Haven't done anything, more or less wasted this last day. I've been on the couch watching tv and reflecting on the year that past while eating potato chips and doing some laundry. I usually like new years eve but not this time, think I might get bad vibes from last years new years eve, but I'm gonna drag my ass to a friend of a friend's house as soon as I take a shower. Don't really want to be alone but I don't feel like being social either. We'll see how it goes.... I just know that I'm hoping for an easier 2008.

As I gues you all know I spent my christmas in Denver visiting my friend Eleanor and her husband Jesper. I met Eleanor back in Sweden before I moved here and she and her husband moved back to Denver about the same time. She invited me to come visit and it only took me a bit over a year before I managed to get my butt over there, but better late than never, right?

Anyways, after a slightly crazy thursday night with beer drinking, fruitfly shopping and ferret playing I got home and started packing. Finished pretty fast...which I think I already told you. So poor Eleanor and her visiting friend Julia had to come pick me up in the middle of the night. We went to bed pretty much straight away when we got to the appartment. Friday, me and Julia slept in while Eleanor and Jesper had to work. At noon Eleanor came and picked us up to go to lunch with her mom. Awesome italian restaurant in down town Denver. After lunch Eleanor had an interview so, me and Julia went shopping on 16th street (?) in down town Denver. And I have to say that Denver is very nice. Much nicer than down town Phoenix. We managed to find shoes as usual. ;) In the evening we hedded up to Summit County, as you already know, where Julias mom had made lasange for us. The awesome saturday I have already told you about, but in the evening Julia's parents had their annual christmas party. Julia's mom stayed at home and baked cookies all day long, some with "special spices" it turned out. They were fortunately hidden in the kitchen cupboard  to make sure the kids wouldn't get their hands on them. When the guests were gone there were also some smoking going on so me, Julia and Eleanor decided that we would have more fun at the local bar (people are not much fun when they have that kind of high). We went for a drink and when we got back to the condo the party was over and we all went to bed. Sunday, the weather wasn't all that great so me and Eleanor decided we were gonna take the day off from skiing, but Jesper and Julia are more passionate about it so they went anyway. Julia's mom was "sick" all day but her dad was kind enough to give us a ride to the outlet mall to do some more shopping and then we went to the movies and saw The Golden Compass. The casting is very close to what I imagined in my head when I read the books. Can't wait til the next one comes out..... hope they will make the next one.... have to check that out. Monday was a gorgeous day again so we went skiing all day long and at lunch time I met Santa! Even have a picture to prove it and he gave me candy. I know, I'm not supposed to accept candy from strangers, but it was Santa, he is hardly a stranger. :) In the afternoon me, Eleanor and Jesper drove back to Denver. We took a quick shower at the appartment while wrapping gifts and then headed over to Eleanor's parents for the traditional christmas eve oyster stew. It tastes pretty much like mussel soup, oysters are just much bigger and paler. After dinner there were a bit of gift unwrapping to lower the amount of gifts being exchanged on christmas day since there were a lot of people coming and we were gonna show up late cause we were going to christmas lunch in Colorado Springs with Jespers boss. I was mighty surprised ending up with three gifts. Didn't expect any, but thought there might be one, but not as many as three. There are also three dogs in the family. Two small old ones called Ralph and Xena and then one that I think was a fox terrier called Monkey... or Mr Monkey maybe. He was quite a character anyway, when he didn't have anything to do he chased dust. And not dust bunnies, but the kind you can only see when the sun light falls on it at the right angle. So when the sun comes in through the window in the living room he jumps on couch to make the dust swirl around so he can chase it. He got a new tug-of-war toy that we played with all night and he was so excited about it that it broke the very same night. Such a sweet heart. 

