New Shade of Green

My TV Schedule 2011-12 Season

2011-09-12T21:58:00.003-06:00

I thought it'd be fun to share my TV schedule with you... Why yes, I do have a spreadsheet for my TV shows! You can laugh, it's OK. When my friends found out about this a few years ago, they started requesting for me to send them a copy. So I thought it was worth posting :). I'm really late getting it out this year, but here it is:

Yellow indicates a new show I'm going to try out.

Shows that ended or were cancelled: Life Unexpected, Hellcats, GREEK, Brothers & Sisters, Friday Night Lights (*sniff*), Medium, and Off the Map. I really miss FNL and Life Unexpected. I was soooo mad when I found out Life Unexpected was cancelled, I didn't know till I was watching the Series Finale! GRR.

Shows I'm considering giving up: Desperate Housewives, House, Gossip Girl, Biggest Loser, and maybe... Private Practice.

OK, so that's my schedule... it's actually a tad on the light side if you can believe it :). What are you watching? Have any suggestions for me... not that I need more to watch. Now that I'm book blogging I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with all of these. Thank goodness for TiVo and Hulu!

*Originally posted on my book blog, A Book and a Latte.

Funny: Evolution of Geek

2011-08-08T13:18:00.000-06:00

This is awesome: The Evolution of Geek. I just had to share!

In other news... yeah. I'm really sorry I've neglected this blog for so long. I hope to one day sort of catch up... My book blog has pretty much taken over all my blog time. It's a little crazy but I'm having so much fun!

Concert: Mumford and Sons

2011-06-16T12:43:00.000-06:00

Last night my husband and I went to see the Mumford & Sons in concert at The Fillmore in Denver. It was freaking amazing. Ah-MAZING! Matthew and the Atlas and Nathaniel Rateliff opened for them and they were great as well! I will be stalking them today and picking up some of their EPs :). All these bands are categorized as folk or bluegrass but some of their songs I think could fall under rock.

I'm a lover of music in general... I listen to pretty much everything except maybe some hardcore heavy metal and rap... and I love LOVE Mumford & Sons. It's been years since a band has made me feel this way. Seeing them live was just incredible. There is something riveting and catching about their voices in harmony with all the different instruments. Let's see they have guitars (acoustic and electric), banjos, cello, violin, piano (keyboard and acoustic upright), drums, piano accordion, and probably more that I'm forgetting. The band members all play multiple instruments and it was fun seeing them rotate through them.

Here are some pictures... sorry for the quality, they were taken with my iPhone.

The show was fantastic. This was a high energy clap/stomp/sing along show. They played a lot of new songs, one that was written 2 or 3 days ago! Usually that bothers me as I want to hear the songs I know, but I don't think anyone in the audience minded, the new songs are awesome. During the encore they did an all acoustic version of Sister (a new song). For it to work in the venue the audience had to be quiet. It was silent except for their voices and acoustic instruments (until toward the end when people couldn't help themselves). Even though they played 3-5 new songs they played all their well known ones - Little Lion Man, Thistle and Weeds, Awake My Soul (I about died), The Cave, and more!

We paid more than double the price for our tickets... and they were worth every penny! Never mind that we stood in line in the sun for over an hour before the doors opened. Never mind that we claimed spots about 10-15 feet from the stage and didn't move the rest of the night, so we didn't eat dinner and were thirsty (but thankfully that meant we didn't have to go to the bathroom!). I was NOT moving.

My hands were red and hurt from clapping, my feet sore from stomping, my voice hoarse, and I didn't want it to end! I can't wait to see them live again!

Their final song was The Cave, here's the video for you :).

Review: Water for Elephants

2011-05-10T12:55:00.005-06:00

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb from Book Browse:

An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of Riding Lessons.
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.

I have to admit that I wasn't initially excited to read this book. I kept hearing great things about it, but I just had no interest in reading about a circus. Then I saw the movie preview... and knew I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie (I'm rarely able to finish a book if I see the movie first). So I started reading, and had a hard time getting into it at first... I think this was mainly because I felt like I HAD to read the book... as if I was back in school! I eventually got past this and was able to get immersed into Water for Elephants.

Usually, I rate books by how I feel while reading them, so my ratings are normally always subjective. In this case, I felt I had to give this book 5 stars based on the fantastic writing and the amazingly rich and unique backdrop of the train circus! It is obvious that the author did her research on circus culture and depression-era American history. She really dug into the down and dirty details of circus life. In the discussion after the last chapter you learn that many things in the story are based on true stories or anecdotes of the circus. The Bezini Brothers train circus is easily like another character in the book, flawed and deeply layered, like the characters themselves. I really liked how the story is told from Jacob's perspective as a spunky 93 year old man, having flashbacks of his life 70 year earlier. The altering perspectives (from young to old) effectively grounded the story and added another layer to his character.

At times, this wasn't easy to read... It was sad to read about the indignities of being old, and I felt like Gruen's depiction was honest and very real. Though most of all, I had a really hard time reading some of the scenes with the animals. At one point I caught myself reading between my fingers, as if I was trying to block the scene from view as if it was a movie. I tried skipping over one but I had to go back and read it because I felt like it was important to the development of the characters and the story. It was, and they were. I just wish those scenes hadn't been seemingly timed to when I was getting ready to go to sleep.

Seriously, I'm so glad I finally picked up this book. I highly recommend it!

Increase the Awesome

2011-05-07T19:18:00.001-06:00

This guy does a great job of explaining the James Webb Space Telescope, and the awesomeness of NASA. I think even the non-nerds can appreciate this video, at least the first couple of minutes about the philosophy of increasing the awesome and decreasing the suck :).

Thanks to N and ACQ for sharing this! Apparently I was late to the party.

Am I crazy, or should I...

2011-05-06T11:22:00.003-06:00

Should I start my own YA Book Blog? Please vote (poll on sidebar)! I'd appreciate any comments/feedback too! Poll is anonymous, and comments can be too! Tell me what you really think, I can take it :).

I've gone back and forth on this idea for the past few months. This blog, New Shade of Green, lost its focus long ago... which is OK. I created it as an outlet, and it's been just that! If I started a book blog, most of the reading related posts, links, and widgets would be removed from this one.

There are seemingly a bagillion book blogs out there, and a ton of them are for the YA genre. I'm not really sure I could compete, but honestly, that's not what I'd want to do... more like play in the sand box with all the other YA loving bloggers. Am I crazy? Please help me out and vote via the poll on my sidebar!

IF I decide to venture down this path, my biggest hurdle is - what the heck am I going to name it?! If you have any ideas for me, please put suggestions in the comments.

Thanks peeps!

Coming Soon: Forever!

2011-05-04T21:15:00.002-06:00

One of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater, is so super crazy talented. She's not only a great writer, but is also an artist and musician. With this post, I'm entering her "Giant Forever Trailer Contest" in hopes to win an early copy of her book Forever, which is the last book in her Wolves of Mercy Falls series. There's also a BUNCH of other fantastic goodies in the prize back... including an ARC (advanced reader copy) of The Scorpio Races! I loved Shiver and Linger, and can't wait to read the conclusion, even if it means the series is at an end :(. Aren't these covers beautiful? They are what first attracted me to her books!

You can buy an autographed copy of Forever, and her other books at the Fountain Bookstore. Without further ado, here is the stop-motion book trailer Maggie herself created for Forever, featuring her music and her animation (using hundreds of paper cut-outs)!

And because I can't resist...
I'm also posting the other version with music written by Jonas & Plunkett, their version of "Summer Girl", the song from SHIVER. I'm now a big fan of Jonas & Plunkett, thanks to Maggie and this trailer. Seriously good stuff, you can listen "Summer Girl" here, and find out more about them on their website.

I can't end this post without including links to Maggie's stop-motion trailers for Shiver and Linger... I just couldn't, because they are awesome sauce. I wish I had this kind of creativity and patience to make one of these. I can't imagine how many hours it took her to create these!

Shiver Trailer & Linger Trailer

Now, everyone cross your fingers and toes that I win :).

Painting: Seven Aspens

2011-05-03T21:36:00.004-06:00

Last month I went with my friend M to one of those places where they instruct you on how to paint a particular picture while they encourage you to drink and blast fun music. It was great! This was my second time going, you can read about my first experience here. So, here's how we start out... everything all nice and white and clean...

The setup. Notice the "liquid courage" aka wine next to the pallet.

The painting of the night was Seven Aspens. Step one was to paint our sky blue (or whatever we wanted, me being type A stuck to blue). Second, we painted clouds... and I have to say I'm pretty proud of mine! Then we put in mountains and a path...

Sky, clouds, mountains, and path... CHECK!

Then we painted the grass in the foreground. Below, you can see M's to the left of mine. I envy her... she's so brave and adds in different colors and features our instructor didn't tell us to do. I'm not that brave yet. It's kind of funny because we did this to hang out together but between the loud music (Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi, and Black Eyed Peas) and the crazy concentration zone I went into to keep up with the instructor (apparently I'm a slow painter)... we couldn't really talk. Except for when this picture was taken when we were on a break. We had to take a break so the paint could dry, and to get another glass of wine of course.

Almost there, just need to add the Aspens

Next was the most nerve racking part - except for maybe the clouds - putting in the Aspens! I wish I had added more branches, but I ran out of time and was afraid I'd go overboard anyway.

All done!

Masterpiece #2 on our living room wall.

Now my "masterpiece" is hanging on our living room wall. My sweetie didn't even flinch. He loves me. Oooh, did you notice the little heart engraved on the first tree? It has a J and J in it :). John did give me a hard time for this... because I defaced the tree! I assured him I'd only deface a painted tree for our love. I promise I only hug real trees!

Reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2011-05-02T13:43:00.008-06:00

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from Goodreads:

Rebecca Skloot first learned about HeLa cells more than a decade ago, while enrolled at community college. Named after Henrietta Lacks, a poor African-American woman born in 1920, the famed cells were taken from a tumor removed during Lacks s treatment for cervical cancer. While she died from the disease, her cancer cells proved uncommonly hearty, reproducing at an unheard-of rate, and years later, billions of these cells are used in laboratories around the world.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story about science and so much more. Lacks died unaware that doctors would be using her cells to further advances in the scientific community and cashing in on such developments and never received a dime. In search of justice, Skloot seeks out Lacks's descendants to learn if they are aware of the famed cells and to see if they've derived any benefit from the important contribution to science their relative made. A fascinating discussion of the enduring legal and ethical questions that human-tissue research raises, Skloot's debut is a gem.

Fascinating and thought-provoking! Wow, I think this should be required reading. I'm not usually a fan of non-fiction (mainly because I use reading as an escape)... but this is just a phenomenal book. Rebecca Skloot did a wonderful job of explaining the medical advances made possible by using the cells of Henrietta Lacks, while telling the story of Henrietta and the Lacks family in a way that read like fiction. She tackled many ethical issues objectively, and there were times that I had to put the book down because my mind was stuck thinking about what I had just read.

I'm grateful that my neighborhood book club selected this book, as I'm not sure I would have picked it up on my own. I recommend this book to everyone!

View all my reviews

P.S. Hey reader friends, check out my new Reading Corner page! Just click the tab at the top of this page.

Dolphin and Kitty sittin' in a tree...

2011-04-28T10:53:00.002-06:00

UPDATE 5-4-11: The video now works!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Ohmigoodness, this is so cute I had to share.

Princess Jennifer

2011-04-26T13:19:00.006-06:00

Um, yeah. You read that right! Muwahaahhhaa. So, if you haven't noticed by my sidebar... I've been reading up a storm these days. Really, I haven't read this much since I was a kid and I have to thank the Harry Potter Series and the Twilight Saga for they made me realize that Young Adult books rock. Since I embraced this genre, I haven't stopped reading! I still keep "grown up" books in the mix too, but I'm devouring the YA ones. Reading was such a large part of my life growing up, and now I feel like I'm back to that part of myself. If that makes any sense at all.

Anyhow, to get to the point of this post... I follow a few of my favorite authors' blogs, and a recent favorite of mine, Stephanie Perkins (author of Anna and the French Kiss, sooo good - don't get hung up on the title), blogged about procrastinating from writing and shared this link for Princess Maker. And since I'm procrastinating to avoid filing a monster stack of papers, and typing up some almost-too-late-to-post blog posts... I happily clicked and made Princess Jennifer. I was going for comfort, even as a princess I avoid dresses (I blame my mom for dressing me up like a doll at every opportunity when I was little).

Princess Jennifer

OK... back to the filing. :(

Kiva Goes Green

2011-04-22T13:26:00.002-06:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of kiva.org. If not, here's a very brief description:

We are a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Why we do what we do
We envision a world where all people - even in the most remote areas of the globe - hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others.
We believe providing safe, affordable access to capital to those in need helps people create better lives for themselves and their families.

I've loaned money through Kiva.org three times now, two have been paid back in full already. They are a great, GREAT organization helping empower people all over the world. It really feels good to help a person help themselves and their family. I also love hearing about the progress they are making, as some will post updates on how their business/project/housing is going. I didn't think I could rave about them any more highly, until I saw today that they are going "green" and are offering loans to help people live sustainably around the world. For more details click here. I just tried to make another loan, but unfortunately all the green loan requests are already funded! I was too late. But never fear, there will be more opportunities soon I'm sure, so if this is something you're interested in check back in a few days... OR... go ahead and make a different kiva loan. :)

Happy Earth Day and... allergies?

2011-04-22T12:07:00.002-06:00

Well hello!

Happy Earth Day!

I'm supposed to be at Gem Lake hiking and celebrating today. But nope. I'm sitting here, thinking about how much I've neglected this blog lately (I have at least 4 posts I've been meaning to get to....) and waiting to go to my doctor's appointment :(. I've never had allergies before moving here, and I think I now have them. But I'm not sure if I can blame these cold symptoms on allergies or not. I'm a little confused. Can allergies cause a sore throat? Anyhoo, I'm going to the doctor to try and figure it out. I was sick for almost 3 weeks at the end of Feb through March and... I. am. just. so. frustrated!

I'm going to drag myself off the couch to take Koda for a walk and get some vitamin D. Wish me luck that I can breathe out there. Then I may come back and *gasp* add some posts :). Coming up: painting my "masterpiece 2", hiking Three Sisters, hiking O'Fallon Park, and maybe finally post about my awesome snowshoe from back in December. I know it's April. Maybe you're sick of snow and don't want to see it... but really, it was awesome sauce.

Cuteness

2011-04-15T10:05:00.001-06:00

I know I'm biased but I think her fetus position is adorable!

I love this pup!

I can't believe she just turned 6 years old last week!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

An addition to our family...

