For Stacie Stubbendick

I was in a newly remodeled Starbucks today and saw their new recycling/landfill bin. I love it and it immediately made me think of my friend and recycling queen, Stacie Stubbendick.


Why do I love this bin? Several reasons:

1. The message on the top reads: "Someday everything will be recyclable. Until then, let's sort it out together. Thanks." Powerful stuff!

2. It has "landfill" printed on it rather than "trash". That may not seem like a big deal but I think it is huge psychologically. When we place something in a bin labeled landfill, I think you are immediately reminded that what you are throwing away is going to sit in a landfill for eternity. It may make some think twice and recycle it or next time select different products with recyclable containers.

3. The bin is easy and has simple usability. It lists exactly what can be recycled. It requires little thought...which is what you want when it comes to recycling. The easier the better.

Thanks to Starbucks for stepping up and being more environmentally focused. And thanks to Stacie Stubbendick for inspiring Dale and I to care more about the environment too because before this was just a recycling/trash bin. Now it is a reflection of our future.

Happy recycling!

The true message from The Help

The women in front of me on the bus are talking about the movie The Help.


Are they talking about the civil rights movement, the courage of the maids, the hardships and humiliation faced by the maids or even how touching of a film it was? No. So far they have discussed:

1) how lucky the women in the movie were to not have to work (I am assuming they are referencing the white housewives and not the black maids)

2) how great it would be to have a maid for $1.00 an hour for 10 hours a day and six days a week (I honestly expect them to start discussing the pros of slavery next)

3) that you could smoke anywhere you wanted (I guess Phillip Morris should do some cross marketing)

Yes, apparently I ride the shallow bus and they missed the entire point of the whole movie. They probably watched Titanic and thought how fortunate everyone was to get to go on a cruise.

The peace of autumn

Although the calendar still says summer...it seems like autumn is upon us. With kids back in school, the morning air a little crisper and it getting darker a bit earlier, it just feels more like autumn than summer. Tomorrow is the first day of September, so that only adds to my autumn feelings.


It is hard to believe that summer has come and gone...but it has. I am not really sad as September, October and November are my favorite months of year. I am an autumn at heart. I love the sound of leaves crunching at my feet, cool autumn air in my face and wearing corduroy. I look much better in a sweater than shorts.

I know autumn is really an ending in many ways as the flowers die and trees lose their leaves but there seems to be a peace in the autumn. It just feels right to me. And let's not forget about Halloween and Thanksgiving, two of my favorite holidays, being situated in autumn, which only makes it that much better.

So I say bring on the apples, the pumpkin picking, the changing of the leaves, the cool days and the trick-or-treaters...I am welcoming it all with open arms.

Damn you alarm

It is hard starting your day by being woken from a great dream. Damn you alarm. I don't 100% remember the dream but there was kissing and I remember being very happy.

How can Anderson Cooper be my age?

I just read an article in Entertainment Weekly about Anderson Cooper and his new daytime show. It mentioned he is 44 years old. That is only 5 years older than me. He seems so grown up and I feel like a 12 year old kid most days. Weird. Do you ever see the age of a celebrity and think how can they be my age? That was me tonight. How can Anderson Cooper be my age? How can I be almost 40? 40 used to seem so old but now it seems so young. Anderson Cooper used to seem so old and now he seems young too. Weird.

The results are in!

So the results are in from the Great Urban Race and we did great this past Saturday. 176 teams competed and 171 teams finished. We raced with our friends Barb, Sandy, Steve, Sam, Anjanette, Brenda and Athan. It was a blast!

#1 - Denver Agents at 1:25:02 (they also won last year)

#50 - Dale, Barb & I at 2 hours, 53 minutes and 3 seconds

#51 - Steve & Sandy at 2 hours, 53 minutes and 4 seconds

#53 - Brenda and Athan at 2 hours, 54 minutes and 3 seconds

#88 - Anjanette and Sam at 3 hours, 23 minutes and 2 seconds

#171 - Freshwater Headache at 5 hours, 35 minutes and 2 seconds

Last year we were on the bottom of the list. Next year's goal is to crack the top 25.

Thicker skin

Sometimes I think I am too sensitive. I allow myself to get hurt. I put to much meaning into words. I need to accept that not everything has such meaning. I need to get a thicker skin.

Rejection is never easy

I am realizing I need to take a hint. If I call, text and/or email someone and get little or response...I guess I need to accept I am not important in said person's life. I guess I need to remember that next time said person calls and needs a favor. It just sucks...rejection is never easy. Or at least not as easy as denial. And sadly the rejection may not even be intentional, but if you can't make the time for me...it speaks volumes.

