A Tradition of Happiness

If there is one thing us Knochs are known for, it's our dedication to annual traditions. At my grandparents house, we weren't allowed to touch the presents until after dinner (they called it tradition, the cousins and I called it torture). Every Thanksgiving at Pep's, the turkey I made in second grade is propped in the middle of the table. And every year for the past 21 years, between Halloween and Christmas, we go to Disneyland. 

So that's what we did this past Friday. I know what you're thinking, 'September 28 is not between Halloween and Christmas, Kate. Don't try to pull a fast one on us!' but what I mean is Disneyland's Halloween and Christmas season, which begins on September 19 and runs all the way through New Years.

This year was extra special though and not just because our annual tradition finally turned old enough to drink but because my Aunt Karen was kind enough to share her Disney Travel perks with us by gifting us some nights at the Grand Californian. Now being from Vegas, I've seen my fair share of the insides of hotels but let me tell you - this place fell in the top three. The architecture was absolutely stunning. Apparently I'm a big fan of the 'Craftsman' era - and thanks to the company of Pep, an avid HGTV watcher and Lisa, an interior design student, I had lots of detail pointed out that I would have never noticed. I felt like a queen (or in this case, a Disney princess).

Another perk of staying 'on property'? Early access to the park. That's right folks, by 8 a.m. we were in and on our way to Cars Land (the newest addition to California Adventure) and by noon, had knocked out more than half our rides for the day. Sadly, Indian Jones was closed but Cars' Radiator Springs Racer, Soarin' over California, Pirates and Space Mountain made up for it.

We packed the day full, making sure to keep the traditions alive within the tradition with a beer at lunch, an ice cream cone in the afternoon and of course, a reading from Esmerelda (post to come). We always wrap with a wine-filled dinner at Naples on the patio and topped the the evening of with a viewing of 'The World of Color' where I rediscovered my top three Disney movies (Little Mermaid, Lion King and Beauty and the Beast).

I realize that when I get older, the experience will become less for me and more for my own kids but in the meantime, it's all for us and I couldn't ask for a better tradition. Ears and all.

Icelandic!

As you know, it was my goal to travel abroad before the age of 30 and in March of this year, Chlo and I made that happen by booking our upcoming trip to London this fall.

We've been busy planning (you should see this Google Doc....) with plans to do the London Eye, catch a play in the West End, tour Stonehenge and even catch a Denver bend across the pond with tickets to see the Lumineers.

It's going to be an amazing first trip and I'm excited to say that it'll be the first of two as Chloe and I recently booked a trip to Iceland for March 2013.

If you're like my parents, boss or maybe even anyone else that knows me - you just went, "Say WHAT?"

Iceland has become all the rage here in Denver since the launch of Icelandair here last Spring. My friends Bill and Cam went in May and after seeing their pictures and hearing about their travels, I went "That's ICELAND?!" And just like that - I was intrigued.

So when a(nother) TravelZoo deal came through my inbox, and one that had one of my 100 built in to it, I forwarded it to Chloe and within 48 hours - we had our second trip booked. Read the below and tell me that you would have turned it down:

Day 3:  Morning on your own.  11:30am departure on from Reykjavik on tour.  Head through the scenic south coast of Iceland, dotted with farmlands, waterfalls and mountains. There will be a stop for lunch (not included)  The goal is a glacier.  Strap on crampons and take an ice pick for a guided walk on a glacier.   A safe and easy walk takes you through a wonderland of ice sculptures, ridges and deep crevasses.   Afterwards, as night falls, head for the charming Country Hotel Anna for a delicious traditional Icelandic dinner made with local ingredients.   Located on the site of a traditional Icelandic farm, Country Hotel Anna is named after the woman who grew up here:  Anna Jonsdottir.  She became a world traveler and adventurer in the early 20th century, writing popular books for Icelanders about her experiences.  An exhibit at the hotel commemorates her travels.

Afterwards, head out in the tour vehicle searching for glimpses of the elusive, beautiful Northern Lights.  The route changes based on best conditions for sightings.  Note-  Northern lights are a natural phenomenon and weather dependent. (Best weather conditions are cold, clear nights)  Northern Lights sightings are not guaranteed. 

