Long weekend facts

It's Friday. It's a long weekend. Thank god. The first full week of work after a vacation is always killer, and this week is no exception.

In any case, I am really looking forward to the weekend, and having friends over, and relaxing. But at the moment I feel a bit tired, and bizarrely grubby, almost dusty, and no, I don't know why.

So, though I don't normally do these posts, let's indulge in a Friday five, just some random tidbits, shall we?

1. I don't like weakly flavored water. I won't drink water out of a glass that had another beverage in it, and I don't like to squeeze lemon into my water. Yuck. I like full-flavored stuff like juice or lemonade, or plain water, but nothing in between.
2. I want to cut off my hair. It's gotten long, and when it's long it doesn't curl as nicely and it's harder to take care of and it's a pain to wash.
3. I don't want to cut off my hair. It's pretty when it's long, and people give me lots of compliments on it, and when it's not behaving I can just pull it back into a ponytail (also convenient for workouts). Is it cheating that two out of my five facts are two sides of the same coin?
4. I don't do anything to my eyebrows other than to pluck the occasional stray hair. I had them threaded a couple times before the wedding, and could barely tell the difference. I don't know if I should be doing something to them. I'm sure they're far from perfect but they seem fine to me the way they are, so I just leave them alone.
5. It's been over a year since my surgery. I posted about it here.

Yay! Happy Memorial Day! It's the official start of the summer season. And today is going to be 90 degrees in honor of it. WIN. Or lose? At least it's a dry heat.

Dinner with friends

Last night we had dinner with Jeni and her husband at their lovely house. They had prepared an awesome dinner--salmon burgers, spinach salad, and orzo salad. It was very Mediterranean and delicious. And I was so hungry--I ate a ton of salad. I felt very healthy, at least until we broke out the German chocolate cake we had brought (and no, I didn't bake it myself. And also, no, German chocolate cake is not actually German, at least not according to Torsten).

It was so lovely to hang out with friends. I'm starting to feel like I have a solid friend base here--six or seven girlfriends whom I adore, a real little network. No bestie here in town, but a bunch of wonderful people with whom I become closer all the time.

And with Jeni and her husband, when we arrived at their house I was tired and a bit stressed out, but right away hanging out with them I felt more relaxed, and by the end of the evening I had totally forgotten about all the events of the day that had stressed me out, and was just enjoying chatting with them.

It was relaxing, it was fun, it was interesting. Their dog Saucer is too cute--though unfortunately too small for Montana to be able to play with, so we left her at home. Their house is gorgeous and we ate on the lovely patio in the adorable backyard, surrounded by purple irises. The setting was great--but of course it's the people who really make the difference. And in this case the company was ideal.

That's how friends should be, you know? I'm so glad we're starting to have a few of those here in Denver. And I look forward to having even more in the future.

And continuing to hang out with Jeni and her husband, of course. Because they are awesome.

What kind of people like The Wire?

Torsten and I watched the first episode of The Wire last night. We put Season 1 on hold at the library weeks ago and finally the other day we came to the top of the queue. Torsten had seen Season 4, and I had never seen the show at all.

Torsten loved it. I... did not. I didn't hate it. But it felt so LONG. And it was complicated and I didn't understand what was happening half the time and so I was mostly just confused except every now and then I was sad because something sad happened. And I didn't really like that combination of feelings very much.

I'm going to give it a couple more episodes to see if I become invested. My hopes aren't high. Torsten will be crushed if I don't like it. He wants to watch the entire series together. If I can't get into it he's going to have to go it alone, and he's not going to like that, and quite honestly it probably won't even end up happening.

But maybe I'll end up liking it. We'll see.

Although, given that I love Sex and the City and Friends and House and American Idol, and can barely tolerate 24, what do we think the odds are that I will end up really liking The Wire?

I'm actually serious here, I want some input. It seems like everywhere I go people are raving about The Wire, all different types of people with all different types of taste. It sounded like it was one of those shows that everyone likes. Transcendental, even. Is it? Will it grow on me? Or is it/am I a lost cause?

First world problems

I'm sick of living on one income.

