Fight Hunger By Eating Panera?

Today has been a good day : )
Despite still being sick (seriously, it's been over a week now!) I heard about a 5k run nearby to fight hunger in the Rockies and was dying to take part. I've almost completely adjusted to the altitude and can breathe pretty normally in this thin air, so I thought a race for a good cause would be a worthwhile way to spend my Sunday morning. One of my new friends from work, Sarah, wanted to come along so we got up super early and drove out to Westminster, CO to register and get ready for the race. People brought their dogs and their kids, all ages- it was refreshing to see so many people out supporting the fight for hunger!














Sarah's a big runner so she went ahead of my sickly self and ended up running the whole 10k while I half ran/half walked the 5. I did the best I could under the circumstances and finished in 38 minutes which I'm not too ashamed of. The scenery was quite pretty though, we were a bit distanced from the mountains but it's been such a clear day that you could see the whole range from where we were. And early morning sun gives everything a certain glow.














There are so many trails in this part of the country, I love how outdoor-friendly everything is. Even where there are strip mall developments (like where our race began and ended, at the Panera) there are walking/jogging trails weaving all through to encourage people to get out and get exercise. That's so much harder to find on the east coast.





























So after the 3 (or 6) miles everyone completed, we ended up back at the Panera for a post-race feast! There were bagels, pastries, and sandwiches galore. And for a tightly-budgeted gal like myself it's always nice to get some free grub, especially when it's delicious Panera. Plus the leaves are turning and I'm getting to experience the glory of fall in Colorado for the first time. Those aspens sure are pretty against a blue sky.




















Anyway, Sarah's from up in the CO mountains and wants to show me around so hopefully I'll get to do some traveling around the state and hiking around while the leaves are still gorgeous and colorful. Until then, it's back for another long work week for this girl. Enjoy yours!

Oh the Joys of Working in Childcare

So I had my first (and hopefully last!) official sick day today. I had to leave work early yesterday because those germy kiddies gave me a fabulous case of the stomach flu. Yeah the throwing up, fever, ache, all the good stuff. I even threw up at work! What fun. I knew having to constantly wipe runny noses and deal with slobbery kid hands would eventually catch up with me. But after a day of drinking Pedialyte and eating Saltines, I'm feeling much better and will be clocking in tomorrow morning.

I don't want to sound so down on work though, I'm enjoying my job for the most part. My co-workers are becoming my new friends and the kids are *usually* adorable and cuddly. I certainly have my favorites but working with children in general is proving to be a rewarding use of my time. Sure, the pay is bad and the benefits are pretty weak but it's nice to know you're making an impact on kids' lives and helping to create well-rounded individuals.

Ah and there's this adorable little dude named Tresor who I've totally fallen for. He's almost 2, has a fabulous curly fro and always greets me when I walk into the room with an excited hand wave and a smiley "hi." He makes me melt! I'm trying not to play favorites but when there are guys like Tre in the classroom, it's hard to resist.

Otherwise, I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life in childcare but it's definitely an acceptable job for now and a pretty fun way to spend my time. So! There's a brief update, sorry there are no exciting pictures to post but I'm pretty sure nobody wants any graphic illustrations of my sick days.

What A Beautiful Town

As I'm about three weeks into my residence in Boulder, I am coming to know and absolutely love this town. I've found myself compelled on many an evening to take a drive around town and marvel in the charming houses, beautiful landscaping, and general wholesome and happy vibe that comes from young couples taking strolls down the sidewalks with new babies, students walking their dogs, and families taking evening bike rides together. Pretty much picture perfect.

In fact, I thought I'd try to capture some of these lovely houses I've discovered and share them with you guys. I will admit, walking around and snapping photos of houses looked a bit sketchy and in order to not look like a complete creep, I had to bypass capturing some of my favorites so this posting may be first of a series. But! I did snap a few beauties, so here goes!

We'll start with the historic monsters.

















And the new, but tasteful, money.

















































The quaint but fabulously charming.



























































And a personal favorite of mom's and mine.















Essentially, the only thing that could make this town better is for everyone I know and love to move here! Have I convinced you yet? I mean, how could you not want this mountain view as you're taking an evening stroll?
So if anyone is itching for a change of scenery, I'll happily be your personal house hunter : )
Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your weekends! I'm missing all of you a lot but trying to stay distracted so I won't think about it too much! I worked all week so that has kept me pretty busy, it's hard getting used to the full-time work gig but I'm definitely taking advantage of my weekends and loving them more than ever.

This morning for instance, I biked down to the Boulder Farmer's Market which was insane! Beautiful produce, flowers, baked goods- it was heavenly and full of all kinds of people. I also ventured down the street to the fabulous public library and got myself a Boulder library card. Legit stuff, people. Here's a lovely evening picture of the library. That's right, bridging the creek. Amazing. I'm very much enjoying this town and crazily wishing that you all will move out here too. I promise you'll love it!

