staycation: part 2

In case you missed the first part of "Staycation Chronicles" --- you can go here.

Did I mention that we had the most wonderful weather luck during our staycation? It was seriously gorgeous every single day. That beautiful sun shining high above Colorado was complemented nicely by the perfect amount of breeze to prevent that sweat-drenched look I despise so very much. But I suppose that's what you expect living here --- I am so weather-spoiled :)

The remainder of the FoCo leg of our Staycation was spent with my parents and my Grandpa, and it was SO nice to just relax with them. I have been so tightly wound up for the last year, that I feel like the kind version of myself was greatly missed. We laughed, we ordered delicious Cozzola's Pizza, we watched Tower Heist (better than I expected from an Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller flick!), we ate BBQ leftovers on repeat...

And on Sunday we journeyed to Old Town, Fort Collins for an afternoon stroll and some tea. While walking around Old Town, we noticed a lot of leather-clad folk. Nothing against bikers or anything, but they were definitely overrepresented...and it turns out there was a biker convention/rally/festival happening right in the heart of Old Town. 

So funny! Grandpa, my mom, Tyler, and I gawked at the thousands of motorcycles that lined the streets on our way to Happy Lucky Tea House. Loved the zen Happy Lucky's sign with motorcycles lined up behind it :)

Happy Lucky's has hundreds of kinds of loose teas! You can smell them all and choose which one you'd like --- here's a glimpse of the tea wall ---

My personal favorite is Dream Weaver ;) But really I got this Chocolate Raspberry tea that was out of this world!!! Do people say that anymore? "Out of this world"??? Turns out I do! 

We just had the best time sippin' our teas, laughing, and just being together.

I adore my family and I adore Old Town. Living away from Fort Collins has certainly helped me to find truth in the saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" --- because every time I am in beautiful Fort Collins, I yearn to make a home there with my family one day! One day :)

Stay tuned for the real meat of our Staycation --- our Denver adventures!

Cheers ---

staycation : part 1

Hello there!!!

This post is the first in what may end up being a handful of posts about our last week! Tyler took his Step 2 Boards for med school last Friday, and Friday evening marked the beginning of our vacation time together. That's right --- the med student and the PA student finally have overlapping time off!

For our vacation, we considered traveling to a variety of places. Up to Napa, down to Florida, up to DC...all fun places, but all requiring lots of effort to plan. After the anxiety-ridden year we've had, the last thing I wanted to do was get stressed out over vacation planning. Then, when I was looking at our lengthy list of Denver-To-Do's...and an idea came to me! Instead of finding flights and planning a vacay in an unknown city, how about we stay in Denver at some fun hotels and spend some time and money in the city! We are usually pretty frugal and don't have the time to do fun things locally, so this was totally out of the ordinary for us to just relax and do WHATEVER we want here!

Stoked about the idea, I immediately made some reservations at hotels I've always wanted to stay at and looked up the city's best happy hours --- because, let's face it, Tyler and I go where the happy hours are. WE. LOVE. HAPPY HOUR. 


From here on out, the last 5 days will just be referred to as Staycation --- despite the fact that my computer is insisting that "staycation" is not a word. 


Staycation began Friday evening with a trip to the dog park, dinner from Bono's Pit Bar-B-Q (I don't blame you for being skeptical of this Aurora BBQ joint, still sounds sketch to me and I have eaten it!), and Iron Man (because we realized we loved The Avengers, yet hadn't seen any of the superheroes' individual movies!). Not exactly a rowdy night, but it was time together, at long last! 


The real fun started on Saturday when we headed to Fort Collins to watch my baby sister graduate from high school! Everyone who has younger siblings has always said, "Ohmyword I can't believe that so-and-so is old enough to graduate highschooooool!!!" First of all, no one actually says ohmyword. My situation must be different, because I kept waiting for that moment where I couldn't believe Linds was moving on in the world. But the truth is, for better or for worse, I've always kind of ignored the 9-year age difference between us (minor detail) and treated her a lot older than she is. So I was actually kind of like, "Finally!!!"


Got a little RMHS pride on at the graduation, but after we were about an hour in... I was kind of over it. And let's just say the speeches were less than awesome. Like really far less than awesome. Watched the tassels get turned, watched the balloons rain down on the 500 seniors, and watched them fling their caps up into the air. 

