.....virginia jenny

on set with gio

2010-12-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

for the first time in awhile gio and i are both on the same set - we are working for roshambo films today at LSI.

It's cold out today - and i am in the cold room where craft and lunch are set up.....

gio mailed off the xmass presents to my siblings yesterday - i will post what i made them after the holiday.

the ladies from virginia (who mostly no longer live there) are trying to have a vacation next year all together - which is a tall order now.
the three ladies have seven children now, plus husbands, so all together it's something like 15 people. i thought that we had the house nailed down but now it seem to be back up for discussion? but one exciting out come is that montreal is one hour away - and mira's sister (my canadian friend) lives there and there might be a slight chance that we can see mira!

holy mole what did i do!

2010-12-07T22:33:00.004-07:00

i was playing with the settings and some how i deleted all of the original format... i am sorry gio for loosing all the hard work that you did years ago.... i still love that you did this for me....

what's been going on here? if you were looking at gio's facebook you'd know all about almost everything that we've been up to (minus the flat tire i got last week!)

i did receive very lovely news that a new family member is coming... june? july? please don't be june!

and then there was the not so lovely news... my sisters beautiful 16year old cat passed today. one enters one exits.

Hot hot hot & grumpy

2010-07-27T11:54:00.003-06:00

Tuesday, it's hot. All I want to do is go to the swimming hole and cool off.

gi joe fest is coming to town!

2010-06-21T08:57:00.001-06:00

thursday june 24th 2010
bug theater
7pm doors open

please wish us luck!

bottled and el ten

2009-11-03T17:00:00.003-07:00

september 30: i took the plums from our tree, i let them sit and get a little sweeter and then boiled them with honey & cane sugar. i took the plum musk and added it to the honey musk..... cooled and then the champagne yeast was added.
the oddest foam happened with this batch - HUGE bubbles formed and then once they were gone the gas slowed down dramatically.

november 3 : today gio and i bottled the plum mead..... next pear!

and tonight El ten eleven is at the high dive......

troubles with technology

2009-09-11T12:09:00.001-06:00

to remember to fix in the future.....

i just had the problem of reformatting an external drive from simple tech.
- the techy tony that i was assisted by said that if you're running leopard that there are a few extra steps need:
turn your computer off. turn the external hd off. restart computer. when the computer is up again turn on the hd.
you should get a warning sign: initialize - ignore - eject
you need to initialize it. (the tech said it this didn't work that there was one other way, but this worked for me.... i don't have the other way)
then go to applications - utility - disk utility
once you are at the disk utility screen select from the hard drives
931.5GB fv-u35 Media (not the second one below it)
- go to partition: -under Volume Scheme: you need to choose to 1Partition - then apply
-then under Volume Information - name it - format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - apply
now you are ready to follow the steps for erasing that come supplied: click erase on the top of the screen. select the desired format. change name. click erase at the bottom of the screen - and once again on the second window.
you should see the icon for the renamed external hard drive.

Austin + Gi Joe Fest = FUN

2009-05-02T10:10:00.002-06:00

gio and i headed down to texas last month for the GI Joe Touring Festival. Super great!
the Alamo theater is a great place with great events and i am very greatful to Zack (the Director of programing at the alamo).

The other bonus is the fact that my roommate from a decade ago lives there with her fantastic husban (gio's new Boyff).

here are a few picks for the trip.....

Oh, did i mention the fact that GI Joe Fest just got booked in NYC? At 92Ytribeca! July 25, 2009!

on the set

2009-03-02T21:46:00.002-07:00

i was hired by starz to do craft for their night shoot for sci-fi last saturday - oh boy it was cold!
super fun, everyone was great here are some shots i took on set.

we now introduce to you skeletor mitchell!

2009-01-23T19:49:00.002-07:00

IT"S A BOY!!!!

heather leGrand mitchell has given birth to her son skeletor (until they name him he will be named skeletor!!)
today (jan 23) at 1:10pm!

he's 8.3 lbs with all his digits and he's bent on world domination!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to the LeGrand Mitchells!!!!

love and kisses to all

Birthday Party Fondue WIsh list

2009-01-03T08:37:00.003-07:00

Ok, party guest.

i am glad that everyone will be celebrating elvis and my birthday with gio and me.

so here's how it works.... here are some of the ingredients that we need for the party.

What every you'd like to bring please leave a comment on which fondue's ingredients you'd like to choose from and which ingredients you'd going to bring.

come and toast to elvis with us at 7pm-ish thursday jan 8th

Classic Cheese Fondue:

1 lb Gruyere cheese

dry white wine

Kirsch (sour cherry brandy) (small)

Mushroom Fondue:

1 lb mushrooms

Chocolate Fondue Ingredience:
12 oz bittersweet chocolate bars

1 pint whipping cream
Frangelico or Amaretto liqueur (small)
1/4 cup hazelnuts or almonds

For Dipping

Sweets:

Hazelnut or almond biscotti
Salted pretzel sticks
Cubed pound cake/ firm cake

angel food cake

marshmallows

small cookies

ladyfingers

meringues

apples, pears, peaches, pineapple, dried fruit, oranges, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes - seasonal fruit

Breads:

mixed grain, whole wheat, pumpernickel, french, italian, focaccia.

Vegetables:

cherry tomatoes

bell peppers

celery

etc.

my brasileiro rockstar husband

2008-10-31T09:19:00.002-06:00

if anyone wasn't informed that in gio's past he was in a metal band in brasil - here's proof.

SOLD OUT AGAIN!

2008-10-10T10:47:00.002-06:00

2nd annual gi joe festival sold out! super crowd! great intermission entertainment! great friend support!

to see more photos go to meltoni's flicker account:

http://flickr.com/photos/meltoni/sets/72157607912346541/

thanks to everyone again for supporting us!

love j.letoni

day zero - gi joe festival

2008-10-09T15:30:00.003-06:00

today is the second annual gi joe film festival in denver!

i was thinking back to where did this all come from?
pondpatrol?
gi joe international film festival?

pondpatrol was spawned from the wedding and the turtle obsession - my husbands -

then there was a little film festival that was in denver - inflatable duck- it was a festival open to all types of independent short films. it was around for two years, but by the second year that producers decided to vacation in europe right before the festival; shrugging all responsibilities on a volunteer at the last minute. the volunteer did the best job in a small amount of time trying to re-format: films, video tapes, and dvd's of all setting, to work cohesively. not all the dvd's would replay on the dvd player at the festival, a second dvd player plus a video player had to be brought in an emergency to play the tapes. ONE film didn't get shown: IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND THE ONE EYED MAN IS KING, Gio Toninelo.

the night was hectic, confusing and all together a disaster - i think that the films didn't arrive until an hour or so after the festival was to start?

gio vowed that night that he was going to start his own festival. little did we know then that the festival would happen several years later or that the theme would be stop- motion.

and here it is, the second round of stop-motion in denver!
it's been a whole year of submissions, design work, and organizing. not to mention that gio has been rising before the sun to make sure everything is taken care of.

Congratulation to my husband for another successful dream come true!
i love you gio,
j.letion

ps. if any one would like to view gio's movie please go to
http://www.zerogerman.com/
to the downloads page

DNC + DENVER = fun?

2008-08-29T13:02:00.005-06:00

this past week has been interesting.
gio and i had a mini vacation in town - the morning girl at work wanted to go out of town and we switched monday afternoon for wednesday morning. so gio and i got 2 1/2 days off together!

we decided to take part in a few events for the dnc by dialog city

http://www.dialogcity.org/

Rebecca v has been working with dialog city putting together events and she did a great job! she's been working her ass off!

the first event was the dj spooky "large-scale multimedia performance Terra Nova: The Antarctica Suite at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. "

http://www.dialogcity.org/artists/djspooky.html

we met up with sam, mary morrow, carmela and flynn. after the show we tried to go out to dinner, we were c. blocked by msnbc ass wipes filming in sam's no.3! mary ditched us and we ended up at the paramount for a late nite dinner.

sunday nite was quite with the cops arresting people but there were riot teams of 10 - 12 cops on almost every block. we had cops on horse back, cops on bikes, cops on suvs (riding on the out side swat stlye)

monday we headed down town to be part of ann hamiltons love letter to the dnc. it was wonderful. a full chorus 4 levels high with a childrens chorus on the 1st balcony and the rest of us down below with our scripts to join in at the appropriate time.

walking to the event we came across two protester. they were dresses all in black and had a cartoon dialogue sign above their heads stating "THIS IS WHAT A POLICE STATE LOOKS LIKE!" . they weren't really disruptive, they chanted "just because your paranoid doesn't mean that their not out to get you" stuff like that. but by the time they passed the second bridge 12 cops on bikes swooped in to rip their signs off and arrest them.
this is what a police state looks like.

after the ann event we went over to a bar where joshua novak (gio's old band) was playing. we hung out and heard their set, they were sounding great! the new bass player john has been learning gio's bass lines. john is doing a great job playing gio and mixing some of his own heavy metal sound in to the music.

we were heading home down 16th street where we were passing to clock tower when we saw the burlesque show was about to start and gio's friend garret, the sound guy for the clock tower, invited us to see the show! so we went down to see the show.

we walked home to see all of the cops that were here for our protection (?).

Xmas in August!

2008-08-14T20:39:00.003-06:00

this is the first year in a while that xmas is going to be big in denver!

seu Valmore and Maria Helana as well as Daddy LeGrand and Cathy are are planned for xmas destination! a white xmas! with a hopeful stint in the mountains for some altitude time in the winter! hopefully we'll have snow to go sledding.
i hope everyone will be here!

my first website!

2008-07-05T19:09:00.002-06:00

ok, so i started on my own (with the help of a template) and then carmela came in and helped answer my questions and teach me a few tricks!

thank you again teach! and i look forwards to learning more!

www.naturalcleanersdenver.com

check it out!

another theater

2008-06-18T16:45:00.002-06:00

Gio's GI JOE FEST has had another offer and confirmation!

Austin TX - July 14 & 15 at Alamo Drafthouse cinema

Winnipeg Canada june!

SUPER CONGRATS to GIO!!!

Prom 3001

2008-06-18T16:20:00.001-06:00

Prom 3001
Originally uploaded by carmelatoninelo

gio and i celebrated out third anniversary! the party was brilliant!

if you'd like to see more follow this link.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/meltoni/2570356559/

2008-06-18T16:16:00.001-06:00

Prom 3001
Originally uploaded by carmelatoninelo

Prom 3001

2008-06-18T15:58:00.001-06:00

Prom 3001
Originally uploaded by carmelatoninelo

stinkweed got married!

2008-05-28T20:09:00.007-06:00

the trip was beautiful! the wedding was magical.

Paper Couture Fashion Show

2008-03-13T22:14:00.003-06:00

Thursday, March 20th, doors open at 6pm,

runway show at 7:15pm, DC10, 940 Lincoln, Denver.

Visit the ADCD website for more details and to reserve tickets: www.adcd.com

My lovely friend Rebecca Vaughan and I have entered a collaborative dress with our friend Nick as the male as female model.

I would love to see anyone from d-town there supporting us!

Past Present Future

2008-02-27T08:41:00.003-07:00

I just got a note from Resa - she's engaged!

and for all of you out there that haven't had the pleasure of meeting my future bro-in-law here are two pics from my wedding with heather and stuie.......

and here's stuie with the after party

and here's snap on a hot july day in 2005 when amber and rob got married.

has anyone stayed in milan?

