Harvest Moon

So when I arrived to Denver International Airport last Friday night to pick up my mom, she rolls up to the curb of "passenger pickup" with a giant red checked suitcase plus a smaller gray carry-on. And I'm thinking in my head that this woman has lost her crazy-ass mind bringing all that luggage for a 2 day trip, but whatever. It's my crazy-ass mom so I just let it go and gave her a hug with a silent laugh. An hour-ish later, we get to my apartment and I ask her which bag she'd like help with and she obviously hands me the handle to the giant red one. So I'm rolling it down the sidewalk, quickly getting short of breath because it is so damn heavy, and it isn't until I'm lugging it up my flight of stairs that I finally turn around and yell to the smiling face of my I-know-something-you-don't-know mother: "You know you're only staying for 2 days, right??" Why in the hell is your suitcase so damn heavy?? (except I didn't say hell or damn. I said words much more flowery and F-bomby) So she smiles and walks to her suitcase and slowly unzips it to reveal to me one of most memorial parts of my blissful childhood: our old homemade ice cream churner.

I had been asking if I could have this thing forever, but it was either tucked away in the attic or I was just too far away to get it. So when I laid eyes on it and realized what it was, I was pretty much misty eyed and crapping my pants at the same time.

This ice cream churner was such a big part of my childhood memories. When I was growing up in Colorado, I remember my parents and my older sister taking turns in the Summer cranking the handle and I remember I was too little and could never participate which bugged the hell out of me. So for whatever reason, I've always wanted to have it just so it could finally be my turn to crank the stupid handle. It looked exactly like I remembered it looking plus a few more added cobwebs and rust spots on the outside. My mom said they had bought it before my sister was born (she's just a few short weeks shy of being 37) so the thing is roughly 40 years old, give or take a few years. Straight from the 70's and absolutely fabulous!

I immediately googled "homemade ice cream recipes" and ran across one for pumpkin pie ice cream.

That Saturday we had gotten back from a gorgeous Autumn day filled with pony rides and Halloween decorating and we were right smack on top of a full harvest moon so the pumpkin pie ice cream idea sounded too good to pass up. Because as you already know, I believe full moons are party worthy. So what better way to tip your hat to the man in the moon than to churn yourself a fresh batch of homemade ice cream from a 40 year old, tradition starting, memory reliving ice cream maker??

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup whole milk

2/3 cup white sugar

2 cups whipping cream

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix pumpkin puree, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in milk, then whipping cream, then vanilla extract. Refrigerate to allow flavors to blend, 2 hours to overnight.

Transfer pumpkin mixture into an ice cream maker; churn for 15 to 20 minutes. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions until it reaches 'soft-serve' consistency. Transfer ice cream to a lidded plastic container; cover surface with plastic wrap and seal. For best results, ice cream should 'bloom' in the freezer for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Now.

Since we have a short while before your ice cream sets up in the freezer...

Lets chit chat about the Harvest Moon.

The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox. Usually, a moon rise is right around the same time as the sunset because the Earth's rotation is the same direction as the Moon's orbital direction. Right around the Fall Equinox, there are days where there is very little time between it being dark and light outside because of the angle of the moon from where we see our horizon. This came in super handy for farmers back in the day who could use the bright light from the moon to continue a few extra hours of work out in the fields to harvest their crops (pumpkins perhaps?). Hence the name Harvest Moon.

(My mom took this picture with her fancy camera for me)

It may be too cold for ice cream on next month's Hunter's Moon, so I'm savoring the moment while I still can. The ice cream and the warmth of my baby girl sitting on my lap helping me crank the handle were both absolutely delicious. I can't wait to start our new Harvest Moon annual tradition of pumpkin pie ice cream! Thanks Mom! You're the best! So sorry I made fun of you for bringing too much luggage!

