Rendezvous in the Rockies

First of all let me say, man time flies in graduate school! It has been non-stop studying and reading since August 20th. Well Tuesday offered the chance to both take a break (kind, not really... at least I got out of Fort Collins for the night) and go to Vail for the chance to interview some old-timers in the U.S. Forest Service. Overall, a great, fun, and interesting experience.

I had to opportunity to network with the Chief Historian for the Forest Service, who is one of the three Chiefs in the Forest Service. We also were paid a huge compliment by Patti Limerick, who is one of the foremost western historians in the U.S., who impressed by the work me and my fellow classmates was doing in Vail.

Things I learned from my interviewee's:

1. Vail was developed as a ski town and resort by the Forest Service (I got to interview one of the main dude's in implementing the recreational side of skiing in Colorado)

2. The Forest Service in Alaska is heavily involved with its community.

3. Ask a forester a question and they can talk for at least 30 minutes on one given question!

Below is a picture from my room, sorry for the weird glares, they are because of the case on my phone. Jon and I will have to take a trip there sometime soon that way everyone can see more of the beautiful outdoors!

"The Greatest Good"

In a little under three weeks, I will be going to Vail to conduct a series of oral histories of former Forest Service employees. It is truly a unique opportunity to hear some amazing stories from some of the people who ran a significant branch of the government.

To prepare for our interviews, my class was given copies of "The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film," which chronicles the history of the Forest Service and a few of the controversies it's been embroiled in throughout its history. The film discusses the struggle of the Forest Service in balancing the demands of conservation and logging.

Overall, a good documentary that gives an insightful look at the history of the organization and its internal struggles to provide the greatest good to the greatest number of people. If you enjoy Ken Burn's style documentaries then you should add this to your list.

Semester long, Read Along...

For those of you who might be interested in joining me in reading some of the books I've been assigned this semester. Feel free to post a comment with your opinion on a book or what you might be interested in reading. Also, should time permit with all my assignments, I want to try and post some reviews of the books. I've arranged the books in the groups that I will be reading each week.


Here they are:

Week One:
- The Comanche Empire by Pekka Hamalian
- Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America's House Museums by Patricia West
- Telling the Truth About History by Joyce Appleby, et. al.


Week Two:
- Peace Came in the Form of Women: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands by Julianna Barr
- The Gender of History by Bonnie G. Smith



Week Three:
- Second Thoughts on Colonial Historians and Native Americans by James Merrell
- Reading Obama: Dreams, Hope, and the American Political Tradition by James T. Kloppenberg
- Museums and the Future of Collecting by Simon Knell



Week Four:
- Silencing The Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouilliot
- Mysteries of Sex: Tracing Men and Women through American History by Mary Ryan
- Exhibitions in Museums by Michael Belcher



Week Five:
- The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
- Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives by Susan Sleeper-Smith

I think those will keep you busy for awhile, and to think that's only half the list! I still need to pick out another book to read for my American History reading seminar in week five, but it was long and a lot of the titles looked interesting.

Hope you all will join me and enjoy :)

The Couch Fiasco

So when we relocated to Raleigh we made the choice to load up the cars with as much as possible and rebuild our home when we got out here. I have been scouring craigslist for most of August trying to find the perfect couch to go into our living room.

About a week and a half ago, we went and looked at a couch at one house. After 30 minutes or so of trying to get sofa number one out of these people's house we gave up and went home empty handed. Nearly a month later, I found another couch worthy of purchase.... seriously there's a lot of ugly couches on the Craigslist out here.

Anyways, so I'm emailing the Craigslister back and forth for a week while in my orientations for graduate school. And said CL'er insisted that the couch had to be gone that week! So between my all day orientations M-F from 8am-5pm and Jon's schedule which is mostly night shifts.... the scheduling was going to be tight.  So this girl and I agree that we would pick up the couch Thur evening after Jon got home from work. We find the house, see the couch, and instantly realize that bad boy isn't going to fit in or on our car. So we talk things over with the girl and she agrees to drop the couch off at our house in the morning. We pay her in good faith and go home.

