This One Might Be Your Last

I know everyone says this about the place that they live or where they grew up...but honestly, there is NOTHING like a Wyoming sunset.

I jetted home last weekend to celebrate the first Thanksgiving for our little family...in our new family home!

The moment I arrived...I saw this.
Gingerbread cookies...

My mom made my Mimi's pecan pie recipe...

And her grandmother's apple pie!
Holy moly!

Wynnie was there...
Maniac.

I tried to make bread.
It was a dreadful failure...
No consideration was given to the altitude difference between Wyoming and Colorado.
It's significant, apparently!

Mom was thrilled to pull out the leaves on her dining room table for her guests!

And when the table was finally all set with her beautiful dishes...

She set to work opening the champagne.
We had to toast to this fine occasion.


It's sort of a family tradish to get a little tight on Mimosas...it's what we do!

For some reason, cooked turkeys always look vulgar to me.

The spread was unbelievable.
All my faves!
The dressing was incredible!

Bill and Billy came into Glenrock to eat with us...
They had two other dinners to go to - I felt sort of sorry for them!

Mom's friend Donna dropped by too...
And in an unusual turn of events, we dismissed our lady like behavior and ate in front of her!

I'm a mashed potatoes and gravy kind of girl.

But I love candied yams!

RELATED.

Like a total slob, I cleaned my plate and then found a corner of the couch to groan in until I made room for more.

The next day, we trimmed the tree.

I'm very fond of this tradition because so much of what makes up our family tree are things that we've been using since I was a wee munchie.

For instance, this weird Santa ornament...
It was made from a dried apple or something and now it's turned black and it's revolting.
I made sure not to hang it too close to the floor in case Wynnie got a hold of it.

After we finished with the tree, we took a walk.

The wind in Wyoming is brutish and unrelenting.

It throws things everywhere.

If you don't secure everything, you might find your belongings strewn about!

BFFs.

More and more, I'm loving Glenrock.
There's a humble vein of integrity that you can feel pounding in the ground and in the air.

Sigh...

Home of the Herders.

Sexy air freshener.


Criminy.

Double criminy!





Later, we lit up the tree...

the nativity scene...

and turned on the lights we hung outside.

Mom was ecstatic...and when my Momma is happy...I'm happy!

We tortured Wynnie...

And I had some pie.

Couldn't be better than that, my lovelies...not by a long shot.

Talking Sweet About Nothing

I had the fortunate opportunity to see the Pixies play the Fillmore here in Denver on Tuesday.
I'd been pretty psyched about it. The Pixies are my gateway band. They opened musical doors to me as a young person that developed my taste in music today.
I'm so fond of them.

They opened the show with a Salvador Dali film...the one of a person slicing open an eyelid.
Some sort of Debaser connection.

This was the only posse pic I got really.
Brandy Lou was just one of the rad people I had the opportunity to hang with that night!
The incomparable Jen Wood, her fine gentleman friend Chris, and Co-worker Adam were there too!

They played the whole 'Doolittle' album and various b-sides.



Gosh. They are amazing.

I had numerous goosebump moments.

This pic was one of those moments.
These people have been a part of my life for so long...and they don't even know me!


I saw the Pixies for the first time in 2003 or 2004 in Spokane.
It was at a transitional time in my life...difficult relationship, troubles with friends, and internal struggles galore.

But when the show started, I had a moment of clarity.
I was with my best friend, we were singing our hearts out, and everything was right.
I felt young and old all at the same time.


God damn! Is Kim Deal not the most fantastic fucking person!?
Her voice!

Frank Black, Black Francis - whatever you want to call him...he's the boss, man.
His voice sounds as crisp and sharp as it did the first time I listened to 'Come On Pilgrim' in my boyfriend's Buick on the dusty back roads of Wyoming!

This monkey's gone to heaven.


David Lovering!
Drumming, singing...killing it!

La La Love You...




Joey Santiago!
Seriously, he's the best guitar player. I'm awe struck.







And then...it was over...

For a minute.


They waved goodbye and even before they left the stage...people were screaming and stomping for the encore.



Doing the wave.


The encore was amazing.
And it wasn't just one, but two encores that we ended up getting.

It was phenomenal...and I'm so grateful to have seen them again in my life.


I posted a video below. I'm sure the sound is terrible, but the imagery they had in their stage presentation was really wonderful and it's worth watching for at least that.

Q: What Kind Of Wine Goes Best With Velveeta? A: Boones Farm.

What up, Colorado Cheese Festival?!

I was lucky enough to attend this awesome cheese extravaganza!

Val, Christine, and Diamond were there!
Val's all about the cheese...he used to be a cheese maker!
Believe you me, I've already put a word in with Val to have him teach the Denver Craft Ninjas how to make cheese!

Mozzarella, Paneer...BLESS!

So, this is how you roll at the Colorado Cheese Festival:
Grab plate, tong up a couple squares, eat while moving to next table, sip a little water (or wine), REPEAT!

Some of my favorite cheesers...
Doug and Steph!

TJ tagged along too! I love TJ! She makes me laugh so much!

We started tasting - that's the reason we were there, right?!

This table had some sheep's milk cheese.
Sheep's milk isn't for me! The flavor is crazy strong and it caught me off guard.
Good to know for next time!

Val knows his stuff...we let him lead the way!

