Weaving A Blogging Web...

When I started blogging I was really naive. Honestly I didn't have a clue about writing code, blogging culture, commenting, the who's who of the blogging world, and then a whole gamut of things that accompany being a blogger. The lessons I've learned are endless. When I sat down at my computer and started Eat Play Love, I thought I'd just write in my little anonymous corner of the world. Little did I know I started to weave a web. Interconnectedness is what has blossomed out of my blog and I am no longer just a face behind an avatar.

Now, I'm a blogger that now gets together with people I've met online through my blog. Some bloggers come to my home, some bloggers invite me to their homes, lots of bloggers come to meet ups, some bloggers meet me at Ikea, and some bloggers I run into randomly on a street corner in NYC. By meet ups, I mean gatherings at local coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, and bigger venues. And all those "some bloggers" are considered friends.

Just around the corner is the ultimate blogger meet up, the BlogHer Conference. Women and a few special men will be traveling around the country to gather in Chicago to make IRL (in real life) connections with people they know virtually. It's not just a social event, there are a range of sessions on topics if you want to make it a learning experience as well. There's a part of me that is sad that I won't be attending, but hey there's always next year. Sometimes I just feel like a tiny little bitty blip in the blog world and that I am not quite "big enough" to attend.

But, it just so happens I don't need to shed a tear about my absence from the biggest blogging event of the year. I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to attend the Pre-BlogHer meet up right in my neck of the woods. The best part, I was able to meet with local bloggers I hadn't met before and also catch up with some of the familiar faces I've been getting together with for over a year now.

Here we are (i'm 2nd from right in white shirt): Pictured: CrazyBlogginCanuck, TheBlogFrog, CrunchyDomesticGoddess, WeeblesWobBlog, ThisMamaCooks! *Photo was taken by Jen, a talented photographer and chef, whom I was thrilled to meet. Check her out over at Use Real Butter!

I feel so lucky to have started a blog on a whim and walked away with such an amazing group of people I can call friends, that inspire me every single day.

Tour de France 2009, So Many Men, So Much Excitement

Oh joy, happy, happy, joy. This weekend was the start of my favorite sporting event of the year, Le Tour de France. I've said it before and i'll say it again, I think cycling is the best sport in the world. For those of you that don't know or understand the significance of the Tour, imagine The Stanley Cup, World Series, NBA Finals, or The Superbowl. Yes it's that big and important, but on an international level making it even more exciting.

Let's talk about this year's Tour:

July 4-26, 21 race days and only 2 rest days.

2,149 miles in 21 days!

10 flat stages (no climbing where the sprinters shine), 7 mountain climbing stages, 1 medium mountain stage.

2 individual time trial stages (race against the clock, alone), 1 team time trial stage (race against the clock with team).

20 mountain passes will be climbed, some days will have multiple passes.

Yellow jersey is the leader of the race, can stay the same or change daily depending on time.

Green jersey is the sprinter's jersey, indicating the fastest man on two wheels. Top stage finishers earn points towards jersey.

Polka Dot jersey is the King Of The Mountains, which is the best climber. Points are earned on climbs towards jersey.

White jersey is the best youngest rider (under 26). Earned by time in general classification.

Did I mention Lance Armstrong is back? Yeah, he's kind of a big deal in cycling, having won the Tour de France oh 7 times in the past. To me the race hasn't quite been the same with out him and it's just magic watching him race. Plus as an added bonus, he's on Twitter sharing with his followers through out the day. Twitter has completely changed the race for me, making it much more exciting. I am able to chat with people around the world and also have an insider's perspective from Lance, George, Levi, and Johan (Team Astana's manager). There are many other cyclists, teams, and announcers on Twitter just go take a peek they are easy to find.