Large novelty scissors

This evening Dale and I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication of our new neighborhood park, Beeman Park. It was not what I would call the best attended or most exciting event...but they did have large novelty scissors, which was cool.

I've had a terrific weekend

What a freakin' terrific weekend!

I was supposed to be in Boston this weekend for 2012 business planning, but Hurricane Irene changed all that. Instead, I ended up with a pretty damn fine weekend.

On Friday night, I went to see the movie, The Help with Dale and my friends Sandy, Tammy and Krista. It was an incredible movie and I will say it is probably one of the best movies I had seen this year. I liked the book a lot, but I feel the movie had much better pacing and was very well done. The cast was superb and this movie deserves to be recognized at awards season. Go see this movie.

On Saturday, I was able to go with Dale and our friends Barb, Steve, Sandy, Sam, Anjanette, Brenda and Athana for the Great Urban Race. It is a sort of an one day Amazing Race that benefits St. Jude's Hospital. It was a blast. We ran all over downtown Denver solving puzzles and completing challenges. It was fun, fun, fun.

After the race, we all headed home, showered and went to Los Arcos Mexican Restaurant for a wonderful dinner. They had two for one mojitos...so after five mojitos I was feeling very happy. The food was absolutely delicious, the service stellar and the mojitos were damn good. Go check out this restaurant...you will NOT be disappointed. It was great...and part of that was having such a great group of friends together. We were all in a great mood and the dinner was full of laughs.

After dinner Sandy, Steve, Dale and I ended the night at Smart Cow Yogurt Bar for some dessert and brainstorming on Halloween costumes. It was a great way to end a great day.

All in all, it was all last minute...but it ended up being one terrific weekend.

Unhappy with AMC Theatres at Westminster Promenade

Today, I joined my movie club at the AMC Theatres at the Westminster Promenade in Westminster, CO to see our selected August movie, One Day. We had selected to see the movie at the 11:10 AM showing. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to see the movie and they said, there was no 11:10 AM showing. Huh? The next showing was at 2:15 PM. Huh? The snotty kid working the counter said, "Are you at the right theater?" Yes, I was. He said, "Did you look up the movie on our website?" Yes, I did.

My immediate thought was had I screwed up and now I was going to have 6 - 12 unhappy friends standing around. Thankfully, several other people I did not know including a Bachelorette party of 10 showed up at the ticket counter looking for the 11:10 AM showing of One Day. I went online and it was still listed on Google as 11:10 AM at the AMC Westminster Promenade.

I asked to see a Manager and some guy appeared. He said, "Sorry. A church group rented that theater, so we canceled the 11:10 AM showing. We updated our website, but third party sites do not update" What? I told him that was poor customer service and his answer was, "There is nothing I can do about it." There was no sorry. There was no how can I make this right. Nothing. Just a constant explanation that this was out of his hands. I left annoyed.

My friend Judy went back in and complained and was able to get free passes, which was great of Judy...but sad that it took two of us complaining for the Manager to do anything to make loyal customers happy. It was very disappointing and although I appreciated the passes, it made me angry he did not offer them to me when I complained. Why did it take two of us complaining to make this happen?

We went and had a quick lunch and then went to see the movie Midnight in Paris with our free passes, since that show time sort of worked. We knew nothing about the movie and quickly found out it was an odd Woody Allen film where a guy traveled in time back and forth between 2011 and 1092 Paris. It was not what I would call a must-see film. Actually, it was a disappointing film quite honestly.

The whole experience left me very unhappy with AMC Theatres and wondering why I frequent this theater so often. I hate bad customer service. I understand things can go wrong, but how a business handles the situation makes the difference between a good and a bad service. In my mind, AMC Westminster Promenade has bad service and does not care about loyal customers.

I complained on their website...but part of my is NOT expecting much. Time to start looking at alternatives to AMC Theatres.

Junior High Sucks

This morning I caught the 6:50 bus to work. It is the first time I have caught the late bus this week. School started this week and there is also a school bus stop next to my RTD bus stop. When I catch the 6:50 bus and school is in session, it means I get to wait for my bus near about 10 or so junior high kids.

