This weekend was nice- it was good to finally get to see the guys! They even both got back early/ at a reasonable time on Friday! Our original plan for Saturday was to go downtown (and see it in daylight for once) to go shopping and see the holiday lights parade- and find out what a holiday lights parade is as well. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until next year to solve the mystery. I ended up getting a call from my friend Ashley to go wedding dress shopping with her and Alex. We had a nice girls day out! First, we went out for sushi. I haven't had sushi in probably 5 years, and didn't know if I would even like it. But, I wanted to make a good impression so my plan was to fake it even if I hated it. The descriptions of the rolls sounded odd, but I trusted the two other girls to pick something good. Luckily, I did end up enjoying it! We got two different kinds of rolls and ended up sharing them. Now I that I know I like sushi, I might even be a little more adventurous with what I order in the future! After sushi we went to look at wedding dresses. It was a little odd being the youngest person and the only married one, and I tried to give the best advice I could about dress shopping. We only ended up looking at one store because another one we were going to check out was closed. Alex and I had fun picking out dresses for Ashley to try on and Ashley eventually came around to enjoying trying them on. After a long afternoon at the shop, we narrowed it down to two that we all liked the best. They are so different that we couldn't decide which one we liked better. Another weekend we are going to try to look at some other stores to look at other options.
It was really nice to get out of the house and spend time with some other people for once!
Over the past week we had lots of snow falling! Some has been falling about every other day. The temperatures have been fluctuating a bit though, so some days it is above freezing and the snow melts. Today, on the other hand is the coldest I have seen here so far: 0 degrees! It is interesting to see how the mountains affect the weather. I can feel the cold coming down from the mountains sometimes! The snow is also a lot drier and more powdery here. Very unlike lake-effect snow in Cedarburg. Considering the typically small amounts of snow that fall at a time here and the fact that it usually doesn't stick around, there is not much plowing or salting on the roads. On Saturday morning I had to have Ben drive me in the 4wd jeep to Ashley's house because there was so much snow on the roads. It snowed about 4 inches over Friday night and Saturday, and apparently that is a lot here! People were driving very slowly and swerving all over the place! The freeway was covered in a layer of snow and slush, even around noon. We even spun out once on the freeway in front of a semi! Everyone was driving slowly enough to stop in time and let us turn back around. Normally people just wait for the snow to melt- there aren't even that many plows in the city fleet. They also rarely salt roads around here either- to protect the wildlife and ecosystem. I like the idea, but it makes driving very scary and dangerous!
Today I baked a pumpkin pie, did dishes, and did laundry. And today our debit and credit cards finally came in the mail. Looks like I'll be doing lots of Christmas shopping this week!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Kinnection
Yesterday, Ben and I got an early Christmas present from Bill. It is a kinect for the xbox! For those of you who don't know about it, it is a video system for the console. It is basically a camera that allows you to control the games you play- it turns a whole person into a controller. So far we have played some really fun games that involve some impressive gymnastic feats, dancing, and ninja skills. It also allows us to control a lot of other things on the box with just our body movement or voices. One of the most convenient things I have found so far is that I can control playing movies with my voice. I can say "xbox pause," for example, and it does just that. It is really nice to not have to dig a controller out from under the couch and turn it on every time I want to get up for a minute. It is a pretty ingenious invention, and I like that the games force people to get physically active. And using it feels like the future!
We also went to see the new Muppet movie over the weekend! It was very cute and entertaining. There were some moments where I wish the movie was a little more subtle (I don't like it when the characters in movies acknowledge that they know they are in a movie and discuss the plot) and other parts were just plain weird. But, no matter what happens in a Muppet movie, you are always guaranteed to be in a good movie after you watch it! We were singing the Muppet show song and Manamana all day!
After their 4 day weekend, the guys ended up working 17 or so hours today. Luckily, tomorrow they will get to sleep in! This isn't the typical schedule (thankfully), but I guess this is just going to happen from time to time. Days like this do allow me to get lots of chores done and have a chance to get the place in a semblance of order. It also allows me to catch up on reading! Last week I read the entire Series of Unfortunate Events books. I suppose I am a little behind the times with those, but I'm glad I finally got around to it! They are very clever and entertaining books, although they are written for a bit of a younger audience. I especially enjoyed hearing Jude Law narrate the books- as he does in the movie As well as seeing Jim Carrey playing the villain in all of his disguises. My only complaint is that there is so much left of the plot unexplained at the end.
