Adorable Zoe videos

These two videos are totally out of order but I had I throw them in here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raoUwc4vTuo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEOGYIi8KhA

Austin - South by Southwest

I spent several days in Austin during the beginning part of the South by Southwest music festival. The streets were filled with music addicts from all over the country. I must say though, I did nor particularly enjoy the genres of music including heavy metal and classic rock. Although Meghan, Aji and I did find an amazing South African band at The Elephant Room (Austin's only Jazz bar!). It was soulfully delicious music. The bar even let us bring in some take out sushi which was one of my highlights of the evening.

No need for sleep

There are many things I inherited from both my father and mother. Something I am thankful for that I got from my dad is the lack of need for sleep. Dad and I pushed the envelope and sucked every minute possible out of our time in Colorado. We finished teaching our lessons at 3:30, got home to the house, feed the dog we were dog sitting, changed our clothes and hit the open road by 4:00pm. Unsure of what got into us, we drove through the near blizzard like conditions all through the night and arrived to Dallas by 10:00am the following day!

Dad and I split ways and I spent a couple of days in Dallas with Aji. Dad managed to finish the trek solo to Houston with only falling asleep at the wheel once (Yikes dad!).

Volunteering at the BOEC

Dad and I volunteered our last three days in Colorado at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. I am not sure what got into the director, but for some reason he gave me super easy lessons all three days. Thanks Jeff! Dad on the other hand had some interesting lessons including a four year old autistic child that wanted NOTHING to do with being outside, ski boots or any aspect of the "lesson" he and Nadine worked together on. He also worked with 6' 5" 300lbs + teenager with multiple emotional diagnosis (but was an absolute gentle giant and fun to work with). Another included a young traumatic brain injured Iraq veteran who is ironically also from Houston. On this lesson he had to help with the ski legs apparatus which is pictured. While dad was running around with clients with a wide range of disabilities I taught an 10 y/o intermediate skier with developmental delays on Friday. She was super fun, super easy and we had a great day together! On Saturday and Sunday I had the most pleasant and amazing 16 y/o who was blind from a brain tumor she had at the age of 3. She advanced quickly and we were taking runs down blues by the end of her first day!

Dad never seizes to amaze me! He chose to volunteer on his precious vacation days instead of skiing on his own.

Friday night Dad and I enjoyed a lovely dinner with my friend Caroline at a WONDERFUL restaurant called Food Headz. Saturday we shared a fantastic evening at new Indian restaurant with my friends Tara and Jim. We even enjoyed our meal with the background of traditional Indian music including a flute and drums.

A day of Nordic Skiing

Dad and I enjoyed a sleep in as we did not volunteer yesterday. I took him to the Nordic Center and taught him how to cross country ski. I should not have been surprised at all, but he learned very quickly! My hope is that next year dad will volunteer at Ski For Light which is a week long cross country ski event for the blind.

When my parents came to visit me in Colorado they started a tradition to cook for all 12 interns. Even though dad has taken 6 weeks of cooking class, he is not quite up to the challenge to cook for those kind of numbers. He wanted to keep the tradition alive and decided to treat all of the interns to a dinner out on the town. It was such a generous and kind gesture. The interns were so thankful and they had a really nice evening away from their normal routine.

Dad's vacation

French Toast picture - After a very short instructional lesson, dad made for the first time a yummy stack of french toast! Great job Dad!

I am so thrilled Dad is out in Colorado - he is in heaven! I first must brag on my dad before I begin.

Dad loves his work and is uses his few vacation days sparingly. He decided to take a week off from work to go on vacation. He decides to spend some of his time with his "other" daugther Andrea and help with the newborn. The other part of his vacation he decides to spend volunteering at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center teaching people with disabilities how to ski. Not only did he pretty much spend his entire vacation serving others, he has even been working out in the gym in Houston in order to be the best volunteer he can be! He is one of the youngest 65 year old man I know.

It brought me so much joy to watch dad play with Zoe and help with baby Maddox. Hopefully my brother and sister-in-law can deliver a grandchild soon because I know how much joy he would get in being a PawPaw.

After spending two weeks with Andrea, Brandon, Zoe and Maddox (well only 1 week with him because he was so damn late!) I had to hold back the tears when I left. Zoe demonstrated her disapproval by her reluctance to give me a hug goodbye. I only spent two weeks with Zoe and it tore my heart up to leave her behind. I told Andrea, "I can't imagine what it must have been like to say goodbye to Zoe when you went to Afganastan, and Zoe isn't even my child." I grew attached to feeling apart of the family. I experienced a novel "rooted" feeling I have grown unfamamilar with through my transient ways.

