The Deuce Fo’

Hat tip to Joe Tall for stumbling across this really sweet song and passing it along. Despite the eyeshadow and mascara, I really like the song. I also enjoy drinking white wine in the sun, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyways, I just got back from CA and honestly it was a little bit weird seeing the Christmas lights wrapped around the palm trees and having 60° weather while at the same time CO is getting pelted by a blizzard. But the trip was actually a really nice break of pace and it was nice to see my uncles and my aunt while I was out there.

We all went out for a nice dinner at the Charthouse of Dana Point a really cool building nestled up on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. The food was top notch and it was really good to get in some time with my uncles, they’re awesome. Christmas day we packed up a picnic of my design and headed down for a lunch overlooking the beach. We found a really nice spot and it ended up being fairly warm and sunny.

We were parked out on the light green grassy area down the hill. The picnic consisted of some tapas-ish appetizers made with baguette slices and some combination of prosciutto, apple slices, pear slices, cucumber, red and orange tomatoes, sprouts, avocado, and an assortment of cheeses. We also had some shrimp and with cocktail sauce and brought stuff for sandwiches, but we were all too full by that point.

The following day, we went out on a dolphin watching boat ride. I thought that this was going to be pretty lame (it was 3 hours long), but it ended up actually being pretty cool. The dolphins come right up and swim along the side of the boat very playfully. I don’t know what it is about it, but there’s just something really cool about seeing them poke out the surface of the water and just cruise right under or next to the boat. It’s almost relaxing…

The catamaran has one of the front hulls replaced with a glass enclosure so you could get down in there and see them from underwater. The crawlspace area was really tight and only two people could fit down there at once and really only one person has a good view, but I managed to sneak in there right before we turned to head back to shore. Nice.

The rest of the time there was kind of spent casually hanging out, but it did allow me to get some serious reading done!

The 700+page Behemoth of Basketball is almost downed and should get finished up this week. Progress! After that, I have no idea where to start back on my huge list, that is perpetually growing…

And finally balance…

Things have been going well, and not well. I have been slacking, but it seems like things are falling into place on their own. Going to the gym on the regular is really helpful with that. I actually read something in Nate Green’s blog just a few moments ago that really summed up what I’m trying to accomplish (full post).

“My friend and mentor Alwyn Cosgrove once told me to replace the word “time” with “life.” It gives you a different perspective on the same tired excuses…’Cook healthy meals and spend time with my family? Who’s got enough life for that? I’m too busy.’  ’I don’t have enough life to relax and read.’” Really changes things around.

I think that I want to do all these things, study a bunch of different shit, read tons, cook a lot, work out, paint, and still have a bunch of fun… I mean, it’s good, but I honestly don’t have enough time to devote to all of these avenues as much as I’d like. The great part about it is that, when I do devote time/life to them is that I really seem to enjoy it for the most part and that makes up for not being able to always delve as deep as I’d like. So I think that that is probably the most important thing to consider with all this balance stuff–Get something out of what you DO choose to do with your time. It’s your life after all.

So that got me thinking about New Year’s Resolutions and it dawned on me that I should actually make some!

So here’s the tentative list:

• Paint at least 5 real pieces. Get it framed and hang some of that shit up!
• Read (FINISH!) 20 books for 2010. While my track record involves finishing a book every couple months I have given myself a great head start on this because I have about 16 books that I’m already part way through! FINISH HIM!
• Go boarding 10 times. I got myself a pass this year and I haven’t even used it yet. Worthless… To be fair, it has been frigid and sucked so far this year, but time to make moves.

That’s a lame list, but that’s what I’ve got for now that are tangible enough to write down and see whether I can accomplish them or not.

And to close things out… I have a new object of my obsession.

Hendrick’s Gin.

Look at it! It just exuuuuuuudes class and tastes delicious! It has that old school medicine bottle look, and a has been a crucial part to a good number of cocktails of my liking lately. It seems to go very well with cucumber as a garnish. God, that’s so fresh tasting together! Last night at a cocktail party, I brought that materials and made a Hendrick’s Press (The gin over ice, then with the remainder, 1/2 soda, 1/2 sprite.) and garnished with the cucumber slices and a pinch of fresh mint.

Perfect!

-J

As promised, pictures from the Steuben’s Holiday Toy Drive/Party.

Holiday spritz.- Hendrick’s Gin, sherry, Aperol, lemon juice, Prosecco.

X-mas S’mores – Milagro Reposado Tequila, Sombra Mezcal, Cappuccino liqueur. It also had a small roasted marsh mellow on a stick across the top!

cOld Fashioned – Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, Griottes, Orange slices, Chai syrup, soda. Ended up being a *little* heavy on the whiskey!

Hot Buttered Pumkin – Sailor Jerry Spiced Nay Rum, Pumpkin, Jonesy’s Hot Buttered Rum Mix. Served warm. This one was sooooo good!

Winter Gin Fizz – Hendrick’s Gin, Domaine de Canton, Cinnamon Extract, Agave Nectar, Lemon Juice. This was possibly my favorite drink of the night. It was very tart, almost sour, but there was a very sweet sugary lemon coating on the rim that helped to balance that out well.

This is my friend Moe’s drink, Red Skies at Night – Sailor Jerry Spiced Navy Rum, Lillet Blanc, Lemon Juice, Egg Whites. There was a sugary, cinnamonny, stuff around the rim of each glass that she caramelized with a blowtorch (below).

