With Age Comes Wisdom...

More wisdom teeth that is.  I went in for my semiannual dentist check-up last week and after some x-rays and general cleaning, they were able to identify what had been bothering me: ANOTHER wisdom tooth.

I was displeased at the news to say the least.  I had two wisdom teeth removed in high school and it was a generally miserable experience.  My younger brother still loves to taunt me to this day about how I cried while in a drug-induced haze.  It was painful and something I was assured I was done with.

But sure enough there it was on the screen for all to see...one more to go.  "Luckily" (according to the dentist) it had erupted and would be a cinch to get out.  RIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHHT.  I scheduled the appointment for this past Friday, but then rescheduled it to Wednesday so I could just get it over with...all the while defying logic and reason because I had an interview Thursday AND Katie's holiday party Thursday night.  After some gentle coersion, i.e. complete and total overtaking of my life (in a good way), Katie convinced me to move it back to Friday.

And it actually went down just as the dentist described.  I was in and out in 30 minutes - even with the obligatory Tebow talk - and besides some soreness over the weekend, it was a true non-event.  So adios wisdom tooth number three!  Hopefully the Tooth Fairy has something sweet up her sleeve...

See ya sucker!

Happy Turkey Day!

From the 30,000 feet:



Yes. This is what the Parisian's call "Thanksgiving dinner".  I didn't take a picture of what they called "pumpkin pie". When we landed - both Emily and my Mom said "THAT'S WHAT THAT WAS??!" A for effort here- but I'm thinking Paris should stick to what they are good at. And that is basically anything besides turkey dinner.

We landed safely in New York- and were on our way to Connecticut for a nice weekend at home. We cooked our real turkey dinner on Friday- and it was amazing.

Our amazing chefs:

The candle lighter & the sommelier

The feast:

If you are curious what that is in the top right... it was my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner. I really was trying hard. Until I realized my turkey themed cupcakes had no return. Yes, I know, it looks like a blind dog decorated them. But the caramel buttercream frosting made them taste decent... so once we could get over the fact that it looked like a turkey special ed class- I think everyone was pleased.

Friday night was my 10 year high school reunion- which was an all you can drink affair. I think Wes & the other husbands got their full money's worth... and enjoyed sitting at a booth by themselves pounding as many bud lights as they could.

While the reunion was fun- and it was nice to catch up with old friends- I was so happy to be with my girlfriends who I miss dearly being out in Colorado. It's hard to believe we have all been friends for over 20 years now. Equally as close now- as we were in elementary school. And it's so amazing that a second generation will be entering the world in a few short weeks- it's amazing how time flies!

A bit hungover on Saturday- we headed to Westchester to FINALLY meet baby Reed Jackson & catch up with Pat and Michelle. Reed is to die for. Such a cute little peanut. It made us miss them so much to see their wonderful family!

We got back in time for the 2nd annual turkey bowl. This year was a BIT more rough than last year. I think the presence of more males from the Lohse clan contributed to this. But I was thankful to be on Kralik's team... therefore my team won.

After a week of fun- Sunday was time to buckle down and do some chores around the house. I wish I had pictures of the damage the snow storm caused to my parents house. It was devastating. So many trees had fallen down- I barely recognized our yard. Unfortunately there was not much we could do- but be thankful for the lifetime supply of firewood my parents now have.

Wes standing in front of the mulch pile (this was only half way through the clean up!):

Mom with the leaf blower.... Dad with the chainsaw.

The barn clean out....

We were sad to be leaving on Monday morning- but were looking forward to getting back to the daily grind in Denver. It was such a great family vacation- we couldn't have asked for anything more for the holiday! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday as well!!!

j'aime Paris!

Since it was going to be on of our last opportunities to fly Open Skies (the airline my dad worked for)- we decided to take a jaunt over the pond to beautiful Paris for a few days before Thanksgiving. Being the 2nd time in Paris for us together, I decided to teach Wes the finer part of European traveling -- doing absolutely nothing. This was a fine art I learned when my parents lived in London... travel to Europe to... Sit around. Eat. Read a book. Explore. Walk with no direction. Go to a park. Take the tube to a random stop. Eat local foods. Get to know the local bums (London still is home to many of my favorites). So it was time Wes experienced the Erich way of traveling. And I must say- he was a sucker for it. By the end of the trip he had learned to love all of the wonderful parts of traveling to Europe with no agenda or purpose. I couldn't have been happier.

We were lucky enough to be joined by my brother Scott and his girlfriend Emily. We met at Newark and after a little hassle with TSA (and by little- I mean we are lucky Wes didn't get arrested for trying to defend his triathlon massage tool that the TSA officer thought was a "club-like item")- we were off to Paris!

