Well. May, June, July you sly little bastards. You sure snuck in and out without so much as a hello or goodbye! It's been a while, ol' blog. Here's a quick { yeah, right. lengthy } recap of what's been going on in my little neck of the woods!
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I've been baking. A lot. This is new territory for me. I can throw together a Thanksgiving dinner for 13 and barely break a sweat, but ask me to bake muffins / a cake / cupcakes and I tend to spiral out of control. The thing about running a bed and breakfast is...people expect { rightfully so! } freshly baked goods. I'm too frugal to go out and buy pre-made muffins / scones / sweet bread every week, so it leaves me with one option, and one option only. Baking these baked goods myself. Thankfully I was at my parents house a few weeks back and I was able to get several recipes that my mom made all throughout our childhood. This has helped me get over my fear of baking because I know what they are supposed to taste / look like so I have a pretty good idea if I'm navigating through the recipe okay. Scones though? Uncharted territory for me. But I loved making them! I am working on perfecting my bagel forming technique, which you won't find us Madfields upset about. I've made 3 batches of bagels in 7 days { enter oinking noises here }, though many of those bagels were used for breakfast sandwiches and served to our guests so technically we haven't ate three batches of bagels. Technically.
I've been going to LiftUp. A lot. LiftUp is our main thrift store in Steamboat and I was afraid of it for the first 12 months I lived here. Why was I afraid of it? I'll be frank. It's a smaller building with tight congested corners and to be honest, more often than not smelled like a giant fart. However - a few months back I needed to find a few little things for the b&b and refused to pay inflated Steamboat prices in buying these items new, so I took a stroll through LiftUp and hit the jackpot! I've continued hitting the jackpot week after week since then. The way I justify this { mostly } weekly visit is that seeing how we've just moved, I will find one or two things I want to get out of the house and donate and oh ok while I'm here dropping these things off I suppose I'll take a stroll through the retail side. It's ridiculous justifying spending $25 on several boxes of items { they often have 50% off all item specials } because it's been a really fantastic way of filling up our new unfurnished home, which is more than double the size of our last furnished home btw, on a budget. The second to last time I went, the cashier said "Oh my. Well don't you have quite an eclectic group of items?" I wasn't too sure how to respond to that comment, so I just didn't say anything at all. For being a small establishment, I really have been finding some fantastic finds that add the perfect touch of decor to our home.
I've been drinking iced coffee. A lot. What is my method for brewing iced coffee you ask? It's quite scientific, actually. I simply bring home the leftover pot of coffee from the bed and breakfast most mornings and pour what is left in the glass pitcher in our fridge that has been designated our iced coffee pitcher. Sometimes it's with a little cream and sugar. Sometimes with some Kahlua but mostly just straight coffee and ice. I chuckle now at Beth 8 months ago who would toy with the idea of giving up coffee and/or having just one cup of coffee each day because Beth now essentially drinks bottomless coffee on the mornings that she works the breakfast shift. Cooking breakfast for groups morning after morning, I knew it would be easy getting into the routine of making just a little extra frittata or baked french toast to reserve for myself...but I also knew it would add { haha - when I first typed that I accidentally typed ass. Quite fitting. } up quickly and I would have to kiss my jean size goodbye. I've gotten into the good habit of just snacking on the fruit if I'm hungry in the AM's, then eating a more balanced and healthy breakfast once I get home. But coffee? All bets are off. There are some mornings where I'll admit to drinking half a pot of coffee before the guests even get out of bed. Soon I will work to correct that habit, but it's really the furthest thing from my mind right meow.
I've been eating watermelon! A loooooot! As in averaging buying one watermelon a week....and Hunter doesn't snack on it nearly as much as I do. I can't even help it though - I feel like City Market's watermelon's are especially good and juicy + sweet this year and I won't even apologize for it. When we lived in Washington, fresh watermelon juice with lime was my go-to afternoon drink. I continue buying watermelon and limes with the intention of making that juice again but sadly both ingredients don't last in our house long enough to hit the juicer.
Mixing our own night caps. A lot! { hence the limes disappearing before it's time to make juice }....well not a lot because it is quite rare that there are a lot of evenings where Hunter isn't on call or I don't have to wake up at 6am the following morning. But I declared the summer of 2015 as the Summer of the Night Cap. We are such beer + wine drinkers that it's really all we've ever kept in our house. When we moved into our new place we had the perfect spot for a little bar, except the only liquor we had to put on the bar was a nearly empty small bottle of Absolute Vodka and Sailor Jerry's from when I made homemade spiked apple cider last winter. To remedy this "problem", we made a few trips to the liquor store to stock up on various liquors and have been having fun coming up with different night cap drink recipes. We typically bring the dranks upstairs to the bedroom and just sit with the windows open and fan on high chatting about our days and the week ahead. It's a new routine for us and I'm totally loving it. We've been making Manhattans { and have seriously stepped up our game per Hunter's suggestion on what we use for Manhattans. I'd been doing it the poor girl way of using Bullet Bourbon with a little maraschino cherry juice, but now we have bitters and vermouth and I will admit they taste far more authentic. }, White Russians, G+T's, mojitos { with the massive amount of fresh mint we grow at the b&b }, vodka sodas - the list goes on!