2011-03-23T10:28:00.001-06:00

No, not that kind of addition, I'm not preggers!

We are finally getting a piano! For those that know us... you know that ever since we've moved into our house a year and a half ago, we've called our formal living room the "piano room". Our friends/family give us a weird look when they don't see a piano, and we have to tell them to use their imaginations :). John and I both grew up playing the piano, and are excited to re-learn since neither of us have played in a long time (over a decade, yikes that makes me feel OLD). I took 8 years of lessons which I mostly hated, I liked playing for myself and what I wanted to play vs. what I was instructed to learn. Though I had all those lessons, I never felt like a good player. I've never been able to just sit down and play by reading the music without having to struggle to learn it... I've always been jealous of my aunt who can play whatever sheet music you put in front of her!

We have been searching for pianos on craigslist, ebay, and at local piano sellers seriously for the past month. We went back and forth on what our budget should be, and what kind of piano we should get - upright or baby grand. Though we found many potential pianos at reasonable prices on craigslist and ebay, we eventually decided we wanted to buy new. Not a very "green" decision I know, but we are extremely picky when it comes to major purchases. Ha, who am I kidding, we're picky about everything (and I like to say John is even more picky than I am)! We wanted a piano with great tone, manufactured with quality materials, and one that would play great for many years. Also, since we are limited budget wise, the idea of it being under warranty, and being able to "trade up" appealed to us.

We decided on the Kawai K-3 Professional Upright in the Mahogany Satin finish.

If you're interested, you can listen here:

So excited! It should arrive early next week!

What will you read next?

2011-03-23T09:58:00.000-06:00

I just discovered a new website and had to share it with you - YourNextRead.com! Simply enter a book you loved or heard about, and it suggests several books for you to read next that it thinks you'll enjoy. You can also link up YourNextRead with goodreads.com to import/export your lists!

Check it out!

Reading: Hex Hall

2011-03-15T17:44:00.002-06:00

Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here's the description from goodreads.com:

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.
By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.
As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

What a fun, enjoyable read! I was a little weary of this book at first because I had read such good things about it, but at the same time I wasn't sure I'd be able to get into a paranormal-fantasy galore book... and I was still reeling from the fae world in The Iron King. Well, I had nothing to worry about! Hex Hall is a school for the Prodigium - witches, warlocks, shape-shifters, werewolves, faeires, ghosts, and you-name-it set somewhere near Savannah, GA. It's a murder mystery with a twist I have to admit, I didn't see coming, even though I thought parts of it were fairly predictable. I quickly liked Sophie, the protagonist. She's the "girl next door" with unrefined powers and full of witty jokes and come-backs. I had a few laugh out loud moments. I really enjoyed reading this book and can not wait to read the rest of the series!

View all my reviews

I decided to start my own book club!

2011-03-14T15:43:00.004-06:00

OK. So. In a fit of rebellion toward my neighborhood book club's book selection for March, I decided to start my own on goodreads.com! So far we officially have 7 members, and I'm waiting for a couple of others to sign up (that have said they are joining). If you're a personal friend of mine and did not receive a direct invitation to join, it's because I didn't think you'd be interested. I promise it wasn't personal :). If you ARE interested, and seriously interested in participating (no online stalkers please), shoot me an email and I'll send you an invitation. This is a private group limited to my personal friends, and their friends (who will soon become my friends - sorry blog-land peeps). Links to the group are in the widget below.

Book BABES's currently-reading book montage

7 members
This book club is about having fun reading, and sharing the experience with friends. Reading should...

Books we're currently reading

Hex Hall

by Rachel Hawkins

Start date: March 13, 2011

View this group on Goodreads »

Here's the description which is cut-off above:

This book club is about having fun reading, and sharing the experience with friends. Reading should not be a chore! This group primarily reads young adult literature (who cares what our age is!), with a sprinkle of chick lit and best-selling fiction.

I selfishly want this club to be about FUN reading for ME, so yes, this group will focus on mainly young adult literature and all its fabulous sub genres - paranormal, mystery, fantasy, romance, sci-fi, and whatever else catches our eye. Occasionally we'll read best-selling fiction and chick lit (I'd say maybe 25% of the time). Basically, this book club is all about fun easy reads as the other club I'm in tends to be on the more serious side (historical fiction, non-fiction, etc.) I am personally striving to find those can-not-put-down-stay-up-all-night-OMG books!

I'm really hoping this book club thrives, and to do so, it needs active participants. We'll be selecting (by poll vote) a book to read each month and Denver locals will have monthly meetings (read: hang out, drink wine, discuss the book, eat chocolate, have girl talk, and drink more wine). If you're an out-of-towner, you are very much welcome! The books will be discussed online through discussion boards on the group's page, and depending on how many there are of us, we could try Skype to tie everyone together!

If you are not interested in the YA genre, or don't expect you'll be able to participate on a regular basis (life happens - work, kids, family stuff - so missing out on a couple of books is not a big deal), please do not join. I hate saying that... but I really rather keep it small than to have a huge group with only a few participants. We officially begin in April, the poll for book selection goes up this Wednesday (April 16th), and voting will end on Saturday. I'm trying to give everyone enough time to get their hands on a copy of the book. In the future I'll try to have books selected a month beforehand.

Anyhoo! Friends, let me know if you're interested.

Reuse It: Straws

2011-03-12T12:34:00.003-07:00

photo: reuseit.com

I finally, FINALLY, purchased a set of glass straws from reuseit.com. I've been wanting to get some for quite a while and now I will have my very own (I really have no idea why I didn't buy them sooner). I'm not a girl that needs a straw, but I would like to start using them to prevent staining my teeth with coffee and tea.

I know I'm a dork but I'm sooooo excited for these to arrive! I ordered the Glass Dharma set of 3 Glass Straws (9.5 mm) with Brush.

photo: reuseit.com (this picture is of the larger 12 mm size)

Eeeeeee! And... I found a coupon code (NEWCUST1, I heart retailmenot.com) to get this workhorse reusable bag FREE.

photo: reuseit.com

Now I'm on a hunt for a case or cozy (I didn't like the one they had) to carry one of the glass straws in my purse. Any chance any of you peeps know of one?

Alrighty, just had to share! I'm not paid by Glass Dharma or reuseit.com, but I think you should hurry over and get some too... because really, gazillions of plastic disposable straws in our landfills is just sad. I'm happy to eliminate another plastic item in my life.

Catch up: Jan and Feb

2011-03-03T14:30:00.003-07:00

Well helloooooooo! I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. I'm so behind in the blogging world - with posting and reading others blogs! I really have no idea where January and February went... but here's my attempt to catch up.

January:

The first week in January I began consulting and traveled to Boston to meet my client and get to know the company. Don't worry, I'm not moving! I get to work from home in my lounge wear aka work PJs :). In the same week I started my own Limited Liability Company while hanging out with great, supportive friends in NH. I quickly learned that there are great free tools for small business owners out there. I could probably do an entire blog post on them... but I'll just point you to my previous post on dropbox.com, and tell you that freshbooks.com ROCKS. Through Freshbooks I can track my time by project and task, create and send invoices, customize it with my logo, and look professional to my clients... for FREE. Oh yeah, and there's an app for it too.

I also started volunteering with a couple of local non-profits. I have been looking for organizations to get involved with since I moved here, and then when I finally figured out what I wanted to do they coincided with me going back to work. Not complaining! I just think it's funny. I serve on a committee for one and donate manual labor to the other (I know I'm being vague but I'm a little paranoid about sharing details publicly). I'll just say I happily shovel manure for the good of the kids. Ha!

February:

February wasn't quite as exciting (as far as big changes), but it just flew by... it was a whirl of work, celebrating 8 years of being with John, hanging out with friends, and ended with my friend H and family visiting us. We had a full house this past weekend and I loved it! Unfortunately I've been sick so I wasn't able to do snowshoeing/hiking as planned... but we fit in some CO must-dos and ate yummy food!

I think that pretty much sums up the past couple months. Ooh, I have been reading a ton lately, if you're interested you can find me on goodreads, here. I don't think I've read this much since I was a kid!

Hope 2011 is treating you well so far!

The Frontier is Everywhere

2011-01-16T13:23:00.003-07:00

I loved this "unofficial" NASA promotional video. Narrated by Carl Sagan... Beautiful!

Dropbox ROCKS!

2011-01-10T16:11:00.002-07:00

I have a new - must have/rocks my world/can't live without it - rave that I have to share with you.

Dropbox has seriously saved me this past week while traveling for consulting work. I'm traveling with my nifty new 11" Macbook Air, which has worked perfectly expect it has limited storage space. Enter dropbox... I use it like a server by keeping all my document files (also works for pictures, music, whatever) on it so I can access anything, anywhere. A free, yes FREE profile gets you 2 GB of secure space! It constantly syncs itself so I always have the latest file on my laptop, iMac, and iPhone. PLUS, you can login to your Dropbox profile from any computer with an internet connection!

Check it out! Did I mention you get 2 GB free?

In case anyone is wondering, I'm not getting paid by Dropbox to rave about them. However, if you sign up through one of my links I do get more space, um free! :) So... go sign up and then spread the word so you can get more space too!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Goodbye 2010, hellooooo 2011! I'm so pumped for Twenty Eleven. It's going to be a ~~good~~ ~~great~~ fantastic year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Hikes To Date in CO

2010-12-31T14:57:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't figured this out yet... I'm a dork. I like to track things, like where I've hiked/snowshoed and camped in Colorado. Here's my HTD (Hike To Date) map:

Click picture to enlarge...

I think the icons are pretty self-explanatory, but here's the rundown:

Legend

Hikers - Hiked

Snowflake - Snowshoed

Tent - Camped

Blue dots - peaks climbed

Red dots - 14ers climbed

I hope to add a ton more icons in 2011!

2010 Highlights

2010-12-31T13:59:00.003-07:00

Whew. 2010 has been a whirlwind of a year, and I just know that 2011 is going to be even better! Here are some highlights from 2010, in no particular order:

Hiked a 14er - Mt. Bierstadt
Trip to Florida
Road trip to Santa Fe, NM
Trip to New Hampshire and Maine
Celebrated the 4th of July in Jackson Hole, WY
Canada Trip - Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! Ontario, Montreal, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
Car Camping
Hiking!
Slacker Half Marathon
Wilderness Trekking School
Visiting friends and family :)
4 seasons in Colorado!
Broke in my snowshoes
Having a white Christmas in Georgia, the first since 1882!

Happy New Year!

Favorite Books Read in 2010

2010-12-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

I thought it'd be fun to list and share the books I enjoyed reading the most in 2010:

Amazon.com Widgets

What were your favorites? Leave your list in the comments (hint hint), or better yet, blog about it and link it here!

Reading: The Host

2010-12-21T16:18:00.003-07:00

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Here is goodreads.com description/intro to the book:

"Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time."

I have to agree with other reviewers when they say this is Stephenie Meyer's real masterpiece. The Host is nothing like the Twilight Series (which I loved) and is better written, so people that didn't like Twilight may really like The Host. I'll be honest and say that the first 1/4 of the book bored me silly, but I do think most of it was necessary to set up the rest of the book. It was nothing like I expected, and I was surprised (like I was with Twilight) that I really enjoyed a book about aliens! There's not too much sci-fi, so you don't need to be a sci-fi fan to enjoy this book.

View all my reviews

Getting into the Spirit

2010-12-20T22:07:00.004-07:00

I've been in denial about how quickly Christmas is approaching... Maybe it's because we didn't put up a tree this year since we'll be visiting family.

Koda picked her candy cane that Grandma (John's mom) gave her last Christmas out of her toy basket and went to town. It was then that it hit me... Christmas is this week!

I sent this picture to her Grandma,

I'm super excited to see my family in a couple of days. I plan to post closer to Christmas, but just in case... I want to wish you a wonderful holiday!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hike: Chief Mountain

2010-12-19T13:46:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend J took me on one of her favorite hikes, Chief Mountain. We were planning to go snowshoeing but unfortunately there wasn't enough snow for snowshoes. Micro-spikes would have been great to have, and I regretted that I didn't have my own pair. So... a few days later I gave REI more of my money and bought Kahtoolas which were highly recommended to me by several people. I can't wait to break them in :).

Chief Mountain with its peak at 11,709' is a fairly easy, though steep, hike. The short distance classifies this as easy, but I'd call the trail moderate. The trail is 3 miles round trip, with a gain of 1,100' in 1.5 miles. We were rewarded with spectacular views for being a measly foothill peak! I think this is my new favorite trail to take out of town visitors :). That is, if I can find the unmarked trail on my own. The trailhead for Chief Mountain is ~11 miles west of Bergen Park on Squaw Pass Road... there's a wide shoulder pull off across from an abandoned ski area below.

We could definitely feel the altitude but we took short breaks to catch our breath and take pictures. It was really cold and windy at the top so we didn't stay long. In fact we did an about face and immediately headed back down! Here are some pictures from our hike, it was a bummer that the clouds hid most of the peaks.

We had a great time, I know I'll be going back again and again during different parts of the year.

Craft: Painting Pottery

2010-12-15T11:49:00.007-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend K and I went to one of those places where you pick out a piece of pottery, paint it, and then they fire it for you. We got great coupons through Groupon, so it was a fun, cheap (after coupon) thing to do together. We had so much fun, but it was also kind of stressful for me considering I just hand drew and painted the snowman on my plate (picture below). I'm a perfectionist. I prefer a template and to paint by numbers please. I was going from an example that the store had on display... but I really wanted to ask the person who worked there if she'd draw my snowman for me but I was able to restrain myself.

We spent 4+ hours in the studio. K was all prepared and knew she wanted a plate and even had a picture of the snowmen she wanted to paint! While I on the other hand had no ideas. I think the first hour was spent figuring out what piece of pottery we wanted, and then paint colors. Plate or mug? Platter or ornament? The rest of the time we spent drawing out our picture first, and then painting (or rather staining)... it takes 3 coats to get a solid color so that took a while. Here's a picture of my plate after I painted everything 3 times, and then outlined in black. Augh, the outlining... I thought I would pull my hair out!

Freshly Painted

I took the above picture with my iPhone at the studio, and when I showed it to my husband when I got home it dawned on me that my snowman only has one arm! Hahahaaa! So, I'm thinking his other hand is in his pocket, or he only pulls out his arms when he needs them :). K says he's picking a wedgie... Anyway, a week later our plates were all fired and ready to be picked up from the studio. Here's a picture of our finished plates together. Sorry for the crappy picture. I love how K's turned out and all the details! She was a lot braver than me :).

Finished Plates!

