The New House

Welcome to chaos! AKA, our new house! YAY!
After six (crazy busy, quite pleasant, slightly cramped toward the end) weeks living in a hotel in Boulder, we have finally moved into our very own home! One of the crazy things about leaving Miami was that it took them ELEVEN hours to pack up our belongings to get them ready to move. Chris took the day off today to hang with the movers thinking it might take all day again, and it took them just about 3 1/2 hours to unpack everything. And I mean *every*thing!

The way it works is that they take everything out of boxes and just put it all onto whatever flat surface is nearby. Separated, of course, into the correct room. I had to go to work today, so when I got home I was greeted by the sight of ALL of our belongings, all over the house. Made me appreciate the eleven hours it took to pack everything up!

My supervisor told me to go home a little early since she knew I was chomping at the bit to get back here. My new drive takes me past the Coors Brewery, which is served by several train tracks and roads. That place is huge! On the way home tonight I had to pause for a train. I took that as a signal to relax a bit. I'd get there eventually...

                                 

So here's a tour of some of the house. With chaos.

Here is our master bedroom, as taken from the door of our closet. Thankfully that pile on the bed is mostly blankets and other large objects. Didn't take too long to unearth it. Through that arched doorway is a neat side-room thing. For now it will be an office, and will eventually likely be used as a nursery.

This is our master bathroom. I looove our sinks! That box on the floor is one I got the summer between my Junior and Senior years of college. It has carried bathroom stuff every move since. Chris says since we'll likely be living here awhile I should probably get rid of it. It's been a very faithful box - a playing of Taps might be in order the day it goes into the recycling bin.

Here is the guest bedroom. The bed is piled up with almost every picture frame we own. Can't wait to get them all hung up :) Out that window is a really neat view of the ridge just to the south of our town. Coming from the other side you'd have no idea there's a whole city over here.

This is .. the other bedroom. We haven't decided what it is for, yet. So for now it's just storage.

Here's the living room, with our excellent gas fireplace! A neat feature: there is a crawlspace underneath the living room, which is good for running cables, and also acts as an amplifier for the sound system. Hellooooo base! Another surprise from the crawlspace - the sellers left us a sledding saucer in there :)

This is the kitchen, currently mostly empty. The dishwasher is super complicated! It's got all these moving, configurable racks. Definitely going to take some learning. Also, my orchid (on the left) started to put off a new shoot a couple days ago. Didn't think it would make the move, and here it is having a growth spurt! Excitement.

And my personal favorite, and the first thing I saw when I got home today... The contents of our kitchen, completely laid out, all over the front room of the house. Oh, Kitchenaid stand mixer, ohhhh bread machine, how I have missed you! Now if only we could find you...

So there you have it, brave reader. Our awesome, if momentarily extremely messy, house! Will be back with more updates as we get things sorted out :)

Happy Dreaming

Two weeks until we close on the house! Can tell I'm excited because the last two nights I have had dreams about using our appliances. That Kitchenaid stand mixer never looked so good..

Pan con Bistec

This morning we went to the Boulder Farmer's Market, and got some yummy things! Three different artisan balsamic vinegars - fig, white lavender, and dark chocolate (YUM). My salads will be so happy for these additions! Also, I can't wait to have an oven so I can make chocolate cupcakes with raspberry topping drizzled in that dark chocolate balsamic.

We also got me some new tennis shoes. Had a foot checkup yesterday and the doc said there's not much to do but wear firm shoes with insoles and NO YOGA. Or running. Basically the same I've been doing for months. I guess I'll have to become a gym or pool rat until this thing heals up more. He said hiking is ok, so the plan is to get in as good of shape as I can this winter so I am ready for hiking come spring. Oh, and snowshoeing is ok too! That will definitely happen in the next couple months.

And then for lunch we went to Cuba Cuba. Yup, it was time to try some Cuban food outside of Miami. Here's the outside. Cute, right? The inside was decorated with canisters of Cafe Bustelo and they played Spanish music I recognized.

And here is a picture of my lunch. Pan con bistec, of course, maduros and a Jupina - tastes like Hialeah! 

Well.. almost. The maduros were great - they got just the right amount of caramelization on the edges, just how I like it. Jupina, of course, was good. Chris's lechon asada... could have used more mojo. It mostly just tasted like grilled pork. And the pan con bistec... ehhhhh... They desperately needed to marinate it longer. It didn't have that yummy tangy marinated taste I love. And they put a ton of lettuce on it, which diminished the taste further. Also, the bread wasn't right. I think they get a C on the pan con bistec. They tried, and some bites were about right, but it was a far cry from a Subs & Rock sandwich.

I've heard there are a couple other places in town that one can find a pan con bistec. Including one of the more expensive restaurants where it costs about $15! But I will continue my search and at some point might need to try my hand at making my own. We'll see :)

Learning Golden

Another busy week in CO!
Last weekend we spent Saturday in Golden, attending a football game and the annual Chili Cook-off and Beer tasting. And then on Sunday we went for a 'little' hike to help burn off all that chili and beer. YES. Great way to spend a weekend!

Here is our awesome marching band, promoting the Chili Cookoff, at halftime. Yup, their outfits are just a pair of dark jeans and red flannel shirts, with hard hats..

This is me with our mascot - Marvin the Miner :D

This is a view of the crowded Chili event.

Every year students hike up to the M on this mountain, carrying a 10 pound rock. When they arrive, they whitewash the M and leave their rock. When students graduate, they are encouraged to hike back up to the M and take a rock with them. New faculty and staff are encouraged to participate as well, so next fall I will get to make my trek.

 On Sunday we went for a hike to the Royal Arch, from Chautauqua Park. This is the view as we started our hike. The park is a 5 minute drive from our hotel. We didn't doctor anything in this picture - it really looked that amazing!

And then a view from up at the Arch, 1,500 feet up from where we started at the car. The first is a view of one of the flatirons, through the Arch, and the second is a view of the University of Colorado from up above.

This week we also had snow, and I flew to IL to stand up in my good friends Ari & CJ's wedding. That will have to be another post. For now it is time for dinner! 

House Signing

We signed on a house!! What a crazy thing to do. A friend joked to me that my "Adult" card from AARP should be coming in the mail soon. This certainly feels like the year of becoming more grown up (being grown up is expensive!).

We should be in the house one month from now. The Monday before Thanksgiving. On the down side, we'll have to spend the long weekend unpacking. On the up side, we'll have the long weekend to unpack, we'll get to cook our own Thanksgiving meal, and will be able to curl up by our very own fireplace at the end of the holiday. Yup, I'm going to take every bit of romantic, sappy newlywed enjoyment out of that I can. :)

Meeting the Foothills

Busy weekend! Yesterday we looked at our top few houses again, and found out that while we were looking at them all, our probable #1 pick was being signed for by someone else. Lost that one. Oh well. So the house hunt continues this week. We'll go see our #2 again and see if we decide to move on it. Also, I finally got a smart phone this afternoon - welcome to this century, right? 

On top of all that, we went for our first CO hike together today! This hike just off my daily commute. During the spring/summer there will be enough light to take this lovely walk after work.

For those who are wondering, my foot is ok with our hike today. It's not super happy with me, but it doesn't seem to be swelling or anything. If it is not too sore tomorrow, this will mean I've made some good progress with healing. Cross your fingers!