More of the dogs

Looking back at the pictures i have taken this week for the blog, it seems the common theme was our dogs.

January 18:

This is definitely a daily occurrance: As soon as I drag myself out of bed in the morning, Pongo immediately takes over my spot. He puts his head on my pillow and snuggles in under the covers. Evidence #2,946 that this dog thinks he is a human!

January 19: In the spirit of decluttering, I decided to go through our tupperware drawer and get rid of the pieces that we never use or just plain need to get rid of. As it turns out, old tupperware cab double as a dog chew toy! Perdi snatched this one off of the kitchen table and proceeded to kick/chew/carry it all over the house. At first, I though I should take it from her, but she was so engrossed in this new "toy" that I just threw up my hands and let go at it. Hey, it's better the old tupperware than say, my shoes or couch pillows! :)

Challenges

This week has already been a challenge. I am trying to get over a nasty habit I have started, in which I find myself tossing and turning all night on Sunday night, causing me to only get a few hours of sleep to start the week! This little setback is making it hard to get things checked off my list when all I want is a nap when I get home!

Which brings me to the photos of the day...

January 17:

There are upsides to being so tired. For example: I know I am really tired when I find myself falling asleep laying in the dentist's chair as the hygenist grinds and polishes away. The upside? I am usually a tense, nervous mess during cleanings because I hate the feel of metal scraping against my teeth. Not this time though. Impressive, huh? :)


January 18:

I was delighted to finally receive my GIS Certificate from Penn State in the mail. I am so proud of this thing. It represents the successful completion of my first year of the Master's program.
However, my delight over the certificate was quickly replaced by frustration during my attempts to get the latest and greatest version of ArcGIS installed on my computer so I can start my homework for my current class. It took 1.5 hours to uninstall the old version and another hour to install version 10. Let's just say I didn't get much done in the way of homework last night. I have a lot of work ahead of me this evening.
In other school news, I have officially submitted all of my materials for official acceptance into Penn State's Master's in GIS program. I think I mentioned this before, but so far, I have just been taking classes on a non degree-seeking basis to make sure that I can be successful in Penn State's environment. (I wish I had been encouraged to do this at Purdue). Penn State also doesn't recommend that students officially apply until they have finished the GIS certificate because the competition is tough to get in and having some class work established at PSU helps them in the decision making process. I won't hear until March 1 if I am in or not, but if I don't get in this time, I will just keep taking classes and apply again in April!

Weekend Photos

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend up in Steamboat Springs. I have some catching up to do on my photos, since I didn't turn my computer on ONCE while we were there! This little trip was kind of spur-of-the-moment, but seeing as most of our weekend trips are spent back in Kansas, (or at least outside the state of Colorado) it was great to get to explore a little bit more of the state we live in.

I believe that the last time I was in Steamboat was when I was 7 or 8. I used to take vacations there with my Grandparents and Aunt Alice in the summer. I didn't remember much about the town when we got there, but perhaps that was partly due to the fact that it was covered in a couple feet of accumulated snow.

We stayed in a fantastic condo above downtown Steamboat, which brings me to my first photo:

January 14:

Our unit was on the third floor. Everything was pristine...it was like no one had stayed there before! In fact, we could have purchased the unit ourselves for a mere $780,000 or so! Very tempting... :) Ok, so the purchase price may be a little unrealistic, but the "last minute" deal we got on renting was reasonable, especially since we were able to split it with Ted and Susie.

January 15:

While the guys skiied, Susie and I wandered around downtown. We found the cutest little kitchen gadget store, and had lunch in a wonderful little coffee/gelato/sandwich shop. We even drove around town a little and managed to not get lost!

This is the street view of the ski slopes from downtown Steamboat. The top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds the entire weekend! Matt and Ted said that one of the sides of the mountain was a white-out while they were up there, so they had to ski on the other side. Crazy! Later that evening, after the guys got back from skiing, we headed up to the Strawberry Park natural hot springs. This place was pretty amazing. First of all, 4 wheel drive is strongly recommended to get to the facility during the winter season, so that should tell you a lot right there. It was about 10 miles from our condo, and most of that was uphill mountain driving. It was dark when we got there, and so we had to kind of feel our way along the path to the pools. Luckily, there was quite a bit of moon light. One pool was uncomfortably hot. Another was FREEZING cold. Thankfully, there was one that was right in the middle. Matt did jump in the cold pool for a brief moment, crazy guy!

