Pics of the new bathroom

Here are the old pictures and the new pictures of our bathroom. I love it and I'm so proud of Tony!
Now he's on to redoing our mantel and the tile around the fireplace. It's always something!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post these!

Today we went snowboarding and I am so sore! I didn't do too well, but still better than I've ever done before. It was a lot of fun though, despite all the falling. I just hope I can get out of bed tomorrow. :)

More of Beautiful Colorado

As hard as it is to start over, as sad as we are for our friends and family, or when we've had a really bad week at work/school/life, we still have the mountains. We get to see them everyday and can be right up in them in less than an hour.
We went up last weekend to go snowshoeing, but there wasn't much snow, so we just went hiking. I am SO out of shape! But we had a great time, and the views were beautiful.

Digging to China

This is what I came home to on Friday.



I told Tony earlier this week that I didn't want to crate Kirby anymore because it makes me feel bad that he is in a crate for so long during the day. He's a good dog and usually doesn't get into anything while we are gone (when we leave him out, like on the weekends). Well, he proved us wrong! Sheets shredded, springs exposed. And that does suck, but I would have felt so much worse if he would have gotten choked on a spring, or gotten his head in there. It's just too dangerous, so back in the crate it is.
This was after one of the worse days at work I've had in a LONG time, but before I got one of the most unprofessional emails from one of my group members from school. Needless to say - Friday sucked.

Sex on Fire

So I'm probably the last person to hear this song, but it blew my mind. Once again Kings of Leon does it for me. This song is amazing!!! Tony said this reminds him more of their older stuff. What do you think?

Super Bowl's Past

When I was in high school we always had a super bowl party at our house. My mom and dad would graciously open up their home to a bunch of kids from our youth group. We'd buy pizza and coke and snacks and semi watch the game in between talking and playing. It is such a great memory to have and I'm so glad my parents were always ok with a bunch of dumb teenagers invading their house.

Another great memory is the super bowl where Janet Jackson exposed (ewwww) herself. Everyone was in the kitchen at Jen's and no one was sitting there with me to see it! Of course I was the only nerd watching Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake...but still! That was a great party - good friends, food and booze. It was one of many souree's over on Capri Rd. We found some random video tape the other day that we had taken over at a BBQ on Capri and it brought back such funny memories. If I could ever figure out how to load it onto the computer I could post some of it so that you could get a chuckle too.

Today we are having some friends over to watch the game and snack. Another year...more memories to be made.

Obadiah Parker

Wow! I just stumbled across this band by accident tonight and they are awesome! They are just now recording their first album and I can't wait to hear it!

New Favorite Drink - Pomegranate Champagne Punch

I got this recipe off of Bon Apetit and it's really delish! We had it on New Years and then again last weekend at our game night.

1/2 cup simple syrup (1/2 C Sugar, 1/2 C Water - boil to make syrup)
1 bottle champagne (I used spumante, but it called for Brut)
1 C. Rum
1 C. Pomegranate Juice
1 lemon thinly sliced
mint leaves

I varied the original recipe slightly, so the one above is not the exact one from Bon Apetit

Snowshoeing at Echo Lake

Last weekend Tony and I went to a snowshoeing Demo at Echo Lake. REI had a few different snowshoe makers there so we went up to try out the goods. It was so freakin' cold! And there were quite a few people there, so we had to wait in line about an hour to get a pair, but we still had a really great time. We have to start doing activities like this...it was one of the reasons we wanted to move to Colorado in the first place!

Bathroom Renovation

Seeing as I have a 3 day weekend, I told Tony I wanted to paint the guest bathroom, his response was to renovate the whole thing! It needed to be done anyways. The bathroom was carpeted (yuck!) and the vanity is just contractor grade, never been replaced. There wasn't anything wrong with it, we just wanted to update it (and definetly get rid of the carpet).
Tony never ceases to amaze me. The bathroom is really coming along, and he's doing it all himself. I have mostly just supervised today. And by supervised I mean that I have painted 3 different samples on the bathroom wall, did homework, and am now watching 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. :)
Here are the 3 samples I painted, although we have chosen to not go with any of them and instead go with Russian Blue. I'll put up pics once it's done!