Hmm, a very multimedia post.
We also went to see the new Muppet movie over the weekend! It was very cute and entertaining. There were some moments where I wish the movie was a little more subtle (I don't like it when the characters in movies acknowledge that they know they are in a movie and discuss the plot) and other parts were just plain weird. But, no matter what happens in a Muppet movie, you are always guaranteed to be in a good movie after you watch it! We were singing the Muppet show song and Manamana all day!
After their 4 day weekend, the guys ended up working 17 or so hours today. Luckily, tomorrow they will get to sleep in! This isn't the typical schedule (thankfully), but I guess this is just going to happen from time to time. Days like this do allow me to get lots of chores done and have a chance to get the place in a semblance of order. It also allows me to catch up on reading! Last week I read the entire Series of Unfortunate Events books. I suppose I am a little behind the times with those, but I'm glad I finally got around to it! They are very clever and entertaining books, although they are written for a bit of a younger audience. I especially enjoyed hearing Jude Law narrate the books- as he does in the movie As well as seeing Jim Carrey playing the villain in all of his disguises. My only complaint is that there is so much left of the plot unexplained at the end.
Hmm, a very multimedia post.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Turkey Day and Beyond
So you know that breakfast we had planned? Well, it happened...at 1 pm. We may have stayed up til 3 and gotten up and noon. Maybe. The omelettes were indeed awesome, as were the cinnamon rolls. The rolls didn't rise (as I was expecting- I had suspicions about the yeast) but they still tasted good! All 40+ of them. That's right, half of the recipe made over 3 dozen rolls! We have a rather large container of them in the fridge yet. Come over and help us eat them please! The frosting I made is quite delicious as well. I didn't make maple icing and the recipe called for but I did concoct my own cinnamon cream cheese frosting. YUM.
After recovering from breakfast we started making dinner. I had us all sign up for things to make. Ben made the ham and the sweet potato-marshmallow bake. Bill made the red-wine mushrooms (these were incredibly delicious and the recipe came right from the mushroom package, who knew!?) and the cheesy potatoes. I made the pie (with homemade crust too!), salad, and baked rolls. I also was going to make a cucumber salad, but we all decided against it after we saw how many armies we were prepared to feed.
In all, everything was quite delicious! It was a little weird not being with a big family group, but it ended up going well. Talking to family members over the phone and skype was really nice, though. As it turns out we are all not so bad at cooking. What we are bad at is cooking for the correct number of people. Ben and I were just barely starting to get the hang of cooking for 2 people. Bill and I are used to cooking for our big family. Cooking for 3 is a bigger adjustment than we would have expected! Ah well, the leftovers are all delicious! Eating ham sandwiches for the next month may get a little old, though!
Today was finally Ben's first payday! There was much rejoicing! Well, after all of the confusion, anyway. Apparently something was wrong with the address on the check so we ended up making phone calls and then going to the fedex building to pick it up in person. Otherwise we would have had to wait until Monday. Once we picked up the check, we went to the bank to open an account. Not having a bank account is an odd situation to be in. I don't recommend it. It took a while to do all the paperwork, but everyone at the bank was very nice and it was overall a pleasant experience. Now we have a checking account, savings account, and a credit card too! We've never had a credit card before, so this will be somewhat of a new experience for us. (Meanwhile, the rest of America is wondering how it was possible for us to not have one and moving on to bigger and better things.)
Once the account was opened and we lined our pockets a bit, we headed home. Ben's pocket soon started on fire. As in, that 30 minutes was too long to have the money burning a hole in his pocket and we had to go shopping for a new video game. While I am a bit worried about having funds for bills and Christmas shopping, I can't get annoyed about the purchase, really. He did earn all of that money himself (and knows that after this all the rest of the check is going towards bills!). It was our first purchase made with our own money that has happened in a while. It felt a bit odd.
Our money errands took up most of the day, so we didn't get much else done. Hopefully tomorrow we can go shopping, out to dinner, or at least do some more exploring.
After recovering from breakfast we started making dinner. I had us all sign up for things to make. Ben made the ham and the sweet potato-marshmallow bake. Bill made the red-wine mushrooms (these were incredibly delicious and the recipe came right from the mushroom package, who knew!?) and the cheesy potatoes. I made the pie (with homemade crust too!), salad, and baked rolls. I also was going to make a cucumber salad, but we all decided against it after we saw how many armies we were prepared to feed.
