Round 2

I know you few readers have been waiting on pins and needles for the second post of the Vail weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Edwards for breakfast. We went to this place called The French Press. The pancakes were ok, a little dry, but I really enjoyed the chai tea. Then we drove up to Beaver Creek and enjoyed the beautiful area, so pretty with falls colors, and did some shopping. In Beaver Creek we stopped at the North Face store, and I found a pair of shoes I had seen Vail (however, the Vail store didn't have my size). I totally purchased the cute shoes and wore them the rest of the weekend.Then after Beaver Creek we headed back the Arrabelle. Jason watched the CU football game and I took a nice nap. We then headed to Blue Moose Pizza (another recommendation from Lauren) and really enjoyed our slices of pie.

For dinner we made plans to go to Montauk Seafood Grill. I had seafood the night before so I ordered a wedge salad and a nice appitizer. Following dinner, we took a little walk and stopped in a park by the hotel. While sitting there, Jason had some very sweet words to say followed by getting down on one knee and proposing!!!! I of course said YES! So wish us luck as we begin this new adventure of planning our wedding.

In case you are all in suspense, here is a picture of the ring from the designers website:Of course no pciture really does the beauty justice as it just sparkles on my finger. I really wanted something that looked vintage and this is the perfect piece. Just love it and love the boy!

Sorry to keep all you blog readers in the dark for the last few days, but I had to make sure that those who don't read this blog knew what was going on and didn't find out thanks to the vast open space of the world wide web.

Round 1 of Reviews

Ok, so I might as well dive in and give you a more detailed recap of the weekend.

Friday, Jason and I left town around ten to head up to Vail for the weekend. We made it up there just in time for some lunch on the patio of a cute little place in Vail Village. The sun was shining and we sat on the patio just soaking in the first day of a 3-day weekend.

We then went and checked into the hotel:
We stayed at the Arrabelle - a Rock Resorts property and it was just incredible. Loved it and highly recommend checking it out if you ever need a fab place to stay in the Vail valley. The prices are a little steep in the winter, but offseason specials are GREAT.

Friday night we went to have dinner at Larkspur based on Lauren's recommendation. OMG! It was a great meal. They were running a three course special for $39 and 50% off all bottles of wine. Jason and I split a bottle of white wine. I started with the butternut squash soup, it had one fried rock shirmp in it, and oh man, that stuff was so good. I'm going to try my hand at making butternut squash soup soon. Then for my entree I had the Maine sea scallops and they were delightful, followed up by the BEST dessert ever. I had green tea creme brulee. I know sounds a little strange, but it was killer.

I failed to mention that the staff of the Arrabelle drives you everywhere you need to go, so they came and picked us up from dinner and then we headed straight for the roof-top hot tub. Couldn't ask for a better day one in Vail - stay tuned for the not to be missed recap of Day 2.

3-Day Weekend Celebration

Oh my what a weekend.

Friday started off with a half day of work then some spa time with mom getting the toes and fingers pampered. Then Jason and I ordered some great Chinese food, plopped in front of the TV and took in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing games. I do love me some Olympics.

Saturday, my birthday, I woke up excited for the fun of the day. We made our way down to Colorado Springs to go to Olympic training center (which the lady at the spa made fun of me for wanting to go there), but I really enjoyed the tour. We also did some shopping in Old Colorado City and went to Garden of the Gods. We had dinner plans at 8 Rivers, which 5280 had highly recommended. No shame to Jason, but I really did not enjoy the place. It was tiny, which would have made for a great intimate place to dine, but the service wasn't great, and the food was just average. Next time, I will hold out for some Cuba Cuba or Zengo's.

Sunday was a relaxing morning of more Olympic coverage and then we did a little shopping at the mall and the scrapbook store and met up with my parents for dinner. We went to Southlands and ate at McCabe's Irish Bistro & Pub. The menu was rather large but the service was HORRIBLE. There was only one other table in our section and it took over an hour from when we got there and ordered to when we got our food. Plus they were out of certain items that were supposed to come with our meal, and did not inform us prior to us pointing it out, at which we the server so kindly said "What is the problem, what do you need?" Needless to say, we won't be going back there either.

Yesterday I had taken the day off to enjoy a nice long weekend. We had talked about going to WaterWorld but decided to just hang low. We did go to the pool, which is a first for the year. It was so nice to just lay out and read a good celebrity trash magazine. I ended up doing some more painting in my house, painting the hallway. Now the only walls left to repaint is my bedroom and master bath and the entire place would have seen new paint. Then I cooked up a mean lagasna. Lauren and Andrew came over to watch some Olympic coverage of Andrew's father, who works with the men's volleyball team. We ate some fab brownies with ice cream (which I'm still dreaming about it was that tasty).

