Category Archives: Life

Engaged and of Age.

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This past Saturday we had the pleasure of celebrating the engagement of our friends Taylor and Amy.

I know.  They’re HIDEOUS.  : )

Taylor was a groomsmen in our wedding and was one of the first people Jon befriended when he moved to Denver.  Shenanigans.

Amy is his breathtaking future bride.  They are part of why we’re going on vacation next month.  February 29th, the first February 29th in four years, is the date of their nuptials on the beautiful island of Maui.  We are pumped : )

Everyone gathered together on Saturday to celebrate them – it’s fun to celebrate people isn’t it?  Especially when love is involved.

Part of the reason I’m posting these pictures and this event is because I will be shooting Taylor and Amy’s wedding in Maui.  I’m really nervous to shoot such beautiful people in such a beautiful place ; )  I brought my camera with on Saturday just for fun.  It was pretty dark in the house for non-flash photo’s, but my amazing new Nikon lens did just what it said it would.

Their amazing cake – Hawaii theme of course!!

They had no way to plan this, but the Bronco’s played in their second playoff game that night.  They lost.  BIG time.  We watched until the bitter end.

The pain of the loss was curbed by delicious cocktails consumed.

It was a night filled with good friends that in getting older and moving into their own lives find it harder and harder to get together.  It was really lovely to spend the evening with them.

Her gorgeous ring is Taylors grandma’s diamond in a new setting.  It was fun to see them so in love.   It took me right back to what it felt like being engaged.

With this group – it’s not a party until the after party.

CONGRATS TAYLOR AND AMY!!  Can’t WAIT for the wedding.

I told you so.

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I don’t know how many of you read my ‘about midwest mountainess’ page, but on it I told you I was a crazy cat lady.  Jon tells me daily.  Marlo ignores him.

Anyway!  Tomorrow I’m going to do a post about some of my current favorite things since Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  But SATURDAY happens to be Marlo’s favorite day so I figured I’d fill you in on her current favorite thing.  In case anybody wants to try it. Which I doubt.

Marlo is obsessed with water.  This just furthers my opinion that she is the weirdest cat of all time.  Marlo can be clear across the condo, SLEEPING (which believe you me is her favorite thing of ALL time) but when she hears me turn on a faucet she comes sprinting in, slides across the floor trying to stop, panicked that she might miss it, and leaps onto the counter to do this:

This is how she drinks her water.

I’m CONVINCED she doesn’t drink her water in her bowl because she does the above ALL DAY LONG.

That’s only the beginning of her water obsession.  She also watches me shower.  Well not me so much, but the water.  I understand how creepy that sounds and well that’s because it is.  She sits there and watches me and bides her time until she can do this:

BUSTED!

She licks the damn thing dry.  WEIRDEST cat ever.  Does anyone have a crazy cat or crazy dog lady story that tops this?  If so I’d love to hear it.

Marlo is not amused.

Firsts x 3: I’m actually cheering for Tebow.

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I don’t know what it’s been like in the rest of the world, but in Denver for the last few months it has been Tim Tebow mania.  He’s EVERYWHERE.  Sports news, regular news, billboards, and in daily conversation.  And boy is he polarizing.  You either love/worship him or you leave the room when his name is mentioned on Sports Center, which is every 2.9 seconds.  I will publicly admit right here and now to the 5 of you reading this that I was one of the latter.  This guy got under my skin so bad that I would LITERALLY leave the room if he came on the T.V.

Well the Bronco’s played in their first playoff game in some 5+ years last Sunday IN Denver.  Mayhem.   Jon found great tickets…so we went.  I’ll admit I didn’t want to go. My mindset went like this: It’s a little chilly out, I have errands to run, but more importantly – WHO CARES about the Broncos!   Well my husband was nearly bouncing off the walls with the prospect of attending an NFL playoff game, so vying for that wife of the year award, I slapped on a mildly amused facial expression and we left!  We decided (after months of suffering through the incredibly annoying Tebow mania) that we were going to support the Broncos and just have a good time.  After arriving at the stadium an hour early and sitting on the edge of our seats through the whole game, right to the end of the quickest playoff overtime in NFL history to give Tim Tebow, and the Broncos, a win like I have never seen…I have one thing to say.

I’m a believer.

It was the most fun I have ever had at a sporting event.  Ever.

The stadium was absolutely vibrating with excitement for every. single. second. of the game.  It was contagious and we couldn’t help but get swept up!  Now I will ALWAYS be a Vikings fan (unfortunately) but since they’re out of the running this year – GO BRONCOS!  This all comes up because today the Broncos play Tom Brady (sigh) and the Patriots at New England.  Normally I would tell the Bronco’s “goooooooood luck suckers”!   But after what I witnessed last weekend I wouldn’t be surprised by anything.