Every time I look at these kids I am reminded just how much junior high sucks. All the kids look so awkward. Some of the kids look so young and others look so old. Hell, one looks like he is 27. You have some girls towering over boys. You have some boys trying to grow mustaches. It is a horrible mix of adolescence and puberty. It could honestly be a reality show - Junior High Bus Stop. None of the kids look happy. This could be that they are waiting for a bus at 6:45 AM or it could be their hormones are ruling them now.

Either way, I remember that time in my life and it sucked. In elementary school everyone seems to like each other but junior high is where separation starts - the jocks become jocks, the geeks become geeks and the populate become popular. Everyone seems to start falling into buckets in junior high as everyone struggles to figure out who they are. It is an awkward time when who is dating who and who is friends with who becomes far too important. Maybe it was just that way for me since I was a geek. Maybe everyone else loved junior high. Who knows...but I know I would happily do high school or college again but not junior high.

I personally imagine my hell will be an eternity of junior high. Endless dodge ball games and Mrs. Fennel's math class on a constant loop. Ugh.

Anyhow, to these kids at the bus stop...I hope they know it gets better. The boys will catch up with you in height tall girl. That patchy beard will one day come in kid. Hang in there!

The Chuckle Patch

I snapped a picture of these flowers before leaving for work this morning.


They are right off our back patio and remind me of the Chuckle Patch from the kid's TV show, The Magic Garden. You'd have to had lived near the NY area and had the TV station WPIX to remember that show but it featured two perky women who hosted from a make believe garden featuring a talking pink squirrel named Sherlock and a patch of flowers grew jokes on their leaves and giggled when the hosts read the jokes. I loved it as a kid.

Anyhow these flowers are my chuckle patch even though they have not laughed at one of my jokes yet.

Yum

Finally ate at East Moon in Westminster, CO. It is a Thai Chinese Vietnamese Japanese Asian Restaurant. Dale has been there numerous times but he never takes me anywhere, but tonight he finally did. We were joined by Sandy and Steve Stubbendick. I had the Moon Harbor and a mojito. Yum. After dinner Steve went to softball while Sandy, Dale and I went to Little Man Ice Cream. I was craving Oreos, so I had the salted Oreo ice cream. Yum. It was a good night.

Hurricane Irene

As I was about to leave for the airport for my trip to Boston this morning I received a call and a text from my CEO telling me to not get on the flight. He canceled the meeting due to the potential of Hurricane Irene.

I am glad as there is probably nothing worse that weathering out a hurricane in a hotel with no power. So I will be headed to Boston in two weeks instead.

That is all.

Ironic

I am facing an ironic situation. Well, not a true ironic situation but Alanis Morrissette ironic really.

Anyhow the woman sitting across from me on the bus is wearing a silky blouse with the top 2 buttons undone. She is definitely not wearing a bra and when she turns I can see about 75% of her breast. The ironic part is she is reading Heather Gudenkauf's book, These Things Hidden. In this case, these things hidden are not her tits.

My friend Sandy Stubbendick says the gays (specifically Dale and I) are fascinated with boobs. She may be right. I find myself staring hoping to catch a glimpse of some nipple.

Today would have been

It's August 24th
Today would have been my Mom's 62nd birthday
She was a good woman
A great Mom
She did not deserve to leave us at 53 years old
Or to battle cancer for 5 years
She deserved so much more
More time
More life
More love
She lived for her family
And gave her whole heart
She was born to be a Mom
A grandmother
A wife
She knew me better than I knew myself
I miss her dearly
I hope she is someplace safe
That she is happy
That she is loved

Happy birthday, Mom! A day does not pass this Earth where your love and soul is not felt by those you touched. You changed our lives forever.


Melinda Madeline O'Brien Whittaker
August 24, 1949 - January 3, 2003

Bright spot

Today was a day that kept kicking me in the ass hour after hour after hour. Ugh. When you work for a company the builds websites having Internet access is very helpful and guess what was down all day? Yes, the Internet! It just plain sucked. No Internet and no access to files made for a tough time getting things done.

Thankfully I came home and Dale made me dinner before I jumped online to try to get caught up. He was the bright spot of an otherwise bad day. Thanks Dale!

And tomorrow can only be better, right?

Dreams are funny

Last night I had a dream about the McDonald's drinking glasses from the 70s and 80s. Remember those? In my dream I seemed particularly happy to have one featuring Grimace. Dreams are funny.

Perfect way to end the weekend

Tonight Dale and I went to our friend's the Stubbendick's for dinner, along with their neighbors the Harts. It was a wonderful evening and they even invited out dog Zoe to join as she has never met their dogs, Oreo and Twix.

