GO SIOUX

Thursday night started our hockey weekend. Mike's adult league team started playoffs on Thursday. They won Thursday night and advanced to the next round. Friday we headed out to grab some tapas and drinks before the Avalanche game at Forest Room Five. While we were at dinner we decided we would just go home and catch the game. We should have gone, the Avs ended up wining the game in a shootout!

Saturday we started watching the NCAA hockey tournament. We watched the Sioux game and then needed to record the later games, as Mike had playoff game number 2. After the game, we had friends over and celebrated their teams win and watch the games.

Sunday we rode our bikes to get breakfast and then patiently waited for the Sioux vs. Badgers game. Mike and I are really excited that the SIOUX made it to Denver.

Mike's team plays again this Tuesday. Then we have Mike's parents and his brother and girlfriend coming to town for the Frozen Four...GO SIOUX!

Spring in the City

Mike and I have been enjoying the nice weather and living close to the city. On Sunday we headed to Wash Park to hang out with friends. Monday we took our bikes and biked to the Pearl Street Grill to grab dinner, then biked to Blockbuster to pick up a movie. Last night we walked to the Crazy Asian Cafe after we both we too tired at the gym to cook. Tonight we rested :-) When we lived in the suburbs we were much more inclined to drive to all the places. Here we can walk or bike. We made an agreement to each other that unless we are going to a "nice dinner" or meeting friends we have to bike to all the places we dine this summer. I love looking at every ones tulips and spring plants come up. I love tulips and spring time. I can't wait to plant things! I also wanted to let everyone know about two websites that are free and help others.

The first one is http://www.freerice.com/ where you go and play a word game and for each one you get right you donate 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program.

The second one is a website that you can click and it will donate to food to animals, breast cancer research, child health, literacy, and the rainforest.

Adventures in Basalt and Easter

Friday we left for Basalt to stay with Mike's friend Anna and her boyfriend Dale. Anna happened to be in the market for a car, and ended up buying his! So we drove up to do some skiing and give her the car. The crazy thing is that Mike and Anna started the "great car exchange of 08." Mike sold his car to Anna, Anna sold her car to her friend, and her friend sold her car to her sister!
Friday when we got up there we made dinner at Anna's house. It was a hard weekend as Dale's uncle had passed away. Mike and I offered to make dinner and decided that we were in the spring/Cuban spirit. So our dinner was Cuban burgers, fried plantains, and a tomato and feta salad. Both Dale and Anna were very happy with how dinner turned out, the Cuban burgers were a hit. We then headed to Stubbies for friendly games of darts and video golf. Mike was the big winner in darts, and the golf machine froze up so there was no winner there.

On Saturday we made breakfast and then Anna, Mike, and I headed up to Snowmass (Aspen) for some skiing. We then went to the Woody Creek Tavern for lunch and headed home for a nap and to meet up with Dale. Saturday night we were all feeling a bit unadventurous and we decided to grab dinner at Tempranillo and make it an early night.
Sunday we grabbed a late breakfast and then Mike and I headed home. We got into town and picked up Easter dinner. Then rode our bikes to Wash Park to meet up with some friends who were playing bochee ball. We came home and I finished making the potato casserole, and then Mike went on an Easter Egg Hunt. He had no idea it was coming. My mom reintroduced the hunts two years ago, and ever since then I don't want to let the tradition go. My Easter box came in the mail this year and I happily opened all my eggs to find the surprises inside. Since my mom and dad are in Ixtapa, Mexico right now I decided Mike needed to go on a hunt! We wish you all a wonderful weekend and Easter.

Itzy and Tucker

So I have yet to post about my cats. Ok so they are now "our" cats, although Mike will tell you that he really doesn't like them! This said he is always petting them and playing fetch with Tucker. He is also like a 2 year old and loves to chase them around our house.

