Well Done Canada, Well Done!

As I sit here watching the highlights of the 2010 Winter Olympics, preparing to see the closing ceremonies, it is with the utmost sincerity that I can say these have been the favorite, most memorable Olympics I have ever witnessed. Going all the way back to my first memory of watching Olympics- 1992 in Barcelona, to the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan show in Norway, to the 1996 Mag 7 in Atlanta, to my admiration of Tara Lipinski (and my personal pick for greatest Olympic performance/moment) in Nagano in 1998, 2000 in Sydney, 2002 on home soil in Salt Lake City, 2004 in Athens, 2006 with Sasha Cohen in Torino, and of course the spectacle of Opening Ceremonies and Michael Phelps in Beijing 2008.

There was something different about these 2010 games. They came about very quietly, with little fanfare and spectacle. But they did not disapoint. These were the first games I can honestly say I (and Brian) sat on the couch every night and never missed a moment. From the Opening Ceremonies (whales "swimming" across the floor!) to Lindsey Vonn (overcoming injury), to Apolo Ohno (record number of medals), to Kim Yu Na (withstanding her country's great pressure), to Evan Lycasek (US Men's Gold!), to Joannie Rochette (showing true grace and strength in the face of great personal loss and heartache), to Shen & Zhao (coming back to finish business and win China's first Pairs Gold), to Bode Miller (finally growing up), to all of the other sports I never paid much attention to before these games: Bobsledding, Speed Skating, Snowboarding, Luge, Skeleton, Hockey, Skiing, and so much more... never before have I ever been so engrossed in sports I knew nothing about! Numerous times I leaped off the couch, as if they could hear me, yelling for the USA, and even other countires, to cross the finish line first or with the best time. I think I wanted Canada to win their first Gold Medal on home soil just as badly as a Canadian did! The interviews with the athletes and Mary Carillo's Canada feature pieces were touching and attention grabbing. I loved every second of it.

Maybe these Olympics came in a time where the USA needed to feel the effects of the "Olympic spirit" the most? There's a certain feeling of togetherness, pride, and unity that comes from the Olympics. It's unlike anything else in the world. In these times of hardship in our country, the magic of the Olympics seems to be a way in which everyone comes together for a few weeks, rallying with each other for our athletes to be the best they can be. All of the sadness and difficulties in our country and throughout the world almost seem to fade away for just a bit, when your attention is captured and engrossed in such great feats as those that I witnessed in these past two weeks.

So, thank you Vancouver, and all of Canada, for bringing me (and everyone else) such a wonderful production for these past few weeks. I cannot imagine what I will do with myself in the evenings this week. It will feel quite strange to not rush home, eat dinner with our eyes glued to the TV, stay up late to catch the tail end of the best events (which always seemed to be on last), and to be excited for the USA and the future of our nation, as a reult of the amazing Olympic events. This must be the reason why we have Olympics only every two years... they just wouldn't be as special if we had them every year. The Winter Olympics are my favorite (they're fast and dangerous!), but I look forward to 2010 when these "Olympic feelings" will return again, and I welcome them with open arms. Until then, I'll continue to revel in some of the great moments from Vancouver 2010.

Oh, and can I just say that I never realized how beautiful the Canadian National Anthem is? Really, truly... a fantastic song they have!


Lindsey Vonn


Kim Yu Na


Joannie Rochette


Apolo Ohno


Shen & Zhao


Ski Cross

Picnik

I won a 6 month premium subscription to Picnik from Centsational Girl blog. How exciting! I just wish I had a fancy-schmancy camera (and the know-how to use it properly) to enhance my Picnik experience even more over these next 6 months. You can see what great things Kate did in her post about Picnik. I'm still trying to figure out where to find that fun collage tool that she used.

But last night, while enjoying the Ladies Free Skate, I played around a bit with my fun new program.

The Original:



The Edited:



We're tanner, have whiter smiles, less shine, minus lines around eyes, brighter eyes, and rosier cheeks- all with a few simple click and drags. Basically, we're the healthier looking version of ourselves! I always feel like I look sickly in the midst of winter, with no warm color in my skin, just the ashy gray-ness.

The Original:



The Edited:



And on this one, I put the "1960s effect" into play for that old, vintage-y feel.

Overall, I'm not sure I have enough patience to edit photos and I'm not sure that I have enough "good" photos that warrant the time to be spent to make them "great" photos. But, I have six months to play around when I would like. For now, my biggest dilemma has been trying to find an on-line photo storage website like Picasa, but with unlimited free storage space. Does that exist? I like Picasa because it's easy to use and to upload to Blogger.

Winter Weekend Adventures

My brother David and his girlfriend Heather were in for a long weekend this past weekend, as I mentioned. We had an action packed few days planned and just as I thought, it was not without some adventure!

