cookie

My dearest Cookie left a little over a week ago and I have to say, I miss her terribly! If I had a best friend on this ranch, she was definitely it.

I can still remember the day she showed up at the ranch. I had met some of the guests the evening before, but didn't really get to know them. The next day, Cookie comes walking towards me with this HUGE grin, from ear to ear. And she doesn't really say anything because she's a good distance away.

In my head I'm going, "Is that the girl from last night? Is she our new cook? She wouldn't smile at me like that if she didn't know me, would she?"

The answer to that last question is, yes, yes, she would.

The best part of Cookie is that she has a smile that. Does. Not. Stop. And even if you're in a bad mood, it's not going to last long with her around!

Cookie originally came from L.A., but has been living in Colorado for the past year and a half. She came out here to live at the Shambhala Center, which is a Buddhist retreat less than 10 miles down the road, and met Dan there. She helped Ellen cook for one of the Disc Golf tournaments here and that's how she got the job.

I would say that Dan and Ellen made a GREAT choice! The food was ALWAYS delicious. Except for that one time.......... Just kidding!

And she never even attempted to cook these guys, even though we always encouraged her to do it.

She is spending a little time in California right now and then she's headed off to Italy. (For any of you who have read Eat, Pray, Love this might sound a little familiar.) She went to college for Italian Studies and she's actually going to go use her degree! I hear people do that sometimes...use their degrees.

Anyhow, that's enough talk about Cookie leaving. Let's talk about how much we loved having her here!

Cookie was THE life of the party. As I mentioned, we all went out on a Monday night because it was her last Monday night. Not her last night, but her last Monday night.

And then we all went out again on Friday night.

Here's the funny part. Notice what Cookie's wearing?

Now notice what Urska's wearing? Apparently, Urska lost the dress a couple of times on the dance floor, so Cookie switched her outfits! Wasn't that nice?

We closed the bar down as usual that night.

Got home around 3 am. I had to be up by 6:15 to feed in the morning. Ugh. But it was worth it!

Everyone went dancing this last Friday (except I went to my cousin's Fierce Bad Rabbit concert), and it sounds like it just wasn't the same without her.

Like I said, Cookie was the life of the party, my best friend here and we all miss her lots.