Thursday, June 30, 2011

lately.

Breckenridge
this was taken with my ipod when i was in breckenridge for a conference.

this week has sucked.
i've spent a total of 3.5 hours at the dmv and another 2.5 hours on the phone with airlines and tsa.
and work has been crazy.
and i'm developing sciatica.
and i have to find a new doctor.
and apparently we're going camping this weekend, which would be a good thing but i'm too overwhelmed to think about what we need to pack. or actually pack.

so back in may i changed my name with the social security administration. at the time i didn't get a new drivers license because i already had a plane ticket with my maiden name on it. after we got back from md i had to book a work trip which i booked in my new name assuming i'd be getting my license in a few days. when i went to the dmv, after a ridiculous wait, they told me our marriage was never recorded and therefore they couldn't process my license. so after calling the county and verifying that we actually were married, i went to a different dmv. there i was told that they couldn't process my license because all i had was our marriage license and i needed a marriage certificate. ugh.
so long story short, i still don't know if i can get on this plane next week. tsa has told me to bring my license, my social security card, my marriage license and that i'll 'probably' be okay.

the sciatica hasn't been too bad so far and i'm hoping that between walking and yoga it won't get too much worse. but that's probably wishful thinking.

i suppose the new doctor isn't a huge deal. i just don't really feel like my views are similar to his and i think if i don't find or at least attempt to look for a different doctor i'll regret it.

and yes the camping will be awesome once we're there. i'm definitely looking forward to a 3 day break.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

weekend.

ok, so it's tuesday. but monday was so crazy i could write an entire novel about it alone. so i'm posting about the weekend today.

we had an amazing weekend. it was our first real summer weekend with no plans, no commitments, and all fun. instead of spending our time running errands, doing laundry, and cleaning the house we spent all our time outside.
i'll take a half-clean house and a big pile of laundry as long as i can have a good weekend.

saturday we went for a short hike, flatirons vista.
we had never done it, but i heard it had pretty views.
the views were pretty but i think other trails have much better ones and it was really more like walking than hiking. but still relaxing and pretty.

flatiron vista

see that pond in the corner? yeah, it was disgusting and filled with algae.
both dogs jumped in at the end of the hike despite us yelling not to. i think at that point they were too hot to listen. so since they were already wet we took them up to boulder reservoir to do a little swimming.

boulder res.


boulder res.

sticks are the only things that henry will retrieve. ever.
balls, frisbees, bumpers? forget it. but if you throw a stick he's all over it.

saturday night i made apple pie and charlie grilled our dinner.
and then we at outside.
dinner.


apple pie

apparently henry begs. because his head is in all of these pictures.

sunday we took the dogs up to union reservoir for more swimming.
we packed a lunch, brought beach chairs, and hung out all afternoon.

IMG_0113


IMG_0126

we had two very tired dogs by the afternoon and then came home and made shish kabobs and cleaned the house.

i know it's only tuesday but i'm already counting down until friday.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

since we're on the topic ...


let's talk about some of my favorite things people have said to me since finding out we're going to have a baby.

one of the comments that i've gotten a lot is 'was this planned'. and i always want to say back, 'is it any of your business?'. i know this is a common question but seriously. we're married, we're not financially dependent on anyone, why does it matter if it was planned or not?

my other favorite comment would be 'what are you going to do about the animals'. yes, i know we have a lot of animals. but they're all well trained (okay, the dogs are well trained). the dogs have been around kids and love them and despite what everyone thinks, cats don't kill babies. someone actually told me that the cats would attack the baby. seriously?

and of course there are the people when they find out we're keeping the gender a surprise who say either, 'oh, you'll change your mind' or 'how will you know what to buy it'. first of all, i'm not going to change my mind and second of all i'm pretty sure that both boys and girls need the same things. one person even told me that they hated all gender-neutral clothing. okay, thanks. do you only dress your kids in sports jerseys or tutus? i told one person that we're just going to dress it in boy clothes for the first year. i don't think they realized i was kidding.

charlie's least favorite comment is 'you're pregnant?' which we got while looking at childcare. no lady, i'm not pregnant. i just thought it might be fun to tour some daycares after work. is that cool? and the one i get from everyone 'you're so small' or 'if i didn't know you were pregnant i'd just think you had a little bit of a gut'. awesome. charlie's always saying, 'how big to people expect you to be? you're not 7 months pregnant'.

i can only imagine the comments over the next few months. and i have to say that overall people have been really nice and supportive. it's actually amazed me how happy people are for us. as much as i enjoyed the first few weeks to ourselves it's been really nice sharing the news with everyone.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

baby.

baby

we're having a baby!
the kid is due december 7th and for the past few months i've been going from being really excited to completely terrified about what's to come.
we found out in early april and waited until 12 weeks to tell family, and friends a bit after that.
i think it drove charlie nuts to keep a secret for that long and although it was a relief to not have to fake drink any more, i'm so glad we waited that long to tell people.
the thing about babies is that, although everyone is excited for you, everyone also has an opinion about how you should be taking care of yourself, raising the baby, or what lifestyle choices you should be making.
personally i needed some time to adjust to the idea of having a baby and figure out some things for myself before being bombarded with questions.
we're not finding out the gender. something i always knew i wouldn't want to find out. this means that it'll be known as 'the baby' or 'the kid' for another 6 months.
charlie's hoping it's 10 days late so that they can share a birthday.
and we're both pretty excited to have another member of our family here at christmas.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

it's the little things ...


rain.

... rainy mondays. because then the weather fits my mood.
... warm starbucks on a rainy monday.
... our newly planted herbs.
... lazy sundays.
... cleaning the house twice in one week.
... grilling out 3 nights in a row.
... drinking my favorite tea as ice tea.
... popsicles.
... a full refrigerator.
... leftovers from a bbq.
... charlie washing the sheets for the first time in 4 years.
... friday night baking.
... a saturday afternoon nap.
... running errands with charlie.
... 2 very clean dogs.
... sunday afternoon walks.
... an entire weekend with my husband.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

weekend.

i love weekends.
although, who doesn't? this weekend was our first one at home in a while. between md visits and triathlons and work conferences and trips to the mountains, our weekends have been pretty packed.
we had planned on going to horsetooth on saturday but decided not to since it was only in the 70s.

the weekend before we left for md charlie had his tri and sunday i had to leave for breckenridge for a conference. after the tri we went and bought a 'real' grill. before this we've been using a camping grill. it worked fine except for the fact that the wind kept blowing out the pilot which meant it took about an hour to grill out a hot dog.

we debated about which grill to get because we're pretty limited by size. our current balcony is pretty small and already has a table and chairs outside. we sit outside all the time in summer so i wasn't willing to move the table for a big huge grill.

'real' grill

here's what we ended up with and we decided to break it in this weekend. we made quesadillas on friday night and had friends over for pork, burgers, vegetables, and potatoes on saturday. it's nice to have space to cook and still have room to eat outside.

i also made pumpkin cake on friday night.

pumpkin cake

i know a lot of people save pumpkin for the fall but it's so easy to make and it's the only thing i had all the ingredients for.

sunday was pretty lazy. lots of laundry and cleaning and watching the rockies.

napping buddies

the dogs slept all day. i think they were tired from having company over the night before.

there's something about being away that makes me so happy to be home.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

m.d. visit

so charlie and i took a trip back east to visit both of our families.
they live about 3 hours from each other so we had to divide the trip.
we drove out to the eastern shore to see charlie's family first and meet our nephew for the first time.

it was so nice to spend time with family, especially since we hadn't seen some of them in 2 years.

new nephew
this is our new nephew, liam. i look like crap in this picture but he looks cute so i figure he wins. in my defense the airline lost my luggage so i had to borrow clothes from my sister who is too small to fit into a double zero and had no makeup or even a brush.

we convinced everyone to go to the beach one of the days. this is a big deal for his mom who's not a beach fan. i think the fact that i hadn't seen the atlantic ocean for 3 years finally won her over. we packed a lunch and drove out to assateague island before the thunderstorms rolled in.

beach day!

we drove back (through traffic) on saturday. i definitely do not miss bay bridge traffic! my sister graduated high school on monday and before that we spent our time grilling out and eating a large amount of food.

on sunday we drove down to alexandria where i hadn't been in forever, walked around and took a boat ride on the potomac.

potomac river

if i had millions of dollars there's a chance i might move back east and live in alexandria. but only if i had a view of the water.

our future home

on monday my sister graduated at constitution hall.
done!

happy graduation

i can't believe she's going to college. charlie and i sent her off prepared with lots of ping pong balls and playing cards.

it was so nice to see family. my only regret was that we didn't have time to see friends. my mom told me that since i was only there for 3 days she wasn't sharing me with anyone. i also start to miss maryland a tiny bit when we go back. but after a week i'm always happy to come home to colorado and the dogs.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

it's the little things ...

home.
this picture is from last year but i have yet to sort through pictures.

[family visit style.]

... driving east over the chesapeake bay with the windows down.
... cornfields and chicken coops.
... oak trees.
... eating dinner outside.
... citronella candles.
... humidity. yes, really.
... sleeping in late.
... meeting my nephew.
... seeing family we haven't seen in 2 years.
... trips to rita's.
... game night.
... falling asleep on the couch watching a moving.
... a beach day with the whole fam.
... seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in 3 years.
... grilling out.
... my mom's lasagna, dessert, and well, everything.
... making s'mores on the grill.
... walking the dog. even if it's not my dog.
... a sister who gives me clothes when the airline loses my luggage.
... my mom's chocolate chip cookies.
... tomato sandwiches with cape cod potato chips.
... watching my sister graduate high school.
... amazing june weather.
... walking around alexandria.
... boat rides on the potomac river.
... my dad's bagel egg sandwiches with herbs from the garden.
... watching movies on the plane.
... seeing ponies at assateague.
... road trip stops at wawa.
... tiger lilies blooming everywhere.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

it's the little things ...

Glenwood Canyon

... an entire three days with just the husband and the dogs.
... eating lunch outside at a dog-friendly restaurant.
... free hotel breakfast that is good.
... getting dessert after dinner.
... charlie walking the dogs with me.
... my road-trip playlist.
... perfect weather when it wasn't supposed to be perfect.
... cleaning the house together. makes things go so much faster.
... surprise flowers.
... jury duty that doesn't last all day.
... going grocery shopping after a week of having no food in the house.
... leaving the windows open in the house.
... sleeping for 12 hours on a weeknight. (yes, i fell asleep at 7pm)
... walking the dogs around the neighborhood.
... pools are open!
... our anniversary dinner & dessert. steaks, asparagus, squash, & strawberries!
... petunias in pots.
... throwing out old school stuff.
... getting ready for our trip to md.
... popsicles.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

memorial day weekend.

charlie and i spent the weekend in glenwood springs.
we left friday night and came back monday.
there's a ton of touristy things to do in glenwood, although the only one we did was the cave tour.
the rest of the time we spend walking and hiking.
our hotel backed to a trail that hiked up a mountain and a path that wandered along the colorado river. it was perfect.

i think both of us were a little disappointed we weren't going back to telluride this year, but the less than three hour trip was so much nicer than a 6+ hour car ride especially since we both worked full days on friday.

charlie had been wanting to go to the adventure park which is where the cave tours are.
so saturday, after a morning walk, we took the gondola up to the park. honestly, it's a great place if you have kids but if you don't, aside from the cave tours, there's not much to do.

cave walking.
first cave tour.

Glenwood caves.
and the second cave tour.

after the caves we left the park and took the dogs for a hike before dinner.

Charlie & Sopris
charlie, the dogs, and his favorite mountain, mt. sopris.

on sunday, the plan was to do a hike in no name and then head to aspen for lunch. we missed the exit for no name and the next place we could pull off was the exit for hanging lake, which we were planning on hiking monday. since we were there, and there were parking spaces we decided just to hike hanging lake. i think charlie was a little skeptical about this hike but after it was over he said it was one of his favorite views in colorado. i knew the view at the top would be beautiful but the views of the canyon were just as pretty.

hiking
hiking up.


hanging lake
hanging lake.

sprouting rock
and sprouting rock.

definitely worth the mile hike. although, if you go, leave early because it gets really crowded!
also, dogs aren't allowed so we had to leave ours in the car. luckily, it was a pretty windy day so they were fine but i ran into a few people after the hike who had dogs and were leaving once they found out they couldn't bring them.

after hanging lake we went to aspen for lunch.

Aspen

i'd never been to aspen and was actually surprised at how cute it was. still sort of weird to see prada and gucci and burberry stores in a mountain town. we ate lunch outside with the dogs and then wandered around town before heading back to glenwood for another hike.

Aspen.

it was so nice to get away for the weekend and just spend some time together.
i'm thinking we might have to plan some weekends away for the fourth and labor day.