Monday, June 30, 2008
Summer is here!
Now that the water is finally up to 68 degrees (my cutoff), I decided to go out surfing again! I had one summer a few years back when I went very frequently, but since then I only seem to go a handful of times each summer. I want to go more because it feels to great to be out there, so here's my start. I'm still scared of the waves and will likely stay with small ones (I love 2-4 feet) :-) but that's fun for me! I met Shelly and Kevin down at the beach and they brought their little Cole who is SO CUTE now at about 3 months. They even had him in a beach suit and he just ate up his beach tent, not complaining for hours while he just lied there enjoying the wind, sun and sound of the waves - a surfer already! After Shelly and I went out and got beat up by the waves, Kevin went out and showed us how it was done. 
Saturday, June 28, 2008
"Working" in Denver and Vail
The reason that I had even gone up to Denver was actually for a work trip. I went to a conference in Denver for a couple of days and then headed up to Vail for a sales meeting. The conference was a good opportunity for me to learn more about this somewhat new industry that I'm in and it was really good. I went out with a bunch of people from my company and we ended up doing karaoke - my favorite! I tried to steal the show as always and even did some group songs and duets with co-workers. How better to get to know people than by showing your worst side? ;-) Actually, I did the same with Scott's parents the first time I met them - this seems to be a pattern! It was really nice to get to hang out with people from work outside of the office and to get to know them better and vice versa.
Vail must be one of the most beautiful places for the summer - I was blown away by the beauty everywhere we went. It also had the BEST restaurants - the chefs knowing how to combine all of the right tastes to keep me smiling and sated. I tried to impress with my Ms. Pac-Man skills and I think I did! :-)
Although most of the days were spent working, we got one afternoon to choose and activity. A lot of the girls chose the spa option, which did sound nice... but being in Vail, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go fly fishing! One other girl joined and we had 3 guys plus our guides. It was great! I'd only been fly fishing once before on the tip of a boat in Jackson Hole, but I really liked this type where we got to put on waders and get in the water and use a bit of a different stroke. It took me a little while to get it, but I found it easier this way than on a boat. By the end, though I didn't catch anything or get many bites, the guide told me that I had a perfect stroke and my fly was doing just the right thing on the water. Guess I'll have to try it again when there are more fish biting! I don't know if you can notice in the pictures, but I was a huge dork and got flies to put on my hat, so I could look like a real fly fisherwoman. Did it work?
The night after the fly fishing, we took horses up to Beeno's cabin, a restaurant way up in the mountains. Apparently, in the winter you can take a sleigh up there, but I loved the horseback ride! My horse was the softest and he was super sweet. The views were amazing, of course and everyone had a great time. We even saw bear claws on some of the trees we passed! Up at the cabin, there was a porcupine that lived under the restaurant and would come out in the evening. I never thought I would think a porcupine was cute, but this one was really cute! It actually followed us around and would get up on its hind legs, like it was begging for food. It followed my co-worker and I around and finally when we were leaving, it shook like crazy, I guess trying to shoot out its quills, but we were lucky and didn't get any stuck in us. There is an awesome video at the bottom of Jim and the porcupine.
On the last day, we had some presentations still but then played a super fun game where we had questions from what we learned during the meeting. Kevin (who is actually better at the 7 degrees of Kevin than Kevin Bacon) was the police host and he played it so well!
Vail must be one of the most beautiful places for the summer - I was blown away by the beauty everywhere we went. It also had the BEST restaurants - the chefs knowing how to combine all of the right tastes to keep me smiling and sated. I tried to impress with my Ms. Pac-Man skills and I think I did! :-)
Although most of the days were spent working, we got one afternoon to choose and activity. A lot of the girls chose the spa option, which did sound nice... but being in Vail, I couldn't resist the opportunity to go fly fishing! One other girl joined and we had 3 guys plus our guides. It was great! I'd only been fly fishing once before on the tip of a boat in Jackson Hole, but I really liked this type where we got to put on waders and get in the water and use a bit of a different stroke. It took me a little while to get it, but I found it easier this way than on a boat. By the end, though I didn't catch anything or get many bites, the guide told me that I had a perfect stroke and my fly was doing just the right thing on the water. Guess I'll have to try it again when there are more fish biting! I don't know if you can notice in the pictures, but I was a huge dork and got flies to put on my hat, so I could look like a real fly fisherwoman. Did it work?
