Busy busy busy!!!

I haven't posted in a while - but things have been crazy.
Last weekend I had to go on a retreat for one of my college classes and didn't get back until Sunday night
....and college, it's not really hard, it's just a lot of work.
And of course work has been nuts with the end of the fiscal year (so glad tomorrow is 1 Oct).
I want to write all about it, but right now I have to write a paper about last weekend, so the blog will have to wait.
I want to post pics from this weekend with me and members of my team, but do you think it's ok to put pics up without permission? Or do I tell my new friends/class mates about my blog and ask if it's ok? hmmmm....
Home inspection is Thursday!
Robin is coming for the weekend on Friday!!
And my house is a wreck! It's not like Robin hasn't seen my house in a complete wreck (and still loves me in spite of it), but still...I have laundry out the wazoo from this past weekend and everything looks so cluttered....oy vey.
Oh yeah - and Sean if you read this - Happy Birthday my friend! Hope it was a great one! Sorry I haven't emailed you yet, but I will.

Good NEWS!

We are tentatively homeowners!!!!
We put in an offer and they countered about 2 hours later and we accepted!!!
So now if everything goes well we could be paying a mortgage by December! I'm kind of in shock. Wow. Something of our own. It's so permanent. I'm not as scared as I thought, I'm just so pleased. I only slept about 3 hours last night I was so anxious.
Thank you so much for all your warm wishes and prayers!!
I can't wait to show it to you!!
I wish I could write more...but I'm so tired and it's almost 10pm.
More later......

Beautiful Colorado Weekend

Yesterday we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. We needed to go up to the mountains, get away from the heat, relax. It was amazing. It was our first time to RMNP. The weather was so nice and we got to see some elk. We took a picnic lunch with us and hiked around. The views were great. We can't wait to take Robin up there when she comes out to visit us in two week! YES!!!!
Today we went and looked at some more houses. One we like VERY much....that's all I'm going to say so as not to jinx us.
It's going to be a nutty week. I have a lecture tomorrow night, a meeting on Wednesday night along with class afterwards, 2 meetings on Thursday night, then on Friday I have to leave for a retreat with my class until Sunday night.
I've still been pretty good with going to spinning in the morning before work though, and I'm going to try and keep up with it this week. We'll see. I really enjoy going. Don't get me wrong, when the alarm goes off at 10 till 5 I DO NOT WANT TO GET UP, but after I'm up and around, I look forward to it. It's nice to get my workout out of the way in the morning, even if it means I get into work later and have to work later in the day than usual. My evenings have been so consumed that I know I won't work out otherwise. And mentally, I really need to work out and release some stress. It keeps me on an even keel.

Where were you?

I got the idea for this post from Trisha.
I can remember all the details from my day on 9/11. I know that someday my kids will come home from school and ask me about it, about my feelings, my fears. Just as I remember asking my parents about where they were, what the reaction was, when JFK was assassinated.
I had a 7:20 math class, and I was listening to the radio on my way in. They were saying that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers, but no one knew why or what had happened. What? How does a pilot do that? Was the plane crashing anyways and it accidentally hit the building? Not once was my thought that someone had done it on purpose. Who would do something like that? I asked my peers if they had heard the news, but only a couple had, and they were as bewildered as I was.
I went home to pick up Tony because we were meeting my dad in Alamogordo to trade cars. Before we left we went over to Tony's parents house, where Deb and Dan were watching the news. By this time a second plane had hit the other building, and both buildings had collapsed, everyone knew this was no accident.
Tony and I were in shock driving to meet my dad. I don't think we even really spoke, just listened to the news. We met my dad and just solemnly spoke about what had happened. Why had this happened? We had to go back to Cruces, as we both had classes that afternoon. I felt so far removed from everything, but heartbroken that someone had created so much pain and loss. All those families that had lost someone they loved, in such an act of violence, it was inconceivable. Those rescuers were trying to save people, and so many lost their lives too.
I remember that classes had optional attendance for the rest of the day, but they encouraged students to go to class, talk about what had happened. Everyone sat in class with lumps in their throat, or weeping openly. Weeping for people we didn't know, for the lives of people far removed from our little New Mexico town. Because this affected all of us, it reached out and gripped all Americans and brought us to our knees. How dare these people, these terrorists, think they can come onto our soil and take away so much. I was so angry and also afraid. What's next? White Sands Missile Range is just over the Oregon Mountains from Las Cruces. What if they wanted to hit that too?
I am choked up now remembering that day. It changed all of us forever, the way we look at the world and the way we look at our own country, with pride abounding. We are Americans, we knew we could pull together, aid one another, and build back up some of what we had lost. Because that is what the people in this great country do, we join together and we rebuild. We find strength within us that we didn't even know existed.

