I don't think anybody reads this thing anymore...

Well, what an eventful past 2 days, or however long it's been since I posted last. Tomorrow we (the Baikie family) will be extending our warmest welcome to Miguel, our new 14 year old Spanish tennis playing friend who will be living with us for the month of July. Hold on to your tennis racket, Miguel, it's going to be an interesting trip. I hope he doesn't hate us. We are all very eager to see how this one turns out, including my 13 year old female cousin Nicole... Yikes! Hold on everyone else! More stories to come, I'm sure.

Well, today my mom, my cousin Nikki, my grandmother (along with her Alzheimer's) and I drove up to a whopping altitude of 14,264 feet on the highest paved road in North America to Mt. Evans for the day. What a fun trip! I haven't been up to Mt. Evans in forever it seemed like and it was probably one of the most gorgeous days we could have gone. It never ceases to amaze me how spectacular the views are. I put in a picture, but understand that a photo will never do justice to what your eyes can actually see when you're up there. And not only were the views amazing, but I got to see mountain goats first hand. 3 of them, and one of them was just a kid (baby goat, not an actual kid...that wouldn't be very exciting) Anyway, Yeah, I got seriously about 10 feet from them and they weren't scared! Of course they were probably wary of me, but they didn't run away or anything, it was really neat, and we saw about a million Marmots, I included a picture in case you've never seen one, but all in all it was a good trip. I'm really glad we got to go up today

So there's the Marmot to the right and below is just one of a million pictures of Mt. Evans. I didn't take either picture, but hey, it's better than nothing, right? Oh, and I don't really know who that person is in the picture, but it's a good picture of the view (obviously not as good as seeing it person, but hey, it's a try)


Well, I think that's about it for now. I hope everyone's summers are just going swimmingly!

"Are you listening to this, you fat old Druid? Or are you just staring at my gorgeous face?

That's from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, I'm really getting into Salinger's works lately, I really like the way he writes his characters, they're so unique and you spend the book getting to know exactly what they are like, even though the entire book maybe spans the time of a few hours. Anyway, I'm back from the south and my trip back. Ah, Emergency exit row with your super extra legroom. It's like the poor man's version of first class. Anyway, I've decided that I am still a Denver girl all the way. My friends tried to convince me that humidity is better because it's like stepping outside into a nice warm damp blanket. I say Gross because perhaps that blanket is warm and damp because someone peed on it. huh? did you think about that? Probably not. My point is that no matter how much time I may spend down there, I will never ever ever appreciate, let alone get used to humidity. Thanks, but no thanks, I prefer my nice semi-arid climate where I get to work for my oxygen, Everyone knows that you have to work a little harder to get the nicest things.

The trip went great, I'm really glad I got to go back for the Missions service, it was fun seeing everyone again, and I'm really glad I got to stay with Bailey, I'm really thankful for her, she's starting to become a really good friend and encouragement to me. It was a nice trip.

I still haven't heard anything yet from the coffee shop, but I should hear by this weekend, keep praying for me, I really need a job! Oh, and I found out that I apparently am a good housesitter! They were happy with everything and they even asked me to housesit again 2 weekends in July, I think I just have a special connection with gay Jewish ladies. God does indeed give many gifts! =)

I also found out, that my family is apparently going to be hosting either 1 Spanish kid for 4 weeks, or 2 Spanish kids for 2 weeks in July. Why? No, I'm asking you. I think it sounds like alot of fun, I guess that whoever we get is here for Tennis or something crazy like that, I don't know how old they are or what gender or if they speak English or basically anything about our potential Hostees, but I hope that whoever it ends up being understands that not all Americans are like our family. Oy, Welcome to America, hope you like your crazy host family and brought your earplugs! What a trip this will be, all around. I'll update more on that later, I'm sure there will be plenty of stories....Oh, the possibilities.

Well, I think that's about it, my summer has been pretty stagnant so far, minus a few things, but I've enjoyed it. Plus I'm not ready for school yet so I'll hold on to whatever I can. Well that's it for tonight, folks! Hasta luego.

I really hate this cat...

