Some family fun, a picnic, and off to the East

Sunday night we went out to celebrate Mel's graduation. To officially celebrate the first master's degree among the cousins- we had some fine dining at a place called Yak and Yeti - Cuisine of India & Nepal. I was a little nervous due to the shape both Wes and I were in from the previous night... but it ended up being great.. despite the fact that I actually felt like I was in India or Nepal solely due to the temperature inside the restaurant.

 Sorry Justin... this was SADLY the best picture of the 3 of you...

The ladies with Grammy/Boggie/Gog...

Monday night we decided to make a picnic and head over to a park near us to watch the sunset. It's in an area called "Hilltop". We really like it there a lot and especially because its high enough that you can see the mountains. My camera again does not do the view justice!

Only the classiest picnic-ers eat pasta out of frosted flakes bowls...

I finally got to use my picnic basket & wine glasses Leigh gave me for my shower. They were fab!

Lots of people brought their dogs up to the park while the sun was setting- and I could not resist taking a picture of this fabulous duo. Kenny the dog & Kenny's owner who thought Kenny was a human. Right before she would toss the ball for a simple game of fetch she would say "Kenny, please focus now".  Kenny also drinks out of poland spring bottles too...

We are headed out the door now to catch a flight to Hartford. We will be back East for 10 days for multiple weddings, family & friends visits, and tying up some lose ends we didn't have time to do when we left CT! Our trip is as follows: Denver -- Hartford-- Ridgefield-- Newport -- Ridgefield -- Hoboken (holler Rossi's!) -- Severna Park -- Baltimore -- Denver. We will be back the 8th and I will try to post some pics while we are gone. Et a la prochaine!

A week of nothing interesting..

Truly. We didn't do much this past week. It has been hot. In the high 90's all week. So we have been trying to stay cool indoors- and are still trying to figure out how to work this swamp cooler thing that is just a bizarro version of AC. I have given up on google searching "swamp cooler" as it has only confused me more..

We got our Colorado plates for the car this week...Wahoo!

We've been continuing to explore different areas. (Me = shopping/ food; Wes = work out trails/ ice cream places).. In Wes' searches this week- he found a really cool trail in Lowry- which is just East of the city. We have been running here because the views are phenomenal. My camera really does not do it justice.

The other day I decided to go out there by myself. I was enjoying a nice jog until I saw this sign:

I will probably not be taking any more solo trips there.

We got to see Sarah Watson as she was driving through Denver from work. We met for ice cream in Bonnie Brae. It's so fun to be in the same state!!

For the most exciting part of the week- Cara Kalriess (friend from Ridgefield who now lives in Denver) needed an extra girl for their flip cup team for a block party/flip cup tourney at a local bar. I gladly volunteered- as the '04 version of myself was feeling quite confident about my abilities.

I'm not going to lie- I was a little nervous once I saw the intense costumes and the amount of preparation that was put into this.  Even this Uconn Husky (Champions at Basketball & Beer drinking games) was a little out of her league...

TMNT (for Scott Erich)

There was both a US women's soccer team and a Japan women's soccer team. The guy dressed as Abby Wambach (far left in the back) was a spitting image of her.

It was 95 degrees out and this guy had a mask + cape on. Aggressive.

The Taco Team

The most intense Scooby team I have ever seen. I think they competed in the finals.

Then there was our team. The only team that did not have costumes or coordinating outfits. Maybe that contributed to our lack of wins. Coach Wes did everything he good to get us in the game- but we just couldn't pull it off. There is always next year...

After our sad showing at the tournament we headed to Cara & Tucker's place downtown. At this point, the boys had started drinking vodka which is right about the time when Wes decided to become a cat paparazzi. If only I had a camera to take a picture of Wes taking pictures of the cat. Thankfully for him, he doesn't remember this portion of the evening... but I couldn't help but post some of the feline photog's finest works:

And to Wes' defense, Simba (C&T's cat) is awesome. And yes, you heard that from me- the ultimate cat hater.

Safe to say we are laying low today. And by laying low, I mean not moving. Now I just need to invent something that instantly cures hangover...

Lack of Content...

First of all, I need to apologize in advance for the extreme lack of content this post will contain. Wes has been getting increasingly frustrated with my trigger finger on the camera- so I decided to take a little break this weekend. You will have to use your imagination for the missing pictures.

Friday night we headed downtown to see a Grateful Dead cover band (for those of you who know me- I'm sure you are laughing right about now- Grateful Dead is no Lil Wayne). Wes knew the drummer so in the spirit of branching out and meeting new people- we figured we should check it out.

When we first arrived - I couldn't hear the music because I was too busy singing "One of these things" in my head. Those of you who grew up on Sesame Street should know the song. 

Since I don't have any pictures- I've included this snapshot of how I viewed the beginning of our night:

Except the Beagles were all hippies smoking illegal substances and noodling like maniacs and the Dalmatian was me dressed head-to-toe in J.Crew. One of these things is not like the others... One of these things just doesn't belong!

The drummer that Wes knew grew up in Darien, so once his friends arrived - I felt a little less out of place. We met a bunch of really fun people and ended up grabbing dinner with them and going out downtown.  We ate at a place called Tag. Amazing food. Especially the tuna tacos. 

The next day we ventured over to Golden in the afternoon to meet Ted, Annie, and Whitney (Uncle, Aunt, & Cousin).

Home of Coors Brewing Co... And Wes had the audacity to order a Bud Light at dinner...

The unflattering result of a self-timer attempt...

Speaking of trigger fingers with the camera... it must be genetic.

