A house divided

I am a Chicago girl. Born and bred. I spent the first 6 years of my life in the city...and even once we left the city for the suburbs, there were lots of visits to the city.  I have been in Denver for almost 10 years now. I love it and don't have plans to return to the Windy City any time soon (except for vacations, of course)
That being said, I have a few Chicago teams that I still cheer for. Like...the Cubbies! And... Da Bears! Bear down Chicago Bears
I bring this up since football season has started back up. And when you live with an avid football fan, as I now find myself doing, you can't help but be more vocal about your love for the Bears! Luckily, I have a wonderful and understanding boyfriend... and he gives me gifts that are perfect for the Chicago girl....

Bears Jersey!!! 

Recently, Jay surprised me with the 1940's throwback jersey... the one I have been wanting since I saw the team play in them last October! 

So now, I sit here on this beautiful Sunday afternoon and get to watch my Bears play. To add to my awesome jersey... I have my super sweet Bears socks as well!!

sweet Bears socks!

So what does this all mean for the non-Bears fan in my life?  Well, luckily he is very understanding... and his team (the Denver Broncos) share similar colors. Blue and Orange. So...in order to make sure Jay didn't feel left out on football days, I whipped up a little something so we can both share our love of our favorite teams. (please forgive the shoddy quality pictures, thats what happens when you rely only on your phone)

Broncos

Bears

So why am I showing you pictures of Broncos and Bears print? Because...I made a fleece tie blanket! I have seen a couple of these in friends' homes...but had never tried to make one myself. So... I decided that since Jay and I had a split household that what we needed was a Bears/Broncos blanket.

one side Bears the other side Broncos!

Now...everyone can be happy! :) At least until the Bears and Broncos play each other. Then we might have to fight over which side of the blanket is on the outside!

A house of orange and blue!

You know its fall....

...when Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland festival happens in Estes Park. It is by far, the biggest festival in Colorado... and is the most fun!  It is also one of the bigger feissana (irish dance competition) that we have in Colorado.  I believe that this year, there were over 450 dancers signed up to compete. 4 years ago... it was also my first ever adult Irish Dance competition!  I only competed in a few dances, but I was hooked.  Last year, it was my fist ever competition as an &over. It is by far my favorite feis of the year. However, this year, I didn't compete. The competition fell about 3 weeks after I returned to dance after breaking my foot back in May.  While classes have been going well...my feet feel good. I haven't lost all my height in my dances...I have just lost all my stamina. So... 3 weeks was just not enough.
But...Jay and I headed up to Estes for the weekend anyway! Jay volunteered (I mean...I volunteered him) to help out with the stages on Friday morning.  It gave us the opportunity to walk around the festival without the mass insanity that usually occurs on Saturday and Sunday.

Since I was not competing, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and the scenery, and went horseback riding!

Mom and I before the ride

We saw a bear while on our ride!

refreshments after a long ride!

It was a three hour ride, with some trotting...and we were all sore afterward! But it was a great day out!!

On Sunday, we headed back to the festival.  I helped out back stage, making sure that all the small girls and boys got to the right stage, on stage and off stage.  Its always fun to see the tiny kids (11 and under) have so much fun at the competitions. There was one tiny dancer that was only 3 years old! While she was pretty much the cutest thing under the sun... I think it was a bit early for her to be competing.

The afternoon was the "big kids" competition.  Which would normally be when I compete... but not this year. However, I did stick around to help Miss Stacey with her hair and make-up.  Luckily, Stacey trusts me to get her stage ready....because I love, love, love getting people ready.

Stacey!!!

Stacey ended up having a kick-ass competition. I unfortunately did not stay around to see her kick butt... but I am glad she did!  I love it when my friends do well!

I am sad I missed the competition, but I knew that physically, it would be pushing myself too much...and could possibly injure myself. But, there are many more competitions to come... Octoberfeis in just a few weeks!!

Hiatus - the move

so... I have taken a bit of a hiatus on blogging. And as beautiful Miss Stacey exclaimed to me today... she hasn't had anything to stalk! So... a couple posts to play catch up.

First and foremost... I moved. Phew! It was tough... going from a 15 minute walking commute to an hour on the train commute. The things you do for love... eh?

Things have pretty much gotten unpacked. Pretty much. There is still a lot to do... like hang up "our" artwork.  And find places for all the extra stuff we have between the two of us.

The biggest issue Jay and I have had is combining the cats.  Over the past year, Jay has been the caretaker for Heather's kitties, Dodger and Oliver.

Oliver and Dodger

Before Heather left on her trip around the world, her 2 cats and my 2 cats lived together. One big kitty family. My cats, Gus and Willow and Dodger and Oliver had a balance... a pecking order.  Gus was the king of the castle, followed by Oliver and Dodger. And Willow was just the little princess of the group.  Once separated, Gus still reigned as king of the castle and Willow was still the princess.

Willow, the little princess

Gus, the King.

Initially, the re-introduction of the 4 cats went...poorly. Lots of hissing, screeching, growling...not good. Over the last couple weeks...its gotten better. There are still some issues between the cats, but luckily its getting better.

Thankfully.... only one more week of all four cats together. Then Heather will be back. And Dodger and Oliver will be moving to their new home. 

And Jay and I can get back to making our home... Ours. :)

The first thing that Jay and I did...was paint. The extra bedroom was painted a greenish-bluish hue.  As Claire put it, it was reminiscent of a hospital room.

the green...with the new white paint starting to cover it up

With help from my mom...and my tall boyfriend, we painted the room a fresh white. It opened up the room and made it look clean and big and airy. Which is good... because that spare bedroom is now the guest bedroom! Hooray! Guests can stay and not have to sleep on an air mattress or on the couch!

We have work to do to make the place "ours" instead of Jay's...but we're getting there!