It was a delicious dinner. Sandy and Steve made jalepeno bratwursts, salads and corn on the cob. They also whipped up some Mojitos and key lime pie ice cream. Everything was incredible as the brats had a nice spicy kick and the ice cream was a col finish.

Zoe, Oreo and Twix got along very well after a few tense moments. That Twix may be five pounds but I think if we had not jumped in to break up an early argument...he'd be wearing Zoe right now.

Even with some dog stress, it was a great time and the perfect way to end the weekend. Plus I made some Mojitos and that never hurts either.

Thanks Sandy, Steve, Twix and Oreo!

Perfect morning

It was the perfect morning for a walk with my second best girl, Zoe (my best girl, Dale was still sleeping).

What big eyes I have

Aloha

I was organizing some photos from 2006 and came across mine and Dale's vacation photos from Hawaii. I think we need a return trip this winter, don't you?

Help, I am being held prisoner

Dale has decided that we will be staying home the entire day and evening. He feels we need a quiet day home. I wanted to go to a movie. Dale won and we are staying home. However, the second he turns around, Zoe and I are going to make a break for the wall and bust out of here.

Lazy day

It look like Ms. Zoe is planning on a lazy day at home today.

Nostolgic

This morning I was moving over a lot of digital pictures to the new MacBook and it was hard not to get a little nostolgic as I looked at pictures of my nephew and nieces. They are becoming adults so quickly. Kristin and Lauren are in college. Jillian is in high school. Camryn and Ryan are in junior high school. I can't believe it. It seems like they were all babies yesterday. Time sure slips by so quickly. I pulled some photos from years past to share of the little kids they once were and in my heart will always be.

I stayed up to 1 AM playing with Dale's...

...new MacBook Air. It is the best laptop ever. I moved everything from our external hard drive we backup off the old laptop that bit the dust last week.


I need to finish a few things on it tomorrow, but otherwise it is all systems go.

Pushed through it

I have felt off all week. I have been fighting a fever, chills and lower back pain since Sunday. All this has seemed to have passed now but Wednesday night my fever spiked (I woke up wringing wet from sweat) and it seemed to finally break. However, as in the past when I have a high fever I ended up with fever blisters on my tongue and throat. Does this happen to anyone else? Anyhow, it made talking and eating painful yesterday as moving my tongue a lot or eating anything crunchy hurts. Of course I had two presentations yesterday but popping Advil seemed to do the trick. Dale asked if BLTs were alright for dinner last night and I said yes not thinking how crunchy toast and bacon can be. It hurt. But I pushed through it for the love of bacon. My mouth feels a bit better today and should be fine after a few more days of healing.

Mixed Day

Today was a bit of a mixed day for me.


On one hand, I had two great client meetings and was very proud of the work completed and presented by my team. I have said it before, but I work with some of the best people in the web business. They create some of the most beautiful, functional, usable websites out there.

On the other hand, I spent a lot of today thinking about friends both near and far, who were facing difficult times. I have a dear friend whose Dad was just diagnosed with cancer, another beloved friend whose marriage is facing tough times and a couple I adore and love, who were mourning today which is the anniversary of the loss of their daughter. I hate to see people I love in pain. I want to make things better, but in these types of situations I know there not much I can do but be a friend and try to be there for them. However, that just feels like it is not enough as the "fixer" in me just wants to fix everything.

As I sit here reflecting it reminds me just how fragile life can be and how quickly things can change for any of us. We all tend to get caught up and focus so much energy on the annoyances of our daily lives, thinking those are big problems when in reality they are not worth the stress.

On the plus side

Traffic was a nightmare this morning. It seemed like every highway was backed up. I got off the highway and came downtown via Washington Street, which is a very industrial part of town. I saw a lot of businesses I had never heard of and saw a lot of bars busy at 7:30 AM. On the plus side the weather was beautiful, I was in the convertible and got to listen to music for an hour.

Incredibly sad

Tonight I stopped for gas for my Mini Cooper (aka Elvira). While waiting on my $40 fill up, I saw a woman in her late 30s sitting in her car smoking a cigarette. After a few minutes a man pulled up behind her and moved, who I assume are his (and likely her) kids from his SUV to her car. The kids we a boy about 6 years old and a girl about 4 years old.

He got the kids settled in the car seats and then knocked on the woman's window to talk to her. She rolled down the window 2 inches and in a mean tone said, "What?"

He told her he needed to pick the kids up an hour later next time and she replied, "I know. I read my emails." He was starting to say goodbye to the kids and in mid-sentence she put the window up and drove off.