Seriously, every cheese you could imagine...
Blue, gouda, cheddar, chevre!

This variety had jerk seasoned cheese, cajun cheese, and cheese rolled in coffee grounds.
And the coffee grounds cheese was friggin' amazing!

Diamond is a cheese kid!

We worked out a cooperative system where the person with a free hand served up cheese to the rest of us.

Artisan cheese makers!
Thank you!

Son of a...
Humboldt Fog!
The best of the best in my book.
They had a truffle cheese that I told Steph I wanted to spend some time alone with.
Yeah, romantically!

And this table was just a cheese blow out!

Doug can hang!

The cheese crowd...is also the Bill Cosby sweater crowd!

Mmmm, GRUEYERE!

Edible rind...okay, why not?!

Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy is a Colorado based cheese maker!
And their cheese is dreamy!

Haystack Mountain Buttercup, Haystack Mountain Chevre en Marinade, Applewood Smoked Chevre...
I mean, you can't go wrong.

Yeah, it started to become overwhelming.

Cutting boards galore!
Flavors, varieties, subtleties, families...

This guy was serving up a cheese with cumin seeds.
It was ridic good.

Douglet and Steph waiting their turn!


And just when I thought we were done...
I was pleasantly surprised to know that we would be attending a pairing class that Val was teaching!

Want some wine with that cheese? Yes, yes, I do.


The pairing class gave us the opportunity to eat MORE cheese.

And hang out with weird cheese types.

The spread was wicked good...
Bread, olives, nuts, fruit, cured meats, jams, and honey!

And cheese...
But they had a WHEEL of Humboldt fog!
I took an unhealthy wedge.


I insisted that I get a pic of Steph's plate.
She looks perturbed, but I can't tell if it's because she's cheesed out or because she can't wait to attack the plate!

I cleaned my plate...
I'm not so much for the rind, although, I did learn from Val that you can eat the rind of the Humboldt Fog.
I'll try it next time.

I took lots of notes in my Colorado Cheese Festival Cheese Journal.

And I did actually learn a lot from Val and his cheese compadre!

By the time it was all over, I sort of had a headache.
A cheese hangover...but god damn, that's pretty awesome.

Also, I ate some food cooked up by Hosea of Top Chef.
I would have gotten a picture of him, but I felt bad for him because everyone was asking him for a pic and he seemed sort of tired of it.

Favorites Wednesday!

There's a dealbreaker for every relationship...and even for relationships that haven't happened yet.
You don't know them until you're headlong into it, but thankfully...the dealbreaker allows you the opportunity to make a hasty exit!

Well, the peeps over at DEALBREAKER are documenting their dealbreakers for you and are accepting your dealbreakers as well!

Check them out! My favorites are, "Your Wallet Chain", "You're Not A Delicious Pizza", and "You're Lady Gaga".

Take a moment to peruse their fine list of dealbreakers and I suggest you email them a couple of your own!

Le Vendredi Treize!

Hey!

My rad tattoo dude, Jymi, is doing another Friday the 13th tattoo promotion!

He's really making a party out of it too!

Go see him at NewSpeak!
2907 E. Colfax Ave.
Denver, CO 80206

303-355-2171

Favorites Wednesday!

So, I often get wooed by craftin' endeavors...
The allure of mastering a craft is something that I can easily get cracked out about and then become obsessively fixated with getting my hands on every book and tool...and for long (or short) stretches, I do nothing but that craft.

Right now, it's embroidery.
Plain and simple, I'm into it. I'm hooked.

And nobody helps to get you off the ground, stitchwise, better than Jenny Hart.
She's gone and made the world of embroidery a less intimidating, prudish, matronly place! Instead, she insists that the embroiderer own her work and not be ashamed about messy knots in the back of your project. She encourages budding stitchers to use subversive patterns and use flashy floss - and somehow, she has managed to make embroidery a thrill!

What's better is that Jenny's Sublime Stitching website is super helpful and supportive of amateur and master stitchers and she updates her blog with pictures of the work she's doing (which is inspiring and empowering), the work of others, and how embroidery and stitching fits into the world of art, craft, and how it's constantly redefining itself.

Never has embroidery seemed more tangible, friendly, and available - even to those that don't think they have a shred of talent.

Honestly, I've been visiting both of Jenny's blogs on a daily basis for encouragement and inspiration and if you've ever had an interest in learning about embroidery or if you admire the work of artist stitchers...then check out her sites!

I've got so many plans for future stitch projects!
Give me embroidery or give me death!

If You Like-a Me, Like I Like-a You

We have a new member of the family.

Her name is Wynnie and she's pretty much the cutest, funniest little thing around.

She's Mom's new little pal and she's perfect!
She likes to sit around with us while we drink morning coffee.

Wynnie and Mom go on walks through the windy plains.

I was invited along.
I love Wyoming.
It's so decently quiet.

Tiny tot.

Look how cute Mom is.
Wearing her 'Radiology' sweat shirt to celebrate the 114th anniversary of Wilhelm Rontgen's development of the x-ray.

We walked a path that took us into a golden field.

The sun was out, but it was cold.
I love that feeling.


I saw some stars.

And all that wandering wore us out.
Wynnie and I crashed on the couch all cuddled.

So adorable, right?

Oh, also...Mom and I went to a craft sale.
And someone was selling this towel.