The Biggest Crybaby

Yeah, that's the category I would definetly win since I'm sitting here bawling watching the Biggest Loser. Wow! I had no idea it was this emotional. I have never seen this show before. I just want it so bad for these people. I might just have to tune into this every week!
I really shouldn't be watching anything, as much homework as I need to get done....but I guess that's what commercials are for!

Welcome 2009

First of all I have to say congrats to our great friends Adam and Jen for the birth of their first son - Carter! I'm so excited for them and can't wait to see pics. Their 2009 is already off to an exciting start! That's the fifth baby year to date that friends have had....hmmm, much pressure?

2008 was a great year and one year ago at this time none of it was planned, just hoped for - We got to go to Italy with Robin and Jesse, we moved to Denver, bought a house, Tony got a job right away....things worked out really well for us. My folks came up on the 31st and helped us ring in the new year. We had so much fun! We ran around and got to eat at some new (to us) restaurants. We had such a nice time visiting. I'm hoping that Amy can come up sometime too (this time without having to work so much!)

Now I'm looking forward to 2009. Hopefully we will get settled into the house and our lives will seem less chaotic.
These are a few of my hopes for 2009 (and things I just want to get done)...not resolutions:
*To start cooking more, like I used to, experimenting and trying new things. I bought a new cook book the other day, so hopefully it will provide some inspiration.
*Get all the painting done in the house.
*Start going out again and finding fun new restaurants (I have to say this is one of things I miss the most (after our friends) about B-more. The food).
*Get at least most of the furniture picked out and bought so our guests don't have to stay on air mattresses or sit on the floor when there isn't enough room on the couch. (Sarah - this is where you come in!)
*Stay focused on school....(it's already starting - my first class starts tomorrow and I already have homework to do!)
*Get a better, more positive attitude towards work....and other things...but mostly just work. I have to remember that I can't be a reflection of those I work with, but have to be myself no matter the circumstance. I have to try not to get so down and depressed about mean people that suck. Wow - that already sounds more positive! Yikes! This is going to be hard....
*and of course the one thing everyone says they are going to do - start working out, again. I have a different motivation this year though...we want to start trying for a baby, and I really want to be at a good weight when that happens. If I could lose about 15 pounds, that would be ideal to me. That way it may not be as hard to lose the baby weight. I know I can do this. I'm good about excuses for exercises, but usually try to force myself to do something...but the eating part. Oh how I loathe diets!!! But I know that if I just cut out a few things I will be on the right track, like sodas and loading up my coffee with sugar. And candy during the day. And second helpings. But I am not, I tell you this now, going to cut back on the chips and salsa. Even if that meant never losing another pound, I won't let it go.


HAPPY NEW YEAR Friends! Many blessings to you for a wonderful 2009.

A Christmas to Remember

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas in Minnesota. The week went by too quickly, of course, but we are so grateful that we were able to go up there.
Our drive up was ok...until Des Moines. Tony and I traded driving just north of Des Moines, right when the freezing rain started coming down. It got bad pretty fast...there was a bad wreck on 35N, which stopped traffic for an hour. But while we were stopped I got to see one of the most wonderful displays of human kindness.




There were two cars in the ditch by where we stopped. I am supposing that both had hit their brakes when they saw the wreck and then slide off. But about 10 men got out of their cars and started digging and pushing the cars out of the ditch. It was wonderful to see all these people working together for strangers. I cried...surprise surprise. So it took us FOREVER to get from Iowa to St. Paul. Sliding the whole way...it was completely iced over and none of the exits had been plowed, so pulling off really wasn't an option. But we were lucky that the road from St. Paul to Duluth wasn't bad. Not great conditions, but the roads weren't iced over anymore.
So our week started off rough, but it was worth it. Getting to see Daniel and everybody was just what we needed. We hung out and the boys played Wii, we got to go up to the cabin, and we got to go snowshoeing. Our nephew Connor is a year and 1/2 and he was a crack up! He was so much fun....kids make the holidays so much more exciting.