I mean, it's not that hard, really, not at all. We can afford our mortgage and our car payment and all our other necessary bills. We have cut a lot of things out, like eating out, and hardly miss them. We have a great quality of life and consider ourselves very lucky. My salary is decent and we are doing just fine.

And, it is so worth it. So, so worth it. Torsten is so much happier than he ever was when he was in his previous job. He is doing amazing work. He is on the cutting edge of technology again, exactly where he always used to be until he stopped having the time and energy to stay there while overwhelmed with his last job. He is making great partnerships and already impressing potential clients. He has come much further in the past few months than anybody was expecting. I am really impressed with his progress. He is also very pleased. There is hope that soon there will be a client, maybe even more than one.

But oh, I miss having disposable income. Not so much because I miss buying random things I don't need (though I do miss that to a certain extent). More because I miss being able to do what I want. I guess this is a learning opportunity to figure out what is and is not important to us in terms of budget priorities down the line. And what is important for us to spend money on is experiences.

For example, my best friend is getting married in San Francisco next month, and I won't be attending. She'll be having another wedding in Panama in a year or so and I am already counting on attending that one, but still. That doesn't make up for the fact that I won't be there for this one.

And every now and then a quick vacation, just a long weekend on a last-minute beach resort deal, would be so nice. Sometimes we're just tired, both of us, and want to rejuvenate and take a quick break.

And sometimes artists we really like come to town and we would love to go to their concerts but can't justify the cost. Like Lilith Fair. I've been wanting to go to that show since I was 13 years old and actually went once only to have the mom of the friend I was with force us to leave before Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan came on. Ever since then I've been dying to go back and now the show is coming to Denver but we just can't figure out how to justify the expense. So we aren't going.

And yes, sometimes I do want to buy things. If I see a cute skirt, I want to have it. I'm losing weight and I can't justify purchasing anything other than the most basic pieces from Old Navy to tide me over as I descend to a new size. We take nice new photos, and I want to print them and buy nice frames to hang them in. We have a beautiful dining room table and crappy Ikea chairs that don't fit it at all, and I would like to buy proper chairs to fit the table instead. I want these things. And I used to be able to spend money like that if I wanted to, and now I can't, and that is frustrating.

I know, I know. Woe is me. I earn a good salary and have a great husband who is pursuing his dream and running a company that seems like it will wind up being successful. I spend my money on paying for our nice house and our nice car and our nice lifestyle. I get it; I know I'm lucky, and most of the time I don't mind at all. And I know, even when I'm feeling like this, that it's OK, it's worth it, and also, it won't last forever.

But sometimes I just miss being able to buy something because I want it, dammit. And not having to count pennies and budget by the dollar and consider every purchase and put off necessities because are they really necessary?

And yes, it's a good exercise in self-restraint and frugality, and even once Torsten has an income again, some of the modifications that we've made during this time (such as trimming our grocery budget in half) will definitely stick with us. And that's great.

But ooh, just to go on one carefree shopping spree. Even just at Target! Or really, who am I kidding... especially at Target.

Top of the Rockies

This weekend, as promised, we drove into the mountains. The weather was perfect, and we took advantage of the situation to do a scenic loop from Vail to Leadville to Copper Mountain. It was gorgeous, the perfect reminder of how beautiful the Rockies are, how beautiful this state is, how lucky we are to live here (full set here).


Oh, and it turns out that our AC is only half broken. As in, it doesn't work on the driver's side, but it does work on the passenger side. Good news/bad news? I don't know. We still need to have our mechanic look at it, I suppose. In the meantime this explains why we kept saying to each other that we thought something was up with the AC, and the other would never agree.


The dog had fun too. But then, she usually does.


They say when you're from Colorado the mountains are in your blood. What I want to know is, what about when you're not from Colorado? How long does it take for them to get into your blood? Because I'm starting to think the Rockies are there in mine.


Really, a two-hour loop at 10,000 feet is all it takes to get rid of a minor case of the grumps.

Grump. Ish.

