2006 Emmys

The Emmys are the one night a year that I catch myself thinking "You know, I really don't watch enough tv, I need to make more of an effort."

Fortunately I came through when it counted -- my favorite show is The Office, and I'm pleased to tell you that they won the Emmy for best comedy series. I actually shouted out loud!

I was also pleased to see The Daily Show well represented -- although I don't watch often, I am a huge fan. Not only did they win a couple awards, but the spin off show The Colbert Report was nominated too. And Steve Carrell used to be on the show, so it seemed to me that the darlings of the night were Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert and Steve Carrell. What a hilarious trio.

It seems like there are countless shows that I'm foolishly missing -- Gray's Anatomy, The Amazing Race, Nip/Tuck, House, 24, The West Wing, CSI, how can a person actually watch all the shows worth watching?? Sunday, will you teach me?

Actually, the fall season is looking pretty great and I'm going to make an effort to watch the premieres of everything I can over the next month. Obviously I'm most excited about the kickoff to The Office, but Matthew Perry has something new coming out, and a couple other commercials are catching my eye. So stay tuned for some reviews...

Home Decorating

You know that feeling when you want to update something in your house to make it nicer, or more functional, but it's easy to put on the backburner because you don't feel like spending the money? Well I've been having so many ideas for improvements that I actually had to write out a list! I've been checking them off one by one, and the progress is really making me happy.

This week we picked out some new barstools, hung robehooks in the master bath, and repaired the clothes drying rack so it doesn't fall apart in my hands anymore. Hooray! We even got a sqeegie, so our nice glass shower no longer has a visual history of water spots. Soon we'll be receiving more new window shades, which will almost complete the set.

I've included a photo of our new quilt set too, I'm still so in love with it.

Speaking of home improvements, we have a spare dining table, desk, and duvet set that we need to adios, if anyone is in the market for these let me know!

Summer Weekends Around Colorado

Well, so much for putting our feet up after our travels are done! Dave and I have opted for having lots of fun visiting with friends.

A couple weekends ago we were downtown for a movie, and got to see the display of CowParade. I absolutely love this concept, and have seen it in other cities, so I made special effort to admire each one as we passed by. This guy over here was my favorite.

Last weekend we met up with my old Iowa chums Chad and Stacey to see the Jake Johannsen show. After the show Jake was selling two of his performance cds, and Chad noticed that Jake was waiting all by his lonesome, so Chad forked over $15 so we could all meet Jake and chat a little. Turns out his parents live in Marshaltown, and he graduated from Iowa State! After that we had a cheese plate and the city's best bread pudding at Trios, very impressive. Stacey and Chad are getting married in Vail in a couple weeks, so we got to hear about their plans, and I'll be posting some more related photos soon.

This past weekend we headed up to Dillon to crash at Dave and Pam's. As always we got deluxe accommodations, including a dinner of tuna steak tacos that put some local restaurants to shame. As a bonus we got to visit with Amy and Bill Bowen, who were visiting from Salt Lake.

And on our way home, we dropped into Pat and Sandra's for Bert and Lora's baby shower. A good time was had by all, the dinner spread was terrific, particularly the homemade tiramisu, and everyone loved the papasan baby seat we picked out. Bert and Lora seem incredibly relaxed and happy, it's a joy to see.

Photos of everyone here, if you're interested (click on "slideshow" for the best view).

Jake is Coming!

One of my defining features is that I love good stand up comedy. My favorite comedian is Jake Johannsen, and as luck would have it, he makes regular stops in Denver. He's an Iowa boy, and the first time I saw him perform it was actually in Des Moines, 10 years ago. I've probably seen him about once a year since then, and dragged lots of friends.

This weekend he is back at the Comedy Works, and my victims will be Chad and Stacey, some good friends who are also local Iowa alum. If you are local, you should absolutely catch a show! When's the last time you saw a decent comedian in person? If you are so unfortunate as to live outside the Denver area, you should buy one of his cds. Really. Or just come for a visit this weekend.

Here's his website, good for a chuckle.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Well, I've taken my last serious vacation of the year, and it was quite an undertaking! We were off to a bit of a rocky start from the beginning, when I lost my wallet on the drive out. I couldn't believe it, nothing like that kind of obstacle to test your spirit. But it was nice to visit with some family on the way, we saw my Aunt Joanie and Uncle Denny in Nebraska, and my uncle Craig in Omaha. Then we headed to the start town (Sargeant Bluff) and met up with Wade and his family. It was great to spend some time catching up with old friends, and it was certainly an omen of things to come.

Dave and I started on Ragbrai bright and early -- actually not even that bright yet -- on Sunday morning. The camping and humidity were tougher than I expected (one of the running themes of our trip was trains everywhere, who knew??), but the actual ride was really satisfying. I think that the Iowa countryside is at least as beautiful as Colorado, very lush and green, with farms stretching as far as the eye can see. All the riders were organized and polite, so despite the traffic I never felt tense. Well, it would have been nice if my chain would have stayed on my bike, but let's chalk that up to more bad luck.

The first day was a 55 mile ride, and around mile 40 I started to notice some pain in my knees. As time went on it grew more intense in my right knee, and we actually stopped at a first aid station to put some ice on it for a while. By the time we made it to our stopping point, cleaned up and left for dinner, I was limping pretty badly. Some Advil loosened it up again, but I was out of the running for day 2.

It turns out this was a wise choice, since Day 2 was 80 miles with lots of steep hills and headwinds. But Wade, Travis and Dave all pulled through like champs.

The third day was a 75 mile ride into the Des Moines area, so I made another go at it. Dave and I had a great ride together for the first 25 miles, and even stopped for some of "Grandma's homemade cinnamon rolls" along the way. I started feeling my knee again, and favoring my left leg. By mile 35 I was done. Miraculously, my luck got a jump start because this was the first time I had seen the sag wagon, and it drove right by me! I was able to flag it down, load up my bike, and ride in relief to Waukee where I met up again with Dad and Dave. Dad bought me a brat with mustard, and it was so good I could physically feel my luck taking a turn.

My Ragbrai adventure had drawn to a close after 90 miles. Unfortunately we were to miss the century ride of a 100 mile day (too bad), a downpour that forced campers to evacuate to a local high school (bummer), and Lance Armstrong (but he did look sexy on the news).

We spent the next two days in Des Moines with my dad and stepmom, eating out and generally goofing off. Thursday afternoon we decided to head down to Kanas City to visit my brother and his fiance Lori in their new house, with their new puppy. Apparently Dave had never been to KC, so it was a new adventure!

Our first acts of tourism were to visit the Plaza, and the Nelson Atkins Museum, which has one of my favorite works of sculpture, Shuttlecocks, on the grounds. That night we went out for some authentic barbeque at Jack Stack, which I'm learing is a pretty well known place. My favorite, however, was Sheridan's frozen custard, where I insisted on a return visit because my blend of graham crackers, marshmellow creme and hot fudge in vanilla custard was a force to be reckoned with.

Our last day there we beat the heat by playing video games and card games. I demonstrated my skills at Tetris, such as they are, and the girls showed the guys who's boss at Euchre.

Eventually it was time to leave KC, but one more treat was waiting for us -- my friend Amanda lives in Lawrence, and we were able to drop in a see her new baby Rowan, only 4 weeks old. All in all, the trip couldn't have been more different than my expectations, but I got some quality time with my family and that always takes the cake. More photos here, if you like (click on "slideshow" for best effect).