Glacier hike? Northern Lights? The Blue Lagoon? Guess who's excited!

Praying Nightmare

So last night, I'm in my apartment. I've got the door to my patio open because it was a cool 70 degrees out and I didn't want to turn the air on. All of a sudden, I start to hear a familiar noise that I usually hear out in the wilderness (or at least on a patio) and then I realize that that sound is coming from INSIDE my apartment.

First call to Pep, approximately 8:45 p.m.: "Do you have any suggestions for getting a grasshopper out of my apartment? He's attached himself upside down to the blinds."

"Upside down? Are you sure he's not a praying mantis?"

"Oh. Maybe."

"Oh, I love those!"

Yea, me, too - in like pictures, in magazines. Not hanging out in my apartment making his little clickity click sound all over the place.

Pep ensures me that they're gentle, they're not going to hurt anybody so I decide to just let him hang out - I leave the door open, hoping he finds his own way to escape. I grab a large cup and a magazine in case he lands anywhere that I could "assist" him on getting OUT.

I take a seat on my couch and just relax. Except, I can't relax because every few minutes, he's leaving one spot for another and, of course, they're all on the ceiling or other places that I can't reach him.

I proceed to shut the door to my bedroom because at least I can keep him contained in a place where a door is OPEN for him to ESCAPE. Gordon is so lazy that he won't get off the bed so I proceed to lock him in the room. So now, it's just me, Sienna and our new green friend in the living room.

It was after he'd been hanging out on the ceiling for 20 minutes that I call Pep again.

"I'm really not doing so well over here."

She cracks up.

"No, seriously, I don't know what to do. I know they're good luck so I can't kill him but I don't know how to get him out of here. He's already flown directly at my head once."

She, of course, reasonably so, tells me that she doesn't know what to tell me. Other than the fact that maybe this is why I need a man around.

"Do you have a broom?"

"Yes. Well, a Swifer. And a dust mop."

She laughs. We hang up.

I get out the dust mop but it's real floppy, you know? So I go to try and "guide him out". After three swipes, I finally get him and he flies this time directly at my FACE, looking straight at me the entire time. This causes me to let out a scream and drop to the floor as I huddle myself into a little protective ball.

Since I covered my head, I did not see where he landed next. I take a slow seat on the very corner of my cow chair and wait for him to click so I can locate him again. I'm so stressed out that the only thing that can help at this point is a Jell-O dirt cup.

Lauren calls. "What are you doing +more?"

"Stress eating."

She asks me what's up and I tell her the above. She asks me if I have a mosquito net. "Nope. Fresh out." We laugh. I explain to her that I'm waiting for him to make his clickity noise and she says, "Oh you mean when he rubs his hands together while he thinks about flying at your face?"

"Lo!"

We're dying. Chat for awhile longer, she wishes me luck and since it's been an hour since I last heard from our little green friend, I decide it's safe to go to bed. Well SILLY ME because after about ten minutes of lying in bed, I hear the clickity. You've got to be kidding me. I was up at 5 a.m. this morning and I'm so. tired. But I get up to find Sienna staring at the ceiling at what I am now referring to as the praying nightmare. I open the door again. And I find myself sitting there, talking to the little guy, "Bud. I don't know what to tell you. You got yourself in this situation. I have the door open again. Just go outside and you'll be free."

Then I realize I'm talking to a bug and am allowing this little creature to run my life so I take back the control, close the door and crawl in to bed.

I don't hear him throughout the night but that probably had something to do with the dosage of Benadryl I took before bed. But when I get up in the morning, I don't hear him either so I'm thinking he either 1. Died in the corner behind the couch (the last place I saw him fly) 2. Has adopted us as his new family. I get to work and I'm telling Sean the story and he tells me that praying mantises can't fly.

"Was he like a stick or like a rectangle?" Mmm. More rectangle like. "Sounds like a grasshopper." So wait, you're telling me that he wasn't even good luck? You're kidding me.

I didn't have the chance to finish this post yesterday, which is good because I actually have an ending to the story now.