Now deep into the busy work week, ready for a weekend of more celebrations for Kristin's birthday and house warming party!

Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.

Thanks Lauren for the photo!

OMG! I had such a great time at the movies on Friday night with the girls. We started out at Corridor 44 with drinks and some food. The movie lived up to all my hopes and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday started with a couple of quick errands to get some food and such for an afternoon of grilling and volleyball at Wash Park with some of Jason's coworkers. I also dropped Rye dog off at the groomers (or Doggie Spa as I tell her). The summer sun was shining and being at the park just made me remember how much I enjoy just relaxing and spending time lounging.

Sunday we headed up to The Norgren's for a big family BBQ. I enjoyed a few margs sitting on the back patio in the sun. It was such a nice afternoon.

On the way home Jason and I stopped at Target (and gasp) I bought a bike. I know there are few readers from work who will make fun of the purchase as they are hard-core bike junkies (as noted in a previous post regarding Yeti Fest). However, I think that I will enjoy my cheap bike this year (since I ended up saving a lot of money on it - however that should be a post of its own after I had a horrible experience with Target and in the end it worked out ok and I got a cheap bike). Anyway it is cute for this summer and then next summer I hope to get the one I have been keeping my eye on at REI.

Weekend Update Report

Change the World, Start at Home. Project Green Streets was so much fun on Friday. We planted a couple dozen trees, picked up some trash and helped make the Curtis Park and Park Avenue neighborhood beautiful. I took a whole slew of pictures, here is just a sneak peek:
We had a couple people ask why we were planting trees, and they were so happy that we were paying attention to their streets.

Friday night Jason cooked me a great dinner while I cleaned up the house some. Then we ran a couple errands and I got a couple new spring shirts.

Saturday we went up to Flatirons Mall and did some more shopping, three hours of shopping and the only thing I bought was a new lunch bag from Pottery Barn - I couldn't find a single pair of pants or any tops that I couldn't live without. We also had lunch at Hot Dog on a Stick, which I had never had before, but it was so good! Best corndog of my life - plus they even have veggie corn dogs - too cool. Saturday afternoon I watched 27 dresses, which I though was entertaining, but not as great as I hoped it would be. Then for dinner we headed to the new-ish Bonefish Grill over in the Tech Center. I had never been there before, but it was fab. I had the best salad, wine, bread, shrimp, it was so tasty.

Sunday I headed to my parents house to drop off my recycling and to go shopping with my mom for a dress for a graduation we are going to, but I couldn't find a dress that didn't make me look like I was a "soccer mom" or a "tween."

Now back to Monday. I'm heading out early today for a doctor appointment and then will be working from home in the afternoon for about 2 hours.

The weekend is a part of the week usually lasting two days

The weekend was fab.

Friday headed home a little early, did some BBQing, and then ran some errands looking for a new couch. Which the whole couch thing is harder than I thought. I need a small framed white couch for my guest bedroom, and I don't want to pay more than a few hundred for it.

Saturday morning headed to Boulder to hit the Boulder Farmer' Market (takes to Lauren for the idea, I didn't think they were open yet). I got some great mushrooms that I had with dinner last night, and some great dipping sauces. Then we shopped on Pearl Street and visited the most beautiful antique jewelry store, I want one of everything there! Finally we had lunch at The Sink on the Hill. We also made a few other stops on the way back to Denver to look for some camping supplies. Then headed to my parents house for dinner and so I could pick up some a few pieces of artwork that I had been storing over there.

Sunday included the typical grocery store adventure and then headed to REI to do some more camping supply shopping. We got some head lamps, a camping book, I got a new "safe" water bottle after all the Nalgene clear bottles were removed from the market for toxins being released. Then made our way to Jason's parents house so that I could help his mom with a scrapbook. Seems like we are all over town the past couple weekends hitting up the parents house. Then we came back to my house and BBQ up some steaks, cooked the already mentioned mushrooms and had twice baked potatoes.

Now we are back to Monday.

Weekend Warrior

This weekend I tried to pack as much in as possible.

Friday the office closed at 3 and we all went to Via to enjoy some food and drink. Love the bread pudding there! Fab! Then I headed home and Jason and I went and tried a new restaurant that opened up right by my house, The Dusty Boot. I just had a side house salad since I had eaten a heavy share of happy hour foods at Via. We then rented Juno and I must say I thought it was a very clever movie and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday started early with lots of errands, including picking up paint at Home Depot for my bathroom. We stopped by my parents house for lunch and then as soon as we walked back into my door I started in on painting. I took a quick break to drop Jason off at the light rail so he could watch the Avs beat the Wild at Pepsi Center. The bathroom turned out great, with a new paint color, new shower curtain, new towels (which I can't find online to show a picture of - but they were from Cost Plus World Market - love that place) and a few new accessories. Love the way it turned out - just makes me want to freshen the rest of the house up. After the painting ended I watched No Reservations, which was cute, but nothing earth-moving.