Itzy, now 4 and a half, continues to try to escape into the real world outside. I am in constant amazement about how terrible her life is here, that she wants outside so much. She will cry by the door or window until you open it up and she is allowed to look outside. Once outside she is getting ever more daring and is starting to get into trouble for wandering a bit too far. Mike likes to call Itzy the horse, because she runs like a horse all around the house. Tucker, now 1 and a half, is the needy one of the two. Tucker still will cry at around 10 to let you know she wants to go to bed. She snuggles with me like a little teddy bear. I have never seen a cat allow you to hold it like a stuffed animal, but I like it because she is so warm. If we let her she would play fetch all day and night. She goes and gets hair ties and then brings them back to us, and cries until we throw them again. Mike is convinced she loves "flying onto the bed or couch" and will pick her up and throw her as often as he can.

Mike now thinks I am a crazy person for posting about our cats...but they are an important part of our life and must be blogged about atleast once!

Vail

Mike and I started out this weekend by meeting friends for happy hour. I met up with my girlfriend Lauren at Brix and Mike and some buddies went to the Campus Lounge. When Lauren and I had enough girl time, we met up with the Mike and his buddies at Campus. We ended up going with a group of about 10 people to Hansen's Grill for dinner and an evening with a couple guys Mike knows.

Saturday morning we woke up early to head up to Vail for the night. We decided that Denver was going to be to crazy with St. Patrick's Day, and wanted to get out of town for the night. We are also heading into the last month of skiing. When we got there we went and parked our car at the Sitzmark Lodge, the place where we were staying and then hit the mountain. After we played on the mountain for a couple hours, Mike got a call letting us know that the Stitzmark had over booked us, and that we would be staying at the Tivoli Lodge. So I went and grabbed us a seat the Red Lion for lunch and the Avalanche vs. the Devils hockey game, and Mike went and checked into our "new" hotel. Mike came back talking about how surprising our new accomidations were. Let's just say that the hotel we were put up in was much more than Mike had paid for! It was a very nice hotel and one that neither of us had ever heard about in all our times to Vail. I love when we stay at hotels and get all the little travel size things. I told Mike it is like my birthday everytime we check in and I get to go see what "free" gifts we have. The Tivoli lodge had great smelling green tea shampoo and bath salts, and they even gave us a mini sewing kit...this was a great start to our stay!
Saturday night we met up with our friends, Ricky and Katie, for dinner at Vendetta's. Vendetta's is a favorite of ours for pizza, but we had never eaten in the downstairs resturant. Our food and company was fantastic. We then went to check out a band that Mike had heard about from our hotel bartender at the Sandbar. It was suppose to be fantastic, but it was not all it was cracked up to be and we all decided we should just head home.

Sunday we got up, decided not to ski, and packed our bags for Denver. However, before we left we needed to stop in at one of my favorite resturants, Sweet Basil. Last fall, Mike and I ate there when his buddy Larson was in town and loved it. We especially loved their dessert the Hot Sticky Fudge Toffee cake (recipe). If I could send it to you to let you all sample it, I would do it in a heart beat! Last fall we got the recipe and have yet to try to make it ourselves, but may need to figure it out so we can surprise our company.

Our night away was very relaxing and much needed after a long week at work for the both of us! Sunday we got home early and got stuff ready for the next week. Hopefully, we won't get the 8 inches of snow that they say we might!

Woodpeckers???

They are back...anyone have suggestions on how to kindly get rid of our friends?

Girls and Boys Weekends

This weekend both Mike and I were in the mountains but we were doing very different things. Mike and 15 buddies went on a back country ski trip, and I went and did a 5k snow shoe event.

I'll start with Mike's weekend of fun. On Friday morning Mike and his buddies left for their Yurt, which is just outside of Eagle, Colorado. This year they invited a buddy that had a snowmobile which made the 6 mile hike up a mountain a bit less labor intensive. Friday night Mike and one of his buddies, Garrett went and did a dusk run. They hiked up to the peak where they got this amazing photo and then skied down. Saturday all the guys hiked up and they made about 5 runs in thigh to knee deep powder. He said it was great skiing and enjoyed making "camp dinners," sitting on the decks and enjoying sodas, and hanging out with the boys. They got back on Sunday, they were tired and smelly!