We made it to Breckenridge on Monday night and made sure to get a good night of rest in before hitting the slopes. Dad spent the day on Tuesday volunteering at the BOEC while I spent the day accomplishing errands and meetings. That evening we had a wonderful small dinner party including Wally, Maggie, Dad, my friend Wayne and myself.

Wednesday Dad and I both volunteered at the BOEC ski office. Even though we taught different students we saw each other multiple times on the slopes. I love seeing Dad out here because he is just so blissful! He loves the social interactions, the snow, skiing but mostly watching how excited all of the students become when they accomplish their skiing goals and down right just having fun! Dad put his big girl panties on that afternoon and joined me for a drink at happy hour with our fellow ski instructors. We made it home just in time to help prepare for another dinner party. Since dad has taken cooking classes for the last 6 weeks he was actually useful! Our friends came over around 6:30 and did not leave until 10:30! Needless to say good food, good wine, many laughs and wonderful conversations!

A couple of quick funny clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbWvWA4_Qek&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s0lf3Wt7L4

Paw Paw Yates and Zoe's play day

Dad (Paw Paw Yates) and I had an incredible time with Zoe! We took Zoe to Jumpin, her favorite place in the world right now. The place is filled with inflatable castles and obstacle courses. It was so much fun to watch my dad play with Zoe. I am glad that Andrea went ahead and took care of having babies so that he can get his grand kid fix. After exhausting Zoe we jumped in the car to take her to her favorite restaurant. On the way, Zoe couldn't withstand the weight of her eyelids and fell asleep to the sweet lullaby of blaring rap music (her favorite right now). In order to capitalize on Zoe sleeping, I gave dad the grand mountain tour of Fort Collins. When we finally arrived to Noodles we asked Zoe if she fell asleep in the car she said, "No, I did not sleep in the car."

After a bowl full of macaroni and cheese at Noodles and Company we went to the mall to play in the indoor playground. I pulled the plug on the fun when I saw Paw Paw Yates falling asleep in his chair.

It was a fun filled day and a joy to see my dad get to play with his "granddaughter".

In Zoe's shoes

As the youngest of three, I cannot relate or begin to understand what has transpired for my 2 1/2 year old "niece" since the birth of her brother Maddox. She has floored myself and her parents with her understanding of Maddox's existence. For months now she has talked to Andrea's belly saying things like, "I love you baby brother." We did not think she was actually understanding that her brother resided in that womb and would one day present itself.

I picked Zoe up at the family friends house to take her to the hospital to meet her baby brother the day after he was born. In the hallway of the hospital Zoe loudly announced, "my baby brother came out of my mom's vagina." She came into the room cautiously and moved slowly in a mild state of shock as she laid eyes on her brother for the first time. She quickly warmed up to the sight of this tiny baby and leaned in for a kiss and said, "I want to take him home."

At the time of his birth Maddox still had no name and Zoe offered up a multitude of suggestions including Peekak, Elmo, Melman, Max etc. The hospital even gave Zoe a pink hospital bracelet stating, "I'm a big sister!"

After several hours of visiting Brandon and Andrea were growing tired of tending to a 1 day old son and a 2 1/2 year old daughter. Aunt Brook created some distraction and successfully found an activity around town suitable enough to leave her family behind at the hospital. Only a few minutes after driving away from the hospital, I glanced back at Zoe and noticed she had quickly fallen asleep. I cannot imagine the surge of mental and emotional energy that must have been circulating through her body from staying a night away from her house for the first time in her life, meeting her baby brother and an introduction to a new life where her parents now must divide their attention between the children.

I treated Zoe to a fun time at Jumpin (land of inflatable castles) and on the way home she said, "I want to go back to the hospital to see Momma, Papa and baby brother." We found ourselves again at the hospital and Zoe provided quite the entertainment for a couple more hours. When it came time to say good night I felt ecstatic that Zoe came with me without much of a fight.

The following day Maddox came home from the hospital and Zoe enthusiastically welcomed him home and wanted to give him a tour of the house.

The Birth of Maddox Orion Fortenbury

Andrea so kindly allowed me to be apart of the birth of Maddox Orion Fortenbury (3/2/10) on Tuesday.

The day at a glance:
6:00am - her water broke while snuggling with Zoe
6:30am - we dropped Zoe off at a neighbors house for the day
7:00am - arrived at the hospital and got cozy in her birthing room
12:00pm - lots of walking around, waiting and some minimal discomforts with contractions
2:00pm - introduce pitocin (the inducing drug) where the fun of contractions really began!
5:00pm - the pain of the contractions welcomed the epidural
6:30pm - She was ready to push!
7:00pm - Out popped a 9.3 pound, big ass baby boy!

