What is Beautiful

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What is Beautiful

My best friend had a baby last night. A healthy little girl who is already screaming at her.

I decided that on my little pseudo-niece’s first day in the world I couldn’t write about makeup or vanity or anything addressing one’s exterior.

via pinwords

I want her to grow up to be a strong, confident woman who knows she can be anything she wants to be and that no matter what, she is already the most beautiful woman in the world.

via floatinglightsphoto.com

So, today, I’d like to remind us all that we are most beautiful when we are ourselves. Without apology.

Welcome to life, baby girl.

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CU is Saying, “We Want You to Be A Cultured Buff.”

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CU is Saying, “We Want You to Be A Cultured Buff.”

The University of Colorado Boulder, being an international university, enrolls students from across the globe including South Africa, Kuwait, and Australia. Walking from one class to another, it’s commonplace to hear fellow students conversing in different languages. All of this diversity has contributed to CU’s recognition of having a culturally diverse campus. What American students may not be aware of, however, are the opportunities to become a part of a completely different culture themselves. CU currently sponsors over 300 study abroad programs in over 65 countries.

My three roommates studied abroad last semester; one in Dublin, Ireland, one in Florence, Italy, and the other in Australia – they all had different experiences entirely. Australia was sanction for adventure, with reef diving, rainforest exploring, and airplane flying: the perfect experience for Biology majors. Studying in Europe allowed my roommates to travel to many more places than just their initial destinations. By the time that they arrived home, they were able to say that they had visited Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, France, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Morocco, and Germany.

Studying abroad will do more than satisfy your travel cravings, it will teach you about independence and culture. CU offers one-on-one advising along …read more

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Sawhill Ponds Trailhead, Boulder

This is a blog post from Ari Pregen's Blog

Sawhill Ponds Trailhead, Boulder

Sawhill Ponds is another beautiful park in the plains in Boulder. For some Gunbarrel residents the park is in walking distance and provides beautiful landscape views, ponds for fishing, and wide hiking trails. The City of Boulder manages the park, which means Green tags for dogs are applicable here. The trails connect to Walden Ponds’ trails, which is right next door.

The trail at Sawhill Ponds in this lovely January weather we have been having

Ponds are melting in the warm weather

Learn more about the park here.

Have fun out there!

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Confessions Of A Budtender

This is a blog post from Ari Pregen's Blog

Confessions Of A Budtender

The question I hear most at my job is something along the lines of, “I mean, do you really like your job?”

And, it usually comes from a woman between 60 and 80 years old who is wearing bedazzled jeans and refuses to even smell the flower we have on display.

After I was asked this several times, I took a moment to really think about my truthful answer. I work over 40 hours a week, with little to no breaks throughout my day. I deal with complaints about ridiculous things and at least once a weeks someone calls me a b*%$# for not accepting their drivers license with void punched into it. The laws change so frequently that we are rarely on the same page as our vendors.

So, in all honestly, hell yeah! I love my job. I am so lucky to be part of an industry that isn’t stagnant. I work for entrepreneurs, share conversations with chemists, and see state of the art and exploratory science every day. I would never trade what I do for a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. desk job.

Celeb Stoner

Not to mention, I have patients who bring me gluten-free vegan Christmas cookies as well as …read more

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Rocky Mountain National Park Celebrates its 100th Birthday!

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Rocky Mountain National Park Celebrates its 100th Birthday!

Normally, when you’re celebrating someone’s hundredth birthday, you’re not talking about climbing mountains. The hundredth birthday Rocky Mountain National Park, however, is a little different than most birthdays. Back in 1915, on January 26th, Woodrow Wilson signed Rocky Mountain National park into law. People were visiting the gorgeous Rocky Mountains far before 1915, but that’s the date when Wilson made things official.

via AlexBurkephoto.com

Rocky Mountain National park is huge. To give you a basic idea, here’s a few interesting stats:

• More than 260,000 acres of unfathomable beauty.


• Includes sixty mountains that stand above 12,000 feet. The highest mountain is Longs Peak, which stands 14,259 feet tall.


• There are a total of 586 designated campgrounds and 167 backcountry campsites


• Includes one hundred and forty seven lakes, totaling in 1,151 acres of lake space.