Well, house sitting is still going well, the pets are all still alive, although I think I accidentally killed two of the plants. Whoops, I suppose I don't have a green thumb, or plant skills for that matter. The directions she left just said water the plants on the porch everday, or if necessary. Well, in my defense, those are pretty vague directions. I have faithfully performed my duty of watering it everday, but maybe I didn't water them enough, or maybe I watered them too much. Or maybe there was a crazy midweek frost that came in one night and just happened to kill only those two potted plants out front and there was nothing I could do to save them....yeah, that's it. Or maybe I'll just tell her to take some money out of my paycheck as a means to reimburse her for my nonexistent horticulture skills. Oh well, I guess that's the way it goes. Other than that, it's been good. I had a "dinner party" in my make believe grown up house. Which is what I'm referring to this place as now- my make believe house- and it was fun. I made an asian chicken noodle dish that didn't make anyone sick, I take that as a good sign, and it was Me, Ashley West and Derrek, my best friend Ruth, and my friend Alex, freshly on leave from the U.S. Army. Tomorrow we're going to Elitch's (Six Flags to those not from around here) and then who knows what. Friday I'll be in the deep South once more for the weekend. And then, by next week Friday I will hear how my interview went with Taza de Cafe, the coffee shop that I applied to and had an interview for tonight. Hopefully it will work out, I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but they've opened a position partly because one of the regular workers won't be back until August, which is when I'm leaving, so maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to take that spot. Sigh, who knows. I think that's about it for now... I can't really think of anything else profound, or witty, or worthwhile to say, so I think I'll just call it a night.

With Love, as always,
G (illian)

sometimes...oh, sometimes...

Oh the joys of house sitting... So far, I've managed to keep the place running, the 3 pets are still alive and well, I've decided once and for all that I really don't like cats, which is unfortunate for my relationship with the 2 cats I am watching. They're not terrible, but I don't like animals that have more attitude than I do. Cats just really know how to lower a human's self esteem. I think the thing that I am most afraid of though, is that the one cat (named Cat) is 20 years old, the same age as me, however, this roughly translates to being a 96 year old person, somehow I just know this cat is going to die on me. Which is really just the cat's last way of trying to prove itself superior one last time and making me feel bad, which is what cat's live for (or in this case, die for) Anyway, hopefully nothing will happen. I'm here until Friday, then I'm off to South Carolina for the weekend. I'm enjoying getting to experience what it will be like to live on my own. That's about all I've been up to lately, I did see Star Wars Episode III last night with my dad and brother. I liked this one out of the new trilogy the best, but a few things disappointed me 1) Why must we computer graphicize (I know that's not a word) everything including things like Dooku's quadruple flip in the air. Surely they could have done this for real. I hate going to movies and feeling like I'm watching someone play a video game. Maybe I'm just a purist, but I like the old way better. 2) I thought the transformation of Anakin to Darth Vader was good, but the acting...so so. Those were my biggest beefs, but I did enjoy the movie. I still prefer episodes 4-6, but don't we all? Well, we should. Anyway, hats off George Lucas, you did it.

Well I think that's about it now. Oh, wait, there is something important- I found out this week that one of my old classmates, Joel Seidler, along with his family were in a bad car accident this week, and Joel and his mother were killed. I didn't get a chance to know him as well as some of my other classmates, he was only there for about a year, and he was kind of quiet, but he was really really nice. The whole family is going through a pretty rough time, they just lost their dad about 9 months ago to stomach cancer too, and now this. Just pray for the whole family, the sister's are still in the hospital, one's in critical condition and for the other injuries, and just for the family's emotional strength and the financial situation as well. They've got more than I can even imagine going on right now. So, yeah, just pray for them. If you want to read the whole story, you can find it here: http://9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=826c66ae-0abe-421a-0077-e6272270a29b&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

Offer not valid in Idaho

"Most of the kids at my school think that being a lil wrangler is cool, but some of the other guys that don't have a life think it's gay, but it's not gay because we're dressing like real cowboys and dancing with girls while they're sitting in the audience talking on cell phones to someone selling drugs or something."
-Seth, Age 14 on why being part of the Lil wrangler dance team is cool

My quote of the day comes from a reality show on Bravo following the lives of parents who push their kids to be great athletes, or dancers in this case. The line just seems straight out of a Christopher Guest movie.

Anyway, It's update time on how God's faithfulness has once again outshadowed, no, eclipsed my sorry excuse for trust. I got an e-mail today from the admissions office, where some of you may know there was a little misunderstanding about my job lined up for the fall. I can't remember right now if I posted about it, but in a nutshell: I was supposed to have a job in admissions again after I couldn't work last semester, but there was a miscommunication and my boss basically told me that I was forgotten about and they already hired too many people so basically I did not have a job. Well anyway, good news came yesterday in the form of an e-mail from Jared (my boss) saying that all was well and he cleared a spot for me! So YAY!!!! God is way to good to me once again and I can rest easy. That's one disaster averted. Sodexho (whom I also like to call Satan's Ho) is still raising my blood pressure and draining my patience. It's not looking good, but I'm still working on the whole trust thing.