When we get home though, Jon starts measuring to see if the couch is going to fit through the door frame and through the hallway of our apartment. He makes a judgement call that the couch isn't going to fit. Problem, right? So I text back our CL friend and see if it would be possible to get our money back, i'm so sorry, this is really embarrassing, yada yada yada. No response..... We wait until the next morning and I try calling our CL friend. No response....

Then about five minutes later, I get a text from the girl saying she doens't have the money and she's already spent it and that we can try and resell the couch if we want to or she can sell it and give us our money back after it sells. And I was like, no it's fine just bring the couch over and we'll figure it out. Well then, she starts talking about bringing the couch to us next week which is when Jon got on the phone with the local PD. To make a long story short, the cops called our CL friend and told them to bring our couch as agreed upon or we could take them to civil court. Needless to say, in a short while the couch was laying outside of our apartment. After a lot of lifting, panting, flipping and contorting we got the couch into our living room without any major causalities. And here world, behold the couch that caused our First Fort Collins Fiasco:

Through Hike on the AT

I know this is a little late but I still wanted to write up a little bit about when I had the opportunity to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail (AT) while on vacation in Massachusetts. Not too far from our resort was Mount Greylock the highest peak in the state. I started my hike on the Jones Nose trail, which is a four mile hike to summit and meets up with a three mile portion of the AT.  My favorite part of the hike was the trailhead that is somewhere between a half-mile to mile long. You start by going up a beautiful field of wildflowers on the side of the mountain and then are transported into the lush greenery of the mountain. The hike itself was quite grueling and I have mad respect for anyone who can hike the entire AT. On top of the mountain is a war memorial to the dead veterans of Massachusetts and you can climb to the top of this and see a 360 degree view of the valley down below.

Lory State Park

Earlier this week, Jon and I went for our first hike in Colorado. After doing a little bit of research on the internet we traveled up to Lory State Park to hike the park's flagship trail, Arthur's Rock. The scenery out here is absolutely beautiful. It's a mixture of desert and prairie, interspersed with bits of greenery of the temperate forrest I'm used to back in North Carolina. The terrain is much more rocky, the trail a mixture of gravel and sand over flagstone, marble, and granite jutting up from the earth.

The hike was described as moderate to difficult, which for us east coaster's not used to the high altitude and the steeper slopes here. The trail started out low in the mountains and slowly winds its way up. As you move up the mountain you encounter a fair number of switchbacks that left me out of breath and wishing I was in better shape. As you get higher up the mountain there are more trees and the trail is much more shaded, which was nice after hiking a mile up the mountain in the hot sun. 

At the top of Arthur's Rock, you have to scale up path of boulders to see the view from the top. That was really cool but also really nerve racking. However, the view from the top is totally worth it. On one side you can see the town of Fort Collins below and behind on the other side of the mountain is a view out into Lory State Park and the Rockies. Climbing and hiking back down is a lot easier than going up and a fairly quick trip down. 

Notes From the Road

 

Hello everyone from Fort Collins, Colorado!

We left one week ago from Raleigh, NC and drove for three days till we reached our destination. Other than stops for food and to occasionally stop to adjust the luggage rack on top of my car or Lucy's litter box strapped to the trunk of Jon's Miata the drive went more smoothly than either of us could have hoped for.We left one week ago from Raleigh, NC and drove for three days till we reached our destination. Other than stops for food and to occasionally stop to adjust the luggage rack on top of my car or Lucy's litter box strapped to the trunk of Jon's Miata the drive went more smoothly than either of us could have hoped for.

I was amazed at the beauty of West Virginia, which was miles and miles of a windy mountain road. Now this is my personal opinion and I'm sure others will disagree with what I say next but I liked driving through these mountains better than the Blue Ridge Parkway. Whenever I've driven on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I have always been scared out of my wits that I am going to fling my vehicle off the side of the mountain. However, in WV it was more like a slow meandering while you got to take in the beautify of the mountains and trees working together.