2008-02-25T10:47:00.005-07:00

Heather LeGrand & Stuart Mitchell are getting married in italy May 7, 2008!

Gio and I are traveling to the wedding thru Milan...

My questions follows: Has any one stayed in MIlan? suggestions?

please feel free to leave a comment for heather here as well....

who is this masked man???

2008-01-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

i had a great birthday yesterday.
dad and gio took me and a few friends to Domo's for dinner.

Gio treated me like a queen from the crack of dawn til sleep - no, he's still being great. before he went to work today he ran out and bought me lottery tickets!

he's my masked man.....

and late last night we have decided that 2012 is the year for group glamour shots! so don't forget! 2012 glamour shots for all!

halloween 2007

2007-11-02T15:32:00.000-06:00

haunted houses 2007 aka where's samalina?

2007-10-09T01:34:00.000-06:00

want to go to a haunted house?

look at sockdolls to find out the schedule

http://sockdolls.blogspot.com/

also, we are throwning a wake for nils. oh, you ask what happen to nils? well, nothing. he's out of town so we are throwing him a wake. we're going to drink his booze and tell our best horror stories about him.

if you have a terrifying story about you and nils and you aren't in denver, please email us or leave a comment and we will read it at the wake, and have a drink for you.....

we all loved nils

the best tomato soup

2007-09-26T12:53:00.000-06:00

david's aunt leota tomato soup recipe

Can in pint jars - twenty minute in a hot water bath

TOMATO JUICE FOR SOUP
2 gallons of tomatoes (wash & cut - start cooking in a pot)
1 stalk celery
1 green pepper
6 medium onions
(mince celery, pepper and onions & add to tomatoes cooking)

RUE SAUCE

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup canning salt
1 cup butter
(mix and set aside - blend with a small amount of tomato juice

Instuctions
- cook tomato mixture for one hour.
- pour tomato mixture through a food mill or seive
- take the tomato juice and bring back up to a boil
- slowly add the flour tomato mixture in to the tomato juice
- cook until soup is mixed thoroughly
- add a few peppercorns and garlic cloves towards the end

Makes 10 - 12 pints

something new

2007-09-15T10:59:00.000-06:00

thursday sept 13th at twisted sol by lee ball

this is my sisters tattoo - i planned it with carmela, i got the purplie hearts for cathys favorite color, and the two hearts for my sisters.

xxoo my three sisters.
j.

progress but not tidy

2007-08-17T15:29:00.000-06:00

where in the world is dad?

2007-08-13T14:33:00.000-06:00

Dad is leaving colorado on thursday 14 august.
he is going back to virginia for an undetermined "short" amount of time.

I would like to place bets on when he returns to colorado.

please let me know what date you would lke to reserve and what would you like as a reward.

He just asked me last week to book him a ticket. This man can come and go as quickly as the wind!

He has helped gio and i so much this summer! There's no way we could ever repay my father for the help that he gives all of us!

house in progress

2007-08-05T20:59:00.000-06:00

ok.
months have gone by with out an update about the progress aobut the house......

so, here it is.

we've tone out walls, rewired the parts of the house, leveled floors and ceilings....what else? new kitchen!!!!

in the begining......

we've done more but i haven't taken any photos.... and it's dark out now.....maybe tuesday?

brasil pre xmass

2007-03-15T11:07:00.000-06:00

our trip part one -

2007-01-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

brasil was beautiful.

this is the portion of the trip after christmas and before new years.

the house

gio and i on the side porch

seu valmour

carmela

gio & seu valmour

north side of papagaio looking at florinapolis

hike on north side of papagaio

surfer beach - new years eve

bay two different times of day

happy holidays

2006-12-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

hello from brazil!

photos will come later.

gio and i had a long series of flights to get here but everything went well---- except for the half dozen screaming children on the last flight from sao paulo - but the flight attendance were super great and gave gio xtra peanuts: that is right peanuts on an airplane who would have thought....

we ve been here for three days now and we re having a wonderful time.
we leave in a few minutes to drive four to five hours north west to the town of gio s grandmother- lages

then we leave on tuesday for the beach until the second of jan.

best wishes to all

jena

ps sorry about the punct. i am typing on a portugese keyboard... it s strange.

SAM SUCKS! aka happy halloween

2006-11-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

sam you know why! how could you have left us here? you took all the halloween spirit with you!!!!! i only went to three haunted houses this year! how pitiful is that?

we did have a party on halloween night, we were all ready to scare some kids! i wanted to hear screaming!

we recieved less than a dozen kids this halloween.

last year the streets were swarming with children, but we were cold this year and as i said before sam took the halloween spirit with him! and i bet he's happy about it too!

and on another note:

and another another note:

skpye
cathy's getting it so we can chat overseas calls with out the high costs.

so i am putting this out here for all my far off friends.....canada.....scotland???? would you like to skype?

holy moley

2006-10-04T16:50:00.000-06:00

well, a year has passed since pondpatrol.com started
september 06 is its anniversary.
in the past few weeks we've hung the photo show at st.marks, gio has been interview by the onion, 5280, and the westword interviewed both of us (i'm the editor/semstres for pp. oh yea and "driver")

last nite was the closing party for the art show; which has sold pretty darn well.
for the party three bands played.

my favorite - porlolo was up first,then the josh novak, and followed by the greatest hits band.

japanimplosion was on site silkscreening t-shirt with a pondpatrol design that they came up with.

over all the nite was a sucess.

this weeks episode of pp is the party review.
and photos that carmela took.

if you'd like to see the interview in westword (for you that aren't from d-town its the city paper)

http://www.westword.com/Issues/2006-09-28/news/news.html

look whose coming for dinner

2006-08-25T14:42:00.000-06:00

i was getting some groceries at whole foods in cherry creek and i saw a lady with a crate of kittens...... do you see where this is going?

i played with the kitties for a few minutes,,,, there even was a female kitten that had sevens markings..........i went in to do my shopping and came out and all the kittens were still there.

the kitten lady had been at a shelter that morning and these were the kittens next on the chopping block.......so ......here she is with a crate of kittens.....

and i am pleased to introduce sevens new friend and companion
chu-chu

the boys are getting along super

another day off

2006-07-25T19:23:00.000-06:00

most of our days off and little trips out of town as of the last year are really pondpatrol missions.

this is a great situation most of the time, and today was one of those days. a perfect compromise.
we headed towards boulder late this morning to go to eldorado springs area - we ended up a few miles east of 90.
we hiked up half a mile or so and found the area gio was hoping for - a clearing that looked out onto the foothills in the background.

in the moment of shooting p.p. i hardly notice the time go by... but i did get a little crispy today!
we were near a main path that a lot of boulder business lunch time walkers seem to frequent. lots of comments were made.

two women walked by - the comment was "oh look at them playing with their dolls!"
i would like to officially say that they are gio's dolls - he just lets me play with them when he's around!

ok....if you look real closely you can see the ants from the ant hill that gio parked the dolls on top of crawling all over the boots...... not to long later the ants were all over these poor boys!

after two and a half hours in the sun we were ready for the second half of the day!
we weren't sure if we were going to venture over to eldorado springs pool or to boulder creek - but we came prepared with tubes for floating!
we ended up at boulder creek, we floated for a little more than an hour. we didn't do the rapids float due to the cold water and it's effects on o brasilerio. but floating in the tube with the sun shining down on us - me soaking in the rays - gio staring at fishys & shiny things was perfect!

last stop in boulder? but of course the hot dog stand that has veggie chicago dogs!

all in all a great day off!

what do i love????

2006-06-25T15:30:00.000-06:00

the grass under the mulberry tree in our front yard was beautiful on our wedding day.....

but after the day it never came back as well....... gio and i decieded - with the idea bursting in my head - to build a sunken patio where the grass once stood.

this sounded beautilul.
i could see it in my head....
i just didn't see where to put all the earth that we were taking out!

it actually only took a few hours over a couple of day.
gio and sam traded helping with me and then we had the last push of all three of us and we were done!

i love sam. i love gio more.

sam has been gone for a few weeks now. i feel lonely on sunday with out him. i aslo feel at a loss for my scarry movie buddy.
i want to go see the omen (please no comments from the peanut gallery) but rebecca v. has been in italy and sam's been at feral fruits........oh where oh where ............

as for what i have been up to!

our first anniversary was june 9th!
gio and i went back to our honeymoon spot in the san luis valley that we love!

we rented a cabin that had a kichenette.
we lounged together, had a beautiful full moon

okay not that one!
this is one of gio's many pondpatrol injuries - he sat on a catus.....

and the last day we spent sometime in the morning going for a walk and shooting pondpatrol episode 40.

we had such a relaxing romatic time together, as you can tell by the lack of pants!
i love valley view!

the garden is coming along. i planted some holly and witches broom infront of the fence under the mulberry. i still desire ferns there as well..... someone i know has a bunch and said they' d donate some to my cause.... very lovelllllyy!!!

the pond has changed shaped, i love it more now as well!

not that you can see it but my dad's bench now sits to the north of the pond and has the best view in the house!

mr.seven
as cute as ever! love him too.

look at my lavenders!!!!!!!!!! love love love!

last year mr.balistreri sold me a merlot and cabernet grape plants. they are getting bigger every day! i am tranning them to go around the post for the sun shade. hopefully in the next few years they'll grow over to the dinning area and shade us during lunch!

i first planned this area to be the herb box but more flowers from last year have popped out. to my surprise the irish bells(the green flowers) are prolific....i am spreading them around the yard in hopes of them semi taking over. i remember they stick around till fall very well!

and here are my first tomatoes of the seaon coming out. and once again the russian heirloom tomates produce the best.

happy birthday to mom and aunt dee dee

2006-04-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

time does fly.

today is aunt dee dee and my moms birthday

for sams spring break gio, sam and i went to the black hills of south dakota to hang for a few days..... i know why south dakota? well. we only wanted to travel for six hours - at first we were going to go to santa fe but the town was booked up with spring breaker! and it was still to cold at nite for camping.
we then thought about what is six hour in another direction? the black hills. home of bad dinning and bad thrift stores.
the whole trip was more a pilgrimage for pond patrol than anything (ofcourse a good time for the three of us!)

sam moves away in june so this might be the last trip i take with him!

another ditcher to denver is nick hoppman. i guess he wanted a super fresh start because he asked me to cut his beautiful hair off! i was very reluctant to do what he asked until he told me that he'd asked harlan and zac but they told him to ask me. i felt let off the hook and i can say it slightly proud that no one thought i'd mess it up to much!
ok here it goes.....

oh, and by the way nils cut his all off not to long after nick...something about a hot neck.

the last ubisubi show..... super cool

sven's band - a certain urgency

cory's band - sandusky.
they sound is super cool. they're space cowboy music. (maureen try it you'll like it...it will make you feel good feel good)
live they do alot more than is on the album.......you can download there new album for free at:

http://www.myspace.com/sanduskycomusic

ok, so i got home one day and this is what i saw out of my window.....any guesses? because i don't know..... gio has dub it "dico cowboy"

my friend brendan is an owner in a film company - incite films
he told me about a job in the industry that i didn't know about "craft service". it's no where near glamerous but it pay well for a part time gig. so i've done two commercials for him so far......here's the set of the second commercial day two site two.

mercury in retrograde

2006-02-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

all i know is that murcury kick my ass!

starting 3 weeks ago......

thursday:
gio and i went snowboarding and then to indian spring (maybe this is an indian curse?) and we had the best time!!! snow was fluffy and big and the springs were warm and loving......but on the way home (dum dum dummmmmm) the car just stopped working!

