Day in Historic Denver

I'm up to my ears in planning (and pulling off) this event with the Molly Brown House Museum and Historic Denver so I figured I might as well get the word out about it! :) Day in Historic Denver 8/7/10 (Saturday) 2-9pm 9th Street Historic Park, Auraria Campus Day in Historic Denver will take you into Molly Brown's Denver. There will be costumed storytellers, historic games and crafts [That's my gig], food, music, tours, Titanic expo, and lots of fun! [Ever wonder how I'd look in a floofy Victorian dress with *big* leg-o-mutton sleeves? Come see me and you can rest your mind on that account!] Admission is free. Food and some activities require a ticket purchase. There is also a vintage baseball game that morning that will be lots of fun. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association & Historic Denver Inc.'s Karle Seydel Memorial Baseball Game will be played from 10am - 1:30pm at the Tivoli field, also located on Auraria's downtown campus. Admission is free. The first 1,000 attendees will receive a vintage style baseball card. [These guys wear 19th century uniforms and play by 19th century rules which can be pretty fun and lively to watch.] Hope to see some of you there! :)

Mia

Can you guess how old my niece is? (I love this picture!)

What're You Reading?

What are you reading this summer? Or what are your favorite books? I'm trying to find a book that I'll love but nothing is pulling me in or holding my interest at all. I'm still at the "fluff" stage after school, meaning I can't, and don't want to, read anything I have to think about just yet. Maybe I should just read Count of Monte Cristo again... hee hee. Really though, I just want a fun, engaging story and I seem to be hitting brick walls. What are some of your favorites?

Summertime

I was looking at the flowers

this morning (yeah!!) and enjoying the comfortable temperature and at the same time realizing that it will clearly be a hot day. Then I did a little weeding in the garden where produce is really starting to grow and I was excited that summer is finally here. After years of mostly hating summer the last four summers have been so much more fun and enjoyable. Here are a few things I love about summer:

Visiting family and meeting my newest niece! Little Ava is so tiny and cute. She made Cameron seem so big which really made Mia seem huge.

Playing with the locals. We're on a mission to try new parks this summer and find a great place for family photos in July. This was at Lair O' the Bear park.

Fresh herbs in the garden - I have parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, chives, and cilantro. Yum - well, except for the cilantro, that's not so yum... hee hee

Fresh fruit to eat and make yummy things with. Avery and I made this galette that was so yummy. (Unless you ask Avery, she wasn't so thrilled about it.)

Here's to a great summer filled with family, friends, fresh, delicious food, and lots of adventure!

3 Things

School is over! Can I officially say I’m a historian now? Well, maybe not but I’ll pretend. When the whole fam is here in July we’ll have a big party to celebrate my graduation and Jeremy’s graduation and we’re all excited to see the cake Becky is concocting. I hear it’ll combine our nerdiness perfectly! (I’m a history nerd and Jeremy is a math/physics nerd - you might not want to get either of us started...) So, here are a few thoughts about my journey through school:

3 things I will miss about school:

*The learning. Yeah, yeah, I know I can always keep learning but I love the classroom. Crazy, I know. But it’s just different than picking up a book and I’ll miss it.

*Access to knowledge - sounds the same but here I mean that while I was in school I could access databases and books from around the country and had so much information at my fingertips. Now I can still find plenty of info but it’s harder and could sometimes be expensive.

*The light rail. What!? Actually what I liked was listening to talks or stories on my iPod while commuting back and forth.

3 things I’m happy to be done with:

*Deadlines and tests! I’m one of those crazy people who doesn’t mind writing papers, it’s the deadlines I hate or the weird rules some prof’s have.

*Kids who don’t really want to be in school, couldn’t care less about their education and say things like, “I want to get a job w/the government so I don’t have to work hard and I’ll make the big bucks but won’t be pressured.” (Dead serious! A guy in one of my classes said that a few weeks ago. And I’m not sure why he thinks he’ll make big bucks in the gov’t but whatever... Nothing like a drive to succeed.)

*Uber liberal teachers (“I mean, do any of you actually still go to church?” Actual quote! Heard more than once in various forms from many teachers.)

3 ways I’ve been blessed during school:

*I’ve had so much support from my family - from living with me (this is often not easy), to editing my papers, to cheering me on, to eating freezer meals every night for weeks, and so many other ways.

*Support from my friends has also been a huge blessing! How many times have Kathy, Gloria, and Linda canceled meetings or taken me off the visits list so I could focus on my studies? (A lot!) And so many friends that have made me feel loved and appreciated along the way!

*I have a testimony that when we serve the Lord He will make up the time for us. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been amazed that I’ve been able to meet a deadline or pass a test that I was way too tired to study effectively for. There really is no way I should have been able to do all I’ve been able to do and I know that the Lord has blessed me and made up the difference.

3 favorite classes:

*Civil War

*WWII

*Nazi Germany (rise & fall of Nazi Germany, etc. - not b/c I'm psycho or anything)

3 favorite areas of history:

*Revolutionary War

*Civil War

*WWII

3 things I’m looking forward to:

*Reading whatever I want!

*Unwinding and breathing - at least for a little while.

*I’m still a little fuzzy about this idea but I think when I go to work I won’t have hours of homework at night, right? That could be nice. I actually won’t know what to do with myself!

The End is Near

Just a little randomness...

I'm really glad it's raining because it's beautiful and I love rain! AND because I think it's keeping me from going insane while putting together my bibliography - the rain is soothing. I don't especially like writing sociology papers but I really hate doing the bib. And that goes for any paper. I think that's the worst part of the whole process.

And I just remembered I didn't put dinner in the crockpot yet. I guess it'll be plan b tonight.

Only one more book to read (oh, no, make that two), two more big papers to write, one paper to edit one last time and then finals. In only two weeks. Scream with me, you know you want to! I hear there's light at the end of the tunnel I just don't have time to look up and see for myself.

Ok, I think I'm better now. ;)

Holocaust Remembrance

It's Holocaust Remembrance week. This is something I've studied quite a bit and it's just such a heart-wrenching thing that I do hope we never forget.

One of the truly troubling aspects of the Holocaust is that it was a human problem, not a German problem. There is much discussion about what was wrong with the Germans that they could do this, however, the evidence clearly shows that people from all of the European states that were invaded by Germany quickly and easily joined in.

That is not to say that no one resisted or refused to participate but a startling number of people did participate and a much larger number simply looked the other way. Let me also clarify that Germany was clearly responsible for the Holocaust and Hitler and his minions devised and carried out this evil. They simply did not do it alone.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a good video for remembrance week. It's about 9 minutes but worth a watch.

"The road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference." -Ian Kershaw