Music Monday

This weekend, college friends reunited when Kristin and I took a good old fashioned road trip to Dodge City, Kansas for Jessi & Ryan's wedding.

(I would insert a really cute picture of the bride and groom right here, but it's a lot harder to take good photos when one hand is preoccupied with a glass full of wine. So...this is the best I got.)

Said road trip was brought to us by Lady Gaga's "Yoü and I" and the umlaut.



Consider this your teaser for the next post that will outline the ABC's of a good road trip weekend.

Walrus Mustache - Day 9

Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend

First off, let's get something straight. I do not ascribe to the idea that a person can only have "a = one" best friend. Most likely because when I was in grade school none of my friends ever gave me the second half to the best friend heart necklace.

(insert sounds of pity here)

There were 5 girls in my 4th grade class....4 of them had half of a necklace.

That's right.

(go ahead and make more pity sounds here, I don't mind.)

Labeling a best friend can be hurtful. Especially when the two best friends get in a fight and the other one returns the half necklace in an envelop, via a really cute brown hair-brown eyed, 3rd party under the tractor tires during recess. I'm no dummy, as soon as I delivered that envelop to Rachel I didn't want to be near one of those things.

Ergo, I believe all my friends are the best, so I couldn't possibly spotlight just one friend. But I absolutely have a favorite photo series with a friend.

Enter, the Garrett/Gleason Walrus Mustache collection.

It all started at a New Years Eve celebration. We had reached the point in the evening where every second was a photo op. I grabbed two stick pretzels to become a walrus and Amanda Gleason promptly eclipsed me by giving herself a pretzel mustache.

The year was 2008.

Then in 2009 at the Schicks' wedding we had...

The warm up...

And then probably the two greatest versions ever captured, where we more than quadrupled the prop size from 2008.

In 2010, Gleason dragged me to a Gov't Mule concert and their repetitive garbage music caused me to forget about taking our special photo. So, like any good friend, I've enhanced a photo for our 2010 moment in time.

Sometimes the good ideas are just right in front of you, aren't they?

Josie's on a vacation far away - Day 6

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy

People say it's the little things in life that mean the most. I suppose that's not true for all people, especially if you're referring to diamond rings or raises, but for me it definitely is. I get excited about the goofiest and smallest things.

For all the TMI and annoying things facebook and other social networking sites bring directly into our computer screens and mobile phones in an instant, they also make the art of sending a quick, "I'm thinking of you" note as easy as it could possibly be.

For instance, take today, I got the below message from my friend Kara.

This is a three-pronged happy feeling photo:

1. It's nice to know when people are thinking about me. It feeds my already blossoming ego.
2. I have officially played a fairly "sizable" role in her four-year old son, Max's life. I put The Outfield's "Your Love" on a mixed cd I sent her and as you can see, Max can accurately identify this song in public and LIKES it. Seriously amazing. I also really can't wait until the day I get to hear Max sing the line, "You know I like my girls a little bit older."
3. I'm synonymous with The Golden Girls. Who doesn't want that!??!

So there you go. An email, text, facebook message, blog comment, signing telegram, hand-written note or phone call goes a long ways in making me smile and brightening my day.

Brighten someone's day this week!

Who your name is? - Day 5

Day 5: A song to match your mood

Music is probably one of my most favoritest things in the whole-wide-world. It can transform your mood, take you back in time or remind you of a person you haven't thought of in years.

In the instance of today, I have two great friends coming for the weekend. I've known Angie since grade school, but her, Bria and I (along with Becca, Julie and Herres) did the majority of our damage in college...back in the infamous 1709 Laramie days.

Photo shout out to my old roommates!

Yes, when we moved in to the trash-hole that was the cockroach penthouse we adopted this lifestyle.

ANYWAYS!! Angie and Bria are going to be here this weekend and when I think of those girls, I think of pre-parting at 1709 with this song blaring from Angie's computer speakers.

