September 2024

A West Denver girl and her '73 Monte Carlo.

September brought me to my first triathlon. Here I am all geared up and manically happy seconds before the start of the race.

Little did I know, that water would teach me some lessons.

Stay tuned for a full summary of my experience and training. It will be hitting the blog mid-October.

Since my early childhood, I’ve been “on-call” for free labor with Montoya & Co.

My jobs grew from the most menial to absolutely dangerous. I would hold the flashlight, pull nails out of scrap wood, sweep up debris and dust, to then learn how to use a wet tile saw and how to lay and grout tile. I am not sure how many of my weekends were spent this way, but I do remember them fondly.

On one particular side job, I remember helping my dad lay tile in an old Vicotrian home in Idaho Springs. We would load the suburban, pack our lunches, and head to the job site to complete the job that was being chipped away one weekend at a time. It was here that I learned the geometry, labor, and art of tile work. I can’t recall ever being restless while my dad worked…itching to play like a child; but instead, I remember watching in awe of how meticulously he worked. With a delicate touch and exacting measure. He was proud of his work, never cutting corners or using cheap material. I was truly watching an artist's work.

After our work for the day, I remember playing in the little creek that wandered through Idaho Springs. Rolling up my carpenter pants and walking the shallow water looking for minnows and rocks worth filling my big pockets….all while my hammer dangled from my hammer loop.

Working side jobs with my dad are some of my most vivid memories from my childhood.

So, when my dad calls me to help, I am always excited to be his construction worker for the day. In the past few years, we've had another worker added to the mix, my brother-in-law Josh. It's been nice to have another set of hands, but it's also been beautiful to watch my father teach his new son all that he knows. My dad has no technical degree, no college degree, nor an official title as an engineer; however, he truly does know it all. And, he learned it all before the birth of youtube. He learned via the way he is teaching my brother-in-law...direct experience and instruction and a lot of shit talk.

I am grateful to be a part of this work crew and always happy to lend my hands and muscle for the sake of a job done well.

After school ice cream on the stoop with my little loves.

My chaos garden brought me one ear of corn.

Song: Value
Artist: John Splithoff
I am a sucker for a white boy with an R&B sound. This gem starts with groovy and rhythic guitar rift only to disrupted by the melodic moans of this angel on earth. Then, the lyrics. Not only can the boy sing, but he is poet.

My little "rollerskate" of a car has two new frequent passengers.

El Dorado Canyon Pool: She finally reopened after years of renovations. And, she was more glorious than I could have anticipated.

Before ice cream, we do our favorite chore: watering the garden.

Song: Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
Artist: ABBA
I'm an unashamed ABBA lover. This song puts me on the hunt, even if I am only in the grocery store. Catch me walking like John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever" as I work my way down aisle 3. 

A glimpse of my vanity and my new signature scent: Sand & Fog's Sweet Apple Body Oil.

Top Notes: Lemon, Apple, Blackcurrant
Middle Notes: Plum, Peach, Jasmine
Base Notes: Vanilla, Sugar, Musk

I have received so many compliments on this scent and it's a scent that lasts all day. One of my favorite compliments was one that I received while crossing the busy street of Broadway. As I was halfway across the four lane road, a man waiting at the light with his window down yelled out, "Dang girl, you smell like heaven".

The only perk of sun glare...

We love Halloween in this family.

Each day, after I pick her up from school, we stop at multiple houses to critique their halloween set ups. I love the giant spiders, she loves the skeletons.

After our gazing, we have a routine of waving goodbye and singing, "Bye skeletons, we love you.".

Started a new mural for my bedroom wall.

Caption: See the shirt.

4 Bomb Threats and 2 Lockdowns.

The man in the middle there is part of the "mental health team" with the police. He is wearing a bullet proof vest while all of us teachers and students wait for our next orders.

It was a stressful month at my school, and I am hoping some changes are made so that smoother months are ahead of us.

Song: Someday
Artist: Eric Clapton
I came across this song while smoking a spare drag at a dive bar. The guitar immediately transported me to a lonely southwestern landscape. I asked the person next to me, "Is this Eric Clapton?". After a quick Shazam, it was confirmed. It's a lonely song, a blues song and its lyrics capture that longing for that someday that may never come, yet feels somehow promised.

'I'm a Bug"

Song: Foolish Heart
Artist: Steve Perry
A classic yacht rock song that puts me in my feels. Steve Perry is profoundly underrated and deserves more love as I consider his vocals some of the best in the past four decades. He belts out with such ease and comfort around some of the most difficult and long notes. And then, the lyrics. The lyrics are an honest bid for healing that all of us know.

Too hot for carpenter pants: both weather and figure.

Wandered and found this perfect dive. It was giving basement vibes with it's cheap drinks, rundown pool table, free foosball, and the random filing cabinets in the corner.

Song: SOS (Sex on Sight)
Artist: Victoria Monet & Usher
You're gonna need to turn your defroster on to defog the windows for this one. Usher and Victoria have an undeniable chemistry and sonically this song falls into the classic baby-making music category. Oh, and those horns at the bridge...good lord, god bless. 

The reality of schools.

These five gallon buckets are in every classroom in case of extended lockdowns.

I post this because I think that people who are not in schools, do not realize how normalized it is that we could could experience an attack at any given moment.

This is normal for students and teachers. And, that should cause everyone to pause.

South Broadway's Spooky Season

Lots of love on this loveseat.

All smiles as I finished up the 10 mile bike ride segment of my triathlon.

The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi
This book has been haunting me for the past year now. And it was in this month that I decided to finally commit myself to it. It's been a profound analysis of psychology, perspective, and power. I've finished it once, but have been flashing through and re-reading as if it it were a piece of scripture. 

• "No experience is in itself a cause of our success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences—the so-called trauma—but instead we make out of them whatever suits our purposes. We are not determined by our experiences, but the meaning we give them is self-determining."
• “Your life is not something that someone gives you, but something you choose yourself, and you are the one who decides how you live.”

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
This analysis of the state of childhood has been both eye-opening and reaffirming to the changes in children that I have seen in my short ten years of teaching. I think this is an essential read for all parents, but I also think the info in this book will help all of us who are living in a world of anxiety. The main premise of this book is to root down in reality, take back control of your mind by ditching the news and the voyerism of social media; and then, to remember the importance of play. 

• “Stress wood is a perfect metaphor for children, who also need to experience frequent stressors in order to become strong adults.”
• “Experience, not information, is the key to emotional development.”
• “the two big mistakes we’ve made: overprotecting children in the real world (where they need to learn from vast amounts of direct experience) and underprotecting them online (where they are particularly vulnerable during puberty).”