After 6 quick hours of restless sleep- and a serious in-flight scare on approach to Paris- We were thankful to be on the ground at Orly. We spent Sunday & Monday exploring Paris. Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures - because we were too busy eating cheese and drinking cafe au laits (albeit, not together).

At Nespresso... OBVI I had to visit the headquarters....

An afternoon snack of wine & cheese:

Adding out "lock of love" to the Pont de l'Archeveche near Notre Dame. Thankfully my mom knew all about this tradition- and brought locks for all of us to lock to the bridge!

Mom & Dad outside their old apartment. I was coveting the blue door:

Tuesday we decided to take the train to Brussels for the day. Pete was in town for business- and he didn't have to work- so he came with us on a culinary hunt for beer, waffles, and chocolate. I was really excited to take the train and see the French country side... the boys... were not as excited:

(If you can't tell- the dynamic duo is fast asleep.)

Our first food stop covered all our bases. It was only 11 AM and we had already covered beer, waffles, and chocolate (and hands down, probably the best chocolate I have EVER eaten).

We didn't really have a plan. And we had a map/guidebook written by a monkey. So we spent the majority of the afternoon roaming and getting lost. We found the Mannekin Pis - who was disappointingly small and wearing strange Uncle Sam pajamas...

Luckily the boys found a better, life size, plastic version- holding a waffle. We really got out culture in.

Halfway through the day- we realized we had forgotten 2 very important famous foods of Belgium: Mussels & French fries. So we were on a hunt for one or both. Not without a stop at the public, outdoor urinal... WHAT?!

(don't worry - he is not really using it... and yes- that is me in the background trying to distance myself from the dynamic duo posing for photos at the creep-o-nal)

A stop for some Gluhwein at an awesome bar in the main square...

And another stop for mussels and fries (with clearly had too much beer in our system)

And we knew it was time to call it a night when the "bro wearing shades" was asking the innocent women of Brussels for directions...

We spent our last day in Paris exploring more... and saying goodbye to a city we loved infinitely more than we did 4 days before. We made sure to go back to the spots we missed. Eat as many pastries and baguettes as possible. And Wes had to make sure to get his last Djibouti Dream- his new favorite night cap. Kaluha, Baileys, Vodka. Sounds like death to me. But it was a fan favorite of the Erich family for the week.

On Thanksgiving morning- I couldn't help but wake up in our hotel in Paris and be so incredibly thankful for such an amazing family trip to Paris. It was the end of a chapter for the Erich's... and we left Paris with some amazing memories. I'm sure there will be bigger and better cities lined up next for my parents- and we can't wait to find out what's next (perhaps Hawaiin Airlines, Dad??).

Awesome Visit with My Parents

This past weekend we had the distinct pleasure of my parents coming to visit, which was so much fun from start to finish.  They arrived Friday morning and I spent the day getting them acquainted with Denver...learning neighborhoods, seeing some sites, all the usual out of towner goodies.  Sadly I had class Friday night (the final stage in my IV class which was practical night - two hours of putting IVs into classmates - great times!).  Katie held down the fort with the parents and took them to a great Chinese restaurant down the street, while simultaneously watching game 7 of the World Series.  I got home earlier than expected and we finished Day 1 off in the best way possible: the Cardinals completing their improbable run to be World Series champs!  Katie was decked out as you can see below.

I wish the photo captured the red long underwear as well...

 Saturday we were up and at 'em early so we could cram as much stuff in as possible.  We started the day off with some bagels and a scenic drive out to Red Rocks so Lowell could live out his rock n roll dreams on the stage there.  (Ok, his dream would have included a crowd and fans cheering for a drum solo, but we did what we could.)

After a trip down Red Rocks history lane we went downtown to walk around and tour LoDo (lower downtown).  We had lunch at Ted's Montana Grill - Ted Turner that is - and it was delicious.  But not before we witnessed a gorilla parade...the annual running race that is.  Sadly, we didn't get footage of the guy riding the mini-tricycle.

The ladies went for afternoon manicures while I popped out for a quick run sandwiched between man time watching college football.  We finished the day with another great dinner and Katie and I went out for friend Matt's birthday party.  It being Halloween and all, we threw together some costumes (I know, unlike me that I wouldn't have planned my gear out months in advance).

This ballerina is an absolute babe.

Sunday was another jam packed day with some house viewings in the AM and then an 11 o'clock kickoff for the Ravens.  We spent the first quarter at the Ravens bar in town - which was sadly disappointing not only because of the play but because the crowd was weak...likely a post-Halloween sleep-in for many.  We relocated to a slightly classier venue and watched a great comeback by the Birds.  Not thrilled with the first half obviously, but a W is a W.  In the afternoon, we went up to Boulder to see the firehouse where I volunteer as well as watch some exciting cyclocross racing at the new Valmont Bike Park.  Cyclocross is off road riding on road bikes with obstacles, i.e. sand pits, mud, stairs.  We positioned ourselves at the top of the stairs and saw lots of action.

