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!

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!!!