I've been making lists! A lot. Holy heavens, so many lists. It feels like there are endless things to keep tabs on lately, all b&b related, between schedules, both cleaning and breakfast, menu planning, grocery lists, to do lists, guest check ins/outs, social media lists etc. My life is one big piece of paper right now and secretly? I love it. I've always loved running errands and grocery shopping, which sounds strange when I type it out, but I really do. I tried a system of list making on my phone to save paper, but I couldn't keep everything straight so I'm finally using up some notebooks I've had for a few years. I feel like I have a good system down, so we'll see how long that lasts. ;) A lot of my lists look the same seeing how I do a lot of the same things every day - but if it isn't on that to-do list, it won't get done. Ha!
Watering our gardennnn! A lot! But maybe not as often as I should. Our landlord's son built us a garden and we've had so very much with planting and watching our little babies grow. I've come to terms with the fact that I am that person who sits outside with her cup of coffee talking to her plants. It is so fulfilling watching those little seeds sprout and form plants! I remember being thrilled beyond belief when not only did our greens come up, bit I could see the shape of kale leaves take place. Gah. Proud parents right here!
We've been la-a-a-oving our new house! We had our eye on renting this house for a few months before we knew it would be available { our good friends live right across the street and gave us the tip to stalk the landlord to keep tabs on when his renter was moving out. } { Ok, they didn't tell us/me to stalk the landlord necessarily - that was something I decided on all on my own. But we are here! Moved in! Loving life! So it all worked out. heeheehee. #stalkerrenter } and the timeline of moving out of our last place and moving into this place worked out pretty perfectly. It's a really lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in old town Steamboat with a great yard, right across the street from a park with access to mountain bike trails which anyone who knows Hunter knows he HATES the quick access to mtn biking { wink }. It's only about 5 blocks from the b&b so the mornings when I don't have a strata/waffle mix etc to bring to work with me, I'm able to bike to work! The size of our house is perfect for what we need - spacious with room for guests (YAY!) with the added bonus of actual privacy when there are more people than just Hunter and I in the house. In our last house, there was just a sheer curtain separating our room from the kitchen/living room. Which was charming, for sure - but got a little old. In this house we have room to spread out if, let's say, one of us wants to take a nap, and the other one wants to catch up on watching Teen Mom 2 online while indulging in the last bit of last night's ice cream. I MEAN THAT IS JUST AN EXAMPLE. Yeah, an "example". ;)
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I feel like I could go on and on { shocking }, but the moral of the story is that life is good right now. Really good. I have an amazing circle of friends, both in Steamboat and my long-distance besties. I have my mom, dad and sister only a 3 hour drive away now that they moved to Denver about 2 months ago. I have a loving, handsome, driven and supportive boyfriend. I have a job that challenges me and allows me so very much creative freedom.
Showing posts with label Frans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frans. Show all posts
Friday, July 17, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
Rollin' with my homies // pt. 2
I was a little bummed to spend Easter alone this year as it has always been my most favorite holiday. Hunter was on a 2 week work trip to Arizona and most of the people I know in Steamboat were out of town! After morning mass, I putzed around the house and ultimately ended up organizing my craft supplies. This might not sound especially fun to most but my craft supplies had been in dire need or organizing ever since I moved out of my Cap Hill apartment almost 3 years ago! I'd been itchy to sort through it all and was pleasantly surprised at how many supplies I had that I'd completely forgotten about! I also had so much fun putting together Easter baskets earlier in the week for our niece and nephew and included some homemade bunny puppets!
We thoroughly enjoyed our day Grand Junction trip that I talked about a little here so I won't bore you with it again.
One Saturday morning a few weeks ago, my girlfriend Audrey and I went to Beer and Yoga at Storm Peak Brewery! They have been hosting this event for several months now but I was always working on the weekends and could never make it. They move around some tables and barstools inside the brewery to fit everyone + our yoga mats. A local instructor taught the class and it was so enjoyable not to mention a unique venue for a yoga class! Afterwards, you get a beer to enjoy with your fellow yogis. That evening, we celebrated our beautiful friend Krisin's birthday! These two women are incredibly dear friends of mine here in the Boat. When we get together, there is always a bottle of champagne popped, a crazy amount of laughs and a decent amount of emotional tears. We can and have talked for hours on end about struggles, celebrations and fears. These two are so valuable to me! That evening, we went to Splatz, which is a local wine + painting class. I have been to too many enjoyable { and drunk heehee! } classes at Canvas and Cocktails in Denver and my expectations were set quite high. The company was perfection while the scene left a little to be desired. Lets leave it at that. ; >
Our nephew Charlie turned 5 the end of April! Hunter was out of town for work but I went up to Wyoming with Hunter's dad for the celebrations. I remember when we were living in Washington and feeling so broken and sad that we were missing out of the kiddos birthdays, so it meant so much to me to get to do a day trip up to Wyoming and hang out with the family. The kiddos kisses and hugs are more valuable than therapy for me! It was a great weekend. We quickly stopped off at a new { to me! } brewery, Coal Creek Tap, before the party { yes, before. Did I mention there were 14 five year olds at the party?! We needed to prepare. } and I was beyond impressed with the decor, selection of brews and the beer itself! I am really paranoid about putting photos of other people's children on my blog and on the internet, but trust me when I say these two wiggle worms are as cute as they get!
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.
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.
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