Snooze

This morning a former co-werker and her adorable daughter were passing through Denver, so we got to meet up for breakfast at Snooze. Funny, I did NOT get to hit the snooze this morning like I normally would, but it was totally worth it. Snooze is a trendy breakfast joint in Denver that usually has lines out the front door on the weekend, so why not try it on a Tuesday before my phone meetings roll into action?

It was a great place to catch up and grab a delicious bite to eat, no complaints here! I think we'll have to take my mother-in-law back when she visits since hollandaise sauce, along with ketchup, are separate food groups for her...and Snooze definitely has an entire section of the menu dedicated to Eggs Benedict.

Not a bad start to a tuesday!

Time Warp

Werking from home makes me a victim of a time warp. So many times this week I have found myself still in my pj's at 3pm wondering, how in the world did THIS happen and more importantly, did I brush my teeth this morning?

I have not had a ton of meetings lately, so I've been sucked into the cyber world of emails and research for different projects I have going on. I'm sitting here now wondering how in the world it's already 11:30, almost time for lunch! 

One of the hardest parts about being the.home.werker is having pretty important meetings via phone, and then hanging up, and having no one to debrief with. Just me and my bad self (oh, and Lexi!), wondering how the meeting really went and if I did an ok job representing what I'm working on to my boss, his boss, and their peers. Talk about anti-climactic. I probably need to go walk this off and tune out for a bit. I'm sure Lexi won't mind, most of her day consists of this anyway:

7 Days!

The official countdown has begun: 7 more days until I get to see my TWO nephews in Minnesota! I have sometimes been made fun of for the way that I count down to a big event, because I choose not to count the day that it is (today) or the day that the much anticipated event is happening. Some people might say I'm shortening my count by two whole days, but I don't really care. I get to meet my 3 week old nephew, and hang out with my 3 year old nephew, and spend quality time with family and friends in the land of 10,000 Lakes. What could be better?! (Perhaps a trip to Choo Choo Bob's with the 3 year old, topped off with a visit to Izzy's for ice cream). I'm looking forward to some time off of werk next week, that's for sure!

Leaves

It's Fall in Colorado. I've got the Slatkin & Co. 'leaves' scented candle burning, I'm bundled in an old quilt and watching the first crisp yellow leaves fall from a grey sky. Of course, it will be back in the 70's and 80's by tomorrow, but today I am sitting alone in the house wondering if it's too soon to crank up the heat!

How ironic, considering that one month ago I was literally baking in my office as our thermostat INSIDE the house climbed to an average of 86-87 degrees each day.

Having grown up in the 'northeast', or 'back east' as people say, I actually LOVE fall. I love the energy of kids going back to school, church programs starting back up, watching falls sports again. There is a rhythm to autumn that is just as crisp and punctuated as the cold clean air that blows the colorful leaves off the trees. The sound of rakes dragging across a yard; the rusty orange, vibrant red, and mustard yellow hues that decorate everything from trees to napkins!

Autumn is cozy and chilly at the same time, with just enough of both to delight the senses. It's that balance of spicy warmth with the first cool breeze that is so very enjoyable. The season in the northeast was incredible, and seemed to last from September to Christmas day sometimes. I long for that solid season of time where everyone was slipping back into their routines, with little celebrations like Halloween and Thanksgiving along the way.

I love the weather in Colorado, but I miss the four even seasons of my childhood home in Newtown, PA. You had just enough time to enjoy and experience everything the season had to offer, and by the time it passed, you were ready for what was next...but you weren't exhausted by what just was. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this fall, Denver will offer some more color than Colorado Springs did, and perhaps the cool autumn atmosphere will linger just a little longer, since I no longer have to worry about staring at the snow on Pike's Peak everyday to tell me that winter is on his way.

10 years

It is almost impossible for me to comprehend that 9/11 happened 10 years ago. I still remember that day like it was yesterday, the clear blue September sky, the terrified silence as we sat in the dark and watched the towers crumble on a TV set in my English class. Finding one of my Muslim friends crying in the hallway as she waited to get picked up early from school. My nervous classmates who had parents commuting into New York and D.C. for work that day. It was the beginning of my senior year of high school.

