A long break from writing and a long weekend to fill it with

Lets just say its been an interesting middle of January. Last week was both crazy, busy, and a little sad.  Crazy because, well it is the middle of January and we've been having weather like its April! Windy but warm. So very strange. Busy, because between work and taking care of the kitties while Jay was out of town, it left little time to do much else. And sad... because despite the turn around for the economic times in our firm, we still lost some people to layoffs... and we will miss them dearly!!!

Jay got back into town late last week. We got to spend just a few days together before he left again for work. While it sucks to see him go (again) this time I will be joining him in Sunny San Diego at the end of the week!!!!
Tomorrow it is supposed to snow:

Beautiful... but cold

Friday, I will be here:

Beautiful... and warm!

So... I find myself really, really looking forward to warm weather and palm trees and sandy beaches and the ocean. Can you blame me?

Ahh the rest of the long weekend was spent running errands, seeing friends... and somehow getting dragged along to a COUNTRY music bar (oh help me now) to learn to line dance with my Irish dance friends. Sounds like quite the culture clash, doesn't it?

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of line dancing, but be assured, it did indeed happen. And... anyone who knows me, knows that I detest country music. But I was a good sport and learned a few toe-tapping steps. However, it will be quite a while before I surround myself with that many cowboy boots and cowboy hats again. Yeehaw!!!

Winter has arrived

It only took all of November and December, but its finally here in Colorado. And boy, is it here! It started snowing on Sunday morning and stopped sometime Sunday night. Monday, Tuesday and today have been frigid cold in the mornings. Cold enough that I feel like I am back in Chicago. And.... I am pretty sure I moved away for a reason. Anyway... when the weather outside looks like this in the mornings....

I make warm in your belly food. Comfort food. Food that makes the whole house feel warm and toasty. Last night was no exception. Last night I tried my hand at Shepard's Pie. It turned into a bastardized version, but it turned out and was TASTY! And warm.

MMMmmmm.... looking forward to trying even more warm and tasty recipes since the cold will be sticking around for a bit longer.

A celebratory weekend

First off, a BIG giant Thank You to the people who made my birthday super special and so much fun. You know who you are. :) I had a great weekend, dinner out with my mom and brother on Friday night... a wonderful (yet butt kicking) day at dance... and a fantastic night out at the Mammoth game and Wynkoop with my girls and friends. Pictures of course...

Mammoth Game!!

a little fightin' action

Shannon and I

my dance girlies

my super amazing friend

Claire, Stacey and Julie... you guys made my birthday amazing. Thank you so much for being such awesome friends. I had an amazing night and have you guys to thank for it.

Well, it's one for the money,

Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, cat, go.
But don't you step on my blue suede shoes.

Happy Birthday! (tomorrow)

Ahh, Elvis Presley... I grew up listening to him sing. My mom loved him. Which is why... she was so excited that I was born on his birthday! That's right, Elvis and I share a birthday. Its not until tomorrow, but I already got my first official "Happy Birthday" from NEW ZEALAND this morning. Its technically tomorrow there... so its already my birthday. Hooray for me! Lets celebrate :)

Actually, I did start the celebration, yesterday. I received a whole (giant) plate of chocolate chip cookies from my wonderful friend at dance last night! Mmmm, cookies!

It should be a fun filled, jam-packed, time with my girls and my friends weekend. Details and pictures to come, I am sure of it!!!

A note for the girls in my life

I got this email from Mo Momma the other day. (Mo Momma = Missouri (MO) Mother - aka Heather's mom) Mo Momma has been my pseudo mom since Heather and moved in together the summer of '06.

Anyway...Mo Momma sent me this and I wanted to share it with everyone else:

An acquaintance  just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection-the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends. At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.
Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin-a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf?
Yes. But their feelings?-rarely. Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.
There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged ((not true)). In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking! So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health!"

I am obviously a huge advocate of spending time with my girl friends, but its nice to know that spending time with them is healthy for me too! Although, I suppose we should stop eating the cupcakes, drinking beer and making decadent meals... that might help in the health department. So ladies, lets get together!

Specially for you, Heather

A night with the kitties...