Offer Denied

We just found out that the sellers have gotten another offer and it is higher than ours, so they want us to bid higher. We aren't going to. We just don't feel it's necessary to go into a bidding war in this market. Yes we loved the house and it was the best we've seen so far, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Our realtor said it wasn't worth it to go back unless we were willing to pay the asking price, and we are not. It is a lot higher than we said we wanted to pay, and we aren't going to stray from our original number. I've been praying really hard since yesterday that if it was meant to be that we would get the house - so I know we got our answer. There will be another house out there for us. I'm still kind of sad though.

We've made an offer

So we are putting in an offer today. It's exciting. It is the home we want. Andi and Adam told me that we can't get emotionally involved in a home...but it's so hard! We can't help but really like this home. It feels right. It's beautiful. It looks like us, and it has everything we want. Hopefully they will take our offer, but I have a feeling they are going to counter.
So now it's pins and needles time until tomorrow!
So exciting!!

Tired....so tired

This week was crazy....I think it is finally catching up to me. It's 7:30 and I am hoping to go to bed ASAP.
Tuesday - Thursday I had orientation until late and then Friday we went to a grad student social downtown at a bar and then went to the ballgame. We couldn't even stay for the whole game because we were so tired. We hadn't been to a pro baseball game since B-more. And it was bittersweet. I LOVED going to Camden Yard. We always had such a great time....going to see the Rockies reminded me of how much I miss going to those games with friends.
Yesterday I had orientation again until 12:30, then we had a meeting with the realtor.
I woke up early this morning and went grocery shopping, then we went and looked at homes ALL DAY with Bob, the realtor who is helping us. We looked at 12...and it was about 6 too many. I was exhausted and discouraged. Who the hell doesn't clean their house when it's on the market? How do you live in filth....I was disgusted by some of the homes we saw. I figured the foreclosures and the short sales were going to be kind of bad...but the regular homes? Seriously, how long does it take to make your bed or hang your clothes up? I know that is all superficial, but it is still a turn off. We really didn't see anything that we liked, but we did rule out an area, so at least now our search is narrower.
Hopefully this week we can look at some homes in Littleton. That is really the area that we had our heart set on anyway. We probably need to make an offer in the next couple of weeks in order to have a move in date before Thanksgiving. Ahhh, the stress. But it's a good stress, it's exciting to think of being a homeowner. Having a backyard....a nice kitchen...something that is our own.

A Taste of Colorado....disappointing

So yesterday after my class we went downtown to go to the Taste of Colorado festival. Vendors set up booths and offer samples of their food for a small cost, and then you can also buy larger portions. I thought it was going to be many of the higher end restaurants....but there were only a few of those. And there were so many odd balls there....middle age women in midriffs (sp?), teenager girls with their butt hanging out of their shorts...sickening. It was so disappointing. The food was not that great and it was super hot. We left after a little while, walking back down 16th street to the train station.
Now, we lived in Baltimore city for 2 years. And a couple of times I did get lost driving around and I was scared....but I was in my car and I just got out of there as quickly as I could. Walking downtown yesterday, I was more afraid (being on foot), than I ever was in Baltimore! We saw a lot of drugged out people...some hippies begging for money, and just some straight up sketchy people. I was so uncomfortable, gripping my purse close to me while trying to walk around the masses of weirdos. It was for about 2 blocks that I had that nervous anticipation that someone my accost us. I HATE that feeling. It's just unnerving, not really in control of the situation. Seriously......it's Denver! Even walking around Philly or NYC, I haven't felt that way. In NY we would see people that we would want to avoid being close to, but never clumped together like that! So I don't think we will be going to another fest downtown. It's the second one we've been to, and both have be bad.
If we wanted to see bad parents, drunks, and kooks we would stay home and sit on our porch, not go all the way downtown.

