Adenverture

A Denver adventure... get it? AJ and I went to Denver and it was SO. FUN. It was my first time and it didn't disappoint. It was a great time to go because things were very festive for the upcoming holidays and there was already lots of snow, and it even snowed while we were there!

I have to say that I adjusted faster than I realized to being back in California and no significant cold... I turned back into a delicate flower and even though I brought my warmest clothes that survived the East Coast move, I was still struggling at times. Mainly my fingertips were freezing and weren't used to that cold, even though I wore fingerless gloves in the NYC winters all the time.

Our flight out was delayed, so we didn't get in until about midnight, so we didn't go out on the town as originally planned but instead went back to AJ's friends place where we were staying and played pool and drank there. There were some adorable kitties in the house, and the one even LOVED her little cat tree and used it regularly. She even sat in the little bowl. Kitty soup!

In the morning we left first thing to head up into the Rockies. The friends were going to go snowmobiling and AJ and I were going to hang out in Breckenridge. It was snowing and the traffic was massive, so we had a change of plans that included all of us going to Breckenridge (SUCH A CUTE TOWN) for lunch, then taking the friends to Copper Mountain for their snowmobiling, and AJ took me over to Vail.

Downtown Denver

Long ride up the mountain

Blurry Copper Mountain

We went out to eat at the Dam Brewery and had beer cheese soup and I had a maple bourbon trout still on the skin. We stayed at a condo that night in Silverthorne, rented a movie, AJ made a fire, we had supplies for 7&7's but I fell asleep pretty immediately.

The next morning was BEAUTIFUL because it was no longer snowing and the sun was out!

We headed back down the mountain and went back to home base to relax and change before going to the Broncos/Raiders game!! AJ's friend works at an internet/cable company and he actually helped one of the Broncos players (#40) who in turn gave him 4 free tickets to the game in the 8th row!!! They were amazing seats and it was SO much fun, and Broncos stadium was fabulous! Big and beautiful and what a vibe! Such a following and the entire stadium was orange and going crazy.

AJ wanted to wear this bandanna to cover his ears and I told him NO WAY because he would look like a Raiders fan and I demonstrated to him what other people would be seeing when they saw him with that on

After the game we went for a fancy schmancy dinner at the fondue restaurant The Melting Pot. It was INCREDIBLE. We had the four-course meal of salads, the beer based cheese fondue with veggies and bread, meat platters in the hot pot with 6 different kinds of sauces, and chocolate fondue for dipping rice krispie treats, fruit, brownies, cookies, cheesecake, pound cake, and graham cracker-encrusted marshmallows. UNREAL.

And then of course we had to go home, but there was a photo op at the airport.

Our Frontier plane was hosted by Sammy the Squirrel, and we now have travel vouchers to make up for the delayed flight on the way out. I want to go back to the Christmastime snow!!

The Future Me

Winter quarter is coming up here which means another orientation. I work with a select group of students here on a reciprocal exchange (as opposed to matriculated degree-seeking students) and in part of orientation I have them write letters to themselves that I save and send back to them at the end of their program. I was trying to provide a little more insight or direction because sometimes these students are like, what am I supposed to write? (I forget how much direction you need as a student sometimes) so I was googling some time capsule letter writing ideas and came across this website FutureMe.org.

This thing allows you to write an email to yourself that will be delivered at a future date of your choosing! I don't know why I thought this was so amazing but I did. The default is one year away, so I wrote myself an email that will come next December. Then when I saw that it can be delivered up until 2060+ I wrote myself another email to be delivered right before I turn 40. Why is this so cool?? I am obsessed with it!

In other news, I have had the honor (curse?) to now be included in some of the massive group texts that AJ and his friends have. That's how you know they've accepted you as their own in this generation. The only problem is that it goes off nonnnnnstopppppp! I wouldn't mind so much but I already gchat all day long and don't need distractions from my distractions...

Big Bear Weekend

The weekend goes toooo fast! Especially when it's December and I'm trying to enjoy the Christmas spirit! I actually love winter and cold weather... as long as it's Christmastime. Come January it's just like ughhhhhhhhh. Ha. On Friday night AJ and I did a round of the Festival of Lights again in downtown Riverside. (So nice to just be able to walk there!) We ate on the breezeway and then went to Casey's Cupcakes and got a gingerbread cupcake mmmmm and we were thirsty and since they are going for the kinda the old-timey soda pop vibe, they only had bottled sodas, like cream sodas and ginger ales and then I saw CHEERWINE. Say what?! I thought that was a Southern-only kinda thing! I just had my first one ever in August in South Carolina. So we HAD to have it. (By we, I mean me.) I made AJ pose with it so I could send a picture to Jayna. His eyes ended up being half-closed but he said he didn't care. Probably cause he thought I was only going to send it to Jayna and then delete it. Well lolololol joke's on him.

AJ unloaded his truck at my house since we were leaving first thing in the morning to go up to Big Bear for the day and meet up with his friends who had rented a cabin. (We opted out of the weekend since we are both anticipating being poor with the Europe 2016 trip coming up). He had Anana's dog bed in there and we brought it in and then caught the Khaleesi sleeping on it. BTW I bought her a cat bed and had to throw it away because not only did she never sleep in it, but she peed on it too LOLOLOLOL but apparently THIS bed is good enough for her!

