Monday, May 31, 2010

one year.

happy 1 year anniversary!

last year was a whirlwind of pictures, people, music, vows, and dresses.
my favorite part was when we got to the hotel, sat down, had a bottle of champagne, and realized that we were married.Italic
Bold



"you don't have to be perfect to belong in this place. you don't have to have all the answers, or always know the right thing to say. you can climb the highest mountain if you want. or quietly imagine that you might, someday. you can take chances, or take safety nets, make miracles or make mistakes. you don't have to be composed at all hours to be strong here. you don't have to be bold or certain or be brave. you don't have to have all the answers here. or even know who you want to be. just take my hand, and rest your heart, and stay awhile with me."
~ashley rice.

pretty much sums it up. love you.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

telluride with charlie!
Happy Anniversary weekend!
no rehearsal dinner, wedding dress, or family brunches this year.

Rehearsal Dinner.

Friday, May 28, 2010

olympic training center
"to be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight."
~ ee cummings.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

the end is near.
one day. (well really only a few hours).
i've had a lot of good things lately.
... obviously the family visits, spending time with people i love and don't get to see too often.
... i've decided not to switch graduate programs for the time being and am taking the summer off as far as school goes. i think i really need the break. and i also just can't imagine being in school for the next 4 years.
... i have a part-time internship this summer (starting next week) that could turn into something permanent. i'm a little apprehensive about leaving teaching, but at the same time i haven't really been happy with it in colorado and can't imagine spending the next 30 years doing what i've been doing.
... charlie and i decided to turn out 2 night stay in telluride into a 3 night stay! AND when i called to change our reservation they were out of the rooms that we had booked so we got a free upgrade. i'm so excited for some alone time with him. the last time we were alone for 3 days was in hawaii and it was so, so nice.
... i have one lunch, one interview, and one "closing circle" left before it's vacation time.
... i may possibly have just graded my last stack of papers. wow.
... i cannot wait for the drive to telluride, and hiking in telluride, and biking in telluride, and hanging lake on the way home, and bridal veil falls, and so many other things i hope we can squeeze into our weekend.

glenwood canyon

we're driving through glenwood canyon on the way home.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

randomness...

... things have been so crazy lately. between family visiting, interviewing for jobs, and the end of the school year. wow ...
... we just had our last visitors (charlie's mom and aunt) leave today. i was sad to see them go, but excited to have some sleep in my future. we had a great time with them, being tourists, eating charlie's mom's amazing cooking, going to rockies games. charlie took off monday and tuesday to spend with them & i caught up with everyone after work. good times.
... jobs. i've had 4 interviews in the past 2 weeks. and it's been hard to fit that in while working full time and not trying to neglect family. tomorrow's the last one. i think i made a decision about what i'm going to do but we'll see.
... my parents got a kitten and a dog! so excited for them. and their "puppy" is a chocolate lab who's about 10 months old. and freaking adorable.
... as much as i love having family stay with us i am weirdly compulsive about cleaning when they leave. the good news for our house is that it's never been cleaner.
... it's finally spring! finally! flip flops and beer and dinner on a patio and thunderstorms and open windows!
... today i got off work a bit early and took the dogs for a long, long walk. i could really get used to getting off at 2:30.

fresh air
d-man loves the fresh air, too.

it's the little things ...

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wow, life has been busy.
... south boulder trail. my favorite views.
... spending time with my dad.
... sitting outside on our balcony after a long day of hiking.
... trips to the mountains.
... grilling out on our teeny grill.
... opening the windows.
... backrubs.
... hanging out outside with the dogs.
... spending time with family.
... doing dishes with charlie.
... wandering around the streets of old colorado.
... the.last.day.of.school. remember what that felt like?
... getting excited for our telluride trip.
... cleaning while blasting some music with the windows open.
... wearing shorts.
... saturday night dinners in denver.
... charlie's cake that he made for his mom.
... taking kids to a ropes course.
... & proving to them that i'm not scared of heights.
... freak snow in may.
... hawaiian chocolate from my kiddos.
... "appreciation circles"
... rockies games during the week.
... the return of my flip flops.
... cheese and crackers for dinner.
... my dad cooking.
... charlie's mom cooking.
... charlie grilling.
... my petunias that are trying hard to survive.
... charlie cleaning my car for me.
... friday night dinners in boulder. especially at pasta jays.
... rooftop bars.
... driving with the windows down.
... counting down the rest of the days until telluride!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

sub day

last thursday and friday i took off to spend some time with my dad while he was in town.
as much as i like taking off work i always get the worst sub reports when i get back.
things like "so and so called me a b*tch" or "half the class stormed out and didn't come back"
this week was no exception.
the note i got from the sub on thursday was long and included:
"thin blond girl, pretty, kept yelling at me"
"girl with betty boop clothes wrote on chair with marker"
"Bob took off without permission"
lucky for me i was spending my time out on our patio and didn't have to deal with any of it.

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the cats have decided that the entire reason we bought patio furniture was for them.