College 101

This is a little something I journaled tonight, while waiting for my statistics refresher course to start (it is kind of random, just a hodgepodge of thoughts):

I'm nervous, anxious, scared.
Do I belong here? Already I feel like everyone is smarter than I am. What if it's too hard? What if I fall on my face? What if I fail?
On the verge of tears.
I am now realizing that everyone brought their laptop. Except for me...shit.
I feel out of place. I know my anxiety is apparent I hear other languages being spoken. This is a part time grad program...Great, even the guy with highlights that just touched down from Cali has his laptop.
At least everyone looks older like me. That's comforting.
I am so intimidated right now. What am I doing? The girls sitting in the row in back of me are fast becoming friends, I can hear a couple of them giggling. Sitting in front of their brand new dells....man, new technology scares me.


So I feel ALOT better now, after the class. The professor was very interesting and engaging. And it wasn't over my head. I remembered my t's, z's and probabilities some what. I walked out feeling like maybe I do have something to offer. I just doubt myself sometimes. This is going to be a big dedication, but if I put my whole heart into it, I know I can do my best. It was just scary to start something new. Walking through the campus to class today reminded me of the first days of my freshman year of college. Feeling small in a great big college. Wondering if I was going to be as smart as the other students, if I was going to make friends. Is everyone going to be dressed up? You would think 10 years later I would be so much more confident....but I think everyone is apprehensive when they are starting a new chapter in their lives.

Soy Rey Del Mundo!

We went to the top of our first 14er today, Mt. Evans. Although I hesitate to say we 'bagged' it, because you drive to the top and only have to hike about 10 minutes up to be on the peak. But it did feel like we were on the top of the world. The views were great! And we got to see some mountain goats, one right on top of the peak! And we went geocaching while we were up there, and we found our first cache. It was kind of obvious, and it had been compromised and broken (it was an enclosed pipe), and some little brat kept shaking out the log entries, (all the while his mom telling him how cute he was - urghhh, but I digress). We were still excited to find it. Then we looked for the second one but didn't find it. Oh well, we'll have to look again next time.
What a wonderful day. These are the kind of days that really make me appreciate Colorado (even more than I thought possible), and all the outdoor activities it has to offer. I need to keep doing these things, experience new adventures, because it makes me miss Maryland less, and lifts my spirits. I've been in kind of a funk, just missing our friends and the things we got to do in Baltimore. Today made me feel a million times better. Everything is just an adjustment, especially moving 1/2 way across the country. Living in Colorado has been what we wanted for so long, and days like today are one of the big reasons why.

Roasting, Green Chile that is

I found some Hatch Green Chile at the grocery store. That's right, HATCH GREEN CHILE! Only one of the best things ever. EVER. I roasted it over our tiny camping grill, cleaned it, put cheese on it, and then had my way with it. And IT WAS AMAZING. I almost cried when the smell of the roasting chile started permeating the air. It is by far one of the BEST smells in the ENTIRE WORLD.
It is a smell of my past. It brings about so many pleasant memories. It makes my mouth water to even think about the smell. It is a signal of the start of fall in New Mexico. Even if it is still hitting the mid-90's, you just know that Fall is around the corner. The welcome relief from the heat is soon, along with scarecrows on front porches, surrounded by pumpkins, your house smelling warm and welcoming like fresh baked snicker doodles, school supplies, football games, sweaters. All these memories and more flood back to me with one wiff of the roasting chile. I wish everyone could know this amazing smell, and the even better taste of a FRESH roasted green chile. Oh the possibilities...rellanos, green chile cheese burgers, plain on a fresh tortillas, fresh green chile enchiladas, green chile stew!!

