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!

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.