I love my plate, and all its imperfections. It's a work of love. I briefly considered giving it as a gift, but I just couldn't do it. Not this one anyway. I mean, who would love my one-armed snowman as much as me?

Natural Silver Cleaner

2010-12-14T16:38:00.002-07:00

Last week I was looking through my jewelry and got really frustrated by how my silver jewelry is so tarnished. My body does not like silver, it doesn't take long for me to tarnish it so I try to avoid it for the most part. Of course, I've collected some pieces I really like over the years. I remembered seeing a natural silver cleaner posted on Gorgeously Green's YouTube page and decided to give it a try - it's all natural and CHEAP! I had great results!

Here's how you do it:

Collect your silver jewelry (or actually anything silver you want to clean)
Cover a shallow dish with aluminum foil and sprinkle a generous layer of baking soda
Place jewelry or whatever in the dish and sprinkle again with baking soda, here's a picture of my first batch:
Pour boiling water into dish until items are covered
Let sit for 15-20 minutes
Remove jewelry and wipe with microfiber cloth (be careful of hot water)

Here's the video from Gorgeously Green. This is a YouTube channel I check regularly for ideas, from everything on how to make natural cleaners and ways to use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect my cutting boards. I also have her book which I recommend, Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life.

Give it a try!

Reading: The Hunger Games

2010-12-08T10:56:00.005-07:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my. I just finished this book and now I want to go out and buy the second one. Now. I don't think I can wait till it comes in at the library. I couldn't put it down, and stayed up into the wee morning hours reading the past 2 nights.

I was appalled at first by the premise of the book - how the government puts on a game show where kids are chosen as tributes by drawing names out of a bowl. The tributes are then put in an arena and forced to hunt each other down and be the last survivor on live television. Honestly, I didn't think I would like it or want to finish. I loved it. I'm so glad I was curious enough to know what all the fuss was about and requested it from the library.

The Hunger Games is well written with both lovable and despicable characters. It's a story of survival, love, and friendship. I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed a book so much! I highly recommend this book, though I think it more suitable for older teens and adults. This is not a children's book!

View all my reviews

Pet Peeve: Unnecessary Packaging

2010-12-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

I have to vent. If you don't want to hear another rant on plastic, move on. It's OK, I understand.

Last weekend I finally got a membership to Costco. I spent 3 hours on Sunday browsing the store. I was surprised by the selection of organic foods, and eco-friendly products. However, some of the packaging just killed me. Really Costco, is it necessary to package your fruits and vegetables in plastic? Seriously? I was so angry, I didn't buy apples... even though they had a great selection and good prices. Buying in bulk is a great way reduce packaging, I'm all for it... and then I see this and it makes me want to scream.

I was also disappointed that I bought a bag of frozen chicken breasts, to get home and realize that each breast was individually wrapped. :(

So here I am, trying to figure out how I can convince Costco (and other retailers) that they don't need to package their apples in plastic. For now, I will just not buy them. Next time you see something ridiculously packaged, please consider a different brand, or store to purchase such items.

OK, stepping off my soap box.

Snapshot Wednesday

2010-12-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

Things have been quiet around here... I'm in the middle of a couple of projects right now that I'd like to post about but want to wait until they're finished. So, here's some pictures I took of Koda last week with my iPhone :).

She was trying to tell me she was hungry. Hungry eyes!

My 5: Thanksgiving 2010 Edition

2010-11-25T14:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We are getting ready to go have dinner with extended family. John and I are on dessert duty today so I made Paula Dean's Pumpkin Pie, and John made his family's 60 Second Chocolate Moose Pie and homemade Baileys. Mmmm I can't wait to get my eat'n on... I worked out not once but twice today in preparation for our desserts! Hahaaa... I worked out 30 minutes before settling down with coffee in front of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and then snuck in 25 more minutes once the pumpkin pie was in the oven.

My 5: Thanksgiving 2010 Edition:

Family - immediate and extended, my fabulous in-laws, and the friends I choose as family :).
Koda Bear of course. She never fails to brighten my day with just a look and her fishy dance.
Living in Colorado. I've had my challenges being unemployed, but really it's OK. Just about every time John and I are in the car together, or hiking, or doing whatever we look at each other and say - "we LIVE here!"
My health. After watching both episodes of Biggest Loser this week (which both made me cry), I'm so thankful that John and I have our health and are able to do activities we enjoy here in Colorado. The episodes were just a reminder that it's never too late to change your life, to do things you never dreamed possible. The body is an amazing thing!
The internet. I know, weird choice... but I've met really great girl friends through meetup.com this year. I never would have guessed I'd meet true friends this way, but I'm so thankful I did! For more info, check out my previous post about Meetup here.

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Workout Playlist

2010-11-23T15:41:00.002-07:00

Holy crow! Where has this month gone? I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I need to post an update... I'll just have to catch up for the whole month :). For now, I'm just curious to know what you listen to while running or working out. I haven't run in a while. My excuses? My ankle. The icy paths. Whatever. I have been putting our Free Motion Elliptical to use though! I thought I'd share my playlist in hope you'd share yours with me. This is my new and improved list. I had to say goodbye (temporarily) to SexyBack, Lose Yourself, Pink, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and my others standbys... I needed to shake things up. So here it is:

I've really liked this list on shuffle even though it still has some of my old playlist songs. Mumford & Sons and Muse are new additions. Every time Uprising comes on it makes me grin and I want to clap-clap with every other beat... What gets you going? I'm still looking for new songs to add.

Meal Planning = Fun?

2010-11-08T21:16:00.007-07:00

Looky at what I made today! I happened to stumble upon some meal plan templates during my blog hopping today (I wasn't looking for one), and five minutes later I had my very own.

I love it. I want a little easel to hold this... and maybe a different frame, but hey, this is a frame we had stashed in the basement. Literally, I downloaded the template for free here, printed it, grabbed the frame, and put it together in five minutes or less. I love LOVE that with the template behind the glass I can write my meal plan on it with dry erase markers.

I had to run to the Target anyway so I stopped in the home office section and found these beauties.

Is it weird that when I saw this package of 8 double sided dry erase markers in 16 colors that I clapped my hands with glee? Yes? Oh.

I'm OK with that.

We were pretty good about eating meals at home for a while, but slowly we've fallen back into old habits of eating out 3-4 meals a week. We realized that we're eating out with friends on Friday and Saturday nights, then usually going out or picking up take out once during the week, and then there is the occasional lunch. It doesn't sound so bad, but we all know eating at home is healthier, saves money, and the food is just better (we know where it comes from). My goal is to have a plan for dinners each night of the week, and fill out my meal plan each Sunday. Doing this should save me a ton of time because I will be more prepared with a solid list to go to the grocery store each week (I heart my Grocery iQ app). Also, it will save me the stress and time spent trying to decide each day what I'm going to cook for dinner with the ingredients we have, or having to run to the store again. Now the challenging part will be keeping it up... but I have high hopes. The best part about meal planning is that it will help me be more creative with meals and trying new recipes. Why haven't I done this before? Well, I have half heartedly... meal planning is not a new concept, I just feel like I finally have my act together!

So now that I'm all set up, here is this week's plan (I've linked recipes if I found them online):

Monday: Fillet Mignon wrapped in bacon with roasted asparagus and couscous (today is a special occasion, we don't have fillets often)
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken with brown Jasmine Rice and salad
Wednesday: Slow Cooker Green Chili Pork Tacos
Thursday: Left over Baked Ravioli (defrosted) with salad
Friday: PIZZA, my go-to wheat pizza dough is here
Saturday: Eat out, or leftover tacos
Sunday: Chili with Pumpkin Cornbread. I'm going to re-attempt this chili...

I'm pretty excited! I should have plenty of leftovers for lunches and to freeze. I may start blogging my meal plans each week... hmm, we'll see. So, are you a planner? What's on your menu this week? Really, I want to know!

This post is linked up to these link parties:
Just a Girl's Show and Share Day

Review: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

2010-11-07T22:47:00.011-07:00

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Nine was my book club's selection for September. To be honest, I'm so glad to have finally finished this book. I feel like I should, but I just don't have much interest in politics. At times this book was torture to make myself read, but I did find some parts interesting. Overall, I'm glad I read (or rather listened) to this book as it gave insight into how the justices are selected, and what goes on behind the law. I do have to say that I did not think that this was written impartially (even if he tried), and Toobin made his agenda clear which put me off about 2/3 through.

(Posted through www.goodreads.com)

Revamping Our Dinner Menu

2010-11-07T16:25:00.009-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I felt like boycotting cooking. I was so tired of our regular go-to recipes that I desperately asked for easy recipe suggestions through my facebook status. I only got a couple of suggestions, unfortunately. So I began a search on my favorite cooking (and other life stuff) blog, The Pioneer Woman and her recipe site Tasty Kitchen, and I found some keepers! Here are the ones I've tried so far that I recommend:

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken by wasntmesb. We really liked this dish, the sauce is Yum-O. I served it over brown Jasmine Rice with sweat peas. I'll definitely be making this again.

Baked Raviolli by Amy Lynn

Slow Cooker Green Chili Pork Tacos by mcmom are next on my list from Tasty Kitchen, I can't wait to try these! I know, not quite a recommendation since I haven't made them yet, but they seem to be a TK user favorite.

Last week Jessica Seinfeld was on Oprah for the release of her latest cook book and shared some recipes. The one that stood out to me as one I wanted to try was her Crock Pot Lasagna. I had never heard of making lasagna in a crock pot before! I made this last week for guests and it was a hit. I did change up this recipe a bit.. I added beef, used less ricotta, used only 1 heaping Tbsp of oregano (instead of two, since the comments said 2 was too much), halved the salt, and used less red pepper - though I think next time I'd use the full amount.

Have you tried a new recipe lately? If you have recommendations please put them in the comments! I'm always looking for good, easy, yummy recipes... and if they are quick AND easy, then that's even better :).

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T12:11:00.001-06:00

Happy Halloween! I'm so behind... I still need to run to the store to get candy to hand out tonight, and a strand of halloween lights. Our porch light is not next to our door, but on the other side of the overhang (does that make sense?) so our doorway is always dark. I'm hoping I can find cute lights to hang around our front door!

Last weekend we had some friends over to carve pumpkins and have a game night. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures. I mulled some wine and I think it was a hit - I had to make more!

I'd definitely make this again, but I think I'd cut the sugar in half. Here is the recipe, which I got from here.

Ingredients:

2 bottles dry red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 3 oranges)
2 more oranges (one to float on top, and one for garnish wedges)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves

Directions:
Serves 6-8... sort of... it really depends if you want your guests to have a taste, or a bunch. I ended up doubling this recipe.

Squeeze the oranges to get 1 cup of juice. I'm sure you could get away with using store-bought juice, but the pulp floating around is what's kind of neat about mulled wine; it's more rustic this way. And oranges are in season.

Pour in the wine, add orange juice, stir in the sugar, and add the ground spices. Float the cinnamon sticks and whole cloves on top. Slice one of the oranges in rings, and float the rings on top.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 4. You want the wine to get as hot as a traditional hot beverage. Ladle into mugs, and serve with a fresh orange wedge. When serving, leave the lid off and the crockpot on "low."

Our carved pumpkins

We had fun carving pumpkins, fishing out the pumpkin seeds (which I totally ruined by making them WAY too salty), and laughing at each other's carving faces. Apparently carving a pumpkin is serious business. No eye blinking!

OK, I better get going before all the good candy is gone. Have a great Halloween night! I leave you with my favorite Halloween song (in my most evil scientist voice), the Monster Mash.

I'm a Coloradan

2010-10-26T08:42:00.046-06:00

Peeps, it's official, finally! I can call myself a true resident of Colorado.

I have...

... lived here for 365 days

... a Colorado drivers license with my mug on it

... the green and white mountain license plate

... a ski pass, also with my mug on it

... enjoyed all 4 seasons here

And gosh darn it, I've hiked a 14er! :)

Here are a few fun facts about Colorado (I got these from a page I tore out of a local magazine a while ago, sorry, but I don't remember the source):

Denver has the largest city park system in the nation with 205 parks in City limits and 20,000 acres of parks in the nearby mountains.
The 13th step of the state capital building in Denver is exactly 1 mile high above sea level.
Colfax Avenue in Denver is the longest continuous street in America.
Katherine Lee Bates wrote "America the Beautiful" after being inspired by the view from Pike's Peak.
The highest suspension bridge in the world is over the Royal Gorge Bridge near Canyon City, it spans the Arkansas River at a height of 1,053 ft.
Colorado has more microbreweries per capita than any other state.
Colorado has an estimated 54 peaks poking at 14,000 feet above sea level.

Random Update

2010-10-20T13:37:00.001-06:00

Happy Hump Day!

Well, I was hoping to keep blog posts a regular thing... but between being sick and not having much to post about this blog has been neglected recently. AND, I failed to blog about water for Blog Action Day 2010. Oops. I did see that Kate from Twenty-Six 2 Life did a great blog post for BAD, check it out here!

Not much is going on here... we had Survival Field Day for Wilderness Trekking School last weekend which was fun. We lit all kinds of things on fire (various fire starters, lint, steel wool, and stuff doused with Purell as an accelerant) and set up emergency shelters. I learned that the cheap-o space blankets are not what I want to rely on if I have to bivy under stressful circumstances - while it's storming, cold, or if I'm injured. They are pretty much aluminum foil and are not durable, as in, it would not hold up to a hail storm. As soon as we got home, John and I invested in real bivies from REI. I plan to post about WTS soon, it may end up being one big post we'll see.

What else... We've been hanging out with friends eating lots of Thai and Sushi - good times! Ooh, I just got a Soft Hea®t Luxury Micro-Fleece Electric Heated Warming Blanket for our bed and it is AWESOME. It's not your mother's electric blanket... it's soft, and the wires are nearly invisible. Yeah... you know when I'm this excited about a blanket and climbing into warm sheets, that there isn't much going on. :)

This weekend we're having a few friends over to carve pumpkins and have a game night. It should be really fun... I want to keep it casual so we're having grilled cheese (on homemade bread) with various toppings, tomato soup, mulled wine, pumpkin dip... and whatever my peeps decide to bring. I can't wait! Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures.

Here's a random fall picture for you... the view from my "office".

Hope you're having a great week!

Join in on B.A.D. 2010: Water

2010-10-14T10:43:00.002-06:00

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15th that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Please join the global discussion on water, tomorrow October 15th.

One Lucky Earring

2010-10-08T16:30:00.001-06:00

Let me tell you a story of an earring...

A little dirty, but in perfect condition!