For days later, I was glued to the horrific images on the TV, and would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. It took me a good year before I could handle explosions on TV. A few weeks after 9/11/01, I went out to MN to visit my sister and I was totally shaken by all of the new rules and regulations surrounding air travel. It felt odd to have to meet my family outside of the security gates, instead of at the gate where my plane came in. And the terrorist drills at school didn't exactly calm me down. Instead of filing into lines in front of the school, we were all now 'safely away' from the school and perched in the football stadium. Really?

The world has changed a lot in the past ten years because of the events on 9/11, but as I was watching the special programs on TV last night I realized one thing has not changed. The first responders and those working recovery said it best: Even though 9/11 changed our lives in horrible ways and we lost a lot, we would still be the first ones to the scene if something like this happened again tomorrow.

The basic instinct to help, to rescue, and to stand with one another in the face of tragedy has only been strengthened through this adversity. 

I know I will never forget 9/11, I don't think I could if I tried.

Water Water Everywhere

Well, yesterday I went to hop in the shower around 3:30 in the afternoon...(home.werker style), and I noticed the water wasn't on in our house. I called our water company to see if there were any outages in the area, and the operator asked me to look outside and see if there were any trucks on our street. As I looked out the front door, I heard a pleasant trickling sound, like a mountain stream.

The kicker? The stream was pouring out the front of my house!! The operator sent an emergency maintenance crew to our house just as Jake was getting home from class. I also called our landlord, and they dispatched a plumber to come and take a look at the situation. Boy was I glad Jake was home to talk to those guys, I don't know much about plumbing or the small creek pouring out of our crawl space!

They managed to get our water main turned off, but the bigger problem is...our water main is broken!This morning I have already had two plumbers come to survey the mess and get estimates to our land lord. So far, it's either a quick fix that happens today (including jackhammering up our front porch 'slab') or a big fix that happens on Monday (which includes digging up the entire line in our yard and replacing the whole thing). No water until Monday?! Hm....could be interesting.

I am very thankful for our land lord and how responsive they have been to the entire situation. I am also very thankful that I am not the home owner who has to pay for this mess right now.

My water supply for the day.

Auntie Beans

I am Auntie Beans, and it's one of the great privileges of my life so far! Ethan Jerome Manders was born on May 29, 2008, and ever since I have been perfecting my Auntie Beans skills.

Well, today is a new day, and I get to help the Manders family welcome one more peanut into the world! My sister is in labor with our second nephew and I am pretty much beside myself with excitement. Which is kind of hard because I am 1,000 miles away from the hospital waiting room this time.

And, I am finding it very hard to concentrate on pretty much anything today at the home.office, knowing how much is going on in the land of ten thousand lakes. I've got my Auntie Beans hat on, and all I want to do is snuggle BOTH of my nephews!

Uncle Jake with Ethan, day 2!

Gray

Today is the first day with a gray sky in a long time here in Denver. It just doesn't happen very often where the gray just sits over the city. So, in honor of my more overcast childhood in Pennsylvania, I have donned not only a sweatshirt and slippers, but I have also turned on the Beethoven Pandora station this morning. It's hard to believe it's September 6 already, and I know I need these gray days to remind me that cooler weather is on it's way to Colorado.

We boast over 300 days of sunshine a year here, and the 'colorado blue sky' is a real novelty...there's actual science behind it...something along the lines of "at higher altitude there are fewer particles blocking the sun and so everything seems more vibrant".

It's beautiful, but like I said, gray days tend to make me a little nostalgic and remind me of my childhood in the northeast where the seasons seemed to share four equal parts of the year. They fit perfectly into the dictionary definitions of winter, spring, summer, and fall. Arriving when you expect them to, and leaving when you are ready.

Fence Jumper

This happens at least a dozen times a day, so I just had to capture it on video and post it. This is the view from my home office...and this is our neighbor's extremely ambitious little dog. I'm not sure how she does it, but she always manages to make her way home!