Birthday Weekend 2013

This year’s birthday weekend was a special one for me. A few years back, I was in a pretty bad relationship, and my birthdays during that time were just not special – I wasn’t happy. Last year, I had just started to date Zach, so things were pretty new, and we were still in that stage of “what should we do” in terms of birthdays. He did get me a movie and a card, and we did hang out that night, but he had been skiing all day and was pretty exhausted, so we didn’t go out. He did take me to the Summit at The Broadmoor the next night, and it was an amazing evening of great food and conversation, and it was very memorable!

I just started a new job almost 2 months ago, and my new schedule allows for me to leave at 3 pm every other Friday. I left work early and I was ready to just plop on the couch and catch up on my DVR. I got a call around 6:30 pm from Zach, who had just arrived back home from a day of skiing. I knew he would be gone all day, so I wasn’t counting on doing anything with him, so I was surprisingly (and happily) mistaken! He wasn’t feeling too well, so we ended up taking a trip to the grocery store for some food and medicine for him, and we picked up “The Watch” with Ben Stiller from Redbox. The movie was not as funny as I expected, and I definitely wasn’t ready for aliens, but it wasn’t bad.



Found a great picture of the dress
from JCPenny's website.

Saturday morning was the weekly 8 am breakfast with my parents and their friends at Panera! But this was my special birthday breakfast – and Zach came along!! Since it was my birthday, Zach was happy to oblige and joined us. Afterwards, Zach decided to go home and hopefully sleep off some of his chest congestion, and the rest of us decided to go bowling. Unfortunately, the bowling alley was closed until 3 pm for a private event. Since the alley was next to the mall, we decided to go shopping for a new outfit for me for dinner that night. Zach was taking me out and I wanted to wear something special to celebrate the occasion! Plus, in the year and a half we’ve been together, he’s only seen me in a dress/skirt ONCE, and I felt I owed the guy a little bit of “dress up”! After a few hours of shopping, I had a brand new black dress, shoes and accessories! Success!!



Garden Room in the Tavern (recently rennovated)



I was able to go home and take a nap before getting ready for dinner. Zach arrived around 7:15 pm, and had apparently *possibly* evaded getting a speeding ticket, (Oops!), so he had to apologize for being a little late! Nonetheless, we headed over to The Broadmoor to have dinner in the Tavern!! He remembered that I wanted to see the new renovations that had been completed since I left the hotel back in January, and made the reservations all by himself, without any input from me! 



Sorry for the terrible "cropping" but it was
the best shot I could get!



Dinner was GREAT. Zach extended his arm to me and he “escorted” me as we were walking in and out of the restaurant. The funniest thing was that he couldn’t remember where the restaurant was, so I had to show him! He ordered some oysters for an appetizer with a Stella Artois, and I had a Caesar salad and a Cosmo. For dinner, he ordered a filet minon and I had some amazing salmon. He knew that he really wanted dessert, so we didn’t overdo it on the first two courses. He had a huge piece of chocolate cake and I had espresso ice cream – when they brought the desserts out, they put a candle in my ice cream, and the plate had Happy Birthday written on it in chocolate. So cute!! He ended up trying my ice cream and liking it so much, that he “helped” me eat it! All in all, we were there for over 3 hours, but the entire experience just went too quickly.

The beautiful chandelier that I could NOT
stop looking at!!

During dinner, Zach handed me 2 birthday cards that he instructed me to open in a particular order. The first one was clearly a card for a little girl, but it did talk about having a “sparkling birthday”, and Zach knows how much I love sparkles! He even wrote inside the card that he knew it was for a little girl, but it just “screamed KAREN!!!”. The other card was also sparkly on the cover, but it said “A Day to Celebrate You? I’m in!!” He really thought about me when he picked them out, and he couldn’t decide between the two, so he got both! 


After dinner, we headed back to my apartment and watched a
movie to close out the night. I even pulled out the birthday card he had given me from last year and showed it to him. I think he was really surprised and even a little touched that I had held onto it. I’m a very sentimental person and I like to keep mementos from things I’ve done – especially something like a card that someone took the time to pick out and really think about what to write in it. I now have all my cards out on my kitchen table and it’s a great feeling to walk by and think about each of those people.



