Treasure Hunt!

Aaron and I headed up to the mountains this past weekend. We really wanted to get in a few more runs on the ski slope before the season is over. Well seeing how no one could remember the last time it had actually snowed up at Keystone, you can only imagine how exciting the skiing was.

We looked around the resort for some other form of entertainment. Tubing crossed our mind, maybe ice skating we thought, but something else entirely caught our attention! The Keystone GEO Cache experience. (Mostly this caught our eye because it was the only free activity.)

We borrowed a GPS unit, typed in a pre-determined GPS coordinate, and we were on our way!

It was a couple miles of walking along snow covered hiking and biking trails.

We ended up tracking two destination points.

Point #1

Point #2

Apparently the whole GEO Cahce thing is pretty popular around the world. Although it was neat to try, I am not sure that we will try our hand at this again anytime soon. We mostly just enjoyed walking together on a beautiful mountain day.

25!

This past Wednesday, I turned a quarter of a century! 25 years old! And I was spoiled all day long!

First by my family...

My mother made me a scrapbook of all of my years at home. It documents my life from the time of my birth until I graduated from High School. It is amazing! I have spent hours looking at it. (Picture to come soon!)

Second by my students...

My students decorated my classroom with streamers and Happy Birthday signs. When I walked into class they all jumped out and yelled SURPRISE! I was almost in tears that they would remember and take the time to decorate and surprise me. Then to top it off they made me a cake and a giant birthday card!



Finally by my husband...

First I had to go on a scavenger hunt around the house to find my present.

Clue #1

Clue #2

All clues were leading me to this website...

Clue #3

www.tinyurl.com/aepbhl



He got me the black North Face fleece that I have been wanting for years!

Then he decorated the house. He got lucky that it happened to be my parents' 25th anniversary not too long ago and we had a few decorations left over from their party that fit this day very well!

Then he did the rope! This is a tradition from my family. Every birthday you wake up to a rope that leads you all over the house! It has little treats hanging on it. He made sure to fill the rope with my favorite Easter candy! Side note- Easter candy is the best kind of candy!

He got so creative this year. I happened to take our rope to school for a lesson one day and have yet to bring it home. To improvise he used the cord from our vacuum. (By the time I had taken these pictures I had taken off most of the treats. I promise the rope is cooler than it appears.)

Here is what I found at the end of the rope...



Upon opening up the movie case, I found two tickets to Phantom of the Opera!



So we headed out for a sushi dinner and a night at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts! So fun! John Cudia played the Phantom. He is the only man to have ever played both the Phantom and Jean Valjean from Les Miserables on Broadway. The show was amazing!



It was a great birthday! I felt so loved all day! Thanks for all of the cards, emails, phone calls, and even the personalized poem! They all meant so much! Thank you! Thank you! 25 is going to be a good year!

We Moved!

We had been keeping our eyes open for a new place for a while. We figured it wouldn't hurt to save some money this year. We hadn't found anything worth moving for until last month. At the end of February, we found a great deal on a pretty great apartment. We were so excited! We called our landlord to let him know we were moving at the end of the month. We started packing and slowly moving into our new apartment a few boxes at a time. About two weeks after we had contacted our landlord, the day after we had signed the lease AND paid the deposit at our new place, he informs us that he would like us to stay so he would be willing to reduce our rent by $200 a month. Needless to say our excitement definitely dwindled. Even though we would still be saving more at our new place, it was a bummer to realize that the savings really wouldn't be much, taking into consideration the costs of moving and furnishing our new place. Then came the real kicker, in a conversation we had with our old landloard after the move, he admitted that he should have just absorbed the deposit at the new place since he would be losing a month without a renter anyway. All in all, we wouldn't have had to move, lose any money, and we would have saved money!


Well after all of the drama, here we are a few weeks after our move and we are loving it. There are a few things that I still miss about our old place like...

My old kitchen! It was beautiful and perfect!



Here is my new kitchen. Aaron and I can barely fit in it at the same time!



But the new place has its perks. Check out my closets! Yes, CLOSETS! I have 5 huge, beautiful closets.



Check out my old closet... or should I say lack of closet! Yea, I am not sad about leaving that behind!



All in all it has been a good change. If things go as planned you may be hearing about another move soon. Hopefully we will be getting a HOME of our very own sometime in the near future!

5280

We love Denver! One of the perks of living in Denver is 5280 week. We get to eat at sweet, normally ludicrously priced restaurants for $52.80 per couple! This year we both decided to pick a restaurant to eat at.


