Eat Play Love

Believe it or not, Eat Play Love was created as an outlet for me to write about anything happening in my life, a place to call my own, a place to vent, a place to laugh, and a place I desperately needed to get me through good days and even some bad. May I add this place is mainly a happy place (except for those bad days), where I have stayed true to my original intent. Along the way I've met some fabulous people and feel like a real part of a community of bloggers! My experience has blown away my expectations by a million.

Now let me be the first to say, I don't take that community for granted.

Today is a day, where I'm feeling a little frustrated. My pet peeve, the infiltration of clueless "new media" PR people trying to change a good thing, a well established community. In case you have never noticed, I don't run ads on my blog. Go look around over there on the left, not one ad. A badge to donate to the March of Dimes or a family coping with tragic loss, …

A few weeks ago, we woke again to another stormy Saturday. Although we had been graced with a mild winter, as soon as Spring hit the Rockies the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse. J and I decided to take the girls an indoor adventure to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We needed something to break up the monotony of being indoors for what seemed like every weekend for the past month. 
I had been hearing the buzz about a new exhibit that was opening called, Expedition Health, which replaced the space in the museum that once housed the Hall of Life. I don't recall how many field trips I went on to the Hall of Life, but that exhibit was quite popular when I was teaching fifth grade. Funny enough on our way down to the Museum, I asked J if he'd every been? I didn't recall us ever taking the trip together. Then I remembered, J actually joined my class of fifth graders on a field trip the museum. Pretty funny. 

When we arrived at the Museum, we were given tickets…

The other day the girls requested juice in the morning. Considering orange juice is thicker than most juices I decided in a momentary lapse of reason, to take out the stopper from the girls' sippy cups. (Yes, the girls still use sippy cups, why because I hate spills all over the place and quite frankly I don't care that my daughters still use them, they can drink out of glasses just fine, fyi) Anyway, so I was packing my delightful Live Simply whale emblazoned tote bag for a little park outing to meet up with friends. I placed the girls' sippy cups full of water in my tote bag, slipped my camera in the bag along with lunch and a diaper or two. I thought to myself gosh I haven't gotten a picture of Sj and her buddies in awhile, it will be nice to get some shots at the park.

Do, dee, do, driving to the park. (can you imagine what's happening on my drive to the park, any guesses?)

We start to unload for the park, when I discover one large sippy cup empty in the bag with…

Well, did it happen or not? I wrote about my experience trying to find a new furry companion today over at Rocky Mountain Moms Blog! Oh and you can see a picture of my darling beloved Guinness, we sure do miss him still five years later. Find out the story here...

Today is the day my husband set off on an adventure. Once again, he's traveling the globe to chase down some snow. He gets paid to chase snow, he's very lucky in that regard, well that's if you love snow like he does. So he'll hop on three airplanes, hop in a handful of cars, and then a boat to get to his destination, Norway. North of the Arctic Circle, in Tromso. You can find Tromso on the top of the map just right of where it says ARCTIC OCEAN.

Now let me be the first to share, my husband loves an exotic location. To me, north of the Arctic Circle is definitely exotic and probably not on my top ten spots of places I need to see. Well, I guess if you were paying me, I could find it in my heart to make it through all that travel to get to such a spot. But I'm more of a white sandy beach kind of girl. More like Greece on the other hand, contending for spot number one on my list.

Which brings me to my research. When ever my hubby travels to an exotic location, the gi…

Ten years ago I was a student completing the last of my courses before receiving my license to teach in Colorado. Ten years later, I am a Master's Student at the same University (please don't let me be a student in ten years at CU). That very day I was home in my peaceful cabin in Fourmile Canyon, when I flipped through local breaking news coverage of a school shooting. School + Shooting didn't go together very well in my mind. I watched wide eyed for at least twenty minutes before the reality of what was happening hit me. I called the School of Education, where I worked to urge them to catch the news coverage. Before I knew it, national news had picked up the story and broadcast nothing but the same images for the next twenty four hours. Those images I can still recall, those images which I wish had never been created by hatred.

We all remember that day, in our own way, how it impacted our lives. I've read recently that our memory fades, we hold onto things that may b…

Blogging it's easy, right? Maybe picking the name or the template is the hard part, but the blogging part we all think is easy, in the beginning. Often we read blogs written by people that make it seem so easy, so effortless. But in reality blogging is not effortless, it's work, it's time consuming, and sometimes it's hair raising!

But I'm still here. Not as often as I was a year ago, but hey I'm still here.

Which brings me to one of the biggest hurdles for new bloggers, comments. Maybe you read a blog and they get 10 comments or 28 comments or hot damn maybe they have 100's of comments. You sit in front of your computer, hit publish and expect people to flock to your post. But you hear crickets. You write a test post or comment making sure it's "working". I've been there a month into starting my blog, I thought it was broken.