It made me feel incredibly sad. I know there are two sides to any story and circumstances, but how tragic for the kids. Firstly, memories of a gas station exchange are a bad thing to remember from your childhood, but parents despising each other is even worse.

I just do not understand how people cannot muster enough civility to put their children's needs first. Seeing your Mom hate your Dad that much is not healthy. She may think her husband deserves that treatment (and he honestly may) but the kids do not deserve to see their father treated that way.

It was a five minute interaction but I drove away feeling incredibly sad for all of them. They most likely loved each other enough at one point to create two children, but do not love those children enough to put them first.

As someone who has not been divorced or have children maybe I just do not understand.

Great weekend

Great friends.

Beautiful Steamboat Springs

It is so beautiful here in Steamboat Springs, CO.

Farewell game night weekend

Packing up and heading out.

Yatzee

Last night after dinner we finally competed in Couple's Game Night, which sort of sucked because I was under the impression that whomever drank the most alcohol would win the trophy. Apparently everyone picked Yatzee, when I was "napping" on the couch after dinner.


Dale and I have never played Yatzee before and came in last. For the first time ever in Couple 's Game Night history, Sam/Anjanette won. I was too drunk to see if they cheated but I suspect Anjanette may have been in a professional Yatzee league at one point. I plan on researching this once I get back home.

Full on Fondue

Sandy and Dale made fondue for dinner. It was delicious.

Good day

Shopping. Boozing and tubing down the Yappa River. Then hot tub and drunk Tom.

Eggs Florentine

Dale made a wonderful breakfast with eggs florentine, bacon, toast and melon for all of us. It was delicious.

Couple's Game Night hits the road

Yesterday was a lot of fun and even a few surprises. Dale and I headed up to Steamboat Springs with our friend's Sandy & Steve Stubbendick, Sam & Anjanette S. and Tim & Shannon Spencer. This is our Couple's Game Night crew and this weekend is our Couple's Game Night...but this time we are taking the fun on the road.


We arrived about 3:00 PM at our condo and by 4:00 PM the mojitos were flowing (and delicious). The condo is amazing...4 floors, 4 bedrooms, 4 baths and a beautiful modern design. It sells for over $1 million. It is very nice. Shannon Spencer deserves an extra mojito for finding this place.


Once we arrived we unpacked, laughed, drank, laughed, munched on some snacks, played some trivia and card games, drank some more and laughed even more.





We planned to do a full fondue dinner but some unexpected surprises (what happens in Steamboat Springs, stays in Steamboat Springs...but I will say that goats cannot be trusted) left us ordering a pizza instead. We did however get through the cheese fondue course. But the evening was still a blast and after my 6th mojito I was feeling mighty happy.


Good times.

Lost count

But we added fondue.

Guess what?

Mojito #3

Mojito Part Deux

So good.

Mojito #1

Ahhhhhh.

Good thing

It is a good thing we are only going away for the weekend. Otherwise we'd have to rent a trailer.

This weekend I will be

Hanging out in Steamboat Springs with 7 other amazing people.

And enjoying lots of mojitos.

This likely means...

...me passed out on a couch somewhere. Yeah!

Thank goodness for Dale

Poor Dale. He is exhausted tonight. He spent almost the whole day running around today with our friend Sandy Stubbendick buying food and supplies for our weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO. Thank goodness for Dale and his hard work. Putting together meals for the weekend for eight people that includes such culinary wonders as three courses of fondue and eggs florentine is a lot of work.

I am blessed to have this guy in my life.

Nerds

Tonight, I treated Dale to some frozen yogurt from Smart Cow. I got the always delicious watermelon sorbet with a new favorite pistachio. But best of all...I added nerds to it...along with a few gummy bears for color. I can't remember the last time I had nerds. So much fun. And so delicious.

Melting Pot

Last night Dale and I joined our friends The Stubbendick's and our new friends, The Schon's for dinner at The Melting Pot. It was a farewell dinner for the Schon's, who are visiting from Germany. They are such a wonderful and sweet family. It was a pleasure to meet them and get to know them all this past week.

Dinner at Melting Pot was amazing. It was 4 hours of fondue heaven...not to mention a few mojitos. Dale and I opted for the Latin America Big Night Out and it was good, good, good. I recommended it highly.

It was wonderful and I am still full today. And the fondue fun will continue as we are having fondue again tomorrow night.

