new experiences: breckenridge!

Hey out there!

How is everyone's week starting off? I'm happy happy --- sitting in my sister's {BFF} squishy bed in Fort Collins right now. I spent the night playing Mad Gab with Tyler and my family and laughing til my cheeks and belly hurt! I love having that kind of fun with the family :) It does make me miss my brother a lot, though. He's that piece of the puzzle that's been missing during the fun times of the last two years. If you're just tuning in to my life, my 22-year-old brother is a Marine, currently stationed in Japan. I love him to pieces and am so proud of all the good he is doing over there!!! This laughter was much needed after a long day filled with car fixing appts, dentist appts, and the boredom that results when one is stranded without a car!

Well ANYHOO since I was so behind in telling you about all the adventures on...I only have a few more to tell you about until we're all up to speed!

Moving on to our trip to Breckenridge! 

So, when Tyler and I got married {April 26, 2009}, a family I used to babysit for gave us a weekend to use their fabulous condo in Breck as our wedding gift! Such an AWESOME gift! Although it did prove to be a tad bit difficult to find a good time for us to use it {seeing as how we finally used it almost 2 years later!}. But we finally used it March 21-23. We had free reign of a gorgeous 6-person ski-in-ski-out condo right on the 4-O'Clock Run! 

If you're new to my blog, you may not know that last October I ran my first half-marathon. An accomplishment of which I am very proud! But I also got a stress fracture in my foot during that run! Bummer. My foot as slowly but surely been on the mend, but it is still not 100% just yet. So, due to this dumb old injury, I didn't want to reinjure myself by hitting the slopes on my beloved snowboard. *sigh* At first it was quite depressing to be watching people board down the run out the back window ALL DAY LONG. But our {or rather, mine --- but Tyler didn't dare go without me! Good man.} inability to board meant that we had the chance to take advantage of the other fun things Breck has to offer! Usually we board --> party --> sleep : repeat. This trip, however, we went sledding, walked the entire town of Breck multiple times, did plenty of shopping, and went DOG SLEDDING!!! Highlight of the trip, can you tell? Here are pics from our fabulous trip :)

 On our way up the mountain, we decided to stop in Idaho Springs for some pizza from the original BeauJo's! I've had BeauJo's before {FoCo - duh!}, but never at the first location! And since it's on the list...well, then you know I had to do it!

Divine spicy chicken and artichoke pizza!

The first thing we did at the condo: spot Jenga in the pantry!

First night in Breck: we went to the Breckenridge Brewery & Pub for dinner and beer! {also on the list of Colorado to-dos}

Our taster tray of deliciousness. 

All the fab beers we tried. Seriously all so good.

After brewery tasting, we went for a night sledding session!

Love this guy. He steered us out of near disaster sled-crashing situations multiple times! 

Tuesday morning we went DOG SLEDDING! Yep. With a team of real sled doggies. 

 It's kind of hard to tell, but this is a picture of the dog sled team being steered by some of the people on the trip with us. We each got to take a turn steering the team through the turns in beautiful open mountain space! So exhilarating! I definitely recommend it!

And THIS is why I will never move from CO by choice. 

Loving the sun and this new experience! Which was - of course - a suggestion on my little {or big} ole trusty list! 

Happy happy happy day :)

New snowboots found shopping in Breck! My last pair I got 5 years ago and they weren't even waterproof. How does a CO girl manage that? With waterproofing shoe spray, of course! But --- UPGRADE for sure!

Playing with our food on sushi night out after shopping. 

So many yummies in our tummies. 

We came across a Fat Tire van on our way back to the condo in a snowstorm! It was like a beacon of light amidst the gray! Love love love you New Belgium! If you don't know about New Belgium, then get on the next plane to CO and I'll take you Fort Collins so you can tour the breweries there. 

After dinner we found this EPIC Sega Genesis game in the condo! My FAVORITE from when I was a kid! My brother and I used to play this soooo often!

So happy to be playing Sega {last known picture of my glasses...I lost them somehow last week. DAMMIT}

Yup. We beat the game. Record time, too!

Drinking celebratory Leinenkugels...

by the fireplace :)

So --- wonderful and super cheap Colorado vacation! We loved every minute :) And I checked 3 activities off of the list! Woohoo! Here's how happy I am about that:

Cheers

xo.

because it's spring :)

Hey friends!

I just had to share with you some springy additions to my home. 

#1: Yesterday, I picked up some tulips at Safeway. I ADORE tulips :) They were part of my wedding bouquet, and for that I will always have a special fondness for them. And when I look at tulips, I just hear "hello love, it's springtime!"

#2 {best for last}: I've put bandannas on my puppies! They look so freaking adorable in them :) Gryffin is a cattle dog/red heeler mix from Texas, and he sure shows his roots in this picture! Super cute. They remind me of Wilderness Explorers from Up! 

