Why I Love The Killers, Reason #5712

Shortly after my son turned one, he started talking. He hasn't stopped since. It's been an eight year long monologue. He even talks in his sleep. The monologue has covered everything from snowboarding to cold fusion.

Last Friday, when we were driving up to the mountains, I put Sam's Town in the CD player. About half way into the first song, something seemed strange to me. Then I realized that my son had stopped talking. And he was quiet through the next song and the next song and the next song. Then he asked what CD was playing, and was quiet for a whole other song.

It's a pre-Easter miracle.

Brandon Flowers just keeps on giving.

Keystone, Peace

This is the view from the condo in Keystone. There's the requisite mountain stream. In the middle is the bunny hill and lift. It is quite beautiful in the summer too.

Keystone Through the Years

For the past three years, we have been coming to the same condo in Keystone, Colorado. It’s lent to us by a friend, the one who embraces moose décor with a tenacious passion. (She once described herself to me as a home accessory whore. Agreed.)

Two years ago, while my family was out skiing and snowboarding, I was sitting at the condo dining room table churning out billable hours for the law firm – billable hours that the partner who I worked for would ultimately not bill. I sat at the table day after day, working and rewriting and revising and billing, hoping that everyone would stay on the mountain long enough for me to bill 8 hours (on a Sunday).

One year ago, right after the layoff, my husband held me on the condo couch while I broke down. Just a few weeks earlier, our very own mountain condo hadn’t been too far out of reach. Then it seemed like everything we were working for was now out of reach.

This year, I sat at the dining room table in the condo (It was cold – I am a perfect condition skier only) and crafted out my business plan for the franchise, watched the news channels, catnapped, made dinner, painted my toes, and waited eagerly for my family to come home to me from the mountain – generally, acting and feeling like a human being. And I was blissfully happy, feeling like me, feeling like a part of a family.

[P.S. I don’t even want a mountain condo. If we learned anything on the blog this month it is that I am quite fond of Baja.]

Weekend Treat, Clinique Lip Smoothie

As noted earlier, I am naturally luminescent (of Scottish decent - pale, with freckles). Accordingly, all of those things that the experts claim to be universally flattering do not work on me. Nars orgasm blush looks like hell on me.

I have been craving some bright summer lipstick, but its hard to find brights that don't look clownish on a naturally luminescent person.

I was at Macy's picking up some Clinique sun screen for our ski trip and it happened to be Bonus Time! When the lady said I only needed to spend 3 more dollars to get the Bonus, I spent another $17.50 on this lipgloss.

Well, I love it. The Mango-Thon Clinique Lip Smoothie is the perfect bright for the tanless. Also, it feels soothing too - which is a nice extra around this time of the year. As we all know, the right lipstick functions like a superhero's cape. I am wearing Mango-Thon lipgloss - if I felt like it, I could draft a lasting peace plan for the Middle East, balance the national budget and cook a delicous dinner that my entire family would love.

Despite the pale skin and freckles, I do not have red hair. You would think, but no. I do not know what color my hair really is. Sometimes I have ideas when I go into my stylist regarding my cut and color, however this is exactly what my stylist says: "I don't tell you how to practice law." I pay good money to be treated that way.

Gluttony, With Moose

Because I have put in a full (well, almost full) two work days this week, it is time for another break and we are off to Keystone, Colorado, for a long weekend of skiing. Rather, the other members of my family who don't mind lugging around unruly sports equipment among hoards of other people with unruly sports equipment will be skiing. I will be lounging by the fire enjoying my coffee and/or wine depending on the hour and drafting my business plan for the franchise.

We rent a condo that has many moose. We once counted 14 decorative moose in the bedroom. There is a wanton disregard for the less is more concept with regard to moose in this condo.

Books in Baja

Things I read on vacation because, did I mention, there was NO T.V.:

The Politician, by Andrew Young. Holy Mother of God. Did you ever do anything that you were ashamed of? Make a mistake? Do you have regrets? Well, you will feel so much better about yourself after you read this book. No matter what you have done, you have not screwed up as badly or acted as despicably as the players in this book, including the author. I was dizzy and felt a little sucker-punched after reading this.

The Forever War, by Dexter Filkins. This is about the war in Iraq. Read this book. Dexter provides you with the real story that the mainstream news programs won't. Its not for the feint at heart, but it's real and it's insightful and I am still thinking about it days after I finished it. Best book I have read all year.

How Starbucks Saved My Life, by Michael Gates Gill. I cried through the final two chapters. This is about an ad executive who lost his big-time job and ended up working at Starbucks. The scene where he served his three kids coffee broke my heart. This resonated way too close to home - only I haven't found my Crystal yet. Even my husband, who unreasonably dislikes the Starbucks corporation, decided he liked them after this.* And, also, have you seen the CEO of Starbucks on CNN lately speaking about how they provided their hourly employees with health insurance long before health care reform? (As if I needed another reason to support Starbucks each morning.)

* Apparently, Starbucks put a store up on this famous street in Vienna, Austria. This offended my husband terribly because he felt it was an affront to Viennese culture. My husband is from South Carolina and doesn't drink coffee but speaks with great passion about the matter.

** There will be no Real Housewives of NYC Recap of week three. I was able to catch it On Demand today. It was so inane that I have nothing to say. (Oh my God what happened to me in Baja?!) (But the previews for week four look good.)

(Sorry Jen Lancaster re declaring The Forever War the best book I have read so far this year. Bright Lights, Big Ass is still near and very dear to my heart. Actually, your books about your lay off kind of remind me of How Starbucks Changed My Life, only Michael Gill Gates seems like he ended up being somewhat endearing. Perhaps you become warm and fuzzy in My Fair Lazy? Let's hope not! [P.S. I do not know Jen Lancaster personally.])

Rancho Pescadero Part 2

When the hostess showed us our room (after first suggesting that we stop at the bar for a margarita on the house - the hostess is my new best friend), I cried. That's right. It was so damn beautiful I cried. The room. The view. The decor.

You have to go to Rancho Pescadero at least once. If you go once, I know that you will want to go again. Ask for a second story room. The second story rooms have a great big outdoor room as well as an outdoor rooftop room, both with outdoor daybeds for siestas.

You can take your coffee that has been delivered to your doorstep in the morning by the little man who spreads joy throughout the land and go up to the roof to the daybed. There you can sip your coffee while watching the waves on one side of you and watching the little town of Pescadero wake up and come to life on the other side.

After I was done being in awe of the room and the view, I noticed that there was no t.v., no alarm clock and no phone. OH MY GOD WHAT WERE WE GOING TO DO? It worked out just fine - I read a lot of books and became totally relaxed. (People did seem to have luck getting a wifi connection, but we didn't even bring our computers.)

It was so lovely there that I contemplated sending for the kids and just living down there. There appeared to be no school, but they could sell fish tacos on the side of the road. Or better yet, we could sell the children on the side of the road and construct a beachfront property.

Now that this place has been written up in the LA Times, Sunset Magazine, and Decision on Margaritas (a trifecta of fine literature, to be sure), I predict it will be booked for the foreseeable future.

P.S. Sunset is a terrible name for a regional magazine. Oh, I get it, the sun sets in the West. But the title sounds like it could be a pamphlet for a retirement community. Although a large majority of those are called Sunrise, fooling nobody. Anyway, Sunset, terrible name - but great place to read about trips and hotels. Rancho Pescadero, for all its luxury, was even listed in the budget section!

P.P.S. Picture, again, from ranchopescadero.com. Our camera was in the lost and found at the airport.