Five months ago, we took a trip to NH to visit some dear friends of mine, for a visit and a wedding. I took my sapphire earrings with me, the ones John gave me on our first Christmas being married. I had them packed in a jewelry roll, attached to one of those earring holder thingamajigs inside. I thought they were safe. Until I realized there was only one there, with just the backing of the other staring at me.

I panicked. I had that feeling where first you freeze, then your insides melt into queasiness. Getting jewelry from the hubs is a rare thing as it is (they're just rocks he says), and this would not help my case. Well, naturally, I tried to retrace where the jewelry roll had been since it was packed... We went to the bachelorette party pretty much right after I got off the plane. We stopped at the house just long enough to change, and I took my make-up bag and jewelry with me to finish getting ready in the car. This means the earring could have been anywhere from inside my carry-on where it was packed, to the door to the garage, the garage, the driveway, the car, and the gravel parking lot in Boston. This was very sobering... I realized the earring was gone when we got back from the party at two in the morning. Nevertheless, my BFF and I were out in the driveway with flashlights, and searching the car in the middle of the night. No luck. The next morning we resumed the search, crawling around the carpeted floor with a flashlight, scouring the driveway and inside the car. We all kept looking for it the rest of the week, but it never turned up.

A few weeks ago I got a text from T, telling me that her husband found the earring while cleaning! Apparently it was stuck in the runner carpet by the door to the garage. The amazing part is that the carpet had been vacuumed and even shampooed since we were there! I still can't believe he found it, even now after they mailed it back to me, and I have the pair together again. It needs to be cleaned, but otherwise the earring is in perfect condition. Thanks T & G!

Now that is what I call a lucky earring.

Wednesday Randomness

2010-10-06T13:20:00.000-06:00

Mumford & Sons. I love them. They are from the UK. They are my new favorite band. I had no idea who they were until John and I were sitting in the car last week and heard a song on the radio we both really liked. John had me shazam it, and that's how we learned about the song Little Lion Man, that led me to discover Mumford & Sons. Seriously, I liked it so much, I bought the song from iTunes while riding in the car (I wasn't driving!). Here's the video for Little Lion Man... Warning: this isn't the "clean version" there are swear words.

I am loving the fall weather! I noticed today that I can open the blinds during the day and the house doesn't spike to a bagillion degrees. I love how much natural light our house gets, but it gets roasting in here in the summer with all the windows. It's nice the rest of the year though, and helps keeps the house warm in the winter - so I won't complain.
Did you know that one in fourteen people in the world have a facebook account? It's true peeps. Isn't that crazy? 1 in 14 peeps, in the WORLD.
I think it'd be awesome to work in a think tank for Apple, Google, or facebook. I don't want to write code, I just want to think cool stuff up and help implement the ideas.

Hike: Maroon Bells

2010-10-05T15:33:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we took a scenic drive to Aspen to see the Maroon Bells Scenic Wilderness Area in all it's fall beauty. Unfortunately for us, it was hazy so we didn't get clear pictures of the peaks against a bright blue sky like we were hoping... though it did clear up a bit by mid-afternoon. I think I got a couple of good pictures. John took his DSLR but of course, I haven't seen those pictures yet. These were taken with my point and shoot.

We hiked the Scenic Loop, and parts of the Maroon Creek and Crater Lake trails. We had a really relaxing day just enjoying fall in Colorado. On the way back we made Independence Pass part of our route. It was a beautiful drive (there and back), and we can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

When we were hiking the scenic loop, going through an Aspen grove, I couldn't help but take this little video clip of the "raining" leaves...

What are you doing to celebrate fall? Going apple picking, or to a pumpkin patch? A festival?

Got Talus?

2010-10-03T22:06:00.000-06:00

The other day, I posted about our class hike in Eldorado Canyon State Park. Well, when we were at Maroon Bells, I saw this slope and snapped a quick shot so I could show you an example. This is a slope of talus. Boulders are bigger, scree is smaller and more gravelesque (yes, I just made that word up). I am happy to say that we did not climb up this hill.

I'm still sorting through my pictures that I took at Maroon Bells... but here's Koda wishing you a happy October too.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Happy October!

2010-10-01T16:45:00.002-06:00

We celebrated the 1st of October in Aspen, Colorado enjoying the view of Maroon Bells and the fall foliage.

We hiked the scenic loop and parts of other nearby trails. I hope we got some good pictures! More to come...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hike: Rattlesnake Gulch Trail

2010-09-30T19:31:00.001-06:00

Last weekend we hiked in Eldorado Canyon State Park along the Rattlesnake Gulch Trail, a moderately difficult trail that goes up to the Crags Hotel ruins, and on to the loop at the top for a total of 3.6 miles RT. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures, and somehow managed to not take a picture of the continental divide at the top.

This was a class hike (which is a whole other post), so we had to stop a lot to spend some time practicing skills. For instance, as a side trip (not part of the trail), we scrambled up a boulder field, crossed over it (boulders and talus which all moved), and then went down the scree... Some people do this for fun and call it "screeing". Basically, you are "screeing" by balancing on your feet and letting the loose scree take you down the rock slope. The key as we learned, is to relax and just go with the flow of rock. Honestly, if I wasn't so worried about my ankle the entire time, I may have enjoyed it more... as I kinda like climbing boulders. But really, I think I learned enough about going down scree to know that I want to avoid it as much as possible. The purpose of the exercise was to get familiar with this type of terrain, and gain some confidence. This is common terrain when climbing mountains above tree line (like 13ers and 14ers). I really, really wish I had pictures of the boulder field and scree we went down to show you. It was pretty impressive I think :).

You can see a little of the boulder field at the bottom of this picture

We also practiced finding our location on a topographic map by doing triangulation with our compasses. I think I'm actually better at finding myself on the map by just using sight, than using compass bearings. But I was able to get myself "on the dime", in other words... close enough. The engineer in me wanted to be able to mark my precise spot. Oh well, it was easy enough to recognize my actual location from the plotted bearings, and I can see myself using this as a sanity check.

View from the loop at the top, looking East toward Boulder

Eldorado Canyon State Park is a beautiful area, I'd really like to go back and spend some time there.

Movie: Life As We Know It

2010-09-30T13:42:00.003-06:00

Image by Warner Bros

Last night, I had the opportunity to see a sneak peak of the movie Life As We Know It. It was a really good, cute movie, and did I mention the ticket was free? Considering movie prices are $9 around here, I call this a SCORE! Never mind that I spent as much on popcorn and a bottle of water...

LAWKI is about two single people that become guardians for their mutual best friends' daughter after they die in an accident. This movie made me laugh a lot, and it also made me cry just a little. I have to say it was predictable, but that wasn't a bad thing for me. I really enjoyed it, and recommend this movie! So girls, grab your girlfriends and go. Heck, I think it's funny enough that the guys would like it too... or at least not hate it :). It comes out in theaters October 8th.

I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars.

For the Love of Reading

2010-09-29T12:06:00.000-06:00

This year, I decided to embrace my preference to read young adult (YA) fiction. I don't care if you book snobs look down on me. I enjoy reading them, and gosh darn it, I'm going to read what I want :). I've easily increased my reading tenfold. Instead of trudging through some book media/society thinks I should read that just puts me to sleep at night, I fly through books now. Really, I read all sorts of books - from children/teen/YA to best selling fiction, from mysteries to select pieces of non-fiction - but my favorite genre right now is YA. Maybe this is a phase, who knows. I haven't read this much since before college. I realize this is mostly because I'm not working right now, but hey, I'll take it!

This is what I call a successful trip to the library:

[Note: links go to book's page on goodreads.com which has description and reviews, images are linked to Amazon.]

First of all the library actually had two books that I was looking for, the most important being my neighborhood book club book for October - 31 Bond Street, by Ellen Horan. Now I don't have to read the pdf version on my monitor. I downloaded the ebook from the library but it was DRM protected so I couldn't put it on my Kindle (at least not legally) - boo. I'm pretty excited about this book. It's a mystery, and historical fiction based upon some factual information. It's about the murder of Dr. Harvey Burdell, which was supposedly one of the biggest news stories in the United States before the Civil War.

The library also had The Host, by Stephenie Meyer, though only the audio version. I've had The Host on my "to read" list for a while. The others I randomly picked up as I scanned the shelves. If I see an audiobook I want to read/listen to sometime in the future sitting on the shelf, I grab it. Mainly because the likelihood of it being there when I'm ready for it is usually slim. I just upload them to my computer and save them for a later date. Some people do not like audiobooks, they just don't like being read to... for me, I see it as another way to engross myself in a story. I listen to them while working out, showering and getting ready for the day, cleaning the house, doing dishes, and while driving. Though I admit, not all of the people chosen to narrate the books are created equal. I've heard some really, really bad ones, and some truly great ones.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld is a good example of a book I'll eventually read, but not ready for yet. It's the 4th book in the Uglies series, though I've only read the first book so far, Uglies. I found it to be a pretty interesting sci-fi, set in the future. Basically, everyone is required to get plastic surgery at age 16 to transition from an "ugly" to a "pretty" in order for everyone to have an even playing field... and to maintain peace. However in the process, your personality is also altered. It was a fun read with just the right amounts of action, suspense, comedy, and romance. It's followed by Pretties, Specials, and then Extras.

All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab looked familiar from my browsing on goodreads.com. So I looked it up on my goodreads app while at the library and it got pretty good reviews, so home it went with me.

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott was a random selection, and now that I read some of the reviews I think I'm going to really like the main character.

If interested, you can connect with me on goodreads: www.goodreads.com/newshadeofgreen.

Little Touches of Fall

2010-09-28T17:50:00.003-06:00

It's officially fall, and I'm disappointed that our A/C kicked on this afternoon. It's hot here for late September, in the high 80s... what the heck CO? It's OK. I'm still grateful it's not in the 90s! Besides, I know cooler weather is coming and I love that it's in the low 50s at night.

Last weekend I started putting out the few fall decorations I have, and picked up few things from Hobby Lobby. These little wooden pumpkins were 50% off, making them like $1.50 or $2 each. I love them grouped together on our mantle. I also picked up some dried sticks, wheat, and grasses to do something with... I'm still not sure I'm happy with the arrangement but I'm trying not to mess with them so much because they are so brittle. Suggestions? Like or dislike?

I couldn't help but splurge and pick up these mums at Whole Foods today. I love their rusty color and they look great in our foyer alcove that's been neglected since the spring flowers stopped blooming (previous post about those here), or rather *cough* died from John over watering them while I was out of town.

I have a few other fall touches scattered around the house, but they aren't really picture worthy (or really I didn't think to take a picture of them). I'm just really enjoying fall here. A couple of weeks ago we drove up through Beaver Creek and Vail, and up Mt. Evans to show my grandparents the scenery and see the bursts of golden Aspens. Here's a picture from mid-way up Mt. Evans:

If things work out my way, we'll be going up to Aspen this weekend to see Maroon Bells with the Aspens at their peak in color :).

Do you go crazy decorating your home for fall? Or do you focus on Halloween and put spooky things around the house? I couldn't believe that Hobby Lobby already had Christmas stuff on display. Seriously, can't we at least get through Halloween first?

I'm linking up to Hooked on House's fall decorating party.

Wannabe Runner

2010-09-24T14:15:00.001-06:00

When I woke up this morning, I laid in bed trying to decide wether to close my eyes and go back to sleep, or get up and go for a run. I've been out of the habit of running for a while, since I rolled my ankle hiking Mt. Bierstadt. It's hard to get back to the point where it's easy to get up and go. Or well, to the point that it's easier to get out of bed to go running. I had to give myself a pep talk, or rather debate with myself. It went something like this...

You know you want to run a 5K before the end of the year...

But I was sleeping so well, I could get at least another half hour...

You'll sleep better tonight if you run this morning.

Maybe.

You know you'll feel great the rest of the day if you go.

The bedroom is cold, it'll be colder outside.

Perfect temperature for running!

Hmph.

You can wear your Slacker long sleeve shirt!

Great, I probably won't be able to fall back asleep now.

Your Nike+ mini (screen saver) will stop whining.

Who cares, I'm deleting the stupid Nike+ mini

It will be awesomeness, the weather is perfect.

You won't meet your goals if you stay here.

Ugh. OK.

So, I did the hardest part and got up and got dressed. I ran. I didn't get a runner's high like I did last time, but it was a good run. It was the longest I've run in over a year - 25 minutes of running (or jogging depending on how you define it) straight. I feel good about it :). I'm so glad I got my butt in gear this morning and just DID IT.

When I went to sync up my iPhone with Nike+ afterwards, I saw this video posted on my friend's wall on facebook. I'm still thinking about it hours later, so I thought I'd share it here.

Talk about inspiring! The body is such an amazing thing. I love watching people learn this for themselves. Learn that they can do ANYTHING with determination. You can also check out his blog, Ben Does Life.

I'm a wannabe runner.

I couldn't run a mile until I was 29 years old. I never had the desire to.... and when I was younger I'd laugh at the idea of people running to run, and not because they were being chased. I have friends that are runners, and I'm not sure how it happened but they must have rubbed off on me. Or maybe I just wanted to defy turning 30, but I got the bug. I completed the Couch to 5K (C25K) training program, and then I ran my first 5K in January of 2008.

I'd like to say that I've been an avid runner ever since, but unfortunately, no. Though I had fallen in love with running, which for me become a therapy of sorts... I had some issues with my right knee after starting the One Hour Runner program, which I started because I wanted to run a faster 5K, and eventually a 10K. However, every time I hit about 4 miles, something funky happened to my knee and it made me back off... Then summer came with temperatures in the 90s/100s, I found some more excuses, and I pretty much stopped running altogether except for the occasional short run. I missed it. Really missed it. Then we moved to Colorado, and being so close to trails, I was excited to get back into running again. I wanted to try to strengthen up my knee, and go to a doctor if necessary to figure it out.

I thought I was gonna die on my first run. My heart was going to burst out of my chest. Darn altitude. Eventually I decided I should just re-do the C25K program and gradually work back up to running. It was all going great, and I was scoping out my next 5K when I rolled my ankle about a month ago. That was a huge bummer. I have a weak right ankle (which is most likely related to the knee issue I have), but it had been doing so well for a long time.

Earlier this week I returned to the program since I felt more confident about my ankle. I started where I left off, by repeating week 6 day 2 and was shocked by how awesome I felt. First of all I ran further (which means faster) than I had the last time, and I didn't feel like I was dying, in fact, I felt great! This was shocking to me since a) I hadn't ran in almost a month, and b) I had been expecting to struggle since I'd heard (from multiple sources) that stopping for more than a week and starting again, at altitude, you have to adjust again. All I can think of is that my hiking has kept me in better shape than I had thought. I have been hiking at around 8-10,000 ft so I'm guessing it helped keep me in some sort of condition, making running at ~5,500 ft not as difficult as it would have been... had I done nothing. Seriously, the body is amazing in how it is constantly adapting, and able to change. All we have to do is push ourselves.