It was awesome!  The weather was also incredible and what I consider to be true Colorado weather...65, sunny, and perfect views of the mountains. 

We finished Day 3 with some carry out as everyone was pretty tuckered out.  Pizza and Sunday night football...fine by me!

Worn out parental units

The parentals left Monday morning and it was sad to see them go after such a great visit.  It went by so quickly!  I think they saw a lot of what makes us so happy living here and we can't wait to have them back out for the next visit.  Thank you both so much for coming out.  We're off to St. Louis tomorrow for the rest of the week and I am fired up for some toasted raviolis!!!

The Delinquent Blogger

I sat down at my computer about 30 minutes ago trying to decide how to reintroduce myself to the blog. About two months ago I wrote that it would be the first and last time I would abandon the blog for more than 3 weeks. Well, I have clearly surpassed that... and have been sitting here with a sheepish look on my face... Only this picture can portray how I feel at this moment:

I've listed below a few reasons to hopefully explain my utter lack of blogging- and then I will move on to the bigger and better things and upload some pictures from the past month. I'm going to back date them- so that for future references when reading this blog- it isn't so disjointed.

REASON #1: 
I work in a place that believes that employees will work more efficiently if we are reminded of how we once functioned in 1997. My computer isn't as large as our massive family Gateway computer, and I do not have Netscape or dial-up AOL, but I am not far off. No e-mail, no facebook, no videos, no blogs, no twitter, no napster, no opening files from non-company email addresses (stranger danger). This has prohibited me from posting- or even looking at- the blog from 7:30 - 5:00 daily.

A quick side note -- at my job I have had the pleasure of surfing for stock photos for hours on end -- and typically end up in tears from laughing so hard at some of the pictures photographers think companies will buy. I've decided to incorporate some into this post- since I assume they will never be used otherwise. Your welcome, crappy photographers.


Just a typical day at the office for me....

My co-worker just got the new iPhone... it's awesome!

REASON #2:
Camera trauma. Right after we returned from Vegas, I happened to put my camera in my purse-- along with a unsealed bottle of water. About an hour later when I wondered why my hand was soaking when searching for my wallet- I realized there had been a flood and the camera was the #1 victim. Wes took it like a champ (he was playing corn hole at the time- thank god for that distraction). Kristen mentioned putting it in rice- which I didn't have- so we tried Quinoa- which did not work. RIP Sony Cybershot.

Oh no! My camera!!

The aftermath... my camera was also the official camera of the maiden voyage of the Titanic..

REASON #3:
I haven't had a chair at my desk until last week. We tried moving my computer to Wes' desk, but that wasn't working because my clutter started to eat up his desk. So we moved it back to the drafting table- and I was sans chair. Silly, I know. But I needed comfort if I was going to transcribe the past month of our life.

Wes and I just could not agree on who got to sit where...



Finally I just said-- I NEED A CHAIR!

 


REASON #4:
Pure procrastination. Those who know me, know that I TEND to procrastinate. College final tomorrow at 10 AM? I'll start studying at about 11 PM the night before. Packing to leave for a big trip? Oh no, that doesn't get started until at least 1 AM the day we are leaving.


Why post on the blog when I could read the newspaper in my rocking chair on the train tracks?

Or eagerly watch TV in my man jammies on my 1980's couch?

Hopefully there is at least one reason (and photographic explanation) that will suit your needs as to why I am so behind. I will hopefully be up to date within the next week. The Maughan's are in town this weekend- so we have a fun-filled weekend planned- but...

I promise, promise, promise to be better about this.

Disclosure: Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. All of these photos, with the exclusion of the cute baby beagle, are courtesy of the worst, most untalented photographers who submit their sub-par work to istockphoto.com and expect businesses to pay them actual money. The statements made in this document do not reflect the opinions of istockphoto.com and should be discussed with your design professional prior to investing. Investing in istockphotos is risky, and you could lose a portion or all of your money (and dignity).

This week in Denver weather...

Monday - high of 80, sunny, gorgeous
Tuesday - high of 60, sunny in AM, cloudy in PM
Wednesday - high of 30, and 6-10" of snow!

The local bike sharing hub this morning...

A sad day in sports for our household...