Ugh. Going back to work after a vacation = DO NOT LIKE. Not the job itself--it's great as usual--but just the sorting through seven million emails, catching up on all the tasks, and sitting in a bunch of impromptu meetings. That plus jet lag means I'm really glad I came home in the middle of the week and it's already Friday.

Also, again thanks to the jet lag, I haven't been sleeping very well for the last few days. In France I was already not sleeping well because I was all disoriented time-wise, and then I started to adjust right before I came home so now I'm still all disoriented. I fall asleep no problem but then I keep waking up and that is really annoying. And plus when I wake up I then notice that I have to pee (this ALWAYS happens to me) so it's not like I wake up and can roll over and go right back to sleep... instead I get out of the warm cozy bed and have to go pee and then I'm all awake and it takes me awhile to fall back asleep.

So now I have to work and I'm tired. And that equals sort of grumpy. Except I'm trying to snap myself out of it, because really, it's the weekend and that means I can sleep as late as I want AND I don't have to work, so what is the point of being grumpy about this now?

Plus it is sunny and beautiful out, and it's supposed to stay that way all weekend, and even hit 80 degrees, and there is a drive to the mountains in our near future, and that is always lovely.

One more grump before I get over myself, speaking of long drives in 80-degree weather: the AC in our car seems to be broken. AGH.

OK, now I'm ready to get over it. Can you help? What is making you not-grumpy these days?

Anatomy of a French wedding

So, I'm back. And wow, was that a whirlwind trip, but so worth going. I got to see everyone, and remind myself that I still really do speak French, and be there on an important day for someone who is important to me. All that flying for such a short trip, though... ugh. Especially when I ended up spending a six-hour layover in Heathrow both ways (not planned--the way there we arrived late and I missed my connecting flight, and on the way back my original flight was canceled due to an expected strike so I had to take the earlier one). But still, the trip was great, other than the fact that Torsten wasn't there with me.

But the best part was definitely the wedding. In most ways it was a lot like an American wedding... but not exactly. The biggest difference was that it lasted until 5 a.m. But really, French weddings are very interesting. They break down into five main parts.

1. La Mairie
Weddings in France are divided into two parts--the legal ceremony and the personal ceremony. The legal ceremony takes place first, at the town hall ("mairie"). It is quick and not personalized. It's conducted by someone who was not personally selected by the couple. Maybe that's why the guy who conducted the ceremony kept referring to my host sister, whose name is Angela, as Angelina. Lovely. Brought back memories of when our wedding officiant kept referring to Torsten as "Thursten." Ugh. Still, the ceremony was short and sweet and official, and the newlyweds were very happy.


2. L'église
After the civil ceremony, we all drove to the church for the religious ceremony. It was just a regular church in a tiny town, but so different from random American churches. It was huge, and older than our country, and beautiful, and dark, and formal, and freezing cold. Luckily my host mother had lent me a wrap because my dress was sleeveless (I went with the purple dress because it was warmer than the blue dress, but still not exactly a winter outfit) and I would have frozen to death otherwise.


The ceremony was so interesting. I haven't been to many church weddings but the minister was very good about involving people in the ceremony, explaining what was going on as he did it (since a lot of the guests weren't regular churchgoers), and having us all sing along with certain parts. It was really very beautiful and not boring at all, even though I know that some people were worried ahead of time that it would be long and tedious. Then at the end when the bride and groom exited the church, we all threw lavender at them instead of rice. It was awesome, except the part where it was really windy and many of us got some in our mouths. Gross.


3. Le repas
The reception started at around 6 p.m. with a cocktail hour. Dinner started at around 7:30... and finished around midnight. Yum. It was a five-course, sitdown dinner involving salmon tartare, foie gras, duck, cake, and, of course, a separate course just for the cheese. There is nothing like French cheese. The brie and camembert you can buy in the US have nothing on the stuff you get in France. The food was delivered at a leisurely pace and we all sat at long tables. The seating arrangement was brilliant, and I got to know a lot of the couple's friends whom I'd never met before. Everyone was just so nice, and friendly, and happy, and you could just feel all the love for the newlyweds. It was so sweet.