Bon Ton Cafe: Great food & breakfast served all day!

Sunday was a great “lazy day”, to quote Zach. We went to breakfast in a cute little place in Old Colorado City, and sat by the window to watch the snow quietly falling down! Watching snow fall is one of my most favorite things in life. Afterwards, another nap (for over 2 hours!!) was definitely called for, and was certainly appreciated. Around 2 pm, Zach wanted to head to REI to look for some new ski pants, and I was happy to tag along. After the mini shopping trip, we headed to Colorado Mountain Brewery so I could appease my small appetite that had been growing since I slept through lunch! It’s one of our favorite places, and now the bartenders there are starting to recognize us as regulars!! We shared an appetizer and had a cup of soup and a beer each – what a great warm meal to enjoy on a cold, snowy day! I finally dropped Zach off at his house and headed home to take care of my dog, do the dishes and watch the Oscars.

All in all, a great, packed-full weekend of activities and food! I wouldn’t change any part of it!!

Last Day of NaBloPoMo and First Snow!!

Today is the last day of November and the last day of National Blog Posting Month!! I must say, much like last year, that I'm somewhat relieved. I managed to post at least once each day, but if you go back and look, you'll see that most of them were pretty sad. I must not have that much to say anymore!! Part of the reason is that I moved in the middle of it all and can't find the cord to get pictures off my camera, and then, lost my camera! I know it's somewhere in the house, but that's pretty much it. I know it's all excuses, but I can at least say I did it!!

I mentioned it on my last post, but we had our first snow on Sunday!!! I was SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! It started Sunday night, probably around 6 pm and snowed pretty consistently for a few hours. I had to go out and put a towel on my windshield so I could save time the next morning when I left for work. Which worked! (Yay!) We got several inches of snow (maybe 2-4 in places) and it was all fresh and sparkly and calm....LOVED IT!

So you may not hear from me again soon, since I might be taking a few days off from blogging to build up a good post! Have a good one!

Winter Thoughts

Prompt: What do you think or feel when you walk through freshly fallen snow?

Each time, when possible, I like to walk through the snow in silence. Especially if it's still snowing.
Everything is quiet. The snow is on the ground, soft and sparkling. I love hearing the crunch of the snow under my feet. And it's almost like I get to walk where no one else has walked. That's just me, making those markings.

Everthing is perfect. I love to walk in the snow, but I also like to walk in as few places as possible. The snow is just perfectly flat and even and it hasn't been disturbed. It's actually calming to look over a large field of fresh snow and see it untouched and perfect. It looks like velvet that I could run my hands over, but I wouldn't, because I would ruin it.

Fresh snow just gives off an essense of contemplation. I just want to be still when I see fresh snow. It's like, if I move or walk or talk, it will ruin the moment and it won't be the same as it was 5 seconds earlier.

I just like to walk, slowly, step by step, through the fresh, perfect snow and listen to it crunch, crunch, crunch, while breathing in the sharp, cold air. I actually feel most alive, and happy to be alive, when I'm walking through the snow.

Snow? PLEASE?!?!?!?

Another pitiful post, but I want to make sure that I accomplish my one blog per day! I am really still waiting for our first real snow of the year!!! I can't believe it's already mid-November and we haven't had a snow STORM!! But to make myself feel better, here are some pictures from a storm last year that I can only hope will happen again soon!!

Winter Forecast

This had SO better be the case, or I'm going to be very angry with the weatherman! It's November 8th for crying outloud - where's the winter weather?!!?!

10-Day Forecast

I don’t know if this is accurate, or if it will actually happen, but if it does – I’ve died and gone to Heaven.

Quick Update

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, hasn’t it? Part of it is due to the fact that I discovered this wonderful website – Veoh.com where you can either watch tv shows or movies online, or download them and watch them later! (Which is great because then you don’t need an internet connection to view them if you download them to your computer!) And part of it is that I’ve been spending almost the last week watching my parent’s dog Baxter, while they’re on vacation! I’ve spent most of the time at the house with Baxter and my dog Bailey and they’re a handful!