Monday, May 24, 2010

sunday funday

we went to colorado springs on sunday.
i have to be honest, it's not my favorite town.
but charlie's mom and aunt were in town and they wanted to do a bit of sightseeing.
so we went to the olympic training center, pikes peak (again), and garden of the gods.
it was a long day. 13 hours in fact.

olympic training center
i'm the missing 5th person.

pikes peak again
pikes peak summit.
we took the cog train up this time.
definitely not worth the $33.

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garden of the gods.

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

week over :(

yeah, this is probably the first time i'm sad to see a week end.
but my dad left at 4 am this morning and i'm really going to miss having him around.

i was lucky enough to take off thursday and friday to spend some time with him and the rest of the week was pretty awesome, too.
you see, not only do i love my dad & miss seeing him whenever i want to but he literally is the best possible houseguest to have.
he cooks. we had risotto with spinach one night, burgers and hot dogs another, and my favorite was chicken, squash, carrots on the grill.
(oh, and of course we went to pasta jays one night)
he even offered to clean the bathroom before he left.
i had to draw the line there but seriously, who even thinks of that!

thursday, we were planning on hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park but when i called to get a trail report that am. i was told there was no way we were going to make it where we wanted with hiking boots. so we hiked royal arch instead.
i got us a little lost, but we ended up where we were supposed to be.


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view from the top.

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d-dog was a little tired when we got to the top.
some guy commented that he looked old.
i almost punched him in his face.

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at least he was happy ...

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henry was too busy hunting chipmunks to appreciate the view.

yesterday we went white water rafting down clear creek canyon.
we had a good time but we had picked the "intermediate" trip, which i thought was a little boring.
i'm bringing charlie back late june and we're going to do the advanced trip.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

updates

"people seem to get nostalgic about things they weren't so crazy about the first time around."
~unknown.
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had to throw a picture in here ...

this has been charlie's love lately. biking and fishing.

today is graduation at my school.
super happy for my kiddos that made it to graduation.
a lot of them don't & a lot of their friends didn't.
since i came in january the senior class has dwindled down from 35 to 23. in only 4 months!
we had an assembly for them today that a lot of their parents came to. since a lot of these kids are the first in their family to graduate from high school they're kind of a big deal. parents were in tears ... although, slightly weird for me because i always figured high school graduation was sort of a given.
i've got a lot to figure out as far as my future goes ...
teaching vs. not teaching.
what degree i'm going to get ...
i'm getting really burnt out from school lately.
in fact i haven't even registered for classes in the fall yet (so not like me).
i wish school was free. and all my classes were online.
that would solve all of my problems.
the good news is that my dad's here this week.
i have thursday and friday off & we're planning on doing some hiking in Rocky Mountain Nat. Park tomorrow, eating some amazing Italian food at Pasta Jays, and possibly some white water rafting on friday.
have i mentioned my dad's awesome?

Monday, May 17, 2010

weekend 'o love

this was my first weekend since the beginning of january that i didn't have anything hanging over my head: i.e. school stuff.
i took full advantage.
it was awesome.
friday:
came home early thanks to an afternoon meeting.
picked up charlie for a late lunch @ which wich.
played with the dogs before the thunderstorm came.
opened a bottle of wine & a bottle of champagne.
ordered sushi.
fell asleep on charlie at 10 pm.
saturday:
cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.
played with the pups.
planted some flowers.
gave the dogs baths.
did massive amounts of laundry.
ordered pizza.
watched the second game of the rockies double header.
sunday:
took a bike ride with henry down to the pond to watch charlie fish.
took a bike ride sans dogs with charlie.
ate wendy's and watched the rockies kick the nats butt for the third time in a row.
stocked up on food and beer.
watched did you hear about the morgans?. it sucked.
my dad came!! (after 20 hours of traveling.)

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fishin' pond. no fish but lots of otters & snakes.

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henry was pretty upset he couldn't go swimming.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

it's the little things ...

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... how i met your mother.
... charlie telling me i can park in the garage so my car won't get all snowy.
... falling asleep on the couch on a rainy afternoon while watching friends.
... turning in my term paper!
... target runs to stock up on everything.
... random weeknights, staying up late, watching crap tv.
... family visits.
... knowing that it is thursday, and therefore my week is almost over.
... running to barnes and noble after work to get a book i've been waiting for.
... looking forward to another weekend.

Monday, May 10, 2010

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feel lucky for what you have when you have it. isn't that the point?
~ alice hoffman.

pizza and champagne on a friday night. perfection.