As I sit here and write this, the what have become comforting voices of Sports Center are dissecting the games that haven’t even happened yet, as usual.  The difference is, when they talk about the Bronco’s, the dissecting ceases a bit and they all just throw their hands up.  Nobody knows what the hell is going to happen and each one of them at some point over the season has had to eat crow for Tebow bashing.  Case in point, here’s a quote I literally just heard from Ditka when asking for his pick:

I’m gonna keep riding that old horse.  Tim Tebow. I’m gonna ride him till he gets real tired.  I say don’t worry about stats Tim, just win baby!

The logical pick is the Patriots.  Why?  Because Tebow is truly a terrible quarterback stats wise.  He’s painful to watch at times.  Yet, he’s gotten his team into round 2 of the playoffs.  It’s crazy.  Some call it divine intervention from the God he preaches to after each and every game, but I call it incredible luck and great karma. Whatever it is, it’s a blast to watch and if you have time today I suggest you tune in.

A Photo Recap:

There were fans,

and then there were super fans.

There were TWO mascots,

but there were FOUR parachuters.

There were beautiful balloons,

and there were beautiful cheerleaders.

 There was fire in the sky,

but even better there were planes in the sky.

There was a horse on the stadium,

which is not to be confused with a girl on a horse.

There was praying,

and more praying.

See Tebow. See Tebow pray.

And of course there was Tebow,

who is not to be confused with Tebowing.

FYI - not Tebow.

So…when the Broncos take the field today I will be sporting some home team pride.  For last Sunday, Tim Tebow got out from under my skin, and stole a little (tiny) piece of my heart.

P.S.

For those of you still on the negative side of the polarization, please see this article.  Tim Tebow might be a little annoying and he might preach about God too much for some, but I believe he’s a really great guy all football aside.  I watched him with his fans on Sunday and I’ve never seen anything like it.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7455943/believing-tim-tebow

Firsts x 2

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Since it’s my first week of Midwest Mountainess postings, I decided to do my duty as an American and absolutely torture and wear out my readers using the word ‘firsts’.  Hence…Firsts x2.  It’s as creative as I could be at 12:30a.m. after several glasses of wine, a martini, and no carbs for 7 days.  I’m essentially brain dead.  Not to mention TOTALLY high on like a million (…20) hits on Facebook.

So I realize this is going to come as a COMPLETE surprise, but after my Christmas recap post I’m going to do a New Years recap post!  I’ll give you a moment to contain your excitement.

Ahem.

So the firsts thing again.  It wasn’t mine, but it WAS my husbands first trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This is the part where I make you all jealous because he’s so thoughtful and spontaneous and giving and don’t you just hate both of us.  But before you get to all that jealousy, let me first tell you…I despise New Years Eve.

EVERY SINGLE YEAR it’s the huge conversation that starts shortly after Thanksgiving.  I had four completely different groups of people asking me “what are we doing this year”, “let’s actually plan ahead this time”, “I don’t care what we do as long as there are sparkles” blah blah blah.  It’s lame.  Let’s allllll buy new outfits and alllllll spend WAY more at restaurants that only jack the prices up because it’s December 31st and we’re all suckers.  The reality for a majority of people I know goes something like this:

It’s New Years Eve and they STILL cant decide what to do at which point they throw their hands up and get a LAST minute dinner reservation at the 34th restaurant they call.  They fight the crowds, eat an average and overpriced meal, and eventually end up at a club. This is fun for about 6 seconds because inevitably somebody pukes on their cute sparkly heels they bought at Target that morning in a half size too big because it’s all that was left.  Luckily said puker misses the sparkly dress they already have buyers remorse over and are hoping to return tomorrow.  Following this is epic/freezing cold battle for a cab to take home after the boy that was flirting with them all night disappears as did most of their friends.  They wake up to a pounding hangover, a painful realization of how much money they spent and call everyone they know for a ride downtown to get their car which is waiting with a bright yellow parking ticket under the windshield wiper.

Gross.

So my husband being the romantic genius that he is calls me at work 2 nights before New Years Eve after we’ve already committed ourselves to a party (sorry Elly) and says he’s booked a non-refundable hotel room for 2 nights in Santa Fe.  So me being the secretly thrilled but dutifully reprimanding wife tells him he’s nuts, scolds him for forcing us to to bail on my friends party that we had committed to and packs her bag in 2.5 seconds.

We had an amazingly relaxed and low key weekend in a bustling and artistic city.

Jon the steadfast Minnesota trained winter driving expert.

