Holy crap.

Yeah, sorry about that hiatus, y'all. To be honest, I have a little bit of a problem trying to figure out why I even blog anymore. I mean, half of my life is on Facebook or Twitter, a quarter of it is spent at work and the other part is sleeping.

So, it begs to question: Why do you blog? You read mine, so why would you read it.

Full disclosure, if I don't get any comments, I'm going to probably shut it down. It'll be sad to look back on all the years of blog entries, but I think it might be the best idea if no one reads it anymore.

Like sands through the hourglass...

OK, guys. I get it. I suck at blogging. With the 90 million social media platforms, I've found there are few things to blog about. So, here's a nice summary:

* Christmas - David and I went to Austin to visit with his family. It was really lovely to see his family and visit some old friends.

* New Years - our friend Amanda from Albuquerque was nice enough to come up and visit us for New Years. I hadn't seen her in MONTHS, and it was wonderful to catch up. We went to see the Denver Zoo Lights, we ate great brunch (that's the only meal that Denver seems to do perfectly), saw a Nuggets game, and drank ourselves silly on New Year's Eve with my coworkers.

* This past weekend - David's best man Travis and his fiance Emily came in town to visit. We went to the Aquarium, went to brunch (sense a theme?), drank at breweries (well I didn't, because I had/have a MONSTER of a cold), and hung out singing on Rock Band.

I'm still sick now, which totally sucks. I don't think I've been this sick since college (if not before). Welcome to Denver, I guess. But, this weekend, we're planning on going skiing. So, I don't care if I'm still sick or not, I'm hitting the slopes to treat my cute husband how to ski. Wish us luck.

How were your lives going this holiday season?

Happy Christmas time

As any of you know, because I assume you are my good friends, I love Christmas. I'm a huge fan. I love the songs. I love the decorations. I love the season of giving. I love seeing people's eyes light up when they open gifts. I love the movies. I love the weather. All in all, I love Christmas.

Now, left to my own devices, I would go to Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn and buy out their Christmas decorations section. I would deck my halls in the classy way. Sadly, I don't have the money to do that. Also, David holds me back from the retail therapy.

So, we agreed a year ago that I would get a Christmas budget every year. This year I made some stellar purchases.

Since our main Christmas tree won't fit upstairs, David was quite disturbed that Santa wouldn't know where to go (our fireplace is upstairs). So, we bought some small, 4-foot Christmas trees that we could put upstairs straddling the television. I was able to decorate those with some leftover ornaments and make two big bows to use as toppers. They look pretty sweet.

I also made a killing at Hobby Lobby. They put all of their Christmas decor on 50%, which meant I could spend a lot less and get a lot more. I got this neat "Happy Holidays" sign that I put right in front of our television. I bought a couple packs of decorative ornaments that I put in various places around the upstairs. One of my favorite things I bought is a cookie jar that's a penguin with a scarf around it. It's so awesome.

Today, I went to Walmart and got a couple baskets (one that looks like the belly of a Santa and one that looks like the belly of a snowman), and I also bought a new spoon rest that has a holly design on it. I like it a lot.

So, those are my additions to the Christmas spirit around the home this year. Hopefully, people coming to our holiday party next Saturday will enjoy them.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Well, I guess I don't have to dream of a white Christmas. We're getting one - no matter what. Right now, it's pouring snow which is lovely. The way it's swirling around outside is great. So, as it's snowing outside, we put up our Christmas tree and caught up on our television shows that we had missed. So, as we were going through our new ornaments, it was fun to remember our trips of this year. Let's go through them...

When we first got to Colorado, we were excited for many reasons. One of the reasons we were pumped was the multiple places we could visit in the state. One of the places that we visited with our good friend Jason was the Coors Brewery. It's up in Golden (which is only a 45 minute drive away with traffic). It was a blast. We tried lots of beers and had so much fun at the brewery. We bought this ornament in the gift store and I was pumped to hang it on our tree this year.

When my parents came into town, we decided to go up to Vail to vacay for a short time. It was so lovely up there, but it was a more of a resort - where even sunscreen cost $10. So, we decided that buying an ornament at the resort was probably an ill-advised thought. So, we went into downtown Vail and the only ornament that had the word "Vail" on it was this one. So, tis the history of this ornament.

