Celebrating Year One

Last weekend we celebrated our one year anniversary with a weekend away on the Western Slope, near Gunnison, CO. Okay first of all, how have I lived in this state my whole life and never spent any time on the other side of the mountains?! It's unbelievably gorgeous. It's a totally different kind of beauty than the side we live on.

We stayed in a cabin at a horse ranch near a tiny town called Almont. The area is known for it's fly fishing and river rafting.

One of the highlights for us was that we were able to bring all three dogs. The dogs had a great time playing in the river all day and we just relaxed, read books, played Scrabble and had a couple nice dinners out in Gunnison.

On the way, we stopped at the top of Cottonwood Pass.

We met a German couple who studied butterflies. Chris liked their nets.
Once we arrived, we found a spot along the river without fishermen (this is harder than it sounds in that area) and let the dogs play.
Havana LOVES the water and will fetch anything. Anywhere. Anytime.
Orsa had to build up her courage in the fast-moving current, but loved fetching the ball.
Bella just bathes. And never, ever gets her tail wet.
Saturday morning we went for an early morning hike. It was gorgeous.



The view from our cabin.
We stopped at Taylor Reservoir on the way home.
I set the self-timer, but the autofocus was apparently in the wrong spot. Lame. I like this picture anyway, even if it's blurry. (I really should learn how to use my camera better.)
Looks like a fake backdrop. But, of course, it's not.
Good job, God!

The Pause at the Tippy Top

Fear not, my followers, I have not abandoned you! I've just been a little busy, is all.

Actually, what I feel like is that for the past couple months I've been slowly chugging up a very tall roller coaster hill and now I'm perched at the very tippy top. You know how you actually pause for a few seconds before you plunge over the edge into a near free fall? Yeah. That's how I feel.

I have discovered that the problem with not updating the blog as frequently is that I now have bloads to update you on! So let me try to fill you in in a somewhat coherent manner.

Vacation
Chris and I spent last weekend in Phoenix. Since the 4th of July fell on a Saturday this year, we had Friday off, so we made a long weekend of it.

Yes, we are crazy. We went to the desert in July. It was hot. 110 DEGREES hot.

We went down there to visit his aunt, uncle and cousin. It was a wonderful vacation. We spent a lot of our weekend sleeping, eating, reading and hanging out by the pool working on our tans. And also avoiding being pounced on by Roxie, the Michael Phelps of the Dog World.

It was fun to get a glimpse of Chris' childhood. I had a chance to see a bunch of old photos and I was able to verify a few things.

1. Chris was a cute child. But even as a teenager he was totally adorable. It seems he was born that way.

2. His aunt, uncle and cousin were a very important part of his life. He's in, like, every photo album they own.

3. There was a time when he sported a mullet. A bleached mullet.

Sweetness.

Uh, Mom? One quick thing. We need to talk about destroying some old family photos. Stat! Specifically The Dorky Years.

Anyway, after spending four days in AZ, my conclusion? Chris comes from good people and I'm a very lucky girl to be marrying into a family like his.

Wedding
I have some very exciting news! Danny Oertli has agreed to do the music for our wedding! I'd asked him a few months ago knowing it was a long shot that he'd actually be able to, but I'm happy to tell you that he's agreed! Here's the best part. Unbeknownst to him, Danny was actually a part of our story. You see, it was at one of his concerts that Chris first heard about Compassion. He sponsored a boy that night, who he later went to Kenya to visit. While in Kenya he met Gayle who told him about a job opening she was hiring for at Compassion. He applied and got the job and ... well ... you know the rest of the story. So Danny was a part of the beginning of our story and now he will be a part of our big day. Thanks, Danny!

Also we've managed to secure highly talented Dominican videographer. He is a friend of my sister's and graciously agreed to fly out from NY to film the day. Thanks, Roman. Eres muy generoso, amigo!

In other news, I finally got the invitations in the mail this week. It took a while, but it was SO worth the wait! (Not unlike my love story, actually.) My brother, a.k.a. brilliant graphic designer, made them. They are PERFECT. Exactly what I envisioned.

(Speaking of invitations, whoever came up with the idea of leaving four weeks to RSVP? Really. It takes five seconds, people.)

Anyway, there are a lot of details that are waiting on final numbers, so I've been anxious to get these out and start getting a better idea of how big this thing will be.

A few weekends ago we registered for some gifts. Chris agreed to do this for me. (Thanks, honey. Way to score some major points.) But I want to tell you about something else we're doing. We want to use our wedding to fund a project with Healing Waters International. The water project we are funding is in Barrio George in the Dominican Republic. It is actually connected to a Compassion project, which makes it extra special for us. So if any of you want to help us do this and make a donation, please mention our names in the comment section of the donation form.