We didn't get to see much of KY as we drove through the majority of the state in darkness. The second day took us through Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. I have to say this day was the most boring in terms of scenery. Through all three states it was mainly rocky hills that looked like chiseled pancakes stacked on top of each other topped with long grass. The major cities we drove through looked interesting and tempt me into wanting to visit, especially Louisville and St. Louis. Passing the Arch was really cool but also distracting as we went by it in 12 o'clock traffic. The traffic and choosing the right exits was stressful and nerve racking. We ended the second day in Lawrence, KS and stayed with a friend for the night.

From Kansas to Colorado was a lot of rolling prairie land, which was pretty but got old after five or six hours. Towards the end of KS we decided to start cutting north so we could avoid Denver's traffic. This detour took us up through Nebraska which was also stunningly and surprisingly beautiful. High, rolling roads that left you feeling like you were on a roller coaster. Sunflowers dotted the sides of the road. However, our trip through NB was short and soon we were in the prairie lands of Colorado. About two or three hours into the state we could see the line of the Rocky Mountains and we knew we were close.  Finally around seven or eight we rolled in to good old Fo'Co and got a hotel room for the night.

In what seems to be like odd coincidence, Jon and I once again had trouble when it came to renting our apartment. We found the next morning the previous tenant had not yet even begun to move out and were told to wait till noon that day to move in. All in all, we are in our new place and settling in fairly well.

More to come on Fo'Co' and our adventures soon!


xxxo.

Butternut Squash in Chapel Hill

Things are about to really change here. I worked my last shift at the Olive Garden yesterday and we are packing up the las of our belongings and moving to Fort Collins, CO on Monday. I cannot wait for this new beginning to start!

Unfortunately, new beginnings also means saying goodbye to some old friends... at least for now. Yesterday afternoon, in between packing and work I met up with one of my oldest friends to have lunch. She suggested we go to "Butternut Squash" in Chapel Hill which serves vegetarian and vegan cuisine.

The atmosphere was nice, a mixture of modern and eclectic design in a smaller setting with an even smaller staff. Our server, Masie, who also doubled as our host and cashier, was an absolute delight! She was friendly, helpful and one of the better servers I've had in a long time.

Now the important part, the food. The food itself is not overly pricy with sandwiches starting around $9.50 and entrees from $10-14. I ordered the black bean burger pictured below and Rachel had an oversized loaded baked potato. Both our meals came with a fresh field green salad and was delicious. I tried her tofu bacon and i have to say, you'd never know it wasnt meat For the price and portions you really can't do much better for a specialty restaurant.

Mass MoCA

 I'm starting to feel very cultured this vacation, as I have now ventured to three different art museums this week alone. I will say this much for the Massachusetts/New England area you will not want for a lack of art or artistic expression.  Yesterday, I went to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in the small town of North Adams about a 30 minute drive from our resort.

The museum itself is located in an old 19th century Mill building lending to its overall character, size and scale. I do have to say that because of this the museum was a bit of a maze and I found I was frequently asking for directions. The featured/special exhibition was titled "Oh, Canada" and displayed the works of several different Canadian artists. I'm not going to lie, some of it I loved, some of it I hated, and the common complaint most of us have about modern and contemporary art, a lot of it went over my head. I loved artists who did more fiber art and stayed away from the ones that did visual/videos. To the left is another one of my favorites. It is this cool looking spaceship made out of old children's toys and trinkets. I cannot even begin to describe all the little intricate things in and around this piece.

Within the museum's permanent collection is the work Sol LeWitt, who I am assuming is from this area or once lived here because I saw another one of his installations today at the Williams College Museum of Art. LeWitt's work is composed of several large "wall" drawings and paintings which quite literally take up the entire wall. The museum breaks up his career by floor going from early work to later as you travel up the staircases. In my humble and not so critical opinion, his early work was the most impressive. In several of the installations on this floor, LeWitt left the work unfinished so you could read and see his artitstic process when executing a design. It is unbelievable of formulaic and intricate some of his designs are when the finish product looks quite simple. Some of his instructions seemed more like problems a geometry teacher would assign for homework rather than a large scale art installation.