AJ and I were up early on Saturday, went by Starbucks for holiday drinks (gingerbread latte mmmm) and then up the mountain to Big Bear. He was going out with a small group of them to go snowboarding, and I stayed behind with the rest who were content to relax around the cabin for the day.

The boarders on their way out

Girls walking down to the Bear Mountain lodge for bloody marys

Then the boarders came back and full-on funtimes ensued. I took multiple power naps and then would wake up for more shots. Needless to say, AJ and I ended up crashing on the couch there rather than driving back down the mountain that day as originally planned.

Lecturing AJ about how dare he go snowboarding without me lololol JK

Good God I look increasingly tired as I get older

Waking up from a power nap, someone made me chug a cup of coffee to stay up this time

AJ playing pool. Not sure if this was before or after Nadine went
rolling on the table and ruining the game in play at that time haha

AJ and I each woke up in the middle of the night at the same time. We each went to the bathroom and then chugged water and lamented about how dry it was and how our necks were hurting on the couch. I suggested we escape right then and so avoid having to clean up the cabin in the morning hahaha I WAS JUST KIDDING. We woke up in the morning and helped clean up the cabin and then we all went to Denny's and actually beat the Sunday brunch rush. 

I ended up having to drive down the mountain because I got really sick after only like 10 minutes of riding shotgun and was dry heaving on the side of the road. Then I got the grand idea to use our full Sunday productively and finally buy our Europe tickets for Shannon's wedding, so we made it to my mom's for football and Europe research and GUESS. WHAT.

We bought tickets!! Ahhhh! It was scary to FINALLY pull the trigger but I had also been bugging him for us to do this since summer. We got a killer deal all in all I think, and excited for us to go to Iceland, England, France and Denmark!! It will ALL be new for AJ (who has only been to Serbia and Hungary) and it will be all new for me except for Paris. I have seen a lot of England, but not Manchester or where Shannon's wedding will be (near the Lake District), I insisted we go to a French speaking anything anywhere, and originally we were shooting for Switzerland, but Paris is by far the easiest to get in/out of for the cheapest, and I don't mind seeing it again and AJ has never been, and neither of us has ever been to Copenhagen (so stoked to see the Little Mermaid statue) and we are both most excited for Iceland! Five long days to drive around the entire island!

Two Years Later

And by years I mean months. Pictures from my cousin's wedding are in! There are a few gems in there if I do say so myself...! How do I photoshop the PROOF off? Lulzzzzzzzz

Bridesmaids bottles

Bouquets

Getting ready

Bridesmaid dresses

Helping her with her shoes

Walking out to the limo

At the church

Walking down the aisle

Side-eye during mass. Oops.

Bridal party

It was really bright

I needed sunglasses

Me and my aisle partner

Grand entrance

Watching my cousin dance with my Uncle Steve

Running around the married couple

LOOK AT AJ'S REACTION IN THE BACKGROUND HAHAHAHAH

That girl got right in the middle of our shot!

At least he looks cute

They throw it like a football, right?

DID NOT CATCH.

Now another two years before the proofs from Pam's wedding I suppose.

TGIF WORLD!

I Heard The Bells

This week has sucked. I've just been in a really bad mood all week, and now this mass shooting, ugh! Last night I drove out to Orange County and Bae-J and I went to Boiling Crab and it was deeeeeeelish. We got mussels, clams and shrimp. So maybe it should be called Boiling Mussels Clams and Shrimp.

Today in everyone's know-it-all social media feeds, someone was talking about how tragic the San Bernardino shootings were and posted the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem "Christmas Bells" and it brought me back to my favorite Christmas album, a compilation titled Maybe This Christmas Tree and re-listened to Pedro the Lion's rendition of "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day" (based on the poem) and it was nice.

I am soooooo looking forward to this week being over!

Cat Breeds

Last night Marisa and I had to go to the late yoga class so I ran to Trader Joe's after work to get grocery shopping done. My checker was a youngish kid who looked just miserable.

I think he is probably forced to make small talk by management and he kept asking me questions as though he had a gun to his back and would rather be in a five-hour lecture.

"How was your Thanksgiving? That's nice. Did you stay local? Mmhmm."

I am content to not say anything at all. Just tell me my total and let me swipe and be on my way. But he kept talking so I had to keep responding.

"Is this your last stop for the night?" he asked.

"Yes. Just home to the kitty now."

"That's nice. What kind of cat do you have?"

That's such a weird question to me. Are there different kinds of cats? Aside from like, a Siamese, or maybe those ugly naked cats are there really any distinctions? Even to me, a Siamese is just a pretty coloring and in the end they're all just... cats.

So I thought about it and then I told him "A bitch. I have a breed of bitch cat."

And he actually looked startled and then genuinely laughed.

Hello, December

Nothing in that image is close to anything I'll get here in So Cal but whatevs.

So for all of you who said it couldn't be done (no one) I did it! I blogged all 30 days of November.

...now what?