Typical Colorado Weather

After our March blizzard that dropped about 12 inches of snow, Friday was a sunny beautiful day melting nearly half the snow. The weekend was warm and sunny and today…..snowing again. It is wet, slushy and sloppy. What is with the crazy weather all over the country? The news last night said we would get “a couple inches of snow” today and I scrapped off a good 3 inches and it is still coming down like blizzard….tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, later this week, more snow!

A hopeful update on Fargo…..We are hoping the Red River in Fargo stays where it is, so my in-laws house isn’t in danger. They don’t live on the River, but there is the danger of ground water which would flood their house. Keeping our fingers crossed. Frank flew up from Florida to make sure everything is okay and will be there all week just making sure things hold. . Mother nature, please…..

Just when I was going to change my background....more flakes

Blizzard update #2

Kyle made it home safe and sound and pretty close to his normal commute. The snow is coming down at a much slower pace and is hopefully on its way out! The "Blizzard Warning" is through Friday at 6:00am, so we'll see what happens between now and then. A nice Thursday afternoon of house projects....fun

Blizzard update...

Thankfully I am home and Kyle is on his way. It really is bad out there. A normal compute for me is 10 minutes and it took about 40 minutes. The "official" measurement from the grill out back is 8 inches and it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon. Until Kyle gets home.....

Blizzard 2009

It has been a pretty mild winter in Colorado and especially Denver! We haven’t had a good snow fall all winter. March is our snowiest month and here it comes!!! We are supposed to get 8-16 inches in the city and up to two feet in the foothills by tomorrow morning. For the first time in my life, every school district in the state, including universities have closed today in anticipation of the snow. You’d think this was Miami getting snow, seriously never happened before.

We woke to a dusting and a dry drive to work and now, it is nearly white out conditions. I really do hope we get 16 inches of snow, for the sake of moisture that we so desperately need and because I love a snow day….tomorrow!! A snow update to come….

Ballet

I have been a theater junkie lately. Last night was the finale to three nights at the theater in a week. Last week went to the Colorado Ballet’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A classic Shakespeare tale of love-triangles, relationships and lovers in an enchanted forest. The performance last night was incredible and unique. It is called The Repertory Series which consists of three different ballets. The first two were fairly traditional in the ballet sense, elegant and graceful in toe shoes and ballet slippers. The third and longest was very contemporary, fast paced and high energy. It was a mix between Stomp and ballet. The costumes were what looked like, black and white striped baggy scrubs, red Pointe shoes and white tennis shoes. The stage was filled with fog and the dancers would just appear. It took ballet to a totally different level. Brilliant!

I had never been to the ballet before last year when my mom asked me to go with her last minute. We went to The Repertory Series, I decided I liked ballet. The production was the same set up, three ballets that went from traditional to contemporary. I wouldn’t say ballet is a dying art, but there aren’t huge crowds of people buying tickets. What I determined last year is this contemporary side of ballet is what is going to bring it to the masses. It is like what RENT, the musical, did for musicals. Its rock opera style with controversial liberal topics typically attended by a conservative audience has created a following from a generation where musicals were nearly dead. RENT brought a young, diverse and virgin crowd to the theater. This same concept is what The Repertory Series is going to do for ballet. Who knew I’d like ballet so much….you just need that one experience and then you’re hooked.

Phantom...

You don’t even need the entire title of the musical to know what I’m talking about. It is that known, loved and simply amazing!!! As the final celebration of my birthday I went to Phantom of The Opera. I loved it!!! This is about the only classic musical I hadn’t seen, and have been wanting to for a few years. I’ve even had the soundtrack since high school, but I’d never seen the show.

Last night I finally saw it with a great theater date…my mom! What a beautiful score, famous and delightful to listen to. The sets were extravagant and the costumes were beautiful! I have to admit after all of these years of singing along to the soundtrack I didn’t know the story of the musical. Regardless, it was amazing, amazing! Thanks Mom!!!

Lent Update

Overall we are doing well!!! Last year I attempted giving up swearing and it flat out didn’t work, it was a terrible attempt. So this years’ attempt I was serious, I am going to do this. The first 24 hours were difficult but it is much better now. I am at 11 “bad” words, I’m proud. Facebook was REALLY hard the first week, and now it’s not a big deal. We all lived without it before, and I’m doin’ just fine now! Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait for April 11th at midnight!

Kyle, he is doing really well!!! He has had many challenges in the deep fried and alcohol departments, only because of situations he has been in, but he hasn’t “made baby Jesus cry”. I on the other hand screw it up for him! The challenge here is that I do most of the cooking and with Kyle giving up red meat, I’m forced to ventured out of my red meat, seafood and chicken box. I made Kaiser Roll calzones the Wednesday that Lent started which called for salami. I read the label at the store, as I always do, all the ingredients looked good, and it made it into my basket. After a satisfying meal, Kyle gets up walks to the fridge and ingredient #2…BEEF! Oops, that one is my fault, I’ll take a lashing now!

30's

Now that I’m officially out of my 20’s I have been thinking….what a decade!!! For me it was a wonderful 10 years with a lot of memorable event….growing up, learning about myself, graduating college, buying a house, drinking legally, starting a career, figuring out where I’m supposed to be, re-met the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, got married and traveled with Up With People.....and those are just the big items. They were the best years so far.

I’m not about to deny the fact that I struggled with 30 more than any other birthday, but I am learning to embrace it. Saying I’m in my thirties, sounds older, wiser, mature, and creditable, like I know what I’m talking about, doesn’t it?! My thirties are going to be incredible with even more fun, excitement, learning and new adventures.

My 30th Birthday

“My birthday weekend” as Kyle put it, was awesome! It started Saturday early evening when Kyle told me I needed to open the gift from his parents and Lisa. Kyle brings in this huge box from his car (wrapped in a ski jacket) and said open it. I unzipped the jacket and found a sewing machine. I was so excited. I took sewing lessons for years as a kid and haven’t sewn in forever. I mentioned recently I wanted one, and sure enough Randy and Frank have a little bird on their shoulders. Lisa gave me a gift car to a local fabric store. I feel like a real homemaker now!

Saturday evening we (Mom, Kyle, Kelly Dan and I) went to Lala’s for dinner. It is this cute new gourmet pizza place that was delicious! Afterward, we meet some friends at Forest Room 5. Thanks Jaime and Andrew and Chris and Court for meeting us out, it was so much fun. Sunday I was told to be at mom’s house at noon. I arrived to a wonderful lunch prepared by Mom and Kel, opened a few more gifts and then we headed to the spa for manis and pedis. Ah, what more could a girl ask for….a spa day! Kel and I did a little shopping after our relaxation. Monday night (my actual birthday) Kyle and I tried a new restaurant called Mark and Isabella’s. It was delicious and I would definitely go back! Then we went to d-bar. This is owned and run by a local celebrity often seen on the Food Network as the host of Food Network Challenge. Trying not to name drop....IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! I couldn’t decide what to get, I wanted one of everything and ended up with Cake and Shake, yum. Kyle got the ice cream sandwich which was also delicious. Everything is made right in front of you, or 10 feet away. It was so fun, and I am definitely going back for more!

The best thing about last night is that I got a cruiser!!!! I am so excited. I have wanted one for about a year. I can’t wait for the weather to get warmer, so I can ride my new bike to work. Thanks to Kari for helping Kyle get it, and also for my basket and bell. I can’t wait for spring.

Thank you everyone for a great birthday, the best one yet!