Also, as a side note for if or when you visit. I was brave and tried lunch at the cafe located within the museum. It was surprisingly phenomenal. One of the better meals I have tried while we have been in the area. It was a simple black bean burrito with corn chips but all together delicious and full of flavor. Def. grab something to eat while your there enjoying the museum.

The Norman Rockwell Museum

Various works by Howard Pyle, Norman Rockwell Museum

Hello again lovelies,

I think I mentioned this in my last post but once again, the nanny is getting ready to move to Colorado which is now TWO weeks away. I cannot believe time as flown by so fast! I feel like the last month and a half has just disappeared. Well before I move away from North Carolina, the state that has been my home the last fourteen years, my parents invited my to spend their summer vacation with them in the greater New England area. I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised about how enjoyable this vacation is going so far. Saturday we drove from our resort in Hancock, Massachusetts to Boston and spent the day walking the Freedom Trail.
(I will write about this in another post.)

Various works by Norman Rockwell, Norman Rockwell Museum

Since yesterday was a little rainy we set out for the Norman Rockwell Museum located in the sleepy New England village of Stockbridge, Mass. First off, let me say that this part of the country is absolutely beautiful. Gentle rolling hills back dropped by mountains in the distant horizon and all surrounded by lush greenery. Nestled in the idealic New England countryside the Norman Rockwell Museum is one of the most delightful museums I have visited in a long time. It is not a huge museum about the size of a small family home the museum masterfully displays a large collection of Rockwell's paintings as well as having three smaller galleries in which they can have special exhibits. For their special exhibition the museum was displaying the works of Howard Pyle, who according the the museum, greatly influenced Rockwell's work. It does a great job a displaying a variety of Rockwell's art and conveying themes that appear throughout Rockwell's career. The museum is a must go-to if you are in the area. 

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy Independence to day to everyone out there! Sorry to have been gone for so long but there has been a lot going on the past month. Just to  quickly update everyone in the past month I have to say good bye to my kiddies, the boy and I have started packing up the apartment and we are preparing to move out to Colorado. Grad school is less than a month away, the move is even closer and we are really starting to get excited.

More to come soon! Hope everyone is having a great day enjoying barbques, sunshine and fireworks :)

Let's Go to the Movies

I have a love, hate relationship with summertime. On the one hand it means sunshine and the pool, trips to the beach, and overall just being able to relax with the kids a little bit more than during the regular school year. However, the summer also mean hot, sticky North Carolina weather, getting sick of going to the pool, and trying to figure out different, fun things to do with the kids every week. Well, last summer this became a staple of our weekly routine and I really have to say it was great. Over the summer the Smithfeild Movie theater and the White Oak movie theater (also available at Briar Creek and North Hills Cinemas) host a summer children's movie series. They are awesome, both offer two different movie for the kids to view and it only costs $2 to get in. Here's the catch, the movie are shown at 10 am. I know, early right? But it's great. Get the kids up, ready, dressed and out the door! By time the movie is over its lunchtime. Usually we met up with Grandma at the theatre and went to lunch afterwards with her. Then we'd go snag an icecream at McDonald's afterwards and let the kids play on the playground there. Whoosh before you know it's 3 o'clock! It really is great, you can't beat the cost, and it's a nice break from hot weather, gets you out of the house and away from the pool for a little bit.

I Love Pinterest, Snack Edition

Sunflower Fruit

Ok, I'm not going to lie. I drank the kool-aide and am totally addicted to Pinterest, it has quickly become part of my weekly Internet routine. Well, you can find all kinds of great craft/DIY projects, recipes, tutorials, etc. and organize it all. I love it because there is so much stuff I find on the Internet and forget about but with this you can keep track of all the stuff you love and find some goodies you never would have know about.

Here are a few fun snack ideas that I think would be great for the summer, play dates, family get togethers, you name it!!

1. Frozen Yogurt Dots, what a great idea for the summertime!Also, another way to "make" yummy frozen yogurt, is to just stick gogurts in the freezer and pull them out whenever you want a yummy, healthy treat. I love these dots because it looks so easy to just pop them in your mouth and go...athough, I do wonder if they melt quickly. Might be a great idea for a birthday party.