4. La soirée dansante
After we all finished eating at midnight, the party really got going. I had no idea how into their dancing the French can get. The whole reception hall basically turned into a nightclub. The regular lights went out and were replaced with a disco ball and a bunch of flashing colored lights. The DJ played mostly French techno music, which was kind of hilarious, and after all the alcohol that had been consumed, people were dancing like crazy. Luckily the DJ threw in a few well-known classics, like YMCA, so even those of us who aren't so familiar with French techno got in a few good dances.



5. La fin
Shortly before 5 a.m., the bride's parents heated up a giant vat of onion soup to give to all the guests along with a hit of some very strong alcohol. Apparently this is the tradition in France, designed to settle everyone's stomach from all the wine and champagne so that they can go to sleep. Everyone had a nice big bowlful of soup and then a few designated drivers drove a bunch of us to a large nearby house that was on loan from a friend so we could all go to sleep. We slept until noon, and then went back to the reception hall the next day for a casual brunch. People were less hungover than you would expect! There were maybe 50 or so of us at the brunch, and we cleaned the reception hall up very quickly. It's amazing how fast you can get things done when there are 50 people helping out. The only bad thing is that the soup now makes me think of exhaustion and excessive drinking. I don't think I'll be eating onion soup again for awhile.

To-do

I'm going to France tonight! I am super excited. Except that I have seven billion things to do before then. Oh dear. Writing out a list always makes me feel better. Let's do that:

• Pack (must not forget both passports--US and UK, as I am flying through London and don't want to wait in the foreign customs line since my layover isn't that long)
• Go to the grocery store to buy some healthy snacks for the plane
• Go to the library to return a book due on Saturday (this will be the first thing that gets cut since Torsten could do this for me while I'm gone, but it's near the grocery store so I'll try to do both at once)
• Edit a proposal for Torsten
• Call my parents and my sister to chat before I leave
• Charge my Kindle
• Oh, and work. All day. Oops. Not my best planning.
  

But that's OK, because tonight I go to France! Yay! Catch you all in a week!

Ah, spring. Or not?

Everyone loves spring. Birds chirping, grass growing, blue skies and sunny warm days, lightweight skirts... right?

Well. Except. Here's what spring has meant for us so far:

• Carefully watering our newly-planted wildflower garden twice each day only to watch grass and weeds grow. So far, no wildflowers.
• Mud. Everywhere. In our house and our car and on our dog and our patio. Luckily we got those rubber all-weather floor mats for our car.
• Houses for sale! Several of them on our street alone. Two of them sold in the past few weeks and we were relieved, but then two more went on the market. Oh, well.
• Going to a Rockies game and seeing them come back from a 6-0 first-inning deficit to score 11 runs... and then lose anyway.
• Seeing all these adorable spring fashions that I would love to purchase in my new smaller size, but not buying anything because it's not in the budget and I don't really need much other than jeans and basic tops.
• Watching the dog chase flies and occasionally catch one and then chew it to bits, disgustingly, wagging her tail all the while.

...well, that's OK. It's actually supposed to snow today or tomorrow anyway. So we can't really call it spring yet, right?

More wedding outfits

Several of you asked on my last post what I was planning to wear to my host sister's wedding. So, here you go. I've narrowed it down to two options, and I'm still not sure which I'll go with. I will probably end up bringing both with me and asking for my host family's input. I've never been to a French wedding before but I'm assuming the attire is similar to weddings in the US.

So, Dress A is the dress I wore to my sister's wedding. As a refresher, here it is again:


And Dress B is a sundress that I've had for years but that only just now fits again--it didn't even fit in March when my sister got married.


I'm torn. Dress A is a little more formal, and a heavier, lined material, while Dress B is more of a casual summer sundress. In fact, the weather may be a factor as well. The online weather report says that it will be in the 60s and sunny there, in which case I think either dress would work (the wedding is indoors), but really it's too far out to tell.

All opinions are appreciated! Which one should I wear? (It should also be noted that I could in theory wear either of the other dresses that I thought about wearing to my sister's wedding, though the first dress from that post is probably unsalvageably big for me at this point.)