On chistamas day morning it was snowing like crazy and had been doing so for the whole night so the lunch in Colorado Springs got canceled. Instead we spent the whole day at Eleanor's parents. It was all quiet and peaceful to begin with but we ended up being around 20 people I think and all pretty strong personalities. I like that though, it makes it very interesting but it can also drain you when there are so many. I had a corner with a jig saw puzzle that I could retreat to when I felt like it. I'm a sucker for jig-saws. For some reason I find them very relaxing. Think we managed to get home around midnight. Next day my hosts had to get back to work and i got back to sleeping in. Eleanor came and picked me up for lunch and after a delisious pizza she dropped me off a cherry creek shopping mall. I had my mind set on a purse that I had seen a few weeks ago and had now realised that it would fit perfect with an outfit that I had put together in my head. I found the store where I had seen it (though I had seen it at the store in Chandler), but they didn't have it anymore. That totally threw me off. Hadn't expected that. I went into every store in the whole mall I think and all I bought was new sweats that were on sale and I also managed to find a gift for a friend. But that was it in about four hours of shopping. Eleanor came and picked me up after work and then I tokk her and Jesper to sushi at a very good place called KiKi's. We got home fairly early that night so we decided we were gonna watch a movie. We ended up watching a very strange but funny one called Best in Show about very eccentric people and their dogs in a dog show. And when the working people went to bed I stayed up and also saw The Chicken Run. Thursday, which was my last day in Denver started out just like the others. Eleanor and Jesper went to work while I slept in and Eleanor came back and picked me up at lunch time. We had lunch with Eleanors mom again at a french restaurant this time which was very good as well. I had mussles provencale and learned how to eat mussles in a new way. You use one of the empty shells as a pincher to pull the meat out of the other mussels. Very effective compared to try to dig it out with a fork or a spoon. After lunch we went to the modern art museum which was really cool. My favorites were sculptures made out of mirrors and also the tv's with all the people singing Bob Marley songs. Was about 30 people singing at the same time (one person in each tv) so when you stood back it sounded like a whole choir, but then if found a favorite you could go up to that screen and you could hear them more clearly cause the sound was also person/tv specific. Really cool and interactive. At 5.30 pm Eleanor was supposed to giva a yoga class so I decided to come with. We went home to get changed and then hurried over to the yoga center. No one showed up so I ended up getting a free private lesson. :) It was very nice to get some relaxing excercise. On the way back from the yoga center we passed the botanical garden and it looked fabulous. They have "Botanical lights" during christmas, meaning that they put up lights in the trees and bushes. We rushed back to the appartment to put on some warmer clothes and then headed back cause we new they were closing at 9 and we got there just after 8.30 The ticket office was closed (last tickets were sold 8.30), but the gate was open so we snuck in anyway and started to walk through the garden. It was so cool, I felt like chip (piff) walking around inside the decorated christmas tree on christmas eve. Leaving the botanical garden Eleanor's friend called and wanted us to come over and drink some tea in front of the fire. That was exactly what we needed cause it was pretty cold. We sat down in front of the warm fire, had tea and cookies and just talked. Very nice people and the guy was amazing. He was a refugee from the war in bosnia, had been separated from his parents and walked together with some other people all the way to Germany were he had spent most his life until a few years ago when he got a job in the US and came here. For about two years he had no idea if his parents were alive or not, but had managed to find them again. I think I have never met a more humble person than this guy and we were only there for a couple of hours. When we got home I had to start packing since I was leaving early the next morning at the same time as I was trying to figure out what my drunk friend was trying to text me. ;)

Was not as fast this time. I finished around 1 am so I only got 5 hours of sleep. Up before 6 am the next morning. Since there were a lot of snow on the roads we decided that if we double the time it usually takes to get to the airport we should be pretty safe and also aiming to be there at least an hour before take off since bags have to checked 45 min before take off. It was way worse than we expected. It took us an hour and 15 min instead of 20 min. We arrived at the airport 7.30 and I had to check in before 7.35 i grab my bags, say a quick good bye and run through the entrance. There is a huge check in line. I find a lady that works for my airline company and explain my situation and she recomends me to go outside to the "curb check in". So I run back outside and sure the line is much shorter but the time is now 7.35 so I have to check in now! I run up to the desk and ask if there is any chance for me to cut the line since I have to check in right away. The woman behind the desk just shrugged her shoulders and says "well, that's up to the line...". So, I turn around and ask the whole line if it is ok that I cut in front of them cause my flight is leaving in 40 min. No one objects so I grab my bags and check in. And the lady tells me that since I missed the check in time for my bags the may not come with the same flight as me, but the one after. I was totally fine with that as long as I got on it. She gives me my boarding pass, explains how I get to my gate the fastest and then tells me to run, run. And I ran! I almost ran an old lady over on the way cause it was slippery, but I didn't have time to be all considerate. Security wasn't very busy but of course there was a wheelchair in the line that merged with mine and that took a bunch of extra time cause  the can't fit through the metal detector frame. Got through eventually and threw my laptop back into my bag, threw on my clothes and shoes and started running again. I arrived at my gate a couple of minutes after we were supposed to start boarding and after a few seconds of confusion I realised they hadn't started the boarding yet. Turned out that they were not gonna start until 30 min later which was actually our take off time. Well on the plane we had to wait even more cause thay hadn't loaded the bags on the plane yet, so that took about another 30 min. Good thing was that I could see my bags being loaded so I knew they were going with me, but all the stress and running was completely unnecessary.