And I guess another reason why I haven’t blogged so much is because of this Weight Watchers thing. I spend a lot of time tracking points and foods, which will ultimately pay off in the end because once I know the points, I know them – I only have to find out once. It’s just all this legwork early on that’s tiring. But it’s working – I’ve lost some weight and hopefully will lose a little more.

Goals for this week:
- Continue tracking points
- Lose at least 2 pounds
- Try to eat more fruit
- To not “cheat” and check on my weight before Thursday’s meeting

I need to post more pictures. I’m sure people see my wordy entries and think “maybe I’ll check back later”. I do tend to ramble, so I get that. I like to think that the more pictures I post the easier it is for people to read it. So since I still haven’t replaced my camera cord (since Bailey destroyed it) but my parents let me use their computer, here’s a visual recap of the last few days:

I had a "I need a BIG Starbucks morning".
Taught my first "official class" last week - Word for Beginners

Reached my first Weight Watchers milestone - my first 5 pounds!
My co-worker Kearstin was on Wheel of Fortune!
We made homemade parfaits at work on Friday for our weekly meeting - YUMMY! (Darn those granolas - they were 7 or 8 points!)
It snowed a few times - the dogs love to go out and "eat" the snow.

My very first "official" White Christmas!

It's definitely been a while since I've posted and Christmas has come and gone! I was able to spend Christmas in Texas with my family, and believe it or not...

We had a White Christmas!!!!!

It started raining pretty heavy in the early afternoon on Christmas Eve, and pretty soon, I was sure I saw snowflakes. No one believed me.

Until - it started picking up and sticking to the ground! And it got to the point where it was freezing on roads and they had to shut a few down!
So enjoy some highlights from my trip, and I hope you had a very Merry Christmas yourself!!

It wasn't much, compared to snows I've seen in Colorado Springs, but this was the most I had ever seen in the Dallas area where I grew up, and to top it all off, it was actually snowing ON

Christmas Eve!

This is in my sister's backyard in Aubrey, TX...

This is at my sister-in-law's childhood home in Plano, TX...

Christmas morning at my brother's apartment!!

Christmas morning - my brother showing his daughter Allie some of the gifts from "Santa"...
Allie with the snowman she built (with her Uncle Tim's help) in their backyard on Christmas Day...
An up close shot of the snowman - I just couldn't get over the cowboy hat!
My dad learning about a make-it-yourself Crayon maker Allie had gotten.
And Allie with Kat (her mommy/my sister-in-law) and my mom after completing a puzzle Allie got for Christmas...

And I'll leave this parting shot - my brother, in Target, the day after Christmas, pretending to be a cheerleader. Don't ask - it was hilarious!!

Wonderful Sunday

I had a really great Sunday!! And I mean, the best one I've had in a while. But that was mostly because of all the snow!!

My car was COVERED when I took Bailey out for the first time...

There was no one else outside, and Bailey is great off the leash, so I gave him a treat! He had his cute little Orvis sweater on to keep him warm!

Such handsome little man!

After we got inside, he disappeared. Here is where I found him.

Here's the view from the balcony. There used to be mountains there.

Bailey at the dog park! We weren't the only crazy people who went!

Bailey with his favorite thing - a stick!! He will not ever give up a stick!

Here's a good example of what happens when he has a stick!

I worked on some crafts for Christmas presents...

Bailey was apparently tired as I folded my laundry - he clearly had a long day!

Watched some Saturday Night Live On Demand - I am just NOT a fan of Taylor Swift. Yuck.

All in all - it was a great Sunday!! I did everything I wanted, and everything I did, I enjoyed!! Hope you had a great weekend as well!

Dream Forecast

This is my dream forecast. All I could ask for would be for those percentages (chance of precipitation) go UP in the next few days - and not down!

Christmas FAIL

I admit it. I broke down. I broke a lifelong tradition.

