Top Ten Things I Love This Month – Colorado Edition

So, I have been home for a little over the month. I have toyed with writing a new blog but have been busy adjusting to a new temporary transition life, writing up a storm with my portfolio, and been super torn on whether or not I should change this blog name considering I no longer ride the El.

So, instead of diving into all that, I thought I would give a brief intro to my new life by writing my TOP TEN THINGS THAT I LOVE THIS MONTH. Perhaps it will illustrate where I am right now and thus lead me to the new blog title.

1. Jeff Goldblum – I recently stumbled upon the brilliant Jeff G. in the terrible movie “The Switch.” While the movie sucked, Goldblum definitely did not. (Best line, while walking on a treadmill, “I’m burning fat. I’m in the fat burning zone. You? You’re burning muscles.”) It lead me and my boyfriend to dive into a Jeff Goldblum love fest. We have since watched Independence Day (Best line, “Ohhhhh shit.”), Jurassic Park (BL: “But again, how do you know they’re all female? Does someone gone into the park and, uh… pull up the dinosaurs’ skirts?”)  and The Lost World (BL: After being told to slow down driving “Uh, I don’t thinks so.”)  J.G.’s bizarre cadence and need to exude awkward sex appeal makes him such a Hollywood gem. Jeff makes me laugh, Jeff makes me want to high five someone, and I can’t seem to take my eyes off him when he’s on screen, even if he is just sitting on a table and saying nothing with a busted up leg, breathing heavily with his shirt unbuttoned.  I want to start an Oscar campaign for Jeff Goldblum. He needs a leading man comeback. Now.  Until then I’m going to sit back and wait by playing our new Jeff Goldblum drinking game to the movie “Earth Girls Are Easy.”

Game rule: Whenever Jeff Goldblum does something Jeff Goldblum-y, Drink.

2. Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea – At least that’s what I tell people who come to Celestial Seasonings to take a tour. Many tourists want to know what the guide’s favorite tea is, and that is always my answer. It’s mostly true. It does taste like a sugar cookie and reminds me of Christmas, but if people really want to know what my favorite C.S. tea is, it’s a tie between Fast Lane Super Caffeinated Tea and Almond Sunset Dessert Tea, but both of those have been discontinued.

3. Fred and Tessie, but mostly Fred. – Fred and Tessie are the family cats. Even people who are not cat people like my cats. They are friendly, not snotty, and have a sort of “dogness” to them that makes them likeable. But maybe I am just biased. Fred was a cat that was given to me when I was six years old. The Humane Society told me it was a girl cat so I named her Crystal (because everything I named at the time was Crystal) and then when the vet told us differently, she went from Crystal to Fred. Here he is, 18 years old, alive and well and kicking it. He doesn’t act elderly at all, and the only indication of his age is his recent deafness. He knows when to cuddle and when to leave you alone. He has his heart shaped curl on his love seat, and he seriously is the smartest cat alive. (He knows how to turn on my parents radio when he wants out of the room. He can open doors with his paw. He managed to tell my boyfriend he wanted water in his water bowl by the toilet by taking him to one bathroom and circling around the toilet and then leading him to the other bathroom to show his empty bowl.) If Fred had his way, he would speak human, but instead he does the next best thing: be awesome. Tessie, on the other hand, is kind of the ugly stepchild of the house. She’s super fat and super dumb. She can never seem to sit comfortably, and craves way too much attention. You can smile and say “Are you retarded? Yes you are!” and she’ll purr. She once found solace in the corner of the coffee table by rubbing her face against it. As dumb and annoying as she is, she is MY dumb cat, and Fred loves her. So if Fred loves her, I love her. I’ve missed them over the years.

4. My Guitar that I Have Named Jeff Goldblum – I have started strumming again and it’s been a lot of fun. My next paycheck is buying me a self teach book, and I hope that by the time I move in January that I am adequate. So far it’s playing My Girl and Koombya, but the callaces are making me feel bad ass and getting to read music again has been long overdue.

5. Field Trips with a 4 Year Old – I have begun a part time gig babysitting a little girl, and I feel so spoiled getting paid to have fun all day. Her family is bomb diggity (her mother told ME about Ben Affleck and wife having another baby. We’re both hoping it’s a boy!) The story of this adopted girl is tear jerk worthy, but the happiness lies in remembering childhood again through  her. So far I have gone to the Butterfly Pavilion (where I held a tarantula), swam at the rec center (where we dodged monsters in the lazy river), learned at the Longmont Museum (I made a “rock friend” for Zach), caught grasshoppers on a farm (I hate those things), read books at the library (Holla holla for Chris Van Allsberg ya’ll), and gone down the yellow slide at the Yellow Slide Park. Hindsight is not 20/20, childhood is the funnest.

6. Matthew McConaughey As A Lawyer – It has been decided. He should not be a guy in a rom-com or a cowboy in a western or a film agent in a comedy. M-Mac needs to stick to talking to juries and protecting the innocent and drinking and driving and having a daughter and wearing suits.

7. The Gym – I’m not one of those people who enjoys the gym per se, but there is something motivating and rewarding by saying that I do it six days a week. I think it’s healthier and it does make me feel accomplished before I go into work in the morning. Plus, when else is it okay to lip sync to your guilty pleasure songs in public? On an elliptical? I think so.

8. Car Camping – I hiked a mountain. Drank some beer. Ate some hot dogs. Had stinky ass feet. Slept in a massive tent. Played some ring toss games. Ate smores. Dude -Mission accomplished. Special thanks goes to my new pride and joy, Ace. I love my little blue truck. A good camping truck is a truck of mine.

9. Adele performing at the VMA’s. – Her performance made me run out and buy my first CD in years. I suggest you youtube it and then do the same.

10. Home – For the few months I am here, I have to say, it is good to be home. Chicago will always be, hopefully, the saddest breakup I have ever had. I do hope people keep in touch, but I can’t help but feel jealous on all that I am missing out on there. That said, it is true when Dorothy Gale said “There’s no place like home.” And Longmont, Colorado is the perfect place to charge my batteries. I already feel the knots in my back and the tension in my shoulders releasing as I lay in the guest bedroom of my parents house. I feel my anxiety subsiding as I plan the improv classes I’m gonna teach at the local theater or as I talk about the milling process of tea. I find myself smiling and laughing as I rush home to catch Jersey Shore with my boyfriend or spend hours at Gizzi’s coffee typing away. I even spent a Sunday driving around Boulder, just running errands and shopping by myself. And I was happy.

I know I can’t do this forever, and it’s only a matter of time before I get bored, but I think that by that point, I’ll be leaving anyway. For now, I am content in my game nights with the Burkes and dinners with my folks. I am thrilled with date nights with my boyfriend and trivia when I can make it. This is such a great time to just be.

– One L

“Anybody hear that? It’s a, um… It’s an impact tremor, that’s what it is… I’m fairly alarmed here. ” – J.G. in J.P.

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