{How great are these graduation cap toppers my mom and sister made for her party cupcakes?!?! Love it} 

Headed back to my parents' house and the mad dash for last minute party preparations began. I have to hand it to my mom, she had all the details planned - and she rattled off our duties like a pro. Hearty food, laughter with family, and a couple of memorial day weekend beers made it a blast! One issue, however --- I decided to stop being the annoying family member with the camera in everyone's faces, so we didn't really get any extended family photos...and my mom made it very clear that while I am in fact annoying at family gatherings, I certainly am expected to be the event paparazzi and to never fail her again! haha. Said with love, of course :)


At least we got this shot ---

Staycation Chronicles to be continued...
Cheers!


PS --- you know you're a nerd when you can no longer read the words "vacation" or "staycation" without seeing the word "cation" in there...thanks a lot, biochemistry...

i love a good film

I freaking love movies, but I wouldn't say I am a "movie buff" per se. I tend to like a lot of movies that people and critics hate, including cheesy romantic comedies that get like 1 star. Nonetheless, I love 'em. And during school this semester, I'm pretty sure I only saw 1 movie --- I absolutely couldn't hold off on seeing Hunger Games, could I? No. Definitely not. A girl has her standards, you know. 

Anyway, in the last 9 days since I have been off of school, I have been doing a nice job at catching up on Hollywood. Here is what I have watched and what I thought of them:

Haywire --- this movie was pretty bad. With a cast that includes Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Ewan McGregor...I thought it had promise. But it was a confusing spy movie that had a stupid motive. No doubt, the female protagonist had her kick ass moment, and fist fights men...but girl power doesn't save this flop.

 

PS... when you're a professional assassin...when do you have the time to get your hair cornrowed? Dumb. 

Underworld #??? --- I'm not sure what # in the Underworld series this is. #7? #4? I think I've only seen the first one, and turns out a lot of shit went down between the vampires and lycans (as usual) and between Kate Beckinsale and the vampire elders. I always like these types of movies, and this one was pretty good. Gory, but good. And I dig Kate Beckinsale's vampire portrayal.

50/50 --- Joseph Gordon Levitt stars in this film, and his story starts with the diagnosis of a rare form of spinal cancer. His hilarious best friend Seth Rogan helps get him through, as does his currently-in-grad school psychiatrist Anna Kendrick (LOVE HER). Anjelica Houston plays JGL's mom, and Bryce Dallas Howard (The Help) is JGL's cheating girlfriend. At once hilarious and heart-wrenching, I ADORED every minute of this movie. TOTALLY RECOMMEND!!!

The Vow --- I have been wanting to see this one since it came out in February! I'm sure most of you know the story, but in case you don't... Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams play Leo and Paige, a newlywed couple in their mid twenties. They are madly in love and their world is shattered when they get into a terrible car accident and Paige doesn't remember who her husband is. The real kicker is that this is based on a true story! Such a sad thing to happen! The movie follows them as Leo does everything he can to uphold his vow to love and cherish his wife, even if she doesn't have any recollection of their love story. I shed lots of tears with this one, and LOVED it. Rachel McAdams is on a golden streak!

What To Expect When You're Expecting --- I almost peed the first time I saw a preview for this movie, and I have been waiting excitedly for it to come out for weeks! This one was not a let down --- I laughed throughout the entire thing! Except for the couple of minutes when I cried. Cast includes Cameron Diaz, J Lo, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock, crazy blonde roommate from Bridesmaids, and crazy blonde cop from Reno 911. The cast was so much fun, but the true star was Elizabeth Banks! She is rising super fast on my list of favorite actresses! I'm also pretty sure when I'm pregnant, it's going to be a lot like her character (to which Tyler said, "oh shit.")haha. The husband came with me to see this one and was laughing the whole time, too! TOTALLY RECOMMEND!!!

The Avengers --- apparently I am WAY behind the superhero curve, because I have not seen ANY of the movies that lead up to this movie! Because of this movie I now need to watch Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man (how many are there?), and whatever movies involve Hawkeye and Black Widow - because I have no idea where they came from! haha. That's a lot of movies. Anyway, we saw it in 3D and it was awesome! Great fight scenes, incredible cast. Robert Downey Jr took the cake for me as Iron Man. It was lots of fun!!!