Anyway, that's about it for now, I'm gonna be in Anderson the 24-27 so if anyone is reading this that wants to hang out, give me a call! Peace out

Tony Danza is my hero

Ok Folks, here's where I am with my life: I have no money, because I have no job (as far as St. Anthony's Central Hospital is making it look anyway, if I do have a job, they're really doing a tip-top job of keeping this vital fact from me) I have credit card bills that are supposed to be getting paid off right now, but when you don't make an income, well...you get the picture, I have a trip to Peru that still needs to be paid off, but I won't be redundant with my complaints, I spend my days bored out of my skull, but it looks like soon I'll be able to replace some of that boredom with anxiety about how I'm going to pay off these debts by August which should have been almost completely paid off by now. Oh, yes, and I can also begin to figure out where in the wide world of Anderson will hire me so that maybe, just maybe, I can scrape together some money to finish paying off whatever debts I know I won't be able to during the summer. If I were more into the genre, I would probably write a country song. I'm getting frustrated because I feel like I'm not even getting a chance to follow through with my intentions to be able to be responsible for my finances. I'm really trying hard to be patient and be worry-free, but goodness, it's tough when money is involved. I know that God is trying to prune me, and apparently, this is a dang big branch, so if I sound like a horrible selfish, untrusting person...I am. But God's working, so I guess the only thing is to pray that God gives me the strength where I clearly do not have my own.

Would you kiss a llama?

Another boring day today. I'm honestly ready for something to be happening in my life. Well, as much as I may make it sound, today wasn't a total bust. I finished picking out the paint colors for my uncle's living room. He liked all of my first choices so that's always a good sign. He's going to have a Southwestern/Hopi Indian/Desert type place. The walls are going to be a yellow-ish sandy color and I decided that a very light 6inch turquoise stripe running horizontally on the walls will make a very nice accent as well as visually tie in all the Hopi artwork he has. My uncle has a very nice collection, so that's really going to be the main focus. Blah Blah Blah design stuff. I'm sure you are all foaming at the mouth to hear more, but I'll spare you. Anyway, I also bought a new address book at Barnes and Noble, it says "Little Black Book" on the front and it made me laugh, which is why I bought it. Also at Barnes and Noble, I was thrilled to find another person that shares my same quirky habit. As I was turning the corner between the World War II shelf and the current affairs section, I spotted him, standing by the classic paperback fiction table, smelling Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. That's right folks, I am now confident in saying that I am not weird for enjoying the smell of books. Not just taking a small sniff of the air, but opening the book to a random page, putting your nose in the book and taking a big whiff. It's the smell of potential. The potential of learning. Does is not excite you to walk into a library, or stand in front of a bookcase and think "Man, what will I possibly learn today?" There's such opportunity there. You can learn, well, anything! You can discover the world of wildflowers, the biography of Douglas MacArthur, Spanish expletives (Mierda, by the way is Spanish for Sh**) You can learn about different people, different places, or just pick up a classic and relish in good literature. And that, my friend, is why I like to smell books. It's not the actual smell of paper, it's the smell of possibility. *Ahem* Nerd Alert! But anyway, to end the story, when the guy saw me, I think he got embarrassed because he left quickly before I could tell him that we should be friends, but I'm sure we would have had he not bolted. After that, I went back home, but on the way stopped at a gas station to pick up a new bottle of wiper fluid and rejoiced a little at my small feat of being able to replace the wiper fluid myself with absolutely no help and no mishaps along the way, proving that I am not completely helpless should the Lord will for me to be on my own permanently. It's a good feeling. Really. Well that concludes my day. Tune in tomorrow for the next part in the series. Same Blog Time, Same Blog Channel.

What I did on my summer vacation...

CROCS
Originally uploaded by Denverdesigner07.

