Jammies

Dean in his giraffe jammies - rockin' out in his crib.

Merry Christmas

Joan introduced an alternative to the 'dipping' of Dean to stop his crying - Dean enjoys the 'Superman'.

Eileen and me pausing in our fabulous duet for a picture.

Baby GAP

Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob provided Eileen and Shawn with a Baby GAP gift card. Here Grandpa holds Dean who is stylin' in jeans and a polo.

Thanksgiving

I returned to Tearah and Fred's place again this year for Thanksgiving. Here's a pic of the table, Tearah, her sister and friend (Fred and Rae were up getting turkey). There were a lot of mash potatoes, yum! We then played Scattegories and Pictionary while watching the Broncos win.

Proud Aunt!

Dean Michael was born today weighing in at 8lbs 1oz. I'm looking forward to meeting him at Christmas!







Dean's 1st day

Colorado Avalanche

I went to an Avs game tonight. They were playing the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks scored 3 goals in the first period to Colorado's zero. Actually, Vancouver was skating and passing much better then Colorado so it was no surprise. Colorado finally scored two in the final period but were still behind by 4. As we were walking out in the last 2 minutes, I think the Avs were just getting really frustrated and an Avs guy started a fight in center ice. It was actually pretty funny; they got so into it they fell down. Here's a pic from my phone from our seats. We were down towards one of the goals - which was a great view for the 2 Avs goals.

Wicked

I saw Wicked at the Buell Theatre. It was very entertaining. I had tried to read the book but only got 100 pages into it and wasn't really enjoying it. The musical obviously wasn't as detailed as the book and tied nicely to the Wizard of Oz.

Halloween

I went to a Halloween party at Amy and Chris' house. Here's a picture of Amy (scary clown) and me in front of a spider web covered Hans Solo (the Hans Solo is a permanent fixture in their house).

Stuck in the snow

Haha!! This morning I pulled 30 ft out of my garage and got completely stuck. I ran back in the apt and put on my boots and then tried to shovel myself out. I somehow managed to get myself turned back around and out to a plowed road. At that point I thought I could make it to my aunt's house and her 4 wheel drive car for a ride to work. I got stuck trying to go down her neighborhood street. I shoveled once again but then really was stuck. Luckily a nice neighbor pushed my car out. I then went home and stayed put.

Snooze

Some co-workers and I took our manager out to breakfast for Boss' Day last Friday. We went to a place called Snooze. It's a very popular place on the weekends. The decor has a fun 50s feel. The homemade English muffin is delicious as well as the tomato gravy. I definitely want to go back and try more on the menu.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt

I attended a Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt concert with Joan, Ellen, Dave and Tony at the Macky Auditorium in Boulder. The review in the Denver Post covers it better then I could write. It was fun hearing Lyle on his own and in an informal environment.

The Last Supper

Megan and I had our last dinner at Potager before she moved to Florida. I've written about Potager in the past. It is a really tiny restaurant. They always are changing the menu based on what is grown locally and in season. Megan and I split an appetizer - a little bit of syrup with a whole tomato (top and bottom sliced off), baked in a ramekin with a puff pastry on top, then flipped upside down when taken out of the oven and goat cheese and basil on top. Simple, yet delicious. Another dish we tried there a couple of weeks earlier was a goat cheese souffle with beets. You would never think to combine the two - but once again delicious. I will miss my try-new-restaurants and attend-cultural-events friend!

Introducing Tigger

Joan adopted a dog from an akita shelter although it's an unknown mixed breed. He's named Tigger - which fits well with his tiger stripes. He's 7 months old and heading off tomorrow to dog academy training for 2-4 weeks. His long torso and curved large ears remind me of a corgi. He was originally rescued with other puppies from a dumpster. His new digs are quite an upgrade. He plays an excellent game of fetch, loves squeaky toys and is very affectionate.

Always much more...