Sunday work up and hit the grocery store, and then watched the movie Waitress, which again was cute but not earth-moving. Then Jason and I headed to his parents house for his birthday dinner and enjoyed the beautiful weather while BBQing.

All in all it was a great weekend!

A Seattle Kind of Day

Seems spring is a long way off. This morning the weather is again rainy - on the verge of possibly snowing should the temp drop any. I wore a pair of flip-flops as I drove in this morning (had to be in way to early to think about trying to make it to the train station before 6 AM!

It was a great weekend. Friday night, a bunch of us girls went to the concert that I had mentioned in previous posts. Before dinner we dined at Tommy's Thai. It was such good food - although I will say that the green tea ice cream left more to be desired (even though I ate my own scoop and then ate Megan's scoop - I had a tea buzz going by the time the concert started). I loved Meiko! Who started the show off. Even bought her CD off of itunes this weekend, it was only $5.99! The concert went really late, and I must say the only down side to the show was Jim Bianco. I don't really know what he was trying to accomplish on stage, he had a freak like, creepy nature thing going on, and insisted on throwing glitter several times during his performances.
Here is a picture of all of girls - except Brooke who was standing on the far left of the picture and the guy taking it accidentally cut her out:Saturday, I slept in until 9AM which is a rare thing for me. Then ran several errands. In the late afternoon I met up with Courtney, a high school friend, and we went for mani-pedis. The mani was pretty, uh, bad, but the pedi was great. Then we grabbed some dinner and basically caught up. She will be headed to Washington state in a few months to begin her career in law. She is a smart cookie and I always enjoy chatting with her. I am so thankful for the friendship I forged with her as a result of so many of life's rocky road.

Sunday I woke early, and ran to Walmart to pick up a couple things I needed. Then came home, cleaned house some, took a nice nap, and then cooked dinner, and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Of course Sunday rolls into Monday and here I am trying to get everything for the week of reporting taken care of. The early mornings in my office are so nice as the office is silent and still. Here is to hoping I can get everything crossed off the list today!

Who Killed J.R.?

Last night we had reservations at Bistro Vendome for 8:30 PM. Guess when it is Denver Restaurant Week (mentioned in an earlier post - 2 can eat for $52.80) the reservations fill up very quickly.

Since we had some time to kill from getting out of work until we could actually eat, we went and saw Vantage Point down at the Pavilions. Let me tell you in 90 minutes they certainly packed a lot of action. I really enjoyed the concept of the movie where you see something from each characters point of view, but the actual location and theme of the movie hit close to home. It was based in Spain, which is a country I have been fortunate enough to travel through, and focused on the the attempted assassination of the U.S. President at an anti-terrorism summit.

I recommend watching the movie, just be prepared for on-the-edge of your seat action the entire time, and a lot of blood, shooting and bombing.

A Chick Pea by any other name, would not taste as delicious

Back in December, Jason and I were at the Cricket store off of Arapahoe and I-25 picking up our copy of KBCO Studio C when we saw they were building a new quick-service casual dining restaurant next door called Garbanzo featuring Mediterranean cuisine.

Well anyway, last Friday we were trying to decide what to do for dinner before The Fray concert when I remembered that Garbanzo was supposed to be opening. We decided to swing by and see if it was ready for business. Sure enough it was open. We glanced at the menu and at first I wasn’t sure I was ready for something new that night. Jason encouraged us to eat there, as we were starting to run short on time, and I’m so glad we did. They had the best hummus, the best falafel and the best shwarma. Plus their little sides of salads were to die for. When you go you should try the Falarma plate (which is a combination of falafel and Shwarma, plus all the sides and hummus dip).

I recommend stopping by if you are in the area, or just wait for them to expand – as I’m sure it is the next food joint to sweep the state, especially since one of the partners in the company is Ken Rosenthal, founder of St. Louis Bread Company/Panera Bread.

Mile High Hunger

Denver Restaurant Week is just a few weeks away. Check out the website, find a date, snag a reservation and get ready to enjoy a coursed meal for $52.80 at many of the state’s finest and best restaurants.

Denver Restaurant Week 2008
Presented by the DENVER METRO CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

Denver Restaurant Week is a seven-day celebration of the culinary scene in Denver. For the week of Feb. 23-29, 2008, participating restaurants will offer a multi-course dinner for the fixed price of $52.80 for two, or $26.40 for one (not including tax or gratuity).

Restaurant week offers gastronomes and gourmets an extraordinary opportunity to explore some of Denver’s classic restaurants – and some of the city’s newest – to sample a variety of the exceptional dishes prepared by Denver chefs at incredibly reasonable rates.