Finally, and perhaps the news I'm MOST excited about, I picked up my dress yesterday! Three words for you: I. LOVE. IT. Seriously, if it were possible to be in love with an inanimate object, I would be smitten.

According to our trusty wedding web site countdown thing, there are 38 days until THE day. So tell me, at what point do I start getting nervous?

The Emerald City

I'm alive! (In case any of you were wondering.) I haven't driven off the side of a cliff or been eaten by a big hairy monster.

We were on vacation in Seattle. We flew out to visit our buddies Robert and Wendy. It was a much needed time away from the craziness of life, work and wedding planning.


(I'd like to take a moment to give a shout out to my friend Jamie for taking my dog for the week. She's mom to Tilla (Havana's sister) and when those two get together, they tend to get a little crazy sometimes. Jamie, here's to you. You're a brave soul. And a HUGE blessing.)

Anyway, Seattle. It's been gorgeous weather the whole time. Sunny and mid-70's. This place is beautiful! Being born and raised in Colorado sort of taints your idea of what trees are, but now I know better. Those puny little excuses for trees that we have don't even begin to compare.

We went to Pike Market. We sampled some fantastic cheese and olive oil.


Chris ate a 1.13 pound apple. Then he felt sick.


Sunday after church we went on a picnic.


Here's Mocha, the cutest little rescue mutt you'll ever see.


Then a stop at Snoqualmie Falls. They're taller than Niagara.


Yesterday we went downtown to a Music and Arts Festival. Which, we found out, is secret code for Where the Weird People Gather. Because the place was packed with more bare skin, cleavage, stretch marks, tattoos, piercings, hemp clothing and dreadlocks then I have ever seen. Apparently Seattle has quite a large population of very hurting people who are desperate for attention.


Last night we went out for seafood at this great place called Chinook, right on the water. Fresh seafood is the BEST. Afterwards, we walked along the docks and checked out all the yachts.


So tonight we return to real life. Back to C. Springs ... the land of cookie cutter housing, strip malls, baby "trees" and urban diahhrea.

Home, sweet, home.

Want Ad

As the economy slows down and more people are looking for work, I would imagine a job like this one would be very popular.

According to the article ...

No formal qualifications are needed but candidates must be willing to swim, snorkel, dive and sail.

And what might you be compensated for this "job"? Well nothing much ...

In return, the successful applicant will receive a salary of A$150,000 ($103,000) for six months and get to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

Australia's tourism department is currently accepting applications. The deadline is February 22, 2009, so you still have time!

Oak: A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a townhouse. It was a nice townhouse with a very good view of Pikes Peak. The problem was, the very nice townhouse had very disgusting carpet. (And linoleum.)




One day, Becky, the owner of the townhouse, decided to go on vacation. While she was gone, some little gnomes appeared, tore out the carpet, and installed some very beautiful oak floors. When Becky came home, she was delighted.




Becky and her loyal lab, Havana, lived happily ever after in her beautiful townhouse with a beautiful view and beautiful floors.

The end.

P.S. If anyone in the Denver area is interested in new floors, I know a great guy ... I mean ... some gnomes I highly recommend.

Thus Ends the Vacation

Inhale. Hold ... and exhale slowly. Ahhhhh. Twelve sweet days of vacation. And for once, I actually went on vacation ... no checking email. No talking - or even thinking - about work. It was glorious!

I'm back at work now and digging out from a mountain of email. But in the meantime ... here are the last of the vacation photos. First, one final photo of Micah. (Sorry for being the crazy aunt who posts one zillion pictures, but I seriously can't get enough of him.) He has a perpetual look of surprise on his chubby little face. The kid's a real life cartoon.


These are from our time in D.C., which is a surprisingly beautiful place. Here we are in the glass house in the Hirschhorn Sculpture Gardens.


They had statues that looked just like us. Weird, huh?


Then we ran into some famous people at Union Station. They wanted their picture with Chris.


My favorite.


Here I am acting like the Washington Monument.


The new WWII memorial is beautiful.


We ended the trip with dinner at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant. Which, judging from a previous injera experience I thought would be gross. Thankfully, it wasn't.

Now ends the photo diary. Thanks for indulging me. Tomorrow I shall resume posting on whatever random topics happen to be on my mind (doing my best to avoid overdone issues such as the financial crisis, the election and climate change.)

Albanys Calling

I'm off early tomorrow morning to fly to New York and see my sister and her hubs. And also my other sister. And her boy Zach. And my cousin Jillian. And her new puppy. And perhaps most exciting of all ... to meet the new man in my life.

I'm flying Delta this time. Let's hope this trip goes a little smoother than my last one with Northwest.

I'm bringing my computer so I'm planning to post from there, but just in case we're too busy seeing Royal Crown Revue, playing Settlers of Cattan, picking fresh fruit (a NY tradition) and sailing on Zach's boat

... that's where I'll be.