I had just gotten back from Cheesman with Gordon yesterday around 7, where I had just shared the above story with Suzy and I walk in to see this.

Well, look who it is.

I could not, could not, go through another night with our little (not so little) green friend. At this point, he'd been in my apartment for like 22 hours which is 22 hours too long. So after I snapped this picture, I slowly rolled up the blinds, grabbed my cup and a dust pan (I knew that thing would come in handy one of these days!) and took my life back. Once he was in the cup, I calmly (not at all) walked out on to the patio and released him back in to the wild.

Where he belongs.

Back-to-School

Somebody's ready....

Crab Feast

Saturday brought the 2nd Annual Cousin Day at Water World followed by the Inaugural 'I Got Crabs at Andy's House!'

The first just involved two 29-year-olds running around a water park on a Saturday afternoon. The second involved a group of friends from all over Denver, with a few of us residing from the east coast originally, getting together to crack a few crabs and a few laughs on a summer night.

We had shipped the crabs straight from the source - Maryland. 78 Blue Crabs arrived, pre-steamed (thank God) and pre-seasoned in Old Bay (but don't worry, we had extra). My dad had shipped us Utz Potato Chips (Original and Crab) and even a few editions of the York Daily Record and the Baltimore Sun. We ate crabs off of Michael Phelps abs. How was your Saturday?

Of course, about 6 minutes in to the feast - it starts to spit on us and then the thunder starts to roll in. Andy declared, "We're not moving!" but as the paper (and our hair, jeans, etc.) began to soak, it was decided we could, indeed, go inside.

As the moans and groans took place from our feast being disrupted by Mother Nature, Graham promised us a rainbow at the end and well, he came through.

And yes, that is the view from Andy's new house. I swore to him that I would never again give him a hard time for living in Westminster. The house is amazing. And I cannot wait to spend Christmas there this year.

Three hours later (not an exaggeration, have you ever sat down to a crab feast?), with Old Bay on our fingertips and bellies full of crab (a few of us even suffered a few minor injuries - freakin' claws), we decided that this needed to be a yearly tradition.

Next year we just need a few less crabs or a few more people - you in?

Open House

The month of July was like one big open house - I hosted two of my best friends, two separate weeks within two weeks, I went to an open house as I considered buying my first home (not happening) and thanks to some closure over Strongbows on a rainy afternoon - my heart was, once again, one big open house.

Lisa left sea level for the mile high mid-July. Her first night here, we broke her in to Colorado with a camping trip.

The rest involved a night of Saturday Night Shenanigans (which always end with a trip to Benny Blanco's for a late-night slice of that NY pizza), bottomless mimosas (I know, you're shocked), Jazz in the Park, Film on the Rocks with E.T. and a backyard barbecue.

Linz, Lisa and I (among those few fav others) have been friends since we were 12 and we've changed, moved, loved and lost in the meantime. We've found ourselves in 2012, lucky enough to get together not just once (Lauren's wedding) but twice (CA --> DEN) and it really fills my heart with warmth and love. Yes, it's true, the older we get, the harder it is to get away and get that time with the ones who've known you the longest and have you watched you grow from girls in to women and love you just the same. But when it does happen - it reminds us of who we are, where we came from and how incredibly lucky we are to have the friendships that we do.

The six days between when Lisa departed and Chloe came from Denver: Round Two, brought the UMS which was an adventure all in and of itself. The only one who really got a break during that time was Gordon and that's only because he was in a cone.

....And heartbroken, apparently.

Chloe arrived and this trip brought us Florence + the Machine at Red Rocks (where, yes, I cried again), a movie at the Mayan with My Two Dads, dinner at Linger, rooftop drinks at the Irish Snug and Symphony on the Rocks. Oh, and champagne, of course.

Fill that in with a visit from Aunt Karen and all the times that I am lucky to drive a quick 30 minutes to meet Pengs in Morrison for drinks and well, it's no wonder July flew by.

 So I grasp at the last month of Summer with open arms, an open heart and well, always an open house. 

We'll be waiting for you. 
 

Window In to My Soul

I had someone recently tell me that all anyone needed to know about me could be found in my laugh and in Gordon.

This warmed my heart more than you could ever know.