Wow, this got long! Sorry for the rambling if you made it this far :). I guess that's what an inspiring video that makes me cry does to me!

My Bear

2010-09-23T17:16:00.001-06:00

Well, today I was going to blog about the fall wreath I had planned on making with my friend K today. That didn't happen because I've been fighting a headache all day and eventually lost that battle to a full blown migraine. :(

I'm feeling a little better now, and thought I'd share what makes me smile, always.

My little bear, Koda. :D

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yup, I'm a Gleek!

2010-09-21T10:00:00.001-06:00

Fall is my favorite season, and one of the best parts besides the crisp air, pumpkin lattes, and colorful leaves is TV season premieres! This week some of my favorite shows are coming back, including Glee which premieres tonight. Sadly, I won't get to watch it until after class... so it's going to be a late night.

Also can't wait for Grey's Anatomy on Thursday! If you're curious about what else I'm watching this season, check out my previously posted schedule here.

Hike: Carpenter Peak

2010-09-20T11:31:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I hiked Carpenter Peak with my friend K and the Colorado Mountain Club. Carpenter Peak is located in Roxborough State Park, which is a National Natural Landmark. The Fountain Formations are over 300 million years old!

This was a nice easy/moderate hike, with a fairly smooth trail. Great for my recovering ankle that I rolled on Mt. Bierstadt. We hiked in and out for ~6.5 miles roundtrip with about 1,000 ft elevation gain. Here's a few pictures:

Hike: Threemile Creek Trail

2010-09-19T13:05:00.000-06:00

Fall is here! Last week I was fortunate to be able to hike the Threemile Creek Trail in the Mt. Evans Wilderness. This is easily my favorite hike I've been on since we've lived here, and I hope to do it again (and take John with me) before the Aspen leaves fall. These pictures simply don't do the scenery justice... I really wish I had a nicer camera though really, I wouldn't want to carry a hefty one...

One of my favorite sounds is a babbling creek. I love it just as much as the sound of the ocean. This trail is mostly along Threemile Creek and it passes back and forth over it several times, which means we could see and hear the creek most of the way. I was a happy camper! We just hiked in and out, for a total of about 5.5 miles and ~1,000 ft of elevation gain.

I was surprised by how golden the Aspens were already, and just tried to soak it all in... Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture how the afternoon sun shimmered through the gold Aspens making everything just... gold. I think the group was amused by me, because as they were chatting away I was knelt down on the trail with my camera zooming in on the gold and red leaves. I've lived too long in the southern states where there are no such thing as seasons. This is my first "real" fall in over a decade, and I am not taking it for granted!

Happy Birthday Granny!

2010-09-16T22:24:00.020-06:00

My grandparents have been visiting us for the past week and we've had wonderful quality time together playing games and sight seeing. I was so excited to have my Granny with us on her birthday, as we are usually states away. She is such a special person to everyone who knows her, and I felt lucky to be with her to celebrate her 76th birthday!

I made a Sour Cream and Lemon Pound Cake for her birthday cake since she loves lemon desserts. I had a hard time figuring out what to make her, as she kept insisting I bake something the rest of us wanted (like um, chocolate!). Well that wasn't going to happen, it was HER day! The cake came out delicious, but doesn't look very pretty. I would make this again... I followed some recommendations in the comments for this recipe and tripled the lemon zest, added a little more lemon juice, and topped it with a glaze (powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest). Here's a picture of how it turned out... As usual I had trouble getting it out of the pan, so I just flipped it upside down which actually did better I think for the lemon glaze.

Happy Birthday Granny! I love you more than I could ever put into words.

Slingshot gone wrong...

2010-09-10T08:08:00.001-06:00

I saw this posted on facebook yesterday and had to watch it again. OMG.

The poor girl! Ugh, I can't help but laugh. Sorry!

Our First 14er: Mt. Bierstadt

2010-09-09T20:54:00.001-06:00

Since before we actually moved to Colorado, I've had the goal of hiking a 14er this summer. A "14er" is a mountain that peaks at 14,000 ft or greater. I'm proud to say - mission accomplished! I chose the easiest peak because, well, I thought it was the smart thing to do... I'm relatively new to hiking (beginner/intermediate), and hadn't yet hiked above 10,000'. I think I chose wisely :). My hubs and I, with our good friend B hiked to the summit of Mt. Bierstadt at 14,060 ft on August 28, 2010. We took the west slopes route (class 2) for a total of 7 miles RT.

A look back a little ways up Mt. Bierstadt

We woke up around 6:30 AM (even though I tried to convince B to leave earlier), and got to the trailhead around 8:15 AM. The parking lot was PACKED. I knew it was going to be busy on a Saturday morning but I really didn't expect to see the lot overflowing. The first mile is the easiest, mostly flat and goes through the willows, and then we started to climb.

I was surprised by how good I felt. I've had really bad altitude sickness before (though it was a long time ago), and I was a little nervous that I would be nauseous, or worse get sick along the trail. I started to really feel the altitude around 12,500 ft. I had to stop ~~every once in a while~~ a lot to just catch my breath. It was almost like a hitting walls at certain points, from the lack of oxygen. I would feel the lack of oxygen and get tired, then it would get easier... my body adjusted to the altitude. Then I'd hit another wall, it'd get easier, and then I'd hit another :). I think this happened about 3 or 4 times. But overall, I felt great, even after I rolled my ankle the first time *rolling eyes*.

I wish I had a picture of the boulder scramble at the top. I was prepared for it after reading other's trip reports, but there was quite a distance of hiking up and over boulders. I think we hung out on the peak for ~20 minutes. It was crowded at the top, but we found a spot, had a snack and took some pictures. The boulders were OK going up, but a PITA on the way down. I rolled the same ankle twice more... but I was still doing OK. We were trying to beat the storms that were forecasted for that afternoon, so we were trying to hustle on the way down. The clouds were rolling in, and you could see rain in the distance. B was half running down the mountain. Seriously. My quads, knees, and sore ankle were singing to me! Honestly, I wasn't too worried, but I didn't want to be out there above tree-line dodging lightning if a storm hit either. So I went as fast as I could (which was slow compared to the guys) while paying attention to where I planted my right foot, being careful with my ankle. We made it back without getting wet, thankfully the storms moved south.

Here's some pictures:

It was a great experience! Unfortunately I messed up my ankle. I couldn't walk on it the next day. I haven't run since, and missed out on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park last weekend. I did go hiking a couple of days ago, and it's achy but doing alright. I'm hoping to get back to running soon... I'm just nervous of hurting it more and not being able to do the hikes I have planned this fall.

Anyway, now that I know what to expect, I can better train/condition myself to hike more difficult ones next summer. I've got my eye on Grays, Torreys, and/or Quandry. :)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love living here?

A few of my favorite things...

2010-09-01T23:13:00.002-06:00

I've been seeing lists like these around the blogosphere and thought it would be fun to make my own. Here goes, in no particular order, a list of a few of my favorite [material] things:

1. My iPhone 4. Heart. Love. Huggy squeezy. Especially now that AT&T replaced the sim card and it doesn't drop calls anymore.

2. Teva Olawahu Flip Flops. I have 3 pairs and ~~want~~ need another pair in maya green.

3. LUSH shampoo bars. They are the best, easy to use and great for travel. My favorites are the Seanik and Godiva bars... see my previous about these here.

4. Body Shop Vitamin E Lip Care SPF 15. I've tried many others and I always come back to this one.

5. My Keens... I love them. I'm proud to say they are much dirtier now than they were when this picture was taken!

6. My FREE hand-me-down Kindle DX. Thanks, Dad! This is up there in the huggy squeezy category. I've only had it since mid-July (special delivery by my little bro) and I'm reading my 6th book on it, which is why I'm STILL in the middle of the paperback version of The Girl Who Played with Fire, which I started around the same time my Kindle arrived. Honestly, I'd love to have the smaller version that can fit in my purse but in the same breath, I love that I can read pdf files on the full screen (recipes, class material, etc.). LOVE!

I tried to keep this list short... I may have to add to this later though.

Review: REI Traverse 30 Women's Backpack

2010-08-31T16:27:00.012-06:00

My goal this summer was to hike my first 14er, which I did, and will post about ASAP! In order to do this, I knew I needed the proper gear, and thus my backpack search began. My beloved Camelbak M.U.L.E. NV just wasn't going to do the job, I needed more volume to hold those 10+ essential items. I compared and read reviews online from multiple sources, and then went and tried on 5 different packs loaded with weights.

I chose the REI Traverse 30 Women's Backpack.

I chose this pack for a number of reasons, mainly because I like how streamlined it is, while still having plenty of pockets - 1 main compartment, 4 organizational pockets, and one small pocket on the hip belt. There are also mesh pockets on either side to carry water bottles or snacks, and an internal sleeve to hold a 3.0L reservoir. The major bonuses for me with this pack are 1) the hidden rain cover which many of the competitors I looked at did not have, and 2) it appeals to the green nerd in me... this pack is made of 100% recycled PET polyester fabric. Which means this pack keeps 24 16-oz. plastic bottles out of landfills. :)

This pack lived up to it's hype. It easily held the essentials, with room to spare for additional items that would be necessary for longer hikes. On Saturday, we hiked ~5.5 hours and the pack was comfortable. I really liked having the easily accessible side pockets for my water bottle of Pure Fitness and snacks, and the hip belt pocket that perfectly held my chapstick, camera, and tissues.

The only downside I could find for this pack is that there isn't a small organizational pocket inside to hold things like my ID, search & rescue card, and cash (in case I need to pay-off a bear?). I'm concerned that it's too easy for this type stuff to fall out, or get accidentally pulled out of the existing pockets. However, this isn't such a big deal as I've figured out a work around. I plan to get, or find in my closet somewhere, a change purse type thing to hold such items and attach it to a hook in the main compartment. Problem solved.

Another plus with purchasing this pack through REI is if for whatever reason this pack doesn't hold up, I can return it to REI no questions asked.

Here's a list of the other major competitors (for me):

CamelBak Fourteener Hydration Pack - Couldn't find it to try it!
REI Venturi 30 - Women's - The large pockets on each side of the hip belt hit my arms as I walked, which drove me bonkers.
Gregory Jade 30 Pack - Women's - Couldn't get past the ugly color...

I really thought I was going to get the CamelBak Fourteener (in the yellow/charcoal color)... but REI was sold out in the store, and after calling around and not finding it anywhere in order to try it out with weights - I decided to go with the Traverse. I still want it. I mean, it's called the Fourteener! Bad, I know...

I might have to start collecting packs like I collect Coach purses. :D

Here's my collection so far, aren't they purty?

Catch-up: July

2010-08-30T08:21:00.022-06:00

I'm still trying to catch up... We kicked off July with our trip to Jackson, WY and then kept rolling. Here's a list of highlights:

Renaissance Festival: Went with some friends and enjoyed the junk food and people watching, but I think I'm good for another few years before I need to go back!
Lilith Fair: I was able to score $10 tickets to Lilith Fair, so I got some girl friends to go with and we had a good time. I swear what money we saved on tickets was easily spent on food and drinks! Bottled water (which you couldn't bring in yourself) was $5, and this concert started at 2PM and went until 10 PM! The highlights for me was Erin McClarey, Ingrid Michaelson, and obviously Sarah McLachlan. I have to say I was disappointed in the format of Lilith. If you wanted to reserve a good spot on the lawn for the main artists, then you couldn't be at the other stages. I really wish that ALL the Lilith artists went to ALL the Fairs nation wide, like they did in the late 90s. I've heard that they are trying to make it better 2011... I hope so!

Sarah McLachlan

Finale - all artists

Rocky Mountain High: Event at Denver Museum of Nature and Science... we met up with some friends, and made some new ones! We had a great time, and learned about how the Rocky Mountains were formed over cocktails while enjoying this view:

Sunset over the Rockies

The Denver skyline

My little brother came to visit for 10 days! He's 8 years old, and wow, what a whirlwind that was! We kept busy, as I tried to show him all that Colorado has to offer :). Here's a run down of our activities:

Hiked the loop around Red Rocks
Saw the movie Despicable Me, and we both loved it!
Hiked at Elk Meadow Park and saw a mountain lion (from a safe distance)
Took a lantern tour of Cave of the Winds - his favorite part of his visit!
Walked around Garden of the Gods
Went bowling with M & K :)
Camped and hiked at Rainbow Lakes - fire and s'mores need I say more?

Whew, I think that's it for July!

Catch-up: July 4th in Jackson, WY

2010-08-29T14:40:00.005-06:00

This summer has been crazy, and I've loved every minute of it... but it's starting to wind down and it is time to play catch-up on some posts. July was packed and flew by... Um, happy belated Independence Day!

We took a road trip for July 4th weekend to Jackson, Wyoming. It only took us about 9 hours to get to the Grand Tetons - how great is that?! We rented a house in Jackson Hole with 7 other people and had a fantastic time... I swear, it was like being back in college. We spent a day in Yellowstone National Park (elk, bison, deer, and bears, OH MY!), a day chillin' by Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, and a day roaming downtown Jackson Hole. It was such a great time... I can't wait to go back! Here are some highlights...

Yellowstone National Park:

I got up before the crack of dawn on July 4th to go with my hubby, the photographer of the family, to take pictures of the Grand Tetons at sunrise. It was cold that morning - in the 30s. I thought my gloveless hands were going to completely freeze and fall off! But seriously, what a fantastic way to start off Independence Day! Here are some somewhat decent shots I got with my iPhone 4 while John did a photo shoot with his D40...

We celebrated Independence Day hanging out at Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. This day pretty much goes down in the books as one of the best days ever... I was so sad to leave!

Jackson Hole, WY:

I seriously can not wait to go back... the Grand Tetons are still my favorite mountains. We had such a great time, met some new friends, and hope to travel with them again!

Hike: Goose Creek Trail

2010-08-29T13:11:00.003-06:00

This post is long overdue! In June, I met up with some great girls to hike the Goose Creek Trail in the Lost Creek Wilderness. We started at the Goose Creek Trailhead, and hiked up to shaft house and back for a total of 9.4 miles round trip.

These pictures do not do the area justice, it's absolutely beautiful. The boulders are just... HUGE. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trail:

This was one of my first hikes using our new point and shoot camera, and I regret that I didn't learn how to use it properly beforehand... I'm a little disappointed with the pictures.