Our drive back was weather free! So it only took us 16 hours, which was a relief. We were still exhausted, but it was so much better driving.
All in all, we had a wonderful white Christmas. I hope the same was true for everyone else!

Grumblings at the Post Office

So today is the busiest day of the year for the Post Office. I knew this, but I had to mail out some gifts, and I figured it was punishment to have to wait in line since I'm running so late this year. I accepted it. I sucked it up and went to the Post Office.
First of all when I got to the door I struggled to open it with my hands full of boxes, and some old broad at the door stood there and watched me...laughing....with only one package in her hand!!! Are you serious!!! Who does that? Who doesn't try to help someone out? Geezz....
So then some dude got in line behind me and stood about 3 inches away. I could FEEL him breathing down my neck...ewww!!! Then he grumbled the entire freakin' time!! I was getting more angry by the minute.....does he think he's the only one that doesn't enjoy waiting in line? The only one who doesn't have something better to be doing other than being at the post office? I was so frustrated.
and I hate that I let rude people with little lives take away a bit of my Holiday Freakin' Spirit!
Sorry for the angry post on days before Christmas, but I needed to vent.
I'd already had a frustrating day as our pipes had froze over night...we got them thawed and no bursts (THANK GOODNESS!), but it was nerve wracking. It was -11 when I left for work this morning and the high was 14. BURRRR!!

7 Year Itch

After reading Trisha's post today I remembered that I had meant to post about November 24th....Tony and I's 7 year anniversary! 7 years! It really has flown by. And it's been a lot of fun. Ups and Downs and we have come out on top. We have gone from newlywed college students in NM to being lonely and scared moving to Maryland, adjusting and coming to love so many friends in Maryland and really, growing up and becoming adults. Now we are in Colorado and homeowners. We are really blessed. We have gotten to travel and see things we never dreamed of.
Tony has been a rock for me and I am so thankful for him. We go great together and things just keep getting better. I am so excited for what is to come.
Here is some photos from over the past couple of years.

A Surprise Trip

Last week I flew back to Maryland for work and got to surprise Jen at her baby shower while I was there! Heather planned the details and it went off so well! Jen didn't even know she was having a shower and I hadn't told her that I was coming out. It was great! The look on her face was priceless, but unfortunately I didn't get a good pic! The only one I have is kind of blurry, but I'm going to post it anyways.


Of course I forgot to take pics like I had wanted. That always happens! But I thought this one was funny of Jesse and Nathan. She is so photogenic!



I got to spend time with friends and it was so nice to see everyone. Unfortunately there is never enough time. It was harder going back than I anticipated. I miss Maryland and our friends. We do love Colorado, but we look back on MD fondly. Hopefully one of these days Tony and I can both go back together to visit everyone!

Oh the weather outside is frightful.....

Christmas spirit in FULL SWING! Well, actually, I've been in the Holiday spirit for about 3 weeks now. I wanted to put up our Christmas lights about a week before Thanksgiving. But really, Christmas is only 3 weeks away!! And not a gift has been bought. Well, one gift, but that's it.
It has been snowing off and on now since Friday night. It is really beautiful and I love that we didn't have too much to get done this weekend. We went and turned in our apartment keys today - woo hoo!! Hopefully no more apartment living! And we got a Christmas tree. All that is on it right now is the lights, but we will finish decorating tonight. It is such a beautiful tree! I love it. But I'm not positive that I love it so much for the tree that it is as much for the fact that it is in OUR house! And it looks so good in our living room! It makes the house feel like a home.

A Hockey Fan Is Born

I have now been to 2 hockey games in the past month. We went to an Avalanche game about 3 weeks ago (thank you cheap AF tickets) and tonight Roby and Jamie invited us to go to a DU game with them. They are (Roby) /have (Jamie) moved to Seattle, so they were trying to use up their season tickets. It was so nice of them to invite us along. We had so much fun!! Even though I go to DU, we hadn't yet been to a hockey game. I really hope we get to go to more now. It felt so up close and they are really good. The game went so fast.
The Avalanche game was great, it was our first professional hockey game and they played the MN Wild. And they had nachos and a big fountain coke.....but the DU nachos and fountain coke were EVEN better!! Sodexo at DU wasn't quite a chinchy with their nacho cheese. Sucky part was that getting back on the train from the Pepsi Center was a complete mess and then I wasn't paying attention and we didn't get off at the right stop to change trains....it took an hour to correct that whole wreck and get back to our car. Oh well, lesson learned.
Other than that - I did brave the stores today. We went to Target, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Bed Bath & Beyond. We didn't get too much, just a couple of really good deals. And actually, by the time we got there (8ish) there weren't that many people in the stores. Tony did a lot around the house today and we took a trip to the dump, but all in all, it was just the relaxing day I needed. And now tonight, it is snowing, and it is beautiful.....