GMAT - no longer taking up every breathing moment

Ahhh, I finally took the GMAT. So very glad that is over! I've been studying like mad for the past month, and finally Monday I took the test. It was hard...just as hard as I thought it would be, but I did A LOT better than I had anticipated. In fact, after the test was over and my unofficial score popped up on the screen I sat there in wonder as silent tears rolled down my face. I was/am so proud of myself. For actually doing it, for studying so hard, for trying so hard. For taking that first big step in going back to college. So I'm doing it. I found out today that I have been accepted to the University of Denver. I will only be going part time (still working full time), so in a mere 3 1/2 years I will have my graduate degree! I know it's going to be hard, time consuming, and at times miserable, but I also know that I HAVE to do this, if I want to move up in my job, or move on to a better job maybe, and there is no time like the present. I am only getting older and it is only going to get harder. So here it goes. Look out world, Melissa is matriculating.

visitors from a far away state - postdate

standing in line for the bus to Coors


on the booze tour


Craig said it was the altitude....hmmmm

(Craig - thanks for the not so friendly reminder that I needed to update the hottest blog on the net with your visit - this is for you.)
In June we got our first visitors, after that the computer broke, and I didn't update the blog to include our fun!
Craig and Cherie had to come out on business, but they flew out early to see us!! It was so good to see friends.
We went on the Coors Brewery tour, awesome. We went to eat at a funky resturant downtown and then the next night they got to experience all that is holy, Little Anitas. We also hit up Six Flags...not as much fun as I rememebered. I also don't remember getting motion sickness as easily. I thought I was going to barf all over Craig on one of the swing rides. After 4 hours we all needed a nap.
It was so nice to see familiar faces. And it meant alot to get to see friends. I can't wait for you guys to come out again!

Running at Red Rocks

The first time we went to Red Rocks it was on a Sunday morning. It is so beautiful there. And we were surprised to see so many people working out! Running the stairs, all kinds of excercise. So we made a promise to ourselves to go back and do it too. And today we did. It was wonderful! Running zigzags across all the benchs from the bottom to the top is a 5K. We probably ran about half then did some other workouts, but it was definetly one of the funnest workouts I have ever had. Being out in nature, surrounded by such beauty, you forget you are working out (besides the insane swamp ass). One of the coolest parts was there was some guy playing that Ricola horn (no idea what the real name is). It just added to the entire astetics. I think we are going to try and go back there as much as possible. It's a bit of a drive, but totally worth it. It definetly beats the gym ANY day.

Side note, we went to Red Rocks on the 4th of July to see Collective Soul, Live, and Blue's Travelers. The first two were great....ahhh, the 90's were such a great time. So many memories!! We only stayed for about 40 minutes of Blue's Travlers though, they came on late, and by that time the cloud of MJ smoke (coming surprising from the 40+ crowd) surrounding us had gotten to me. Still, it was such an awesome venue! Look at the website to see the pics. For some reason I can't find the ones we took in June.

Diets Suck

So I saw this book on sale at Target, and it looked like a do-able diet. Losing those stubborn last pounds.....something I've been needing to do. So I started this week. It's only a 30 day diet and I've only been doing it since last Tuesday, and it SUCKS! The workouts are challenging and I enjoy them, but the DIEt part....miserable. First of all most of the receipes take a lot more time than I am willing to give. Second of all, they don't taste that great. And third, most important, NO CHIPS AND SALSA on this DIEt!! What??? Chips and Salsa is a mainstay....it has been part of my life forver!! Almost every single day I have it. I can live for a while without sugar, and it's a struggle, but I can give up coke for a bit....but no chips and salsa and NO ENCHILADAS either! Oh, and no booze. I am not pregnant, so giving up the wine is really not clicking. This DIEt has no 'off' days or 'off' meals. You are supposed to follow it religously for 30 days...yep, I lasted a whole 4 1/2 days....I gave in. I couldn't take it. I had to go to Little Anitas for a plate of Green Chile Cheese enchiladas and some chips and salsa. It was AMAZING! Everything I've dreamed it would be all week. And I feel SOOOO much better. A bit guilty, but mentally I feel better. I've been bitching all week, part of it hormones fault, but I really think the big part is the dumb diet. I have a Catholic guilt complex, so of course I feel bad even thinking about deviating from this diet. So I don't think that at the end of these 30 days I'm going to feel comfortable "running on the beach in a bikini" as Jillian says. But even if I lose a few pounds I'd be happy. Still, my money is that is Little Anita's is going to come out the winner.

