"Cause I'm Fresh in My White Tee"

"Step on the scene with some green and some hard white work

Real clean fresh jeans and a all white shirt"

Is that song in your head now too? Well the point of this post isn't just to share the musical genius of Crime Mom with you, but if you go around singing "yep, in my white tee," for the rest of the night I'll consider that a perk.

The point my friends is that I have a problem. Possibly an intervention worthy problem. I like to buy white shirts. There, I said it. Where do I sign up for the 12 step program?

I like to shop, and since I work for a nonprofit and we just moved most of my shopping these days consists of online browsing. I like to put things in my shopping cart and pretend I have unlimited funds, who doesn't do that? No matter where I am or what site I'm perusing on my lunch break, I am constantly drawn to the white tees, or sweaters, or blouses, and if it's a cardigan well there is a 99.9% chance it'll be mine. (I'm not ready to come clean on that addiction quite yet.)

In my oh so wise and expert (not) opinion, there is nothing better than a good fitting pair of jeans and a white shirt. It's classic, timeless, clean, and dare I say a little hot.

photo courtesy of jcrew.com

How gorgeous is Lauren Hutton? Style. Icon.

photo courtesy of fashioncircus.blogspot.com

My apologies for featuring a "celebrity" from the hills. I'm not a fan, but it's a good outfit example.

Ok, so maybe the white tee-jeans combo isn't so hot on everyone...

photo courtesy of twilightish.com

sorry Twilight fans.

Now it's off to run some more so those jeans will looks good enough with my growing white top collection! I rode my new (to me) bike to work all last week and went on some good long rides so my running progress was a bit neglected. Back to the grind today though! Juneau and I did a quick two miles in the rain. Maybe I'm weird but I love running when it's raining outside. I'm thinking of registering for a race to help keep me motivated, any suggestions/volunteers to run with me? You know you wanna!

Mystery Mutt

It's no secret that I love my dog, I pretty much think she's the bee's knees. I adopted her from animal control in Charlotte, NC during my second year of teaching. We had a great six months in Charlotte but then she couldn't come to DC with me because of housing. Ion, who was not a dog person took the nut in. (notice I use the word "was" there, the man loves Juneau but he won't admit it too often. He just brings her home treats almost every time he goes to the store. Yea, he spoils her.) But now we all live together in Denver and I'm pretty stoked about it. Especially the living with Juneau part, she's s pretty awesome roommate.

Aren't they cute?

I could write all day about how awesome Juneau is, I mean look at that face. The question is not about her sweet face, good nature, or the fact that she came house trained (score!), the question is: what is she?

The pound had her listed as a German Shepard. Have you seen a German Shepard? My dog is soooo not a German Shepard. So it's an endless guessing game as to what her 'heritage' actually is. I see other dogs that I think look like her pretty much all the time. Like today I ran across this photo that inspired this, probably uninteresting to most of you, post.

Um, hello Juneau's long lost twin.

photos from dogspired.com

That's the closest look alike that I've seen yet. Juneau is a mutt in every sense of the word and I love the guessing game that goes along with that title. My cousin Timmy and his fiance' Mari Kate did DNA testing on their dog, Sunny, and the results were a hilarious mix of breeds. I really want to have Juneau's DNA tested but until then I'll just share some of my theories as to what she is (you know, besides awesome).

Here's a Juneau and Sunny pic, they are best friends. You can say "where's Sunny?" to Juneau and she gets all excited and goes to the window. It's really kind of mean when we do that now considering Sunny is 1700 miles away. Poor Juneau. TimKate come visit!

Isn't Sunny such a cutie though? Love her, and her owners! (Sidenote: I am not anyone's mother and am not a fan of being to be referred to as the parent of my dog. I mean she's cute and I love her and all that but I hope if I have kids someday they come out a little less hairy and, you know, have opposable thumbs.)

So here are just some of the breeds that I think went into the making of my crazy mutt...

photo courtesy of petfinder.com

Beagle: I know you probably don't see it but Juenau points and has a shortish legs.

photo courtesy of petfinder.com

Sher Pei: I love that face!

photo courtesy of http://www.guiafe.com.ar

Boxer: I just love 'em and it explains my nugget's round head body shape.