Sneaking up on France

I am supposed to have today off as my "one Friday per month" (thank you compressed workweek, one of my favorite ideas ever). However I have opted not to take it today and instead work and bill the hours next week when I'm in France so that I can save a day of vacation.

Because I'm going to France next week! In under a week! It's so funny, I have been thinking about going to this wedding for years (they were PACSed--the French civil union--in 2008 so I knew this was coming), and then for months once they announced the date we talked about whether or not it would be possible, and then we decided it would and then I got the ticket and then all of a sudden it went from years of contemplation to mere days before I depart.

It's coming up so suddenly that I almost feel like I'm going to forget about the whole trip and not go to the airport and miss the whole thing. I mean, I know rationally that I won't do that, but it feels like it could happen because it's just so SOON, all of a sudden.

And oh, suddenly I am so excited. I had mixed feelings about this trip because originally when we found out about the wedding Torsten and I had planned to take a couple weeks off, go there together, fly into Paris and visit friends there, then rent a car and drive first down to Toulouse for the wedding and then east through the south of France and along the coast before heading into Italy, where I've never been, and then possibly back up to Paris through Switzerland, where I have also never been.

We were really looking forward to the trip but then Torsten quit his job and suddenly we had no money, and certainly not the thousands of dollars that our planned trip would have required. So instead this trip is super budget--Torsten isn't even coming, and I'm not flying through Paris because it was too expense so I won't get to see my friends there, and the trip will only be six days, nearly two of which will be spent traveling, and I will be spending as little money as possible and staying with friends and going nowhere that I have never been before.

Plus I felt slightly guilty about using all these credit card points for this ticket when there are a lot of other things, including cash, that we could have used those points for. But we have to have some things that are available of leisure, right? We can't be practical with everything? And if we're going to designate one thing for fun instead of practicality, I think credit card points are the smartest choice.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself. And what Torsten keeps telling me. And suddenly, all the stuff that has been making me feel confused and less than thrilled about this trip don't matter anymore. Yes, the trip we had planned would have been lovely, and I am so sad that Torsten can't come with me, and that he still hasn't been with me to visit my host family and see the town where I lived and all these people and places that are still so important to me.

But me, I get to see them. I get to attend my host sister's wedding and be there on this important day for her. I get to stay with my host family again and spend a few days with them and catch up with them and brush up on my French. I can visit all my favorite places again and see some old friends.

Basically it's going to be awesome. So even though it's not the ideal European vacation that we would plan if we were millionaires, it will be wonderful all the same. And I can't believe it's only a few days away.

How do you see yourself?

Sometimes it's funny to me to think that nearly everybody knows only parts of me, and that I know only parts of nearly everybody. There are some obvious exceptions, people I would say know me wholly and in every mood, but they are few and far between.

Most people only see parts of you, and that's OK, it's normal, it's to be expected. Most people haven't known you your whole life and they don't know your past and the things you've done before. Most people don't see you in all your contexts, at home and at work and with friends and with family. Most people don't hear your innermost thoughts and fears and confessions, or even if they do hear them, it's some of them, not the whole picture.

So of course it's rare to find someone who knows us, truly and completely. And it's totally OK. I can still see the picture even if a few pieces of the puzzle are missing, you know? I mean all of us censor ourselves on our blogs to a certain degree, or present certain aspects of our lives and ourselves and our backgrounds, and yet I don't feel like people are withholding, or not sharing all of themselves. Because that's how we see people, in general.

It's how we see the world literally, really. We have two eyes and they don't see the exact same thing. They see two slightly different visions, each one with a slightly different range with a little gap in the middle, and our brain takes those images and puts them together into one cohesive picture. That's what we do with our friends, we take what we know and we fill in the gaps and we know that it's enough.

And it is enough, really. But sometimes it's weird to me to think that nobody knows everything. That every time someone dies, even if they have shared their life with many others, so much dies with them. Maybe, maybe if someone died and you got everyone who knew them into a room and had them all do a brain dump of everything they knew about that person, maybe you'd start to come close. But you'd never get the full picture, not quite.

