Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Rollin' with my homies.

I found myself scrolling through my phone photos recently and I realized how much I've been up to lately and how little of that has made it to my blog!  It's been over a month since I left my job at the newspaper.  For some hilarious reason I thought once I was done with my desk job that I would have sooo much time on my hands.  Ha!  Life hasn't slowed down one bit - in fact I feel like it's gotten a little more hectic.  We are still in our very slow season at the b&b, but I've been keeping myself busy with small improvements around the lodge and working with my very patient and knowledgeable boyfriend on some small advertising we can do together.  But!  Here are a few things that have been keeping me busy during the past month+.

My sweetest, most hilarious and insulting { in the best way! } friends Steven and Todd came up to Steamboat on the Friday that was my last day of the newspaper.  They were the ideal distraction that I needed that weekend.  Hunter was out of town for work and their nonsense kept my mind occupied from any OMGwhatdidIjustdo thoughts that could have snuck into my mind.  We spent some time dining out, some time dranking with my SBS friends, some hiking but most of our time was spent with some serious rest and relaxation at home.  We laughed that when their friends would ask what they did in Steamboat, they would respond "We watched Mean Girls, sat in the sun and took lots of naps."  The boys assured me that they wouldn't have had it any other way.  These two are such dear and unexpected friends of mine...just go ahead and ask Steven how we met, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I'm so grateful for their friendship and them taking the time to visit me in Steamboat!


Steven and Todd left on a Sunday, I hosted a little girls night on that Monday, then Tuesday morning { after locking myself out of our house }, I took off for a solo night in Winter Park.  The weeks leading up to my leaving the newspaper, I had worked 19 days in a row.  Nineteen.  Looking back on it now, I'm not too sure how I had kept my sanity.  Keep in mind that many of those days I was working 2 jobs per day.  Somewhere in the middle of those 19 days I had had a minor freakout moment and went online and Hotwired myself a hotel room in Winter Park.  Just the thought of that hotel bed, with nothing to do and nowhere to be kept my sanity and motivation for the following weeks.  I took off to WP mid afternoon on Tuesday with a brand new audio book and a smile on my face.  After checking in to my hotel, I hit up 2 breweries and got some take out food that I brought back to the hotel and ate in bed while watching crap tv.  Indulgence at it's finest!  The next morning, I woke up on the early side and skied for a few hours hours.  I had only skied Winter Park once about 6 years prior, so it was fun to get reacquainted with the mountain again.


After leaving Winter Park, I headed to Denver!  My mom was flying in that Friday but I planned to get to Denver on Wednesday to spend some time with my nearest and dearest.  Though this trip happened over a month ago, I still get emotional thinking of how great a time I had that Wed + Thursday with some of my very best friends.  Jaime and Ryan so graciously let me stay at their beautiful home and made me feel more than welcome.  We had early morning coffee dates and late night gossip hours.  While they were at work, Jaime let me dive in to her nail polish collection, tea supply and fresh box of Door to Door Organics.  Our sweetest friend Lindy lives just 6 doors away from Jaime and Ryan, so I walked over one afternoon for coffee to catch up with Lindy.  I also got to smooch on her delicious youngest son Wade!  Thursday afternoon I made time for a run through Wash Park.  I love so many things about Steamboat but man alive, do I miss the parks in Denver.  I have memory after memory at Wash Park, Cheeseman Park, City Park, Confluence Park etc.  I didn't even need music to keep me occupied during my run because for 30 minutes I did nothing but reminisce about my time spent at that park.  Picnics with friends, runs with friends, runs with exs,  long Wash Park runs to get over breakups with exs, tennis dates with Mary the first month we both lived in Denver, Hunter taking me to WP to get acquainted with a mountain bike for the very first time, attending a funeral at the park, breaking up with a boyfriend at the park, afternoons spent solo reading under my favorite tree at the park...the memories were flowing for sure.  It was an incredibly nourishing afternoon.  After my run I treated myself to lunch at Native Foods.  Yeah, you don't have to ask this part-time vegan twice what her new favorite vegan restaurant in Denver is!  Thursday evening, Jaime and Ryan were kind enough to host a dinner with Lindy and her husband and our sweet friend Ashley and her boyfriend.  We had such a great time!  We FaceTimed with Mary to make sure she knew how much she was missed across the miles.  I know it must be obnoxious to have me post again and again how much I love these women, but our friendship, our bond and our time spent together is utterly priceless to me.  I feel blessed beyond words to have their influences in my life.



Friday my mom flew into town!  We rented a hotel in Westmister and had a hefty list of chores to accomplish with her time spent in Denver.  Mom flew in early Friday morning and per tradition our first stop after picking her up from the airport was at Ink! for coffee and bagels.  We accomplished equal parts play and work throughout the weekend with enough downtime in between.  One of our favorite parts was stumbling into School House Kitchen and Libations in Arvada.  Mom and I both let our hunger { and thirst :}  get the best of us and once made our way to bar we took a moment to feast our eye on what we had stumbled upon.  From what I can gather, it is an old school turned bar/restaurant.  The bar portion is in the old gymnasium and they did such a great job with converting the space but keeping the integrity of what it once was.  After our time spent there, we had a few more errands to run before calling it a day and picking up wine + cheese + crackers + veggies and collapsing into bed with our favorite Friday night TLC shows.  Saturday we had errand upon errand upon errand to run but managed to sneak in some time with my aunt + uncle, my mom's sister + brother for lunch, a little afternoon shopping and an evening spent at Phil and Sara's house sharing some wine and getting to know their neck of the woods.  Phil and Sara were so sweet to have my mom and I over { we thanked them with a bottle of wine! } to pick their brains about a few different things.  It was either the exhaustion that had set in, or Phil and Sara are really that sweet and fun to hang out with, but I feel like mom and I could have spent all evening at their house chatting over wine.  Phil is originally from CA, so it was fun listening to him and my mom talk their CA slang.  Plus, I loved getting an insider peek at a few details for their upcoming wedding.  Eeekk!  Sunday, Mom and I went to morning mass, grabbed a bite to eat, ran more errands and ended the night...you guessed it - in bed with cards + TLC + Food Network.  She { sadly!! } flew out on Monday morning but I felt too full of memories and love from the weekend to feel too bummed about her leaving.



I've had a few more adventures since leaving the newspaper - but I think I'll end this blog post with the stories above.  It's so exciting, a little nerve wracking but mostly exhilarating to think of what sort of things will fill my days and weeks now that I'm not tied to a Monday-Friday, 8a-5p desk job.   

2 comments:

  1. COME VISIT US IN ARVADA MORE OFTEN!!!

    And no mention of how I randomly saw your mom at the airport?? ;)

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    Replies
    1. Be careful what you wish for! You two made a new best Arvada friend. They will love knowing people in the neighborhood once they move. And OMGOSH how did I forget that twist of BFF fate?!

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