The Sickmiller Express

Debuting our new look after neglecting the blog for over 3 months. I (Danielle) recently quit my day job and now will have plenty of time to post on a blog. Let’s see if I use that time to actually do it or not.

I enjoyed the first week off. I have been baking and cleaning. Non-stop. At least it feels non-stop. There was time for skiing, English class and going to the Silverton Movement Center in there somewhere.

I am now going to spend the afternoon talking to DirectTv. Try not to be jealous.

I was really craving a nice Ohio October the past few weeks and decided that I had to go to a pumpkin patch. RIGHT NOW. So the weekend came and the weather was nasty and rainy so we decided to wait. Grumpily. Ok I was the only grumpy one. The next weekend was approaching and it was supposed to be yucky and rainy again but Friday looked nice. So we did what had to be done and took off Friday to go down to the patch. I’ve never been to a pick your own pumpkin place before (that I remember) and it was a lot of fun. There were so many. I just kept tripping around laughing at all the pumpkins. It wasn’t hard to choose because they were all really nice. I could’ve been blindfolded and I still would have picked winners. Well I could have been blindfolded with mittens on, without mittens I could cheat and feel how nice they were. Anyway. It was also a produce farm so we got some fresh fruits and veggies before heading into the corn maze.

I had also never been in a corn maze. I don’t really know how that’s possible there are a lot in Ohio. I remember seeing one once and it was really small and there was a tower in the middle. It totally ruined the point. So heading to this one I had very low expectations. We were the only ones in it and they put a giant Post-It note in our windshield with the number of people in our party and the time we entered in case they had to come looking for us. It was surprisingly beautiful and fun, a nice gorgeous blue sky day. Adam kept referencing Children of the Corn (which he’s probably never even seen). It did get a little creepy because it was so windy we could barely hear ourselves think. So with all the corn whipping you, the rustling of the stalks and the actual wind itself trying to blow my face off it got a little unnerving. Obviously we’re living to tell the story so we made it out alive. It took us 30 minutes.

Lazily we didn’t think we’d be able to do all the errands we wanted AND drive back to Silverton all in one day so we had to camp for the night (we were about 1.4 hours away from our house). We also went out to dinner at a really delicious Mexican restaurant. I accidentally gorged and didn’t leave enough room for s’mores I usually get a tamal and an enchilada with beans and rice on the side. I’m always stuffed and can’t finish so every time I vow to only get one main item the next time. Of course I can never decide between the two and then just end of getting both and it starts all over again. This time I decided to get cheese in my enchilada instead of a meat and thought that would make all the difference. It didn’t.

Here are some pics from our ‘trip’

I couldn’t stop taking corn close-ups.

Such a nice day.

Adam found some pumpkins.

They just kept going on and on.

The aspens are turning colors in full force. Ok not full force anymore. I’m a little late but oh well.

Of course I go and post about my Etsy.com list over on the side and then what do I do? I add a different favorite without thinking and the shirt I mentioned was knocked off the list. Heh. Oh well, the new purse is stunning even if it makes my last post make no sense whatsoever.

Moving on… we recently watched The Kite Runner movie. I’ve heard the book was average and predictable (from friends) but I really enjoyed the movie. It was beautiful and not in the ‘oh wow what a beautiful story kind of way’ but in the pretty, really fun to watch kind of way. Literally, a pretty film, the colors and angles, etc. Three stars

We also watched The Secret Life of Words. I was really tired and kept trying to fall asleep but it started picking up interest-wise and I had to sit up and start watching again towards the middle. Honestly, it made me think about the war (and the people) in Yugoslavia in ways I have never thought of before, even after living in Macedonia for two years. Two stars.

Ok, So I just looked over at my Etsy wish list and apparently I really like yellow. You might notice that the shirt isn’t yellow. Well, I’m kind of pale. I don’t so much look good in yellow so maybe I’m transferring all the times I couldn’t get the yellow shirt into accessories. Accessories for me and for my house. I bought a bunch of fabric to make a ‘headboard’ for our bed when we went to Pagosa Springs a few months ago. That still hasn’t happened but the fabric is gorgeous (and yellow, yellow/orange batik).

PS I have no idea why the pictures in the last post are so bad. Sigh. I’m too lazy to change them though. Our camera is also showing this white spot towards the left side. Doesn’t really show up their though. I love that camera so I hope it isn’t permanent.