A lot to be thankful for

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I have so much to be thankful for today...a new home, a new city, food in kitchen, a job, a wonderful husband and a family that is healthy. So much has changed in the past year. I was thinking about it today as I was cooking, thinking about last Thanksgiving and where I was....and where I wanted to be. I wanted to be here, in Denver, in a home of my own. And my dreams came true. Last Thanksgiving I didn't even have a clue about the job transfer and I knew we weren't going to be buying a home while in Maryland. I was content, but restless.
I had originally wanted to go to NM for Thanksgiving, but up until Tuesday, Tony didn't know that he had off of work on Friday, so it was going to be too long of a trip for just a day. So I cooked and we just had a quite dinner alone.
In 2005 my in-laws came to spend the holiday with us, then in 2006 Jenni and Rob flew out. But last year we spent it just the two of us, so we were ok with it again this year. Especially since we are going to Minnesota for Christmas.
We've already ate and everything turned out beautiful. The gravy was a mess, so we had to start over, but the second attempt turned out great. The cranberry sauce was too runny, but the dressing was the best yet! I then went into a food coma for a couple of hours, and now I think I'm ready for seconds.
We may attempt to go out tomorrow. We are in search of a wireless router. I'm nervous. I HATE shopping. I don't find it fun, I would rather not do it at all. If I was rich I would pay someone to do it for me. But we've seen a couple of really good deals, so I think I'm going to have to put on my brave pants and go for it.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I am thinking about you all and hope you have many blessings to be thankful for today.

Updates - New House

Life has been really hectic to say the least.
We have finally moved in, although I still need to finish cleaning the apt. before we turn in the keys.
My dad and sister were here week before last - and we are SO grateful that they came! So much got done. My dad and Amy and Tony put in hardwood floors on the first floor, and they look amazing! It changed the whole feel of the house. And they pulled out the carpet from the first floor bathroom and put in tile. So far it's my favorite room in the house! The green color in that room is really nice. And we updated all the fixtures. I felt bad because Amy and my Dad were exhausted, they worked so hard.
My class is finally over, I had my final about 2 weeks ago. That was added stress and I'm really glad it's done. Now I have a small break, but next year I will go straight through for almost a year. One quarter down - 3 more years to go!
I'll put up pics soon! But for now I need to look through decorating magazines, finish unpacking and get ready for work tomorrow.

I'm a Maverick!

We had some friends over for a small Halloween party in the new house.

Sarah and Todd


Sarah and Cletus....with the pic of Rusty. Trying to guess at who the father may be.
Her shirt says "Someone played with my beaver".....and the Boone's farm with the fake belly really topped it off.

Girls Night Out

Stephanie Klein had a reading tonight in Denver, so Sarah and I made a girls night of it by going to dinner then going to the reading. I haven't had a girls night out in....while, I can't remember when. It was wonderful. I had such a good time! And the reading was really good too. The first speaker was Mindy Schneider, and I really enjoyed hearing her talk. Sarah and I might suggest that this book be our next book club read (our last was Moose). We told this to Mindy and she offered that we call her during our meeting so she can talk with us about the book!! AWESOME! I was kind of nervous to meet Stephanie, simply because I have been a voyeur of her life for so long. She was very down to earth. I'm not really sure what I expected, but she was nice and seemed really sincere. I'm sure I seemed like a sweaty dork...but oh well, I still had a good time! Hopefully I didn't embarrass Sarah!
Tonight was wonderful, and I'm so thankful to Sarah for going with me, I hope she enjoyed it as much as I did.

