Brandon was walking through the orange aisle at SuperTarget yesterday when I- standing about 10 feet away- saw a blonde smile at him. I went up to him to tease him, when he said, "Umm, Nicki? I have a stuffed batman in my hand-held Target basket. He accidentally fell out of the basket in the frozen cookie dough aisle, much to the delight of everyone standing around me!"

I learned yesterday that when choosing between Superman, Spiderman, and Batman, apparently Batman is, apparently, the coolest.

The central alarm system in our apartment went off tonight around 7:00 that made all the pets (and humans) in our dog-friendly apartment go crazy!

In a hurry to get out the door, I grabbed my boyfriend, my dog, my purse, my laptop, and at the last minute, I had to double-check to make sure I had my digital camera. I knew I enjoyed taking photos, but would never have guessed that it would make my top 5 things to grab seeing as my house may be on fire.

We hung out in our courtyard area with 7 other dogs and dog owners while the alarms went off for another 20 minutes. Finally, the firetrucks arrive, and a few minutes later we're all being ushered back inside. False alarm, apparently.

What are your top 5?

The Cube Root of a Dog

Mom: Look at the size of that dog!
Four-year-old son: That's not a dog, it's a chihuahua!

--Washington Sq Park

Overheard by: Kerri

via Overheard in New York, Mar 19, 2007

Every once in awhile I get an urge to go on a shopping spree, and since I actively avoid using credit cards these days, I often satiate this urge by visiting a thrift store where I'll buy $6 worth of lovely crap. Today's goal was to to find jars for my art desk, so Brandon came along with me to peruse the thrift stores and antique shops on Broadway. First of all, let me just say that my boyfriend is wonderful! He's not into antiques, but he will go along with me and pretend to be interested in looking at old cookie jars and lunchboxes, which I find terribly attractive. Sometimes I hit him on the butt and am like, "Oww!" as we're walking in the vintage dishware aisle. No, seriously. Boyfriends who go with their girlfriends to antique shops are Hot.

The reason why he said he'd tag along on my trip to Broadway is because it's a very colorful neighborhood. And by colorful, I mean that we'll pass several blocks of antique shops and high-end furniture stores followed by a block with peep shows, tobacco shops, and adult book stores. Love the city! In any case, I was on a quest for glass jars, so when we spotted the store you see across the street in the photo above, I thought- jackpot! The place was called Hooked On Glass. They carried tons of high-end glass pieces and not the 99 cent old peanut butter jars I was seeking, however, considering some of the shops we saw today, I was quite amused when I downloaded this photograph and zeroed in on the sign. Click the photo to enlarge to see what "Hooked on Glass" morphed into, thanks to the Broadway street sign. Too funny.

Anyway, I really do enjoy life in the city. It's "colorful," yes- but it is a good kind of colorful, too. You never run out of things to see and do, and there are so many neat specialty stores. Even if I never visit 10 % of those stores, I think it's cool that they exisist in my city. For example, I thought of my parents today when we saw a restaurant that specialized in Czech food, then we later passed a store that specializes in supplies for making outdoor ponds. And I found a new lovely shop that sells craft supplies- the good stuff like Sublime Stitching patterns, neat handspun yarn and funky clothing patterns. It's fun to have those types of things at your fingertips.

I love the look on our faces in this photo- such genuine expressions which are rarely captured snapshots. I think this was when Brandon had turned around and was taking photos over his shoulder, one right after another, as we acted like twins. Sometimes the random photos are the best. I'll occasionally take a photo walk with Brandon where we'll take what we like to call "hip shots," where we hold the camera down by our side and snap away. It all started one afternoon in a coffee shop. The sun was hitting the wall just perfectly, and I wanted to capture a photo of the moment but didn't want to be obvious about it. The result was neat, so we occasionally go for the crooked, imperfectly-framed hip shots and the results are sometimes crap, but sometimes end up being unlike anything I could plan or try to capture.

Sometimes we like to make Brandon cover his eyes and we take turns saying the same word, phrase or funny sound, then we make him guess which one of us spoke first. Sometimes we fool him. (Denver peeps really know how to party)

Here's our before photo. We had two chairs and a treadmill in our living room.



Here's the after photo! I love that we've got vibrant color in our place now. I found the green flower tin on the table on sale for 2.49 at Hobby Lobby. Love that place!

twin-o-riffic

Becki came over to climb last Friday night, showing up in her blue and green. The zebra-striped headband of mine was for the photo, after Brandon realized that he was looking at twins.

scarf me!