we thankfully broke down next to denver west - where there's a wild oats - so we waited three hours for the tow and had a hot soup picnic in car and snuggled in the back for warmth. did i mention it was snowing all day in denver?

we got home chilled but happy.

friday morning:
i went out to see if my car would start and she did! so i thought all was well.......

sunday:
sam and i were going to use my computer to work on his pamphlet.
when i tried to boot her i found out that my imac no longer had any memory that it was a computer....(today found out that the "board" is broken or that the arm for the drive is broken....jury is still out.)

tuesday:
gio and i dropped off the imac with amnesia at the mac outlet (next to mustards last stand on universtiy).
on the way back from taking the computer in the car started acting up.... we found out the next morning that the car was dying and would only cost twenty seven hundered dollars to fix her....snowball, my car, was now dead to me!

wednesday:
i hunted on craigslist for a new car.
we caught a break.
a car cost much less than fixing snowball was spotted by gio (he's so good!).
i ran off to see it and test drive it- it was a gem.
the seller offered to follow me home with it and i offered him a couple hundred less than the asking price. i was happiest of all!

thursday:
mercury struck again.
my beloved driver licsens with the best photo ever fell out of my pocket.

i came home to find that gio has had a terrible tragedy. one of his beloved turtles killed himself.
yes, poor harvey had a habit of turning himself over. he's been found flipped over in the water on the dry ground and this time under his heat lamp.
crys rouse from gio -pleading with harvey "why harvey why!!".
my heart jumped to hear gio's pain........
gio tried to see if harvey was still living at all but all attempts to bring back harvey failed.... and now there are only five turtles remaining.....billbob met an untimely death about a month ago. billbob didn't survive the pond winter hibernation. so both harvey and billbob reside under the fancy pear tree that sam i bought....the memorial tree.....

but health and happiness are still filling us.....but watch out for the monster named mercury in retograde!

"What does Mercury affect?

In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce and transportation.
(see that transportation!!!)
By extension, Mercury rules people who work in these areas, especially people who work with their minds or their wits: writers and orators, commentators and critics, gossips and spin doctors, tricksters and thieves.

Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers,
(once agian it was mercury that caused the computers amnesia)
cars, buses, and trains.
(oh, did i mention that the train lines had a coal spill that closed them for two days?)
And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray, or awry.

It is therefore not wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is very likely that these decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking. Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde, these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed."

all my love...sorry for the hippy stuff
xxoo
j.le toni

p.s. here's a picture of me and the car

happy birthday to me

2006-01-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

how many lives have you used up? or safty belt lesson

2005-12-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

i have had a philosophy about back seats of cars and seat belts. i figured if your in the back and get hit your not going out the front window....but i never thought about being upside down in the car.

gio, mj and i headed up to copper yesterday to ride. copper has gotten some ungodly amount of snow in the past two week - something around nine feet? - and we were itching to ride some powder.

the morning started off freezing in denver. my car windows were incases in ice. my favorite ice scrapper (yes favorite) was (and still is) missing so i had to use the crappy one that was left. my window washer fluide pump died on me and i bought a new one but had not replaced it due to the -14deg wheather we've been having.... so ice windows, the cold and all we made it up to morrison parking lot by seven forty am (ten minutes late or so) mj was waiting placidly for us to show.

we headed up to the mountain. we stopped in idaho spings at the sandwich shop - mark was hungery, gio and i were thirsty - the boys got coffee and i got a bottle of juice.

off we went. when we passed frisco last exit we got in to the canyon area. that's when it happened.

mj was driving normaly for the weather conditions.

the back end of the truck (pathfinder) just started to swing out.
then the front started heading towards the median.
mj gently tried to correct this and the truck crossed over to the right lane and then over the hill and the truck flipped.

all of this happened quickly and slowly at the same time.
when the truck rolled gio and mj were in the front seats and i was in the back - with out my seat belt on.

the truck rolled and for a moment i was on all fours on the ceiling and then just a moment later back in the seat on the other side of the truck.

we all remember noise. gio heard the only glass to break - the passenger side mirror. i heard all the cd jewel cases raining down around me, mj heard the top of the trucks luggage rack parts snapping.

then stillness.

the oddest things popped into my head. gio's face was wet and all i could think is that he threw up - but it was mj's coffee split all over the two of them. and then i wanted my juice that i had just purchased; i was quite conserned about it for some unkown reason to me. and then there was the "i wonder what that looked like?" thoughts....

no one saw this happen. no one was next to us on the road. there was a road below us and a man stopped to see if we were ok - we didn't look like a roll over we just looked as if we went off the road. we told him we were fine and decieded to try to drive down to the bottow and drive out.

i got my snow boarding boots on as well as gloves. this took a few minutes. gio and i got out and started pushing.
and then sliently a red suv was flying in the air it's nose backwards from the direction that it was heading. but it was no longer driving it was bouncing down the hill near us! when it stopped gio started towards the driver "baby are you ok?" the female driver was a little out of it as well because she became scared that there was a baby involved some how.

i called to gio to come back and push because my newest concern was that another vehicle was going to come bouncing over the side of the road at us again.

firefighter, ambulances, cops and tow trucks, shovles and -14 deg weather came and went.

no one was hurt. the truck was hardly hurt, mj drove us back to morrison. cocktails at home were in order.

oh, as for the red suv - totaled. the front windshield, front windows and back window were all smashed out. the roof of the truck all smashed in.

someone was looking out for us.

thank you mj for getting us threw that safely.

ps none of us had a camera on us

where in the world is skippy?

2005-11-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

a slice of halloween pie

2005-11-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

for two weeks in small spurts gio, sam, nils, nick and i made grave stones, ax carring dumby and a few pumpkins. all for giving out candy and scarring the pants off of children.

here's a peek at it.

he looks much scarier in the strobe light with fog!

at one point in the night i looked out in to the neighborhood and saw tons of children swamping the street! i haven't seen that since the good ol' days in virginia!

things left behind....sometimes hard to remember

2005-10-27T13:30:00.000-06:00

every loaf of bread that we buy ticks me off.
bread that isn't cheepy white has been inching it's way up in price - it's almost four dollars for a loaf of nice sliced bread.
and bagueettes are cheeper but the don't last a day before turning stale (which i secretly like for tea in the morning).

nils, who is living in the cottage (dads house) right now has been experimenting with different flours and yeast - wild and kefir mostly - and he has been turning out some damn fine breads. so i bought some new bread flour and i have been making bread for gio and i for the past few weeks.

i started thinking about when my mom would bake bread. it was alway hot and perfect! she made a honey white. i can even remember her showing me how to proof yeast with the honey, and when you did it right how the yeast puffed up in soft pellows above the water/honey. but i could not for the life of me remember the recipe. but there was one place i thought that might have it written down the montissori school of mc leans cook book. i knew that all three of my aunts favorite recipes are in there. and there it was page thirty-six "mother's white bread" with note "this is the bead my mother baked almost daily during the war". so i have chosen grandma parasines bread as of the almost daily baking for us.

i am wanting to experiment with other breads... infact my father and mother in law - seu valomr e ma helena - gave me a brilliant bread cook book in portugese. i can understand half of it - most of the ingredients repeat over and over i just need to learn a little more kitchen portuguese and i'll be right there.

then and now

2005-10-05T08:46:00.000-06:00

when gio and i first saw our houses i could see what could be...........

we had a "death march" to finish all the projects we wanted to get done by june - family coming - then the wedding plans - we accomplished alot......with some great help from our great friends!

christmas in september

2005-09-20T09:16:00.000-06:00

how's the pressure canning going?
GREAT!!! thank you for asking!

gio bought me a pressure canner last christmas and i finally got the nerve up to use it last night.....

sam and i purchased two bushels of roasted green chilles on sundeay.
we proceeded to peel one and a half bushels by hand - and i do mean by naked hand!
i've been peeling chilies for several years now and i have never had the burning of the hands as i did from the sheer amount of chilies that i peeled with out hand protection. burning as if only my hands had been sent to hell!!!!
this pain lasted until the next morning........we wore gloves last night to finish the last half a bushel

san and shannon came over last night. shannon brougt the gloves - she works at cu med center examining hepatitis c these were new gloves!
so we sat on the porch peeling the remaining chilies and some that shannon brought from utah from her grandparents garden and waited for the pressure canner to do its magic.

we did a hot pack of the green chili and got the pressure canner all set up and turned up the heat. i had done all my reading about it that morning. the booklet had said that it was normal to have some steam leakage at the begining but the canner would just not get up to pressure.
sam and shannon decieded to fiddle around with some of the external parts (the overpressure plug) and used a little too much force and it blew!!!!! only the steam.

so here's what we learned.
1. double check all plugs and "o" ring
2.pressure should come up once the pressure regulator is placed on with in three to five minutes
3. do not push in the overpressure plug!

i canned eighteen jars of green chili last night and i am in the process of canning the remaing chili and then i am going for the zucchini. i thought it would be nice to can the zucchinis with diffferent herbs per quart?????? we'll see this winter how it turns out.

good food good friends good evening

2005-09-16T11:07:00.000-06:00

last night gio and i had a few friends over for dinner - casey frank, steve best and rebecca vaughn. super cool!

this is probably going to be our last dinner party until we remodle my house....
or i make a different dinner table for the dinning room....

last night we all were pondering how we could keep the out door dinning in the cold weather.
there of couse is the wear warm clothes but this answer is only for the person dinning not the dinner.
our biggest problem we found earlier this year was the food got so cold so fast!
we also dicussed hanging a canvas drape around the dinner table.....??? is this then dinning inside not out?
or we can have a wood burning cast iron stove out around us or a fire pit table? who knows, i just hope we get invited over to other large warmer house this winter for dinners!hint

but as for last nights dinner party i think it went smashingly. every guest brought a bottle of wine. casey frank brought over pomegranate wine super delicious! i have nerver had it before last night.

i also made these little italian cookies named farfalle (butterfly in italian) but i don't really know the recipe.
gio took me to a restaurant over on tennyson and 44th named parisi, they have the best pizza in denver... they have a wood burning oven...tastes like italy!! and parisis have astonishing desserts as well.
gio, mira, zac and i tried one dessert - farfalle cookies, and i fell in love with these little beauties but i have search the internet looking for a recipe or a reference to the cookie but i have found nothing........

so i went on fact finding mission to parisi to see if i could get any info on the cookie dough.
the guy at the counter said he did not know exactly what the dough was made out of but he did know that it has cream chees in the dough.
ha ahahaha . so i have come up with my verison of the dough (i have only made it once) and i think i did a good job and the cookies taste great but their not as good as parisi...much to my chagrin.
has anyone else ever had these? they have jam in the middle....

here's to the stupendous summer dinner we've had and to more to come next spring!

jenny vs. aphids

2005-09-13T11:13:00.000-06:00

the garden has been very good to us this year.
even part of the leftover garden has been super; the priests left us mint (which has been made into tea), oregano, sage (which flowered in spring) and forever bearing spinach chard (fed us from march until june and is back again)

i have had more chilies this year than ever. i used to try and grow bell peppers out here but never got many. this year i switched to cubanelle peppers for the sweet and pablanos and habaneros for the hotties. i have made some great salas from these peppers.

we also have acorn squash and zucchini that keeps rolling in. i have given away atleast fifteen pounds of zucchini this summer. i 've grown cabbage and brussell sprouts for the first time this year, they've been good - cabbage looks great in the flower garden! as well as broccoli once it's gone to flower.