• Rocky Mountain National Park received its highest number of annual visitors ever last year, totaling at a whopping 3.4 million guests in 2014.

via fhwa.dot.gov

In a world of constant development and city building, it’s a great accomplishment that such a huge piece of nature has been conserved. Sure, the glaciers did most of the work when they carved out the mountains thousands of years ago, but it has taken …read more

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Prosperity Teachings of Ernest Holmes

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Prosperity Teachings of Ernest Holmes

1. “Every business, every place, every person, everything has a certain mental atmosphere of its own. This atmosphere decides what is to be drawn to it. For instance, you never saw a successful man who went around with an atmosphere of failure. Successful people think about success. A successful man is filled with that subtle something which permeates everything that he does with an atmosphere of confidence and strength. In the presence of some people we feel as though nothing were too great to undertake; we are uplifted; we are inspired to do great things; to accomplish; we feel strong, steady, sure. What a power we feel in the presence of big souls, strong men, noble women!”


2. “Here is something worth remembering. Unless we are working with people who think as we do, we had better be working alone. One stream of thought, even though it may not be very powerful, will do more for us than many powerful streams that are at a variance with each other. This means that, unless we are sure that we are working with people who harmonize, we would better work alone. Of course we cannot retire from business simply because people do not agree with …read more
   

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What is BB Cream?

This is a blog post from Ari Pregen's Blog

What is BB Cream?

Does anyone remember Butterfinger BB’s? They were endorsed by Bart Simpson in the ‘90s and they were delicious. They were bite sized Butterfinger mustket-esque looking balls. Mmmm… Butterfinger balls.

via Reddit

Clearly, I have etched them on my brain so they were the first thing I thought of when I started to hear about this “BB” business, immediately followed by “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

Have you heard about BB Creams? I feel like they came up out of nowhere and all of a sudden every major line of cosmetics has their own version to tout. Upon further investigation, they did come out of nowhere.

If nowhere is also known as 2012.

So, what are these BB creams?

They came about in the 1950s and ’60s. There was a physician gal in Germany who performed somewhat aggressive treatments on women’s skin — chemical peels, facial surgeries and the like. She noted her patients’ post-intervention skin, while on the road to beautiful, was a little raw and chewed upon looking.

via Sex and The City screen shot

She worked to put together a topical formulation that could meet numerous needs with one quick application for her patients, rather than raking their …read more

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Video Vault: The Double

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Video Vault: The Double

“You’re in my place,” says a man to Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) on the train. There are plenty of other places to sit, but the nondescript man wants Simon’s seat. Simon, being the meek man he is, gives up the seat.

So opens The Double, based on the novel by Dostoyevsky. It’s a drab, mustard-colored look at identity. The setting is some kind of surrealist 1970s industrial steampunk land, and the entirety of the movie takes place in an office building, an apartment complex, and a diner. Claustrophobia galore.

(more…)

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Old North Boulder = New Central Boulder

This is a blog post from Ari Pregen's Blog

Old North Boulder = New Central Boulder

The area between Broadway, Folsom, Iris, and Edgewood/Balsam streets is now commonly called the Old North Boulder neighborhood. Before the land was developed beyond Norwood, this area was North Boulder. Now with development stretching to the far reaches of the Dakota Ridge neighborhood, the Old North Boulder neighborhood is really in central Boulder. This neighborhood is serviced by a hospital, offices, and two small shopping centers.

Originally, the Ideal Market center was named the Drive-In Ideal Market and was built in 1958 – named as such for the novelty of having a parking lot in front of the store. The initial stores included Gene Lang’s Pharmacy where Pharmaca is located and Ruble’s Barber Shop also where the current barber is housed. Also there was Model Cleaners, Beauty Centre, Broadway Fabrics, Manual’s Sweet Shop, Tasty Bake Shop, Johansen Hardware and the iconic Ideal Market, which today is owned by Whole Foods.

The Community Plaza, now ho me to Breadworks, Moe’s Broadway Bagel, and Vic’s Espresso was built in 1960. It included Plaza Cleaners, Plaza Drug Mart, and Miller’s Supermarket. The 1958 Polk’s Boulder City Directory lists almost a dozen other stores located in the block that presumably moved or somehow disappeared between …read more

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Oklahoma: Humane Society Suit Claims Harassment State Attorney General

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Oklahoma: Humane Society Suit Claims Harassment State Attorney General

The Humane Society of the United States filed a lawsuit this week claiming that Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma is prosecuting the organization and its work in order to gain recognition and votes for his political career. Former Oklahoma Attorney General, Drew Edmondson filed the suit on behalf of the agency, claiming that the current AG has been involved in a “nearly yearlong campaign of legal harassment and public vilification of this organization for political gain.” In their claim HSUS requests the court for a ruling to stop Pruitt’s activities and harassment towards the organization.

The Humane Society is one of the largest organization dedicated to the protection and rehabilitation of animals around the nation. They are considered to be leaders in animal rights and advocacy campaigns, and service more than 100,000 animals per year.

