Gold Star for Me!

I think we should always have three day weekends with Monday off. Skipping Mondays would solve a lot of problems I think. Those always seem to be the yuckiest days. Anyway...

Tuesday was a super productive day. Unfortunately for The Man, the productivity was all personal. Ah well... whadda gonna do..

Let's see... I:

• Made my to do list (very important task - makes me feel more in control of the crazy things in life)
• Called several roofing contractors to get bids for a new roof (hail damage).
• Made appointments with a couple of the ones that actually called back.
• Contacted several auto repair shops to get my car in for a tune up.
• Made an appointment with the most decent sounding one after coordinating with Dan since he's the one that will be dropping off and picking up.
• Found a doctor that takes my insurance (we changed carrier last year and I haven't been in to see one yet). And made an appointment.
• Found a "hair salon" (I use the term loosely - I just need a place to get my hair cut) on the bus route. And made an appointment. (Having one car makes for a more planned out life. The gal I went to is too far away to manage on a week night.)
• Got our ADT alarm system back up and running - via a lovely industrial orange extension cord. We'll eventually have to get the outlet, that it should be plugged into, fixed.
• Talked to the insurance comapny to try and figure out how paying for our repairs will actually go down. I just don't understand a lot of that stuff. And because of that, am afraid.

I still need to find a day to get to the DMV and social security office to get the name change process rolling (it has been a year after all), need to get new tires for my car, make an appointment to have the sprinkler system winterized, and deal with several other things from the hail storm (insurance crap). But from what I accomplished so far this week, I feel like I can take a break for a few days. =)

I was also approached by a photographer to be a second shooter at a wedding later this month. A little frightening, since I haven't shot a wedding in many moons, but could be fun. We'll see if she wants me after viewing my "work".

Ahhh Mondays

“I’m leaving you.”

Three words most people don’t ever want to hear in succession, especially on a Monday. Yet these were the words I was hit with before I even sat down in the comfy leather chair in the conference room.

The conference room.

That should’ve been my giant red flag. We never talk in a conference room.

My boss is leaving.

For the past three years I have been his right hand man, his girl Friday, the Vanna White to his Pat Sajak (ok, maybe I shouldn’t go that far). And while I complained occasionally about my job, I actually really enjoyed working with him. He’s been a good leader and friend. And I will miss him.

I’m nervous about who they will replace him with. He and I had our routine and roles down to a science. He gave me to-do lists and I bossed him around. It worked. We were a good team. Now I’ll have to start all over, break in a new one. I guess it’s good though to have a challenge now and again.

Scaling Back

We have been in the process of downsizing and cutting back on costs. Dan has been selling some bike parts (wheels, frames, etc.), we are cancelling a couple monthly memberships (wine club) and this weekend we sold Dan's car (which saves on gas and insurance).

It feels good to be a one car family now. It's a good time in our lives to do this - I commute by bus to work, Dan can ride his bike to his office for those days I need a car, and we don't have kids (thus don't need to worry about being stranded without transportation). And I'm happy to be lowering our carbon foot print (at least a little).

I hope we can do this for a year. Longer would be great (and completely doable) but I think one year is a good goal.

Content

Relaxing breakfast on the patio, house cleanded, errands done, yard work completed, dinner menu set. It all makes for a happy me. I love days like this.

Year One

I can’t believe we’ve been married for one whole year already! In planning our celebration for the big event we tossed around several ideas. We really wanted to head back to wine country since that is where we had our mini-moon but seeing as how we have had a couple of big years, spending wise, with the wedding and some home repairs, we needed to keep the costs down and thus decided instead to head to the mountains.

I read an article in a magazine on a town called Grand Lake Village and it sounded so quaint that I became set on going. Dan hadn’t ever been so we took a day trip to check it out. It’s only a couple of hours away (and considering we (I) used to drive 2.5 hours to and from the beach every other weekend, this seemed like a very doable for a weekend trip) and very cute. There is almost an air of old western town with its wooden sidewalks and buildings. There are several restaurants and ice cream shops along the main street (which runs about 6 or so blocks), the water front area is very lovely with a small beach, great grassy areas and marina. We found a cozy little cabin right by the town park, community theatre and library (such a geek, I know). There are all sorts of local goings on like a party in the park on Saturday afternoon and bingo at the park pavilion in the evenings. I feel like I’ve stepped into the 50’s. It’s awesome!

The weather was perfect! High 70s, light breeze, a few fluffy white clouds in an otherwise clear blue sky. The lake is beautiful but cold. Duffy enjoyed swimming in it but Dan and I only soaked our feet from the dock.

We rented ATVs and spent a few hours on the trails Saturday morning. It took a bit of getting used to for me but before long I was hauling down the trail at 30 mph and taking some steeper, more rough, rocky trails with ease. It was a lot of fun!

I really enjoy the atmosphere of the town – the people, the water, the gorgeous landscape. I’m so content sitting and reading on the beach while kids and adults alike play around me.

On Sunday we enjoyed a hike on a trail made by locals for mountain biking and hiking with your dog. Being just steps from the Rocky Mountain National Park makes it tricky to find places to mountain bike and take your dog so these folks literally blazed their own trail. It’s really impressive what they’ve done.

It was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed it so much that we are going back in a few weeks with Dan’s parents. He decided that his dad would love the ATVing and his mom would enjoy the peacefulness of the town. I think we’ve finally found our local getaway spot. Here is a link to more photos.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life! Here's to many, many more years!

Ailiana-ism #17

We had Ailie for the day a couple weeks ago and when we got in the car to take her home and Dan got into the passenger seat she said, "Uncle Danny, you're sitting in the wife seat?!" Too cute.

Wedding Album

A few weeks ago we got our wedding album and it's so pretty! I just noticed a post on their blog about it so I thought I would share. Click here for some photos of our album.

(Almost) Free Stuff

I just discovered this and am VERY excited about it!