For those who are not Heather, you can enjoy the pretty pictures, or you can ignore this post altogether. I promise there will be something for everyone else later. However, since Heather decided to leave me and all her worldly belongings in Colorado... including her cats (her 2 and my 2 used to live together as one big family...no we were not crazy cat ladies, I promise. I think.). Now, her cats are being loved and cared for by my awesome boyfriend. Which means I get to see them all the time. Especially when Jay is out of town. Then I have to go see them. :)


So, Heather... here are some shots of all the kitties... JUST FOR YOU!  First up, Gus and Willow:

GusGus! Sorry for the creepy eyes

Gus decided to hide under the blanket

Willow used my sweater as her personal cave dwelling. Can you hear her purring?

 After getting these pics, Willow wouldn't sit still long enough to let me take more, so I headed to Jay's to look in on the boys. They are still as nutso as ever, Heath, be happy. :)

Dodger likes to attack the stool. Its his new thing

And... he's still as flexible as ever!

Dodger's flop.

Attention whore! Love me!

Oliver was being all shy

Hiding under the table. Hi mom!

So there you go my dear. Some lovely shots of the crazy cats. Hope you miss them! 'Cuz I know they miss you.

Enjoying more

As I posted yesterday, I have decided that I am going to try and enjoy things more.  Which means...enjoying the time I spend with my friends even more than usual. That works, right?

Last night was a big friends night... I had a nice long chat with a friend who I haven't seen in years, and haven't talked to in just as long! We are kept updated on each other's lives and goings on by our mutual friend. Last night, we both decided that we needed to keep each other updated without the middle man (woman). Hooray for reconnecting with old friends!

Also, last night was yet another installment of Girl's Night with Miss Stacey!! She brought me a HoHo cupcake as part of the celebration of my Birthday Week! (Note to self: Always keep friends  around who are willing to help celebrate your birthday for a whole week) MMmmmm Cupcakes! Thanks Stace! We did not get a chance to indulge in a girly movie last night, but instead spent the whole time talking about everything we've been doing in the last month. Our Girl's Nights have been seriously lacking lately. Never fear... more girly time on the drive to dance tomorrow!

Resolutions?

Its the beginning of a new year. Time to make resolutions, right? Lists of things that you hope to accomplish throughout the year... most of which are forgotten a few days after you write them down.  I am not just pointing fingers here, I am most guilty of doing exactly this. I love to make lists, then I promptly forget what I just put on that list. So, for the last couple years... I haven't really made any New Year's resolutions. What was the point?

Yesterday, a conversation with my friend Claire prompted me to think about what my resolutions would be for this year.  Yes, actually make a resolution. I resolve to ____________. I seriously had no idea. So, after much thought... and discussion with Claire, of course, I have decided on the following goals... (goals rather than resolutions - I feel they follow the path of your life rather than forcing you to stay to one path)

1. Stop over analyzing everything. - This is a goal for me, since I have a horrible tendency to over analyze EVERYTHING. Every little detail of every little conversation, every look, every gesture. Seriously. Its not a good habit to have, its time consuming and stresses me out. Over-analyzing should be kept to the workspace... and not my personal life.

2. Enjoy what I have and what makes me happy. - Sounds silly, doesn't it? I think this goal goes hand in hand with my first goal. If I stop over analyzing everything, I can actually sit back and enjoy things that happen in my life. Stop and breathe. Enjoy. Live. Love. Experience it all instead of trying to break it all down into tiny pieces, like bugs under a microscope.

So thats it for me. I decided to keep the list short. Easier to remember what I want to do. What about you? What is your goal for the New Year?

Welcome to the New Year... 2011!!

Happy New Year everybody!  Its been a busy and interesting couple of days.  Last Thursday, Mother Nature decided to finally visit Colorado with winter weather. It snowed. It snowed and snowed... and it was cold. Sigh. Welcome to winter.

Oh, hello Winter.

I took the pic above on my walk home Thursday afternoon from work. I thought about taking a proper picture, but was too cold and wet to dig my camera out of my bag. Snap and run. Luckily, Thursday's snowstorm gave me the opportunity to jump into my pjs and clean and organize my place. It had gotten a little out of hand.

Friday was a lazy day... hello sleeping in! And lounging around with the kitties. My friend Julie came over in the afternoon. We had plans to go sledding...we ended up gossiping on the couch instead. Love it!