Schedule for a TV Junkie

2010-08-17T17:44:00.003-06:00

Update: Somehow I forgot Modern Family the first go round, and I think I'll check out the new NBC show, Under Covers (picture updated).

I know I've promised to post pictures from our summer adventures and I meant to have a couple of catch up posts yesterday, but instead I got distracted by a somewhat urgent matter for a TV junkie like myself... Peeps, it was time to make my Fall 2010 TV Schedule spreadsheet! You can laugh, I'll wait.

........

Yes, I'm a dork. I'm an admitted TV junkie and engineer... are you really surprised that I have a spreadsheet? I've actually had quite a few requests to share it, so here's my schedule:

So far I haven't decided if I'm going to try out any new shows next season. Obviously, I have enough shows for my TiVo to keep up with... actually too many for Monday and Tuesday. I will have to rely on Hulu and online network viewing to fill in the gaps. I'm actually a little relieved that Lost, Heroes, and Deep End were cancelled. Every season I say that I'm going to stop watching One Tree Hill, but like a train wreck, I keep watching. Speaking of TV show train wrecks, True Blood Season 2 Disc 1 should be waiting in our mailbox tomorrow from Netflix...

What shows are you looking forward to most? Any new series you plan to check out? I'm most looking forward to Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, and Vampire Diaries. Quite a mix I know... :)

Oh Canada!

2010-08-14T17:45:00.005-06:00

Note: I wrote this last week when I didn't have a WiFi connection, and forgot to publish it later. So... here it is finally. More Canada highlights and pictures will be posted soon!

We started our Canada adventure last week by hanging out on Devil Lake (Ontario) with my husband's entire family. We spent the week swimming, fishing, playing games, and relaxing. I read two books while we were there! We also took a day trip to Ottawa. It was a great week, and we had some real quality time with everyone.

Once we left Devil Lake we took a VIA train from Kingston to Montreal (Quebec) and spent a couple of days there. We spent the entire time in Old Montreal with the rest of the tourists. We couldn't believe how crowded it was there. We went on a walking tour which was very informative, and also went to the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History - which I would recommend visiting if you're ever in Montreal - and learned about how the city was born and became a metropolis.

This morning we took a train to Quebec, and are staying at a hotel in the heart of Vieux (Old) Quebec. I'm in love with this area. It's like a slice of Europe in North America. It's beautiful, and I just don't think we will be able get enough out of our two days here. We definitely want to come back!

I'm typing this from a ferry we are taking a joy ride on to see the city from the water (we are waiting at port). Here is a picture of Old Quebec from the St. Lawrence seaway.

After Quebec, we are flying to Halifax, Nova Scotia and renting a car to explore Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I'm so excited for that portion of our trip.

Till next time....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hiatus

2010-07-22T07:57:00.002-06:00

So... this blog is being seriously neglected recently, as I haven't even looked at it since my last post. I have been busy enjoying summer, planning our vacation to Canada, and having my little brother in town.

I have tons to blog about... so I hope to be back and posting next week. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

The Cove

2010-07-10T13:42:00.003-06:00

We've had the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove, from Netflix for almost 2 months... and last night I finally had the courage to watch it (I knew it would upset me). I'm not sure what to say except to urge all of you to watch this movie. It is powerful. It is captivating, and worth watching! You may recognize actress Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) from the peaceful protest footage (part of it is in this trailer), which is only briefly mentioned/shown in this documentary... but if you're interested you can learn more about it here and here. There was (or is still?) a warrant for her arrest in Japan.

Here is an excerpt from The Cove's Take Part website.

The Secret Is Out. Spread the Word.

The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening. The focus of the Social Action Campaign for The Cove is to create worldwide awareness of this annual practice as well as the dangers of eating seafood contaminated with mercury and to pressure those in power to put an end to the slaughter.

And it’s been working. The film has been making waves since it premiered last year. Critical praise and audience awards worldwide have focused international attention on Taiji and the annual dolphin drives off the coast of Japan. Under intense pressure, Taiji called for a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins. The film, which was originally rejected, was shown at the Tokyo Film Festival due to public outcry. Residents in Taiji are being tested for mercury poisoning, and for the first time Japanese media are covering the issue. 

Close to a million people have signed on to the campaign, but this is just the beginning. The fisherman are clearly rattled, but haven’t stopped killing dolphins.

TakePart now to help shut down the cove for good.

Please check out www.takepart.com/thecove to see how you can take action.

Summer TV: What I'm Watching

2010-06-30T08:55:00.003-06:00

I have a confession. I'm a TV junkie. So what's a junkie to do during the summer when most shows are in hibernation? Well, in CO that means hiking, learning to play golf, and eating dinner out on the deck... and sneaking in a few summer network shows and some "back burner" shows on Netflix of course.

Here's what I'm watching:

So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) on Fox, Wed/Thurs 8/7c.

They've really changed it up for season 7. This time around they only took the top 11 (supposed to be top 10 but they added another last minute) from the Vegas auditions and paired them with SYTYCD all-stars. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the new format, but I think I do... mainly because I get to see my past favorites dance again (Lauren, tWitch, Dominic, Ade). The picture above is of this season's contestants. ***SPOILER*** Alexie (the girl on the far right) was the first to be eliminated, and then Christina (1st girl, bottom row) was eliminated last week. Tomorrow the top 9 perform. I think my favorite contestant this season is Lauren (far left)... and Jose the B-boy, and Alex... or Robert. Hmm. This is one of my favorite shows, and I'm so glad it's back this summer. Actually I wish it'd stay a summer show... I was worried they were not going to have it this summer because Season 6 was last fall.

Friday Night Lights on NBC Fridays 8/7c.

OK. So... I never thought I'd ever be a fan of this show. Back when it came out 4 seasons ago I had zero interest. None. I mean come on... it's about a HS football team in small town Texas (sorry, no offense just wouldn't think it'd be my cup of tea). Then my sweet younger cousin F convinced me that I needed to give it a try because it was her favorite show, and the characters and story lines were so good. Months later (this past winter) I saw that the first 3 seasons were on Instant Netflix, so I gave it a go. And I got hooked! I fell in love with the characters, and basically Coach Taylor's family. That may have had something to do with the fact that I watched all three seasons back to back in about 6 weeks. Hey, don't judge... it was winter in CO and I was new here, unemployed, didn't know anybody, and sadly didn't have much of a life (i.e. I didn't have anyone to go snowshoeing with... but that's all changed for next winter!). So anyway, I am psyched that this is a summer show! It's Season 4 and I have to admit I miss a lot of the main characters that moved on (graduated from HS) that were in seasons 1-3. I'm slowly getting into the new characters and settling into East Dillon.

The Gates on ABC Sundays 10/9c.

This is a new show that just premiered a couple of weeks ago. It's Desperate Housewives meets Vampire Diaries... or something along those lines. It's an entertaining summer show, and I think it's a fun addition to my line-up.

Losing it with Jillian on NBC Tuesdays 8/7c.

What no break from Jillian now that the Biggest Loser season is over? Of course not! She doesn't know it, but she's my personal trainer... well when she's in my DVD player anyway. For this reality show, Jillian moves in with a family for a week, and basically gets their butts in gear. I don't like it as much as the Biggest Loser, but I do like that it shows all the different aspects of a family and how they transform their daily lives. It covers relationships, family hardships, dealing with work, and how to live healthier and and happier.

Rookie Blue on ABC Thursdays 9/8c.

I just watched the season premiere today on hulu. I'm not sure what I think yet... it didn't seem realistic to me but it was entertaining. It was kinda Grey's Anatomy-ish with the rookies sleeping with the detectives - but not as good Grey's (just to be clear). I added a season pass to my TiVo so I'll think I'll keep watching. Gregory Smith from Everwood (loved that show!) plays Dov... but I had a hard time thinking of him as a cop, even a rookie. They all just seemed really young and too pretty to be cops. With that said, I'm still interested enough to watch a few more episodes and see how it goes.

Well... that's it for my network TV lineup... pretty light weight! Can you believe it? I guess it helps that we don't have cable/satellite anymore (just over the air HD).

But we do have Netflix and instant play on our TiVo... so I've been working through my queue of movies that piled up during the fall/winter when all my regular shows were in full swing. Right now, on instant play we have been catching up with 24. We stopped watching it after season 3, and then a couple of months ago I started watching season 4. Season 6 sucked John back in and now we're on season 7.

So, what are you watching? Are there any shows that you love that are missing from my list?

I'm a Slacker

2010-06-29T15:06:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I participated in the 2010 Slacker Half Marathon. I say participate because I didn't do it for the race, but the scenery, and also to help condition my body for walking/hiking long distances. The Slacker starts in the beautiful Loveland Ski Area at 10,630 ft of elevation and the course ends downhill in downtown Georgetown at 8,400 ft. Here's a course description:

"The half marathon/relay begins on a dirt road at Loveland Ski Area and descends five miles to Bakerville. At this point, racers travel a paved road 4.5 miles to Silver Plume. From here, racers travel 3.5 miles of paved bike path and paved/dirt road to downtown Georgetown. The 4M begins at Silver Plume and travels 4 miles on paved bike path and road to the Town of Georgetown. These courses offer a fast race time for the serious runner and a scenic, fun route for the novice!"

What a great way to spend a Saturday morning! Here are some pictures that I took on my iPhone 4 (heart!) from the day... I should mention that most of these were taken during a quick pause in walking as I didn't want to stop for too long:

At the start line, waiting for the gun.

Past the 10 mile marker

Looking down on part of the Georgetown Loop Railroad

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the finish. My husband was there along the route taking pictures with his DSLR but I haven't seen them yet. I'm sure he got some great pictures! Since my friend K and I were walking together we missed out on some of the after party festivities so we had our own party at Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs where we had mountain pies (Yukon is my fav, yum!) and Tommyknockers. That's my Jack Wacker Wheat Ale front and center. Mmm... Since the Tommyknocker Brewery is a couple of doors down from this Beau Jo's they have their beer on tap.

Perfect ending to a beautiful morning in the mountains! Here are some fun tips on how NOT to train or race a half marathon:

Wait until 10 days before the big day to start training (I got sick TWICE in the month before)
Stop at every water station and take two cups of water or gatorade (we were paranoid about the altitude and were not carrying water)
Use the potties at mile 5 and mile 9
Stop along the route to take pictures of the pretty scenery :)

Haha, this was the SLACKER Half Marathon people!

How to remove IcyHot

2010-06-28T01:53:00.013-06:00

It's after 1:30AM and I'm blogging. For some reason I thought applying IcyHot before going to bed (around 10:30 PM) was a good idea... The tendon (not sure what it's called) behind my left knee is sore after walking the Slacker Half Marathon on Saturday (a post is coming soon about that!), so I thought IcyHot may help. Well, apparently that area is highly sensitive - it BURNS! I did some googling and found these instructions on a few different sites (most clearly here):

Q: How do you wash off icy hot

A: Remove any excess Icy Hot with a Kleenex. Do not rub it in. Douse a cotton ball in olive oil and use that to cleanse the affected area gently. Then wash it off with water. Pat the skin dry.

Washing the area with water alone did not help so I washed with soap and water and that seemed to work. But in the time it has taken me to type this up, the burning has come back full force. AUGH! I've used IcyHot "No Mess" before with great results... but after googling this I found that many people have had this burning when using it behind the knee.

OK back to google... this did NOT work!

UPDATE: If my leg wasn't burning I'd be rolling laughing about this... so, IcyHot is made with Capsaicin - the active ingredient in chili peppers! Remember my story about making chili?! AUGH! I found an article about it on drugs.com for IcyHot PM which I will assume is the same or similar to the "No Mess" version I have... What doesn't make sense is that I've used this product before with no issues, except on my shoulder and not behind my knee. I'm guessing I applied too much. I reapplied olive oil and left it on, the burning seems to be slowly dissipating. It's now 2:30 AM.

AccuTerra App Review

2010-06-21T12:56:00.004-06:00

UPDATE 8/31/2010: I've been disappointed by this app... at first it seemed to work great, but the last 2 times I've used it, it wasn't able to locate me and gave up. The first time I was along a mountain winding path, so it seemed understandable, the second time I was climbing a 14er in plain view of the sky. So... I'm taking back my rave review. It's a nice app, if it works. Maybe it's the fault of the iPhone 4?

Last week I downloaded the AccuTerra App for the iPhone, and wow... it ROCKS! Hands down, I think it's the best app for hikers or outdoor adventurers. They have a huge catalog of maps you can download directly from the app. Some maps are free (usually parks and rec areas) but others you have to buy, however they are fairly cheap ($2-3 for a large area). The best part is that this app works even when your phone has no service. We were camping/hiking in the Pike National Forest this past weekend and had no cell phone service but it was still able to track us. I love how you can save your "adventure", and even share it by email or on facebook. It keeps your bread crumbs, allows you to take notes, and mark places of interest. You can also take photos while recording so they are geo-tagged and shown on your map where they were taken. LOVE it!

The version of AccuTerra I downloaded was free, but now they also have a version called Map Candy where for $2.99 (limited time) you get the app and unlimited map downloads. Since I've already spent $1.99 for one map of southern Colorado... I think it's probably worth it. In case you're wondering, no AccuTerra is not paying me to advertise for them, I just really love their app! :)

Camping in Pike National Forest

2010-06-21T12:14:00.002-06:00

We went camping this past weekend and had a great time. I felt like a kid again! We didn't do much planning... just found a campsite near a creek, packed up the car, and went for an overnight. We kept the meals simple since we didn't really prepare - hotdogs, s'mores (of course!), and cereal for breakfast.

We all had our roles - John chopped wood, I made the fire, and Koda guarded our site. Here's a few of my favorite pictures:

Deer Creek

Columbine, the CO state flower with wild yellow daisies

Koda on guard

Mmm... s'mores!

The next morning after packing up the car we went to the Mount Evans Wilderness just down the road and hiked along the Tanglewood Trail.

Crossing Tanglewood Creek

We didn't hike in very far because we started out later than we hoped. It's a beautiful area, we will be going back!

In other news, the bee hive we found just beyond our back yard fence was completely gone when we got home. I'm a little sad. I haven't asked around yet, but I'm betting one of our neighbors gave it a new home. I'm sure they're OK!

It's a bee hive!

2010-06-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

Look what we found this morning! I was looking out our back window and noticed a swarm of something... and on closer inspection it's a bee hive just beyond our back yard fence. John took some more pictures with his DSLR... when I get my hands on those I'll post them.

I heart bees! Maybe I can harvest honey from it... hmmm...

The Pupdog is Clean!

2010-06-16T13:20:00.001-06:00

I realized when I was taking these shots that with my new TX5 camera, I could have taken some while I was giving her a bath. Doh!