I first want to comment that Hollywood needs to witness a couple of births first hand to really get it right. The rush to the hospital after the water breaking was needless to say anticlimactic. Andrea remained cool and collected all morning and had all her ducks in a row to ensure a smooth transport to the hospital. Zoe was even on her best behavior and willingly went to the family friends house for the day. Brandon on the other hand was a wee bit nervous and anxious - he held himself together but he was definitely psyched up for the day!

When we got to the hospital it really felt like checking into a spa. The room was over the top nice and all of the nurses were ready to serve our every need. For the rest of the day, not a whole lot to speak of happened. Basically Brandon and I sat around watching Andrea as she transitioned into more and more intense contractions for about 11 hours. The hardest part of the whole day was watching her be in pain and uncomfortable and knowing there was absolutely nothing we could do about her pain.

Things did not get too exciting until about 6:00pm when the nurse removed her hand from Andrea and said, "she is at 8cm". It was priceless to see Brandon's face! From there on things moved quickly, but in a controlled manner.

The doctor, Karen, was cool as a cucumber. She came into the room around 6:30pm. I was grateful that Andrea let me be so involved in all aspects of the process (well, I guess I wasn't really around during conception or the 8 months leading up to the big day). Andrea was telling me how hungry she was so I insisted on putting an order of food in as they stopped serving hot food at 7:00pm. The doctor patiently waited for me to put an order in for Brandon and Andrea so that I could have the hands on experience helping (as much as anyone could) Andrea with the birth.

Seeing that I want to become a nurse, and that I have fainted at the sight of a needle in the past I was worried that this gooey process would find me on the floor. People have told me stories that deliveries have a horrible smell and an unwelcoming sight to see. I was enthralled by everything asking questions like that of a 3 year old. Not at any point did I feel the slightest bit faint.

When it finally came time for Andrea to push, it seemed to all flow naturally between the calming coaching of doctor Karen and Andrea's instincts. After a short series of pushes, my mind was baffled at the sight of a human head appearing out of a human orifice. I still cannot wrap my head around the whole concept. Little Maddox's whole head appeared, and then those damn shoulders also had to come out! With one gut busting grunting of a yell a miracle happened. An entire human being presented himself, with the swift hands doctor Karen had the Maddox's passage clear and we heard the most beautiful screaming healthy 9.3 pound baby boy! Andrea and Brandon allowed me the honors of cutting the umbilical cord. Brandon of course immediately started crying, had two cell phones pressed to his ears telling the set of grandparents about the good news.

Many people told me how I would feel about seeing this "miracle of life" but I do not think I followed suit in most predictions. It did not deter me from wanting to be pregnant and go through labor. I would love to be pregnant and go through labor just so I can know that human experience. Witnessing the birth, however, does not make me want to mother a child. I still have absolutely no desire to bring a child into this world and for that matter raise a child. I have thought briefly that it would be an amazing experience to be a surrogate mother, but I still stand strong in my belief that there are already so many parent-less children in this world who need loving parents.

The week of just being

I found myself for nearly one week outside of my comfort zone doing what felt like a whole lot of nothing. My intentions were to hang around Fort Collins until Andrea's baby was born and then head to Summit County to let Brandon's parents assume the role of grandparents. Andrea's baby boy decided to postpone his anticipated birthday by 11 days! During that week I spent quality time with Andrea, Brandon and my "niece" Zoe. Also, it was a treat to spend time with Brandon's parents. I find it fascinating how uncomfortable I am with just...being. It was tough to make plans because I committed to either helping Andrea in the delivery room or taking care of Zoe - whatever they needed more and whichever made the most sense. There is a saying that seems to exemplify my behavior this week. If you need something to get done, give it to someone who is really busy. I felt incredibly lazy and unmotivated to do much of anything. I should give myself more credit as I did finish my Groupon application and my University of Texas application. I also bought a plane ticket to Norway and have started laying out the groundwork for my two week travel in April. In any case, I cannot report accomplishing too much and I laugh at myself for not being more OK with that statement. So much of my time was about relaxing and quality time with my family away from my family. I cherish the time I got to spend with Zoe and getting to know her more.

The worth of my week could not have been better summarized than by Zoe's words tonight. Her parents and their 1 day old unnamed boy are still in the hospital so I am taking care of Zoe at their house. While watching a movie together on the couch she took my hand and said, "Aunt Brook, you are my love." Priceless.

Groupon Application

Leave it up to Brook to find the most crazy of adventures to apply for. Earlier this month a dear friend emailed me information about a one year long challenge through the company Groupon. To learn more about the challenge go to, http://www.liveoffgroupon.com/.