The first few months I wrote my blog, barely anyone read it. Okay there were like 5 of you and I probably bribe…

A few times a year after giving birth to my second daughter I feel like my hormones are totally out of whack or on overdrive. I'll never forget one day I screamed at the top of my lungs, driving in the car with my husband, fuming. Yelling. It all came out of nowhere really, but in the moment it wasn't controllable. A few days later, my friend arrived. By friend I mean, my monthly visitor, Aunt Flo, or the ever popular from my teen years, on the rag. 

Then it just all made sense. That episode in the car was hormone induced.

Now I'm not placing the blame of my actions on PMS or hormones, but it certainly did provide clarity for me. After that episode I deeply reflected on my behavior and couldn't really grasp why my emotions felt so out of control. Must be the hormones.

Since then I've had my good months and bad. Like a few months ago, I had those dark days before my friend arrived which I would definitely consider to be depression like symptoms. I cried and cried…

Today is the day, friends and family will gather in Los Angeles to say good bye to Maddie. We're wearing purple today Maddie, thinking of everyone that's been touched by your life. 

Thanks for sharing this beautiful idea.

Labeling myself as a foodie, it's very important to me to seek out quality dining experiences when traveling. We spent the weekend in Steamboat Springs a town we've visited numerous times over the years. We like to seek out restaurants that the locals eat at, rather than the packed touristy spots. To be quite honest I am not huge on dining out with the girls. They are exceptional diners, but when it comes down to that last 20 minutes when meals are just being nibbled on and the check needs to arrive and signed for, sometimes chaos ensues and I can't handle it. Really those last crucial moments dining out can make or break it for me.

Obviously when seeking out quality food, it has to be kid friendly. Must. What does kid friendly mean to me, sometimes it's cutesy plastic cups, coloring sheets, crayons, and a speedy check. Service is key to maintaing the balance. So which establishments received our business closing weekend?

Freshies is a local's favorite. It's a…

For a few weeks I've been mulling over some thoughts in my head. Thoughts that really just need to escape because they are all bound up and reeling. Do you know those thoughts? But writing them is hard to do. Sometimes words can be taken differently than conversation, misconstrued so they say.

I've been feeling really bummed out about my friendships. Now let me first say, I have a really great group of friends. Some I could call in the middle of the night (and have), some that are my personal therapists, my personal pediatricians, and a few that wear all those hats. I've known most of them for years, they take the good with the bad.

But something is missing.

At this phase in my life, I very much put my family on the top of my list. I feel that's how it should be. But a girl needs girlfriends. Like last month when I was in a funk so deep, I barely got out of bed for days, and none of my friends knew it. I wore pajamas to pick up my daughter, tucked into my jeans. I was in …

This morning, I woke to find out Madeline Spohr passed away. November 11, 2007-April 7,2009. Her mother Heather Spohr has a beautiful spirit and personality. Those of us in the blogging community knew Madeline's story. This month there is a walk in Los Angeles for the March of Dimes, a huge passion for Heather.

I feel heartbroken for the Spohr family and their friends and family. Please hug your babies today, love them and bite your tongue when you feed mad.

Please don't hesitate, make a donation today to the March of Dimes right now in honor of Madeline's life.

Walk Information:

Exposition Park
April 25, 2009
700 Exposition Park Drive
PARKING: $10/vehicle - CASH ONLY!
Los Angeles, CA 90037

Heather's Site is up and running, thanks the effort of some incredible women. Please go comment and share the love with Heather & Mike, tell them how you feel, it will make a difference, I promise.

The Spohrs Are Multiplying

I've disabled comments, please just act and donate!

Yesterday morning I was in a grocery shopping groove. Sounds kind of funny, but it's true. I was off to Whole Foods and Costco, before Costco even opened. My list was in hand, I was comparing prices in the produce section of Whole Foods, pre-bagged versus loose per pound grapefruit, brussel sprouts, and potatoes. Doo, dee, doo. Next stop meat counter, while deciding what I wanted my phone rang. I was texting my hubby back and forth so I just thought he wanted me to add another item to the list.

I picked up my phone, watching my ground turkey breast being weighed out. Some other employee from the meat department is trying to talk to me, as I previously inquired about chicken thighs.

I hear screaming in the phone.

Sj closed her hand in the door. From what I gathered it was really swollen, bleeding, and I should come home right now. Like abandon the cart and speed home?

Yes.

Two meat department employees are trying to engage me in conversation at this point. My mind is racing. I tell…

Well friends it's Spring Break around here. The girls and I are keeping busy, so I'm taking the rest of the week off from blogging. I am too tired at night to write after they are asleep with my hubby traveling! See you next week!