Whit & Wes on our walk back

On Sunday we dressed in our USA best and headed to a bar in Cherry Creek to watch the Women's World Cup game. Extremely disappointing ending... but kudos to Japan and bringing some much-needed spirit to their country. Plus, I really liked their uniforms (our wedding colors - even down to the blue/white adidas stripe)

Anyways we are off to a good start this week- We have both made a few more good connections job-wise and we are making more headway in the apartment. It is HOT here - it has been in the high 90's all week. Still no humidity- but the sun is killer. Looking forward to when this heat wave passes!

I promise to have better content this week... I feel like I have given Wes a nice break in the photo-taking department, so its time he gets that photogenic smile back up & running! 

Fore!

Yesterday we decided to check out the golf course just up the street and get some much needed practice in. To play 9 holes its only $16- Talk about not being in Connecticut anymore! We picked the City Park course because it looked easy- and figured we couldn't really go wrong. We also heard the views were awesome.

That was true:

The part about thinking we couldn't go wrong- that was false. The best score I got on a hole was a double bogey. Wes' game would be stellar on a circle shaped hole (he can only hit right). And we definitely both redefined the term "wormburner".

At least Wes looks like a natural..

I, on the other hand, look like a robot.

I'm going to blame the above stance on awkward timing of the photo snap....

On our way to dinner, we got stuck in a hail storm. We waited in the car for a solid 20 minutes for it to pass. Here is a little glimpse of what I was staring at through the window (while Wes was having an in-depth phone conversation with Pete)

Today we did some exploring in Denver West- which is quite different from Denver proper (to say the least). Wes was in the market for a pair of shorts- so we checked out the Colorado Mills mall. We spotted this sign when we walked in. There are really no words to describe it....

And are those canes on the right hand side?? Even better.

We met my grandparents for lunch at a local Italian place- it was delicious!

And tonight, we got a surprise visit from the Andrew's clan on their way to visit Liz in Wyoming. It was so fun seeing them in Denver and we had fun catching up with Craig, Nellie, and Sus! We are definitely looking forward to the next family reunion when ALL Erich's & Andrew's will be in one spot!

We were also lucky enough to get a "Missouri Send Off" from Craig. I tried to record it- but due to brand new window tints, we couldn't roll down the front windows. The video is mostly just pure confusion on my part - a bit of me trying to climb over the seat to see out the back window - a little bit Blair Witch Project too- but I think there is a TINY glimpse of the send-off. Thanks for the send-off Craig!

Fun Filled Weekend + Bed Building

On Saturday we woke up bright and early so I could drop off Wes at Justin's. The boys were heading up to Evergreen to play golf. Wes was very excited to be sporting the Groomsmen Cup vest from Pat & Michelle's wedding. They had a blast and Wes did pretty well. He shot closer to 100 than 200... which was an improvement that he could actually KEEP score. And he got a par on one hole - wahoo!

While the boys were drinking bloody marys on the course, I hit up the pool with the girls. We talked a lot about the future Walker baby- Katie is about 6 weeks out... I was concerned the little guy was getting sunburned in there- but she assured me he was not.

After lunch- I insisted that we take a picture... with my self timer...which shows more of the hood of the car than us... and its really far away & blurry... I promise to get better at this.

Saturday night we decided to explore Cherry Creek North a little. We tried a tapas place down the street. It was delish. We also had a drink at a hip spot with awesome outdoor couches & a fire pit. Wes told me I wasn't allowed to take a picture there- since that was "uncool".. so I tried to tackle the self timer again. Still learning..

Sunday we went to a bunch of open houses in the area. We were curious to see what the real estate market was like in Denver. Let's just say we aren't in Darien anymore... and that is a good thing!

Best part of the day was the rainbow after all of the storms. It was no "double rainbow" but it certainly was cool to see out our front porch:

We spent a good portion of the day today trying to build our new bed. We got a great deal on it at West Elm... but the store associates left out the minor detail that we would have to build it. For some reason I only thought you had to build Ikea furniture-  I was misinformed.

Hour 1:

Hour 2:

Hour 3 (and self timer attempt #3):

Unfortunately I can't post a picture of the finished product... because it is not finished. We were missing two screws and the headboard was the wrong height. So maybe tomorrow I will be able to post a picture of the final project. I know the suspense will be killing all of you.

Lastly, at Target today I saw this sign and had to post it for Sarah...White Plains Target TAKE NOTE. This sign would have come in handy circa 2006.

Monsoon?

We got our first taste of crazy weather yesterday. It was about 4:00 and sprinkling (which it normally does here for about 5 minutes every day). Wes decided to go for a run... and then within 10 minutes the skies opened up. There was an emergency/tornado siren going off in the area...Panic. My first reaction was to sit under my desk, as I had been taught in elementary school in Texas.. then I realized I was upstairs, in a lofted space with tons of windows... so I went downstairs and hung out in the bathroom until it was over. Probably a little aggressive- since there was no tornado near us- but this Connecticut girl was not used to such things.

Wes apparently turned around on his run when he heard the siren. He opened he door with an "I'M ALIVE!" Always a nice thing to hear after an afternoon jog. Turning around mid-run certainly did not stop him for getting soaked..

There was also a flash flood warning. Luckily we didn't really get much flooding around us- but there were some frightening pictures of areas in Denver.

The best part about being in Denver- is that this morning its a beautiful sunny 75 degrees. Wes is out for a bike ride and I am about to take a walk. Us east coasters are certainly not used to just a few hours of rain. Had this happened in CT, we probably would have been trapped inside for a week before the sun came out again!