Then there is this beauty from the Pioneer Woman's blog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Never heard of this breed before? Yea, me neither, but he's just gorgeous and has some Juneauesque qualities, if you look closely. Ion tells me that I think every dog looks like Juneau, and he's pretty much right. But it's fun to guess and mostly I just like to look at dogs, that's less weird than looking at cats, right?

That's Ion again, see? I told you he likes her.

PS: I want a Great Dane, like crazy bad. I fell in love with a Great Dane-Weimaraner mix from the Great Dane rescue society in Charlotte a few years ago and have wanted to rescue one ever since.

photo courtesy of http://www.greatdanewagner.com/

Just Georgous. Ion says no. I will convince him one day :)

P.P.S. If you are thinking of getting a dog, consider adopting. No judgement if you don't, there are some pretty fantasticly adorable goldendoodles and whatnots out there, but there are so many sweet nuggets like this one at kill shelters and animal control who need homes. So get your golden doodle a playmate :)

In this photo I think Juneau looks like a gremlin.

I Finally Got My Camera Cord or "Katie Banks Move to Denver Already!"

Today the lovely Katie Banks told me that my pictures were enticing her to move to Denver. So in honor of finally getting my camera cord in the mail (thanks mom!) I am going to do my very best to convince her with this smattering of photos from the last month or so.

Here a glimpse at the house on move in day, I'll do a before and after house tour later this week. Stay tuned for that excitement (are you on the edge of your seats?).

While all of our road trip buddies were still in town we went to a Rockies game, ridiculous amounts of fun, of course, ensued.

Amanda keeps it classy

and Vyonne keeps it even more classy.

All that class runs in the family, can't you tell?

The liquor store down the street from us sells these beauties. Yea, that's a margarita in the form of an icee pop. How could that not be awesome?

You can drink beer in the parks here. Just right there out in the open, no need to hide it in an oh so suspicious, red solo cup.

Blaker does not appear to enjoy being used as a pillow...

And then there were volcano drinks served flames and all.

Did you find a job and a plane ticket yet Katie? Tonight we are going to watch ET at the park, maybe i'll take some pictures and post them in a month or so.

Treasures, Rollerblades, and Bike Accidents Oh My!

So much has happened since we've gotten to Denver and I keep making mental notes that I need to post about them but then time gets away from me and I get distracted by other things like, oh I don't know, my job (which I am loving). The fourth of July was so much fun and I finally got my camera cord so I'll post pictures soon but we will just discuss today's adventures for now.

I lied, we are actually starting with yesterday. Last night we (Kenny, Ion, and I) rode our bikes in the rain to a Thai restaurant not too far away that has 50 cent beers with your meal. Everyday. And these weren't just Bud or Millers, we had Fat Tire, New Belgium Summer Seasonal, Sapporo, and Blue Moons. An awesome and delicious meal that included two beers for less than $10 a person = pretty stinkin sweet in my opinion. (I have very high standards, in case you can't tell.)

After dinner we topped our exciting Friday night with a trip to Goodwill on the way home. Several Denver friends told me how great the Goodwill near us is so we thought we'd check it out. We are in the market for some outdoor chairs and thought maybe we'd like to upgrade from only having three plates and three bowls to maybe four or five, you know so we don't have to hand wash everything or run the dishwasher every day anymore.

Well my friends were not lying about the Goodwill being awesome, there were two stories of goodness. We got there only about 15 minutes before closing so we didn't have too much time but we still managed to find some treasures. I found a pretty awesome set of stainless steel canisters but we came on our bikes without any bags. Then something wonderful happened, an announcement came on telling us that the ENTIRE STORE would be half off the next day. Sweeeeeeeet! So I sneakily tried to hide my canisters behind some stereo speakers with high hopes that I would be able to make them mine this morning for 50% off the already cheap Goodwill price and actually have a away to get them home.

Enter Saturday: We get up and have breakfast then take our backpacks and bikes over to Goodwill for some more treasure hunting. I go straight to my hidden canisters only to find a sad and empty hiding spot. Don't worry though, all three of us made out with some pretty sweet goodies.