The Farm at Lee Martinez Park

My mom flew out from LA last weekend for a visit, and I had been trying to come up with a handful of fun things to do for her short 2 day whirlwind of a trip. I was thinking maybe of Denver for a visit to the zoo or the planetarium. Maybe we could visit the children's museum near Longmont. Maybe a trip to Boulder or up the Poudre Canyon. Maybe shopping in Loveland or the Train Museum in Greeley...
Turns out, we ate too much for breakfast and spent half the morning lazing around the house before we were up and ready to go. So keeping it local seemed like a more logical approach to the weekend if we didn't want to waste anymore time driving to a destination. We had gone to the farm at Lee Martinez Park back in June when we were still new to town, but I had heard they added pony rides and decked the place out for Halloween, so since Kalynn's attention span and sometimes memory are the size of a goldfish's, I figured it wouldn't hurt to go back and run around again.

Kalynn had a blast not listening to a word I said, running the opposite direction and screaming at the farm animals. My mom had a great time walking around with a perma-smile while she snapped a million pictures. And I thoroughly enjoyed the two of them having so much fun while watching my mom Long Beach it around a barnyard wearing flip flops and sipping on her pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. All in all it was a total successful Saturday and staying local in Fort Collins was definitely the way to go. This town is the absolute best. I should have just planned it this way in the first place...

Council Tree Library

It's been getting a little chilly lately here in Fort Collins, Colorado. As much as I love love love the autumn weather, it's starting to make me wonder how our southern California blood is going to adjust to the below freezing temperatures this Winter. I'm trying to start early on some research for indoor activities to keep our restless selves from getting cabin fever.

In February I wrote about our Orange County Public Library and how it was pretty much the best thing ever. I figured we may as well give our new Library a looksee to find out if it was comparable. Turns out, it was 10 times better. (Sorry Orange County library people!)

It looks cooler, there's more to do for little ones, it has a better selection of books, it has a better lay out, more computers for kids and since it's on the second floor with giant picture windows, the view is outstanding.

 (plus it has an elevator which is always super cool)

It may be because a lot of other parents are stuck finding indoor things to do when it's freezing cold outside, but the Council Tree Library people made a pretty bad ass little romp room for toddlers (as far as library standards go). It's set up so you can crawl in and out of the interactive letter-based playgound area and "accidentally" learn some things in the process.

They have a separate room (complete with a toddler-sized tunnel entrance) where they do story-time periodically throughout the day for different age ranges.

Kalynn's favorite part is that the story room (which doubles as a coloring-station when not in use) is that it overlooks a doggie park!

We haven't checked out any of the other branches yet, but I'm sure we will as the weather gets colder. Our high today is 45 degrees so perhaps today is a perfect day for a new library adventure!

Falling for Fall

It's officially Autumn!!

Here's my contribution to making yours just a little bit better:

Oh yes, that's right. Skip the eggs and the oil and whatever else the spice cake directions tell you to add, and just add a can of pumpkin instead. We made some cuppycakes last week, topped them with cream cheese frosting, and then ran around the house for an hour on a sugar high dancing to 70's Michael Jackson and riding around on the dog.

We've also jumped the gun a bit on decorating for Halloween. Now, I'm fully aware that it's not even the right month yet, but come on. It's Halloween.
Actually, (now that you ask) yes, there were a few years in the 90's (1993-1997ish) where I didn't celebrate Halloween because it was the oh-way-too-early "angel day" of my beloved River Phoenix. I was just so devastated by his passing, I actually boycotted October 31st for 4 years (It's true, ask my mom). However, over the years, it has creeped to the top of the list as my all time favorite holiday. I just can't deny my magnetic pull to it's haunted aura. And technically speaking, I have 4 years to make up for basically turning my back on it, so I have no problem busting out the orange and black boxes from storage a few weeks earlier than the average bear.

So far, I've about finished the bathroom:

And I'm still working on the kitchen and dining room. I did find a nice use for my crystal cake stand: the perfect center piece for the dinner table!

