waiting for magic...

Okay, time for pictures. To see more, check out my online album.

Posted by Dana at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite pieces of “literature.” I’m not usually a girl who will read high literature on a Saturday morning, but Gatsby makes it on to my list (along with Jane Austin and Jane Eyre and a few others). Not to say I don’t read; I read a lot. I love to read. It’s just that often it’s Harry Potter and Chick Lit (the Chick Flick of fiction). I love Gatsby for many reasons, but part of it is its perceptive nature of love and emotional torture. In fact, my favorite quote is:

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made"

Don’t ask me why I love this quote so much. The way it has related to me in the past really no longer applies, it’s just that I still feel for Gatsby.

The past week has been wonderful. A little hectic, but overall positive. I wake up in the morning and there’s a warm body sleeping next to me. Or running around the apartment. Yes, that’s right; I’m no longer living alone. I have a cat. Sarah came up last weekend and suggested we go to the Colorado Humane Society to get a kitten or two for my apartment. This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while so we set off. After getting lost a few times, we managed to the cramped little shelter. Although the kittens were cute, as I was reaching down into their cage, another cat reached out and pawed me. He was so insistent in his bid for my affection that I pulled him out of his little prison to hold him. He was so sweet and after I heard that he’d been at the shelter for 5 months, I knew I had to have him. Kittens always find homes…not always the case for cats like “Squeakers” (their name for him, which I refused to call him). The shelter thought he was about 3 or 4 years old…I’m taking him to the vet next week, so we’ll find out for sure.

All day Sunday I was starting to regret my decision. I knew it would be hard for him to adjust, but he was hiding out under my bed and refused to be coaxed out. So I decided to give him time, but I couldn’t help but feeling a little lonely and depressed (the nasty/cold weather didn’t help).

Now we’ve established more of a routine. The past couple of days when I come home from work he’s not hiding but waiting by the door for me. He walks around the kitchen talking while I make dinner. And he knows when I’m getting ready for bed. He hops up on the bed, meows insistently, and quickly snuggles up next to me (actively looking to be pet) as I get under the covers.

He’s gone through a few names but I think I’ve finally decided on Gatsby

Posted by Dana at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

(This blog was written on the day it says it was posted; it just took me a couple weeks to actually post it).

I think I’m starting to get a handle on things again. I’m still horrible about calling people (thanks for reminding me, Peter) and returning emails (I know, I know Kerry!). However, my life really is starting to feel like something in my control once again.

I really like living alone. I don’t live too far from my family (20 minutes in good traffic) or Shaw (5 minutes since he moved to Denver) so I have people to see. Other friends don’t live too far away, but I’m ashamed to say I haven’t seen them nearly as much.

Before I can go too much further, I have to say: Go Rockies! For those of you who don’t know (people who live in Iowa or under rocks) the Rockies beat the Padres in the tie-breaker for the National League Wild Card spot; we’re in the playoffs, baby! And what an exciting game it was (13 innings with some “interesting” ref calls).

I haven’t seen too much of my apartment in the past few days. This weekend I went to Gunnison with Shaw to visit his sister Jenny. We went hiking both days and on Sunday we went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I took pictures of our Saturday hike (saturated with aspens turning gold) but the canyon just doesn’t photograph well (it’s very steep and hard to really get the full perspective in there).

Last night I was over at my parents until 9:30. I think my apartment is afraid I only sleep there. Hopefully tonight we’ll have some good quality time together.

Moving on to my eating habits. As hard as I’m trying to be vegan, I’m not completely faithful, but I’m not letting that get me down. Everything I buy and make at home is vegan but when I’m eating out I’m vegetarian (it’s just way too hard to go out randomly AND be vegan, so I’ve dubbed myself a vega-tarian and I do try to be fairly healthy with my food choices). However, this diet change seems to be working out fairly well. I have to be careful that I eat enough of the right stuff every day (getting protein is easy; other things take more thought). Oh, yeah, and I’ve lost 5 pounds since I moved to Denver (combination of eating better and exercising…and I didn’t have to start counting calories again, which I’ll admit got a little tedious the last time I did it).

There are some things I’ve come to realize about being vegan. You have to be very creative about recipes and what you buy. It’s amazing what I never realized was out there and is it really a bad thing to experiment with substitutes for butter? Vegan alternatives for non vegan food (like soy cheese or facon) generally suck (and a lot of times the have unhealthy things added to them making them not so great for you). Some alternatives are good (a favorite of mine: vegan meatballs) but soy cheese…ugh. Instead of pining over food I’m just not going to buy, I’ve been creative and have been coming up with and researching new recipes for foods that I wouldn’t normally have made. Some favorites include (all vegan of course) hot and sour soup, minestrone, salads with olive or flax seed oil and balsamic vinegar, and sautéed mushrooms, peppers, and onions on whole wheat dill onion bread. On the menu for tonight (assuming I’m not lazy): spicy red lentil and vegetable soup, baby field greens salad, whole wheat rolls (from Great Harvest, a yummy bread store), and banana nut bread for dessert.

I’ve also been pretty good about not drinking caffeine (well actually I really haven’t drank any, but I have overindulged in chocolate, which I’m guessing is caffeine related).

Work is good; busy (my health insurance kicked in yesterday…whoo-hoo!). I have a lot more energy in the evenings when I get off work, but often I’m so drained from work, I still don’t want to use my brain anymore (hence the lack of blog posts and general Internet presence). I miss you, though, faithful readers :)

Posted by Dana at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments