South Boulder trail

This is my favorite trail. Favorite.

Charlie hates this trail with a passion, so I usually hike this one alone.

I really don't mind. When it's just me and the dogs it's a lot more relaxing.

My parents like this trail, though. So we took them just on the South Boulder section.

The snow on the mountains is awesome. I think it would make a great Christmas card. Maybe for next year.

seriously, how pretty is this?

dunkin was running back and forth between everyone.

henry left everyone in the dust.

i had such a good time with these guys when they were here.

my sister missed this hike because she was studying for the SATS. booo.

charlie was playing with the camera.

my dad was throwing snowballs at me.

how can you not love this?

2009 Resolutions

Resolutions, goals, guidelines whatever you want to call them. Here are mine for '09:

1. I will stop wondering what my life would be like if I hadn't quit my teaching job and dragged C across country so that I could attend grad school. Yes, things would be different. I would have a paycheck that was something I could actually be proud of, I wouldn't feel like I spend my days getting nothing accomplished, and I would feel useful. But, I wouldn't know what it's like to pack up and move somewhere I've always wanted to live. I would be getting a graduate degree in a field I had no interest in and I wouldn't have experienced a lot of things. Bottom line: the decision is made, make the most of it.

2. Save $10 K. Note: This must be money saved from money earned not given. After merging bank accounts I no longer buy clothes anymore (sad fact). But if we stop keeping R.E.I. in business and buying so many bags of chips (my ass will also thank me for this one) we'll have more money to save. A job would also help but I'll get to that...

3. Hike a fourteener. This will have to wait until the summer because I cannot hike through 6 feet of snow. Also, as I've told C, the dogs have to come. They're my motivation and I know they won't leave me on a mountain top unlike some other people I know (*cough, Charles*).

4. Find a part-time job I can tolerate while I go to school. See, I'm being more realistic or cynical, whatever you want to call it. Notice that I didn't say "fulfilling" job. I've given up on that. I just want a part time job that doesn't make me want to rip my ears off.

5. Go to school. At this point it's out of my hands, unless I can convince 5 people I've never met to drop a mandatory class.

6. Be thankful for what I have. I realize this is a vague goal. But I have so much to be thankful for, Charlie, our cozy apartment, a car that runs, crazy pups, our families, the fact that we're both healthy. I want to spend more time focusing on that instead of the other stuff.

7. Read the books my mother gave me. It's time.

8. Recycle. Ok, this is going to be a pain. But I want to start recycling glass, cans, and cardboard. I know this means trekking it all to the recycling center but really, I can do it.

9. I will not add any more animals to our family. I love the ones I have but we have four hands and four animals. Any more would just be crazy.

10. I will cook twice a week and freeze half of it. Part of the reason (or excuse that I use) for not cooking is that between 2 people we just can't eat it all and it ends up getting thrown away. After cooking a meal if I immediately freeze half it solves the problem and give us something to eat the next week.

11. I will vacuum twice a week. Either this or shave all the animals. I'm debating.

12. I will not worry about our wedding. It's not going to be a small wedding and I need to give up on trying to making it that. It doesn't matter who has invited themselves, or if certain family members can't get along. Most of what happens that day is completely out of my control. However, I will spend time with the people I love and not worry about the rest.

13. I will walk the dogs AT LEAST 4 times a week. This means hour long walks, regardless of the temperature outside (there's a reason God invented long underwear). This is just as much for me as it is for them.

All things learned in '08

Yes, I should make New Year's resolutions. I'll get to them eventually. But when I started thinking about things I wanted to do in '09 it made me think of all the things I learned in '08:

1. Backpacking in the cold is not fun. Technically I should have learned this in 2006 when I went backpacking with 3 guys (stupid decision #1) in the middle of march and spent the whole trip shivering in my sleeping bag at night and being left behind during the day. But no, I decided that a backpacking trip was a great way to kick off the new year. Between the rain/snow, shivering wet dogs, and waking up to chewed off deer legs outside our tent I have decided that I am a SUMMER backpacking kinda girl.

2. Cats can jump off 3 story balconies. But, they can't jump back up.

3. My dog is fast enough to catch a bird. But he doesn't know what to do with them once he has them. Lesson learned: Put dog on leash around moving prey.

4. 9th grade students have learned everything they know about sex, STDs, and birth control from watching movies. Knocked Up, Mean Girls, and Sex and the City do not adequately educate 14 year olds about these topics.

5. Roadtrips across the country are best done with out Uhaul trucks. They tend to slow you down. Also, I-70 is very boring. Very boring.

6. Looking in your rearview mirror while backing up does not necessarily prevent you from hitting something. If you happen to hit something, MAKE SURE TO PUT YOUR CAR IN PARK BEFORE GETTING OUT TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE. It's very difficult to jump back in a moving car and slam on your brakes.

7. When moving always hire movers*.

8. Not working is not as fun as it sounds. Oh sure, the first 3 days of sleeping in, mindless surfing of the internet, and watching of daytime television are great but then you realize that this is not much different from work except you have no paycheck.

9. When painting furniture, 'bright and bold' is not necessarily the best option.

10. Cats are not like potato chips. You can have just one and they cause a lot less trouble when they're not part of a package deal.

*an exception to the rule is if family members/super-strong friends can stand in as movers.

2008 in Review

So I haven't been blogging long.... but I noticed a lot of people did this and I liked the idea. 2008 was a big year for us. I scrapbook (1 per year usually) and this one was a BIG one. So... here's what we did in '08.

The year started off well. I was employed (always a plus) and in a job that actually had potential. We celebrated our 3 year anniversary (of dating) in February along with Valentines Day (usually kind of a package deal).

yay, roses.

In March we took a trip out to Colorado during my spring break (woo-hoo teaching). We loved the area and talked about moving if I got into grad school.

our first time in colorado.