but then the unwanted guests moved themselves in... the aphids! those little sap suckers moved in on the tomatoes and the bassicas with full force!

gio and i started the all out annihilation of the aphids. the battle raged on for five days. we did suffer some casualties, three tomatoes plants had to be removed. the three plants that i cut down were just acting as aphid baby makers! the poor plants had no new growth and no fruit or flowers - they were dying.

we kept up on the spraying soapy water on all the plants and after the removal of the baby making three the aphids started to die off in large number!!! and this next part i am a little confused about....... the large black ants moved in all over that tomatoes and seemed to be eating all of the aphids........eating? i am not sure but after that day no more aphids!!!!

so next year i need to do things differently in the garden, more companion planting and not having too many of the same plant near each other...... and more food stuffs......asparagus!!! and more beans....

aphids. i have learned more about them this year than i've wanted. nils told me that aphids are good for you skin....just crush 'en in!

some time has past but the feelings remain the same

2005-08-23T09:34:00.000-06:00

gio's super great family arrived in june to join us for our wedding and then travel around a bit in colorado...... we took them to garden of the gods and then over to manitou for a sip of spring water.......

for all of you that have not had the pleasure please let me introduce you to my wonderful mother in law marie helena and my super sweet sister in law carmela

this is my incredible husband and father in law gio and mr.valmour

sam has become part of the family!

a trip in to manitou is never complete without pinball

as i mentioned in the previous entry sam, mira and i took a trip to austin tx for amber vazquez wedding to rob bode

but first we took a peek through rowell new mexico

we went to a few art museums while in austin, the ground at laguna gloria were breath taking

we cleaned up nicely

mr.sam carstens thank you partner

miss mira

amber and her fathers grand enterance

random piece of art that i enjoyed at laguna gloria

the time and life of.....

2005-07-29T11:21:00.000-06:00

time has flown!
i just popped my head back up to realize that it's july and not only july but august will be here in just a few days!

our wedding was magical!!!
i still haven't gotten my photos developed yet
the last few months have been jam packed with great friends and family.
and soon i will post some photos.... i have had an interesting battle with my computer recentlty- my ipod was accidently dropped and finally went to computer hell/heaven so i had to go thru computer hell but now i am back.....

august is almost over and i have been a busy bee this month.
i got back a week ago today from austin texas where my good friend/old room mate (amber vazquez) got married to a man (rob bode) that she has known since she was twelve (she met him at the mall in 7th grade!) they never dated untill just a few years ago, but they were great buddies for years! the wedding was super great, amber chose an old texas town/ranch to get married. the ranch had five buildings on the propety; church, saloon, school house, and two other buildings that i didn't enter. the day was as beautiful as the bride.

i drove down to austin with sam and my good friend that is visiting from cananda mira. the drive down was fun. we stopped in roswell nm, and carlsbad nm, and drove strait into austin the second day,

i think my favorite day out in austin was the day we went out to lake country to kirnsey springs.
ms krunsey's in her lawn chair collecting the three dollar enterance fee and she then sets you loose on her property.
her property has two water falls and several large spring pools.
the best description was from amber's friend bently; it's like walking into alice in wonderlands spring.
when you first walk in there are eight foot lond wind chimes blowing in the breeze, and then the path that takes you down to the spring is twisty and turny and puts you out facing the water fall with giant hanging plants and moss all dripping down the cliff.
i so wished that gio was there to swim with me there, i knew that he would be pushing the kids out of his way to play on the rope swing!

i will post photos soon, i get my wedding pics in on tuesday.
love to all who have faith that i will write again!

do i have a minute?

2005-05-30T21:21:00.000-06:00

not really ....

the toninelos will be here sunday!
it's funny that working at the coffee shop alot of known stragers know that gio's parents and sister are coming next sunday.
yesterday at work a pair of favorites thought that the toninelo's were arriving yesterday morning, everyones excited!

the weather is still not behaving for us..... the fence is almost finished, dad has finished making the gates.

dad and i took out anual father/daughter home depot trip this evening to get the second set of hinges for the gate.....soon it wiil all be over.

this morning dad, gio and i went over to our friend brendan's rental house to pick up the fridge and stove that he gave us for gio's house.
brendan warned me and he even felt bad that the appliances were dirty - really dirty!
this was a rental house with boys living in it! yuck doesn't say enough!!!

but this project went smoothly. we spent the better part of the afternoon cleaning them in the court yard before hauling them into gio's new kitchen!!!

life will be slower soon and hopefully more fun..........

not to say that i am not having fun right now .......i can wistle while i work .......but at this point every thing seem like one more stupid thing i have to do to complete the main projects......

i am so looking forwards to gio's family being here and all my friends gathering here for the wedding. .... it's the cherry on the cake

just can't sleep

2005-05-20T06:27:00.000-06:00

two weeks to go.
two big projects left, both are started.

the sun shade trellis boards are up and what a difference it makes. the temperature in denver these days are mid to high 80's with no clouds and today is supposed to hit the 90's... my straw hat is still packed away some where in the garage?????????

dawn came and i got up. i have been working extra shifts this week for the morning girl heather and i've been awake before dawn the past few days and sleeping in isn't happening.

i have to pick my friend nick up at eight am to bring him back over here to help us today. oh, i feel so pulled! i want to go over and pick up a truck load of compost soil for the garden, i keep thinking that i don't have the time (and the truck can be scary) to get it but the veggie plants will love it!

i got several types of heirloom tomato plants this year to taste the difference. several of them are russian and supposedly more hardy towards frost. i got my broccoli, brussel sprouts, hot and sweet peppers, cucumbers, and alot of herbs that i are new to me. i went herb shopping with harlan who has just finished a year at an organic farm that specialized in salad greens as well as salad herbs.

hopefully we can get the fence done in the next todays and then the trellis is up to my dad basiclly. and i have two more small stone walls to build.....good luck! and then there's the wedding.

the invites that rebecca von did for us are super beautiful and special!
my dress has one last fitting today.
we are going to buy one or two cakes and i am going to make a trifle or maybe two trifles?

i can't wait for gio's family to get here! i feel like christmas is coming (in my stomach)and the anticipation is hard!

i have had some sad news from far away friends that they will not be able to make it........but i understand......except for maureen hutchinson! SHE HAS TO COME!!!!.

i just want a super loving happy families combinding day!

anyway, i think i am going to go make lunch for the troops that are headed here today, green chili?

snow??????

2005-04-29T19:59:00.000-06:00

denver style.
snow in april.
cold cold cold!

all of my plans to work out side have been stomped on by mother nature.
the cold rain started on tuesday,
buy wednesday it was slushy rain,
thurday snow appeared,
today is friday and it's still snowing lightly.

this time of year all of the gardeners start asking the age old question -
have you planted yet?
i would be planting some cold weather crops if i was ready in the yard already....
but the snow has stopped my outdoor activities for now.
this makes me more than ever want to put in a sprouting/growing area so i can start seeds in feburary and have my own plants out on mothers day.
the garage is going to be the cheese storage and growning room along with all the other activies i want to do out there.

because of the snow and cold i went thrifting with dad as our afternoon activity.
the thrift stores here are getting pricey!
half of the good thirft stores are closing and moving out of denver into aurora,
or the land is being bought by flipping wal-mart to put up yet another one of the super mega crap complexes!
but i did hit fifty percent off day at the arc on colfax and sheridan.

we went down to the arc on alameda and fed.
this arc at one time i loved to go to but as of now i just get icky vibes from the place (i am waiting for the building to tell me to get out).

so dad and i are having a fine time, dad found me a lovely apple peeler/corer for two dollars.... and then i ventured over to the kitchen electrical crap and i found a nice coffee grinder for three dollars! super!
i hate my grinder it's top never comes off easily anymore and this one is super nice!
then dad and i look around a little more and we start to go to the check out when a man approaches me
he said that he was going to buy the grinder but he'd put it down for a minute -
what?
and he put it down and i picked it up-
does the words tuff tittys mean anything?
is this not bad form?
if you aren't holding on to a desired item and you place on a shelf with similar items is this item then up for grabs and finder keepers looser weeper?

i gave the looser the grinder. i hate that arc!

home project update:
gio's house is almost complete.
bedroom floor done
office floor done
living room floor installed and urethaned twice

pond dug
pond liner installed
flagstone wall started - then the rain put a halt on that

here are a few pictures

gio and the rocks

this is where we bought the stone

this is us hiding from the hail storm that popped up

pond wall

the latest from the home front.....

2005-04-24T19:18:00.000-06:00

sunday.
it's raining.
rain is great to get out here...
today was to be more time in the garden for me....

the raised planter beds i am planning to look like the planter i built over at 1717
this is a photo of the finished planter with beging growth...

gio's house.
almost ready to be checked off the list!!
three out of the four rooms of flooring in!
the living room floor that has to be installed is getting started tomarrow.

dad and gio installed the sink, sink cabinet, and hanging top cabinets on saturday!!!
those industrious men also put in the final pieces on the raised bed planter. and then i fed them well!

what's next you asked??
the pond.
the front fence and gate
the open roof between little house and my house
how much more time you ask until we complete this??? five to six weeks! plus plan the wedding... it's a sinch! not a problem ! i got everything under control!

help!!!

well, i did get sent some angles this week.
rebecca von (a great designer/artist) is going to do our invites! she is so creative!
and trish christianson has graciously given her time to help (make!! ) my dress she too is talented in many ways but espically with dress making!!!

da dum dee dum, da dum deee dmmmmm

2005-04-14T16:31:00.000-06:00

see that face!
see how cute he is!!
i get to see that face every morning!!!!
that cute face asked me to marry him the other day!!!
and i said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
can you see my smile???
i love him very much
xxoojennyl.

what's going on here....