Music Monday

This week the HMC goes head-to-head with BWB (Brian Wilson's Beard) aka Gleason's team. In what can only be described as a strategic move, I dedicate this song to my opponent.



It'll take her until 1:44 to remember that she doesn't like this song. I'm hoping the boo hook will get stuck in her head and cripple her ability to piece together a win. Let's be honest, at this point, it's my only shot at winning the matchup.

Because sometimes I can't help but be a good friend

"My friend" Ashley loves Britney Spears. So when I saw the new Brit Brit video on perezhilton I posted the youtube video on her wall.

This is the response I got.



I aim to please folks. So here you go, Ashley, another post dedication delivered just for you.



If you want to show your gratitude for such a grand gesture of friendship feel free to donate to my American Heart Walk page. :)

**Blogger note: I didn't use the words my friend in quotes because Ashley isn't a real friend or because I was too embarrassed to say I wanted to post this video in the blog. I did it because whenever she talks about any other friends outside of our circle she always says, "my friend" (insert name)... even after meeting and playing boardgames with Her Friend Charlotte she still continued to refer to her as "My Friend" Charlotte. It's a lovable quirk and I miss hearing it on a regular basis now that her and Matt live in Florida. (What are the odds of me still guilting a donation out of her after being a smartass?)

Grown up alert

The last two weekends have been spent drinking copious amounts of libation with different groups of friends to ring in my 29th year of life. Early and mid-twenties Erin would have woke up from those nights covered in mysterious battle wounds like these.





But alas, nothing. This leaves me to believe one of the following has happen...
• I've grown up.
• I've become more graceful in my old age.
• My friends have become better spotters of potential danger zones.
• The massive earthquake in Japan shifted the Earth's axis just enough to cause an equalizing of my equilibrium.

Anything is possible folks. Anything.

Music Monday

This week's Music Monday doubles as a congratulations to my friends Taddy-Long-Legs and J-Money who got married this weekend.

Congratulations kids!!

The great escape: Day 4

On day 4 we took a leisurely stroll through Boulder Colorado.

Highlights included:

• a street performer dressed as a dog (sadly not pictured)
• some awesome coconut/chocolate chunk ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (also not pictured)
• playing with stuff at a toy store
• and trying to find the football stadium (even though I'm still a little salty towards CU for leaving the Big 12)

Then that evening we went to the Taste of Colorado festival with the rest of the city of Denver. There were easily 2,000+ people there to see Bret Michaels play a free concert. I don't think festival planners planned on that big of a crowd, because we started really far back and the sound was muffled by the row of trees between us. They didn't have nearly enough speakers/amps. We tried to weasel our way up closer, but this is as close as we got.

I must of been really excited since it's so blurry.

As we were walking back to the car I saw all this commotion coming up behind us with a red SUV and tons of police around it and a few 40 year old women losing their shit. I knew he was in that vehicle. So I grabbed my camera and hoped the window was rolled down on our side, but it wasn't. But I can say with 98% confidence, Bret Michaels is in these two pictures.

And that pretty much concludes the vacation because the next day I came back home. Oh, well, I guess Gleason did take us to her neighborhood dive bar for a drink after the show where she was petted and described as "soft" by a young lady who lives on the east side and "keeps it real," but she may not want me sharing that.

Whoopsees.

Thanks for a great time girls!

The great escape: Day 3

The farther we get into this vacay recap the shorter the posts are going to be I think :)

Saturday was a pretty relaxing day, we went to the art museum saw some bamboo purses and headed back to the house to watch the KSU-UCLA game.

Here is Gleason leading us in a K-S-U cheer.

My friends Alison and Cindy and their respective men folk came over and watched the game with us, but I failed to take any photos with them the entire weekend. :(

After the Wildcat victory we went to a concert at Red Rocks. I knew a few songs by one band, the Avett Brothers and I knew nothing about the other band, Gov't Mule.

The Avett Brothers were awesome and I'm now in love with them.

Here is a sample of one of their songs, I and Love and You.

See, I knew you'd like it.