In October, David and I went to Memphis to visit my family. It was really awesome to see everyone. But I realized - having David there - I had never really done tourist-y stuff since I was a kid. One of those things I remember LOVING was the Memphis Zoo. They've done tons of renovations since I went there when I was in third grade, so now was the time. Besides the giraffes, our favorite pen was the pandas. So, when we went to the gift store, we found this lovely ornament of the pandas at the Memphis Zoo.

Every year, David's grandmother gives us the White House ornament. This year was really cute. It had Santa Claus on it and says something on it that I think is adorable.

It says "I hear there are some kids in the White House this year."

And for the first time, this year's ornament is also reversible. I forgot to snap a photo of the back, but it's a heart-warming photo of Theodore Roosevelt with all of his children around the Christmas tree opening presents.

On our Napa trip, we flew into Sacramento. We had a great deal of time to "waste" in Sacramento. Don't worry, I'm not complaining. But still, we decided to go to the California state capitol. I had never been to that capitol building before and thought the outside was really lovely. The inside left a bit to be desired, but the outside was gorgeous. So, we bought an ornament of the outside.

Also on that Napa trip, we obviously went to a billion wineries. Some of them we loved, some of them we liked and some were just plain fine. But overall, it was a great trip with even better friends. One of the best places we went was in Sonoma. The views were stunning and the wine was delicious. So, this ornament is a great memory of that trip and something I hope we can travel to again.

Also on our tour o'the South in October (when we went to the Memphis Zoo), we also traveled to see David's side of his family in Arkansas. One of the things that I really wanted to do was go see the new President Bill Clinton Presidential Library. I had heard great things about it and, honestly, remembering a simpler political time was heartwarming. We went and I loved the library. It originally was designed to be a bridge that spanned the Arkansas River. But, after 9/11. they decided to just have it slightly extend over the river (they were concerned with it being an easy terrorist target). Besides the "redesign" it was so beautiful and really educational. It was funny to look back and remember how many problems we still have that we had back then.

DISNEY WORLD! Ok, so maybe I was really pumped about this trip. I mean, I got to hang out with my brother, sister-in-law, my 7-year-old nephew, my parents and us. I got to see Disney World - which I hadn't seen since 1998. I got to see David visit Disney World for the first time since he was 1. It was lovely. And I knew I wanted an ornament to remember that trip. We found this ornament at one of the thousands of gift shops on the property. We liked it because it hooks onto a light on the tree.

I was really glad that we finally got to go visit our friend Patrick in Seattle this year. He's lived up there a while now, and every time we tried to visit, something would go wrong. But this year, we were FINALLY able to go. We had a blast. I had never been to Seattle and I just fell in love with that city. If the weather was better, I would totally live there. But, I'm too seasonally affected to live that north again. We ate delicious Cuban sandwiches, walked ALL OVER the city, saw a Mariners game and visited the famous, fish-throwing Public Market, which you see painted on this ornament.

And to end the theme of visiting awesome places in Colorado, here's our ornament from Pike's Peak. When David's parents came into town, they really wanted to go down to see Pike's Peak. You can actually take this neato cog-wheel train to the top of the peak - which made my life better because I didn't want to drive up it. As fun as switchback roads with no guardrails sounds... Anywho, we got to the top of the peak and had lovely views of the state that we are now in love with. We are so glad that we live here and can't wait to celebrate more holidays in this town.

Cutting sody-pop

There have been years past when I've decided to quit soda. I quit soda for my century ride. I quit soda for my wedding. I quit soda once just to see if I could.

I've been thinking about quitting it lately. Mostly, because I'm trying to lose weight before the holidays. Also because I like to prove that I can do it every so often. So, here it goes. I've had my last soda today. Here it goes. Let's see how long I last. My goal: New Year's Eve. Let's be honest, I'm not making it through that night without soda.

Making friends with the neighbors

So, when we lived in New Mexico, we didn't know any of our neighbors. We had plenty of neighbors. We lived in a nice, safe suburban-like neighborhood where tons of children would ride their bikes in the cul-de-sac, where lots of kids would ring our doorbell selling candy bars, popcorn and cookies. It was the cookie-cutter neighborhood of the Southwest.