Early 2014, Scott Pruitt publicly questioned HSUS’ practices and reputation through social media as well as government channels. In an official press release, the Humane Society stated that they initially complied to Pruitt’s request to review documents detailing fundraising procedures, however, they refused to turn over irrelevant paperwork they deemed unnecessary for review. HSUS also claims that Pruitt has forwarded these documents to the Oklahoma Farm

Bureau, deemed a long time advisory of the Humane Society.

On this matter Pruitt was quoted, “the concern is that the HSUS projects heart-wrenching imagery of puppies and kittens in solicitations in order to extract donations from unsuspecting Oklahomans who believe their donations are going to help local animal shelters, but instead, may go to high-powered lobbying and special interest campaigns.”

The suit will eventually have to be reviewed and settled by a state judge, who will in turn decide which documents HSUS will have to turn in to the Attorney General and what documents can remain in house.

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Billion Dollar Mistake Goes Unnoticed Erasing Interest Gain

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Billion Dollar Mistake Goes Unnoticed Erasing Interest Gain

A Federal Court appeals found a big error made from a paralegal at Mayer Brown firm, involving the wipe off of a security interest of a loan from JPMorgan Chase to giant car manufacturer, General Motors. Partners at Mayer Brown also did not notice the1.5 billion dollar error while working on the case.

The mistake did not cause that much damage, given that Mayer Brown was representing GM at the time. A paralegal at Brown was instructed to put together and draft an array of documents in order to issue the interest rates applicable to the amount of 300 million dollars that General Motors was in the process of paying off. However, along with the appropriate documents, the paralegal also brought in a third unrelated contract which featured 1.5 billion dollar credit that required J. P Morgan to act as the party of record.

This billion dollar error was over seen not only by everyone at General Motors and J.P Morgan, but also by the lawyers and partners at as well as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the counsel on the deal. However, the appeal court remains that the necessary documents were not send to the parties above for review and final approval. The error resurfaced when General Motors declared bankruptcy protection in early 2009.

A committee came to the conclusion that JP Morgan should not receive the security interest from GM, given that the error happened in their offices and went undetected by multiple partners for several months. The Court of Appeals ruled against Chase in the matter, and decided that whether the mistake was intentional or not, it was reviewed by their attorneys and executive, and then signed. In a 15 page opinion document, the appeals court quoted “ JP Morgan reviewed and assented to the filing of that statement- nothing more is needed.’’

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Winter Fun this Weekend and an Icy Mud Lake

This is a blog post from Ari Pregen's Blog

Winter Fun this Weekend and an Icy Mud Lake

Mud Lake in Nederland, Colorado on January 18, 2015

Mud Lake is a great park to check out after a snow. The Nederland Park is known during the winter for its sweet snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Bicycles, horses, and leashed dogs are permitted also. Best of all, there is a nice picnic shelter for some lakeside hot cocoa at the park. You can find out more about Mud Lake here.

Other than Mud Lake here are some fun things to do (sort of outside) this weekend:

• Birds of Prey Driving Tour on 1/24/2015 at 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. with Boulder County Parks and Open Space (registration required) Free


• Newcomer’s Hike: Crash Course in OSMP on 1/24/2015 at 1-3:30 p.m. with City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, meeting at Chautauqua Ranger Cottage in Boulder. Free


• Star Party (With Telescopes) on 1/24/2015 at 5:30-7:30 with Boulder County and City of Superior, registration required, cost of $5


• Winter Heritage Day at the Walker Ranch Homestead on 1/25/2015 at 1-3 p.m. located at Walker Ranch (up Flagstaff Rd) near Boulder. Free


• Boulder’s Snowbirds on 1/25/2015 at 9-11:30 a.m. with …read more
  

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Organic Cannabis: Why wouldn’t you?

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Organic Cannabis: Why wouldn’t you?

I, like all other people, have my opinions on political and social arguments. Same sex marriage, a woman’s right to choose, fracking. Most of these things, I chose to vote on when the time comes, leaving my personal opinion out of conversations at work, The Pearl Street Pub, and the dinner table. However, the one topic I will speak for, anytime, anywhere, at any dinner table is the importance of growing and producing organic food.

Purple Peppers, Gala Apples, and Palisade Peaches. Pesticide free and grown with love. These are all things we hunt for at the farmers market every year, waiting in line hoping to score some bounty before the vendors run out till the next week. So, I ask you on question: why would you purchase your cannabis from anyone who doesn’t boast their organic growing process?

Cannabis N.I.

We often see that organic produce is smaller in size and higher in price than non-organic produce. Although this is also true in the cannabis industry, you definitely get the benefits of organics. Better smell, better taste, and a cleaner, more desirable high. You will never go back to ‘chemmy’ pot again.

I’ve sampled cannabis from several dispensaries during my three years …read more

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