A couple of months ago I told you that Kaila and I went to canvas and cocktails for my birthday, and I promised I'd add pictures later. Well, after I thought about it I decided I'd save the canvas and cocktails pictures and story for Kaila's birthday - and tie it all in together for her birthday post(2 days late, sorry I just can't seem to post on the weekends!). I know you've all been biting your nails waiting for pictures, just dying to see my inner artist come out, so now you can rest easy...alas, they are here. But first, a little more on Kaila...
When I first moved to Denver I was unemployed for a month. It's funny to me when I hear myself say that (or see myself type it) because when I was in the middle of that one, short month I felt like it was an eternity. I truly felt like I had been unemployed for at least a year by the time I finally started my first job. Makes sense, I was in a new city where I knew no one and I had no source of income. Time was just dragging by. I spent my days wandering the aisles of Target all by my lonesome, yet buying nothing because I had no money. What a sad story! I finally landed a sub-par job through a temp agency, and while it was no where near my dream first-job-out-of-college I was more than thrilled to be out of the house and earning a paycheck. (silly me, i should have stayed unemployed forever) Though the paycheck problem was solved, the first month of work at Janus was still pretty lonely. The people I'd met weren't the easiest to get to know, and I am not the most outgoing in new social situations, so I wouldn't say any friendships were blooming. There was a group of people that I'd go get coffee with in the mornings and sometimes go out to lunch with or the occasional happy hour, but no real friendships in the making.
That was until one fateful day when I saw our newest hire on her first day. A girl who looked to be around my age, wearing the cutest clothes and fashioning the prettiest curly, blonde hair I'd ever seen. Janus was a revolving door and people were always in and out, so it wasn't odd to
have another new person in so soon after I had just started. But aside fromme, she was the only other female employee under the age of 30 who didn't already have an established life in Denver. She was a recent college graduate who had also transplanted to Denver that summer. She was just as desperate for a friend as I was. And it was this desperation that brought us together :)
At Janus we only had about 3 hours of actual work that had to be done in our 8 hour work day, so the other 5 hours were usually spent surfing the web, pulling pranks on coworkers, or just socializing. I made a point to go over to Kaila's cube regularly and literally give her no option but to be friends with me. And my strategy worked.
I only thought it was desperation that brought us together, though, as now I realize it was a much higher power than that. Kaila and I have always had a special connection - so much so that if I tried to describe it, I may sound like I swing both ways if you get my drift. During the 4 years that I've known Kaila a deeper relationship grew than I ever would have expected. We've shared sleepovers, cookouts, concerts, sporting events, parties, painting adventures and much more. We've never gone more than three days without talking, even when I lived in Houston! Sometimes we have nothing to talk about and sometimes we are fighting over who can gripe about their job the most, but either way we always find something to talk about. And we have this great ability to make each other laugh regardless of how awful things may seem.
I talk all the time about how much I love Colorado, and I do. But I'd be lying if I said it had everything to do with the geography and nothing to do with Kaila. Had we never met, I may still be friendless. I wouldn't have met her awesome sister Dusti, her wacky college roommate Jodi, and I wouldn't have met one of the best friends I've ever had. I'm sad to report that Kaila recently moved back to North Dakota, and as sad as it makes me to drive past her former home every day on my way to work I know the distance won't change much for us. We'll still talk almost every day, we'll still have that special connection I mentioned earlier, and I'll still be able to call her one of my closest friends. I just have a new challenge ahead of me: a challenge to get her back to Denver or to marry my brother, either one is fine with me :)
Happy two days late birthday, Kaila. I can't wait to see you Friday, give you a big ol' hug, and go out to celebrate your birthday. It'll be way better than your lame North Dakota celebration :)
And, as promised, here are pictures from our painting adventure. Canvas and cocktails was tons of fun, and our pictures turned out significantly better than I had expected. Hopefully during one of her monthly visits back to Denver we can paint some more!
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