In April, Charlie's sister got married (yay). They had an awesome wedding and we had a blast. I also found out that I got accepted into the University of Colorado Denver and we decided to move as long as Charlie found a job. Oh, we also got engaged the week before his sister's wedding. I always think it happened later because we didn't tell anyone until after the wedding.

us at the wedding.

In June we had our engagement party, Charlie had a promising job interview, and I had my last day teaching :(.

yes, we had face-cake at our engagement party.

July was our last beach trip. I'll love you forever, Assateague Island.

In August we convinced our family and friends to help us pack and load a Uhaul (haha suckers) and we road-tripped it to Colorado. (I make it sound more glamourous than it really was.) 30 hours of driving and staying in a Motel 6 with two dogs, a cat while our 'neighbors' ran around screaming and banging on the walls all night, wasn't too fun. Oh, I also got a part-time job. Not fun.

in case you're wondering, this is what I-70 looks like the whole way through Kansas.

September was my 25th birthday. (Damn I'm old)

Henry and I in Boulder on my birthday.

October, Charlie's parent's came to visit.

we drove up Trail Ridge road with the C's 'rents.

In November, my dad came to visit. I also took a suprise trip home (because driving out here wasn't fun enough the first time) when I helped a friend move back east.

Decmeber was Twilight .... no seriously, I also quit my job and started looking for a new one, we added Ollie to our family, my mom and sister came out to visit, and we celebrated Charlie's 26th birthday (he's REALLY old), and Xmas.

Al with Ollie and Dunkin.

happy b-day, c!

A Holiday Visit!

So, after Charlie and I celebrated Christmas and I was over becoming completely consumed by Twilight, my mom and sister came out for a visit.  They had never been to Colorado before so we did a lot of sight-seeing but it was great to see them.  Here's a few places we went and things that we did.  

We went to Red Rocks at the end of Pearl Street.  Charlie and I had a little too much fun playing with our shadows.

We went to Eldorado State Park and hiked the Rattlesnake Gulch trail.  Halfway up the trail is the ruins of an old hotel.  All that's really left is the fountain and this fireplace.

We hiked up to the Continental Divide Overlook.  Mom enjoyed the view.

Al and I had fun climbing the rocks.  (You'd think I was 5 not 25.)

And of course we spent a lot of time hanging out at home.  We cooked a lot of good food, watched a lot of movies, and I got my mom hooked on Twilight.  She finished the first book and started on New Moon.  I think she wanted to take it back with her but I'm far to attached to my books to let them be 1,500 miles away from me.  So we stopped at Target so she could get her own copy.  

Why I missed showering for 2 days...

Ok...I realize I'm late to jump on the Twilight bandwagon (and I was a little skeptical at first).  A teenage vampire love story? No thanks, I'm far too cool for that.  Besides, I usually can't get into anything magical and mythical (aside from Harry Potter).  Anyway, I was completely wrong about Twilight.  It completely consumed my life and took over my Christmas.  

I read Twilight (which had been sitting on my bookshelf for about 2 months) Christmas Eve night.  I couldn't put it down.  I read through A Christmas Story (my favorite holiday movie), when my parents called to wish us a Merry Christmas, I couldn't even feign excitment.  I was Twilight obsessed.  So I finished Twilight that night, went to bed, and could think of nothing except buying the rest of the series the next day.  

Woke up Christmas morning, raced through opening presents, and then tried to figure out what stores would be open on Christmas.  And you'll never believe it but, not.a.single.store.was.open.  not....even....one.  I'm an east coast girl.  I grew up in the suburbs of D.C.  and while I appreciate that everyone here in Colorado was celebrating the holiday, it completely boggles my mind that literally everything was closed.  Needless to say, I was not happy.  I had no choice but to reread Twilight in order to pass the time before the stores opened.  My poor fiance.  All I talked about on Christmas was Twilight and how much I wanted the other books.  He thought I went crazy.  

Day after Christmas (aka. the shopping day from hell):  I woke up, showered (shock) and ran down the hill to Borders.  Got into borders and found that they had New Moon (relief washed over me) but not Eclipse or Breaking Dawn.  Relieved but not completely satisfied, I ran back home and dragged Charlie to Target under the pretense that we had something to return.  When we got to Target and I found out that they had the last two books I immediately snatched them off the shelf and ran to the checkout counter.  Checking out took 30 minutes because the people in front of us had decided that they HAD to have one of the display models ... a heinous looking snowman that counted down the days to Christmas.  It made me glad that I wasn't their neighbor so I wouldn't have to look at is next year.  

Got home on the 26th and read New Moon and half of Eclipse before I had to sleep.  Woke up on the 27th and finished reading Eclipse and started Breaking Dawn.  I knew my mom and sister were coming to visit the next day and I needed to clean, shop, etc. but I couldn't stop.  Finally, around 5:30 (after Charlie yelled at me for an hour to stop reading and get off my butt) I got up, did a minimal amount of cleaning, went to the store, and sat back down and finished Breaking Dawn.  

My verdict:  It was good.  Fabulous.  Best series I've read in a LONG time.  I don't think I'll be able to resist the boot-leg copy of Midnight Sun on her website.  But I'm trying.

The new addition...

So Charlie and I, crazy people that we are, adopted a cat from Petsmart.  We originally tried to go to the Humane Society in Longmont but when we got there we were told that we had 2 minutes before they closed (so much for doing anything to save a pet).  We stopped at Petsmart on the drive back to get some stuff for the dogs, looked at the cats they had for adoption, and 3 questions later walked out with a cat.  Meet Ollie, he's sweet, cuddly, and (after a much needed bath) clean:  

he was very interested in the camera...

he's a coffee drinker

the staredown