Ben ended up being gone over two weeks on his work trip! He worked 12-14 hour days, and had terrible phone reception so we weren't able to talk much. And, whenever I did get to talk to him, he was so tired that we couldn't have too much of a conversation.
While he was gone, Bill and I kept pretty busy so I didn't end up getting too lonely! We went shopping a few times just for something to do. We went to places like Sprouts, Dick's sporting goods, and we even ventured to the Cherry Creek mall. Bill bought swim trunks for Hawaii and we also ended up buying a fun garlic chopper that is a little car and a cheese grater at Williams Sonoma. We also tried Chik-fil-a for the first time on one of these trips and we really liked it! It was strange eating fast food because we never do, but the food was a lot better than we thought it was going to be so it was a nice surprise.
Over the weekend, it was so beautiful that Bill, Justin, Ashley, myself, and another coworker of the guys' and his girlfriend all met up at the Cherry Creek state park for a cookout. We had a ton of fun and just as much food! We also played frisbee and ball on the beach a bit too. I had ridden my bike there but found out that I couldn't ride it home because the tires had gone flat! I must have ridden over something sharp! That was a downer, but over all the day was beautiful and fun! Another fun thing that weekend was that Ashley and I got our hair done together! We made appointments at a salon at the same time and went together. We both got cuts that were not too different than what we normally have, but they are cleaned up and spiced up a bit!
In addition to all that, we still had time for more fun that weekend! Ashley and I went to a western store and she bought a pair of cowboy (cowgirl, I guess in this situation!) boots. It was a pretty funny experience because neither of us had been to a store like that before and we didn't know anything about the boots either! After trying a bunch on we finally found some that looked cool and felt good too! Later, the four of us (Justin, Ashley, Bill, and I) all went to see the Hunger Games movie together. We all really liked it. There were some things that were changed from the book, and the pace was really different, but I think it was well done overall.
I had an interview on Monday! The position is with an Americorps affiliate called the Mile High Youth Corps. It is for 18-24 year-olds and there are a variety of work positions. Some of the work is doing energy auditing and sealing like Ben did for Americorps last year. Another job is building houses like a habitat for humanity program. The job I applied and interviewed for is for park and trail maintenance in and around Denver. It involves traveling to many national, state, county, and city parks around the area and doing things like maintaining trails, thinning forests, habitat restoration, camp site building, and invasive plant species removal. It sounds like a really fun and hard job to have over the summer. I am really passionate about this kind of work and I think it came across well in my interview. I was almost told outright that I am moving on to the next round of interviews, which are mostly for team placement (there are a few different teams doing this work in the area). I'll let you guys know asap when I find out more! I basically spent the rest of the week on a high of excitement about the possibility of this job. It was a nice change of pace from all the rejections I've been hearing lately!
The weekend after that, Bill and I were feeling bored/adventurous and we went to the Denver Aquarium. The aquarium was a bit smaller than ones I was used to (like the Shedd and Georgia aquariums), but it was still really cool. At the end there was a place to feed and pet sting rays. You hold a little fish in your hand and they come up and cover your hand and take the fish! It felt very weird. They are very rubbery and slimy!
After we left the aquarium and washed our hands we decided to go out to dinner at PF Chang's. It was delicious, as usual! On Sunday we hung out with Ashley some more. She went garden shopping with me! I got some planters, dirt, basil, cilantro, tomato, lettuce,green pepper, and mint. We got dirty planting it when we got back. Most of the plants are still surviving today! Some of the basil, lettuce, and cilantro plants have died, but I still have some of each left. The mint, on the other hand is growing like crazy and has at least doubled in size! After planting, we had a nice dinner and we played Catan (cities and knights version). I had an underdog win!
Finally, last Tuesday, Ben came back! He was very worn out, but happy to be home. I made some carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to celebrate! Our Easter package from my mom had also come that day, too, so we spent most of the rest of that week on sugar highs feasting on cake and candy. By the time Bill's birthday rolled around on Friday we still had some cake left and we couldn't even think about making another one so we just put a candle in it and finished off the carrot cake! Our usual gang of 5 went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The food was really good but the atmosphere wasn't great. If we go back we'll have to try and sit in the restaurant area instead of the bar area. In addition to good food though, bill also got a fancy birthday dessert- complete with a sparkler! It was very ostentatious and he didn't quite know what to think! After dinner we decided we were too stuffed to go home, so we went to see the movie Cabin in the Woods. The movie was scary and funny! We all loved it. On Saturday Bill spent most of his time packing and getting ready to go to Hawaii. Ben and I watched the movie The Gray, and it was terrible. That night, we played Ticket to Ride (America), the game we got Bill for his birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't like it as much as the European version, but it was still fun. Sunday involved getting up very early (5) and taking Bill and Justin to the airport. There was snow on the ground when we left! There ended up being flight delays and complications, but they made it to Maui eventually! We are all hoping they will at least have a little time to have fun between working long hours!
This week has been very strange so far. Not only does it feel like that Bill and Ben are trading places being here, but Ben has been working some overnight shifts. He leaves after dinner, gets back in the morning, and sleeps until the afternoon. I was looking forward to him being around during the day but he has been working long hours and needs to sleep! Hopefully his schedule will return to normal soon.
Meanwhile, I'm just hanging out at home trying to get a job and waiting to hear back about my interview!
