fireflys are my new favorite

okay so here's the not so random story (if you know me) about how i came to be moving to colorado.....

so there i was, 'having' to take a sweet road trip with my buddy dawn vazquez out to her second home in leadville, colorado. i should say 'baby' because she adores it that much. she's been working on restoring this 2 bedroom victorian, built around 1888, for the last few years. recently she passed inspection on it, so it's looking pretty sweet. and it's adorable! and i love old buildings! and small mountain towns! so the timing couldn't have been more perfect: temp teaching job ended, and no job in sight.

and so we went. and it was everything i'd hoped it would be. a beautiful, charming and eclectic little town with some fascinating history. (and her house is amazing too!) we walked everywhere, looked thru every nook and cranny, peed behind abandoned barns built in the 1800's, and picked flowers. i just loved it. the elevation was a new experience, over 10,000 feet up, so i had to watch for altitude sickness. none of which i felt, hallelujah. but i did feel my heart flutter so no bounding up steps, or skipping! for a few days at least.

so i got a paper one day. and i happened to be 'innocently' looking thru the employment ads....and what did i find? an ad for a bunch of teaching jobs....all at a middle school in leadville. and so i applied for them. i figured, why not? it's not like they are hiring in my district. i've learned that this past year. like beating my head against a wall! and for this next school year, it gets funner: they have pink slipped about 25% of the teachers in my district, AND other surrounding districts have been doing the same thing. palm springs, for example, let go of 179, called 100 back, and so 79 are left without jobs. and where do you think they'll be applying? (my district since it's close.)

so there it is. i feel like such a big girl. ;) no really, i'm just giddy inside. it's been so long and i feel like a face that has been clenched just waiting for the slaps that i know will come. ha ha. now i can smile and unclench and just open up. it will take some time. gimme 2 weeks. ;)

life is grand! i'm so grateful for the gift of the Spirit to help me figure this all out and i'm really going to miss my mom. i wish she knew how much.

mountains to board, here i freaking come!

loved this little leadville colorado kitty. her name was angel and she belonged to stan and aaron (dawn's neighbors) and totally made my day every time she 'deigned' to come out and bear the lovin'. notice how bored she looks.
Independence Pass...AKA 'the Continental Divide'! It was GORGEOUS here. it's a bummer the pic is blurry but squint and it looks fine ;) the 360 degree view was from 12,095 feet and all i could hear was 'the hills are alive with the sound of music...' much to my dismay, said the hater (with a passion) of musicals.
and me and my friend dawn on our way to eat some delicious and CHEAP prime rib. if you come, you will die at how much better the food tastes up here. it must be good if i'm eating red meat ;)