Here is a picture of an awesome hippy beer vendor.

Then came the headliner Gov't Mule. They are a jam band. If you don't know what a jam band is, consider yourself lucky. They extend a perfectly exceptable 3 minute song into a 12 minute song by "jamming." In small doses I probably could have handled it a little better, but 3 hours is too effing long for that mess.

Don't believe me? Here, try and sit all the way through this video 20 times.

I didn't like it one bit. In fact, at one point I think I looked over at Becca and told her this was the longest 3 hours of my life. Luckily, we were at one of the prettiest places to listen to bad music at so I took a few night time pictures, drank some beer and sat on some stairs with Becca and another one of Gleason's friends who talked about how talented her boyfriend was for 17 minutes straight, without interruption (that's not an exaggeration, Becca actually timed it).

Up next...the night I almost met Bret Michaels.

The great escape: Day 2

When God made me he ran out of sporty spice and gave me an extra dash of personality. I've never been known to be extremely athletic, outdoorsy, coordinated or down with manual labor.

Come to think of it, there is a Billy Currington song that covers that part of me in a nutshell.

However, I like to think throughout my life I have become less vocal about my general dislike for activities that involve playing sports, the great outdoors or coordination when paired with a great payoff like spending time with friends, drinking beer or getting to see something really pretty.

And so begins the story of the day Gleason, Becca and I went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park and I earned my Wilderness Badge ala Troop Beverly Hills, the second best movie ever made (Overboard = undisputed winner).

During our drive up to Estes Park, I taught and slaughtered the other two at a rousing game of "Dingo." We ate lunch at some sort of local sandwich/pizza shop where our waiter's name was Lance. He didn't strike me as that great of a waiter, but from the looks of our ticket, he's only waiting tables until his drawing career takes off.

We proceeded to drive through part of RMNP until we got to the bus stop that would take us to the trail we wanted to hike.

I feel it deserves mentioning that Becca and I had told Gleason we wanted to do the handicap accessible hike of Bear Lake, but once we got there, Gleason and some foreign lady with a beautiful accent were apparently in cahoots, and quite quickly convinced me that doing the Nymph, Dream and Emerald Lake hike was a better choice.

While there were at least 4 times during that upward hike I regretted abandoning that original plan, because I was breathing so hard, I think you'll agree from looking at the pictures it was totally worth it.

Nymph Lake.

View between Nymph and Dream Lake.

You'll notice an abundant amount of pictures that have Becca walking in the water features because she had some sort of fancy pants water resistant shoes she bought for their trip to Costa Rica. She was hoping to brag about having dry feet while I complained of soggy socks, but there was one hole in her plan...I don't "do" water features. Point Erin.

Dream Lake.

Cool twisty tree.

Emerald Lake.

Wilderness girl Schlegel and Troop Leader Phyllis Nefler (Gleason).

Wilderness girl Garrett and Troop Leader Phyllis Nefler (Gleason).

Before agreeing to go on a hike I told Gleason I needed her to do research on how to survive a bear attack. Together we were equipped with the knowledge that in general you don't ever want to sneak up on a bear (duh). However, if you are being attacked by a brown bear you are suppose to play dead unless it starts to eat you, then you are suppose to fight back (and ultimately die). If attacked by the much smaller and apparently smarter black bear you are suppose to fight back immediately (before ultimately dying).

Unfortunately, or fortunately, we did not encounter either the brown or black bear. We did however see a chipmunk eating bread left behind by another hiker,

this badass blue bird,

a spotted rainbow trout

and these lady elk.

I didn't say I earned my animal identification badge, people.

So, all in all, an awesome day. Although, I did leave the mountain with physical proof I might be allergic to hiking.

Look at my fingers and how they turned in to little smokies! Becca's swelled a little, but nothing like mine. I felt like that obnoxious girl in Willy Wonka that eats the gum and turns into a blueberry "Violet! You're turning violet, VIOLET!"

Up next...the day I discovered I do not like jam bands.