2005-03-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

we have a comfirmation for the arrival of gio's parents: june 5th!!!
i really need to get back to studing!
the arrival of my father and the construction that is going on here has me out of my routine and i haven't cracked the books for two weeks!!!
gio did buy me a little dictionary to help me out....

like all good spings in denver in the past three days it has been 70deg and sunny, then it the temp dropped the next day to 40 deg and rainy, then the next morning it was 50 deg by ten am then stated snowing by two pm! last night it snowed most of the night and has left us cold and damp today.....the trees and flowers don't know what to do!!!

here's some proof of what we're trying to do out front when it's not snowing on us.....

a good reply

2005-03-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

maureen finally got a great responce.....i still think the others suck......
Maureen but I wanted to add a comment from Technosailor’s site that I thought was great!
Alan Aspuru-Guzik Says:
March 28th, 2005 at 10:29 pm
Well, I came here via the weblog competition, and found this discussion thread. Here is my opinion.
x) When Europe started free trade agreements with Eastern Europe and extended the economic community to their countries, they did CONSCIOUS EFFORT to improve the economic situation there. The Economist (a right wing magazine) criticized the US strongly because instead of helping México (members of NAFTA) catch up economically, it continued draining it’s economy with the World Bank and IMF predatory policies, and did not invest in it as a REAL trading partner to raise standards of living, and therefore eliminate the standard of living imbalance that leads to the inmigration that you seem to worried about. FYI, the size of the economy of México, as well as the number of citizens is comparable to the new 10 countries that are joining the EU (Poland, etc…). The growth of the Mexican economy is of future benefit for the US and Canada.
x) Reiterating my point: Since the crisis of the 80’s and the Tequila effect of 1994, both CREATED by economic conditions imposed by the World Bank (US puppet) policies, the Mexican economy became weaker. The governments of México, as puppets of the US aggravated the situation.
x) The revolution that you call for in Latin America is happening. Maybe you won’t like it, due to your right-leaning ideas, but happily, it is a LEFTIST revolution (Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil, Tavaré Vazquez in Uruguay, Andrés Manuel López Obrador in México when he wins in 2006, Evo Morales in Bolivia, when he wins in the next election, Kirchner in Argentina, and even Castro in Cuba (!!) [I am a social-democrat, so I don’t like dictatorships, but I prefer Castro to Pinochet and other right-wing dictators which were SUPPORTED by the US in the “name” of fighting “communism”!]). This revolution seeks to have an independent Latin America, free of US intervention.
You might not like it, but the way to stop the inmigration is for Latin America to have the profits of their own natural resources: that means Chávez using OIL PROFITS for the poor, The Bolivians taxing Texaco and Chevron for extracting oil and gas in their countries and kicking out Enron and other water transnationals.
I am the son of a LEGAL inmigrant. My father is Mexican and was working here for Fairchild Electronics when I was born. Then we moved back to México. But other people, that are sons or daughters of inmigrants and are born on this land have the same rights as other Americans. Your proposal is ridiculous, as stated above, it entails punishing UNBORN people for whatever is the situation of their [MOSTLY ENTERPRENEURIAL AND HARD-WORKING] parents.
I thought that the right-wingers were for defending the rights of unborn people… “Oy vei, Oh my god, ¡Dios mío!”

something different

2005-03-29T00:27:00.001-07:00

no photos
no light stuff.
i was visiting my friends blog when i tripped over an entry and had to comment.

6 Responses to “On being hispanic”
* Aaron Says: Sorry, Mo… the truth hurts sometime… :\

* Maureen Says: what do you mean the “truth”?

* Mike Says:
I agree with you to a point and your comments concerning the Statue of Liberty are fact, but those words do not provide entry into this country illegally. I do not agree that a child born in this country from “illegal” parents should automatically be granted U.S. citizenship. The parents were not citizens and you know as well as I do the reason the pregnant mother came here was because she knew the baby would become a citizen and that would provide her entry as well. That’s what we have happening on our southern border today. It is out of control and President Bush, who I support on most issues is giving Carte Blanche to Mexico’s president Fox. I feel a fence or wall should be erected along the border and anyone caught crossing illegally should be shipped back immediately. Immigrants wanting to come here should only be allowed to enter the country through legal means. Another consideration is the fact that many criminals are crossing into America, not too mention the threat of terrorist coming here, but that is a major concern. Of course the average person crossing the border is not a criminal, but how do we know? We have enough murderers, rapist already in this country. There are many murders, rapes and robberies occurring in the towns and cities that lie along the crossing routes. We should show compassion, but this has to be gotten under control now…

* Sean M. Crawford Sr. Says: I agree with Mike when he says some control must be applied. But I have seen the consequences of crossing borders in Germany. Remember there was an East Berlin & West Berlin at one time. I saw a guy get his brains shot clean out of his head crossing the border and that forever changed my life.

AMERICAN DREAM??? Where the hell is it so I can claim mine. I am ALL-NATURAL American born and have yet to see the so-called AMERICAN DREAM yet. And how can you talk about people on welfare sucking up money from the government? Just like you took a stand on those people you know that have gone through to arrive at what they have I too know some who have gotten off of welfare but have yet to arrive. I am one who has experienced that first hand. Even though I may not appear like I have been on it.

What pisses me off is opportunities are given to those with almost every letter of the alphabet in their last name. It is easier for them to apply to colleges and get accepted, aplly for jobs and get hired. You think this illegal issue is bad try the form of slavery that stiff exist and then HOLLA ACHA DAWG!!!!

You can argue the point all day long that slavery doesn’t exist but until you live this right here you just don’t know. Illegals got it much easier.

Personally I feel until we can control and contain what is going on right here in the USA this issue is just a diversion from the real facts.

* Maureen Says: What are you talking about Mike? A wall? Like the Berlin Wall - keep out the undesirables? You are aware of the fact that there is a wall actually erected along most of the border right? And border patrol with guns and dogs that do ship the mexicans back when they catch them. And have you hear of a little thing called deportation? Yes, an illegal caught here gets deported to his country! I should know, one of my cousins was deported. So there ARE consequences. And how does go about legally immigrating to this country? I’m only aware of two ways - getting an american sponsor or marrying an american. How does a dirt poor hispanic go about getting a sponsor? Remember many of these people have no electricity - no money for phones… so how do they do it? Can you think of any LEGAL way? And the American Dream, Sean? How many tv’s do you have in your house. Wait, does your house have a door? Electricity? Indoor plumbing? A carpet or hardwood floor? You have a car right? That right there is what they consider the American Dream. I never felt so rich until I went to the Yucatan in Mexico where they lived in shacks - they didn’t have doors or electricity. I saw people actually sweeping their dirt floors… Why sweep a dirt floor? they got around on bicycles with large baskets in the front that they used to collect the wood they chopped during the day in order to cook and have light at night. I could NOT believe my eyes!!!!! I would never have thought people live like that in this day and age! And one last thing… people keep saying they get free healthcare, ah no… they do gets billed for care if they don’t have insurance and if they can’t pay it then they get hassled by creditors just like the rest of us!

And i completely agree that this issue is a diversion from what’s going on with our own country.

* jennyl Says:
you men (not to make this a gender issue) all are too rich and powerful to understand the full problem.
as soon as are country starts to slip and all of you over extended credit citizens with little skills are standing on bread lines then you might know desperation.
slavery, “invading mexicans!”, the yellow man coming in a getting your place in college these are all superficial complaints.
you all suck!
you all have too much, why doesn’t the mexican hater put his money where his mouth is and sponsor a dirty mexican into this country ?
hey i bet he needs a maid!
my family sponsored two separate families into this country, there you go no one had to get into a barrel or a shipping crate and risk their life to Yes better their situations. People come here to escape horrifying circumstance not to milk “our system”.

And as for our real problem in this country….the cows are following the herd, no citizen is in control there lies OUR problems… buy more stuff, go out to eat more often, disconnect your self more from what we really are.

just trying to make friends….j

he likes gw?
these are the thoughts of east coast republican!!!!
this topic burned my butt!
the gawl of these men to think that bordering in our selves and not helping or giving a chance to anyone else to come in is ok?
do they forget what the status of their grandparents or greatgrand parents were? did they all apply and get granted citzenship before they stepped into ellis island or someother port? forget the "american dream" crap that just stands for stealing from indigenous tribes of this continent - beads anyone?

rant complete

even more progress/ dad has arrived!!!!

2005-03-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

well the day has come that my father has arrived here in colorado.
he left virginia at two am on wednesday and drove striaght here an came up my walk at one in the afternoon on thursday 1773 miles!!!! this is ranking high for my fathers long distance no stopping except to get gas driving record!!!

i thought that he would want a little rest the next day, maybe go out for lunch? no, he informed me that i better get a hussle on it be cause we had work to DO!!!!

he and i had chatted the day before about what i would like to have done.... no time to spare we got to it on friday.....

can you believe that my father is turning 76 in may??? he out did me this day, everyday still.....

all toll on friday we (he, i was he lacky) tore out two closets and saved all the lumber that we could ( this was my job, pulling out nails, screws and staples) we saved everything but the sheet rock!!! not bad.

as for saturday: gio and my father busted out my cement walk (fifty feet long). and the rest of the time this week has been spent on purchasing all the items for building the kitchen in the little house..... and much to my chringin my father has filpped the bill for the big items..... he has also designed a vautled trellis inbetween the little house and my house. we have also completed the design/bid for building the fence that i would like.....lots of stuff going on here.....

on a side bar, i got the kifir grains that i have been waiting for !!!!
kifir cheese, kifir drinks, kifir cream cheese!!!! all waiting to happen!

progress + gio vs.sly

2005-03-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

gio and i went out last friday to buy vynol tiles for the little house /penthouse/ guesthouse.
we went to "buds thrift" - it's an industral thrift store.
it's a good organization: they hire hard to hire and sell the end of industrial jobs materials and recycled good - flooring, sink, cabinets, ovens, doors etc....

today gio and i clear out the little house, cleaned up the floor and laid out the tiles to see what we wanted.
now i have to say what you are about to see is the random tile pattern that i liked - gio wanted to do more of a three color checker board patter..... i still am not to sure....but here are some wall colors to vote on!

last tuesday out gio and i went trifting... this is what gio got into!

my father (mr.douglas le grand) should be out here soon! next week? gio and i
need to finish his floor and get his house set back up cozy for him.

i chatted with my father today about the house project as well as the front yard demolition and new fence/wall. i have already mention the idea to build a solid wall that has open window areas but i am still not sure what materials to use and what style to adopt.
on a walk this morning gio and i came across a house a few blocks away that had an adobe wall with flagstone tops for their courtyard with double doors...hummmmm....gio still has the picture in his camera. this wall/fence very much interest me....

this photo show the simplicity for the wall....

this is not what i want but i do like the wall division with the use of wood slatted materials....

and "as the stomach turns" work has changed the schedule again!
eddie quit to go work at the hi-dive/spudnik as a bartender, i wish him good luck.
an zakk is still in town and should be here for the next two to three months.
when zakk leaves they are going to hire someone new....but until then we are not sure what the next schedule will be like?
as for now though..... flanders wanted to do opening:wish granted!
gio agreed to let go of his morning shift for flanders to step in, he didn't know how bad of a change it was going to be. tina gave him two night shifts - less$$$.
gio seems ok for the moment ??? i've been having the feelings of looking for a parttime job and maybe drop a day from work. too much st.marks drama....

i can't wait to see my dads sparking blue eyes!!!!
i haven't seen him since last spring!
it seem to me that he makes his way to see me right around the end of winter/spring of spring time. i have been waiting a long time to work on my own property with him, especially the designing the garden space! super!!! the picking of his brain will begin.

life at the houses

2005-02-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

i still don't feel quite at home.
my thoughts keep wondering back to a house that i shared with my sister heather on washington street (849 wash). for some reason that is the last house that felt like home to me. i am not sure why? it could be that i lived there with my sister and that my father stayed with us for sevreal months?? or maybe it was just my bedroom that i miss the most, it did have a fireplace in it....?

but the idea that i live here now is growing on me.
i dream about the front yard now.
how i want the front yard to be a secret garden space-away from the neighbors and their ball/toy stealing children!

i have been looking at japanese garden design recently and i have the desire to design a front wall and gate system based on what i have seen....but my own??? does this make sence? i want the walls to have open window ports so the scene from out side becomes a picture hanging on the wall (find the best shots of our neighbors houses).

i also have been pondering how to tie the houses together better using the courtyard. i do want to plant pear trees infront of the little house. the little house looks so bare from the steet side. and i still would like strings of lights across the courtyard, this is a dsicussion between gio and i. i am for the lights gio's against.

i also need to research potted trees that can make it through the winter in colorado. this winter has had a few snow storms but we haven't been that cold. at my garden at 17th street my lettuces, cilantro, arugula and mustard greens are all still actively growing!

so i have a lot to still think about. i guess i should just start sketching out what's in my head....

gio update: last week gio and i went snowboarding!
he is getting soooo much better!
he was keeping up with me on the greens!!!!!
soon enough he'll be back country with me and markj!!!

happy valentines day to all....xxoo

snowy, warm, snowy, warm

2005-01-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

denver's weather this month.... well i can't say that it's not the usual.

i looked out the window this morning and this is the beauty that was my morning....

and this is one week ago!

on to new facts:
yesterday was gio's birthday.
he's thirty-one two years ago.
gio and i both had to work yesterday, i went in for the five am and gio was in at noon. i wanted to make his birthday as special as i could for a work day.
i decided that i would give him his gifts through out the day.

gift #1: a new watch (with all the bells and whistles that he likes)
i had this gift ready for him at noon.

gift#2: a class for learning silk screen printing at the other side gallery.
gio's been wanting to do this for the past few years!
i gave this to him after his shift ... and a few cocktails

gift #3: a meat grinder/ sausage maker.
if you know gio you know how appropriate this is for him.
gio got his last gift and cake time after our sushi dinner.

not my prettiest cake... but tasty...i think i was successful in my quest for a great birhtday for him!

where's my toothbrush???