Friday, May 7, 2010

book love.

i love lauren's blog over at the little things we do ...
sort of sounds like a weekly post that i do.
anyway, every friday she does a "friday fill-in the blanks" and this week her theme was about books.
my love of books ranks up there with my husband and dogs, so i figured i'd give this one a shot. even if it's always hard to pick just one book ....
1. My favorite book growing up was: hmm, too freaking hard. I suppose either Casey Jones rides Vanity Fair or Fly By Night. Both are about horses, because I was a huge horse nut as a kid. Both are super old and out of print. But both are books my mom hunted down for me and I re-read every year. Still.
2. The funniest book I ever read was: I think can you keep a secret? by Sophie Kinsella. definitely laughed out loud during that one ...
3. The one book that has truly changed my life: i don't know that i've ever experienced a "life changing" after finishing a book.
4. If you're looking for a "tear-jerker" you should probably read: for me this is anything with animals. i've cried from reading more books than i really care to admit. in fact, i was once in the middle of a book about horses, crying so loudly that my dad came running downstairs because he thought i was physically hurt.
5. If I could meet any author living or dead I'd want to meet: someone really weird like hemingway or faulkner or herman wouk.
6. The next book on my "to read" list is: i'm in the middle of a few right now. but, i'd put them all down for emily giffin's new one, heart of the matter.

7. If I were snowed into a remote cabin in the woods and could only choose three books to bring with me I'd bring: can you keep a secret?, the winds of war, and chesapeake

it's the little things...

heaven
... getting ready to read my favorite spring book. the one i read every spring. the one that's out of print. the one that makes me remember what it's like to be 10 years old again.
... the way henry looks at me when i make him run next to the bike, like "seriously? this thing is so scary, can't we please just go chase some rabbits?" and then he puts his head in my hand. just to put his cuteness factor completely over the top.
... jammin' out to moldy peaches during the day.
... passing off my kiddos onto someone else the last class of the day so i can do my presentation for school. (have i mentioned i hate public speaking?)
... having cupcakes in the fridge.
... cucumbers and carrots.
... revising my term paper = almost done with it!
... the current weather forecast for sunday, which happens to be the day after my class is over!
... saturday bike rides with charlie down big dry creek, wandering into neighborhoods and past people on horses.
... watching the sun set over the "pond" by our house.
... that feeling you get on a saturday when you wake up and think "oh shit, i'm late!" and then realize it's saturday and you can sleep as late as you want.
... the possibility of doing something else with my life.
... knowing that i survived these 5 months. they have without a doubt made me realize just how lucky i was to grow up the way i did and to live the life i do. and that it's time for me to move on.
... my dad coming in 1 week!
... charlie's mom & aunt coming in 2 weeks!
... telluride in 3 weeks!!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

rainforest
"sometimes you have to leave home. sometimes, running away means you're headed in the exact right direction."
~alice hoffman.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

it's the little things ...

study
almost done with this!
... the little messages inside Dove chocolate wrappers.
... a stack of graded papers.
... the progression of "my dog will not be scared of bikes" training. (slowly, my friends.)
... purple nails. whatever. i'm 5.
... eating breakfast before i leave for work. this so rarely happens.
... finding out about a teacher work day. no kids!
... taking my classes outside for the day & sitting in the sun with my shades on.
... kicking ass on my term paper. one more week!
... my beaker full of pens.
... vegetables. especially cucumbers and carrots.
... the warm sunny weather for sunday when i will be done my class and outside!
... the dream of one day wearing shorts and flip flops again.
... the theme song to parenthood.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

canoe day

so i mentioned we went canoeing this weekend. finally.
aside from actually getting the boat in the water we managed to make fools of ourselves.
we ended up going to standley lake, which charges too much for a day use permit but whatever.
standley lake also requires that you have your boat sprayed down before you enter the water (darn invasive species).
so we get to the lake, pay for our permit, and drive over to the "aquatic nusance species" treatment area. and wait for some rangers.
have i mentioned that are canoe is on the top of the jeep? and that it's heavy?
when we went to take it down, i flipped it so fast that i also flipped charlie. so both he and the canoe go flying. and the ranger goes "uh, did you just buy this?"
then, he starts asking us questions about our "safety measures".
" do you have lifejackets?" .. "no"
"do you have a whistle?" ... "no"
"what are you planning on doing if you fall in the water?" ... "uh, swim..."
turns out, you have to have lifejackets and a whistle. so we put our canoe back on the jeep, drive to a sporting goods store, buy some lifejackets and a whistle (that i continue to blow for the next 3 hours) and make it back to the lake.
we end up floating around and fishing for a bit.
when it's time to leave, we're about to put the canoe back on the car (which is the hardest part bc that thing does not want to stay upside down. also i'm short! charlie just thinks i need to start lifting weights, but whatever)
anyway, i'm sore and cold at this point, the two rangers (who already think we're idiots) have pulled over to watch us and i cannot get the canoe up for the life of me.
so the ranger gets out of his car and asks if we want help (for the third time). i finally gave up and let him lift the stupid canoe.
we definitely should have gone with a kayak.

cloudy canoe day

cloudy day

fishing + canoe = happy husband

happy charlie.

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i fished, too

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please note the extreme concentration.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

oh, weekend

you were much needed after my craptastic week.

stupid blogger deleted my post.
so i leave you with a picture from today.

ready to go ...

yeah, 1 year later we finally took it out.