visitors over the weekend!

After taking a long weekend off this was pretty rough.. but I should be on a steady schedule from now on with long runs on the weekend.




I had a superb weekend with the girls! Camdin, Jesi and Megan all came out to Denver and we had so much fun and did a lot. I'll sum it up pretty quickly..I showed them around a bit on Friday, then went to the Rockies game Friday (we left early and ended up missing one exciting game apparently - woops!), but we wanted to get ready and go out in LODO. We got back downtown and had a fun night. Saturday morning we headed to brunch at this place called Bump & Grind. On the weekends the servers cross-dress and are loud and obnoxious... pretty funny. Our waiter/waitress tortured this grandpa from Kansas. He had come over to talk to us when he saw Megan's K-State t-shirt. Anyways, we're not sure if his family and him knew what they were getting into when they came to this place.
After breakfast we headed west and went hiking and camping in the mountains. Very fun!
I'll put some pics up in a bit.

blogtastic

This is a cute blog.. I like this post in particular

http://www.thejinius.com/category/its-hard-being-a-genius

Wednesday's run

So I'm putting these runs in here so I can keep track of what I've done and in hopes to motivate me if I'm putting it out there when I run!

more running

I need to figure out a new run around my apartment.. I'm going to get sick of this one. I am moving in a month, so I guess I will have a new route around then. I'll try to get creative for the next month though.. and I need to bump up the running. I'm hanging around the 4 mile mark too much.. I need to jump up to 6 miles asap.


YESTERDAY'S RUN..



SATURDAY'S RUN...

During this run I went into a really beautiful area with beautiful houses.. well the whole run has pretty houses, but South of 6th street has BIG houses.. in the Country Club area. I hear it's the most expensive neighborhood in Denver. Seriously some beautiful houses in there!

The weekend was pretty uneventful, but VERY relaxing...well except the intense soccer game on Sunday. Those games take it out of me! 90 minutes, coed and no subs for the girls.. and the games are definitely competitive and fast-paced. I love it though, so can't complain. I am kinda glad the season is now over, though. I would like to use my Sundays to lay by the pool! Especially since I won't have a pool to lay by after July 6th.
We were in the playoffs, but lost this game after a long battle. My Saturday team is now in the playoffs - the first game is this weekend, but I will be missing it.

This weekend I will be hanging out with my visitors! Looking forward to it! We're leaving Saturday to go camping and I am so excited for camping this summer. I bought a tent and sleeping bag and was tempted to buy all kinds of fun camping stuff, but I stopped myself.

Also, since the heat has been on in the last week and I've had Mia back, I have noticed how she reacts to hot weather. She does not like the hot weather at all! Last summer she was a little, tiny puppy and we didn't spend all that much time outside in the hot air. It also didn't take much before she was worn out when she was that little. Now it usually takes a lot more to get her worn out and I have found that hot weather wears her out so fast! We can even go to the park and sit and chill because she doesn't want to run around as much. She enjoys hanging out in the shade. So this weekend we hung out at the park and I read a book as she played some with her favorite toy of all time and rolled around in the shade.

I must say this summer might be pretty nice if that's all it takes to get her worn out and in her cute, adorable sleepy puppy state. She might start adjusting to the hot weather and not get worn out so fast. Either way, with her favorite toy of all time it's not too hard to get her tired.

UGH!

UGH..is all I'm feeling like today..

Yesterday's run ... 3.7 miles

Trying to get back in the training.. this was a little rough. It doesn't help that the whole second half is practically up hill. ROUGH.

Looking forward to the weekend

Hopefully this weekend consists of:

-Running (must get back into the running habit for training! we bought our plane tickets to SF!)
-Soccer (it's getting towards the end of both of my seasons!)
-Laying out by the pool (getting a tan!)
-Having some drinks with friends
-Relaxing
-Playing with the puppy at the park (getting a tan!)
-Driving range (get my golf back on)
-Farmer's Market

The past three weeks were not wasted! Thank goodness! I've been studying my butt off for this test I had today and I PASSED! It was a scary test - I definitely didn't know if I passed at the end of it. I didn't know how many I could miss and still pass, so each question could have held the results in it's hands! Scary! So after two hours of an increased heart rate and about 15 seconds of near heart attack, the score came on the screen and I passed.

The people around me at this testing center (taking different kinds of tests) just might have been a little worried about me as I kept making loud exhaling noises.. but whatever..

So I am officially a LEED Accredited Professional. Wahoo! I'm sustainable.

This is something I've been wanting to do for about a year and a half, so I'm pretty excited that I did it. The object of LEED is to create buildings that do not hurt the environment nearly as bad as most do, so it's definitely something that will continue to be a big deal. I would love to be a big part of it.

it's official

We officially signed up for the San Francisco 1/2 marathon! We also have a hotel booked. Just need the flight now... and to do some training, of course.. which is a little off track..

musical summer

I'm loving music lately. I've never been one to get really into music, but I think I'm changing my ways. I'm all about live music these days - which is also a good way to break the bank...

I guess sitting at work all day long and listening to music for some of it has made me want to explore a little more. Also, www.pandora.com is a fabulous way to discover some new music. You put in an artist you like and it plays music by that artist as well as similar sounding artists. Check it out.

Denver has some great little venues for smaller bands/artists to come and play..

My faves right now

Matt Nathanson
Corey Smith (concert June 21st)
Ingrid Michaelson
Spoon

I'm also going to the first annual Mile High Music Festival- www.milehighmusicfestival.com - it's got quite a line up and should be a good time of sitting out in the sun and listening to music. That's July 19th, 20th - can't wait!

