Gluttony and bliss

Every year in D.C., Jeff M. and I would organize an outing to Sushi Taro's crazy amazing all-you-can-eat sushi day that the restaurant hosted as part of the Cherry Blossom Celebration.

For $32, which includes tax and tip, you get to enter a sushi wonderland where you have your pick of nearly any kind of roll you could dream of, and where tray after tray of sashimi lines the bar. There are endless plates of tempura veggies (which I'm not a fan of), piles of soba noodles, stacks of tofu cakes, tubs of miso...you name it, they have it.

(I'm dying as I write this!)

And you can go up as many times as you like. It's total gluttony - and total bliss!

Jeff and I would get in line an hour and a half early. That sounds crazy, I get it, but if you didn't make the first wave in when the doors opened at 12 p.m., you'd be stuck in a line that wrapped around the block waiting for other gorgers to trickle out.

Thursday night, the Nagel-Warren Mansion here in town hosted an all-u-can-eat sushi night also for $32. A group of us went to check it out.

We had a blast, and it was good. We got plate after plate of some very nice fish. But there were hardly any rolls - which are my favorite. And there weren't any of the fixins - like soup, edamame, or dumplings. And I ended up paying a LOT more when it was all said and done.

It was a fun first-time event for the inn to hold, but at the end of the day I'd be happier going to my beloved Tokyo Bowl (a.k.a. Burger King sushi). You get more for your money and I leave more satisfied.

The cast of characters: Me, Don, Todd...

Cast 2: Molly, Brandon, Annie...

Cast 3: Salmon, white tuna, tuna...


I have NO idea what I'm talking about here...


Um...yeah. You can't take this group anywhere! We have Angry Walrus, Happy Walrus, and Goofy Walrus. The fam's all here!


The Mansion's owner took us on a tour of the place later. It was awesome! I LOVE, LOVED this painting...

Crazy serenity

I love having a schedule full of events. Even if I don't end up doing something on my calendar, I like to have it there just in case.

This is one of those weekends where I have a million things planned. And I want to do them all. It was a jam-packed day today and I'm tired, but I can't miss the fun things going on tomorrow, so I'm going to do it all again.

Today was the first "work day" for Frontier Days. They have several of these work days scheduled for all the volunteers to help get the park ready for the big event. I spent four hours cleaning, raking a million pounds of pine needles, helping a man I saw fall off a ladder at the PR committee house, and enjoying the BBQ they fed us all after. The man who fell was lucky. I think his shoulder's pretty jacked, and his face was scraped up, but at least he was conscious and kicking. The paramedics hauled him away...

After that, Molly and I hit up a disappointing garden festival at the depot, took a neat (but a little over the top) Cheyenne trolley tour since it's Laramie County appreciation weekend for residents, went antiquing, got more potting soil at Home Depot, did a whirlwind cleaning of the back patio for a building BBQ I organized, then got showered and had the BBQ with my neighbors.

Whew!

I took pictures of a lot of it, but at this point I just want to focus on this peaceful scene: From my walk downtown first thing this a.m. to get my bike. It's JUST like the pics you see of the cherry blossoms in D.C.

Compare:

D.C. ... (I'm too tired to search for my own pic so I found one online...)


Cheyenne...the Wyoming State Capitol... (This one IS mine.)

Smell a rat

In D.C., I lived in Dupont Circle - the most wonderful neighborhood in the world.

Ok, that might be a bit of a stretch, but it IS fantastic. So fantastic that several of my friends eventually followed in my pioneering footsteps and migrated to my 'hood as well.

To get them off on the right foot I thought we should all do something to explore their new neighborhood. We went to the First Friday event where you tour all the crazy art galleries filled with terrible art, then landed at one of my favorite neighborhood hangouts: Kramerbooks.

Over food and lots of drinks we decided to have outings every now and then for just us - the Dupont Dwellers.

It stuck.

I got a Dweller email today: Cins is planning a Cinco de Mayo dinner at her place.