In all, everything was quite delicious! It was a little weird not being with a big family group, but it ended up going well. Talking to family members over the phone and skype was really nice, though. As it turns out we are all not so bad at cooking. What we are bad at is cooking for the correct number of people. Ben and I were just barely starting to get the hang of cooking for 2 people. Bill and I are used to cooking for our big family. Cooking for 3 is a bigger adjustment than we would have expected! Ah well, the leftovers are all delicious! Eating ham sandwiches for the next month may get a little old, though!
Today was finally Ben's first payday! There was much rejoicing! Well, after all of the confusion, anyway. Apparently something was wrong with the address on the check so we ended up making phone calls and then going to the fedex building to pick it up in person. Otherwise we would have had to wait until Monday. Once we picked up the check, we went to the bank to open an account. Not having a bank account is an odd situation to be in. I don't recommend it. It took a while to do all the paperwork, but everyone at the bank was very nice and it was overall a pleasant experience. Now we have a checking account, savings account, and a credit card too! We've never had a credit card before, so this will be somewhat of a new experience for us. (Meanwhile, the rest of America is wondering how it was possible for us to not have one and moving on to bigger and better things.)
Once the account was opened and we lined our pockets a bit, we headed home. Ben's pocket soon started on fire. As in, that 30 minutes was too long to have the money burning a hole in his pocket and we had to go shopping for a new video game. While I am a bit worried about having funds for bills and Christmas shopping, I can't get annoyed about the purchase, really. He did earn all of that money himself (and knows that after this all the rest of the check is going towards bills!). It was our first purchase made with our own money that has happened in a while. It felt a bit odd.
Our money errands took up most of the day, so we didn't get much else done. Hopefully tomorrow we can go shopping, out to dinner, or at least do some more exploring.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Ooh, first post!
Hi all,
I'm hoping to start this blog for our family and friends that we have moved so far away from!
If you are wondering about the title, it is based off one of my favorite movies of all time, Paper Moon. If you haven't seen it, we should watch it together sometime!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'll be spending it with Ben and Bill. Our menu is: ham, sweet potatoes, salad, cucumber salad, cheesy potatoes, buns, and pumpkin pie.We have a few wines and eggnog for drinks. We are thinking of eating in the afternoon, so we are also having a big breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (by yours truly- recipe here), omelettes and bacon. And of course lots of juice- grape, grapefruit, and orange (I think that is one favorite type for each of us!).
So far in Denver...
The boys have been very busy with work! They work 8-12 hour days during the week. They come home exhausted every day! We eat dinner and they go to bed soon after. Ben fell asleep at 8 on the couch one night! We try to play a game almost every night, but we also watch movies or the guys play video games together (like tonight).
During the day I have been looking for jobs online, cleaning up around the house, unpacking, and cooking/baking. It isn't too exciting, and I am anxious to find a job! So far, I am finding that anything that I am interested in requires experience. I would be fine with starting at an entry level position, but it seems like nothing like that is available. If you are interested, I am looking for jobs in forestry, field biology, wildlife biology or rehab, environmental conservation and education, or basically anything in the field of biology that does not involve looking into microscopes all day and/or injecting rats with cancer and aids(which are very common jobs in this area).
On the weekends we have been making an effort to get to know our surroundings a bit better. We have gone to Cherry Creek State Park twice now. It is basically right at our doorstep. We can bike there very easily. It is a beautiful place, you just have to ignore the city sights and sounds that surround it. Other things we have looked at are some shops and restaurants around us. There isn't too much for entertainment that is in walking distance, but we have still enjoyed taking lots of walks together to explore a little bit. Our first (and only so far) downtown adventure was really fun. We took the lightrail (a new experience for all of us) for about 30 minutes that took us right on to the main street in Denver. The rail is only a block away from our apartment, and it dropped us off at a pedestrian street that is closed to cars but has a free shuttle bus running up and down it all the time. We hopped off the rail and onto the bus and got to the bar very efficiently. We met up with some work friends of the guys and went to a couple bars. We didn't stay out very late- I got too tired (it was the weekend after we moved in after all). The general impression I got from Denver was that it is very clean, shiny, and new. There were lots of theaters, cool shops, convention centers, and things like that. Lots of glass and lights. The people seemed nice too- there were some very polite people on the rail (especially the man checking our tickets after Ben had lost his!). We are hoping to go back this weekend to do some more exploring. The city may be as impressive as I thought it was, but I really only have Milwaukee to compare it to...
