Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween 2008


I think Halloween is one of our favorite occasions. Many people call it a holiday, but is it really? I mean banks aren't even closed and they close for everything. Sidney was very excited this year. I am sure she is excited every year, but this is the first Halloween we have all lived together so I got to feel her excitement first hand.



Sidney decided to go as a goth girl and picked out every detail of her costume. She looked like some of the girls I went to school with when being goth was kind of in, well as in as it could be. Her friend Sedona also went as a goth girl. Sedona's sister Veronica was dressed in a sort of evil court jester costume. All 3 girls were so cute.



This year we decided to stick around our community. We have a close community with 80 townhomes so getting lots of candy quickly is pretty simple. It's also fun to see all the neighbors out enjoying the trick or treaters. People pretty much hibernate once the pool closes for the summer, so the few holidays we can get out and visit are fun. Halloween is usually a cold sometimes snowy night, but this year the weather was amazing and this brought lots of people out.

The girls made out like bandits, so much so we had Sidney pick out a 2 week supply of her favorites. I was surprised she didn't complain at all. I know when I was a kid, there was no way I was giving up my loot!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

HALLO-PA-LOOZA

Wow! I have truly fallen behind! My apologies! Things have been a bit crazy at work. I've been leading the IT effort of moving our Denver office and combining it into our Thornton office. Considering the Thornton office was an acquisition, this was no small feat. Add to that a quick trip to Pittsburgh has led to me neglecting the zoo.


Anyway, on October 25th, my friend Ken had a Halloween party at his house, dubbed Hallo-pa-looza. Angie dressed as a 1920's flapper girl and I went as a mobster. It's been a long time since I went to a Halloween party. We had a lot of fun. I hadn't seen Ken or his girlfriend Kathryn in a while, so it was good to get together with lots of old friends!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Lunch Date



Taylor came for a visit this weekend, giving Angie's mom the chance to meet her. Earlier in the week, I had made arrangements to meet Alex for lunch at Rock Bottom Brewery in Loveland. Since this is close to their home, I brought Taylor along for the late lunch. Alex took her home from there.

It was nice to be able to visit with both the girls and spend time with them alone, but we all missed Angie, who was working, and Sid, who was home playing. I don't blame Sid, what 10 year old wants to spend half her day in the car when she could be outside playing. Alex, Taylor, and I had a very casual lunch and caught up on school goings ons, Alex's jobs (she works at Dairy Queen and also at a corn maze for Halloween), and Taylor's horse.

With Alex and Taylor being so busy, more frequent lunches will have to happen so I can keep up with their important stuff!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Visit From Lady in Idaho



Angie's mom Roxann came to visit from Idaho. She really came to help out Bill and Cindy since they just moved into a new home in Westminster, but she spent the first couple days with us. Sidney was at her dad's the first night, so Angie, Roxann, and I went to the Elephant Bar for dinner. None of us had ever been there, but it's one of aunt Cindy's favorite places, and we wanted something different. So we decided to give it a try and are glad we did.



Angie and Roxann ran errands and then picked Sidney up from her dad's on Sunday. All the ladies went for tea from there. Sidney was very excited to see grandma and tea time allowed them to catch up with the latest news. After a busy day out on the town it was decided we should have dinner at home, relax and visit. While relaxing and watching TV, the girls gave themselves facials. Monday morning I took Roxann to Bill and Cindy's in Westminster on my way to work.



Roxann returned to our house on Friday and treated us all to pizza from GE-Jo's. Taylor also came down to spend the weekend. This gave them an opportunity to meet for the first time which they both enjoyed.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sidney the Babysitter

Littleton Public Schools has recently added "late start" days to the children's schedule. The students start 2 hours later 12 times throughout the year. Trent, Danielle's son, comes over to the house at 8am and Sidney makes him breakfast and they play games together. She gets paid and really enjoys her time with Trent. Sid also signs Trent out of school each day so he is able to ride the bus home. Sidney has taken these resposibilities so seriously.