I told the crew I was happy I still made the cut - even though I will obviously not be attending.

And even though my new home near the state Capitol technically makes me what we call people who do basically everything on Capitol Hill in D.C. - a "Hill Rat."

Grilling madness

I am pretty much ready for a summer of mad grilling...I bought my grill!

It's a cute little charcoal grill that once assembled will look like this...


Nothing fancy, nothing over the top. Just a little area for a flame that will get the job done.

Right now, this is what it looks like:

You'll also notice the weather out. It's just a little Spring squall (fingers crossed)...I fully expect to be flipping burgers this weekend (fingers crossed).

Choppers and chai

On my way to City News for coffee with Annie yesterday I had a D.C. flashback...

Two helicopters came out of nowhere, flying together across the open sky.

It was JUST like when the president flies in and out of D.C. There are three helicopters that go up - and come down - at the same time for security purposes: presumably so you don't know which one he's in when they're up.

I can't tell you how many times on my morning run, just past the Lincoln monument, I would be detoured because one of the helicopters was supposed to come down in the "grassy knoll" right alongside my route. The place would be crawling with cops and barricades creating this strangely busy scene on my otherwise peaceful and pretty little route.

There were always three helicopters flying around D.C.'s airspace it seemed. And it was always cool. Every time. Without fail.

Annie nicely informed me - after I gasped and made some weirdo comment like, "It's the president," - that it was just the base practicing.

I then explained why this seemingly everyday thing around Cheyenne was so like an everyday thing around D.C.

We admired it for a moment then we went happily along to our lattes.

Bruisers end of season

Tonight was our last night of volleyball.

That we would lose wasn't really up for debate. But the possibility of winning was a tough one: If we lost both games we would maintain our proud losing record. But if we won, we might get the other team in the best April Fool's ever.

We stuck with losing. When you've got a good thing, why ruin it?

So, here's to an awesome losing season by the Chey-Town Bruisers...GO BRUISERS!

This might be our closest spread ever. Who cares if it was in a "pretend" game after the official two. And that the other team had a 10-year-old playing with them... Who cares...?


Good game...good game...


The Chey-Town Bruisers! As the cheerleader I'm obligated to be in a cheer pose in all photos...


Good season team! We'll get 'em next year!

Country storms and snow songs - what?

The wind is blowing and it hasn't stopped snowing since I woke up!

That sort of rhymes.

Maybe it could be a country song...

The wind is blowing
and it hasn't stopped snowing
since I woke up
this mornin'...

Maybe not.

Regardless, the governor officially closed all state offices in Cheyenne today at 3 p.m. because it hasn't let up - since 5 a.m. There was a nasty - I heard 40 car - pile up north of Ft. Collins, Colo., on I-25. It's not stock-your-pantry snow, but it's pretty crappy out.

My coworker Matt and I left around 2:30 p.m. I didn't want to go straight home...I was bored. But what was there to do? Everything was closed. So, I went and got a bottle of wine. On my way home I stopped by this dive bar near my place called The Four Winds and had a beer by myself while I watched NASCAR and some stupid ESPN2 show called Jim Rome's On Fire?? I don't wish to see it again...

Fed up, and overwhelmed with a sudden need to clean my apartment I left. Since then that's what I've been doing.

And the wine? It's a new try and pretty good. It's Bad Dog Ranch petite syrah. I hesitated at first because a) I'd never heard of it, b) it was a really good deal, and c) Bad Dog sounded too much like MAD Dog (20/20), which is the gross "bum" wine. That's how it's described!

I took a chance - and was pleasantly surprised.

So, I'll finish my glass then...I guess flip on Thursday night NBC...?

I look out my window,
and gaze at the snow,
but with 30 Rock blarin',
it can just blow.

Still not country...

Local celebrity

Today I went on Cheyenne's Ch. 5 news to talk about Wyoming Pure Natural Beef, a company out of Wheatland, Wyo.