2005-01-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

today is thursday january 20th.
ten days until gio's birthday
and fourty-one days from the day that gio and i saw this house for the first time.

today is my second morning waking up in my new house. this is the first time that i have really lived in my own space, and i am realizing that every piece of furnature that i own is too large! i want to cut the legs down on several pieces.....maybe i should wait for my dad to get here to help me do it right and not in a moment of frustration. i don't have an exact date for when my dad arrives - i am figuring on 2 weeks to a month from now.

last tuesday was move in day party!!*%#@!!!!
i really do need to stop calling these work events parties but it just puts a happier ring to them....
friday: carpet ripping out party
saturday: painting party
tuesday: move gio, mikey, and jenny party.....this party lasted eleven hours!!!##@%!!!!

i really have to especially thank nick hoppman for haning in with us all day!!! he helped mikey pack after mikeys shift (closed and out by 1:30am) asleep by five am and with us to unload gio by eleven....

back of nick's head

we all thought that mikey didn't own very much stuff.... i even thought that one and a half hours would be enough time for moving him....four hours later......

with everyone worn out or mia we slammed my large furniture into my house and i decided that we would get the rest later.....i didn't care anymore.....i rent another truck next week or risk it in the toaster truck!!
too pooped for a flash

all in all i do have wonderful friends that pitch in when needed!
mikey is now being quoted "that moving days are our modern barn rasing."
everyone straining and sweating together to help a family make their goal.
super sweet.

thanks again to nick, willy crook, sam, trish, zakk, harlen, stacey, kevin.
and a special thanks to the wonderful giovanni who showed his true colors of keeping great spirits all day and for being a rock when i needed you to be.

thank you all i love you all very much.

happy birthday to me

2005-01-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

well january 9th has come. i am now 34.

my birthday this year was perfect.

a mixture of people i love and a tender boyfriend that helped me have a great time.

gio took me out to our favorite resturant for brunch. gio had to get zakk to work his shift so we could spend the day together......he's so sweet

i wanted to wear a crown for my birthday.....but i don't have one. but harlen gave me this decortive comb instead......

gio and i spent the afternoon relaxing and later walked downtown with sam, harlen and zakk to go out for "italien" food.....we even stopped by the old st.marks downtown that is now a bar....monarch? but my friend charles was tending bar.....one cocktail for all and then we were off to dinner....

i am not sure about everyone else but i think i drank a little too much?

thank you all for celebrating with me!!!!

happy new year!!!

2005-01-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

this last year leaves me feeling not older but better adjusted?

seven more days to my birthday....and unlike my some body i know i don't care about what age i am turning.
i don't think - other than twenty-five - that i have ever worried about my age....this also might explain why i don't care that i am going to be a thirty-four year old barrista. well, i do care. i would rather be doing this for myself if this is what i am going to be doing.
hopefully when we are in the house i can start doing upholstery again. it's hard but good money. over the last year i have turned down several jobs that i could've made a nice sum from...but here we go!!!

another thought that has been running through my head is the end of 1717 house. sam and trish are going to keep the house, and the tradition of temp roommate....let me see who has lived here....my brother in law, darren, was first- he was super great to have. then there was ungreatful charlie - he was a friend at the time but i want nothing to do with him now - jerk.
i think after charlie was the first time that trish and i lived alone. the alone time only lasted one or two months. next was nils upstairs and my dad was here after cancer treatment was in the foriegn exhange student room.
then skippy micheal came back and with skippy m came friends and more friends - i think chris was on the sofa for a few months....this house has been full and i can't say that i have loved it the whole time.
sam moved in last january. sam was going to be a temp roomy but we loved living with him so he's been here ever since....nils is back again.....he leaves for europe in march.

zakk and harlen have been back for the past few weeks. they are in between farming and looking for their own farm to buy (along with harlens mom). they were going to stay thru the hoildays but harlens grandmother seems to be slipping away so they are staying because they fear that a funeral is coming.

here's a photo of harlen and zakk at bump and grind

and here's sam's inner child

last week sam and i took a trip to boulder to visit my insurance agent - i still have the same agent from when i worked in boulder - we went to lunch at lucilles - a cajun breakfast lunch dinner - after we walked around for a bit....here's a few photos....

there are seven more shopping days until my birthday.
there are twelve more days until closing on the house......oh boy!

the house. the whole thing makes me nervous. i just want both of us to be very happy living there....and creative! everyone make a wish!!! happy new years!!!!

a better view

2004-12-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

well it looks as if the search is over!
3545 lipan street denver colorado seem to be our newest address!!!

i still have a few more hoops to jump through but it seems to be in the bag.

yesterday was inspection day.
i hung out with the inspector brothers -ron and craige- super great guys! they said the property will last us another one hundred and thirteen years.
i also had a sewer inspection to check out the pipes - pipes got an A as well.

infact noreen (my agent) told me last night that she was suprised how little was wrong with the place. we are going to ask for a new garage door and door opener, the current door is flimsy cracked plastic and the opener only gets the door two feet off the ground.

i really have to thank the jesuits for beings so kind to the house. they put a lot of love and energy into fixing up the place. and brother al especially for all of his hard work on the grounds. he planted lilacs, chinese cherry trees, iris, roses, snap dragons, tulips, too many things to name. i will have some great established plants come spring time.

brother al

court yard - just you wait and see what gio and i do here!

dad/guest house

noreen

thanks agian to the jesuits! i have a washer/dryer again!!!

home sweet home

dc boys party

2004-12-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

i wish i had gotten a photo of rick.....

gio had a gig last friday. the only thing he knew about it is that it was a christmas party and it was in a studio. recording studio? design studio?

all of the above sounded good to me. sam was a little nervous at first because of the xmass party theme - sam's a teacher and all the christmas parties he's supposed to attend really suck it.
lame suburban women that have nothing good to say other than how much they all love bush.

back to the party:
well it turns out that i knew the host. the host is a customer from st marks that i've chatted with. his name is rick and he's from dc. infact he used to work the door and other duties and none other than the 930club. uh, what about that? he was the youngest person to work there. super cool!

the party was in his work loft above rock island. the band (gio with josh novak) sounded great. rick has letter presses and off set presses that he does some of his work off of.

photos follow. i got my camera back!!!!

my interest peaked

2004-12-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

last thursday and friday i went out with noreen to look at investment properties. there was only one house that i liked but i didn't get to see the whole house....here are the pictures i took on friday.

the nieghbors look nice. a library and a church

this is the first apartment and my favorite one

this is the side entery for the upstairs apartment

over all this house has parts to it that i am looking for but. and i am feeling if there are any buts about it i should pass and keep on looking! wish me more luck! there is some property at 34th and franklin that i am going to look at this week so far. fixer upper. hummmm my dad will be here in late january? maybe i will have a big project for us to work on!!!!!

the first steps making my tummy ache

2004-12-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

today was the first day of house hunting.

noreen - my agent - and i saw five place today.

1. the 1950's two level ranch. it had the amount of space inside that i would like. it had a one car garage and a huge yard. but 1950's? no character no charm. and a little out of our price range. huge yard!!!

2. 1895 victorian. well this was more like it. it has three units. two one bedrooms and a studio. small yard. no garage.

garage is so important to me. an in-law suite for dad. studio for me or gio. it's that extra room off the house that can be so cool fix into a new part of the house. no car shall be parked in my garage!!!

3. i don't even know what year the structure was built. the place looked as noreen said like a garage. i want a garage but not as my house.

4. 1890's victorian. super cute first and second level. basement is set up as seperate apartment. ugly! low ceilings no windows it's a dungeon for rent! but the rest of the house had huge closets. there is a garage but the back yard had been cemented into a large sloping parking lot. gio did think this super cool for his rc cars. but that would be the only good aspect of it.

5. early 1900's on firth ct. nasty is the only word for it! there was even a dead fly stuck to the inside of the door jam as we entered....water stained indoor outdoor gray carpet. grungy shower stall. all the walls were dripping some brown fluid. ohhhhhyucky. we didn't go past the first two rooms. fixer upper this was not. oh did i mention that they put vinyl siding up over brick? super yuck!

well tomarrow i am going to see four more properties. i figure that i will probably be looking for atleast three months. finding investment properties takes awhile there are a ton listed right now.... wish me luck!

thanksgiving and life around

2004-11-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

my camera is still away to be fixed. no photo.

thanksgiving. it turned out great but what a whirlwind.

we started off planning the party for my house and a friend, erin, that has a larger house and a big turkey and a dish washing machine invited all of us to go to his place and join him.

erin is a southern boy from mississippi and very gracious. the table was full of hot steaming delicious food. everyone pitched in and brought plenty of food, wine and dessert!!

ooooh, i tried something new this year for dessert. i want to do the pumpkin classic but with a new twist: pumkin custard triffel with orange-crandberry marmalade soaked in dark rum and it turned out to be unbelievable! i should have made it a day ahead to soak more.....rumalishish

then for buy nothing day (friday) sam, eric and i took a trip up to hot sulfur springs to soak a bit. the drive was beautiful it was full of snow from berthound pass on passed winter park. it wasn't snowing on us at hot sulfur but the temperature didn't get over 22 degress/-5c. oh sooooo cold switching pools!!! we tried the newest pool with a little water fall, the water fall was hot but the pool was cooler and shallow! so we stayed put for hours in the big water fall pool. so relaxing.

as for denver.
it hasn't gotten over 27 degress in the past three days and the snow is stil coming. there have been rock/snow slides all around the state, the largest one happened inbetween vail to glenwood. the slide sent boulders down that took out one side of the highway and sent all traffic for the first day up 40. but denver looks so good under the blanket of snow that has fallen.

as for me!
i have been approved for a house loan! so the search begins!!!! i want to find a house that has been split into apartments. here comes the commune!!! i have so many ideas running around in my head for the place, well the back yard for now.....hot tub, wood burning sauna, in law suite, studio for upholstery even.......hopefully in the next few months i will be able to post a photo of my new house!!!!! let me ground my self .....aahhhhh

cold cold cold.....my toes are cold. i'm going to get back under the covers with a hot cup of tea.

see photos of thanksgiving on gio's site.

new boots and no camera!!!