I bought a Rinse Ace Pet Shower Deluxe Chrome months ago and finally remembered to attach it and USE it this time. What a difference having a spray nozzle makes! I loved how I could turn on the spray by pressing the button. I (and Koda) didn't have to worry about the faucet or water spraying randomly at her and/or around the bathroom - which used to happen when using a detachable shower head. This was quick to install (3 min max) and made bathing easy and less stressful. Hurray!

Hike: Eagle Peak

2010-06-16T06:00:00.015-06:00

Well, for some reason sleep evaded me last night so I decided to catch up on some posts...

On Memorial Day we met up with family visiting Colorado Springs and hiked/scrambled up Eagle Peak which has an elevation of 9,368 ft. I have to admit it was a challenge for me - probably the hardest hike I've done here so far... but the views at the top of Pike's Peak and the Air Force Academy below were worth the climb (click picture for full size).

Including the walk from the parking lot up to the trailhead, it was ~2,000 ft of elevation gain in a little over 1.5 miles. This steep trail is 3 miles round trip (in and out, not a loop) and is mostly loose rock (read material great for slipping and sliding), and includes a nice yet short segment through a meadow of aspens, and scrambling up a boulder field to get to the peak.

One of the several waterfalls along the trail.

I loved hearing and seeing the creek and its little waterfalls along the trail. Then of course the views from the top were the best part:

Pike's Peak

View of Air Force Academy below - we started from that crescent shaped parking lot.

Rock formation near Eagle Peak that we scrambled up. Living on the edge I tell you.

We had fun climbing to the top of that rock formation pictured above... it was scarier getting back down that it was going up for sure. See that tree in the foreground? That is a very tall tree... and this formation is fairly narrow.

I have a bunch more hikes to blog about... hopefully I'll get them posted soon but it's hard to keep up!

Please be mine iPhone 4

2010-06-15T10:15:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: I was able to reserve mine through the Apple Store App on my iPhone. YAY!

I've been desperately trying to pre-order my iPhone 4 this morning with no luck. Servers are down. Apparently I'm not the only one trying to order... Please Apple, process my order so I can have my very own on June 24th!

Have you been living under a rock and haven't seen the new iPhone in action yet? Check out this video:

Shark Love

2010-06-14T18:41:00.006-06:00

Those that know me... know that I love sharks. I can't help but love those beautiful misunderstood creatures. Last summer I took a PADI Shark Awareness Specialty Course, and then went SCUBA diving with at least 13 of them at Stuart's Cove in the Bahamas.

Photos by Stuart Cove

That thug looking girl with the crossed arms is me.

Anyway.... this post isn't really about my love of sharks. It's really about the new addition to our household. Meet my sharky Shark - the Euro-Pro Shark S3501 Deluxe Steam Pocket Mop. I gave it a whirl yesterday and it worked great... my hardwood floors are so silky smooth clean! I followed the instructions and some tips from online reviews and I'm really happy with the results. Make that double happy because I cleaned my floors without chemicals - only water! I was worried about this method leaving too much water on the floors, but the water evaporated quickly and was a non-issue.

Here are some tips that I found:

If you have hard water, use distilled water (I do and did) to extend the life of your mop and to prevent your floors from looking cloudy.
Fill the water tank before it runs out so you get constant good steam when you want it.
Put on a new microfiber pocket if it gets super, super dirty so you don't end up smearing around dirt (yeah... my floors were DIRTY... maybe I shouldn't admit that!).
Test a hidden area of your floor to make sure it won't be hurt by the steam - inside a closet works great.
Don't leave the mop resting on the floor to walk away and do something. I found complaints about water pooling on the floor, but that is from misuse.

Nearly Indestructible Cyber-Shot TX5

2010-06-12T09:18:00.006-06:00

We have a new camera! Or well actually... it's supposed to be "my camera". Yay! My husband did the research and we decided this was the one that best met my/our needs.

Photo by Sony

My hubs is the photographer of the family with his fancy DSLR and lenses. While it is great to have such nice equipment in the family... I wanted a point and shoot that could fit easily in my purse/pocket. I also wanted a camera that could hold up during hiking/snowshoeing, camping trips, and the occasional water adventure (think white water rafting, snorkeling, being caught in the rain). The Sony Cyber-Short TX5 (aka "the Tyler Swift camera") fits all those needs. This thing is waterproof (to depth of 10ft), shockproof, dust-proof, and freeze-proof. John went to the store to check it out in person (I would have gone but I was out of town). When he asked the salesman about it the guy picked it up and threw it down hard on the tile floor! Then he picked it up off the floor and started showing John the features of the touch screen. Crazy!

Anyway, I'm really happy with the TX5. My only complaint so far is the touch screen is so large (it's pretty much the entire backside of the camera) that I sometimes hit buttons while just holding the camera and find myself in video mode when I don't want to be... but I think that is something I'll learn to avoid. To play with my new toy, I took some pictures around the yard. My disclaimer is that I haven't opened the instruction manual yet. In case you can't tell, I've been having a great time discovering all the flowers that have been popping up all around our yard.

A bee busy at work on the forget-me-nots.

See the bee?

Yellow Iris

Peony - getting ready to pop!

Pink Iris

Not sure what kind of flower these are..

We've got some hard working bees - love them!

Our yard has been humming with bees... I don't think I've ever seen so many in a residential area. In just a few square feet there could easily be more than a hundred bees! We actually have a neighbor a few doors down that has his own hives and harvests the honey (the perk is that we have a jar of this honey we're working on). I'm assuming these bees are from his hives. In case you're wondering they don't bother us, they are too busy working and stay close to the flowers. When I was leaned in close to take pictures they were oblivious to me being in their space.

I still have pictures from New England and my hikes last week to share... I really need to sit down and look through the TX5 manual ASAP, it'd be nice to know how to make the most of it's features. Though I think it does OK in auto... and iSweep (for panorama shots) was easy to figure out... see, I'm talking myself out of reading it already! AUGH.

Before & After: Front Yard Centerpiece

2010-06-10T15:04:00.006-06:00

We started off our Memorial Day weekend by improving our front yard landscaping... Below is the "before" picture. Notice the lovely empty pot in the middle of the rock garden. This picture is from when we looked at the house before buying it last September. To me, this empty pot looks out of place, too small for the area, and well... empty.

Before Picture

We decided to spruce this area up. We went to Home Depot and spent 3 hours getting items on our long shopping list but a good portion of that time was spent selecting a half whiskey barrel (LOVE it!) and choosing flowers to be planted inside.

Once we brought home the barrel - still smelling of whiskey - we drilled a couple of drainage holes in the bottom, sanded down the cut edge (after a couple of splinters), treated the wood, and then got to the good part of filling it will soil, tall grass, and flowers!

After Picture!

I just love the details of the barrel, and I think it's more size appropriate for the space (hard to tell in these pictures but it is much larger than the original pot). We'd love to replace those rocks with mulch but we decided to wait on that for now. I choose to plant perennials... Feather Reed Grass Overdam, Delphinium Blue Mirror, and Linaria Enchantment but because they are above ground they will probably not survive winter. I chose these because a) they are drought resistant (hard for me to kill), and b) they should bloom through early fall! Now that it's been a couple of weeks, they've really filled out and have many more blooms. I really should post a recent picture... but that would probably delay this post. Ha!

Oh, and Koda supervised the entire process of course.

Linking up to:

Quick Update

2010-06-10T11:53:00.002-06:00

Sorry, I've been seriously neglecting this blog! I have been busy enjoying spring... I have a long list of topics I want to blog about that I hope to get on here eventually. Here's what I've been up to -

Traveled to New England to visit friends (Boston, New Hampshire, and Maine)
Planted flowers in our window boxes and a half whiskey barrel
Hiked up Eagle's Peak and in the Lost Creek Wilderness
Hosted dinners out on our back deck (realizing I haven't taken pictures, ugh!)

And then I got sick... boo.

Right now I'm trying to make plans for camping this weekend but now it's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate. I hope to have some posts up soon.

The New Crystal Light?

2010-05-15T11:37:00.001-06:00

Wow. I just saw this add in the April issue of Self Magazine (I'm behind on my reading...) for Crystal Light PureFitness.

I'm not sure if it's in stores yet, because the add says "Coming soon. Can't wait? Go to amazon.com/purefitness". I'm not sure if you can make out the text in the picture but it claims to have no artificial sweeteners, flavors, or preservatives, and has electrolytes to help rehydrate. Hmm... I'm usually fine with just water but I've been thinking about what to do for longer, more strenuous hikes... So I am really curious to check this out! I wonder what it is sweetened with (stevia?), and what are the ingredients - straight forward short list or things I can't pronounce?

If it's not sugary it sounds like something I may want to use in my camelpak for long hikes. Anyone know anything about this product yet? I would google it but I'm on a plane at the moment.

I love how products are responding to consumers wanting to live healthier. My mom was diabetic so I grew up on artificial sweeteners, mostly aspartame. It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I discovered I was highly sensitive to aspartame, and that it was causing me to have never ending headaches and migraines. That stuff is evil as far as I'm concerned. So I hope PureFitness is really as good as it claims.

Painting with Liquid Courage

2010-05-13T14:01:00.002-06:00

Last night, my neighbor/friend P and I went to a place called Canvas & Cocktails, where we were walked through how to paint "Golden Poppies". Thankfully, no experience is necessary... and we had a BLAST! It helps that they serve wine and beer (along with non-alcoholic drinks), some snacks, and blare some pretty good music while you paint (everything from Lady Gaga to Journey to Bon Jovi). Nothing like having some liquid courage and music to "get loosened up and those creative juices flowing", especially for those Type A's like me. Have I mentioned that I haven't painted since elementary school?

Getting set up...

Canvas - check, brushes - check, paint - check, wine - CHECK!

My half done painting...

P's half done painting...

A refill of liquid courage is necessary to finish our masterpieces.

My friend P's masterpiece!

My completed masterpiece!

I love how we were following the same instructions and sitting next to each other, yet ended up with 2 very different paintings. I'm guessing there were about 30 people in the class, and all the paintings were different... some people even changed up the colors to have a yellow background with red poppies. I'm still not sure what I think of my painting, but I do know that I had so much fun! So much so, that P and I (and maybe M?) are planning on signing up for a painting class this summer. :)

Snow... in May!

2010-05-12T22:11:00.001-06:00

This was taken around 11AM when the snow was mostly melted. I'm guessing we got about 1", maybe 2" of snow last night. Yes, it is May 12th. That's Colorado for you... I LOVE it! Even if it messed with my plans for planting flowers in my window boxes and starting my vegetable garden.

It's supposed to be back in the 70s again by the weekend, so it's all good. My only concern is our trees... I hope they haven't freaked out and decide to loose their leaves! Here's a picture taken a couple of days ago of our flowering tree when the temperature was in the high 60s... it's in full bloom.

Santa Fe: The City Different

2010-05-07T14:33:00.007-06:00

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

You know, tumbleweeds...prairie dogs...

Yeah

~ "Santa Fe", from the musical RENT

Last Thursday, we packed up the car and hit the road to Santa Fe with our friend and city tour guide Brian. We took the scenic route along 285, and although it was mostly cloudy the sun eventually broke through and we stopped to take some pictures as we passed a bunch of 14'ers. What to say about that stop sign... grrr.

Eventually, the road straightened out and the only interesting things to pass was sage brush, farms (including a solar farm), cows with their calves, horses with their colts, pigs, geese, Colorado Gators (yes, they have alligators here?!), and the Great Sand Dunes. I would have loved to have stopped at the dunes but there was no time on this trip. We did stop for lunch at the Brown Burro Cafe in Fairplay (in the area that South Park is based upon), where I got yummy breakfast food. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever passing through the area. That was just the beginning of our weekend food fest... seriously, every single meal on this trip was good. So good, that I gained 2 lbs while we were there (thankfully it's back off now).

We crammed most of this trip in 2 days since our driving days were Thursday and Sunday. Thankfully we had Brian to show us the highlights! Once we arrived in Santa Fe we headed straight to Tomasita's, a former railroad station, to have a yummy dinner of Chicken Enchiladas served flat with green chile, and sopaipillas drizzled with honey - DELISH! This is how my love affair with New Mexican food began...

Friday's agenda included: breakfast burritos (with green chile of course) at the Santa Fe Baking Co. Cafe; walking downtown Santa Fe through snow flurries (oh yes, in late April!); the Palace of the Governors; the New Mexico History Museum; lunch at The Burrito Co. Cafe (yummy chicken taco salad with red chile salsa); and the Museum of Indian Arts & Cultures on Museum Hill. Then we met up with Brian's family and had dinner at Il Vicino for some fire oven pizza.

Saturday we braved the weather turning bad and headed up to Bandelier National Monument to hike among the cliff dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo people. For me, this was the highlight of the trip! It was great walking through this area after learning about it's history the day before. We barely made it around the main loop and long house before the clouds, wind, and snow rolled in (it is May people!), but we did it! If you are ever in the Santa Fe area, this is a must see. It's only about an hour away from the city.

Here are pictures from Bandelier (click to open album on Picasa to see the details of these pictures!):

Oh, I was so excited to tell you Bandelier, that I almost forgot to tell you about the rest of our Saturday! Well, we had a fantastic breakfast at The Chocolate Maven. I had the cottage cakes with blueberry-rhubarb compote and cranberry-orange chutney, and the best Cafe Mocha I have ever tasted. When we got back from Bandelier we had lunch at the French Pastry Shop and Creperie where I had the spinach, mushroom, and chicken crepe... mmm.... Then we walked around down town Santa Fe and checked out the art (I have never seen so much art in one little town in my life). Then we went to the Jackalope, which is a huge market with all kinds of interesting things. My favorite part of Jackalope was watching the glass blowing (and I had to buy few glass things to bring home). To end the day, we met up with Brian's family for dinner at La Choza, where I had the chicken stuffed sopaipilla with green chile. So so yummy, I miss those sopaipillas!

Here are some pictures of the drive and of Santa Fe:

Sunday after breakfast at the Santa Fe Baking Co. we headed home. Because of the weather we decided to take I-25 back to Denver. We stopped in Trinidad, a little old coal mining town to have lunch at the Bella Luna Pizzeria where I had the Mean Mica Salad which was good. I wasn't expecting the I-25 route to be so scenic, it was a good drive until we hit snow and traffic around Colorado Springs. But really, what a great trip. We are so thankful to have had a tour guide - thank you Brian! If you're ever in Santa Fe, and only have a few days, I highly recommend our itinerary and especially the restaurants.