Aaron's Pick:



ZENGO! Your modern Mexican restaurant. Basically it's Latin-Asian fusion. The food was good and the flavors were interesting. Towards the end of the evening we saw an entertaining appetizer that we are dying to go back and try. It was raw kobe beef served with a fire heated rock for table side cooking. It looked so cool! Here is what we had to eat:

She had-

angry zengo roll- spicy yellowfin tuna / cucumber / wasabi tobiko / sesame chipotle rouille

chicken tandoori- masala-achiote grilled chicken breast / naan / black bean dal / cilantro & mango salsas

churros- trio of dipping sauces - chai custard / spicy chocolate / berry

He had-

angry zengo roll- spicy yellowfin tuna / cucumber / wasabi tobiko / sesame chipotle rouille

tamarind bbq flat iron steak- grilled asparagus / curry-olive oil hollandaise

cajeta flan- ginger-prickly pear sauce / fresh berries

Angela's Pick:



THE MELTING POT! The most fabulous fondue restaurant. This was AMAZING!!! It was the funnest restaurant I have been to in a long time! It might possibly be my new favorite restaurant! Here is what we ate during our two hour feast:

We had-

Boston Lager Cheddar Cheese Fondue- Aged cheddar cheeses blended with Tabasco,® Worcestershire sauce and chopped chives.

California Salad- Mixed baby salad greens, Roma tomatoes, walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese, with Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing.

Fondue Feast- Filet Mignon, Cedar Plank Salmon, Memphis BBQ Pork Tenderloin, Key West Shrimp, Honey Dijon Chicken, Spinach Artichoke Ravioli, Fresh Vegetables.

Flaming Turtle- Milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambéed tableside. Dippers... Fresh strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, tasty marshmallows, pound cake and brownies.

I wish Denver restaurants would always offer this deal!

Today I am grateful...

I am grateful for eternal love!

I am grateful for silly love!

I am grateful for dragon love!

I am grateful for reminders of love!




I am grateful for our love!

Happy Anniversary Husband! 1 year down... eternity to go! YES!

How did we celebrate this wonderful occasion?

Fun love decor around the house!

Flowers!

Dinner at Morton's Steakhouse!

Blog book to remember all the wonderful adventures of the year!

A night at the Hyatt in downtown Denver!

Juror #5

So roll the clock back about a month ago... I receive a notice in the mail letting me know that I have been officially summoned. Yes I received my call to duty... jury duty! I laugh when I receive the letter, "I wont have to go," I say. I stick the note on the fridge and go on with my everyday life. Well the evening of February 3 rolls around and I remember that I must call in to see if my number has been chosen for duty the following day. I think, "There is no way I will have to go in." I am even praying that is the case because I have made no preparations for taking off a day of work. For a teacher to take off work isn't exactly easy. I have to find a sub and then I have to make sub plans! Sub plans are my least favorite thing about teaching. I think that is what keeps me from ever taking off a day of work.

I am juror number 3415 so I call into the automated system to see what numbers need to report. I hear the following, "On Wednesday, February 4 at 8:30 at 1437 Bannock St. the following jurors need to report: 1000 - 3614!" What?! I panic! I hang up and dial again. Yep, the same message plays again. I pull out my sub list and start dialing. I guess it is true that the third time is a charm. The third sub I call is available. I then head back to school at 8:00 p.m. to get everything ready for the sub. 2 hours after I arrive at school I am good to go.

I wake up Thursday morning excited that I might have the afternoon off to get some things done. I am still in denial that I may be selected as a juror. I am sure I would't be put on a case. I figure I will wait around for a few hours, my name won't be called, and I will head out to do some seriously needed grocery shopping.

Here is what my day actually looked like:

8:15- Leave house- Hey at least I got to sleep in a little!

8:30- I have parked and checked in. Luckily I live down the street from the court house.

8:32- I start grading papers, in a room with 300 people, while we all wait and wait!

9:00- We watch a cheesy video on how great is is to serve on a jury.

10:30- I make it through the first round of numbers without mine being called... yes!

10:40- I hear "3415". Dang it! I shout "Here!" I pack up my bag and head into the hall with the other 21 people that were called to the same case. But I still have hope that I won't be out on a case.

11:00- Head into court room where jury selection begins.

11:15- 4 jurors are sent home. I am not one of them!

11:45- 3 more jurors are sent home. I am still not one of them. Now it is time to get personal. Yes I am asked everything from my mom's occupation to what type of music I listen to. Basically, if you have ever seen "Runaway Jury" with John Cusack, you know how this works.

12:15- Everyone is sent home except the final 6 jurors. I am a chosen one! I went from being Juror #3415 to Juror #5.

12:30- Recess

1:30- It begins- opening statements and the DA brings in his 3 witnesses. I try to keep an open mind. We are told that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. I try to keep that in mind for as long as possible. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for my outlook to change. Too soon is he proven guilty and I find myself fighting to look for something that might prove him innocent.

3:30- Recess

4:00- It begins again- The defense brings in their witnesses- all friends of the man being charged, one was even a felon. You can imagine how reliable we think these testimonies are. Also, the defense attorney is annoying! He keeps talking and talking. Later I find out this is a tactic to confuse the jury so hopefully the jury will mistake that confusion for reasonable doubt. Too bad for him it really just hurts his cause. None of us are buying what he has to say.

5:30- Recess

6:00- Closing statements

6:30- It's our time to decide! We head to the jury room to deliberate. My fellow jury members are pretty cool. We get right to business. We pick a jury foreperson. We look at the issues and the evidence. We all feel the same way. There really isn't any arguing.