Trent is such a sweet boy. He plays over in our court yard quite a bit after school or on weekends with all of the girls. He always makes sure he comes by to say hi. He is quite the comedian, he uses his hands to talk and many facial expressions and he loves to play "Guess What?" He makes me laugh.

Mama's Day Out

Being busy moms, it is hard to get away for half the day, let alone coordinated with another schedule. My friend Danielle won a silent auction at one of her work's benefit parties earlier this summer. It entailed a day out in downtown Littleton, tea for two, gift certificate from $10 - $50 at certain stores and lunch at Opus. She invited me along for the festivities.

Danielle was outside waiting in the car at 9am, just as planned...smile on her face... ready to go...not looking back. Danielle is a mother of 2, Trent (5) and Tatumn (2), so her schdule is more challenged than mine. She is a neighbor whom I have grown close with over the summer.

Our first stop was a garage sale we saw along the way. Then we quickly moved on to find caffeine. We didn't realize the shops opened at 10 but a nice man let us in to Abe's Cafe, which is a quaint Greek restaurant, for mochas and conversation. When it was time, we ventured out and started browsing boutiques and specialty shops along the way. The weather was perfect. We stopped at a little store for tea and dessert. It was so cute in there. To me, this is what made our girl's day. It was girly, it was pretty, it was cute and it is what I imagined a tea shop to be. It had large glass containers filled with pretty candy and the kind of chocolate you don't want to eat because it is so fancy. People must have thought we were tourists...

We browsed several more stores and then we were off to meet our reservations at Opus, a very fancy restaurant. We shared each other's entrees because we couldn't decide what to get. Besides, isn't that what girlfriends do??? It was such a perfect day, with the company, the weather and the price!!!

After lunch we went into Savory Spice where all they sell are...spices of course. Neal and I enjoy cooking and trying new things, we are into spicy and surprisingly, Sidney is enjoying testing her taste buds. I got a bottle of fajita seasoning that smells so good, we are looking forward to trying it. A couple stores down was a specialty chocolate store, with big, beautiful caramel apples in the window. Being Sidney's favorite, how could I resist??? I also got Neal a chocolate covered chili pepper.

Thank you Danielle, for sharing your special day with me. It truly was a perfect mama's day.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Race for the Cure



Today we did the Race for the Cure. Sunday morning's forecast called for rain but it turned out to be a perfect sunny Sunday morning. We all got up early for a weekend morning, picked up Sidney's friend Rachel, and headed for the Light Rail. Considering there were over 60,000 people who participated in the race, it turns out the Light Rail was a good choice.



We did not pre-register for the event so we had to take care of that when we arrived at the Pepsi Center. We found a new friend while standing in line to register. Charmaine had come downtown to join the race herself. Apparently her husband didn't want to get out of bed. Since she was walking alone, we had her join us. It was awesome to see how many people came out.



I didn't time it, but I would guess it took us a little over an hour to do the 5k. We took our time and from where we were in the pack, I don't think we had the option to run. The race is for a great cause and it got us all out for some exercise. Angie's aunt Cindy's family runs the race every year. Maybe we came up with another annual tradition for us too.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Dallas, TX


I'm sitting in the airport waiting to head home from the Google Dallas office where I have been since Wednesday. I like to travel for work, but it is always nice to be going home. I've missed Angie, Sidney, Alex, Taylor, and everyone at home! The best part of traveling is getting to try different restaurants. I always seem to get BBQ when I am in Texas because as they say "When in Rome" and also because I love BBQ. One day for lunch, my friend/coworker and I went to Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse which was fantastic. I highly recommend this hole in the wall BBQ joint if you are ever in Dallas. I also went to Hook, Line, and Sinker which was another off the beaten path restaurant which as the name suggests, specializes in seafood. The Mexican Shrimp Cocktail is spicy, and delish!!! I'm getting hungry now thinking about it. I better go get some dinner before I have to get on the plane, which I hope is soon!