Pull my finger

I had a pretty eventful weekend a couple weeks ago. I climbed the incline! It became something I "have to do" just this summer, previously I thought people who climbed the incline were kind of crazy and extreme. CAT and I started in the morning and huffed and puffed our way to the top. I forgot the torture it was before we ever got down and the sense of accomplishment has carried me for weeks. Princess Warrior, I am.
That afternoon I went to a beer festival in Manitou Springs with 2 friends - sisters, who showed up dressing all kinds of sassy that made me very aware of my feet of height over them and my casual appearance. We arrived and learned there were 85 beers. It became our task to, among the 3 of us, sample them all. Woa! It was a good time, beer, live music and a friendly crowd. I met Randy. Turns out he lives up where the parent's have a cabin. "You should come out for the tractor pull next weekend." He hands me his business card, which, no kidding is a picture of him on a tractor. I call him later to get details on "the pull" and he returns the message with the details. Kind of fun! I'm on the country music kick with heightened romanticism of men who work with their hands, ride tractors and say "yee haw." This might be fun.
Needless to say, what followed was disappointing:
If you haven't been, tractor pulls, not very exciting. Don't get me wrong it was fun to feel the community-kind-of-gathering and hear people yelling "go Bob!" But over all, pretty tame.
After some awkwardness of meeting up with Randy, we (2 new friends - 1 married, who can be assured she got a good one) confirmed we had been invited to a bbq at his place. Once we arrived it was clear that "I think your tractor's sexy" lyrics didn't tell all. How were we to know that tractor boys don't necessarily wash their hands after the event? There was no warning that these guys would prefer to pee outside on the land instead of going in to the bathroom, not to mention the confusion on whether there was another roll of toilet paper. I wasn't prepared for a dolly in the dining room, or the guy who lost his tooth after he'd taken it out to eat - only to find it on the dirty carpet later that evening, where he promplty popped it back in. Wasn't exactly the Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley crowd I had hoped for.

The next day my friends and I went off-roading. There is something so fun about bouncing around in my jeep. The top off. The sun shining. The smell of mountain.

Good times, great memories, but I'm afraid no prince charmings.
-JLT

Ex = Co

Everybody knows it, everybody says it - "don't date co-workers." It gets messy. I learned the hard way. Dated I guy I had worked with for several years. He broke me down over a year...we dated and lasted only a few short months...then there was the lack of the clean break (seeing him daily). It was very messy. It's been 2 years. Geesh, ex-boyfriend who? The only complication was occassionally seeing him at meetings, court, and trainings after he got a new job working for the state.
Having been in my abusive work environment too long, and after having bounced my head on the glass ceiling 3 years ago, I also decided to apply to work for the state - it is the only option for work to stay in the field. It was a big deal when I got the job - over 100 had applied. There was apprehension, how will be to work where the ex is? Nah, there are over 75 people in the department and 5 different divisions. I probably wouldn't even see him.
I arrived at my first day. "Check in with Ellen, she's going to be your supervision." Shoot! The ex and I are going to be in the same division?! I check in with Ellen and aside from the drama of the ex, she's a good supervisor and I'll be working in a good division. Ellen directs me to my new office..... please take a deep breath, because what's about to happen isn't even humorous.... I'll be working right next door to my ex. We're talking neighbors, we're talking I can hear him breath, clear his throat, I can hear his phone calls.
GOD! What in the world are you trying to teach me?!
-JLT

Tomorrow or maybe it will be To Sore OHHHH

I am a terrible sister. I got caught up in 360Yahoogroups and forgot to update on this one and J has been feeling mighty lonely manning this site all by herself. So…. tomorrow we plan on tackling the giant known as “The Incline.” We have done it before so the fool thinks that a second time will be easier. Who really knows?! Now, you might have thought, they will in Colorado and could be referencing Pikes Peak. Oh no, my friend, Big Girls think smaller than that, however, the 1-mile uphill climb is one for the cardio workout and beautiful behind builder and what girl can regret that? Later tomorrow, I and a couple of other people will be heading down to P-Town for the State Fair. YippeHiKiYeah!! We will be eating terrible things, walking through the stinky farm animal cages, whooing and awing over the kids participating in the greased pig games, looking at EVERY species of hen both edible and decorative. We will look at too many quilts, too many samples of Mary Jane’s strawberry preserves and we will be enticed too many times to sit through a cookware presentation. It’s interesting all the cookware companies are named different but they all seem to come from the same town in PA. hmmm…
-CAT