I blame it on the unpredictable Colorado Springs weather and Pandora internet radio.

This morning, I woke up to a very cold, hazy mountain view. I threw on my pea coat and headed in to work. As I'm driving down the main street, I can see little snow flakes falling down in front of me! The morning continues, of course, and the sky gets foggier, and the flakes get bigger and come more frequently. It even starts sticking to the ground!

I don't have windows in my office, but we have a Webcam on our roof, and I was able to keep an eye on the "storm". And then I broke down.

I played Christmas music.

I couldn't help it!! I get streaming Christmas music on my phone and it was snowing!! I didn't go and help myself to hot apple cider, so it wasn't quite the Trifecta. But I feel that I let myself down because I always, ALWAYS wait until the day after Thanksgiving before playing Christmas music. And I can never take this back!

Oh well...there are worse things. But still - I can't believe I broke down!

*On a side note, my neighbor's music has reached an all time high volume. To the point where I now have a headache from their bass. I have sent in an informal complaint to my apartment complex office asking what I can do and what actions they can take. I would like to remain anonymous, because I still have to live above them and I don't want to feel uncomfortable in my own home. If they can keep my complaint anonymous, and if they impose fines, then I will go through with a formal complaint. It's getting to be rediculous. I can't even hear my own tv that's 5 feet away from me when they're playing their music.

Almost missed it!!

It's 9 pm Colorado Springs time, and I almost missed my post! In honor of not missing it, and the fact that it snowed last night, please enjoy my snow pictures!! (And Bailey's "bed rest" proof!

Living in a Starbucks Wonderland

One of my most favorite things in the world is flavored coffee. I don’t drink it black and it has to have creamer and sugar in it. The coffee can be flavored or the syrup that goes into it, or both, but either way – it can’t taste like “just coffee”.

And as most people, my favorite place to get flavored coffee is Starbucks. Year round, any day of the week my drink of choice – Raspberry Mocha, hot. I don’t do anything special to the drink, but occasionally will make it low fat or non-fat milk, if I’m feeling guilty. Otherwise, I like it just the way it comes. A Mocha with a shot of Raspberry, and I’m a happy girl.

But the BEST PART??? Seasonal drinks!!!! It starts with the Pumpkin Spice latte. They usually bring it out in late September/early October, and every year, I just can’t wait until it’s finally back on the menu! The nicest surprise happened to me this year – I was just going in because I had a late night the day before and was taking Bailey to the dog park and needed a little kick. I looked up at the menu for one last chance to change from my “usual” and happened to see the Pumpkin latte!! Apparently, they had just added it a day or two before. Perfect timing!

And finally, Christmas drinks. You can pick from Gingerbread, Egg Nog, Peppermint – all just heavenly. Peppermint is actually a shot available year round, but why would you want to? Apparently, according to a co-worker, they’re also selling a non-coffee seasonal option. It’s hot apple cider, but they mix caramel and cinnamon in, and it tastes exactly like you’re drinking a caramel apple! Ohhhh myyyyy…

This wonderful co-worker went to Starbucks on her lunch break (she likes their sandwhiches) and without any prior knowledge to me, brought me back a Pumpkin Spice Latte! Just because she wanted to! I shared this story with my boss because she’s about 10 times more addicted to Starbucks than I am, and I knew she would appreciate the nice gesture. And then, to top it all off, my boss calls in the next morning to say she’s running late, but because she was making a Starbucks stop and wanted to know if I wanted an Egg Nog latte! She remembered me mentioning in my “story” that it was my favorite Christmas flavor, and what was I supposed to say – no thanks??? No way!!

I just can’t wait until we get into the “snowy season” and I can walk down the street (not even a mile!) and get a nice, warm Christmasy latte and warm up while watching the snow fall. Sounds wonderful.

Cheers and Jeers

Cheers:

- Bailey has made it almost a full week not being locked up in his cage and he's doing great!
- It snowed yesterday and it's supposed to snow again on Wednesday!
- I'm really getting into both of my books, and that really excites me!
- Family is coming to visit for Thanksgiving and I have the day before off to help cook, the day of Thanksgiving to enjoy food, and the day after to watch the UT/atm game!