I can't quite explain what it's like to watch the Tour every morning. My heart races, I smile, I worry, if it's raining I cover my eyes a lot in fear of crashes, and I love the thrill of the race. With cycling you never know what a stage will turn out, an unexpected break away or drop out. Tuning in everyday I know I'll see an amazing group of athletes facing defeat, fatigue, and pulling from the depths of their character to cross that finish line.

Oh and this view doesn't hurt either:
Right now Lance is in a tie for first place. I can't quite recall this ever happening in the Tour in the last ten years, maybe once involving Floyd Landis in 2006. Lance isn't currently in yellow, Fabian Cancellara is and boy is he a power house. Both are racing incredibly strong. I'm sure this won't be my last Tour post in the next few weeks, hope you find the time to tune into Versus and catch some coverage. Beware, you may just become a fan of cycling.  

Want more? My previous Tour de France posts

Bringing Back The Drop By...

I remember clearly from my childhood family and friends that were notorious for the early Saturday morning drop by. On some occasions I still laugh thinking of my mom in her pink plush robe racing to get put together from the moment an unexpected car pulled up, until the doorbell rang. The water would be put on, tea would be poured, a fresh hard roll would be buttered, and conversation would roll like thunder, for hours.

I definitely joke with my friends about random drop by's being a lost part of our culture. We've become much more accustomed to scheduling, which I don't have a problem with. I feel nostalgic for drop by's, I don't quite know why. Recently I was driving with a carload of my friends to celebrate a birthday, when one of our friends said, "yeah my house is the fifth in from the corner drop by anytime". I quickly joked back, "now you know the drop by is extinct don't you". We all laughed. In some ways it's true and in others the drop by is not extinct.

We can bring the drop by back.

But what does this mean for me? If I am notorious for having a messy house through out the day. Sometimes the day spills into night and even the next day. I can't quite explain it. I love a well kept home, but I have to admit I am not neurotic about keeping my house immaculate. It's a work in progress. A notion I better take seriously if I am inviting my friends to just drop on by.

After I wrote a post in April about friendships, I've actually had an influx of drop by's. I think just putting out the idea to people, letting them know it's okay to come by and visit changes people's feelings about always scheduling in advance. One of my friends called me at 8:30 one night, after our hellos, she said oh and I'm sitting out front can I come in? I made a pot of tea and we ate Italian cookies. Just the other night, I convinced a friend to get ice cream with me at 8:15pm, on a whim (well it was a fundraiser). She indulged me, with her sweaty work out clothes and all. Yeah, us!

I know we can bring the drop by back!

For me, I have to work on keeping the house presentable (not immaculate). Oh and a good batch of sun tea in the refrigerator. Maybe even some special cookies in the cabinet above the refrigerator to share during a drop by visit. Doesn't it feel fun, the notion of being out and about, in the neighborhood of a friend and just popping in for a glass of tea?

Let movement start friends, don't let drop by's become extinct.

Summertime, Oh How I Love Summer...

Today I thought to myself, what if I just sat down and wrote without a focus. Long ago, I would just stand at an easel and paint. I didn't know what I was going to paint, I just pushed the paint around created something with out preconception. Maybe I'm writing on a whim, I've got some posts mulling around in my head, but they aren't quite ready to be written. 

Maybe this whimsical feeling can be blamed on summer's arrival. The days have been passing so quickly, my daughter has been out of a school for a month already. For once we aren't overbooked. We spend our days mainly hanging out around the house, creating craft projects, watering plants, gardening, swinging, building sandcastles, playing jump rope, and of the last two days swimming in the pool. I've been trying to keep on top of housework considering we are here all day long, but playing is more fun. The housework just has to wait sometimes. Not sure if I should be proud of that or just cringe inside, maybe a bit of both.