Operation: Recover Chairs

So what do you do when your chairs are simply too dull?
Recover them, of course!
I am a color-loving girl, so I just couldn't deal with any more white/beige/tan going on in this apartment, so I found some clearance fabric and decided to attempt Martha Stewart-ness. Unscrewing the cushions, measuring the fabric, cutting it to fit-- starting tasks.



At Lesley's suggestion, I invested in my new best friend: a staple gun, to accomplish the task. I found it to be the perfect tool for the job, making my life easier as I was going to have to hammer in a bunch of little tacks- yikes. It took some getting acquainted to, but soon we became buds.



















Anyways, the process went much smoother than anticipated and I finished all four chairs in about an hour! Care to see a before and after?


Okay so clearly I'm having fun with my camera around here, but it's awesome to decorate your space and I'm stoked to have some more color in my life! (And it matches my hoodie, perf)


Okay then! Hope everybody has a great week, I have my unofficial first day of work at the preschool tomorrow- just shadowing with the girl who's leaving, it's gonna be a long day so I hope the kids are cute! And how could they not be, really. Okay nighty night!

The Bed Saga

So the bed finally came...3 huge boxes, nothing pre-assembled, just boards and screws and ridiculously cryptic instructions. Poor UPS guy earned his supper carrying it all up the three flights of stairs in the hot afternoon sun. It was made in Denmark and I guess they figured they'd make the instruction manual as multi-lingual friendly as possible by using no words, just numbers and fuzzy diagrams. Needless to say, it was a bit of a struggle to even figure out what I was looking at. And after lugging the 125+ pound mass of wood into my room, I started trying to decipher the instructions at around 3pm.

I worked nonstop on this thing, through many frustrations-- it was probably one of the most challenging things I've done in a long time, not only because it was totally unclear what to do but because it was heaaaavy and trying to screw in one side of the upper frame while balancing the other side and trying not to scratch the walls or let everything crash to the ground and anger the downstairs neighbors...was quite a task. They haven't kicked me out of the complex yet.

Plus after finally completing the construction of the bed, I was faced with trying to get the mattress onto it- not exactly a one woman job. But, I did it! And at about 8:30 last night the bed was complete and I was more than ready for some dinner. Ain't it purty?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about having this new bed or having to build it myself...it was just quite the challenging experience, especially for a little girl like me! Then again, this move is full of challenging experiences and this was just one of the first. I'm hoping it'll make me stronger. Couldn't hurt eh? My muscles are pretty sore, haha.

I also wanted to show my adorable, free (or ground score, as the rents call it), found-in-an-alley side table! Mom happened upon it on a walk through Boulder one afternoon and, though one leg had fallen off and it was missing a stabilizing crossbar, she recognized its awesomeness and so we went back later to claim it. Dad glued the leg back in place, and we brought home a perfect pine stick from our hike in Chatauqua to use for the missing crossbar. After some crafty work from Dad, the table looks good as new and absolutely perfect for my new place : )That's all for now, thanks for all the comments! I miss you guys a lot and hope this summer's end is treating you all well. Keep in touch!

Ma and Pa Hit the Road

Well, after a summer of planning, researching, resume-sending, dreaming and packing, I successfully made it across the country to Colorado. The trip itself was a bit stressful, for me anyway, but overall enjoyable and beautiful. I couldn't have done it without my parents who have been endlessly supportive, comforting, and helpful in all of this. I sound like I'm accepting a Grammy. Really though, Dad was our fearless driver for many long hours and Mom was a trooper in the isolation booth backseat. That car was loaded down with just about all of my worldly belongings...not to mention we were a 1700 mile driving advertisement for RoofBag.com! But we did it, and it was definitely worth it. Thanks for everything Mom and Pops! You guys are the best and are welcome to stay here whenever you want.

I'm so excited to have my very own apartment, no roommates, just freedom! And what a cute place I get to call home. Decorating this place has been a blast and I feel like the *almost* finished product definitely says a lot about my style and my interests. Here's a few images of my new, cozy home sweet home.


Eeee exciting! I'll get a bed in there eventually, it should arrive in the next few days and then I get to assemble the honker all by myself. We'll see how that goes!
The rents and I got to do a bit of hiking during the week that they were here- we saw some gorgeous vistas and tried to catch our breath in the high altitudes. I have a ton of pictures from the various trails and I'm going to try and set up a slide show and post it here to make them a bit more manageable, if anyone wants to check that out. Here's a little sample.

Aaanyways, Mom and Dad headed for home this morning. It's going to be strange to be here without them, they've done so much to help me and now I'm on my own. It's all good though, I'm ready for it and I'm so excited to be able to call this beautiful city my home. Thanks so much to everyone who has voiced their support and encouragement for this move-- it means the world to me and I'm blessed to have so many caring people in my life. I hope you will all come visit me out here!

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