So there you have it. I've been balancing my organization freak out and hours at the gym with lots of movie catching up!

What good movies have you seen lately??? Any good recommendations for me???

CHEERS!!!

i am so american

As most of you know --- I love my shows. Like I LOVE MY SHOWS. Even when I am stressed to the max, this girl has got to have her shows. I like the storylines, I like being faithful to a cast of characters (Desperate Housewives, I stuck with you to the end!), and I love having a little escape from my life. Pathetic - but shows make me feel normal, because Hollywood really creates some DRAMA. 

Shows I have been watching:

• Once Upon A Time {MY FAVORITE!!! --- hands down. Love it. Obsessed}
• Desperate Housewives --- while I will miss the ladies of Wisteria Lane, the show has certainly run its course and I'm glad I don't have to witness another murder on that street! But kudos, you had a great finale!
• GCB --- hilarious! Kristen Chenowith - I love you. 
• Smash --- Katharine McPhee, you charmed the pants off of me!
• Biggest Loser --- what a crap season. Am I right or am I right?
• Glee --- so curious about what the show will be like last year! Nervous this show has already run its course as well. 
• Modern Family --- best comedy since Friends. 
• America's Next Top Model --- British Invasion? I still think I'm being punked. This is not okay. But I keep watching, I'm loyal like that.
• Law and Order: SVU --- although Stabler is gone this season, I've still got Mariska Hargitay's back. 

• Grimm --- our Friday nights have been spent watching this fun fantasy meets cop show! Another favorite in this household :)

So you see. Not all happiness was lost this semester. I did spend most of my time with my nose in the books. But I also had plenty of screentime. I also watched a few episodes of the new season of Punk'd, which always gets me laughing. Tried out Betty White's Off Their Rockers (where the elderly punk the non-elderly), which is pretty funny. But I'm not into her monologues where she pretends to be a drug-doing alcoholic skank. No thank you. 

Wow this has turned into kind of a confession about my  addiction  enjoyment of TV. Yikes. 

Anyway --- I thought we could talk TV for a minute since it's the end of the spring season and most shows are wrapping up. What did you love this season?

Cheers :)

hello, lovely

Hello my beautiful friends! 

I can't believe I haven't been around since the beginning of March! 10 weeks since my last post to be exact. Apologies to anyone who truly missed my blog (probably no one, really, hahaha). But also apologies for not keeping up with what has been going on in your lives! I have missed so many book reviews and rants that I'm sure I will be catching up for DAYS on all of your blogs!

So --- drum roll, please.......I finished my first year of PA School!!! Barely. I mean, I can't believe I'm alive and didn't run away to Mexico to escape it all. I also can't believe I passed all of my classes. I also can't believe my marriage is still happy and intact with all of my emotional {perhaps psychotic} breakdowns and moodiness. What a guy. I have resolved to be superwife for the next few weeks while Tyler studies his butt off for Step 2 Boards for Medical School (poor guy, studying for an 8 hour comprehensive test on practically all of medicine --- ew). Somehow, 2 weeks of awesome wife skills doesn't seem to equal his 8 months of steadfast husband skills. I guess I'll just do what I can.

I want to tell you everything. About my frustrations with weight loss (ahem --- GAIN) this semester. About learning how to believe in myself. About allowing others to help me. About how if I didn't have 2 snuggly little dogs I would be a depressed heap of crazy woman on the floor. About how family gets me through. About my "spring cleaning" craze that is tearing through my house like a Martha Stewart tornado. About how I'm a nutcase because throughout all the stress --- I still managed to watch my shows, to get that escape from life for just 60 minutes.

I also want to know everything. About how Spring was for all of you. About what movies you saw. About what books you read. Probably half of you are pregnant now and I have no idea. (joking, kind of...at 26 years old, that seems to be the life theme these days). 

We'll get to all of it, because I actually have the luxury of time again. Happy to have a summer --- happy to have a new day :)

Cheers to having time to tell get to know each other again --- it's good to be back :)