So, where have you been lately? I wanna know! :)

VOTW: Curtains for the Office Doors

2010-05-07T09:20:00.003-06:00

Over on one of my fav blogs to read Design-Aholic, Amy holds a weekly "Victory of the Week" link-up. I missed out on last week's because I finished my VOTW the night before we left town for the weekend. So... I'm going to try and sneak it in this week.

My little (or really, huge for me) victory of the week (VOTW) was making my own curtains for our office doors. I was inspired to make my own after seeing other bloggers do it themselves. After looking at other's tutorials, I had it all figured out - buy fabric and no sew seam tape, and 20 min later I'd be done.

Yeah RIGHT!

I should know by now to multiply the estimated time for project completion by 6 (at least). It could possibly have been easier if I had chosen different fabric, but no, I chose the shear silky fabric that can't be ironed (so I couldn't use the no sew seam stuff). Yeah, that would be me. I don't have a sewing machine (much less know how to use one), and I don't sew. BTW, the fabric color is hard to see in this picture but it's a taupe or champagne color that goes well with our entry way rugs.

That's where my friend M came to my rescue... she not only let me use her sewing machine, but taught me how to use it and helped me measure and pin the first panel. I am so thankful, because after a ~~couple~~ few hours over a couple of days, voila! We have curtains to hide the sometimes mess of my husband's office, YAY! This is huge, because his office is the first thing you see when you enter our house and it was driving. me. crazy.

Let's all just forget that I fell in love with the bamboo/grass/natural whatever shades that I saw used for this purpose at our friend's home in Santa Fe last weekend. OK? OK.

Hurray for the little victories :). Happy Friday - have a great weekend!

~ Jen

JO's TED Prize Wish

2010-05-04T13:10:00.004-06:00

Jamie Oliver's TED Prize Award Speech:

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity."

~ Jamie Oliver, TED 2010

If you share this wish, please sign Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Petition here.

Some other TED talks that I have found fascinating and inspiring are:

Spring's Little Surprises

2010-05-03T13:22:00.007-06:00

Happy belated May Day! We spent this past weekend in Santa Fe, NM and on May Day were hiking among the cliff dwellings in Bandelier National Monument. I will be blogging about our trip soon, and will probably be breaking it up into a few posts because there is so much to share!

I have been meaning to share pictures of the flowers popping up in our yard this spring... it has been interesting to watch as this is the first spring we've spent in our new house. Everything is a surprise... now if I can just keep them all alive! I tried looking up the blooms I don't know with little luck. I'm going to have take pictures to our local nursery to learn more.

Daffodils, a little worn after the snow the night before...

Tulips, with it's poor leaves nibbled by the bunnies.

Bright pink tulips!

More tulips... with a view of the "lake" in the background.

Flowering tree (what kind?) outside our kitchen window!

Beautiful! The buds are all blooming now.... need to take an updated picture.

Flowering bush in our front yard. I think it may actually be a plum tree but not sure.

An unfocused picture of the pretty ground cover in our front yard flower beds.

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"

We also have a ton of bunnies, birds, and ducks around here along with a few snakes. Right after we moved in, a bunch of trees and ground behind our house (not IN our yard) were removed because it's supposed to be an area for water retention and drainage and apparently it was out of code for some time. I don't remember the lingo... but we were so sad and I was a bit (OK a lot) angry to see the trees ripped out. Never mind the fact that a few trees became many trees *sigh*. Well, now we have a pond... and a couple of weeks ago when we had a lot of rain, it was more like a lake. So now we joke that we have waterfront property! I have warmed up to our lake, as we now have Canadian Geese and ducks enjoying the water... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the geese yet. But here are a few that were taken in our yard.

Taken through a window since Koda (or me) would scare it away.

One of the many kinds of birds, not sure what kind it is yet.

This guy likes to hang out next to the garden bed.

We've found a few snake skins since moving in... which I think are cool. As long as they're not poisonous, I think snakes are a good thing (I know, I'm weird).

So what changes have you been seeing around your house this spring? I'm glad to say that the short bursts of snow we've had recently (which don't stick or melt quickly) haven't seem to damage our flowers. I haven't planted anything new yet... I'm waiting until mid-May when supposedly there is no risk of frost. I have plans for a vegetable garden, and pansies in our window boxes!

New Town, New Peeps!

2010-04-23T15:02:00.009-06:00

I think the biggest challenge about our move to Colorado, has been meeting people. Especially for me since I currently do not have a job... which is pretty much how I met all my friends (some in a round about way) in our old state. We love our neighborhood, our neighbors are great, but we are the youngest here and don't have kiddos yet... which means we rarely see them. John has made guy friends through work that he skis with, but it really hasn't done much for me.

So what's a girl to do in a new town? Join meetup.com. Seriously.

What's Meetup?
Meetup is on a mission to help the world’s people self-organize into local groups.
So far more than 6.5 million people have signed up and formed over 60,000 local Meetup Groups.

I was so hesitant to join at first, which is why I waited until I lived here for 5 months before checking them out. I regret waiting that long! In the past few weeks I've joined over 10 groups for everything from hiking to movies to wine tasting. I realize my experiences may have just been luck (no crazies yet), and I've been pretty particular about the groups I've joined... but I have met some really fun, great people through the groups! Since I signed up I have met not just people that share the same interests, but some friends... where we talk and hang out outside of the group. The best part is, my calendar is FULL of fun stuff. If I wanted, I could do a different meetup every day of the week.

Like being outdoors? Hiking, snowshoeing, climbing 14ers, camping? There's a group or 10 groups for one or all of those activities.

Like volunteering? There's a group for that.

Like scary movies? There's a group for that.

Like adventure (rock climbing, kayaking, white water rafting)? There's a group for that.

Like photography? There's a group for that.

Like going to the theater and/or seeing musicals? There's a group for that.

If you can think of it, there's probably a group for it, but if not you can always start your own. If you're looking for people who are interested in the activities you love doing, and want to meet new friends... check them out. Obviously be careful, and meet in public places.

No, I'm not being paid by meetup.com... but maybe I should! They are hiring... hmm.

Koda's 5th Birthday

2010-04-22T21:57:00.002-06:00

So I was supposed to post this on Koda's birthday... Let's just pretend this was posted then, OK?

Koda was born on April 8th, 2005 but we didn't meet her and adopt her until September that year when she was five months old. Wasn't she cute?

The picture above was taken when we first brought her home. She was so shy and timid... it took a few days for her to show us her true personality. I can't believe she is 5 already!

We went for a walk and she got a kong full of peanut butter to celebrate among other treats throughout the day (and she got 2 hikes the following weekend!). I think it's the funniest thing to watch her try and get all the PB out of her kong. I had fun taking these pictures. Just in case you couldn't tell.

Happy Birthday Koda!

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T13:43:00.006-06:00

I have neglected this blog recently, as I have been busy enjoying spring in Colorado! However, I had to drop in and wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! I was all revved up to volunteer today but I guess I waited too long. I was turned away last week from volunteer opportunities around here for today and Saturday because they are all full. Apparently there are a bunch of tree huggers living here besides me :). Have I mentioned lately how much I love this state? I plan to do some catch up posts about some of our hikes but here are a couple of pictures until then.

Koda and I taking a rest at Red Rocks

View of Mt. Evans from the summit of Evergreen Mountain

Forsythia

Since spring has arrived and the weather has been gorgeous (in general, today it's stormy and rainy) we have been hiking as much as possible... at least twice a week. It would be 4 times this week if the rain hadn't decided to show up! I really can't complain about the rain though, it's making our lawn green and all the trees and flowers bloom. I need to take pictures of the flowers in our yard... we have daffodils, tulips, and a huge forsythia bush (picture to the left, but not of ours...)

Saturday, to celebrate Earth Day we plan to hike Bergen Peak which is at 9,708 ft! I'll admit I'm a little nervous as it's a 9 mile hike with 2,100' change of elevation. But I need this challenge to get into better shape to hike 14er's this summer.

What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Do you plan to make any "go green" changes?

TIME's "The Perils of Plastic"

2010-04-05T14:14:00.000-06:00

After a get away to Florida to visit friends and family for almost 2 weeks - I am on my way home (can you hear my sigh of relief?). I arrived at the airport early so I browsed the stores and my eye caught Steve Jobs staring at me from the cover of TIME Magazine and the words "Inside Steve's Pad" (I'm dying to try the iPad).

When I was trying to decide if it was worthy of buying, I noticed across the top "Environmental Special: The Perils of Plastic". Yup, I had to buy it...

Our government is catching on, finally, after a recent biomonitoring survey by the CDC. The survey found traces of 212 environmental chemicals in Americans, including toxic ones too many to list here as I'm typing this entry on my iPhone, on the plane (will not publish till we land and I can turn off airplane mode).

I'm thrilled to see this article in TIME. I know some people are rolling their eyes about this controversal topic... But to me, it all makes sense and a bunch of nay-sayers are starting to back pedal, including the FDA. Wonder why obesity, diabetes, autism, AD/HD, and auto-immune disorders are on the rise? They could be linked to plastics, specifically BPA (which is found in more than just your water bottles, try soda cans and canned foods) and phthalates (in cosmetics to IV bags). The scary part is that babies are already born with chemicals in their systems and then their bodies act like sponges mainly because they eat and drink more relative to their body weight.

I don't believe in the methodology that, "Chemicals are deemed safe until the EPA can prove that they are dangerous". Especially since the EPA has limited information from industry and like everything else, has limited funds and a bunch of red tape which makes the process take years.

I could go on and on about this... If you are interested in reading this article, email me (click envelope on the right side of this page) and I will email it to you once I scan it. Also, I have a bunch of other resources I've collected over the past couple of years that I could share, like a guide to the numbered plastics (what's in them, which are safest, etc.).

Check it out, but really I think it's only a matter of time until it's in front of everyone's faces. America seems to finally be catching on! The sad part is that the government, the way the regulation system works, fails to protect us. From the article, it sounds like proposals for regulation reform are coming soon. However, implementing change will take years. Reading this at least makes me think that maybe all these petitions I'm signing and letters to legislation are being read...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Clouds

2010-03-25T17:48:00.000-06:00

Flying along the coast of Florida...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hilarious Cake Wrecks

2010-03-23T21:53:00.004-06:00

I've been meaning to post about the blog Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong for a while... I subscribe to it in Reader and then every once in a while check them out. A few nights ago I couldn't sleep so I stayed up late catching up on the past few months. It may have had something to do with the fact that it was 2 AM, but I was laughing so hard I was crying! It's not just the pictures of the horrible cakes gone wrong, but the commentary that is just the icing on the cake (har har).

I was going to post some favorites but I couldn't choose and I'm out of time... Check 'em out. Browse around... http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. Oh, they even have a book!

Share favorites in the comments!

What should I name my RAV-4?

2010-03-20T14:31:00.003-06:00

Isn't my RAV-4 pretty in the snow? It's dirty these days, you just can't keep a clean car during winter in Colorado. Sorry for the crappy picture, it was taken with my iPhone and it was foggy and snowing at the time. Plus, I took the quickest snapshot possible as my hands were freezing (by the way this is not our driveway, if only...).

I'm loving my RAV-4! After researching cars and SUVs to death, test driving them up I-70 (up a mountain), and waiting for inventory to recover after the cash for clunkers program... I am really, really happy with my choice (the other big contenders were the Toyota Prius, Honda CRV, and Honda Fit - yeah, really). I can hear the question coming... so no, I've had no issues with the gas pedal recall issue and I just learned that mine is not part of the recall - hurray!

I've been trying to think of a name for her but nothing has felt right yet. Yes, I think it's a her but really it may be because it just seems right that a car is a girl, like boats. Boats are usually referred to as female. I can't think of one boat/ship that was named or referred to as a guy. Anyway, she's a RAV-4 Sport with the Sport Appearance Package (no tire on the back), and leather interior (I agonized over that decision but in the end opted for the heated seats). She's sporty, functional, and fun to drive... any ideas on what to name her? I'm hoping it will just come to me one day... but I'm open to ideas as I want to call her something.

Time for Lunch Campaign

2010-03-20T12:15:00.007-06:00

I'm not a mother (yet), but as a girl who grew up having to participate in the "Free Lunch" program, this issue hits close to home for me. My school lunches in grade school were typically pizza, hamburgers, chicken nuggets (not breast meat), and french fries. On the days I had breakfast at school there were donuts, muffins (not homemade), french toast dippers (pre-packaged frozen variety), biscuits with gravy... you get the picture. Just thinking of these foods make me shudder, and my stomach hurt. The sad part is, many years later nothing has changed for the better, it's worse.

I recently signed a petition for the Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization after watching the movie Food, Inc.. I was so moved by the movie - which I highly recommend - that I signed up to Take Part for this cause. So when I received an email from Slow Food USA a couple of days ago about the Time for Lunch Campaign, I didn't hesitate to check them out and email my legislators to voice my support.

Here’s their key message (taken directly from the campaign website):

It’s time to give America’s kids a healthy future.

Child obesity is spiraling out of control, and our kids, our economy, our health care system and our quality of life are at risk.
Our best opportunity for fighting obesity is to ensure that every child has access to fresh, wholesome food every school day.
Right now, Congress gives schools $2.68 per lunch, about $1.00 of which goes towards buying ingredients. As a result, schools have to rely on the cheap processed foods that are fueling the obesity and diabetes epidemics.
With an additional $1.00 per lunch, schools would be able to serve real food, buy whole ingredients and cook meals from scratch.
President Obama’s budget adds $1 billion per year to child nutrition programs. That’s an important step forward, but it’s not enough to give America’s kids a healthy future. Not when Congress spends over $13 billion per year subsidizing processed foods, and when obesity costs our nation $147 billion per year. Congress should add at least $1 billion to child nutrition programs, and recognize that until we give schools $1.00 more per lunch, we’re putting the health of America’s children at risk.
Congress should also pass mandatory funding for Farm-to-School programs, which link schools to local farms, create jobs in local economies and give schools the resources to update their kitchens and plant school gardens.
Finally, Congress should strengthen the nutrition standards for all the food sold at school, including the food sold in school vending machines and as “a la carte” items in the cafeteria.

Learn more about the campaign at www.slowfoodusa.org/timeforlunch. Also, from this website you can easily email your legislators to tell them you support schools serving real food. Please take less than 30 seconds to voice your support!

Another supporter for this cause is Jaime Oliver who is starting a food revolution to be aired on ABC starting Friday, March 26th at 8 PM EDT. His show is called Jaime Oliver's Food Revolution. The first episode will also be shown as a sneak preview tomorrow night, Sunday March 21st at 10 PM EDT.

You can also sign Jaime's Food Revolution Petition by clicking the image below.

Check it out, voice your support, get involved, or donate!