Jeers:

- For layoffs at work (not me; not yet, anyway)
- Neighbors playing their bass really loud every night for 2-3 hours.
- I don't think I'll be able to go to Texas for Christmas.
- I think I've bruised myself in approximately 3 places in the last 24 hours.

Blog to catch up on (boast about?) current reading progress coming soon!

Mellow Sunday night/Weekend Update

Wow...I don't think I could possibly recall all that I did this weekend. There were funny moments, and average moments. And I think the only way I could really track my weekend would be to do a bulleted list (I am, afterall, a bulleted list person) and include visuals. Pictures of course. It is my blog, after all!

Friday night:

- Originally we planned on going out but in order to save money, we stayed in. We stopped by the grocery store with out any real plan of what we wanted, and on a whim, I stopped by the stand that has those little recipe cards. I have my own recipes at home, but I never remember to look through them before I go anywhere. We saw one that really caught our eye, bought all the ingredients, and it was AMAZING!! It was the McCormick recipe for homemade Tortilla Chicken Chili, which is basically chicken and whatever chili ingredients you like (corn, beans, tomatoes, etc) and then their chili mix. Top it with crumbled tortilla and there you have it!

Saturday:

- Saturday morning always means sleeping in. Period.

- After getting up to let Bailey out so he didn't pee all over the apartment, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I ended up downloading and watching Angels and Demons, since I liked the Da Vinci Code so much. I must say, I was very disappointed. I must first admit that I should have read the books, since I'm a self-proclaimed book nerd. But I just couldn't wait and wanted to see the movie first. I really liked the puzzle-solving and the deep story lines that ran throughout in the Da Vinci code, and I don't feel that it was quite up to that level in Angels in Demons. It's like the second movie went downhill in intricate plots. And *SPOILER ALERT*...

...I was really disappointed to be following the "mystery" of the Illuminati to the very end to learn that a priest killed the Pope and made it all up. Just took away from it all for me. I won't be buying that movie anytime soon.

- Around 2 pm or so, Justin asked me to go with him to visit his grandfather in the hospital. No sooner did we get to the hospital and get up to the room, then we walked in, and apparently they took his grandfather for a bath/shower, and it would be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before he would be done. So we went out for lunch to a place called Panino's, and it was fun to go on a little date. They do a type of sandwich that is best described as a burrito, but the bread they use is actually pizza dough! SOOO YUMMY!!!

- After lunch, it was time for his mom's hockey game (she plays on a team that had a hockey tournament) so we weren't able to make it back to the hospital before their bedtime hours.

Sunday:

- Again, when one has the option to sleep in, one should. Fortunately for me, I woke up to the weather being VERY cold, so it made it very easy to turn back over and cuddle with the big puppy, who had ended up in the bed mysteriously the night before.

- Time was spent on the couch watching Monsters, Inc. I can't believe I still don't own this movie (or Toy Story, or a Bug's Life). I just really started "craving" it (can you crave a movie?) on Saturday, so I sat down and watched it with Bailey cuddled up next to me.

*On a side note, Bailey is really lazy. But that's ok, because then we get to cuddle a lot.*

- Later on, Justin and I ventured out to Whole Foods to get their supposedly thick cut Turkey bacon. We arrived there after about a 40 minute drive, only to find that they only had 1 kind that wasn't even thick cut, and was about $2 more expensive than a normal store. So we left.

- Right at the moment, I'm enjoying a homemade Chinese food dish (relax - I'm not that good - it was made from a box kit) that's really spicy, and I'm watching a marathon of "Man vs. Food" on the Travel Channel. What a great show!

In the meantime, it's been snowing for the last 7 hours or so, and it started accumulating about 5 hours ago. So needless to say, I'm in heaven!

I plan, as soon as I'm done with dinner, to read another chapter in my quest to read 2 books at once!

Whew - so that's my weekend, and that's where I'm at! Thanks for reading!