2004-11-12T17:27:00.001-07:00

tuesday was the day
i found the boots that i've been searching for
black
sleek
tall
no heels
hard to find
super cool
no photo

so i drew a picture....not actual size

alas my camera has a malfunction and has to be sent back to the manufacture for repairs....that's a whole other stupid problem.

if any one reading this knows me very well you should understand i've had the problem often and i never seem to change.

never remember where the "special place" is for my important things.
i have very many "special places". this time the special place was the box the camera came in with a special folder that the sales person stapled the receipt in......i didn't find it until yesterday.
i even had a duplicate receipt made by the store. it took a week to receive it.

well, no i have all my ducks in a row and i need to send off the camera to see if they will fix it............

i just can't sleep

2004-11-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

november is here.
halloween is over.
four more years.

yesterday hands down was the saddest day that i've worked at st.marks.
people were coming in with puffy eyes from crying and long faces with deep sighs - i was one of them.
ohio.
ohio was the state that turned the tide to the republicans.
i hate ohio.
i think i hate most of america for being the red states. even colorado!!! we were red!!!!

what i don't understand is that we could all vote for renewable energy but we couldn't get all our asses in gear and elect someone other than bush?

i think i will not be able to sleep for awhile about this matter.

kerry? what a putts for conceding so quickly. should've been edwards as the candidate.
i yelled with others about this all day at work yesterday. i got home with a large bottle of wine to share with my roommates and proceeded to bitch and moan some more. and here i am at six thirty in the morning whining !!! i haven't even had a cup of tea yet....... ok enough.....

HALLOWEEN
the friday of halloween weekend a gang of us halloweeners went to a party hosted by the lovely bartendress of the thin man miss stephanie.
good lord did she have a lot of guests and liquor!
it was quite a good show of fellow costumed attendees at the party.

jocky men = fisher man gear, football players and some times dressed as ugly woman
bimboy girls = skimpy anything, angle, devil, eighties valley girl equipped with neon necklace
nerd men = some costume with deep meaning. "i am John J. Armstrong, now assistant director
of American prison operations in Iraq." sweet
and here's all of us

nils trying to make his way to hell faster

sam, he looks beautiful everyday of the year. babayaga

salior/frank sinatra gio and charlie chaplin nick. damn gio looks hot!!!

nils trying harder

mikey flander as once again panty hose ballon boy

gio's distrubed by my costum - ballerina clown

after this photo the camera went boom on the ground!!! hummmmmmmm?

and fun was had by all.......

halloween 2004

2004-10-28T16:35:00.000-06:00

well we didn't start off with quite the bang we're used to.
but we having been doing a few things....

before vacation sam hosted a clay party. the theme of the party was to make scary skulls and other goolish objects that could be useful or not.

i made an ash tray for gio

last sunday we had some more people over to carve pumpkins. lots o'fun.
done by girl sam

this is mine

i'm not sure

last night sam, hazel and i went to the scream park in brighton. good fun. pretty scary.

it was the high tech scary that you'll find at primitive fear or over at elitches haunted houses.
it was the good ol' dangerous fun we all used to have during halloween - the halloween when mom and dad didn't check your candy!

there were two haunted houses, a fun house, a kiddy haunted train ride and another kiddy haunted house.

well if any one knows hazel you'll know that her biggest fear is clowns.
end count of evening = fifteen clowns ( some children size in groups),
two pint size scream masks,
several gools with blood,
several odds and ends people in the dark
one chainsaw guy,
one red neck boy on top of his trailer who would leep on to trampoline
and bounce onto another trailer!!!!! super cool

moving on

2004-10-28T15:58:00.000-06:00

the rest of the trip?

i have waited too long and now san fran seems like a foggy memory.... pun not intended

napa......
at the last wine tasting were other older couples seemed amused to find out that we were biking around to the tastings. crazy kids!

the drive back was short and we stopped off at the golden gate.....

after we got back from napa there was only three days left before the drive home to denver.
we had not been over to the mission. we went in search of the brazilian market that we had heard of....we found a cute little italien market as well....

gio and i spent a beautiful late afternoon at baker beach.
this is the beach that cathy and darren used to live by when they lived in the presidio

over all the vacation was brilliant but to short.
the time i spent in the car driving was almost equal to the time in sf. but there were parts of nevada and utah that were breath taking: canyons, mountains, big sky.
it really should have been a two week vacation....
hard to pull off with the both of us at st.marks.

thanks again to my two wonderful sisters and super great brother in law using his powers for good!!! thank you for helping us see you all and have a great vacation!!!!

maybe soon we will all be able to go away to gether some where warm!!!!
not that i don't like the cold..... ocean city any time soon?

there and back again

2004-10-09T08:37:00.000-06:00

vacation.

i want more than one big one every three years.....

the big question i heard from a lot of friends was: in your car?
what's wrong with my car? she not beautiful but her heart is good!

i have taken long drives before. my grandmother lived in florida and i would drive down with family and then later on being the driver (twenty-six hours dc to fla). the drive out to san fran i just wanted to get us out there....we took 80.

i don't think i'll ever drive on 80 again. large trucks, high speeds, salt flats all not good. 50 is good: beautiful scenery, not much traffic, gas stations at least every one hundred and six miles.

we arrived at heathers at ten at night....she and her roommate were asleep. heathers and her roommate thought we were arriving two days later....ooops

heathers home

gio and i spent the first day walking thru golden gate park - which is the back yard to my sisters!
(if you want to see more photos - www.zerogerman.com - photos)
we walked out to the height. this area reminded me of a hippy georgetown from the 80's. it did have a ton of thrift store - but i didn't want any stinky hippy crap! after the haight we made our way over to skippy's coffee shop to meet up with skip and go out for dinner.

skip took us to a friend's restaurant "bluejays". the resturant is soul food. the food was good but i was more impressed with the layout of the restaurant. it had the most beautiful u shaped counter with bar for more casual dinning. they even used old shutters as part of the lower wall treatment! supercute!

we also took a side trip to napa valley. we rented a room in calistoga and got to bike around and go to a few wineries. ah! there is the best italian restaurant there! they make their own pastas and had the best ravioli, i haven't had any pasta that delicious since the east coast with the di dio and their familie members. uncle joe's cousin marie reagan had a wedding for one of their three daughters- good lord they can that family cook!

food.
the trip had a lot of not eating at home. the restaurants that we chose we good but san fran never wowed me like new york could do. although we did go to an interesting vegi chinese restaurant the last night we were there. the hulahula? hua hua? hu ho? i can't remember.
they served items like vegibeef, vegipork, vegichicken, vegifish. it was interesting, but i don't think i could eat fake meat all the time.

activities:
love parade - a parade from germany that started by a dj that has turned into a huge event. this is the first year that the love parade was tried in another country. super fun! here's some pics

heather and her friend and german hiko

some freaks

some dj

some big boobies

super cutie

zen techno freaks

more cuties

crowded freaks

bridge freaks

dirty clown freaks

big balled freaks

thumpin' freaks

short bus freaks

numchuck swinging freak

super cool! painting the feeling of the parade

heather's so cute that a film wanted her to try out.....the movie's called drunk! they want people to come and drink as muck as they want and answer questions....will heather do it?
will find out later!

then time to go home....it looks like everyone thought that at the same time!!!! i was a sardine for an hour

more to come.........

and off we go!!!!!!!!

2004-09-26T15:07:00.000-06:00

today is the day we're off to san fran

as i said before i could pee with the excitement!

i am the only driver in the car.

gio is frightened of utah - aren't we all
we should be there by monday night....

photos to come

aj's birthday

2004-09-10T18:08:00.000-06:00

aj - for all of you that don't know here - she is a wonderful female
if you know her you know what i mean....

on thursday nite the ladies of spirit ways threw a cake and punch party for her to give gifts and celebrate her.....spiritways is the metaphysical shop where she works.....the photos are a little quriky..........

i have spent quite few birthday's with aj.
in fact the first birthday we spent together was hers (not to be corny) we both got tattoos. we both got symbols that look as if there painted on - hers on her back and mine on my breast bone....

aj and i met at 849 washington street house.
i met her right after my mother passed away and aj was starting to realize that her father was not going to beat cancer the second time. because of these situations she and i gave a lot of understanding to one another about learning the stages of mourning. we cheered one another up by becoming great playmates - one of the reason i love her

i lived on the entire first floor and she had the whole basement apartment. there were three other apartments in the house only one of which we were super friendly with - rob and kelley.....they've gone their own ways now.

one evening aj had her niece in town and we promised to wake her up after we got back from being "out". we decided to go back to the house wake up cj and build an entire pillow & sheet fort that would cover the apartment, i seem to remember convincing a few other people we knew to come and join us in our well thought out plan

aj and i lived in that house for a few years and only moved out because of the two other horrible apartments and the slum lord....boy oh boy was that house fun when those three problems weren't around. we then went to 2950 humbolt and started living with other roommates. bad idea.

but now she and i have passed 6 or 7 birthday's together and i suspect that there will be quite a few more in store.........

the week of movies

2004-09-09T13:00:00.001-06:00

for some reason this week (and it's only thursday) i have seen three movies - sam has been to all of them with me!

last friday some of us were going to go to the spike&mikes sick and twisted animation festival....but i wanted to see it with gio and he was covering for tyrone (doing a double! noon to one am!) and the rest of the participants of the evening couldn't get it together - including me

monday:
labor day.
i was busy at work - we are one of the only coffeeshops open on holidays all of them but christmas day. 364!
sam and i decided to go to the dollar theater and see the latest harry potter. much better than the last one.

tuesday:
brasilian independents day
gio and i celebrated by a bbq and beers in the afternoon while waiting for the ups guy to deliver gio's new doll.

we met up with sam while waiting for nils to get off work at armasan.... then off to the movies

when the movie got out gio and i stopped by craig thomas' new art gallery "ism". we chatted for awhile - craig told us he was waiting for a lady he'd just met to come back (they were going to hand out) and in walks a customer of ours maureen....that girl gets around town! she hangs in good spots.

we got home and had a few cocktails. gio pulled out his new guitar from mark and played while i did some yoga/acrobatic moves and took picture....

i love evenings like that!

wednesday:
just pain ol'wednesday
work again.....work.work.work.work......

then another movie! sam and i went to see ju on.

it's a horror flick -i have to say i was nervous going in thinking i was going to pee my pants at some point. no pee to report. not to scary but good.

the hard decisions

2004-09-06T10:18:00.000-06:00

i went into work on Friday to see gio for a moment and i walked out with a kitten.

deep breath…..he’s so cute. yesterday i thought that i didn’t want the responsibility of another cat….

i do want a playmate for seven but i wasn’t sure that new guy is it?

today? I think he’s getting more used to all of us. seven seems to really like him – he walks around calling for him when he can’t find new guy (yes that’s his name for now).

last night they both slept in between gio & i.
i think they like each other,

some problems with new guy:

he screams when he meows

he tries to eat off the dinner table (i had to put him where bad kitties go! the bathroom)

he tries to get out of the house a lot

he’s already destroyed a plant

some good things about new guy:

cute

purrrrs

plays with seven

is stating to attach to us?

And right now he’s asleep in my lap looking so cute

gio seems ok with him (he’s been pointing out how much seven likes him)

nils thinks he should be with a family with kids.

sam seems not to mind if we keep him.

I’m not sure what I think. i am mixed with my feelings….?

empty handed again...