Today for example, I made friendship bracelets for my girls. Sj helped me, but she isn't quite old enough for the finger weaving style of bracelet making that I know. For fun we put the easel up out back and the girls painted outside, under the shade of the cottonwood tree. We put ice in our drinks, sipping them on the porch, ice just seems to make the day more special. Isn't that what summer is about? No where to run to, no stress, just us hanging out. After lunch we went swimming. Now I use the term swimming loosely as we don't actually swim, more like wade around the three feet deep vinyl water vessel in the backyard. It's a quick dip because the water isn't exactly warm, but it's getting there.

Summertime, oh how I love summer.

Later tonight we took Sj to her new school after dinner to play on the playground. My heart just swelled with joy as I watched her running around laughing and bouncing from swings to teeter totter to playstructure. The view from the playground is amazing, as the Flatirons are just off in the distance. The grounds are filled with beautiful gardens and blooming flowers. There's a part of me that still can't believe she really got into this school. I feel so lucky. Lucky enough I played the lottery last week. It's amazing to stand in the presence of a dream finally realized.

Maybe tomorrow I will finally get to the grocery store, which I've been meaning to do since Sunday evening. Or maybe I won't. Maybe I'll just lounge around enjoying the girls playing with one another, getting head to toe messy and dirty, doing crafts, singing songs, and making a game of doing dishes (just add lots of bubbles, it works everytime).

Summertime, oh how I love summer.

Where Colorado Locals Go: Lunch at Cherry Cricket & Denver Art Museum

While my husband took a few days off, we decided to do a little local exploration. We live less then 15 miles outside of Denver, so literally it's a hop, skip, and a jump away. The first destination on our staycation, the Cherry Cricket in the swanky Cherry Creek neighborhood. After finding a parking spot, you may chuckle as across the street are high end design stores and fancy schmancy boutiques. Now the Cherry Cricket I can guarantee is a step back through time, a feeling which overcomes you as soon as you enter the door. The lighting is dim, the paneling is heavy dark wood, and the place generally has an well established feel to it.

As you can imagine, the food is good in a place that's been around since the 1950's. The menu is classic for this type of restaurant (bar food) burgers, wings, appetizers, sandwiches, and a few mexican inspired dishes. I ordered the Philly steak sandwich and my hubby ordered of course, the classic 1/2 pound cricket burger. The meat was super tender and delicious in my sandwich and my hubby was happy to offer me a bite before his burger disappeared. For us the experience is more about the history, the lure, the story and the bonus was a great meal. Yes, we took our girls. They have kids menus, a fish tank, cricket hand stamps, and super friendly staff. Definitely a recommendation to escape the hum dum chain restaurant burger experience, a little piece of food culture in Denver.

Then off to the Denver Art Museum for an afternoon of exploring! Over the last five years the Museum has undergone some major transformation, with the addition of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building, the architectural design captures your attention and lures you in with excitement. One of the best things about taking our children to the Denver Art Museum is all the family friendly activities that they offer to enhance your experience in the Museum. For a simple trade of an identification card, you can pick up a back pack or two that contain hands on art activities that accompany particular exhibits in the museum. The backpack we chose had fun magnets to recreate a totem pole from the exhibit and different materials in the pouch for the girls to feel like a piece of copper and bark, in addition to a craft. There are also marked spots through out the galleries and exhibits that have kid friendly stations. Although J and I were rushed through the exhibits at a pace we weren't accustomed to, the girls had a fabulous time. This particular exhibit Fox Games by Sandy Skoglund allowed the girls an opportunity to walk through the installation feeling like they were a part of the art. To top off the North Building has a Family Center with more activities for children to participate in. Dress up, drawing, matching shell game, sculptures to climb on, books, funny mirrors, blocks to build whatever your imagination desires. We had so much fun, it might just be time for a membership, the cost to enter was free for the girls (5 and under), $10 Colorado Adult, $8 Colorado Student. For the four of us it was $18, money well spent. 

Two thumbs up Denver Art Museum, we had a blast. Can't wait to return!

***FYI, this is just a glimpse into a day off with our girls. I was not asked to visit or write about either location for my blog, we happily paid for our experiences at both places.***