Friday night I headed up to the mountains to meet up with our friends for the snow shoe event we had on Saturday morning. We went and did some shopping at the outlets in Silverthorne and then headed to the condo for dinner. After dinner we had a good ol fashion "slumber party" complete with pjs, girl talk, and a new addition wine! Saturday morning was the start of the Romp and Stomp event to raise money for breast cancer research. After the race a group of us piled into my car and headed to the butterhorn bakery (a local favorite) for some good eating. It was wonderful to hang out with a group of friends, raise money for a good cause, and get some exercise in the process as well. On Saturday night on the news they announced that 2,200 people participated and that we raised more than $120,000. I am so glad that my friends and I decided to take part in this event and we all are going to make it an annual event as well. Sunday for me was a lazy day getting stuff done around the house I also got a couple of my favorite things, Mike home with me, to watch a movie, and I am making Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes for dinner...yummy!

STOMP

Last night my friend Allison and I went to see Stomp at the Temple Buell Theatre here in Denver. This was suppose to a "first" for Mike and I, with the two of us going to a "theatre" event. When we found out a couple weeks ago that Mike was going to be gone on a work vacation in Texas (aka working out of town) I asked Allison to be my date. The performance was great and we had really close seats. Now Mike gets to decide if he wants to go to Mama Mia, Sweeney Todd, or the Jersey boys! Until then he gets to listen to my beautiful singing of all my favorite musicals which are Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Cats, and Rent (I also sing 2 songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat). I truly think he secretly likes the music too, but just not as much as I do!

Wacky Weekend...

Our leap day in Denver was 63 degrees and perfect for going out and raking leaves and trimming shrubs in our yard. I started to get the itch to plant things, but know that it is still too early and Colorado weather is Wacky. Friday night we laid low and went and grabbed dinner and watched a movie at home. It was Mike's turn to pick so we watched
"the hitchikers guide to the galaxy," a bit too wacky for me, and I fell asleep about 20 minutes into the movie. We also did the ever fun "financial planning session." For the last few months we new we were either going to need to fix some things on Mike's car and get him new tires, or get a new vehicle. It also had to do with the logistics of him transporting different things for work and play as well. After talking back and forth about pros and cons we decided that we should get a bigger vehicle. Mike was leaning towards a truck and I was pulling for another SUV. My main reason is that trucks scare me in the winter in the mountains. So we went looking on Saturday and ended up finding a perfect combination for us...a tough guy SUV. So now Mike is the proud new owner of a black Toyota Urban Four Runner!

When we were driving home from the car dealership I saw the strangest "vehicle" ever. I am still a bit confused, but this was the most versatile bike I have seen. We also drove by the park and on our record breaking 75 degree day there were people in shorts and t-shirts enjoying the first day of March. We went and grabbed a bite to eat and then came home and organized the garage, so we can comfortably fit both of our cars in there.

Sunday we woke up and were again surprised by Denver's wacky weather...there was 5 inches of snow on the ground! It is crazy that on Friday I was raking leaves, Saturday we were walking around comfortably wearing t-shirt and jeans, and then Sunday I pulled out my winter coat again. Denver is known for wacky weather, and I am sure this won't be the last of it. March entered like a lamb, but March is known as the "snowiest" month in Colorado.

Woodpeckers!

For the last few week Mike and I had been listening to this odd sound. It sounded almost like a jack hammer, but against metal. We both chalked it up to the construction that is happening around our house and left it at that. Then last week Mike said, "I think it is a woodpecker." I didn't know what to think. It was so sporadic and I just didn't think too much of it. Then earlier this week Mike called to tell me that it was a woodpecker trying to peck into our chimney. So we decided that something needed to be done. On Tuesday morning, while I was getting ready to leave for work and the little guys were at it again. This time I caught them as they were trying to drill into our chimney. So Mike went up on the roof and put a bunch of nails on the top of the chimney (which doesn't allow them to land). Since then I have seen the little guys flying around and landing on the trees and telephone poles, but not again on our chimney!