After all of that activity, we were very hungry so we showered and changed and had dinner across from our condo at Beau Jo's pizza. This pizza chain is all over Colorado and it's WONDERFUL. Funny that it took a trip to Steamboat to get us in there. :)

When we ventured out to dinner, the most beautiful snow was gently falling. This photo made us all laugh because my camera caught one of the snowflakes, leaving a white dot in the middle of Susie's face.

January 16:

We got home around 3:15 today. The puppies were so happy to see us when we picked them up from the kennel. They are really tired after playing all day for the past 3 days.

I am ready to back up to Steamboat already! It was nice to have some time to get away and have absolutely no responsibilities to worry about for a couple days. This week is going to be crazy though. I need to ramp up on running, get a bunch of things done for school, and clean the house really well. No wonder I miss the weekend so much already! :)

200th Post!

Today is my 200th post on this blog. It's funny though...I don't really have anything profound to say. All I've got is yesterday's picture, a few hours late. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. We love trivia!

January 13:

Everyday Living

I really want to focus this photo blog project on small "everyday" things we encounter. Some days, I know I will struggle with this, as our schedule can get pretty mundane. Work, work out, walk dogs, etc. I do also still plan on doing longer posts when bigger events happen. For example, yesterday's post was a hint about our upcoming weekend ski trip in Steamboat. There are so many things to do there that there is no way one photo could possibly sum it all up, unless I forget my camera or can't find the battery charger. Actually, both of those are legitimate possibilities at this point! Thank goodness for cell phones or this project would have miserably failed by now. :)

But back to the everyday events:

January 12: Our dinner.

One of our favorite things to do in terms of dinner is throw some filets on a broiler pan and boil some asparagus. We have discovered that we really need a better ventilation system for our oven though. Grilling steaks inside makes so much smoke and our pitiful little fan can't take care of it all, so the oven is usually smoky for a few days afterward. Another thing I pondered tonight is how asparagus is a lot like broccoli to me. I love the top part and just kind of tolerate the lower half. We drizzle ours in some EVOO and grilling spices when it's done boiling (bright green in color.) And of course, everyone has their own version of mashed potatoes. I think i will keep mine a secret. :)

Weekend Preview

January 11:

Today's photo provides a hint at what our weekend has in store. It was taken in Estes Park at Thanksgiving from the front porch of the Stanley Hotel.

Our weekend plans involve neither the Stanley nor Estes Park, but one thing is for sure: mountains are definitely going to be involved! :)

Late Night Adventures Downtown (On a Monday!)

January 10:

Did you have a set bed time when you were a kid? Did you ever want to go to a concert on a school night, but your parents said "NO!". Well it turns out that they were pretty smart. Against my better judgement, I agreed to go to see Dashboard last night. They are one of those bands that we have seen many times and just can't pass up. Especially when it's a 10 year anniversary concert of his first album.

Don't get me wrong. It was an awesome concert. I always enjoy the music, even though I don't actually know a lot of the older stuff. I watched one girl last night sing every. single. word. Here's where the story begins. For last night's concert, we were under the impression that it would begin at 6:30. I thought we would be home and asleep by 10 at the latest since it started so early. Turns out, the concert didn't start until 7:30 and there were no less than THREE opening bands. (BTW, Lady Danville is fantastic!) And then Dashboard proceeded to play for at least an hour and half. At least that's how long it went before we just up and left. And then the real adventure began. We took the light rail downtown to avoid the icy and snowy highway and associated traffic/accidents. We missed the return southbound train at Union Station by a mere minute or two. It turns out that at 11:30 pm on Mondays, a minute or two could cost you hours! The trains are not running particularly frequently, and apparently not on schedule either. We waited a half hour for a train that didn't show up. Luckily during that period, we could wait inside the warmth of Union Station. When the train didn't show up, we took a bus to another line, where we had to wait another 20 minutes outside in the elements where the temp was quite literally 0 degrees and the wind didn't help matters. We finally found a train and got home at 1 am. I don't think I have ever been more thankful for a warm house and an even warmer bed.

After last night, I have decided that I will not be attending concerts on weeknights anymore. I am doing pretty good today, but I can't wait for an afternoon nap when I get home! Anyway, the picture above is Dashboard. We had a really cool eagle-eye view from a stairway balcony. Being there early certainly paid off in that respect!

