Mud, Blood & Bananas

Remember back in February when I told you about the Warrior Dash?  Well, I signed up--along with my husband and sister--and we dashed with the best of 'em two weekends ago.  I was a little nervous because I wasn't in shape, but I had a great time! 

We made our own t-shirts before the race so we would have a sense of camaraderie.  We each chose our representative animal spirit for the shirt design so we could channel the creature for strength during the race. . .like in Hot Rod, of course.  I choose the octopus since they seem to be good multi-taskers; can hold on to things tight; and can see the future (based solely off the octopus that predicted the outcome of games during the World Cup).  My sister chose the lobster and Josh went with the panda.  Powerful choices.

It was a good thing we had the power of our animal spirits because the course was tough.  We all decided to try and stay together during the race in case one of us got hurt or stuck on an obstacle.  This was weird because Josh usually leaves me in the dust, but was fun to complete the challenge together.  During the race we encountered 12 obstacles over 3.26 miles.  The most difficult was running up the mountain.  I was sucking wind at 9,712 feet (base elevation).  The mud pit was also intense.  Underneath all of the mud was a bunch of hay and gravel.  We all cut our knees up pretty bad.  I'm sure I'll have a scar.  Once we escaped the mud pit our shoes were so heavy it was difficult to run or even jog the rest of the race, but we pushed each other and leaped over two walls of fire to victory.  It was a blast!!

We spent some time chomping on post race bananas and slamming beers before we cleaned off in the pond, which was freezing!  My shoes were so nasty, I just decided to donate them to the recycling pile rather than attempt to clean them.

Once we were cleaned up (kind of) we headed back to the action for music, turkey legs, more beers and celebration!  Nearly 20,000 people ran in the race over two days, so there were lots of people to party with.  We spent the night, which was good since I over-indulged on bananas and beer.  Luckily, I rallied and was able to catch part of the Rev. Horton Heat concert.  Our room was amazing!  We had a great view of the fire walls and finish line.  Hopefully next year we can get a big group together to tackle Copper Mountain and get muddy!!  They already opened registration for 2011.  Let me know if you are interested!!  You can also check out the rest of our race photos here.

May the Shwartz be with You

Can you believe this is my fourth year of playing adult league softball?!  However, this was our first year playing in Denver instead of Lakewood, and let me tell you--it was way better!  The season was shorter, the fields were lighted, and we were actually able to compete.  Our team, the Dark Helmets, took 3rd Place out of eight teams.  That is pretty good.  I seem to remember a past season with one win, winning seven this year was way better!  Here are a few shots of the team.

Josh and Cam at Vanderbilt Park, Warming Up in Style

Me and Mariyah Glowing in our Jerseys

plus

Whitney, Our Biggest Fan!!

The Dark Helmets!

As Promised

Ta-daaaa!  New paint!

Front

Garage

What??! These are Chocolate!

I know it is wrong and I'm totally against smoking (especially kids), but I LOVE candy cigarettes.  I had so much fun as a kid fake puffing candy dust and biting the hot pink tip off the candy stick.  Plus, I thought they were yummy.  I was sure the days of candy cigarettes were long gone;  I hadn't seen them in years. . . but low and behold, I found some.

After a nice dinner with our friends last week, we went on a short walk through Old Town Arvada.  We stopped in at a new candy shop for some ice cream and happened upon a pack of candy cigarettes.  I was so excited, I could barely wait to open them up.  As soon as we got outside I ripped open the carton and popped one in my mouth.  I tried as hard as I could to puff, but nothing happened.  I took the candy out of my mouth and looked at it--no hot pink tip!!  I was confused.  After close inspection I realized the candy cigarette was made out of chocolate.  Way less cool.  I have to admit they are still kind of yummy and fun to play with. . .but not the same as the original.

Soooo, How Long Should We Wait?!