I just bought the sweetest scarf at Target. At the very least, I'd like to throw it around my waist or tie my hair back when I'm crafting. However, I sometimes see ladies at the office who tie scarves around their necks to dress up an outfit. How do I accomplish this in a manner that looks both hip and professional?

I've consulted the Virginia Slims brochure, How to Wear a Scarf with Style, but I'm just not sure the Bib Wrap is "me."

Sarah- you live in one of the most fashion-forward cities in the universe. Any suggestions? Kelli- do you know how to do the scarf thing?

I think my muscles have finally recovered from climbing. Thanks for all the kind words, ladies. As you all probably know, doing physically challenging things does not come naturally to me! It was fun accomplishing something when I went into it not really knowing how good or bad I would be. I sucked less than I thought I would- yay for that!

In other news, I have been slowly trying to upgrade my wardrobe this past year. I typically try not to spend more than $15 on a shirt and $30 on pants, so it means being sale conscious and keeping my eye out for versatile pieces. After my sister Kelli visited me and Becki in Colorado last year, I remember admiring how well her outfits matched. I started making an effort to buy things that might coordinate well with other separates, rather than buying whatever caught my whimsey on that particular day. The result? I own a lot of black and gray and white. But it's good! They go well with my former wardrobe- colored checkered and flower-patterned skirts and random boho shirts. My wardrobe has diversified. Life is good.

And can one ever have enough pajama pants? I think not. However, I have noticed an upgrade- goodbye Old Navy candycane-laden flannel p.j. pants, HELLO (!) Victoria's Secret pale blue thin cozy cotton pajama pant bottoms with lace. Although it may sound like I've turned into a vixen, I assure you they're very comfortable yet pretty yet appropriate. Because that's the kind of girl I am.

rock climbing

I've been hearing about my sister's love for climbing for many years now, and tonight I finally got an opportunity to see what it was all about.

First, we put our invisible climbing diapers on.





Next, we put on our special shoes. If you're not familiar with climbing, you buy shoes that fit like a glove- a stiff rubber glove the size of a 5-year old's hand, that is. This way you're best able to utilize the tips of your toes to grab the smallest of climbing holds. Did you know that they make climbing holds shaped like a tiger's face? It's true!



The best part about the climbing shoes I used is that they were borrowed from Becki's boyfriend Pat- a tall guy with feet much bigger than mine! How he squeezes into them is going to keep me up at night, I swear.

Next, we put chalk on our hands so can grip better. Grip comes into play when you are near the top have a realization that you may very well have Acrophobia.



Next, I take my chalked up hands and clap them together while shouting, "Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!" to get myself pumped up.



Finally, we ended the evening climbing until 11 p.m. on the bouldering wall. I'm doing the splits! Kind of. Okay, so not really- but it FELT like I was doing the splits. I think this is right before I did a graceful 180 in the air after losing my grip (okay, so maybe it was more like a 55) and fell flat on my face.



My sister was a great teacher! She was very patient in teaching me how to not fall on my face by demonstrating this route, otherwise known as a "problem," several times in order to help me. Why they gotta call it a problem? I prefer to say that Becki showed me how to best navigate this bouldering opportunity. She was such a good teacher that I climbed up to almost the top of it before realizing that I was 10 feet above the ground and didn't know how to get down! I wanted her to catch me, and instead she giggled and told me just to let go. That's what sisters are for.

Of course I figured out how to get down, we laughed some more, then they pretty much had to kick us out the door. Thanks for the fun time, sis! I now feel like a true Coloradoan.

This is the cutest picture ever!

Do you want to know what a neat sister I have? She took time on a day off last week when Brandon and I were at work, picked up her dog-nephew Koda from our apartment and took him for a long run. When I refer to me and Koda venturing out in the city, I usually call it jogging, but Becki is definitely a runner! One who climbs up the sides of really tall, flat rocks with teeny rock ledges sticking out and jogs while hiking fourteeners no less.

From the looks of this photo, Koda was on a huge runner's high. They say that dogs don't smile. I think that's a smiling dog.

What I don't understand is, well, several things:

1. Did you take this photo of yourself?
2. If so, how did you manage to sport the same face as Koda while taking a photo of you two?
3. Finally, how did you get Koda to shake and stick his tounge out while shaking his and AND snapping a perfectly centered photo of you two?

My sister has skills. You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills... Guys only want girlfriends who have great skills.