2004-08-19T13:08:00.000-06:00

well, wednesday started out beautiful! sunny & in the 70's. gio and i were both in high spirits and we had some fun plans for the day after we took care of errands and the gym.....

we went to boulder to visit my friend mark joseph and his daughter cassidy joseph.

the plan:
1. lunch at lucile's (gio and i love this restaurant for it's sweet potato & crab bisque...and it's the resturant we went to for our first date...oooohhhh)
2. go fishing at mark josephs favorite fishin' spot

when i talked to mark joseph before we headed up he had mentioned that the news said that it was supposed to rain all afternoon. if you haven't lived in colorado, or that you might live on the east coast, this might seem like it could be a true statement, for as i am a nine year veteran of the high dessert prairie "raining all afternoon" usually means: it will rain for maybe an hour and then move on....

we got to the fishing spot around two o'clock and had to leave by four. fishing called due to heavy rain, thunder and lightening.

but we had two hours to try to catch a fish. now there is photographic proof of sizeable fish being caught at this lake...before we left mjs house he showed us a photo of a fish about the size of the length of his chest.....

as you can see the only fish caught was ....a little smaller?

casidy joseph took me on a tour around the edge of the lake to show me all the areas i shouldn't fish - due to large rocks where you could snag your line.....shallow areas where you could snag your line.....outlets that were too small for two people to fish at......etc....she very cautious about snagging her line....cass is funny

we met back up with the men after we finished our circuit. it was raining so hard that we all got under a shelter and mark joseph and gio keep fishing for a bit more......

then there was the trip home. the half hour trip turned into one hour and fifteen minutes of driving hell.... water was everywhere falling from the sky and splashing up from all the puddles....skidding all over the road and idiots.....the news when we got home was saying two to four inches an hour and the storm had already been going on for five hours....we made it home safe and wet....hot bath, tea, a pizza pie from around the corner and "family guy" made the evening great!!

when i got back to my house i couldn't figure out what smelt and why there were books and pieces of fabric hanging all around? oh, the basement flooded! right now i'm airing out the house, oh well..... i'm still in great spirits!!!

progress is being made

2004-08-13T12:03:00.000-06:00

i went down south last week to visit great friend of mine.... inspirations for being creative and motivated arise after (and or during) a visit with her.

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Amanda used to own a super cafe - the pony espresso - and i work there with her. i learned a lot more about all culinary aspects in the time i worked there.
the day would start and amanda would just imagine what would be great to bake that day.....key lime pie with a key lime short bread crust? did want to learn something new? brioche?
she would take me to other restaurants to taste their dishes and we would try to figure out what went in and how to make them so we could make them our own. and that was just one aspect of our friendship.

so i went to arizona in august.....i know.....107degress everyday!!! but it is true what they say about the dry heat.....

i got to meet amanda fabulous new husband sammy - some how he escaped my camera.....he is a wonderful husband for her they love each other very much... i am glad to see her so happy!!!
our time together mainly consisted of drinking ice tea and chatting (giggling) and cooking fabulous meals.... i made my first soufflé!! a chocolate and a cheese soufflé. i made the cheese soufflé for the sunday nite dinner ...for gio...

the flight to get to az went down towards the san louis valley and over the sand dunes area .... here's what it looks like from above....

oh, when i got home this morning my garden was a buzz with bees!

yesterday i spent all day cleaning the house and painting my room.... it's half way done, i got two walls painted and the ugly blue trim painted most of the way to look like wood....
gio knows me too well - he asked me not to forget about my project and leave it half finished... to well .....xxoo

before.....

after....

life is too fast

2004-07-30T17:17:00.000-06:00

the week started out strange...sam and i had nils and his sister johanna and a few others over for an ice cream sunday's and wine party! big hit with all of us....three bottles and a quart of ice cream later....

then on tuesday gio and i spent hours at a thrift store. that boy is fun anywhere! we later went out on a "date" to the merc to see one of gio's friend/old band mates (dale) sit in.... dale had to work late.....a great time was had by all

by thrusday i had a great visit from my brother-in-law darren!!!!!
i had a super day with darren we first went to lunch at dario's (italien/swiss) and then for an espresso at st.marks to see gio and then off to putt putt!!!!

i beat darren by two points! in your face canadian.xxoo

day out with sam

2004-07-23T16:28:00.000-06:00

sam and i found our selves at home watching Hillary R. Clinton on cspan...... he and i had already spent an hour in our neighbors portion of the garden - digging.

sam wanted to go up to the mountains and i wanted to go up to pilfer rocks for the new garden space that we're setting up - in our neighbors yard.

so we headed out towards golden.......

it was buffalo bill days in golden.....but nothing was going on so we went to the general store for some fun.....

we then headed to coal creek canyon. i've only been up this canyon once along time ago. yesterday’s weather was perfect for what we found......

here's where i found the rocks for the garden.....it was misty and muddy but fun

we rounded the bend to find a train across the path. ....we had around a fifteen-minute wait so we got out to explore

gross reservoir was our next stop

gross is full this year which looks great! the last few years’ low snowfall had left it quite low

out for lunch

2004-07-21T10:23:00.000-06:00

gio and i went to the new improved m&d's ..... texas bbq
the resturant used to be a small store front with no other real business near it. they got a grant from the city and made a beautiful new home for themselves

a little on the lighter side

2004-07-16T10:21:00.000-06:00

For everyone that does not live in Colorado, or for those friends and family member that would like to see some of dad's handywork - along with some of mine.... here's a tour.....

this is my parlor that dad refinished the floors.....

Here's my garden..... it took alot of work to dig up 17th Avenue soild dirt and weeds!

Ah! This is the odd dinning room set , I scavenged the matierals with my friend skippy and dad built the table and seat frames. I've started to cover the seats some time ago......I'll finish it later?

This is my pet seven....he's so cute!!!!

here's some more garden shots

and last but not least.....My new truck

and yes it has polka dots!!!!!

Trying to do this better

2004-07-14T15:34:00.000-06:00

It’s been several years now and I still cry too much for her.

The first year that she was gone my younger sister and I went for a hike together in Nederland. The hike was beautiful; I can still see the mountains in my head. We cried a lot.

In 2001 my father and I went down to her grave to see her. She is buried in an old church in the Northern Neck of Virginia. It’s hot in July. My dad and I spent half the day just trying to get there. The old car my father drives was not behaving very well that day. We ended up in Lottsberg at Henrys garage and junkyard; we need to pull bolts off a similar car to keep the brakes connected to the Dodge Dart Swinger. I remember the heat, sweating and bugs. When we got down finally to see Mom the day seemed just to get more pleasant. I stayed with her for some time just talking to her.

I miss her.

I love her.

There was one story she liked to tell me sometime about my childhood. I think I was only six years old? This was usually told to me on my birthday.

I was sitting next to her in her bed while she was reading; I remember doing this often with her, and I looked up at her and asked her “will I be as beautiful as you one day?” This make my mom’s heart melt. She said that I was so sincere – every time she told me this story she would weep a little with joy.

This time of year is hard but the happier memories are still here.
I just wish she could be too.

Oh, my cute garden...

2004-07-12T11:43:00.000-06:00

Photo by Gio. This morning about 8:30AM.

test for photos

2004-07-09T09:42:00.000-06:00

Colorado is beautiful but some spots only rate a two

2004-07-09T07:29:00.000-06:00

well, i still can not load photos but i am going to write anyway.

I have had the past three days off and i am on day four today (mikey at work ask to pick up one of my shifts) so here i am on my mini locals vacation!

On wednesday Gio and I brought a friend of mine, Mark, fishing with us to Chatfiield again. That whole reservoir area, minus the track homes you can see in the distance, is full of life. Bull frogs, turtles, tons of different birds, and lots of different fish. The day was warn and sunny. I got a little toasted and i still can't cast very well. We all left happy and with no fish. We are planning to go up to see Mark and fish in Boulder in the next few weeks.....more fishing adventures to come!

I have been to many hot springs in Colorado and New Mexico and the one i was at yesterday ranks about in the middle of them all for an over all rating - the friend i went with, Nils, rated it only a two out of five....... but i can say it was one of the most breath taking place that i've soaked.

The hot spring is named Radium after the little town down the road. The area is northwestish- you drive towards Kremiling and after you pass Green Mnt Res you turn north on rt 1. the whole drive to get there is Colorado at it's best - the stuff you see in the movies about Co.

Once we followed the crappy directions, that are in the "Hot Springs of Colorad" book that we barrowed from Sam, to just find out where to leave the car we then followed the even crappier and harder directions to find the spring it self..... there is a photo so we could see that the spring was in the river (Colorado River) and that there was a large rock formation that sticks out of the river and a big pine tree near the spring.

I took us an extra half hour just walking up the top of the ridge looking over for the rock. Nils and i saw the rock but we still didn't know if we were even in the right area of the river - that book sucks!- but we saw one of those large rafts use by rafting companies for trips but i couldn't see any people untill i got close to the edge of the cliff to look over. There were five people and one cute puppy hanging out in the spring!!!!

This is what causes a two rating for the hot spring: we hiked down to the bottom, with a man from the Netherland that was tagging along with us he had the coolest story he's biking to Canada, anyway.......and behold the five locals that rafted down the river to get there were floating their beer cans in the water.......hum.......
they were nice enough. I hate making that statement. They were nice enough but the messed up my vision of going to a hot spring to relax.....

They were entertainment and the beer provied. They all went cliff jumping, they all got water enemas. And then they all letf.......ahhhhh..........

The second cause of the of the two rating: did i mention the Colorado River? That's the one in front of this beautiful hot spring. Rafts. Rafters. The guides would pull the raft up to the spring so the rafters could hop out and get their picture taken at the spring!
This to me is the equivalent to going to DIsney World getthing to the gates having your photo taken and then going home.....can they not just look at it from the river to enjoy it if they're not going to soak?

Once all the traffic had died down Nils and I got another hour and a half to relax and listen....ahhhhh. that's what i was looking for.

I do think that if i am around Kremiling again i would gladly do the hike and soak by the river again.

And as for today my last day of vaction: I have to buy lady bugs to eat the aphids off my tomatoes and greens. Then i am going to see my friend Jeanine and her daughter for a swimming date at noon. I am hoping to see Jeanines husband today too. Jeff served with Adam in the old gard so i've known Jeff since I was twenty-one? Jeff just got back from Iraq in late March after serving sixteen month tour? something long like that.....

Just another beautiful day in Colorado!

my head hurts!

2004-07-02T19:38:00.000-06:00

there's something that happens to me when frustration sets in.....

i was trying to figure out how to load pictures..... gio showed me on his computer, i know carmela taught maria helena the other day.....grrrrrrrr i even went to blogger's crappy "help" area to only get no help because the page wouldn't load..... i need cheat sheets!!!

on the other hand today has been a beautiful day, the sun was out again, our temperature stayed below 80, i got a two hour massage, and spent a few hours at the pool with my roomy sam. and tonight is pizza and a movie with a few more friends. and then a fashion show that i am not really looking forward because it's in "lodo" .....but sam wants me to go with so.....there i'll go unless the other pizza eaters can stop this evil idea..uuuummmmmm

the first day always makes me nervous

2004-07-01T15:50:00.000-06:00

the first day.....? lot's of firsts in life but this is my first online journal.
I am hoping to keep in better touch with many of my friends and family.

I love you all....jennyl

Not far behind

2004-06-30T12:59:00.000-06:00

Dear reader, this is not Jena writing. This is me Gio. Publishing in the name of my new blog template, which I think (or I hope) is working well. Jenny wanted a blog. Gio builds blogs...or at least he tries. Anyway...this one is her first. Will see if Jena finds the time to use it. If you build it, they will come. Well, that's more like this: If you build, they will write. I can only wish! 'Cause she's definitely not far behind! So long suckers!