So since it's been raining for 3 days and the decorations are crawling their way out of dusty boxes, it's time to dig up the Concrete Blonde "Bloodletting" album (or Poe "Haunted", take your pic), turn on the fire place and watch episodes of Ghost Adventures.

Happy hauntings!

Possibly Maybe? (The Stanley Hotel)

I guess to be a blogger you need to be somewhat egotistical right? I started this blog all about my life and I expect people to be interested in tuning in and checking out what I have to say. At least, I believe this is the misconception. Honestly, I was feeling an overall general funkiness (to be clear, it was not a "She's A Brick House" funky, but like I was in a funk) in my life at the time, and writing about the positive in my life sort of helped bring me out of it. Posting pictures of my daughter, remembering stories and trying recipes put me in a happy place, not to mention it was a great way for out-of-state family to keep up with the never ending daily changes that come with raising a toddler.

So, regardless of my egotistical tendencies, it certainly wasn't the initial reason for starting this blog.

(By the way, this post is basically just a ton of rambling with absolutely no structure or point other than a personal update on how things are going...)

Anyway, a few days ago, I was re-reading some of these posts and recalling why I started this in the first place. It got me thinking about where I was in terms of an overall, happy, well adjusted, 30-something-year-old. Remember when I was talking about the Wheel of Wellness a few months back? About how in order to feel 100% you need to be up to par physically, socially, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and even occupationally? I was lacking in a few of those.
Now, physically, I feel better than I have in a long while. I have my running on track, I've been eating healthy and taking care of myself (for the most part). Socially I'm doing fine. I get to mingle at work with people from all walks of life, I keep in touch with my friends back home in California, and lately I've even had a handful of visitors come to see me here in Fort Collins. (Which, by the way, it is so nice to be able to see a familiar face now and again.) Spiritually, I'm in tune, more so now than ever before, with what I believe. (I'll leave it at that.) Emotionally, I think I'm trucking right along, staying positive and trying not to be overwhelmed with the last few months of relocation jitters. So far, so good.

So currently, I've got 4 out of 6 down.

 66(ish)%.

Where I feel I'm lacking is my intellectual and occupational upkeep.

I'd love to go back to school and finish my bachelors degree. I have such little left to do, it would make no sense to not get that done and under my belt. The plan right now is to wait out my year for Colorado residency, and check out my choices of local universities for Fall of 2013. Ok, good good. One plan down.

Now.

Occupationally speaking, I'm nowhere near where I want to be. I spent my 20's floating through life on a sea of party after party, bartending my way through shopping trip after shopping trip, flying by the seat of my pants at all times, free spirited and unchained. Yes, well... this was all a great time and everything, but it didn't really leave much to show now that I'm in my 30's. I have an Associates degree, 10+ years bartending experience, and a handful of California bartending certifications that do me virtually no good in Colorado.
So I've spent some time thinking about what I'd really enjoy doing right now. If I could go tend bar (which really is what I ultimately love to do) any place my little heart desired where would I go?

The Stanley Hotel.

Lets think this through here.

For me, I believe this is my ultimate dream job. They offer me amazing benefits, opportunity in career advancement, and one of the most jaw dropping panoramic views in Colorado. Their never ending shortage of high-end weddings will keep the bar and catering department busy year round. Employment at a hotel, especially a hotel chain like The Stanley's parent company Grand Heritage Hotel Group, gets you discounts, which means I could travel and stay at some pretty awesome locations whenever we vacationed.
And most importantly, it's The Stanley Hotel! One of America's most mysteriously haunted destinations visited by tourists from all around the world. The place crawls with famous guests and richy tippers. It's known for its inspirational role in Steven King's book "The Shining," and has been on every ghost-hunting, paranormal-watching television show out there. And for me, that sort of thing is directly up my creepy little alley. Not to mention the historical preservation that has gone into this monstrosity of a hotel fascinates the crap out of me.

I am in love with this building.

And I want to be a part of it.

So...

I've applied.

