My age

So the other day, in an appointment, one of my probationers mentions he went to a concert.
"Who did you see?" I ask. I have, you know, been active in the music scene and all, lately. He mentions the name of some man... or band I have never heard of. I gave him a blank stare and casually said, "hmph, haven't heard of th-him..." His response? "oh, come on, sure you have.... you're as old as I am...you're what? 41? 42?"
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What am I to do with this? Run out and grab some "Timewise" at the next Mary Kay party? Rummage through the anti-aging aisle in the grocery store? Never leave my home....as I'm bound to be in it...alone....for the rest of my life?

I suppose I could let it go and tell myself he's a crazy man and out of his mind, which isn't too far off. Yes, that's what I'll go with.

Lately

I went to a wedding this weekend and I saw a lot precious friends. Thursday some of us got together for coffee and we chatted I realized I was the only one without any children... I did alot of listening that evening and felt like I am light years behind the others. So good to see each other and hear what we're all up to. We laughed over some memories, shared some of the burdens of life and I thanked God for these friendships with depth.

Here are some shots of the dance floor - nothing like good dancing at a wedding... I may, or may not have broken out in a little bit of a glisten. The ceremony occurred outside where two deer watched nearby and apples fell from a tree. The bride and groom looked great and like they were having a great time... isn't that the ideal?

On Saturday, Vicki and I headed up to the cabin, chilled to some John Denver and then did a little off-roading into the 11-mile canyon. Beautiful!

This week I head to DC for the bridal shower of the century. Here is my bridal shower in a box...complete with homemade bath salts for the guests, which will be wrapped in a chinese take out box with pink rice instead of tissue paper....too cute. I've gotten super crafty for this thing and I have found a new excitement about being creative... it might be time to look into getting that Martha Stewart Living subscription renewed. The bachelorette party will be just as detailed for a Matt-a-thon to tie in the bride and groom's love for running. Our bride will get stickers of her beau, Matt, for each milemarker she completes!!! I even found some glow sticks at the dollar store! DC here I come!

Monolith Festival

2 whole days of rock n' roll!

S and I bought tickets for the first day, and through some of her connections, got tickets in the second day (the disappointment of not getting the promised VIP passes lasted only a couple of hours).

RedRocks is incredible. I don't need to tell you this, if you've been, but if you've never experienced live music, while sitting in a geological wonder, you haven't lived.

There were an overwhelming 5 stages at this festival. In an over-the-top moment I recreated a spreadsheet to determine which bands were playing when...then S and I did our homework to rank the must-sees. It may or may not have been laminated with tape to protect it from the elements. Even with the preperation, it was really difficult to see it all without missing anything and then, inevitably regretting not catching some band.

Highlights:

Getting super crafty before the festival and making my own "Rock Princess" tank top, thanks to the local craft store and the ease of iron-ons. Now here's to hoping the mustard from my delic hot dog comes out.

Kings of Leon (my weeks of listening to their 3 albums totally payed off, as I recognized all the songs and did my best to sing the lyrics when possible) totally rocked.

Ghostland Observatory was the most fascinating to watch - the skinny jean wearing lead singer, with braided pigtails and curiously feminine moves. I was a total imposter fan and pretended to know the words to their rocking song.

Meeting the rock star of "No More Kings," after missing his show and then affirming to him that he did have a smiley face next to his name on our spreadsheet. Took picture with singer and hope to see it on his website some day.

Realizing during the Cake show, that having not kept up with them since the 90's was totally okay, as they played most of their songs from their "Fashion Nugget" album.

Meeting various people in the biz.

Struggling to understand the crowd's fascination with "The Flaming Lips" until the lead singer came out in a huge bubble and kind of crowd surfed and then sent huge balloons down through the crowd from above.

Living on the edge and sneaking in contraband, to avoid paying steep prices for beverages.

Sitting back, taking in the sun, people watching, the rocks and the rock n' roll.

Porch Cinema

Summer is coming to an end. That was evident when I learned Starbucks was offering their pumpkin spice latte again. You can't fight against clear signs of fall such as that. I've had a great and busy summer. Here are some of my late summer favorites:

Porch Cinema:

Our apartment is unbearable on the hottest summer days. Even at night, it is roasting. On several occassions (usually Sunday nights) I plugged in some latern lights, the laptap and dragged out my pa-pa-san chair. Ahhhh, a movie on the porch. Perfect. The fresh air, the summer smells and something dramatic on the screen. Only one time the dvd would not play and in a moment of rage and desperation I lugged the entire tv and dvd player.... and it was totally worth it I might add.

Cabin Retreats:

The drive is half the fun, with the perfect scenery and the mountain air. I've taken up reading as a determined hobby and found the cabin the perfect place to sit back and enter another scene, character and storyline.

The Balloon Festival:

I love to watch the balloons lift off. Every early morning that I've done it, it has seemed like a ridiculous idea to get up before the sun, but by the time I have a cup of coffee in my hand, watch the sun rise as balloons take flight....there is simply no better way to spend labor day weekend. I love the bright colors of the balloons, to cheer the ones that make the dip into prospect lake and I love to be inspired to "some day" experience if from a basket, with a bird's eye view.

Men are from Mumsville

I have just come from a night of home visits with 2 officers. I'm not going to lie.... I thought I might arrive to find not 1 but 2 single officers that might fight for my affections. I arrived to find two "settled" men and no personality. In their defense, they'd worked a full day and this was extra duty.
When I've gone on home visits with a female co-worker, we dish. "So, this guy's done this and this and lives with so and so and you'll never believe what he said this one time." Not so with my two fellas. It was purely logistical with them - "where to next? you got a map on this guy?" No chit chat about life stories or compliance. No one discussed the guy who is dating/living with an older woman (I restrained myself from saying something about Mrs Robinson) and no one chatted about the lady who wanted the scoop on her next door neighbors. I was in anti-process world. It was painful for me. The couple of times I said something (that I thought was hilarious) it totally fell flat. By mid trip I sat silently in the back of the car, listening to the country music and some of their talk about schedules and motorcycles.
Not all was lost; It was a productive night. I found two guys drinking and had the joy of watching them pour out their alcohol; I saw one of my guys shirtless (nice spider tatoo, dude) and a woman came out of a hallway with a back scratcher arched up as if she might use it as a weapon.
Safety is nothing to bulk at, I just wish it came with some dialogue and dish.