The title of my blog is Finding Fulfillment, well, I may not have necessarily found fulfillment today, but in the constant effort to battle the summertime out-of-a-job nothing to do blues, I feel that today, I have reigned victorious in defeating those oh so present blues. So here's what I did today, *ahem* After sleeping in, I watched an old Humphrey Bogart movie called The Caine Mutiny, a very good movie indeed, then I did nothing, then I took a shower, then I went to the Flatiron Crossing Mall where I spent my NY and Company birthday gift card (many thanks to Bailey and Rachel) and witnessed the latest trend. If you will, direct your attention to the photo and behold "Crocs" the latest footwear fashion. These have been literally EVERYWHERE lately, and I just figured out what they're called today. I am in awe, really. Are these the new birkenstocks? Because let me tell you, I still haven't caught on with the Birkenstock trend, and now all of a sudden these so called "crocs" come on the scene? I can't keep up. I don't understand them, and I feel old and out of the loop. Someone please explain
Anyway, then I ended up at Barnes and Noble where I engaged in one of my favorite pastimes- People Watching! I've decided that if ever I am to be in a relationship, the guy is going to have to enjoy silly little things like people watching and making up stories about their lives and all those other dumb things that I take great joy in. Anyway, it was nice, I read (and bought) J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories" It's very good, not normally what I think I'd like. Alot darker than what I normally like, but I love the way he writes. I get so engrossed in the story and I can picture it so vividly. It's simple stories about the everyday, but poignant. Definitely on Gillian's Recommended Summer Reading list. Anyway, then I headed to Wal-Mart where I got hit on by a guy selling magazines, wanting to know if I liked country music and if I drank and why I was single...blah blah blah...cheesy pick up lines...but what do you know, I got 2 years of Architectural Digest for the low low price of 20 dollars (which includes the "I want to go out with you" discount) Thank you Weird Magazine guy, and better luck next time with the whole date scene. Gross.
Well, that's been my day so far, Who knows what crazy new adventures will take place tonight as I sit here, and then maybe end up going to a coffee shop later. Oh the possibilities...

P.s. I just wanted to note that I do in fact realize that I type alot more when I actually don't have anything to say as opposed to when I do. I think it's me trying to overcompensate and add some spice to my bland life. Eh, what can you do?

Where the parties don't stop til 8 in the mornin'

Oh, Summer Days, what a love/hate relationship. I think I've watched more TV this past week than I did all year long at school. My mind is rapidly degenerating into a giant mush ball of laziness. Pros: I'm not stressed out of my mind like usual; Cons: I'm losing my mind with boredom. I think I'll find that happy medium once I get back to work. Which by the way, if you're ever contemplating working for Sodexho Nutrition Services at St. Anthony's Central Hospital, you probably should ask yourself this question: Do I like getting screwed over? If the answer is 'no' I suggest you continue on your job hunt. Let me explain, I've been a happy employee of St. Anthony's Central Hospital Nutrition Services department since 2000, it was a great department to work for, great job, great pay, and I really loved the people at the hospital. The patients were happy with our service and I was happy to be a part of the team that provided it. It was a dream, honest. But then last summer, American greed set in and the evil corporate food service conglam-o Sodexho (i.e. satan) had to come in and run out our food service dream and take over with their big code books and crappy uniforms and profit driven ways. They stopped caring about the patient and started caring about profits. A sad tale indeed, but unfortunately true. Well anyway, I've never liked sodexho, but I still work at the hospital, but here's how they screwed me over this time. My brother and I both work at the hospital so we have the same boss and everything, well we both got back to Colorado the same time so we were going to start work about the same time, My brother got on the Schedule June 1st, I however wasn't on the schedule so I called the office to see what the deal was, and then they tell me that I never told them I was coming back (nevermind the messages I left clearly stating that I was coming back and my visit there to tell them in person I'm coming back) so they say, "oh, well, we probably can't get you on the schedule until the 18th." In the timeless words of Charlie Brown "AAARRRGGH" Oh well, I don't have any bills to pay or gas to pay for or any of those normal things that require money. Sheesh. Anyway, it's not too terrible though, I'm helping my Uncle design his living room that he's paying me for and I also got a job house sitting for someone, so that'll be good. Well that's my frustration of the week. In other news, I have high hopes for doing fun things this summer, there are a few concerts I want to catch (including Sufjan Stevens, Madeline Peyroux, and a few others), some trails I definitely want to go Hiking on, some Street fairs that are always fun, and I really want to go Kayaking this summer, so if anyone wants to come visit me and go kayaking, drop a line, because I really want to go. Well, I suppose that's about it for now, I can't say that I have any exciting stories to share now, but give it time, I'm sure they'll come...