We are so lucky to have creative, outgoing friends!  During the past two months we have been making wine with our friends Tim and Jen Ramsey at a place called Do Your Brew.  The Ramsey's bought a groupon and we saved lots of money--hooray!!  We picked out a malbec-shiraz and made enough wine to fill thirty bottles.  Yup, that is 15 bottles per couple!  The price?  Only $2.66 per bottle (with the groupon deal)!!!  The process has been pretty simple.  We only went up to Do Your Brew to start the wine and bottle it up.  The owner of the store did the secondary step for us which included some straining and transferring the wine from a bucket to a carboy.  I'm sure he did more, but he said it probably wasn't worth driving up for.  Here are a few photos of us in action.

Tim and Jen mixing the slurry

Mixing it Up

Yum!

Sanitizing our bottles.  It looks like a wine tree!

Josh bottling

Tim corking the bottles

Making the bottles look legit

There they are!  All 30 bottles ready to go!!

I did a little taste test.  It was really yummy.  The owner of the shop said we could start drinking our wine now, but it would probably be best to let it sit for 3-4 months.  That is right around the holidays!  Perfect.  I can't wait to share with my family and friends.

We are also working on our own lables--just for fun.  We have a couple fun designs.  I'll try to post a picture when they are all done.

Cheers!!

I Already Feel Faster!

Many many months after my friend Lauren recommended I get the new Brooks Adrenaline running shoes I finally did it!  I ended up getting a half size bigger than my last pair of Adrenaline's, which is scary to me--but they seem to fit just fine.  Plus, I have a little room for my feet to swell if I'm on a long run.  My favorite thing about my new shoes is the color.  I was totally sick of wearing blue!  Aren't they cute?!

Even though I'm tired of blue, I will be wearing my old shoes again soon.  The Warrior Dash is next Saturday.  I am soooooo excited!  I still haven't decided what I'm going to wear (other than the shoes).  The top ideas floating around my brain right now are:  1)  Karate Kid inspired; 2)  Break out my Punky Bruised Her roller derby costume; 3) some sort of neon ensemble; 4)  Cowgirl or Rodeo Queen; or ???  I'm open to ideas, so if you have one, leave me a comment.  I only have a week to put it together, so it can't be to complicated.  Also keep in mind I will be running up a mountain, maneuvering obstacles, jumping over fire and getting really muddy.

Told Ya So!

Back in December I wrote a short blog on some of the books I had read recently and how many of them were made into movies.  Remember that?  At the end of the post I said I wouldn't be surprised if they made Water for Elephants into a movie.  I must have been looking into a crystal ball, because it is in production as we speak.  Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon will be playing Jacob and Marlena.  Too cute!  I really can't wait for this one to hit the big screen.  1930's. . . Traveling Circus. . . Romance. . . Drama. . .Yay!!

Oh yeah, speaking of that post in December. . .  Eat, Pray Love opens in theatres tomorrow.

I haven't read a book since our trip to Greece in June, so if you have a favorite, let me know.  Just be warned, if I read it, the likelihood of it being transformed into film greatly increases.  Probably due to the fact that I tend to pick up books to read after they have already become popular. Better late than never!

As the World Turns

Today, as the world turns, our house is being painted.  It has been in desperate need for a make-over ever since we moved in--over four years now.  This is the photo from the online real-estate advertisement when we bought our house.  A lot has changed since we moved in.  In the front of the house:  both the trees in the front (far left and right) were removed;  we put in a patio just in front of the porch;  we planted several tall grasses, bushes and a tree. . . remember the Japanese Maple?  And now, our house will transform from a light blue to Jungle Khaki.  I'll try to post a photo when the painting crew wraps up.  They have actually been working on the house since Saturday morning.  We had a lot of scraping and repairs on our siding that needed to be done.  I hope it looks good!!

Let's Take a Walk

Yesterday we took our two beagles, Riley and Stanley, on a walk.  We cruised over to Burrito Giant, picked up some breakfast and went over to eat them in the old Eliches carousel building.  Riley and Stan were hot and tired.  After they had a drink of water they finally decided to rest.  Poor Stan--this is what he has to deal with all the time.  Note:  Riley's back paws aren't even touching the ground.