One of the programs in my office is Wyoming First , which helps market products and companies located in Wyoming. One of the ways we do that is by having a segment every Thursday on the local morning news.

My friend Annie heads this program up and is usually the one to go on air, but since she's traveling today I got to take her place.

Since I've spent time around studios in previous jobs I wasn't nervous, but it IS hard to talk knowlegeably about a topic that you've just learned about. I think overall it went alright and I'm looking forward to going on again - I think even this month - when Annie is on another trip.

Hmmm...I've always kind of wanted to be an anchorwoman...

Here, there, everywhere. And now here.

I've been super busy these days...just the way I like it.

I'm a little out of practice though because, well, things mostly move at a different pace out here.

But for the past two weeks I've been swamped at work and I've had something going on every night except one.

There is no letting up in the foreseeable future either. I'll finish up the work week with a column and a stack of press releases to write and any number of articles to edit. I'll also have a friend in town, and a quick over and back to Laramie to check out a baby shower venue. All this before I leave on Sunday for 10 days in Chicago on two back-to-back work conferences! So...figure in some packing...time to sleep (wait, what?)...work out...

Ahhh. The refreshing normalcy of it all!

The only thing about all this hub-bub is that I've not had any time to really comprehend that it was exactly one year ago this month that I was packing up my old life for an unknown new one.

I told Linds H. today that I'm a little disappointed with this. I've wanted to spend some time reflecting on the past year and all that has happened in my life during it. I kind of feel like right now is really my "new year's eve."

I also told Linds that not having time to think about it might be a good thing. Because then I might be all emotional.

So, until things settle down just a bit I'm going to focus on the present and leave the past alone.

Chicago here I come!

Cheytown Bruisers

That's the name of the volleyball team my friends Matt and Molly put together for a bunch of us at work.

Since I've never really liked volleyball, I opted out of playing and for cheerleading.

Our first game was last night and we...sucked. We got CREAMED with scores of 25-8 and 25-17, the last of which was not a terrible showing. The other team was giving us pointers, and when the games were over the refs told us we could stick around to practice - which would help a a new ref practice too. Clearly, practice makes perfect...

My cheers sucked too. I really need to work on some clever ones for next week! I'm contemplating adding music...

The team...
We have matching shirts, compliments of Matt who is our office graphic designer. We also have nicknames, which were picked carefully (and evilly) by our awesome co-captains. I'm Skiddles! (exclamation mark included)...


The ball stuck behind the big rolled up curtain. Yeah...that was our fault...


Me in a classic cheerleader pose, with "Mustard Gas," a.k.a. Casey, behind me...


Ah, here we go...something we're GOOD at...

Road Kill - Something Squirrley Going On

I would like to share an observation I realize is rather odd:

There are lots of dead squirrels in Cheyenne.

Don't get the wrong idea - it's not like piles of dead squirrels are just lying on the sidewalks. It's that they just don't seem to be able to make it across the street. Ever.

I never really noticed this to be an issue in D.C., where with so much traffic you'd think it might be. Here, however, I noticed probably no less than one squished squirrel a day last week alone.

And yes, I know I have now solidified any speculation that there are less things here to occupy my time...

A Capital Christmas

The Governor's Mansion has hosted a couple holiday open houses this week, complete with free food and hot chocolate for anyone that wants to stop in.

Of course, I'm one of those people.

After the Christmas tea with the girls yesterday I decided to pop over and see what was up.

Wyoming is such an open and trusting state. Pulling in to the Governor's Mansion was like pulling into a relative's house. I parked the car in the drive and walked right up and into the house like I was going to borrow a cup of sugar.

Our first lady, Nancy (I feel like I could call her Nance...), helped greet visitor's at the door and later milled around mingling with all the people who had stopped in.

Inviting anyone and everyone into the residence to hang out and enjoy some pretty nice treats is a generous thing to do. And something I doubt many other governor's homes do. I thought it was a nice Wyoming touch.

