite part of the concert was when they added 4 horn players to the band.

On Sunday, our little Stella puppy turned 1 year old! She is half way through ‘”puppy”. She is such a good Labrador. She has mastered "sit" and "stay", now she is working on her acrobatics while catching her squeaky fish mid-air. We didn’t do anything crazy, but we did put a candle in her food for dinner. Happy Birthday Stella!

Lunch Anyone?

Needless to say I will NEVER use the BROIL setting again with out watching it like a hawk! We went to Taco Bell instead of attempting to digest the charred quesadilla's.

We Have Green Thumbs

Jon and I planted our front garden this weekend. I am proud to say that we got it done under budget and in the time frame we wanted. It was a little overwhelming, but with the help of my Aunt and the nice lady at the nursery we got it all figured out. We bought a Weeping White Spruce, a Dwarf Dog Wood, two Blue Star Juniper’s, Fountain Grass, three Mum’s, and about 150 bulbs. Surprisingly we were able to fit all of this, including the two bags of compost soil and six bags of mulch, in our car! It was a forest on wheels.

We had to finish removing the root ball from the ugly spider bush that was there when we bought the house, and re-grade the area before we could start on our own landscape design.

Things you find when you redo 50+ year old landscaping:
1. HORSE (ok, so it was a little toy figurine, but still a horse)
2. Spoon
3. Bullet (Yes, a real bullet- Jon thinks it is for a revolver)
4. Piece of a chain link
5. Ball of yarn
6. Glass
7. Sock
8. Wonder Bread Bag with plastic tie
9. Peanut Shells
10. Concrete
11. Brick Pieces
The cats were very excited to be out all day on Saturday and Sunday. They would check in every now and then to see how the new jungle was coming along. We let Stella hang out in the front yard with us on her long leash. She did a very good job as “Middle Management”.

Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out. I hope that all of our bulbs make it through the winter- it will be so pretty in the spring if they do. It was nice to spend time with Jon doing a project together. I feel like that our time together is rarer than it used to be, and it is not very often that it is just the two of us working on the same project at home.



(The little sticks are where the bulbs are planted)

Pee Wee Flag Football

Last Tuesday, Jon and I went to watch one of my little cousins play pee wee flag football. Joe is 7 and he did a great job out there! Pee Wee flag football is one of those sports for kids where “everybody is a winner” and “everybody gets to play”. Because everybody gets to play- at the same time- there are probably 15-20 kids on one side and 15-20 kids on the other. Since these boys are just learning the sport they don’t really know where to go or stand, so every time the QB gets the ball, a pile of boys in bright shirts and flags appears in the middle of the field- regardless if the ball is there or not. Despite the dog pile practice, there were several good plays, and Joe was a star and was handed the ball several times. Some times he became one with the pile, and a few times he was able to avoid before one of his flags was torn off. Ma and Pa came to watch the game too. It is always nice to see them. Andrew, the youngest brother, was so cute... he is getting so big :(

A Wedding and then a Bee Sting

Last weekend Jon’s childhood friend Bo got married to Dawn. Jon was the Best Man, and I think that he did a great job with his responsibilities. He was prepared with snacks and water for the groomsmen. He made sure the bride and groom, parents, and wedding party were sitting where they were supposed to when there was no apparent set seating at the reception. And he kept his cool when he was told there would be no toasts, and then informed that the Maid of Honor was going to give a toast, even though he had already prepared a speech. On Sunday we went over to Bo and Dawn’s house for a post wedding BBQ, only to find that it was a BBQ for Bo’s family, and Dawn was having a BBQ at her parents house with her family…. The food was good though. It was great to see our friends Trevor and Jenny who came in to town from Massachusetts for the Big Day. We are looking forward to their wedding next spring.

On Sunday Jon and I went to the driving range and I got stung by an invisible bee in the middle of my middle finger! My finger swelled up so bad that I had to take my wedding ring off, then the swelling went down, and then back up worse than the first time that night. I never even saw the bee or wasp- but it sure did hurt!

Oh- in other news- we bought our plane tickets to go to Brazil for Ana’s graduation in January!$!$!$!!!!!

As always visit the "Pictures" link on the right for more visual aids.

The Boys (Trevor, Bo, and Jon) at the rehearsal dinner



The Best Man making sure the Groom looks good.



Dawn and Bo



Trevor and Jenny



Jon and I

Happy Birthday Jon!!

Just a quick note to my wonderful husband for all the world to see. Happy Quarter-of-a-Century-Birthday! I love you!

Spider Bushes B-Gone!

Three of our bazillion juniper bushes in our front yard are finally gone! Now we can put something pretty there that will (hopefully) not house large ugly spiders and their families. Jon did a great job cutting these out. It took all summer, but it is progress, and now is the perfect time to plant for next year. I must admit I am very overwhelmed with the prospect of deciding what to plant, how much to plant, and how to take care of said plants once planted. My thumb needs some greening. Next year we will do the other side and maybe get to the backyard too. For now we are just doing baby steps.

They WON!!! & My Super Builder Dad

Jon, Stella, and I headed up to my parents for the weekend. We sat in horrendous traffic on Friday night which lent itself to plenty of political conversation.

On Saturday we went into Fairplay to watch the first South Park High School football game of the season. My brother Petey(#84) is a Senior this year and he has never won a football game in his entire high school career. The game started with a SP fumble, not a very good sign. Then the other team fumbled and SP got the ball. You should have seen these boys when the pile of spandex, pads, and helmets unfolded to reveal that SP had indeed got the ball back- they were jumping all over the field like green and gold popcorn! It was so amazing when they got their first touchdown and field goal- the home crowd that had gathered didn't quite know what to do, given the track record that the Burro's have had since 2004. By have time the score was 35 to 0, and shortly after half time the score went to 42 to 0 which put the 'Mercy Rule' into affect. For those of you that have never witnessed a SPHS football game before- the Mercy Rule is when they let the clock run the second half of the game if one team is more than 40 points ahead of the other team. This rule has never been put into effect by the SPHS Burro's, it has ALWAYS been put into effect by the other team playing the Burro's. The excitement in the crowd would have made an outsider think that it was a state championship game. The principal (who is awesome), Jane Newman, was just beside herself with glee. I heard one mom say "this is when it is fun to be a mom!" My mom even got the crowd going by directing those still in the bleachers to do the wave. The final score of the game was 48 to 6! The smiles on the players and coaches faces could not be forced. GO BURRO'S!

In other news- I am so in awe of my Daddy! He has been building a house for a couple for about the past year now. The couple is moving in to the house as soon as it is finished. My Daddy has built this gorgeous house all by him self (for the most part) from the ground up. He is Super Builder Dad. It is so cool to see my Dad make the dreams of this couple come true. GO Ambrose Home Builders!!