And importantly, remember that all this fun and games is to help collect toys less fortunate kids in the Denver area. It ended up being a huge success and there were a LOT of toys there, this pic didn’t capture even half of what was there as they flooded over the booths and tables in the front area!

Again, it was awesome to get to attend a great event and I hope to attend next year as well and maybe see if I can get snuck into some other COBG events!

In other news, as an early xmas present to myself I finally went ahead and jailbroke my iphone.

This is what it looks like now:

It’s awesome. The first thing is the themes, I can have wallpaper now! This is the Mac OSX Snow Leopard theme. Some themes come with new icons for the standard and most popular aps (like all here are new except the “Settings” icon, which makes sense to keep as that’s the icon OSX uses). Also there’s a bunch of cool shit like tethering (using my phone as a modem), the 5 icon dock, Backgrounding (running multiple applications at once), a battery manager that can display the actual % left (like the 3G S does) and many more that I haven’t even checked out yet. There really aren’t many limitations anymore, I guess that there is even a jailbroken ap that allows you to use the camera as a video camera. Crazy. It’s weird that with all this potential, Apple still limits the native features. I’m sure that there are reasons for this like running multiple aps at once can drain the battery quickly and almost absurdly fast if you go out of control with it. I guess that that might be part of the reason why the jailbroken community continues to coexists, as an outlet for people that don’t just need the simple version.

Speaking of Xmas presents… This year we aren’t really doing the present thing, but on my holiday wishlist for myself…

Netflix – Time to join the 21st century. A lot of movies out there that I missed and now want to see. $10 a month for Blue Ray discs + streaming movies. Boom!

Some boots. I was recently told that while it works for some people, of which I am apparently one of, the dress shoes with jeans thing is widely misused and unfashionable. When I asked what the alternative was, I was told nice boots. While I will have to confirm this with my fashion consultant, it was intriguing and I looked into it. I think that I could pull off the boots and it would be a hell of a lot easier to dig my car out in the morning after a snow in some of these than in my current flatbottomed, no traction, dress shoes. I’m looking at one of these two pairs. Thoughts?

Wine – I need to get a case of wine again, it’s great to have on hand and I might be able to get hooked up. I’m open to suggestions, but I usually have the guys at the small wine shop down on the corner pick out some of their favorites.

Not sure what else is really on this list, not trying to be greedy, and I don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to other random shit, so that’s all for now.

For Xmas in general I’m headed out to CA for a long weekend with the aunt and uncles. I’m not sure how it’s going to go down, but I’ll post a report afterwards…

New sweet jams:

So going against my long-held axiom, I’ve begun to watch a reality show on MTV. My excuse? Simmons. That’s about it. Damn the man who has nothing to do all day but watch television, talk with athletes and celebrities, and occasionally write. But!!!! The Jersey Shore is almost indescribable…

Wow.

For certain people familiar with NJ and all that the Jersey shore has to offer, this tanned out, muscle bound, new haircut, floozy parade is nothing new. But for the rest of the nation/world… Wow. It’s like a car crash. It’s violent, raw, disgusting, and not something that I would want myself or a loved one to be a part of, but at the same time it’s wildly entertaining and I can’t look away.

Speaking of things that I can’t look away from… I was lucky enough to remember to catch (but not DVR) the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show!

Yes please.

I am always confused and amused by this (and fashion shows in general). A bunch of very attractive models wearing some of the most ridiculous things imaginable. Wings? That’s not sexy is it? I mean it is, but what are the wings/twigs/stars/any other ornamental accessory that requires more or less a harness to wear, really supposed to add to the ensemble? I could ramble on, but how can I really complain?

The winter is here in a big way. It was -10° this morning and I was less than pleased about this. However, that does mean that the holidays are in full effect and that means holiday parties! I was fortunate enough to attend a wonderful party put on by one of my favorite Denver restaurants, Steuben’s, which hosted the top bartender/mixologists from Denver and the surrounding area. It was put on as a toy drive/holiday party where bringing toys to donate for kids netted you drink tickets to try the showcase drinks. My friend who works at TAG, was there preparing one of her signature drinks, and was able to help me sort through the offerings to find some of the top drinks of the night. I will be uploading the full menu and some photos that I took of the event once I get the pictures off of my phone.

Also, have a few Ugly Sweater parties and some birthdays to attend coming up. I can’t wait to break out the egg nog, perhaps make some of my own… but I need to pick up a really solid ugly sweater, because the only “ugly” one that I currently own was one of my favorites that my dry cleaners destroyed. But the main thing is that it’s a great excuse for people to gather together and let loose…

My reading has stalled somewhat, but between the things that I really care about, I am getting almost all of them in there. Except painting. It’s coming up on a full year since I got my painting stuff set up (thanks for the xmas present Mom) and I have officially completed two pieces. Although my Kill Bill piece is finally done. I have a couple of other ideas that I really want to get onto the canvas, so I need to get some more supplies. I’ve been going to a really sweet event that that occurs every first Friday of the month. The Art Walk is a collection of galleries that all open up and people come through checking out all that there is to offer. Some offer treats, wine, coffee, hot cider, etc… and they are spread out across 5 or so blocks all along Santa Fe Drive here in Denver. Sooooo much art, a lot of it is just spectacular. Very inspiring.  I need to get my paint on.

Pictures to come.

I need to figure out some holiday gifts to get for my friends/myself. I loving finding good gifts for people, something unique, because it makes me much happier than just some generic meh. But I’m also a sucker for cool shit, so I end up getting myself xmas presents too.

-J