I (Wes) am in class every night this week and had grand plans to come home and catch up on the Ravens Monday Night Football contest against the Jaguars.  And let's be honest, I was thinking it wouldn't be much of a contest.  I had every intention of going back and starting from the first quarter and basking in victory all the way through...until I accidentally saw the score in the fourth quarter and we were trailing 9-0!!!  9-0.  As in ZERO points so far???  I tuned in immediately and watched the last 10 minutes as we desperately tried to claw our way to a W.  But no dice.  Pathetic.

Ray Rice having an uncharacteristically weak night.

Meanwhile, Katie was having her own issues next to me as she was following the World Series on her iPad.  The Cards were down and it was looking dire.  She was hoping against hope that Pujols could relive the magic of game 4.  Sadly, it wasn't meant to be and the Cards fell behind 3-2 in the Series.  (Side note: why was Katie following on her iPad?  Because we were recording two things on the DVR so she wasn't able to watch live.  Oh, the sacrifices she (we) makes for Hart of Dixie...unfortunately, I don't think Dr. Rachel Bilson will make it past season one on this one.)  There is hope though: the Cards are back in the Lou for Game 6 and can pull it even at 3 games a piece, forcing a Game 7!  Let's do this!!!

Denver with the Rossi's

After a rather exciting 48 hours in Vegas, we headed back to Denver with the Rossi's. Saturday we headed into the mountains to go on a long hike. Sadly, I was more out of breath than Kristen & Nick... and I have been living here for 3+ months now.

We were hiking a trail called Maxwell falls... because we thought it might be cool to try and check out a waterfall. Wes, being the outdoorsy man that he is, felt like it would be best for him to lead the pack. This worked great until we somehow got off path and before we knew it were on a vertical climb up some massive boulders.

At this point- we were beginning to question where these "falls" were and I was beginning to question Wes' orienteering skills. We took pit stop for me to drink 2 liters of water and for Kristen to mysteriously sit in bird poop.

Don't worry Kris, I'll wipe it off for you. Girl Scouts 4 Life.

We finally saw the sign for Maxwell Falls and knew we were close. We couldn't hear the crashing waters... but the excitement was building...

... Until we walked about 10 feet farther only to realize the "Falls" was actually a tiny, fairly stagnant stream. 

So as we stood there in disappointment- Wes found a far off cliff and suggested we try to get to the top of it. My first response: You are certifiable. That is not something people climb. That is off limits. We'll get arrested. We'll die. Then, to my disbelief, we saw 2 people emerge on the cliff... and I could no longer use any of my previous excuses. So the extreme hike continued...

I needed a break again. About 10 attempts on the self-timer. Thank you guys for still being my friend

And onto the big climb. Shockingly we made it up- even with Nick's less-than-ideal footwear. And I couldn't have been more thankful that my certifiable husband forced us to go there. The views were breathtaking. The aspen's were just turning and you could see spots of bright yellow here and there.

All in all, it was an awesome hike. We are so lucky to be living in a place with beautiful views like this so close. I'm pretty sure if we walked as far as we did in Connecticut- I would either be 1) on a farm  2) in Gun Wavin' (new haven) or 3) in the dirty long island sound. None of those compare to this!

That night we decided to check out the "speakeasy" downtown. It was- well- a bit like Maxwell Falls. Disappointing. The idea was cool- and the place was great. But it was WAY to pretentious for Denver- and I might go as far to say too pretentious for CT. That is saying a lot. They made Nick get egg whites in his drink- when all he wanted was a Bud Light. Both Kristen and I dropped our drinks (I will blame the poor glassware). And Wes ordered something with 151 in it. Sadly- the only photo we got there was a bit blurry. Probably better so you couldn't see the drinks all over our dresses.




















It was Tucker, Ethan, & Frank's birthday celebration that night at Chloe- so we decided to venture there. They were playing ridiculous techno music (Nick was fist pumping, Kralik was eye-rolling). Here is where things started to go downhill fast. I am going to blame this one either on the 5 Hour Energy Kris made me consume OR the strange drinks from the pretentious speak easy.

Not our proudest moment:

Before I knew it Kristen gave me the "its time to go" look. Nick was giving some Jersey smack talk to the bouncers. Wes was dragging me out the door.

We had a really friendly cab driver. Who apparently took our picture when we got home. Rude of him not to tell me my eyes were closed in every picture. But I guess I'll forgive him.

The next day we relaxed, watched football at the local Raven's bar and had a corn hole rematch (Kris and I had lost BADLY to the boys on Saturday). Unfortunately, Team K did not beat Team Husbands - but at least it was a beautiful day to enjoy the park. I don't have any pictures of this because this was the day my camera was drowned in water in my purse. RIP Sony Cybershot.

But it was an awesome visit with the Rossi's. We LOVED having them here and can't wait for many, many more visits! Next time: China Bowl in Vail! (or not- if I have anything to say about it!)