Casa de Richards....We are HOMEOWNERS!

We closed on the house yesterday!! So exciting. And so very relieved that it is over. This has been such a process....some many things came up that we thought were going to make this fail....then we just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But we signed our life away yesterday and got the keys!
Last night we celebrated by eating take out Chinese food and Champagne in our empty house!
And tomorrow night we are going to have our first (hopefully of many) party! A few of our friends are coming over to celebrate Halloween and the new Casa. I am going as, surprise surprise, Sarah Palin! I'll take a pic and post it. I found a fabulous red dress shirt at Goodwill for $3.99 and bought some frameless glasses at Target. Fun fun!! Tony is going as Bob Ross, it should be a crack up too!
Here's a couple of pics of the new place. I haven't taken one of the front of the house yet though.

Autumn in New Mexico

I went to NM last weekend to see my family. It was my mom's 50th birthday, so we had a family birthday party for her while my sister and I were in town. I got to spend time with my grandparents and see my cousin's newest baby. I am so very thankful that I now live close enough to go home on the weekend. It was great to hang out with my sister and my folks. Hopefully next time Tony can go with me.
I didn't take very many pictures unfortunately. I just forgot. But I did get the nature pics while I was driving back to Colorado on Monday morning. The sun was just starting to come up, and it was gorgeous. There is nothing like a New Mexico sunrise.

Everything is still going with the new house. We are supposed to close a week from Wednesday. I think I'm still holding my breath that everything is going to go through! I'm so afraid something is going to drop at the last minute. We haven't bought anything yet (paint, tiles, etc) because we don't want to jinx ourselves.

Sorry this post isn't very long or exciting....my mind is on overload and I feel very scattered. I seem to have ideas of posts when I am no where near a computer.

Good friends, good times

This past weekend Robin flew out to visit us and it was WONDERFUL! It was so great to see a friend in our home...it warmed our hearts. We did SO MUCH! On Friday Robin and I went to Georgetown. It's an old mining town with lots of cool shops and boutiques. Robin got a great ring and we made friends with the jeweler....who said that from now on we get the jewelry at whole sale cost! SWEET! I was looking for an old British Fern book at an antique bookstore. I want it in order to tear the pics out and frame them (thank you Martha Stewart), but I soon had to cover up my reasons as the owner said a lot of people ruin those books by taking out the pics! So I had to act as though I was truly interested in British Ferns...hmmm...
Friday night we went and ate at D'Corazon for some Mexican food and 'ritas, then went to the BEST Jazz club! It was awesome and I can't wait to go back. It was just a little hole in the wall, but we had so much fun.
Saturday we went to Rocky Mtn. National Park and saw tons of elk. They were bugling and it was really neat. Then we just walked around Estes Park for a while and went to The Stanley! It was such a beautiful hotel! So much history. I really hope we can go their for our (7 year!) anniversary this November. We HAD to go home and watch The Shining after that though.
Sunday we went to Colorado Springs and took in the sites there. Monday Robin and I went to Red Rocks, Golden, and downtown Littleton - which had very chic boutiques and a great antique store. Then....Robin had her first Sonic drink!!! I have raved about Sonic for YEARS, and I was finally able to share it with her.
I can't wait until she comes back out for a visit, and hopefully Jesse will be able to make it too.
Oh - and I also made a discovery this weekend - CRATE AND BARREL! What a fantastic store! I can see that store taking me to the poor house. But at least it would be decorated really well!

Home inspection went through and now we are just playing the waiting game. The date for closing is still the 29th...just in time for a Halloween party. It will have to be BYOC (Bring your own chair), but fun none the less! We do have lots of plans for the house though....it is so exciting to be able to paint and decorate. I'm really hoping my folks and sister can come up and help us. Not to make anyone feel guilty, but we will be decorating the guest bedroom ASAP...so that way you have a cozy place to stay when you come visit....WHEN YOU COME AND VISIT.....not to make you feel guilty, but it would be really great IF YOU COME AND VISIT! Robin, Cherie, and Craig are off the hook for a little while (i'll say until after the holidays), but as for the rest of you, we REALLY miss you guys!