The things that are weird to me are little things. It's not like "Oh god nobody knows me, nobody understands me, I am alone and misunderstood." Quite the opposite. I feel generally very well understood and supported and I am quite able to express myself and if there were something that I wanted somebody to know, I would share it.

No, it's the stupid things that don't matter. Like for example I've gone through phases in my life where my hair was pretty short, and phases where it was very long. I generally think of my default haircut as short. It's longer at the moment and I like it but I won't be keeping it this way forever, and when at some point I cut it short again I think it will feel like returning to my natural state.

But some people met me when my hair was long and that's how they think of me and everything else looks weird and wrong to them. And some of those people are people who didn't remain in my life long enough to ever see otherwise. Like my hair was really long when I moved to Senegal. Shortly after I got back from Senegal I cut it off to donate to Locks of Love. So all those people who knew me in Senegal only know me with long hair. Whereas all the people I knew in high school only know me with short to medium hair.

And it doesn't matter, you know? And also it's weird that I pick a side here, that one length of hair feels more normal to me than the other. Shouldn't it all be me, since I have the big picture with no missing puzzle pieces? But I have picked a side and I almost feel like an imposter to people who see my default as the other side.

The hair is just an example. There are a lot of things like this. I don't need to get into detail; I think the hair sums it up pretty thoroughly. It's all me, but different people see it differently, and I myself see all of it but still lean toward one as being more expressive of me. Does that make sense?

What about you? Do you have things about yourself that have changed over time, but still stick in your mind as being more you one way or the other? Does it weird you out to think about how different people in your life know you in very different contexts and think of you in very different ways?

My unshakable truths

Sometimes the unknowns of everything really get to me. Like when we wanted to move to Denver, and didn't know we could keep our jobs when doing so, and were trying everything in our power to find jobs here, and it wasn't working and we had no idea if or when it would ever happen. Or thinking about getting pregnant, and wondering if one of us has a fertility issue that we have never had reason to know about, or if I am going to get pregnant how long it will take before it happens once we start trying.

Call me a control freak; I prefer the term "planner," but it really doesn't matter. Here is the way I cope with this character trait without going insane over things I really want but can't obtain through sheer will: I fall back on my facts, my unshakable truths, the cornerstones of my life, some big and some small. I remind myself of them and then I feel better about all the other stuff.

Here are some of the main ones:

• I love my husband so, so, so much, and he loves me equally much, and we mesh and and we are happy together and we are growing together and we will always be there for each other.
• I have a lot of things going for me: skills and education and useful personality traits. I make things happen. This ability will not go away even if I don't always get exactly what I think I want.
• Globally, as a society, we tend to move forward over time, helped by each new generation's different outlooks and ideals. Even if it feels like sometimes we are bogged down in the moment and it is unbelievable that we aren't getting something that seems so clear-cut, eventually we will get there. Eventually we will move forward.
• I do not need to become fluent in German. I do not need to learn the nuances of German grammar. The basics are enough. My skills do not need to be perfect in order to be useful.
  
• I have a family and friends whom I love, and who love me back.
• Someday Torsten and I WILL have kids, whether I give birth to them or not. (This is the only thing that keeps me from panicking when I think about trying to get pregnant and possibly not being able to for whatever reason.)
• Most people are good, and mean well.
• I do not need to be a size 6 in order to consider my surgery a success. I would consider it a success even if I never lost another pound. But I am still losing pounds, and I will continue to do so.
• Exercise almost always makes me feel good, even if I have to force myself to do it.
• Purple is beautiful.
  
• I am a good person, and I always try to do the right thing.
  

Brand enthusiasm

You guys have seen these brand enthusiast campaigns that pop around the blogosphere every now and then, right? The three that come to mind are Gap, Nintendo, and Dove.

I don't have a problem with the campaigns at all. In fact, I think they are inspired. I get so many PR pitches in my inbox and almost without fail, they are poorly executed--nothing to do with me or my blog, clearly not coming from someone who is familiar with me or my blog, wanting quite a bit in exchange for nothing or very little. (See this brilliant post for a sample of the type of pitch I tend to receive. I'm sure most of you have received similar correspondence.)