I've applied and now I sit and wait. From what I hear, it's not the easiest place to get on board, but it can't hurt to try, right? I faxed my resume and pumped myself up as much as I possibly could. Please keep my occupational wellness in your prayers or thoughts or wherever you choose to send your higher requests. I truly believe this could be a great opportunity for my little family. Getting my foot in the door of a place I could potentially hold a career while I finish school is exciting stuff. I'm really hoping this works out the way it is romantically falling into place in my head!

(You've seen this building plenty of times on my blog previously, I'm sure. Staying the night here is on my Colorado bucket list, and every time we visit Estes Park, I have to do a run-through and ogle at the beauty of it. In fact, last week when my BFF Livia visited, we took our little girls over there to run up and down the 4th floor and scream at all the ghosties!)

Wish me luck!

Ice Cream

I was inside these towers a few short days before it happened.

I sat and ate ice cream at the Ben and Jerry's on the first floor while marveling at the enormity of these steel giants.  

Today I'll get my Ben and Jerry's, watch tributes on TV with tears in my eyes just as I do every September 11th anniversary.

I went back a few years ago to check out the progress.

 Subways are being rebuilt

Offices are being refaced

Walls are being put back up.

But around the world, we all still hurt.

Even the ones that only sort of understand.

.

A La Luna Ida Y Vuelta

I have a long distance romance with the Moon.

He constantly tells me he needs his space... (!)

And so I just admire from afar.

There is something very romantic about the witching hour to me. That time after midnight when the Moon is truly in its element, is when I really fall head over heals. The Moon's cultural impact and influence on our calendars, our language, our art, the tides and even women's cycles is enough to make a girl faint. Talk about power...

So, although the Moon may not come down for New Years to give me kisses at midnight, take me out to dinner on my birthday, or wine and dine me on anniversaries, I have an understanding that we've got the kind of energy which creates love. Call me a lunatic, but love does crazy things to people's brains sometimes.

The moon has a way of explaining things to me that nobody else ever has. This month he taught me that sometimes in life, the stars align a certain way, the universe tilts just so, and paths cross in just the perfect timing. It doesn't happen often, and I'm a firm believer that it doesn't happen to everyone, but when it does, it's like catching lightening in a bottle. Like "magic", so I was once told. There are certain circumstances in life and unexplainable connections that happen, that are so completely undeniable. Inconvenient or not.

Kurt Vonnegut once said: "We are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."

This is a false statement.

 You cannot snuff out your lightening and replace it with a fart hoping none to be the wiser. Earth is not for farting around. Earth is for farting a straight and specific path directly to your lightening, like it or not.

 I don't believe you can just go back to regularly scheduled programming once you've had a taste of that magic.

I do believe, however, that by trying to pretend it didn't happen, you're under the assumption that you're tricking the universe.

And you're not that smart. So stop it.

I'm getting off track here...

A blue moon, at least in the modern day sense, is whenever we're lucky enough to get 2 full moons in one month. The usual lunar cycle is 29.5(ish) days, which turns out to be an average of 12 full moons per year. (Even the word month derives from the word moon) But our solar calendar years have around 11 more days than our lunar. Those days accumulate every 2 to 3 years or so, and we get an extra. A bonus. A here-you-go-thanks-for-all-the-admiration-have-a-reward. Sort of like when a really great band puts on a free concert for their fans out of appreciation. At least that's what I like to think.

The moon really never turns blue during these magnificent encore showings, in fact the only time the moon really appears to turn a different hue is when there is a ton of smoke or ash in the atmosphere like after a giant volcano or enormous forest fire. Even then, actual visual blue moons have only been recorded in history a handful of times.

Anyway, we celebrated at our house last night with a couple of brewskies (shocker, I know) and I gave the moon a high five and said yes to its marriage proposal.

"Hold on to your divine blush, your innate rosy magic, or end up brown.
Once you're brown, you'll find out you're blue. As blue as indigo.
And you know what that means.
Indigo.
Indigoing.
Indigone."
~ Tom Robbins