First Friday Fun!

Josh and I are lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that hosts a First Friday event.  We are especially lucky because it is literally 1/2 mile from our house and we can easily walk to get there.  If you aren't familiar with First Friday it is a monthly event that takes place, yup, on the 1st Friday.  They usually happen on a street that is home to many art galleries.  In my neighborhood that street is Tennyson, and in addition to art galleries staying open late and serving drinks and snacks, there are now bands that play, street vendors serving a variety of food from crepes to clam chowder, and my favorite new addition. . . the Denver Cupcake Truck!!  More on the cupcake truck in a bit. . .

We started out our recent First Friday adventure with our friends Brent and Catherine.  Catherine had just gone past her due date and looked like she was about to pop, but made the walk down Tennyson like a champ.  The last First Friday we attended with Cat and Brent was in December, before they even broke the news about the baby.  Time Flies! 

Our first stop was at the Red Door, an antique shop on 44th Ave.  We found tons of cool stuff.  My favorites were a tray of copper mugs, a baton/hoop thing with fringe and sequins, a pink sombrero and an orange Denver Bronco's cowboy hat.  I wanted to get the cowboy hat for Josh, but it cost $250.  The saleslady said it had "a history."  My guess is that is belonged to the Barrel Man.

We visited a few other galleries, sipped on some wine and made our way south down Tennyson looking for a place to get a bite to eat.  We decided to go to Patrick Carroll's and reminice since it is where the four of us used to go play trivia many many Wednesdays throughout the past two years.  Low and behold, right in front of the pub. . . The Denver Cupcake Truck!  I had never seen it before, but I'm sure it was fate that we finally ran into each other.  I didn't hesitate to buy a cupcake for each of us to eat after dinner.  I was worried they would leave before it was time for dessert.  Apparently, they drive to different locations all the time and you have to follow them on Twitter or Facebook to find out where they are each day--in case you get a craving.  We ordered the following:  Rockin' Red Velvet, Chocolate Mint, Chocolate Overload (chocolate on chocolate w/ chocolate chips on top), and a Denver Snowball (almond cake w/ chocolate frosting dipped in coconut).

After a very yummy dinner at the pub we destroyed the cupcakes.  It was a delicious masacre.

As we continued our walk down Tennyson we made two other exciting discoveries, scratch that, three exciting discoveries.  They all involve food.  Of course.

1.  "the Hole"  A restaurant specializing in coffee, beer and doughnuts.  The highlight of the place appears to be a walk-up window for orders on the go.  I can't wait 'til it opens!

2.  "Hops and Pie"  A gourmet pizza and beer joint, yum!  It is supposed to open the summer.  Keep your fingers crossed.

3.  A new bakery is on the way!  I can't remember the name on the sign, but it is near the Wine Jester.  Ahh!  Two of my favorite things right next to one another.  I'm gonna be drunk on pastries and wine!

It was a great night!  I'm so excited for the next First Friday I'm able to attend.  I'm thinking October. . . by then Catherine will be able to tote little Baby C around in a baby bjorn or whatever those baby carriers are called.  Adorable!

We Have Time for Another Bucket

Ahhhhhh Las Vegas, how I miss you already. . . at least a little bit.  I had an amazing time while I was there, but four days is just about as long as I actually want to spend in Sin City.

If I didn't already tell you, I just got back from a weekend trip to Las Vegas with my sister Anna and her friend Mary.  Both of them were celebrating recent birthdays and I was just along for the ride.  I had never really done a girls trip before, so I jumped on the opportunity--and it was soooo worth it.  We had a blast!!

