Grr...

I am currently hating blogger.

That is all.

To move or not to move...

Our lease in our current apartment is up at the beginning of August and we've been debating about whether or not to move or stay. We've decided not to buy anything before I finish grad school because A. we have no idea where I'll end up working and B. as much as I want walls to paint and a yard for the pups committing to a home makes me pretty nervous right now. We're currently renting a 2 bed/2 bath apartment but are looking at leaving it.

Pros for Leaving:

1. We need another room. With Charlie working from home and me in school we really need a space where we can get that stuff done. It's difficult with our current situation.

2. We currently have a second bed sitting in the garage that I'd really like to set up. When people come to stay it'd be nice to have a bed for them. Also, the second bedroom would double as a place for me to study.

3. Our current rent will go up in August. This means that we'll be paying more for a 2 bedroom then we would for a 2 bed with a den somewhere else.

4. Our current apartment management is ridiculously rude and I would love to say "peace out" (or something maybe not quite as nice).

5. The new place that we want to move to is pretty sweet. We still would have a garage, shops, bars, and restaurants 2 blocks away, and hiking trails to walk the pups on. Also, it's 3 floors which means that it feels more like a house and would offer us each a "quiet area" to work and study.

6. The new place is something I can see us staying in comfortably for the next 2-3 years until I finish school.

7. It'd be a shorter commute to Denver which is good for both of us.

Cons for leaving:

1. It's expensive to move. I'm currently waiting on an estimate from 2 men and a truck.

2. We love where we live right now. The area is awesome and we already have all of the stuff I mentioned within walking distance.

3. We'd be farther away from the mountains. This means longer drives to hiking and Boulder.

4. I might have to start shopping at King Soopers. [Sorry, KS fans.] Although, we'd be pretty close to a Sprouts.

5. Charlie would have to get a gym membership.

Definitely more pros than cons although the cost is a huge con. We'll see ... thoughts are welcome. :)

Snow in June?

Yeah, you heard me right. And I'm not talking about a few inches of snow. I'm talking about feet of snow. Charlie and I and a few friends decided to check out a hike yesterday to get ready for our Pikes Peak hike this summer. It looked pretty cool, about 2,000 feet of elevation gain and it ended at a glacier made lake. The hike description said June - August but it said nothing about how much snow there would still be in June! There was tons of snow after the first mile of hiking which made it impossible to find the trail and occasionally you'd sink into the melting snow. We didn't make it to the top because there was no way we could find the trail, but it was pretty cool (literally) to be hiking through snow in June.

This is about where we started out. Not a bad view!

Dunkin and I stopped for a break when we lost the trail.

Old Man's Beard was everywhere!

South Boulder Creek. The only thing that saved us from getting completely lost.

We kept falling through the snow pack, which is really cold when you're wearing shorts!

Wedding Randomness

We don't get our pro pictures for a couple weeks so until then I've been harassing everyone I know for their pictures. So, if you're reading this and you took pictures of our wedding, please send them to me! :) Anyway, our photographer was there for 4 hours of the night, which meant there were things he wasn't there to take pictures of. Here's a random smattering of those things:

We were leaving to go to our rehearsal & then dinner. It was raining which meant people had to slop through the mud during the rehearsal. Sorry guys!

... every night be tucked in close to yoooouuuuu ...

What's a wedding without a choreographed dance from your college days? I miss these girls!

What's that? You didn't think guys made up their own dances? Oh they do. And if you were able to witness this you'd be watching a very dirty version of "Call on Me".

'cause I've got friends in low places ...

... where the whisky drowns and the beer chases my blues away, i'll be okay ...

... I'm not big on social graces, think I'll slip on down to the oooooo-asis

Yes, that's right there was a lot of country at our wedding. Love it.

Wedding Recap: Gettin' Ready

I am so not a girly girl. I wear makeup about 1/4 of the time, just about never blow dry my hair, and am much more comfortable hiking or drinking a beer than shopping. So when it came time to get ready for our wedding I pretty much took a shower, put on some eyeshadow and mascara, and threw my hair in a ponytail [I did use some mousse, which made it 'fancy']. This meant that by the time I got to the mansion to 'get ready' I had 2 hours and nothing left to do but put my dress on.

I tried to walk around but with everyone getting ready [read: the caterer being an hour late and everyone panicking about that], and somehow people deciding that if I ran into Charlie our marriage would be doomed, it made things a little difficult. I actually did run into Charlie and the second he saw me he whipped right around and bolted in the other direction. I had to chase after him and ask him how it would be bad luck to see me when we woke up in the same room that morning.

So I finally wandered back to our room where everyone else was getting ready and hung out with my bridesmaids.

My sister was running up the stairs that morning & fell. she was icing her knee and eating Advil the whole time.

Everyone was yelling at me to eat. Yum, organic chocolate power bar. [I swear it was good.]

Yeah, they're cool like that.

finally ready.

Want to see how boys get ready? This is what they do:

They sneak beers from the bar and drink them after putting on suits which takes all of 5 minutes. They've got it way easier than we do.

Back to reality.

... sadly. We got back from Maryland yesterday and I've been busy settling back into normal life, picking up the pups, cleaning the apartment, writing a million thank you notes, trying to convince Charlie that we do not need a LED television.

We had a GREAT trip home. It was so nice to see family and friends. Weddings are cool like that. Really, when else do you get all (or most) of the people you love in one place? The week went by ridiculously fast. I knew it would and everyone told me how fast the wedding would go & they were most definitely right. Luckily, everyone seemed to take a million pictures and as soon as I round them all up I can relive it all.

I think the dogs are happy to have us home. They were looking pretty miserable when we picked them up yesterday. They were so thirsty, covered in filth, and exhausted. We gave them baths, fed them, and let them sleep, but I was not happy that we picked them up in that condition. I realize we had to board them and kennels are not exactly 5 star accommodations, but I don't think that having water and a clean place to sleep is too much to ask. Anyway ...

I leave you with one of my favorite pictures of the night. This was about 2 minutes after we were married and of course I'm the one with a beer while Charlie's drinking wine. Love it.

The story of Love: Part 6

Previously [Part 5], we got engaged and moved to Colorado. And usually what follows an engagement is a wedding. Big, small, religious, non-religious, traditional, modern .... and the list goes on and on.

Ours was a mix of all of the above, perfect for us, and A LOT of fun! [But really, have you ever heard anyone say they didn't have fun at their own wedding?] We got lucky with the weather. It was sunny, warm and bug-filled.

We were married in a short, sweet, outdoor ceremony ...

... had fun with our friends ...

... and fell even more in love.

All pictures are credited to Joseph Allen ......... amazing.