The basic concept - they provide unlimited coupons (restaurants, yoga, salons, hotel etc.), a laptop and a cell phone. If selected I will start with an outfit they provide and the items above and nothing else as all of my belongings, credit cards and savings will be locked up securely by the Groupon powers. The company asks that the contestant to travel to the 30 cities where Groupon exists. If the person they choose can accomplish this task they will earn $100,000.

Here are the links to my two video applications and my two essays below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1HrkD9TvGw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35tPQ9xkdKw

The "Chose me" Essay

“Oddly enough the crazy life you have lead has prepared you more for this opportunity than any other job” These were my brother’s first words when I told him about the Groupon challenge.

The “crazy life” my brother spoke of includes experiences such as having bicycled across USA solo, lived out of my car for two years while earning a masters degree, guided a blind woman in the World Triathlon competition in Germany, cooked gourmet meals after dumpster diving, hitchhiked to Burning Man, asked a plane full of people for a ride to my hotel in San Francisco, camped in a sheriff's office when caught in a lighting storm and mountain biked 350 miles to hitchhike back in one week.

When I bicycled across the country I consistently maintained a blog (www.brooksbiketrip.blogspot.com). Others tell me when they read my blog they vicariously live through me due to the raw, open disposition of my emotions and experiences.

I enthusiastically support the Groupon concept, and as a satisfied customer I have referred many people to the website. I firmly believe that Groupon would be proud to have a fun loving, friendly, social and caring person such as myself represent the company across many cities.

Similarly to Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild, I get a rush from the idea of not possessing or utilizing money directly (although unlike Christopher I am choosing to not burn my money). Through my journeys I have not only endured but embraced the paradox of a nomadic lifestyle combined with a communal spirit. Negotiating this paradox will be essential in the succeeding in the Groupon challenge. Additionally, my experience with utilizing internet communities such as Couchsurfing, Craigslist, Triphopping, Warmshowers and Facebook will also aid in accomplishing this goal.

This challenge could not come at a more perfect time in my life. On the same day I reached the Pacific Ocean after completing my cross country bike trip in June 2009, I collapsed in devastation when I learned the news of my mother’s brain cancer. My life swiftly transitioned from a female sojourner to a dedicated daughter caring full time for her cancer stricken mother. I spent six painful months pouring my energy into providing the best quality of care I could afford to my mom. On December 8th my mother lost her courageous battle to cancer and peacefully passed away. I found myself in the following weeks as a caretaker who lost her job and trying to find her new path. I had a profound revelation that pursuing a nursing career would be my next step. If I win the $100,000 I could easily afford nursing school to become an amazing nurse.

I am truly confident that the Groupon challenge and I are perfectly suited for each other. I am excited about every aspect of this challenge and look forward to our interview.

Business blog entry essay:

As I walked into Trio’s Aveda Salon in Ft. Collins, CO I felt an instantaneous calmness throughout my body created by the aromas of natural oils, the soothing music in the background and the pleasantly friendly disposition of each employee. The formality of checking in was followed with an offer of herbal tea or filtered water. I thought to myself, “If the front desk service was this high in quality, I cannot wait for my pedicure!” I sat relaxed sipping my tea while waiting for my nail specialist to sweep me into the back room.

I was greeted professionally with a smile by Amber (the nail technician) who escorted me to my throne. The incredibly soothing ambiance in the waiting area proved consistent with the back treatment area. I climbed into the chair equipped with heat, back massage and most importantly a remote control to ensure personalized comfort.

I throughly enjoyed both Amber’s company and her pedicure skills. She has worked as a nail technician since she graduated high school (10 years). After inquiring if she enjoys her job she explained to me, “It is really simple, I just love making people’s hands and feet look pretty.” I admire and find beauty in the simplicity of Amber’s statement. It is curious how much a person can feel good about themselves by the beauty of their feet and hands. Everyday Amber has the opportunity to provide that piece of sunshine to her clients.

On the neighboring throne sat a gentleman also enjoying a luxurious foot treatment. It was his first pedicure and from our brief conversation he was throughly enjoying the experience. It seems logical to me that a man would enjoy some TLC on their feet just as much as any woman. I talked to Amber about the frequency and profiles of her male clients. According to Amber she has very few male clients and there does not appear to be a consistent profile. I suppose our society has not yet fully embraced or accepted the idea of men frequenting salons. I think it is a shame, but at least on this day one man realized the joy and benefits of a quality pedicure.

I had an overall positive experience at Trio’s and would highly recommend anyone to partake in their services. In some high end salons I have felt intimidated by the airiness or pompous attitude by staff members. Each person I interacted with made me feel comfortable, greeted me and showed overall respect. I would be thrilled to go back to try their hair or massage services.

(I was traveling in Ft. Collins, CO at the time where Groupon does not yet exist.)