So you’ll notice in the above photo that there’s snow.  We have seen snow ONCE in 2011/2012 winter.  Understand we live in a MOUNTAIN city and although the snow melts immediately after it falls, we still usually get snow.  Well we’ve been so spoiled with weather lately that Jon and I blindly set out on our 6 hour road trip envisioning sunny skies, smooth roads, sweet tunes and snacks.  What we did NOT anticipate were wet slushy mountain backroads, zero visibility, and who could live without…IDIOT DRIVERS.

This photo is from my cozy  makeshift bed in the backseat of the Aviator of the absolute BS happening outside.  Luckily it only lasted the (tense) car ride to Sante Fe and the rest of the weekend was sunny and gorgeous. I have proof.

The thing about Santa Fe is that it’s dripping in colors, patterns and architecture which for a girl with a brand new camera is absolute heaven!  I had a great time breaking my camera in, and Jon didn’t seem too traumatized by traveling with the ultimate tourist all weekend.

We had one ‘not so great’ dinner (NYE…go figure) but other than that the food in Santa Fe is wonderful!  New Years Day we went to a very busy/popular local breakfast spot and brunched to our hearts content.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the entire city, went to the MUST SEE Georgia O’Keefe museum (my second time), got a couple of history lessons and of course watched some football over the most amazing margs and guac of all time.

Even the sugar's are more colorful in Santa Fe!

That evening we decided to give dining out another try.  We made reservations at the restaurant inside our hotel and it was DELICIOUS!

This beef was aged for some insane amount of time and Jon thought it was the best steak he'd ever had!

Our last day there we decided we needed to bring home a piece of art from the city of artists.  I chose this:

It was priced at a mere $28,000 so I decided to go with a lovely print from a lovely local artist instead.

All in all it truly was a perfect weekend getaway with some much needed quality time.

We started off 2012 with resolutions in hand and lots to look forward to – and lots for Jon to think about (see above).

And nobody got puke on their shoes.

Firsts.

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Being recently married I have found myself trying to document our many ‘firsts’ together as a wedded couple.  First morning as husband and wife turns into first coffee as husband and wife which spirals into first car ride, target trip, lunch, Tuesday, October, etc.  I’m not sentimental/crazy enough to photograph and mentally file away each and every one of these firsts, but it’s been fun to take a step back and notice the veil of newness that’s been cast over our lives.  Our daily life from the outside looking in probably doesn’t appear that different, and most days it doesn’t feel that different – but that ‘newness’ is there all the time.  It’s funny to every once and awhile look up at Jon over some mundane task and think ‘this will be the only ‘first time as husband and wife’ loading the dishwasher.  It takes me by surprise occasionally, and I even get a little bit sad when I acknowledge that these firsts only happen once and that tomorrow it’ll just be an ordinary task.

One of the biggest firsts to happen so far was a double whammy.  This Christmas was both our first as a married couple and first in Denver away from our families. It was surprisingly lovely.  Marlo thoroughly enjoyed the tree, specifically the cord for the lights.  In discovering her love for chewing cords she has successfully ruined 2 pairs of headphones, two of my laptop cords, and the entire top half of our once nicely lit Christmas tree.

To curb Marlo’s boredom and aid in our laziness I created an ingenious toy.

It’s curly ribbon hanging from a vent in our ceiling with some crumpled up tissue paper tied on the bottom that has another string of ribbon running to the couch where Jon can yank on it.  Genius.

Merry Christmas Marlo : )

Christmas Eve night we had dinner reservations at a local Italian restaurant and one of our favorite cozy spots, but before heading there we went downtown to get out of the house, look at some beautiful lights, and grab a cocktail.

There was a wonderful band playing that night and it wasn’t until they did an acoustic rendition of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ that I broke down in homesick tears at the bar.  Poor Jon you say?  Poor bartender.

My breakdown quickly dissipated and shortly thereafter we headed home to Skype with the Hendrickson family and open gifts. It was fun.  We were spoiled.  Which was also fun!  I got some Anthro dishes I’d been pining over, an adorable first married christmas ornament, and some bath necessities from Restoration Hardware – Jon got what is currently one of my favorite sweaters he owns from his favorite store in the world, Len Druskin.

Christmas morning Jon and I woke up early to give our gifts to the other and eventually got Skype up and running on my christmas gift from him – a new iMac!

It was fantastic to have the technology that allowed us to ‘be’ with our families from the comfort of our own home.  It truly made all the difference in the world.  That weekend was a really great way to cap off what had already been a spectacular year for us. Just Jon, myself and our cat/dog Marlo in what will go down as one of my favorite firsts.  Speaking of my favorite firsts – a parting gift for you.  A HILARIOUS video of a couple sharing one of the most important firsts in life on their wedding day.  Not that.  Get your head outta the gutter.