matt gave me a ski trip for christmas. we scheduled the trip 2 months ago for last week. it seemed like such the wrong time to go. i am transitioning out of my old job at work into a new job at work, as well as right in the middle of other junctures. matt's grandfather was admitted to the hospital the day we left. his grandmother was admitted while we were gone. regardless, we had committed to it, so went west as planned. selfishly, it was just what we needed.
this is a long story short narrative of why we went, who we went with and what we went there to see.
matt and i met each other in 7th grade because of a common friend, stuart. matt and i found each other (and then fell in love) 17 years later because of our common friend stuart's mom, laura.
my friendship with stuart dates back to 1979 or so, when our mothers started a playgroup for their 4 year olds, called "class of 93". shift 5, 10, 15 and now 28 years later, and there are plenty of stories about our friendship in different stages of our lives. he was and is a friend that a girl would classify and love and respect as brother.
matt almost literally grew up at stuart's house in grade school. matt and stuart have done most things in their life together, a good part of things apart in the past years, and now more recently, together again.
matt and i both, in very separate and unique ways, have always been connected to stuart's mom, laura. laura has always been matt's friend, not stuart's mom. as for my relationship with laura: as my dad has always said, "carrie and laura are neither right brained or left brained." really there's no way to explain our friendship, other than we don't have to utter a word for the other to know what the thought is.
2 years ago, laura met the love of her life. she left her old kentucky home. (her home was just as lovely as the real old ky home.... and i forgot to mention that she was matt's and my next door neighbor on top of all of the other history..)
anyway, she left her old kentucky home and went west to durango.
so we spent the last 5 days with stuart and his precious wife jen, laura and her love walter dear.
we went to bed early some nights, stayed up late talking on others.
we sat on the couches...listened to matt play songs he has composed on the piano and listened to walt play AWAY concertos and other classics.
we had an amazing southern brunch at deanie's house, the dear's neighbor. everyone in durango has a baby grand in a window looking out at the mountains. so at deanie's, walter played the piano more, and this round, i played the violin with him. i have known mr. dear remotely my whole life, but never knew he was a prodigy. 
we spent 2 days skiing and snowboarding. 
crazy cool medallions....
we spent most of the trip laughing uncontrollably at stuart and matt, as they recited all the comedies they memorized together when they were little. 
matt designed his first pair of jeans several months ago. he has worn them every day since october, in order to wear them in naturally. a creek runs behind the dear's house, so matt washed his jeans for the first time in the creek.
before/never washed:
really... our trip to durango was just about all of the things that have kept us all tangled together for almost 30 years. and that is laura dear.
dear laura dear.
with our love always,
carrie and matt
Sunday, February 25, 2007
for laura dear
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Monday, February 5, 2007
waiting for ella arbuckle
it's almost time for ella arbuckle.
i am a TERRIBLE waiter.
allison. i wish we were closer to jacksonville.... you know we would be with you at home... doting all over you.
we would give you a pedicure and rub your shoulders and head.
we would go for walks, in hopes to speed things along.
we would ask you how you are feeling and what you are feeling change.
this picture is what i think you and john look like while you are waiting, sans bvi.
can't wait for ella. and then that leads you to kentucky. and then we won't have to worry that we are so far away from you anymore.
i love you.
c
a lightbulb went on, now off.
several days ago, we committed to ourselves and to the earth, even if in beginner level, to do our part to save energy. meanwhile, we still drive a gas guzzling land rover discovery, i drive to work instead of walking 2 blocks, and i keep certain lights on in the house just because i like the mood.
several months ago, we watched al gore's "inconvenient truth". in my opinion, it is a very fact-based documentary that explains to us why the earth's glaciers are melting, how the polar bears are screwed, and why there is an increase in the heat records every year. again, in my opinion, the information is real and not a farce for political agenda. i felt severely effected by the data the night that we watched it, stayed up that night thinking about it, and then the next day, carried on with ridiculous, selfish consumption. 3 months later, still i (we) have done nothing.
so finally last week, the lightbulb went on (now we'll turn it off) - that we owe it to the earth to slow down the abuse.
again know that our household's list of efforts are just so tiny, but we decided to start little by little to make our habits stick....then hopefully soon someday, we'll go for a complete overhaul of our lifestyle.
our list for the short-term:
1. our recycle bin is full again from the past week's plastic and glass. our sweet little town offers a trouble-free pickup. why, for the past 6 months, did we stop using it? because we are selfish and lazy and often, unrightfully feel "untouchable". i think?
2. we unplugged our phone chargers. matt saw (we think from a reliable news source) that by unplugging 1 phone charger from the wall, we can save $200 per year. that would be $400 for our household, and that less energy consumed from the earth. other plug-ins with no "off/on" mechanism? we are looking into what else should be unplugged.
3. the lighbulbs. we had light bulbs on our grocery list. we took the plunge and bought energy-saving bulbs for just 3 dollars more for the 3 pack. BIG DEAL. they last 5 years! matt saw (again, from what we think is a reliable news source), that replacing 5 old energy guzzling 60watts with 5 new energy saving 13watt bulbs, decreases energy equivalant to taking 8 million cars of the road in a year's span. that sounds impossible. we are verifying the factoid, but regardless of the more or less 8 million cars, SWITCH THE LIGHTBULBS. 
as for lighting strength: the 13watt is ALITTLE bit dimmer than a traditional 60 watt. i love that...but if you prefer brighter light, go up to the next wattage. www.environmentaldefense.org nicely identifies proper bulbs for proper lighting... dimmable, candelabra, three-way, yada yada.
4. recycled paper towels. we can't buy it at our new super wal-mart ofcourse. we will look at the health food stores this week, but most likely will buy online. SEVENTH GENERATION paper towels look good and seem to be reasonable, @ www.gaiam.com.
the end. (i mean, beginning.)
c