The night after the fly fishing, we took horses up to Beeno's cabin, a restaurant way up in the mountains. Apparently, in the winter you can take a sleigh up there, but I loved the horseback ride! My horse was the softest and he was super sweet. The views were amazing, of course and everyone had a great time. We even saw bear claws on some of the trees we passed! Up at the cabin, there was a porcupine that lived under the restaurant and would come out in the evening. I never thought I would think a porcupine was cute, but this one was really cute! It actually followed us around and would get up on its hind legs, like it was begging for food. It followed my co-worker and I around and finally when we were leaving, it shook like crazy, I guess trying to shoot out its quills, but we were lucky and didn't get any stuck in us. There is an awesome video at the bottom of Jim and the porcupine.
On the last day, we had some presentations still but then played a super fun game where we had questions from what we learned during the meeting. Kevin (who is actually better at the 7 degrees of Kevin than Kevin Bacon) was the police host and he played it so well!
Off to Denver!
I headed up to Denver the day after my bday party for lots of excitement (and work). I spent the weekend with Kristin and she took me on a great hike. The elevation was quite high (I think she said 10,000-12,000 feet!), so I was a bit out of breath - but it was really beautiful. Kristin's two dogs and her friend Kit's dogs had a wonderful time too, as you can see in all of the pictures. We ended up hitting quite a bit of snow and for a while before we turned around, we were stomping through snow and occasionally loosing the lower portion of our legs into softer snow. I don't get an opportunity to hike in that kind of weather too much (not to mention that it was warm out and we had on shorts), so I loved it. There were also wildflowers out, which was so funny to see right alongside the snow.
Kristin made me the most awesome meal for my birthday. She's probably the best cook that I've ever known and I'm always very excited to eat whatever she chooses to cook. She made a 4 course meal starting with a plate of cheeses and nuts and fruit. I don't normally like blue cheese, but when putting it on a fresh fig, it was great! She then served a salad that I don't even know how to explain how good it was - but yummy! She then made mussels in a white wine cream sauce - I would never have any clue how to go about that! And she finished it off with a creamy shrimp and rice dish, similar to one that my mom used to make. I think that my mom got the recipe from Sandy, who is Ian's mom (Ian was the one who was just out visiting me). Anyway - it was always a great dish when my mom made it and Kristin remembered loving it, but Kristin even put a whole new fancy cook spin on it and I think it was the best thing I'd ever eaten! The next night, they wanted to go out and I just wanted to stay home and eat leftovers. :-) We finished off the night by watching Wil paint Lucy's fingernails. She didn't love it, but she was so beautiful.
Kristin made me the most awesome meal for my birthday. She's probably the best cook that I've ever known and I'm always very excited to eat whatever she chooses to cook. She made a 4 course meal starting with a plate of cheeses and nuts and fruit. I don't normally like blue cheese, but when putting it on a fresh fig, it was great! She then served a salad that I don't even know how to explain how good it was - but yummy! She then made mussels in a white wine cream sauce - I would never have any clue how to go about that! And she finished it off with a creamy shrimp and rice dish, similar to one that my mom used to make. I think that my mom got the recipe from Sandy, who is Ian's mom (Ian was the one who was just out visiting me). Anyway - it was always a great dish when my mom made it and Kristin remembered loving it, but Kristin even put a whole new fancy cook spin on it and I think it was the best thing I'd ever eaten! The next night, they wanted to go out and I just wanted to stay home and eat leftovers. :-) We finished off the night by watching Wil paint Lucy's fingernails. She didn't love it, but she was so beautiful.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Happy 30th Birthday to ME!
Scott threw me a party on my 30th birthday (Friday the 13th!) and it was a great time! I am so lucky to have so many wonderful friends in my life and somehow my birthday helps to show me that. With all of the calls and e-mails and cards and partyers, there's no way I could ever doubt that I am the luckiest person in the world to have such great friends and family (not to mention the best boyfriend in the world). Thank you all SO MUCH for being in my life - although we don't say on a daily basis how much people mean to us, I want to say it now - YOU ALL MEAN VERY MUCH TO ME - THANK YOU!! Oh, and if you're wondering what's up with the crazy hair... I was a bit upset about moving into the 30 zone and at least tried to look like I wasn't there. :-) I'm feeling much better about it now, though. 30's - HERE I COME!!!!