And I slept 14 hours last night. So awesome. I'm getting to old to party hard {Blackhawk}...I struggle for the next 24 hours and then need to eventually sleep a ton to get back to normalcy!!! So that was verrrry nice!

What sorts of springy things have you been adding to your house?

xoxo

Cheers

new experiences: st patrick's day!

Happy Monday to you!

Today I want to share with you pictures from St Patrick's day events! I know it was a few weeks ago. But attending the Denver St. Patrick's Day Parade is The List, so I figured I ought to talk about the fact that I attended it! Did you know that Denver's St Patrick's Day Parade is one of the country's biggest parades? No joke! We watched it for 2 1/2 hours before we realized the parade was nearly HALF over! haha. By then our tummies were rumbling and we went off to find some delicious Irish fare to eat {and booze to drink!} Here are some pictures of the fun that was had on Parade Day!

Showin' off our shamrock love!

 There were soooooo many floats! With music, bands, dancing...

This one was so neat. These little kids were reenacting that famous statue! My favorite.

 Lots of dogs came, too! Are you surprised I didn't bring mine??? I am, too :)

 Never thought I'd see more than one DeLorean at a time! Let alone a parade of them!

Enjoying our first patio lunch of Spring!

So the parade was on March 12th, and on St Patrick's day I celebrated, too! My good friend Lauren and I went all out and ran around the city of Denver like some crazy little Irish Leprechauns! What a good time! Here are some photos from that day!

We went for the "Sporty Leprechaun" look! How did we do?

 Good thing I had green makeup and glitter leftover from my Halloween costume! {witch}

Haha my friends are crazy. Love them!

On the 16th Street Mall Ride on our way to dinner!

 My favorite picture of the day, I think!

At dinner at Earl's with Mandrew! Yum! And wayyyy wayyyy beyond tipsy at this point...

Too much fun! 

Not so much fun the next morning, that's for sure!!!

You know, I never thought I'd say this --- but I really do LOVE living in {near} Denver! I am from Fort Collins, a smallish town, and I adore it there! I never thought I'd love living in a big city! But I do! There is so much fun to be had, and so much to do! For this point in my life, it's working out perfectly! 

Did you celebrate St Patrick's day with a green beer, Guiness, or a carbomb? All of the above?

:)

Cheers!

new experiences: celestial seasonings!

Since I'm in the mood to inform you of all the neat activities I've been up to, I think I should share about the awesome trip Erin and I took to Celestial Seasonings a few weeks ago! In case you didn't know, Celestial Seasonings is located in Boulder, CO. I have never gone to tour the factory, and since it's on my giant list of CO things to do, I figured I ought to do it! And who better to meet there than a fellow tea-loving-chatty friend of mine? It was awesome! It was SUCH a beautiful day and the factory is nestled in such a peaceful little nook in Boulder. Here are some photos from our girl date excursion :)

The Tea Shop...where I bought 9 boxes of deliciousness! New flavors and I have loved them all! You can't have too much tea! We love having our options :)

Yep. A dress made of teabags. Why? Why not?

In the tea tasting room loving our samples. 

On the factory tour, a forbidden photo of the Mint Room! This is an extreme experience! Sooo minty it makes your eyes burn! haha. I felt like I was in Willy Wonka's factory! The tour was fun and I learned a lot about the tea making process! And it's free!

On the corner of Sleepytime and Zinger :)

I love Colorado :)

I love girl dates with Erin.

I love new experiences!

Cheers

new experiences: blackhawk!

Do you guys remember that incredibly ambitious list of 101 things all Coloradans should do? I've been making some serious headway on that list lately! And don't worry, I've been doing plenty of documenting of all this fun.

Last night, we went to Blackhawk for my friend Steve's birthday. So, for my wine and cheese birthday party last month, Steve showed up sporting a naaaasty mustache. Photo evidence of said mustache:

So, in honor of his birthday, Tyler and I rocked a mustache in Blackhawk.

Bahahaaaa. It was so pretty funny. I got a whole lot of different responses to the mustache. Those responses include, but are not limited to:

"What iiiiis that?"

"Can I take a picture with you?"

"Mustache March!" 

"Zorro!!!" 

"You must be Greek." 

"Honey, do you know that you have a mustache on your face?" 

"Aren't you a girl?"

We stayed at the Isle of Capri, and spent the whole night running around from casino to casino. We even hit up a new hookah lounge. I didn't exactly gamble a whole lot, but I did take advantage of the free alcohol provided! For suuuuure! I actually am pretty sure I was the Snooki of Blackhawk last night. Running around like a freaking tornado. Haha. What a blast. 

The bartender really listened to my request for extra green olives! YUM!

The mustache-rockin' crew :)

So, I can now check Blackhawk off of my giant-Colorado-to-do-list!

Cheers to that!