I hated it.

Here's the thing. I'm 26 years old. We are a young couple. We like going out, partying, hanging out friends and being irresponsible. I am not yet to the point in my life where I am comfortable worrying about what my kids are wearing for Halloween. I am not the point in my life where my number one concern is where my kids are going to preschool.

Now, mind you, it's not that I dislike these people. I obviously don't. I have plenty of friends who ARE in that place in their life and I most certainly do not begrudge them for their life choices. However, just like I'm supposed to respect their life choices, they should, in turn, respect my life choices of still being a kid.

I say all of this because our neighbors now are much more my speed. Both husband and wives work. Both are kid-less. Both have been married after age 24. Both have college educations. We are really close to these neighbors and we're really enjoying having them to hang out with. I have come to realize that you make friends with people that are similar to you much easier than making friends with people who are in a different stage in their lives.

In other words, this neighborhood is much more our style than our NM one. Yesterday, we had an impromptu picnic after the Texas game in our backyard. We threw the football around in our front yard while we made sandwiches, ate chips and sipped on some delicious Colorado beer on our porch. At one point, we had four dogs playing in our backyard - having a blast. Then, after our lunch, we took it to the neighborhood streets where we played a pick-up game of football. After that, we went inside and played hours of Beatles Rock Band and regular Rock Band. Finally, everyone went to their separate corners/houses and enjoyed the fact that we have neighbors that we enjoy.

I like having friends around the corner. :D

Weight loss and famous family members

As I mentioned previously, David and I went to visit our extended families a couple weekends ago. Usually, I go to Memphis every Christmas because that's where my whole extended family lives. But, since we have to alternate holidays now that we're married, I can't do that anymore.

I wanted to give my cousin props. She's lost 78 pounds! I'm really proud of her and can't believe she's the same woman who was at our wedding only a year ago.

Besides seeing my side of the family, we also went to Little Rock to see David's side of the family.

David's grandmother was able to come up to Little Rock from her small town to visit us. We were really pumped to see her, as well as David's aunt, uncle and 3 cousins. They were all seemingly excited to see us too. But, since they are typical teenagers, they have 20 million activities going, so we had a little extra time on our hands.

Since we had extra time, David suggested that we go see the Clinton Presidential Library, which is right down the street from his relatives' house.

His grandmother is a really big Clinton supporter (since she was in the Arkansas Legislature when he was Governor) so, she got her name on the pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River. It was really neat to find her name on the bridge.

And, as if that wasn't funny enough, when we were trying to find his grandmother's name, we ran into a woman who knew his grandmother. At the Clinton Presidential Library. Small world was defined in a city that we don't even live in. Crazy.

Overall, besides our 7-hour delay coming home, the trip was quite lovely. I was really glad we could see everyone that we did. And get Memphis barbecue AND David's grandmother's cookies. That's a double win!

Feel-good feeling on an unexpected night

So, I love Halloween. Not as much as Christmas, but I do enjoy it. I like candy, dressing up, acting like someone else for a night and wearing hilarious makeup. Otherwise, Halloween is pretty sweet. Plus, journalists love esoteric, punny costumes. So, all in all, great things.

I bought 4 bags of candy for the neighborhood tonight. This is the first year that we've a) been home for Halloween and b) had time to hand out candy and c) lived in a neighborhood that seemed to have a lot of children. So, four bags seemed to be enough in my head.

So far, we're an hour into the candy hand out and it seems that I grossly underestimated how much candy I needed. I started out with the method of handing them the bowl and letting them take what candy they wanted. I always loved those houses when I was a kid, but I soon learned that those people were either a) rich b) ill-prepared for the size of my desire for candy or c) all of the above. Turns out this kid - who I'm pretty sure has a future in the NFL or NBA - had GIANT hands and snagged about 2 Whoppers, 1 Snickers, 2 Milky Ways AND 1 3 Musketeers. Wow. For a 12-year-old, he should start running more to get his Combine speed up.