2. Smoothie Freezer Packs, fun quick and easy. Put a couple in the freezer and you have a treat ready to go when your in a pinch. Looks like you make just about any flavor combination to make your favorites.

3. Crescent Pizza Rolls. How fun are these? I mean really, I think it would be so much fun to have the kids make these with you one afternoon. They are so quick and easy. What a great idea!


4. Owl Cupcakes how adorable! I already have an owl addiction but these just take it to another level. They are so cute and would make great treats for a party! Love, love, love.

These are just a few of my favorites and there are a ton more out there. Go, join, explore and share! Look for another post in a little bit about some of my favorite crafts I have seen up there.


xxxo.

Curls Gone Wild

 Hello lovelies as my friends and family know I have big,crazy curly hair that I used to fondly refer to as the "wild beast" but today I want to share a few of my secrets with all of the other curly girls out there. I might also in the future keep recommending products that I find and like. I am always trying and testing new conditioners, gels, treatments to find what works best with my hair.

If curls could talk they would tell you a few things:

1. All curls are different and all curls like different things so be willing to spend a little money on finding what products do and don't work for you.

2. Curls are don't like to be touched, so please keep your hands of otherwise you'll have a head full of frizz.

3. Curls are thirsty, so keep them nice and conditioned. I usually do a deep conditioning treatment once a week in the shower.

4. Don't shampoo your curls everyday. Shampoo strips your curls of your heads natural oils which coat the hair shaft and minimize frizz.

5. Your curls will always look good, just wear them with confidence. Whether they are big and messy and frizzy, they can't look bad... and, everyone is always jealous of them. :P

Recently, I have started using Macadamia Natural Oil products that I have found work great in my hair. I know they are kind of pricy but totally worth it. Not to mention, they are on sale buy one get one free at Target right now. I use the nourishing leave-in cream, the healing oil, and the curl refreshing cream after I jump out of the shower. Sometimes I add a little Brocato gel to my hair if I want a little extra hold (like on humid days.) This stuff is great, I honestly don't feel like I have anything in my hair and can usually get some form of second-day hair out of it. Spend the money, try it out, I don't think you will be disappointed.

The Garden Patch

So about six months ago C joined the girl scouts and one the first patches she was earning was her gardening badge. We started out with a small seed kit to grow herbs from Wal-Mart that quickly sprouted with plenty of sunlight. I was actually so impressed that I went back to store and bought my own starter kit to have at home and now we are overflowing with basil. After awhile, C's herbs were to the point where they needed to be repotted so once again, I picked up some really cute pots for her at Wal-Mart. To make a long story a little bit shorter, it inspired a mini-garden in the backyard that has finally sprouted! I am so proud of C and her little green thumb her garden looks great and she is learning a valuable lesson in where food comes from and the hard work required to produce it.  I think gardening is a great way to get not only get kids outside but they also learn a variety of lessons from it. Not only are they learning about what different plants look like and how they grow, they also learn valuable lessons in hard work and patience.

Here's a pic of C's garden, it looks marvelous! She most definitely earned her badge on this one :)

National Vegetarian Week: Sitti

 I had the treat of dinning at Sitti this weekend with a friend. The website describes it as authentic Lebanese food but honestly it seemed like somewhere between Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food.  They offered a wide variety of vegan, vegetarian, as well as carnivorous cuisine. For my dinner, I decided to order three small "mezze" or small, sharing platters in Arabic. in the top left corner is the Village Salad, in the right is the Sundried Tomato Mezze,  and the bottom right is the Goat Cheese  Stuffed Peppers.  All in all, the village salad was my favorite out of everything. It reminded me of Greek salads I grew up on. The sun dried tomtit mezzo was ok, but kind of your standard mediterranean pizza and I wasn't particularly fond of the stuffed peppers. I think I imagined them tasting differently in my mind. 

All in all it was a very delicious meal. Great for the vegetarian and vegans out there! Go give it a try and have some fun.