I would have no problem doing compensated reviews, provided I were allowed to be honest. I've never been approached by anyone with a PR pitch that actually intrigued me, which is the reason I haven't done anything like this yet. However, if I were to be selected for a BlogHer review campaign, or to become a brand enthusiast for a company I was interested in, I would totally go for it.

I thought the Nintendo and Gap campaigns were smart. They picked a variety of bloggers with different perspectives and audiences. They hosted great parties for those bloggers, with great giveaways for all the guests. And then they had the bloggers post giveaway contests for nice things. I believe in Nintendo's case it was a Wii or a Wii Fit, and with the Gap it was a free pair of jeans or a $50 gift certificate.

But the brand enthusiast campaign I've seen most recently is for Dove. Specifically, a new type of Dove deodorant. I've seen at least three or four posts from some of my regular bloggers who have hosted Dove parties and are now doing Dove giveaways on their blogs. And again, I think that's awesome. Congrats to them for getting selected to participate, and getting to host what looks like a fun party.

But what I don't understand about the Dove campaign is the giveaway. From what I can tell, the item up for winning in each of these contests is a sample of Dove's new deodorant. That appears to be all.

Maybe I've been skimming? Or didn't read the rules correctly? But I feel like I have a certain threshold when it comes to a) the types of reviews or giveaways I'd be willing to post on my blog, and b) the types of contests and giveaways I'd bother entering on other people's blogs. And a contest for a sample of a deodorant that probably costs $4 even in its full-size form? Well, that's below my own personal threshold. I think it would make a lot more sense for Dove to give away a whole basket of fun pampering body products from their current line, with the new deodorant they're trying to promote placed front and center. That is the type of contest that I would take the time to enter, and that would motivate me to give my contact information to a corporation. A deodorant sample? Not so much.

But again, maybe I don't know the whole story. So I'd love to hear from you guys. Have you ever participated in a compensated review, giveaway, brand enthusiast, etc. program? How did you make the decision? I would especially love to hear from people participating in the current Dove campaign... is there more to it than what I'm seeing? How did you decide to take part?

And if you've never participated in a campaign like this, would you consider doing it? What do you think when you see compensated reviews and giveaways on other people's blogs?

Yummy cake and dirty dogs

Yesterday I baked a cake. I used a recipe recommended by the lovely pseudostoops, adjusted for altitude, with the chocolate buttercream frosting from the recipe I was originally going to use. And as a side note to local baking types, this is a great recipe for high-altitude baking, because it has a lot of eggs and it calls for buttermilk instead of water and it uses lightly whipped eggs, all things that help a cake stay moist and together at altitude.

And yeah, the cake turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself:


And it looks like the neighbors agreed:


Yum.

Also this weekend, we went to our first farmers' market of the season, and got some delicious bread, jam, and honey (the three breakfast staples of the summer months, according to Torsten). Have you ever had rhubarb blueberry jam? Apparently, it's delicious. I don't much care for either rhubarb or blueberries, so I have abstained (also I don't tolerate bread very well and really, what else do you eat jam on?), but the rave reviews and orgasmic noises from Torsten seem to imply that the jam is of excellent quality.

Oh, and I took Montana to the off-leash state park for a romp on Saturday. There were tons of dogs there as the weather was lovely. And yet, of the dozens of dogs nearby, mine seems to be the only one who gets in the water, splashes around to her heart's content, and then gets out of the water and immediately wants to dry off, and so rolls in the dirt and dust to do so.

Seriously, it would be incredibly adorable if she didn't get so freaking dirty in the process. She comes out of the water looking wet but still like herself, and then she puts her head sideways in the dirt, drops the rest of her body down, and rolls wildly back and forth until she is fully coated in nice brown dirt and mud. She is literally unrecognizable after she's done--she looks like a chocolate lab.

I should really bring the camera next time I go there with her, to capture not only the ridiculous drying-off process but also the beautiful park itself. It really is wonderful. I feel so lucky living so close to such an amazing place. We have an annual state parks pass and it was the best $60 we ever spent.

Seriously, though. Does anyone else's dog do this? Why is mine the only one who gets out of the water and goes straight for the dirt?