I Spoke Too Soon

Before we left for Christmases in Kansas, Denver had barely seen a single snowflake (except at Thanksgiving), while the mountains were getting epic amounts of snow. I know I made this fact fairly well known while we were back in Kansas. Well aparently, I spoke too soon! Today, we got 5-6 inches of snow and it's still coming down! I shoveled the driveway three times because it was Matt's weekend to work and I wanted to make sure we could both get in and out for work tomorrow. I love the snow, as long as I don't have to get out in it. Tomorrow morning, I will probably be grumbling at it as I slip and slide my way into work. And now I present the photos of the day.

January 9:

Friday Night

You get two pictures of the day in today's post. I have been feeling slighty out of sorts lately. Last week, i didn't sleep well and just couldn't get caught up. I came home yesterday and crashed for two hours on the couch with the dogs! At any rate, the picture of the day didn't get posted as I had hoped. I am going to make every attempt to get these up every day so that there will be a new post to read each day!

January 7:

Last night after my big nap, Matt and I went for a short run and then met up with these fun ladies (my friends and former roommates Carlene and Becky) to catch up a little and celebrate Carlene and Nick's recent engagement! We intended to go bowling, but since the line was an 1.5 hours long, we settled for dinner at Rock Bottom instead. Yum!

January 8:

I have been pretty worthless today. We managed to get an 8.5 mile run in this morning before the temperatures drop and snow moves in tomorrow. It is Matt's weekend to work, and I am usually pretty productive on these days. However, I proceeded to take ANOTHER two hour nap this afternoon. On a positive note, I am feeling much better, so hopefully I will get my list accomplished tomorrow. Anyhow, today's picture is of another Christmas gift I wanted to show you all. It is an afghan that my dad had made from a picture of Pongo and Perdi. You might recognize the picture from an earlier blog post. It amazes me how real the dogs look! Oh and for a size reference, the afghan is laid out on our couch, so it is pretty big! Pongo likes to lay on himself when we have the blanket spread out like this. :)

Tassimo!

Photo of the Day: January 6
Meet our new favorite coffee brewer, the Tassimo. It makes everything from lattes and espressos to just a plain ol' yummy cup of coffee. Seriously, I may never need to go to Starbucks again. They are THAT good! Plus Matt even let me go get those super cute little espresso cups to go along with it! :) This was a Christmas gift from Matt's mom...I will stop taking pictures of Christmas gifts eventually. Promise!

Finally, A Run!

Photo for January 5:
The first run run in two weeks after a break for the holidays. 5.5 miles on intermittent snow and ice was a bit more than I bargained for, but I NEEDED to get out there. I am so sore from tonight's run and P90X last night. It is amazing how two weeks can pass and my body seems to forget what I have been training it for for the past few months. But at least I didn't have to do that run in the dark like my husband! I love how he is just as committed to marathon training as I am, if not more so! I freak out on ice and snow, even when I can see it. He fearlessly runs it at night with a head lamp.

January 4: Photo Of The Day

January 4:

2011 marks 100 years of being my company being in business. To celebrate, we have gotten a new logo and lots of new goodies to go along with it. Some of these goodies include a new mug and some yummy cookies!

Resolution: 2011 in Photos

As you all can see, this blog has really gone by the wayside. I have been trying to think of ways to get myself more motivated to blog, because I enjoy it and I know many of you enjoy seeing what we are up to. So I have decided to borrow an idea from one of my Facebook friends, which I think will be the perfect solution! My new year's resolution (one of them) is to do a daily photo journal of 2011. I am not a great photographer, but at least I will be able to remember every day of this year, no matter how significant or mundane the photo may be. They say that every photo tells a story. I have yet to decide how much of the story I will tell through captions, or how much i will let the photos speak for themselves. I have a feeling this will be a constant work in progress.

Here goes! (I already have some catching up to do!)

January 1:

After a long, cold, late night of handling furnace repairs and ringing in the New Year, Perdi and I were both tired and spent some snuggly time under a warm blanket on the couch. Matt captured this photo...maybe one of the cutest Perdi poses to date!

January 2:

This is my prized Christmas gift from Matt. My very own sewing machine! I got some great lessons on how to use it and how to sew in general from my friend Susie, who has the same machine. My first project: a t-shirt quilt comprised of 20 shirts from junior high to high school. I only started this thing 10 years ago...it's about time I finished it! I am addicted to sewing now. I love it. I can't wait to start on some other projects after this one!

January 3:

A peaceful, snowy walk with the dogs at sunset. My phone's camera doesn't do the sunset justice! Unfortunately, the paths are still too snowy to run on. I am going stir crazy to get out again, but the last thing i want is to get injured right now!