7:30- Back in court room. The judge reads the verdict. The man on trial is found guilty on three accounts. 1. He is found guilty of an illegal lane change. 2. He is found guilty of driving while having a blood alcohol level of .137 3. He is found guilty of driving while ability impaired(DWAI). Unfortunately, we couldn't find him guilty of a DUI because he was a pretty good drunk driver.

I don't know what will happen to this man that we convicted, but I am sure by the look on the lawyers face when we read the verdict that it will not be good. It is scary to think that I had such an impact on a person's liberty.

All in all it was a good day- although not the day that I had expected. I am glad that I had this experience. It was interesting to be a part of the judicial process.

POWDER!

Until last weekend ski season 2009 had been pretty tame. The snow had been pretty choppy and icy. There definitely had not been any blog worthy days. So when we heard last Friday night that I-70 was closed due to an insane amount of snow fall, we knew we had to find a way up the mountain because we might actually get in a decent day of skiing!

At 10 pm Friday night, after they finally re-opened the roads, we made our way up to Keystone as fast as we could. Oh WOW, did we make the right choice! Saturday turned out to be the best ski day this season, by far! Only one word can explain how wonderful it was... POWDER! Those of you that have been skiing with me know that I am all about the speed, but not on powder days. These days I take my time and soak in every second!

Check out our pictures. They explain it all! Look at the snow covered trees and how you can't even see the sky due to the beautiful clouds dumping their glorious snow!

I LOVE POWDER DAYS!!!

Nuggets Week!

Besides tennis, basketball is my favorite sport to watch! I try watching football but I struggle and I usually nap while Aaron watches a game. But not basketball... I love it! I don't know where this love of watching basketball came from. The only thing that I can come up with is that it may have originated from my early cheerleading days.

Now I don't want you to confuse my love of watching for a love of playing. When I think back to my P.E. days I cannot ever recollect playing. I remember volleyball, flag football, soccer, swimming, floor hockey, rock climbing, gymnastics even kayaking and rollerblading but never basketball. I think there was a game of HORSE played once during 3rd grade, but I could have made that memory up. I did give the game a try in college when I joined an intramural basketball team. I loved running up and down the court but literally that is all I did, run up and down the court. If the ball ever touched my hands I went into panic mode. I remember one time just throwing the ball randomly to prevent hyperventilating and I hit my roommates fiance in the face which thus ended my basketball playing days. I still haven't given up watching though.



Luckily last week I was able to put my basketball watching passion back in action! Twice we were able to go and see our boys in their baby blue and white, crush their opponents on the court! Chauncey Billups, Chris (birdman) Anderson, and Nene rocked the house and we were lucky enough to see it live!

Game #1

I'll keep my comments short about this game because I have plenty to say about the next. Tuesday was the Nuggets vs. the Mavericks! Chris Anderson hit some sweet shots including a half court shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock right before half time! Amazing! We didn't catch it on film but check it out on this youtube clip!



Aaron and I were able to attend the game with my mother and and brother! We had a blast. The nuggets won 99-97. They gave up their lead in the third and made us sweat it out till the end. But they prevailed and we went home satisfied.

Game #2

This was THE GAME! I really enjoy watching the Nuggets even if they don't win I still enjoy watching the team... that is until the SUNS come to town. Now I'll admit if I were to move back to Chicago I am sure I would enjoy the Bulls too. I am not partial to the Nuggets. But there is one team that I LOVE no matter where I am. That team is the Phoenix Suns. I am forever a fan. (I guess I shouldn't go that far because I am afraid that my love may be tested once Steve Nash is gone, but let's pray that never happens.)

So on Christmas morning when I opened a gift from Aaron of two tickets to the Suns vs. Nuggets game, which was cleverly disguised in a DVD case, I was brought to tears. Tears of joy! (Don't worry my family thought I was ridiculous, just like you are probably thinking right now.)

Now Aaron doesn't share this love of the Suns so we are always on opposite sides during these games. So it was ironic when we got to the game to see this couple sitting in front of us.




This little darling also happened to be sitting right in front of us!



Seriously who brings a newborn child to a professional basketball game! Now I have to point out three things about this picture. 1. The most obvious... he is crazy eyed. Probably a side effect of all the insanely loud screaming and whistling going on. 2. He is ever so slyly flipping us of with his little baby finger. 3. The seemingly emotionless newborn somehow managed to bust out a smirk at the exact millisecond that we took this picture. Wow what a talented child!

Now about the game, when I think back I can really only remember one thing... Steve Nash and his beautiful free throws. By the end of this game Nash had brought his recent free-throw total up to 48 straight free-throws. One word... WOW! Don't worry I'll stop my oohing and awwing there before I prevent you from ever coming back to read our blog. I guess there were some other cool things that happened too. Like a questionable foul to Chauncey Billups that sent the game into over-time. Which ended in a win for the Nuggets 119-113. Even though the Suns didn't win I still had a great time! And of course I have to give a shot out to Rocky for keeping the crowd pumped! Gotta love that mountain lion!




So to sum up, Nuggets week was a success! Husband, thanks for the awesome Christmas present! You sure know how to win over this girls heart!