I had been to the governor's house for dinner a couple times when I was in student government in college, but that was years ago. However, the place hasn't really changed much from what I can remember:

Walking up to the front door...


The living room area you enter just inside the front door. You can see the governor's Christmas trees in the back...

Round the corner to the back was quite the spread! It was much nicer than I expected. I thought maybe some Christmas candy and a few cookies, but there was stuff like spinach artichoke dip...


...as well as the candy and cookies. I really liked this tray of gingerbread folks. They were cute and for some reason funny to me...


From the food table looking back in to the living room...


They were giving tours of a new guest area created for overnight visitors, but my camera died about then. You'll just have to take my word that it was nice.

Christmas Tea

The Nagle Warren Mansion in Cheyenne hosts an English-style tea every Friday and Saturday, and has a special Christmas menu around the holidays.

The mansion was built by Erasmus Nagle as a show place in 1888, when Cheyenne was apparently the wealthiest city of its size in the world. The mansion then became the home of Senator Francis E. Warren in 1910 who entertained the likes of Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft. It's now a bed and breakfast.

I had to do it.

The Laramie girls and I decided to make this our Christmas gathering and to do a little ornament exchange. It was reminiscent of another gift exchange we did about 12 years ago in the dorms at UW. This year, with all of us back in the state, and two of us with brand new homes to put trees in, we decided ornaments were it.

The mansion...

Our cute little table...


The holiday spread. I liked the ginger biscotti and double ginger cookies the best. Since I'm not a huge sweets fan I saved the mini ham and cheese sandwiches with cranberries for last. Yum!


The gals and I having a spot of tea in our nook...


April faked me out with a funny ornament - a snowman wearing a green bikini top with pinapples and a pink flamingo pool floaty around its waist. I really thought it was the ornament she chose for me, which was strangely perfect...


But the real one she got me was truly perfect. You can't really see it here, but it's a Harely Davidson ornament. I've referenced motorcycles a lot on here lately...


A sleeping cat on the "veranda" completes the Victorian home image...


Apparently, mini tarts and snickerdoodles don't fill some of the girls up. A drive through Arby's took care of that...


Merry Christmas from the girls of Wyoming!

Downtown Digs

I love this building.

It's the cowboy clothing shop downtown. This is the building with a moving horse and rider dangling off of it that I also love.

The Wrangler is part of Corral West, who's parent company is being bought out by a company called Boot Barn. The Wyoming stores aren't supposed to be a part of the deal. I'm glad, because even though the Boot Barn sounds like a good company, it's hard to imagine that on the skyline instead of "The Wrangler."

Office Antics and a Random Comment

When I worked for the Senator I was the office photographer. I took tons of stupid, crazy, funny pictures of all the stupid, crazy, funny things people did in the office. And there was lots of that going on!

I'm happy that in my new job we also have "office antics." I haven't formally started documenting them - until today.

I was inspired when I came back from lunch and this random back scratcher was sticking like a creepy skeleton arm out of my desk drawer. Still don't know who's responsible for this...

Here's a picture of a picture of me that is now hanging on our marketing shop wall. It's from pumpkin picking this year. Another colleague took precious time out of their busy day to make it...


No idea which coworker this mug belongs to, but I seriously wanted to just take it. And I must go to Dirty Sally's. Must.


And this might be my favorite. If you are an animal rights activist you might not want to look. The same demented colleague who made the pumpkin photo "slaughtered" this poor foam animal a while back. Somehow Matt, my office mate, was able to produce the crime scene tape. He still won't say how. He's sketchy like that...


Ok, my random comment that pretty much everyone already knows: A bagel with cream cheese and lox (and tomatoes, capers and onions) is maybe my most favorite dish in the universe. It brings me complete and total happiness. After my ghetto Beaujolais celebration last night this sandwich was all my tummy desired. Bliss...

Hot to (Turkey) Trot

This morning my friend Annie and I ran a Turkey Trot, a nice little 5k to benefit the COMEA House in town.