Why I really love Facebook

Most of you know I am a bit of a Facebook fan (okay fanatic). Anyhow, I know I update too much and blah, blah, blah. I get that...but it is who I am. However, I bet most of you would be surprised to know my real love of Facebook is not my own status updated, but the fact that I get to stay connect to friends who I love. I especially love that I get a peak into the lives of my friends through their updates - whether a post about a song their like or a rant about a bad day. It is nice to be...although virtual...connected to them. This is especially nice with friends who are clear on the other side of the country and I probably otherwise only would get to talk to one or twice a year to hear updates.

Just now I was reading a Facebook status from my friend Jennifer Wheland Wettergren, who lives in Rhode Island. She is actually my ex (I know...gasp...Tom dated a girl). We have known each other since probably 8th grade and were officially boyfriend/girlfriend in junior high school and again our senior year year of high school. We shared everything from like, love to even a little hatred over the course of our adolescence. But we walked away as friends and to this day, I feel an incredible connection to Jenn and hopefully always will. I can say without hesitation, if she called and needed me tomorrow...I would figure out a way to be on a plane to be there for her. I know in my heart she would do the same for me.

Anyhow, as I was reading Jenn's status updated from today it got me thinking about how incredible of a woman Jenn has become. Her updates always inspire me...particularly when it comes to her daughters - Georgia and Maggie. Her love, devotion and dedication to those two girls is truly amazing. Jenn would do anything to protect those girls and ensure they are safe and loved. Her daughter Georgia is battling cancer and I can only imagine the horror Jenn faces on a daily basis...but she never let's it beat her. She stays positive and takes on life with a sense of humor. Cancer sucks and Jenn posts this often...but I respect that even at her lowest she stays focused on remaining positive and taking care of her daughters. It is incredible.

Jenn reminds me a lot of my own Mom as they both put their children first and were fiercely protective. Both believed in the importance of a positive attitude - not just for themselves but their children. I grew up thinking my Mom could take on anything and succeed. I would bet you, Jenn's daughters feel the same way about their Mom. Hell...I think Jenn could take on anything too. She is incredible and inspires me daily because if anyone can take on cancer with a child and win...it will be Jenn.

So my thanks to Jenn for being an incredible Mom and inspiration to me (and I am sure so many others). Thanks to all my other friends on Facebook, who also take the time to share a bit of themselves here and there. And thanks to Facebook for keeping us all connected. You both rock!

Finally

There is a woman who rides my bus on occassion that gets on carrying an ordinary coffee mug full of coffee. This is not a travel mug. It has no lid. It is just a regular basic coffee mug from your kitchen. The kind you use in your non-moving, steady home. This always seems odd to me since most of my fellow passengers use something with a lid.


I have blogged about this woman in the past and how I find myself hypnotized by her coffee mug. I watch intently waiting for it to spill, but week after week and month after month she always prevails...until today.

Finally! Today the bus won. Our driver was cut off by a car as we merged onto I-25 and had to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending the idiot and the woman's coffee spilled all over her. I honestly saw her coffee float in mid air as the coffee went up but the mug went down. She is now wearing a lovely coffee pattern on her blouse and skirt.

Now, I know I should feel horrible but I struggle with the common sense. Bumpy bus + coffee mug with no lid = eventual disaster, right? She has had plenty of near misses in the past as warnings.

I know I should not be excited by her misfortune, but I guess my need to have a told you so moment (even if not out loud) is just greater than my level of compassion. Sorry.

Tradition

Each year for our anniversary Dale and I buy new matching rings. We have seven sets of rings and this past July marked our eighth anniversary.

Typically, we buy rings from somewhere we travel for vacation so it is not only a symbol of our love but also a reminder of a special time together. We have rings we purchased in Denver, New York City, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Venice and the Virgin Islands.

We really did not do a big vacation this year with the exception of Las Vegas. We looked while in Las Vegas but did not find anything we liked. We did however find matching bracelets to celebrate Dale's 1 year cancer free from lymphoma, which we purchased and love.

The other day we did find new rings here locally that we liked. Where? We got them at Kohls of all places. They are stainless steel. I like them a lot as most of our other rings have diamonds...so this one is much simpler.


I am hoping by our ninth or tenth anniversary Dale and I can legally marry in Colorado and the last ring we place on each other's fingers will be our wedding bands.

Besides it is becoming tougher and tougher to find unique men's rings that do not look too similar to something we already have and this tradition is getting expensive.

But no matter the cost...it is a tradition I love that Dale and I share, plus each ring is another wonderful memory with Dale.