The thing about concerts is that you really don't know what you miss until you go.. live music is great.

"There’s something so amazing about music; it can transform the dullest of environments into beautiful places. Put it on, hear it out, look around, revel in the moment. Here lie the beauty and clarity that get you through your day."
- Tristan Prettyman

I really wish there were such a thing as a chill pill.. I would totally mash it up and sneak it in to certain people's water..or coffee..

my neighborhood in Denver

So in July, my lease at my apartment complex is up and I'm moving to my brother's house to live with him and his roommates. It's a great deal - I will be saving tons of money on rent.

I'm going to be a little sad to be leaving my neighborhood, though. I have spent so much of my time in the neighborhood with my dog. I am outside on walks or at the close neighborhood park, Congress park, with her every single day. On these walks and at the park, I have gotten to know a lot of my neighbors in Congress Park neighborhood that have dogs. Sometimes there will be 5 to 10 people there with their dogs, which results in doggy playtime. So it has been nice seeing familiar faces every time I'm at the park and knowing other people's dogs' names, as well as them knowing my dog. There is Aspen and Boogie that Mia particularly plays well with.

Tonight I was at a near-by coffee shop - locally owned. There is a very close starbucks which I have gone to because of it's very close proximity to my apartment, but this coffee shop serves up some great sandwiches, coffee and baked goods. So I sat outside today and had a turkey, avocado sandwich while studying. As I sat there so many people from the neighborhood walked up to either the coffee shop or at the ice cream shop next door to sit outside with family friends and dogs. There was a friendly run-in between one couple and their dog and another guy with two dogs. They clearly knew each other from seeing each other with their dogs and they sat down and chatted for awhile.

It was an awesome evening outside and loved that there was this neighborhood meeting place where neighbors run into each other. The ice cream shop - I think it is actually custard - is a simple store, where they home-make the custard daily. They have chocolate and vanilla every day and then a flavor of the day, today was coconut, and many toppings to pick from. After having my sandwich and studying, I decided I should probably check it out and ended up with chocolate custard and m&m's.. my favorite. While checking out, one of the guys asked if I would like to play a little trivia and try for 10% off. why not.. right? So I picked 'pop culture' and then picked 'sports and games'. I don't remember the question exactly, but it had something to do with "which city has held the olympics twice in (the name of the stadium)." And I totally got it right! Athens! Which if you've been to Greece or know much about it you probably would have gotten it right, because the name of the stadium was pretty obvious - in that it ended -aikos...

So to sum it up, I love the neighborhood and the neighborliness that exists.. a local park and the local shops add to it so much! And I'm going to miss it when I leave. It won't be too far and I could easily make some trips over to visit.

I will be close to an awesome and beautiful Denver park, Wash Park. Not as close as Congress Park, but it will suffice..

Yesterday's run... 5 miles

I went twice around Wash Park..good and pretty run!

This morning's run.. 4 miles

All kinds of things are going on right now!

Well, mainly two things I guess - training for the San Francisco 1/2 marathon and studying for the LEED test.. as well as working. Thank goodness for my parents taking Mia home with them after they visited last week because I don't have time for my little pup.
It sounds like she's having a good time with the grandparents though, so that's good. I think I've talked to them every day since they took her home! I'm going to be one crazy mom to a real human being one day.

My LEED test (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design if you were wondering) ended up being scheduled a little bit later than I was planning, so I have a little more time to prepare. I'm pretty nervous though- I just want to pass this thing and it's not going to be easy! So much studying ahead of me and definitely much running ahead of me.. I have quite a ways to go before I'm at 13.1 miles!

I'm definitely excited for the half marathon and definitely excited for a trip to San Francisco.

I'm up to 5 miles this weekend..wahoo.. just the beginning! I'm also playing in two soccer leagues that have games on the weekends, so it's hard to fit in a run on top of a full game of soccer!

Well.. that's what is currently on my mind, so thought I'd share.

more deliciousness

I'm not turning this into a blog about food..haha.. but here's a recipe to a delicious dip. It's really easy and really yummy

Black Bean Dip

1 pkg frozen creamed spinach

1 can chicken—the one a bit bigger than a regular tuna can.

1 can of black beans rinsed & drained

2 C. shredded Colby-Jack Cheese

1 jar of salsa (I can't remember the exact size. I'd guess about 14 oz.)

Mix everything together. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve with Frito Scoop Chips.

YUM

the most delicious thing to hit my mouth

I am not good at waiting...

Climbed the tallest building in Denver!

So this weekend myself and a group of friends decided to join in on the 'Run the Republic Stair Climb', which is going up the tallest building in Denver - 55 stories. This is hopefully the beginning of many different athletic events I plan on partaking in.
So, anyways, our team was named 'We're Not in Kansas Anymore' since we were all mostly from Kansas and people seem to think we don't have tall building in Kansas.. so we thought it was pretty good. The whole thing started at 8:00 Sunday morning, but we didn't go until 12:00. There were like 1800 people who did the whole thing, so they spaced us out.
It all went pretty fast - it felt longer than it took- and it was rough, but I made it up the building in 10 minutes and 52 seconds. A whole lot better than I had imagined. The whole team did it in less than 15 minutes, so we were pretty awesome!
They do this event for lung disease, so all the money goes towards that. We had a good time and hung out for a while afterwards because it was gorgeous outside!

Here's some pics.



There's the building behind us!


before:
after: