Octizzard

What happens when you have a 2 day long blizzard in the middle of October? An Octizzard
From Tuesday night to Thursday night, we got over a foot of snow. Work was cancelled for two days and the four of us holed up in our house with movies and way too much food. And lots of playing in the snow with Zumi. That dog loves him some snow. In fact, on Wednesday night he wouldn't come in until 11, preferring to nap in the snow rather than inside.

I think this is Thursday morning.

By the time all was said and done, the snow was as high as Zumi's head. This is Thursday morning.

My snow puppy





Playing in the snow is hard work!

Sea Green

So a few weeks ago I finally decided on a wall color for our bathroom: sea green. Quite a departure from the brown stripes I was thinking of doing. The poor Winfield's still have not closed on our house, and Camille still hasn't found a job, so she's been all kinds of stuff around our house including painting the bathroom for us! She rocks! And the bathroom is so pretty now!

It's Zumi's Day!

Happy birthday to my Zoomster! He's a year old today!
To commemorate it, and also because we ran out of his food, we bought a bag of dog food. That's right, not puppy food, DOG food.
*Sniff* My puppy's all growed up.

Froota or Frooeeta?

Two weekends ago, James, Camille, Kurt, Zumi, and I went to Fruita, CO, for some mountain biking adventure. Well, Zumi had some sitting-in-his-crate-in-the-car adventure. I believe he loved every dang second of it. Fruita is directly west of Denver by 4 hours and apparently it's a mountain biking hot spot. Well, we love mountain biking and hot spots so it was the perfect destination for us.
We left on Friday after work and got in around 10. Kurt and I got there first and by the time James and Camille arrived, I was already snug in my sleeping bag.

The next morning the boys got up at 6 for some early biking while Camille and I slept in till 9, when I could pick up my rental bike. And we got delicious breakfast burritos from Nathy's. After getting my bike, we met up with the boys and biked it up in the 18 Road area.

I look so good in bike shorts!! (BAHAHAHA)

After that we went back to Nathy's for green chile burritos. Mmmmm, delicious. Just a little heavy. I think we were all feeling a little heavy after that, but it didn't stop us from hitting up one more biking area: Kokopelli. We didn't bring the camera along on this ride either and I'm so sad because it was absolutely gorgeous. We were on the cliffs above the Colorado river and it was just awesome. Well, I had an accident on this ride. I endoed (which means I braked too hard on my front brakes and went sailing over the handlebars) into a ditch, landing on my head and getting all kinds of scraped up. After Kurt saw that I was ok, he quickly assured me it was the funniest thing he'd seen all day. Glad I could oblige, babe!

I have a boo boo.
Then we took my bike back to the shop and headed home. It was a really fun, short trip!

Ode to Diet Dr. Pepper with Vanilla (light on the ice)

Qui.

So delicious.
So refreshing.
So sweet.
So satisfying.
You are the perfect celebration.
Or just-because.
Or I-need-caffeine-like-yesterday.
With just a teensy bit of vanilla,
your true colors really begin to shine.
[And don't forget about the light ice
--that way I get more of you!]
Rain or snow.
Sun or clouds.
I'll journey the 5 miles to Sonic through anything
for a sublime sip of heaven.
[Or maybe like a hundred sips,
but who's counting.]
Ah.

October Goals

My goals this month are:
-Get back to waking up at 6 am (struggling with that lately)
-Lose 15 pounds (believe me, I need it--one of my bipolar meds made me gain that weight in a ridiculously short amount of time... and I don't expect to lose all 10 pounds in one month, of course)
-Keep the apart--house clean
-Do well at work (As of Thursday, I'll have worked at Axa for a year. Craziness.)

Wish me luck cuz I'll definitely need it.

NEWS FLASH

I have been accepted to Converse College's MFA Program!!

Because I've been accepted to 2 programs, I'm going to choose one of them and not apply to the other 3. I'll keep you posted as to what my decision will be!!

Accepted

I have been accepted into the Whidbey Island Writers Association's MFA Program!!!

Time to celebrate.

From Placemats to Pillows

When I read this post, I knew I had to try it! So I hopped down to Pier 1 (which is 2 minutes from my house--glee!), picked out some placemats I like, bought 'em, and brought 'em home. Then I realized I didn't have a sewing machine. So I thought the pillow conversion would have to wait until February when I got my sewing machine.
Weeeeeeellllll, our friends James and Camille just moved here. However, they don't close on their house for another week and a half and we insisted they stay with us (they were planning on living in a hotel room for 2 weeks!). Camille has a sewing machine and she's been showing me the ropes! So I got to do my pillows! Lemme know what you think!



They look so good a) with my turquoise walls and b) on my black and red redone Pier 1 chairs! I seriously think redoing and converting and creating gives me a high. But it's a natural high, so it's ok.
PS--high school playlist is finally up!!

Some Fall Decor

I decided this last week that I was going to buy a fall wreath. I don't have any fall decor yet and this seemed like a good place to start. Plus I knew it would make me happy whenever I drove up to the house. So far, it does. :)

Please disregard the empty flower pot.

I love Kurt.

Yesterday, Kurt asked if I would make a cake for his coworker's birthday today. I said sure. She's my friend as well and, besides, I love to bake.

Last night while making the cake, I asked Kurt if he would help by grating the chocolate bar (I made my favorite: chocolate chip poundcake. I'll post the recipe soon.). He did. I baked the cake and he took it into work this morning.

Today, I got an email from him. At the end of the email, it said:

"Also, your cake is a hit. People are saying, "WOW, you made this?". And I say, "No, my wife made it. I just grated the chocolate.""

A Year's Time

In the last year I...


Moved to Colorado


Visited Moab for the first time


Got a job


Finally saw Coldplay live


Drove through New Mexico for the first time


Sent out our first Christmas cards


Snowshoed for the first time


Experienced an April blizzard


Bought a puppy


Went to my first Rockies game


Ran my first 10k


Bought a house


Painted 6 rooms of said house


Said goodbye to my long hair


Went above 14,000 feet


Made awesome friends and had awesome friends move here from Utah


Was diagnosed with bi polar disorder


Visited St. Louis for the first time


Took Zumi above 14,000 feet


Served as a support crew

I can't believe we've been in Denver for a whole year! And yet when I look back on it, I realize we've done a TON of stuff! Life is good and I'm extremely happy.

Autumn

Qui.

Mmmm, Happy Fall :)

It Ain't Over Yet

You know, the strangest thing happened to me after I wrote my post on being bipolar:
A great weight lifted from my shoulders.
Not only that, but it seemed like the nightmares of yesterday were gone forever.
Silly me.
It's slowly sinking in (again) that I still have bi polar disorder,
that I always will have bi polar disorder
until I die.
And then, when I rise in resurrection,
I will finally know what it's like to have a sane mind.
That's a funny thought, because I used to think I had a sane mind,
so I thought I knew what it was like.
Turns out I was only dreaming.
I used to tell my family member with bipolar disorder,
when they would tell me things they experienced,
that I experienced them too and so it meant everyone experienced them!
Turns out the reason I also experienced them,
was because my mind was unwell.
Does anyone else see the irony/humor in this?

An Outpouring Of Love

Da qui.

Wow.
Thank y'all so much for the love and support y'all have shown me the past few days.
I am truly humbled.
And feel all kinds of warm fuzzies in my bosom.


On another note,
I sent in my first two grad school applications today.
Ahhhh!