Living in an apartment building hasn't been too weird so far. It is basically the same as living in a dorm, so we are all pretty used to it. We don't hear our neighbors too often, although sometimes the pipes are loud! Otherwise we mostly experience the neighbors through smelling what they are making for meals. We had to do a lot of "filling in" in the apartment so far and have a long way to go. We have gone to Target and Ikea, but we need a TON more bookshelves for sure!
Bill and I met a puppy that lives on our floor on the other end of the hall after we first moved in! He was a very tiny Australian shepherd that reminded us a lot of Lettie! We all keep wanting to get a pet (or two...or three...) but we have to wait until we can afford the dues and deposit. It also makes more sense to wait until after the holidays in case we will be doing a lot of traveling.
I apologize for the length of the post... I had a lot of catching up to do! I promise to post pictures of our place as soon as it looks a little more put together and I can figure out how to do that on here!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm hoping to start this blog for our family and friends that we have moved so far away from!
If you are wondering about the title, it is based off one of my favorite movies of all time, Paper Moon. If you haven't seen it, we should watch it together sometime!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'll be spending it with Ben and Bill. Our menu is: ham, sweet potatoes, salad, cucumber salad, cheesy potatoes, buns, and pumpkin pie.We have a few wines and eggnog for drinks. We are thinking of eating in the afternoon, so we are also having a big breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (by yours truly- recipe here), omelettes and bacon. And of course lots of juice- grape, grapefruit, and orange (I think that is one favorite type for each of us!).
So far in Denver...
The boys have been very busy with work! They work 8-12 hour days during the week. They come home exhausted every day! We eat dinner and they go to bed soon after. Ben fell asleep at 8 on the couch one night! We try to play a game almost every night, but we also watch movies or the guys play video games together (like tonight).
During the day I have been looking for jobs online, cleaning up around the house, unpacking, and cooking/baking. It isn't too exciting, and I am anxious to find a job! So far, I am finding that anything that I am interested in requires experience. I would be fine with starting at an entry level position, but it seems like nothing like that is available. If you are interested, I am looking for jobs in forestry, field biology, wildlife biology or rehab, environmental conservation and education, or basically anything in the field of biology that does not involve looking into microscopes all day and/or injecting rats with cancer and aids(which are very common jobs in this area).
On the weekends we have been making an effort to get to know our surroundings a bit better. We have gone to Cherry Creek State Park twice now. It is basically right at our doorstep. We can bike there very easily. It is a beautiful place, you just have to ignore the city sights and sounds that surround it. Other things we have looked at are some shops and restaurants around us. There isn't too much for entertainment that is in walking distance, but we have still enjoyed taking lots of walks together to explore a little bit. Our first (and only so far) downtown adventure was really fun. We took the lightrail (a new experience for all of us) for about 30 minutes that took us right on to the main street in Denver. The rail is only a block away from our apartment, and it dropped us off at a pedestrian street that is closed to cars but has a free shuttle bus running up and down it all the time. We hopped off the rail and onto the bus and got to the bar very efficiently. We met up with some work friends of the guys and went to a couple bars. We didn't stay out very late- I got too tired (it was the weekend after we moved in after all). The general impression I got from Denver was that it is very clean, shiny, and new. There were lots of theaters, cool shops, convention centers, and things like that. Lots of glass and lights. The people seemed nice too- there were some very polite people on the rail (especially the man checking our tickets after Ben had lost his!). We are hoping to go back this weekend to do some more exploring. The city may be as impressive as I thought it was, but I really only have Milwaukee to compare it to...
Living in an apartment building hasn't been too weird so far. It is basically the same as living in a dorm, so we are all pretty used to it. We don't hear our neighbors too often, although sometimes the pipes are loud! Otherwise we mostly experience the neighbors through smelling what they are making for meals. We had to do a lot of "filling in" in the apartment so far and have a long way to go. We have gone to Target and Ikea, but we need a TON more bookshelves for sure!
Bill and I met a puppy that lives on our floor on the other end of the hall after we first moved in! He was a very tiny Australian shepherd that reminded us a lot of Lettie! We all keep wanting to get a pet (or two...or three...) but we have to wait until we can afford the dues and deposit. It also makes more sense to wait until after the holidays in case we will be doing a lot of traveling.
I apologize for the length of the post... I had a lot of catching up to do! I promise to post pictures of our place as soon as it looks a little more put together and I can figure out how to do that on here!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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