So last week was really long and stressful for me. Luckily there were a few bright spots. I received my box from Rebecca (my swap partner) and clearly I got the best partner! I loved everything in that box. She wrapped up everything in brown paper and decorated them with beautiful quotes. It was so much fun to open and I got it when I really needed a little pick-me-up. Here are the pictures of the package. Of course I had to re-create the first one because I opened it at work. I check the mail after lunch on my way to work. There was no way I was going to be able to wait until I got home at five.

Posole, chile peppers, red chile sauce, birdies on a beautiful beaded string. I can’t wait to hang these up in my sewing room. They are so fun and inspiring!

Last but not least. This beautiful red apron. I love red and that must be one of her favorite colors too. I always wear an apron when baking and I love to bake.

Thanks Rebecca!!!

Ok I love vacations. Adam and I travel so well together and we always have the best time. Whenever we go anywhere I think, now THAT’S the best one so far. NYC was no exception. It also doesn’t hurt to share it with some of your bestest friends. Staying with Chris and Tracie was just what we needed. They are great hosts.

We did a lot of the usual trip to New York City things. We went up the Empire State Building, saw a Broadway show (Wicked), strolled through Central Park, ate some Brooklyn pizza, went through Times Square, bought candy at FAO Schwarz, walked through St. Patrick’s Cathedral and went to TV show tapings (Conan O’Brien and The Colbert Report). It was so much fun. I went once in high school and this time around everything seemed so much smaller for some reason. As in the buildings, the whole city itself, and the crowds all seemed smaller. The studios were small, especially Conan’s. It was actually comically small. Conan in person… AMAZING. He’s way better looking in person (I think Tracie can back me up on that one). The Colbert Report was hilarious. I love Stephen Colbert. He was still fighting his cold when we were there and we had to wait FOREVER to get in but it was still really fun. He blew a kiss to Tracie during the show and I am going to forever pretend it was to me

We went through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I don’t think it was peak season to visit but we saw some pretty cool things. It was boiling hot. I’ve only lived out of the humid zone for a little over 3 years but man, you really get used to living without it. It wasn’t even technically that hot and we didn’t even need the AC for sleeping. Yay for their awesome apartment with a nice breeze.

Don’t worry we definitely took advantage of NYC cuisine. We treated ourselves to delicious dinners out. Of course, we had burek, which wasn’t very good but the restaurant was just perfect. Very Balkan. We had burritos, German barbeque, and Yum Yum Bangkok 3 (the one with tablecloths ; ) See how I closed those parenthesis with a smiley face. I’m so clever. Oh and we had a great lunch at a diner on the upper east side where we saw some actresses. Right Chris? Specifically I think they were soap opera stars but I might have added that myself.

Sigh. What a fun vacation!!! It’s their turn now! Skiing in February.

How fun is this! I just signed up to do it. I got the link from another blog I follow.

Click above to follow and enter!

So this isn’t shaping up to be the best week of my life. Yesterday I came home from work and Rebecca, one of our goldfish, was dead. She had been struggling for awhile now and finally stopped breathing. It had been really hard to watch these last few days. RIP Rebecca.

Our vacation is now looking to be the best timed vacation ever.

Friday, Senator Salazar made a stop in Silverton to talk about healthcare. Adam and I attended along with around 20 other citizens. As is to be expected he is great in front of a crowd, very personable. He wanted to have a conversation and not lecture, what is with that? I don’t understand why the lecture is so feared. If I wanted to have a conversation I’d head to the pub. I always hated those kinds of classes at university, where participation was a large percentage of the grade. It always led to people making unnecessary comments and asking questions they already knew the answer to. They didn’t seem to help me out because I’m still pretty standoffish and don’t have much to say (specifically around people that I’m not good good friends with). It makes more sense in this case because he wants to hear what ‘the people’ have to say and he DID give a mini presentation. Ok, back to the topic. Ironically I started this post wanting to comment on how people rant on other topics when asking a ‘question’. Not only did the questions seem to be hidden behind a lot of opinion but they were off topic. Let’s just talk about the issue at hand, don’t come and waste all of our time. The senator is only going to divert or shallowly answer your ‘question’. Write him a letter or something. Aside from all of that it was interesting and I really enjoyed meeting him. Also someone sang him a song while strongly hinting that he was a ‘Caveman Democrat’. Fun times.