Welcome to this World Evan!

Renata, my really good friend from Maryland, and her husband Jason welcomed a sweet little blessing into the world this morning!! Weighing in at 7pds and 8 ounces. WOW! This really makes me miss Maryland.....I can't wait to meet Evan!! I am so happy for them!! I have been anxious since last week, thinking Renata was going go into labor last Friday!!! But Evan must have been super comfy in there.
Renata - much love and happiness being sent your way from Colorado!!!

New Cars Lead to Dispise of Salespeople

So I thought it was time to get a replacement car. My Avenger had seen me through a lot, and her time had come. So we did my least favorite thing, went car shopping. And seriously, how skeezy are car salesmen? Geezzz.
This guy was completely no pressure - at first. Everything went fine and I thought that the buying, although it would be painful, wouldn't be that bad. Man was I naive.
It was one of the worse experiences of my life! They get you to the 'negotiation' table, and suddenly it's a completely different person selling you the car. It's some creep, looking at you with dollar signs in his eyes. I had a sinking feeling the entire time....I should have walked away. I KNEW we were getting screwed, yet I sat there and took it like a good girl. WTF?
We bought the car on Thursday night. I cried a lot of Friday....I felt so taken advantage of...I feel so taken advantage of. I am SO mad at the dealership. They get off on people who don't REALLY fight back. People who are honest and expect honesty in return. I'm pretty sure that when we left Thursday night they high fived each other yelling 'suckers'.
But it's a done deal now. And the car is really nice. It's a four door, something I've been wanting a long time, and it's new and reliable. And hopefully it will last me 10-12 years. Then I'll have to go through this whole process again. Until then, I'm going to try and enjoy my beautiful new car, and get over the regret of over paying.

Backpacking - hazardous for my Health

Destination: Upper Turquoise Lake; elevation 11,500 feet
Via: Beaver Creek Trail
Stats: 7+ miles, climbing from 8,000 ft. to 11,500 ft.
Me: First attempt at backpacking in to go camping. Carrying 60+ pounds on my back. NOT A PRETTY SITE!

I went into this overestimating myself...and underestimating the trail. I have hiked before, but never carrying the necessities to camp for a night. I thought I was completely prepared, right down to my plush hiking socks. Boy was I wrong. At one point I told Tony and Justin that if they would just push me over a cliff everyone would know it was a mercy kill. I've never done ANYTHING that physically hard in my life. EVER! My hips were the most painful. Every step....searing pain, so of course poor Tony had to hear me bitch the ENTIRE 6 1/2 hours of our journey up. He was so sweet and just kept encouraging me. Anyone else would have jumped at the chance to push me over into the creek. Part of it was probably the fatigue at being at such a high altitude.
I'm hoping this trip hasn't ruined me forever with backpacking....but I'm not making any promises at this point, a mere 3 days after returning.
The lake was BEAUTIFUL! I still would have appreciated it just as much had the journey not been as hard though. There was still ice in the lake! And snow patches everywhere. The lake is only accessible on foot (or by horse), so in that way it is pretty special. Very serene. And I do love camping. It was just me and 5 other guys though. 3 of them were Tony's friends from Minnesota, and they were great to hang out with! We also got to see a ginormous porcupine and some marmots.
I really can't believe I made it. I can't believe I didn't give into the urge to break down and cry and demand someone get the forest service to perform a rescue for me. I made it to the top, and it was gratifying.

COMPUTER ON THE BRINKS

Our laptop is sick and is in the geek squad hospital. We are hoping for a full recovery in 2 weeks.....will post back log of blogs then.

O Fair New Mexico

Tomorrow I am going home for the weekend. Tony can't come because he can't take off work yet. :(
I'm so excited to see my grandparents and aunts and uncles...it will be great. I haven't been back to NM since last October.
I'm sure I will have lots of pics and stuff to talk about.

Also, Craig and Cheri came to Denver!! So we got to hang out with them a few days. It was so nice to see friends! I'll try to post the pics of our time together later.