Friday night, Jay and I headed to dinner at this amazing Japanese restaurant called, Domo. For my Colorado friends, check it out Domo.  It was seriously amazing food, incredibly authentic, and great atmosphere. Behind the restaurant is this cool little Japanese garden that Jay and I took a stroll through to settle our stomachs after all the food we ate.

My man

Snowy Japanese garden

Happy New Year!

 Our plan for after dinner was to head to a bar close to my downtown apartment, but after stopping by there to drop off our leftovers... we decided that it was TOO cold to be outside. So instead, we snuggled on the couch with movies and beer and toasted in the New Year together. Warm and toasty. Seriously, much smarter decision.

Sadly... Jay has to travel lots this month... so he headed off for work Sunday afternoon. Which left me free to head to the Avs game with beautiful Claire.  I won free tickets from the Avs, entered to win on their facebook page. The tickets turned out to be the BEST SEATS EVER!!!!!!!!!

Why, hello Vancouver. You look much bigger when we're only 4 rows away from you!

 The tickets were for 4 rows off the ice! We sat just off from the Canuck's penalty box... and got to see every sweaty moment of the game. Hits against the glass? Yes please! Refs ducking from flying pucks? Oh yea, baby!

Claire and I were like giddy little girls

Face-off!

Somebody has been very naughty!

That's my boy, Paul Stastny!

All in all a great few days. And really, a great way to ring in 2011. Kissed my honey at midnight and practically sat on the ice for the Avs game with Miss Claire. It looks like this year is starting off right!!!

The Last of the Holiday baking...for a while at least

Today is a co-worker's birthday.  This co-worker is the one that bakes yummy, delicious treats for everyone else on their birthday. So... in return, myself and a couple others decided to bake treats to bring in as a Happy Birthday and Thank You! My treat: mini chocolate cheesecakes

all baked up

drizzled with white chocolate

Hopefully they taste as yummy as they look... and that everyone (especially the birthday girl) likes them.

No more baking for a while. I am going to be taking a vacation from sweets... I feel as though I should be rolled around in a wheelbarrow.  Instead... I will head back to dance tonight, I stop making so many goodies!!

A Very Merry Holiday to You!

How was everyone's holiday? My favorite part... was the long weekend! Being able to sleep in and move at a snail's pace is always wonderful.
My holiday was really good, just really busy. Christmas Eve, Jay and I headed to his Dad's place for drinks and dessert. My contribution was the yummy chocolate shortbread peppermint cookies! We then scurried over to my mom's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Yes, dessert was before dinner. Who cares? Mom made lasagna... mmmm... yum!

Christmas Day, Jay and I headed back to my mom's for Brunch. This time my contribution was.... CINNAMON ROLLS!! With cream cheese frosting. YUM!

Post baking...pre icing!

homemade cream cheese frosting/icing

 Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the cinnamon rolls all gooey and iced. But let me tell you... they were tasty! From scratch, they were awesome... I will just give myself a little pat on the back. Jay's entire house smelled like cinnamon rolls. The cats loved it. :)

Christmas Day: my family

Jay and I

Christmas Day dinner was with Jay's mom. Afterward... you could have rolled us both out the door. So much food in such a short amount of time. Delicious... yet too much! I think I need to go running... like everyday this week.

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing. Jay and I headed to the movies on Sunday and saw "Black Swan".   The movie was frightfully intense, with some serious tension, sexual and otherwise. I was a bit surprised that Jay agreed to go, since it was a ballet based movie, but he seemed to enjoy the intensity and complexities as much as I did.

I love dancing, and can be very intense in my focus, but I am glad I do not reside in this main character's world... nor in the world of that elite level of dancing.

Now.... looking forward to another long weekend ahead. And a whole new year!!! Happy Holidays everyone!!!

Holiday cookies...continued!!

Last night was another cookie night! I know, I know... fudge and cookies in the same week? Well, since its the week of Christmas, my baking mojo is in high gear!  Just wait until you see what I am planning to bake up later this week.

Last night, mom came over to lend a hand in the cookie making. We decided to make...Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread cookies! Yum. They look and taste even better than they sound.

the chocolatey balls get smushed before baking

then the cookies get dipped in melted white chocolate

then dipped into crushed up candy canes!

close-up of the tastiness

so festive!