Back in Tempe I went shopping again and I found the purse I had been looking for plus four shirts for under $55. What a bargain! :)

All in all, Christmas was good! 

My nose is peeling!

Last night we drove up to Summit county to Eleanor's friend Julia's parents. Really cool and laid back people. So today we went skiing on copper mountain. It was great! At noon we went to the very topand just as we come up they open the ropes to the backside, Spaulding Bowl, meaning we get absolutely fresh, untouched powder. And it had been snowing all night so it was about 2 feet of it. Even though I'm not a huge fan of snowboarding in powder this was something else. It's usually so heavy that I just dig my tip down and get stuck and that is just a pain, but this was all light and fluffy. It was like skiing on a cloud! Unfortunately I didn't have the strength or energy to do a second run "in the sky" cause it's still pretty heavy, first day of the season for me so muscles weren't working as I would like them to and the altitude is taking it's toll. I'm short of breath for nothing. The weather was also close to perfect, could have been a little warmer, think my nose got frostbitten, but hopefully it will be better in a few days. ;)

Think I might have broken some kind of personal record in packing last night. I ususally run around aimlessly like chicken when I pack, which is not very efficient even though in the end it takes me to where I want to get. My flight was at 22.49 and needed to be at the airport around 21.00 I got home a bit after 19 and hadn't even taken out the bags I was supposed to use. Instead I was having dinner and beer with group since we decided this thursday was beernight again. And a girl has to eat, right? ;)

I did have my car though so that made everything faster..... even had time to go get fruitflies for the gecko and give two of my groupies a ride home.

Anyways, I got home and was packed in under an hour. Maybe it doesn't sound that impressive but I'm also going skiing druing this week and I have less packing than I usually do for a week of skiing. But I guess we'll see what I might have forgotten. Or I have just become tha master of packing after  all my travels the past year. :)

First impressions of Denver:

Big

Lots of at night lights

There seems to be some kind of public transportation downtown

Slightly cold

Some weird stuff on the ground..... oh, wait, I remember, it's snow ;)

You can drink the tap water! :)

Found myself looking for bottled water when I was supposed to take my meds when I suddenly remembered that rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth last night didn't taste like crap. :)

I just found out that a friend of mine is trying to get rid of his dog. He is the sweetest little dog ever. Sure he needs some training and he has a lot of energy so he needs be stimulated, but he is so loving and lovable. Don't think my friend realised exactly what he was getting himself into when he took him in. His friend found him running around in the street and of course the dog turned out to be a run away. And he is still a run away, that is what my friend is fed up with. Chasing the dog around everytime it runs away. And I can understand that is a pain, but I also think it can be taken care of through training.

It breaks my heart that he is giving up on him. I adore that dog and if I could I would take care of it myself. 

There is nowhere you get as many compliments as around gay guys. It's quite fascinating. And they compliment all the girls.... I haven't really noticed if they are as good at complimenting guys. It is also much easier to take a compliment from a gay guy, even though they can be extremely forward. Guess it's because you know they have nothing to gain from it really. But then they shouldn't be better at complimenting other guys than straight guys are at complimenting girls.......

Anyways, in one night I got two marrige proposals from different guys if they only had been straight. And one said he would even stop drinking for my sake, whatever that's supposed to mean, but it sounded like it was a big sacrifice for him when he said it. ;) 

So ladies if you need a confidence boost, go to a gay party. :)