The COMEA House provides services to the homeless in Cheyenne, so it was a feel-good way to start the day. Also, I haven't done a race since the BoulderBoulder earlier this year and was excited to sign up for something.

There was a good turn out, but still small enough to make it fun and non-competitive.

We had a good time then treated ourselves to a fancy coffee (as Jeff Mack calls them) at City News, my favorite coffee shop downtown.


This picture cracks me up! The look on the turkey's face is HILARIOUS! And I have no idea why I'm standing like a super hero...

Only in Wyoming

Tumbleweeds only tumble when there's something to make them go, and yesterday's wind caused a tumbleweed torrent!

Tumbleweeds tumbled by the thousands, collecting in people's yards and basically becoming a nuisance.

A lady I work with actually had to get a ride to work because so many tumbleweeds collected in front of her garage she was unable to get out.

Municipal services set-up a special pick-up time tomorrow for people to get rid of the troublesome tumbleweeds.

The Casper Star Tribune even wrote a story on the event.

Only in Wyoming...

Windy City...

And I don't mean Chicago. I'm talking Chey-town.

Wyoming is known for its wind. There is rarely a day when there isn't anything blowing around here.

Today's wind, however, is ridiculous - to the point that the possibility of blowing away like Mary Poppins doesn't seem silly.

It started last night and has continued non-stop today. Non. Stop. About 35 mph continuous with up to 66 mph gusts.

Every friend on facebook from Cheyenne had a comment about it, ranging from putting rocks in their pockets to keep from blowing away, to actually flying off.

Since I've been here I have to say, the wind hasn't been all that bad. We've had amazing weather. But today it almost feels like every gust that didn't blow before saved itself for today.

So here I am, content in my pj's on my couch with pizza and the remote.

Let it blow, let it blow, let it blow!

More than Just a Page Turner

The Cheyenne library is one of the best in the nation. It won 2008 Library of the Year, and according to USA Today it is one of America's 10 great public libraries.

Also, green-leaning folks will be happy to learn it also earned a gold certification as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, which, in my first visit there was most evident in the toilets. I've never had to push a toilet handle up or down depending on whether it was liquid or solid waste I was trying to flush...

Anyway...until tonight, I haven't been there. I've really wanted to check the place out, but just haven't had a chance yet.

I learned earlier today that classical guitarist Peter Fletcher was performing for free at the library and thought I'd attend. It would be my first cultural event in Cheyenne.

It was also the library's first real concert, so there were some improvements to be made, but overall the night was fun. The music was very good and the audience appreciative.

The best thing about events here is how accessible performers can be. After the program I was in the back looking at CDs and Peter, who also happened to be back there greeting the audience, started talking to me in rather great length.

Needless to say, I left with a renewed desire to take greater advantage of my local library...and a CD.

He's Baa-ck!

But it wasn't for very long.

Tyler came blowin' into town last night like a tumblin' tumbleweed.

On his way to Omaha to see his sis, he stopped in Cheyenne to hang out for the night and check out my new life.

I showed him around town, we had dinner and drinks, and as T and I do, we went to a divy diner for breakfast.

This morning's pick was the Luxury Diner. Once inside, it really is more luxurious than a true divy place should be. But I still like it.

The place is a converted old rail car that doesn't seat very many.

They have a typical greasy spoon menu with eggs, burgers and such. But they also have some healthier options, which I think is nice (and which goes against everything a divy restaurant should be, I know).

One room is pretty devoted to trains, while the other has more of a 50s pop-culture theme.

The waitresses keep the coffee comin' and are down right attentive and nice.

After breakfast Tyler rode off into the...mid-day sun. I was bummed, but glad he got a taste of ol' Chey-town - literally and figuratively.

The lap o' luxury...


Since 1926 and still goin' strong...


Tyler agreed that his huevos rancheros were quite memorable...


Inside the train room...


Another greasy spoon success story!