Then, there was this weird encounter. We have had a few homeless people come to our door to ask for candy. I can't say no. I mean, if they truly are homeless and I am so blessed to have enough money to buy a bag of candy, how can I not hand it out to them. But, then there's this thought process of should I give them canned food instead of non-nourishing candy? I mean, it seems odd that I'm handing them chocolate bars in substitute for a meal.

So, all in all, it still felt good to help people. This is definitely the first time that I've had homeless people come to my door for Halloween, but I wasn't exactly mad. I was just shocked, then bemused, then excited I could help in some way. So on an usual

Side note: Favorite costume so far was a little 2-year-old dressed as a very made-at-home peacock. When I asked her what she was, she said, "Pee." Then, her mom said, "That's right, hunnie, peacock." Adorable.

Second side note: We also got a couple of those "I'm a teenager and too old to go trick-or-treating or even to dress up in costume, but here I am at your doorstep demanding candy" kids. I gave each of them ONE piece of candy and asked one dude what he was supposed to be. He turns out, showing me a backpack on his back and says, "A college student." I respond, "Good aspirations, kid."

Being healthy means I neglect blogging

I finally figured it out. I don't blog when I work out.

So, I've been trying really hard to work out after work. My station has a realy nice gym downstairs in the underground garage, so I've taken to working out after work. However, that was my prime blogging time. Before, when I was content being a big, fat pig, it was much easier to blog. I used to just sit in front of the TV, watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report from the night before and blog. Blog and blog and blog.

Obviously, that has not been happening. I've been weighing the thought that I would just stop blogging all together. However, I have had a few individuals claim they enjoy reading my blog. God only knows why. So, here's my new years resolution a couple months early.

I'm setting an alarm on my Google calendar that once a week, I will try my best to blog. Also, some people are saying they miss my cooking entries. I'll try to do one of those every so often too.

So, just figured if I post it, it'll be true.

Now for life:
* The Rangers lost. I was sad.
* We finally got our insurance check for the stuff that was stolen from us. That was beneficial
* My best-est guy friend outside of my hubby - Nathan - got engaged. I'm really happy for him.
* David and I started planning our trips for 2012. Good God we have a lot to go to next year. So, piece of advise for everyone reading: If you're going to get engaged, please give me a 14-month engagement period.
* I started figuring out what to get people for XMAS. Everyone knows how much I love Christmas.
* We visited our family in Little Rock and Memphis. We had a blast seeing everyone and even got to go see the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. BEAUTIFUL library.

That's a pretty good summary of life. I'll try to get some photos posted of that trip to Little Rock/Memphis.

9 girls, 3 guys and a roller rink

Well, I'm making friends in Denver, which is nice. Not that I'm an extremely shy person, but meeting new people can be difficult. So, I've been trying to be pretty friendly. Took some effort for me.

Anyway, Saturday night I got invited to a girl's night with a few work friends. Turns out my co-worker's in-law's have suite tickets to the 1STBANK Center in Denver. Her in-laws weren't using them. So, we got a limo and took the limo to the 1STBANK Center. I know what you are thinking. "Blair, what was going on at the 1STBANK Center that night that made the in-laws not want those tickets?"

Two words: Roller Girls. That's right. We took a limo to the Roller Derby. What? Sometimes, you have to bring a bottle of Patron in a limo to truly enjoy some pure violent roller skating. And, thus, we did that.

So, about 12 of us (9 girls and 3 cute gay men) embarked on our "girl's" night out. We had a blast! Our limo driver was named Jim. He was a short, fat New Yorker with a HUGE accent. It was great. When we got out of the limo, he turned to the security guard and asked "Get many limos for the roller girls?" Guess the answer was no. Who would have thought.

We went upstairs to the suite, and I think I watched about one minute of the actual Roller Derby. I only watched that one minute because I was trying to explain to someone how a roller derby team scores. After scarfing down lots of beer, snacks, pretzels, and chips, we decided it was time to dodge to a club and get our dance on. We had Jim pick us up at the game (I mean, I'm pretty sure the game was over, but I wouldn't place money on that.)

Jim drove us to the club and that, unfortunately, ended our trip in the limo. But, we did have fun at the club afterwards. Those photos, will obviously not make it on the blog.