By adventure, I mean a 4 hour trip to and from the mountains, when it typically takes 90 minutes. Thank you wonderful snow, we did enjoy skiing in you...not driving in you though! Oh, yes, and I also mean a flat tire, a nail in the tire, and the purchase of two new tires in Vail- just lovely! By that point we had missed half a day of skiing in Breck, so we decided to just let Dave snowboard a half-day in Vail and we would enjoy hot chocolate and games in the lobby. So fun and so relaxing!


On the balcony of our room at the Vail Cascade, overlooking Gore Creek and the beautiful mountains!


I told you Dave was a goofball.


Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!


My students for the morning. They had never skied before, so we went out for the morning... until they both gave up. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that on the third run Dave picked an "easy" black diamond (my first ever, mind you- and I loved it), and Dave ended up down the side of the ravine and they were both falling all over the place. I thought it was a great, fun run! Imagine my moment of fear when I come around the corner and all I see is Dave's ski pole lying on the ground next to the ravine! I look over the side and he's laying about 15 feet down there, waist deep in powder!


This would be before the falls started. It really was a beautiful trail- wish I could remember the name of it because I did like it.

It was a really great weekend, tons of fun to hang out with my brother. We're a super close pair of siblings so it's nice to just spend time together doing fun things like this. Hopefully next time he'll be back in the summer so we can do the summer activities- hiking, floating the Boulder Creek, St. Mary's Glacier, and not freezing our behinds off walking around outside!

Weekend Fun

We had a really great weekend! More to come soon... busy, busy with work. I'll tide you over with a picture of my goofy brother with "Lindsey Vonn" after dinner in Vail on Saturday night.

Fun Weekend Ahead!

My brother and his girlfriend just arrived from the airport for a fun-filled weekend here in Colorado! We're going to tour the Denver Mint this afternoon, stroll around in Boulder, have dinner at Pasta Jay's, ski and stay in Vail on Saturday and Sunday, have pizza at The Sink, and then go to the Billy Joel & Elton John concert on Monday night. They leave bright and early Tuesday morning.

It's a jam packed weekend and I can't wait to spend time with them... my brother and I always manage to have a good time!


Dave and Heather

Oh, and people have actually asked me some questions! It's fun to answer them and I get a kick out of what people want to know about me... pretty much the same random stuff I want to know about them! More to come soon as well.

Want to Know?

I'm not sure if everyone is like me, but I read a lot of blogs and always wonder about people. Normal things... what's their favorite store? What do they really do for a living? Where do they wish to travel? Etc. and etc. I'm a nosy person, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who does all this wondering about others that they "know" via this "blogging world."

I've recently started seeing these "formspring" Q & A things. Some of my favorites are Nicole's and Kasey's. So, I decided why not? If someone wants to ask something, great. If not, oh well, no loss here! I've added the box below in this post but you can always find it on the right hand side too. Let me know if you have a formspring too!

Get Organized

This weekend I/we finally tackled installing some shelves in the office/upstairs guest room closet. When I moved here I organized all of my crafting/scrapbook/office supplies into white boxes that I would buy on sale from Hobby Lobby (50% off almost every other week, so $2 each). But, there was no where to store those nice looking things.

First I had this:



See the piles of boxes on the floor- it's looked like that for months, trust me!

We turned it into this:



Everyone say oooooh, aaaahhh! Everything has nice little labels, easy to access boxes, all of the gift wrap is contained on the bottom (tip: store your rolls of paper in a new wastebasket), and Brian was smart enough to suggest getting shelves on a track so I can adjust them. Smart guy! I'm so thrilled... it's almost ridiculous how much organization makes me happy.

Tip: Home Depot sells shelving in multiple widths and lengths and will cut them down into the exact lengths you need for FREE!

The closet then spurred me to finish my bulletin board for over the desk and also hang curtains that I had in my old apartment.


$20 at Hobby Lobby


After a few coats of white semi-gloss spray paint that I already had on hand.

I've given up for the time being on finding the bamboo shade I would like for the window so the metal mini-blinds are here to stay for awhile. But it's amazing how the curtains just "complete" the room- metal blinds or not.


Hang them High & Wide ala Young House Love fashion. Can't wait to locate my sought after bamboo blind to finish that look off!

And that, my friends is only part of the little projects we did this weekend. Ranging from hanging a dust buster charging unit to a laundry room shelf to foyer decor... we were busy little bees! Crossing things off left and right that have been on the "To-Do" list for months!

Fouuuuuurrrr!!

If you live near me, you might be hearing a lot of that come springtime! Watch out, Amanda's hitting the golf course- for real! With serious intentions to learn something. If you recall, I decided I wanted to learn to play golf last summer and had two outings- one Par 3 with my extremely patient brother and Mom (if you recall, Mom and I shanked and whiffed respectively and Dave said, "Welcome to the Shit Show." So funny!) and another driving range outing with an extremely patient Brian. I think his patience have run out... he bought me a 4 pack of "Ladies 101" golf lessons (once a week for four weeks) at the local course for Valentines Day. I cannot wait!

I was really disappointed that I didn't just naturally pick-up golf like I thought I would last summer. Yes, I know, it was only 2 attempts but I think I thought it would be just like skiing was for me- put the skis on and I was pretty much good to go. Pick-up the club and.... whiff, whiff, FOUR!, oops, uh-oh... that was more like it. So, hopefully after four lessons in which I am told cover the below, I will be at least skilled enough to not embarrass Brian and we'll be able to "play" together this summer. I use the term "play" loosely because I'm not even sure I'll be able to call whatever I'm attempting to do on the golf course by that time "play."

LESSON 1: Putting-grip, aim, posture, length of stroke, putting drills
Discuss: reading greens, scoring, etiquette, rule 16 & 17

LESSON 2: Short game-chipping & pitching, grip, aim, stance, posture
Discuss: shot choice, club selection, variable length of short swing

LESSON 3: Full swing-irons & woods, grip, aim, stance, posture
Discuss: set-up routine, club choice, distances

LESSON 4: Skill review, game simulations, pace of play, Q&A

Over the summer I used Mom's clubs and Brian's clubs so of course this now brings up the matter of what clubs will I use now? Brian says I need ones that are the right size (i.e. not his) if I'm going to be learning. So now it's the great quest for us to find something that will work and is also affordable. Let's be honest- I may flunk golf lessons and never pick up the clubs again. I sure hope not, but it could happen. And then there's all the accessories I will need too, right- a bag, a towel, tees, balls, gloves... oh me, oh my!

Oh, and I haven't mentioned this to him yet because I'm sure it will emit a response of head-shanking and eye-rolling, but I think this also means I need some golf clothes! Right?! I can't show up in my sneakers and t-shirts, now can I? No, no, no... absolutely not. Any excuse for some shopping, I know. Wahoo! Thank goodness for some Dick's Sporting Goods giftcards!

I think I'm starting to understand why they say this is such an expensive sport to get into. Oh boy... here we go! In all seriousness, joking aside about the clothes, shoes, and etc, I am very much looking forward to putting my best effort forward to learn to play golf. I am already looking forward to Saturday afternoons on the local course with Brian this summer. Wish me luck and I'll be sure to share the hilarious stories I'm sure to have of my learning experience this April.

Sunday Morning Shenanigans

Happy Valentines Day from Ries!

Winner, Winner- Spaghetti Dinner!

I was home unexpectedly for 11 days, just returning to Colorado yesterday. My Mom was sick so I was spending upwards of 14 hours at the hospital for most days. You try to be there by time the Doctors do morning rounds, otherwise you miss all of the information and your opportunity to ask questions- and of course I had a lot of those. Some days, luck would have it that I would be walking down the hall at 8:30 am and they would just be leaving her room... even though they didn't stop by on previous days until after 9. Grr!!

Anyway, it was certainly interesting to be tending to all of that because we're a pretty healthy bunch and haven't ever been hospitalized for a week. It's a lot of questioning, hurrying up to wait for hours on end, long days, bad meals, lack of sleep, and overall worrying. And for me, Mom says I shouldn't have had to take care of her like this for another 40 years at least! It's funny how when you need to be in charge/responsible you just spring into action and do what needs to be done. But, I did tell her that if she really missed me that much she could have just asked me to come home- no need to go throwing yourself into the hospital!

I'm really, really glad that I was able to make arrangements to be there though. Even though Mom said "No, you don't have to come," at first- she did actually want me there, of course. Dave too. I'll go back in a few weeks for her surgery and some of that recovery. I'm fortunate enough to have a job where I'm able to do my work from anywhere and pretty much at anytime of the night, as evidenced by my e-mails sent out at 11 pm and websites built at 6 am! I'm really lucky.

To everyone who thought of us, called me, e-mailed, sent a text, flowers, plants, books, magazines, etc.- however you reached out, I (we) really, truly appreciate it. Those days get long and when you're not getting improving news or you are getting worsening news it can really wear on you. So a big THANK YOU! Mom is on the mend right now from this bout. The surgery will be in a few weeks and prevent her from ever having to deal with this entire situation again. Thank you University of Michigan hospital for being the amazing place that you are. World class facility. Go Blue!

So, you're probably wondering what the title of this post has to do with all of that hospital talk? Well, it refers to the fact that I spent many, many meals on the go (i.e. McDonald's, pizza, a donut for breakfast, etc.) or in the hospital cafeteria (i.e. sandwich, soup, salad, repeat). In fact, that's pretty much all I ate. Let's just say that it all left little to be desired and I was just salivating for some real, good food. Since the hospital is about 45 minutes away and I was there most days from 9 - 9 or longer, the last thing I really felt like doing was going to the grocery store and cooking at that time of night. The thing that sounded the best to me the entire time was some of Brian's family's "famous" spaghetti. Famous to me at least. True home cooked goodness. Tonight, my friends, I will be enjoying it... finally!