We arrived on a Thursday night and didn't have any official plans so we decided to walk up the strip and look for neat bars and yummy looking restaurants we could visit later in the week.  Even at 11:00 pm, it was blazing hot outside.  We made it all the way from the Monte Carlo to Caesar's Palace before we really took a break.  We found a cheesy bar called Cleopatra's Barge that seemed to be blasting dance music for the over 40 crowd.  Mary wanted to grind so we stopped in.  The waitress at the bar refused to serve her because she though her Alaska drivers licence was a fake.  They got in a fight and we had to talk to the manager to prove it was real.  Once the manager conceded, we promptly left.  Before we busted out of there we did get to see two people fall flat on their faces walking up the ramp to the barge's dance floor.  Ridiculously funny.

We started off Friday with a Craps lesson and cupcakes and then proceeded to the pool.  It was a good day.  We spent hours poolside drinking buckets a beer, chatting, swimming, dancing, meeting new people  and working on our tans.

During our first day at the pool we met an awesome ex-military couple.  They were super sweet and let us use their floaty noodles whenever we wanted them.  The husband was a nurse and the wife was a former Airforce linguist turned volunteer/pilot/vet student--very interesting.  We also met a guy named Ken who was born in Ireland, moved to New Zealand to open restaurants and night clubs and is now helping his sister open a few places in LA.  He introduced us to his friend Ruben from New Zealand who makes his living as a fisherman.  They were super fun.  After Ken and Ruben took off for a show we met a group of Canadian teachers who were a lot of fun.  We promised to meet them for dinner, but we passed out for two hours after we left the pool and it didn't happen. 

After we recovered from our personal pool party we got cleaned up, ate some dinner and headed over to a club at Aria called Haze.  Earlier in the day we met a girl we put us on the list so we could skip the line and not have to pay the cover which can be $30-$50 for women, more for men.  Whew!

The inside of the club was basically two levels:  an open loft area circling above a large dance floor below.  After buying one round of $45 drinks we made our way down to the dance floor.  It was really crowded and difficult to move.  Luckily, after a few minutes we got invited into a VIP bottle-service area where we had plenty of room to dance and free drinks (we just had to tolerate some goofy Australians jump dancing like idiots).  We made a fast escape at the end of the night so we wouldn't have to hang out with them any longer.  Oh yeah!  I almost forgot.  A guy on the top level "made it rain" onto the dance floor.  We picked up about $30 and almost made up for the first round of drinks we had to buy earlier.

We recovered the next day (kind of) at the pool.  We won a few free buckets from some guys from Michigan visiting for a bachelor party.  They didn't believe Mary was from Alaska or that she knew Sarah Palin.  We provided them with her ID and several pictures for proof.  The guys decided to stick around and drink with us the rest of the day.  One of them was super drunk (his friends called him El-Spencer-O) and was rude to the waitress one time.  I apologized and made friends with her.  The rest of the day she charged all of our drinks on El Spencer-O's account.  Awesome.  I think he would have bought anyway, but it was still funny to me.  Try to spot El Spencer-O in the picture below.  If you guessed the half-passed out guy on the right you are correct.

After our pool adventure we went up to our our room to get ready for dinner and a show.  We didn't pass out this time, but we did get into some elevator and hallway debauchery involving cartwheels and dancing.  Anna was so out of it she mixed up sunscreen with hair gel then forgot to get undressed when she got back into the shower to wash it out.  This photo was taken just afterwards.  Yup.

We all got cleaned up and made it to our reservation at Yellowtail just in time.  Yellowtail is a sushi restaurant at the Bellagio.  It was quite tasty.  After dinner, our waiter offered to take our picture out on the patio.  It was an amazing view and we just happed to get an up front, private view of the fountian show.  Anna was ecstatic!

After dinner we went to a show at New York New York called Zumanity.  It was a lot of fun and I totally recommend it if you are in Vegas with anyone other than your parents.  We did a little photo shoot in the hallway after the show and then went over to a dueling piano bar for some dancing.  Lots and lots of fun!!

What a trip.  Viva Las Vegas!!