The main prize of the day were these beauties, brand new and only $6.50 a pair!

When I can back from the sports area proudly holding my finds, the first words out of Ion's mouth were "no way" and Kenny just laughed. But after Ion realized my excitement was not going away and I was most likely going to pout all afternoon if I didn't leave with both pairs of rollerblades, he totally caved. I mean, really, what's the point in having rollerblades by yourself? I have to have a partner in crime for this adventure!

So I bought us the rollerblades and we also left with these goodies that included some pretty cool fancy plates that are numbered on the back by the artist and were made in Italy. That, and they look cool and were less than a dollar a piece. We also got a few more plates, some bowls, and a Slap Chop that I saw someone putting down and immediately snatched up. (Duh.)

And see that bowl in the back? Yea it's a pot and it's wearing a tie. I nothing short of love it. I have plans to plant some mint for mojitos (mmmmm) in it, but it might just live on the counter looking ridiculously awesome for now.

So we get home and Ion and I decide to test out the rollerblades. Well because I'm too impatient to wait until we can go to the park where there is a nice evenly paved path, I eat it three times in the first 10 minutes. Yea, rollerblades are meant for smooth surfaces, not bumpy crack and gravel filled streets and sidewalks. So I ended up topping off my bike injury from last weekend.

Last weekend Kenny and I scored these beauties for $35(his) and $75(mine) off craigslist.

Kenny's

Laura's

Then we went on an 8 mile bike ride and around mile 7 I ate it. And by ate it I mean got the front tire down in a divit and couldn't get out or stop. So my right side met the curb. We are very close now, I even took some gravel indentations home in my helmet so that I will always remember that curb fondly. I was pretty bruised and scraped, like I slid into home for the game winning run, (such a better story don't you think?) but otherwise fine and I rode my bike to work every day this week through downtown traffic and met no cars or curbs. I'll leave youwith this beautiful photo from when we got home and the wise advice to wear a helmet.

Pretty huh? Yea it goes all the way up my right leg but I luckily saved my face my landing on my helmet. Coordination for the win!

"The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful..."

Any Jimmy Buffett fans out there? It's that time of year for Jimmy Buffett, boat drinks, and the beach. Today all of my family heads to Sunset beach for the week. We go every 4th of July week and by we I mean 25+ girlfriends, boyfriends, and now fiance's! (Two of my cousins are getting married to some pretty awesome ladies, and of course there is Ion.) This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year, why wouldn't it be? A whole week filled with reading books that don't have to have any intellectual value whatsoever, playing boccee ball, building sand castles, and LOTS of Bubba Kegs of Goombay Smash (the most delicious but oh so dangerous concoction my uncle makes).

I wasn't able to go to the beach last year because of work and I can't make it this year because not only did we just move out here and I'm still waiting on that first paycheck, but I also just started a new job and there are some important events next week that I have to be here for. Being a "responsible" grown up just plain sucks sometimes. There I said it. Not that I don't love having our own house, living with Ion, and making money (although not too much because I do work for nonprofits), and of course being able to buy alcohol, but bills and not being able to take off for a week to sit on the beach and drink and read just plain blows.

Here is a picture from a few years ago of the crazy sand castle my cousins and uncle built.

So sad. But there are a few awesome things that should get me through this week without too many tears. First being that Kenny comes today! Kenny is my cousin and we are only a few months apart in age. We grew up and graduated from high school together. I am so excited for him to get here, and then we can be sad about missing the beach together....or we can make our own fun! Kenny is staying with us until he finds a job here, it's been his goal to move out here for a few years now so I am so excited for him to be here, did I say that already?

AND this morning we were walking Juneau and someone across the street called my name. It turns out that one of my roommates from DC, Ali, is moving in literally across the street from us! This is seriously exciting not only because I love Ali but she is also inheriting a pretty sweet front porch where I plan to do some catching up with her later.

Kenny and I are going to make some Goombay Smash for the 4th, but until then this is keeping me motivated to get lots done today and not think about where I really want to be and what I would much rather be drinking.

TO THE BEACH!