Megan and I attended a Colorado Symphony Orchestra concert. With the CSO you always get more then what's on the program. The concert was american composers over the past 100 years. It included Rhapsody in Blue where the conducter, Jeffrey Kahane, also an accomplished pianist put a grand piano in the center of the stage and played the piano part while he conducted. But then in celebration of Benny Goodman being born 100 years ago the principal clarinetist, accompanied by Jeffrey on the piano, played Gershwin's 3 preludes. I played the 2nd and 3rd in highschool and didn't know they had been arranged for clarinet and piano - it was fun to hear another version. Here's a link to a version on YouTube (the CSO's performance was much better).
The finale was the world premiere of Chris Thile's mandolin concerto which he wrote himself. Even more impressive is that this guy is 28. After the concerto he played solo Bach. Then a state champion fiddler (in the CSO) played a duet with Chris. He then moved to the side stage and was accompanied by Jeffrey Kahane on another duet. Chris also regularly works with Edgar Meyer, who I'm a fan of and have written about him in the past.

Prior to the concert, we tried a new restaruant in Larimer Square, TAG. We tried the appetizers French Onion 'soup' dumplings and braised rabbit empanadas. We split the halibut entree against the strong recommendation of our waiter to try their Szechuan Colorado Lamb. It came with couscous which I'm not a big fan of. The menu also a selection of sushi and the appetizer of the day included a quail egg on top of a ravioli. I think it is a good restaurant if you are looking for more atypical choices.

Baby Toys

I helped Eileen assemble several of her baby shower gifts. Eileen gave Dean a preview of the rainforest sounds of this activity mat.

Eileen's Baby Shower

Eileen's resident friends, Mandi and Maria, hosted a baby shower. The food was great and decorations went with Eileen's baby room theme of jungle animals. Here is Eileen pre-party (Maria's dog Pistol Pete made it into the photo too).

Here are the grandmothers to be. Maria's other dog, Bubbles, is a Yorkie and too cute. She was dressed in pink sparkles for the occasion.

Eileen with the hostesses Mandi and Maria. They got her a crown "New Mom To Be".

Indian Peaks Wilderness Hike

I went hiking with a co-worker in Indian Peaks Wilderness. We went to Mitchell Lake and then on to Blue Lake (which looked more like black lake to me) at 11,440 feet. It was 5 miles round-trip.
Mitchell Lake





















A pond on the way to Blue Lake...

Blue Lake (if you click on the picture to see the enlarged version you can see a tiny waterfall to the right of me).

Cirque du Soleil

Megan and I had brunch at Bistro Vendome in Larimer Square. The crepes were excellent. Then we went to the Cirque du Soleil show Kooza. The juggler was the most talented I've seen, and my favorite act was the Wheel of Death (not kidding about the name). It is the best when one of the guys starts running on the outside of the wheel.

Ellen's new house

I had dinner at Aunt Ellen's new house. Ellen had redone the floors, bathroom, fixtures - it looked great. I liked the floorplan.

Hot Air Ballooning

I went hot air ballooning in Boulder with the Fair Winds company. We took off at 7am and were in flight for 1 hour. It was great weather for the trip. Our balloon had 6 people in the basket. Around 6-7 balloons took off from our launch site. One guy jumped out right away and parachuted back to the launch site. Our landing was interesting. We ended up in a open plot in a neighborhood. The ground wasn't level so we bumped along the ground a couple of times before coming to a stop. It was so quiet in flight with the exception of when the burners were going (which were also very hot on top of my head).

Canvas & Cocktails

A new store opened in Cherry Creek North called Canvas & Cocktails. You bring your own cocktails and an instructor leads you through creating an acrylic painting. I took the class with some co-workers. The painting of the evening was "Poppies".

Golden Gate Canyon State Park Hike

I went hiking at Golden Gate Canyon State Park with some co-workers. We were taking a break, and I whipped out my camera and told Amy and Tearah to 'look like you're hiking'. This is what I got.

We took the Burro Trail which was a 4.5 mile loop. It was quite a climb with about 1000' elevation change. It was mostly cloudy so nice weather for the trip.


We had lunch at The Bridgewater Grill at The Golden Hotel. We sat out on the patio overlooking the tubers on Clear Creek. Here's a pic from the hotel website.

Solera Restaurant

I tried the restaurant Solera on Colfax with a co-worker. Every Wednesday they have wine tastings for $15. I also tried the happy hour appetizer special of "White truffle "Mac & Cheese", asparagus, green peas, toasted almonds & Wisconsin white cheddar". Normally you can only get it as part of the scallops entree. It was excellent as well as the wine.

Where are they now? (Vol 4)

I haven't written a "Where are they now?" since February of 2008. In January 2007, I wrote about my best friend from highschool. This one is for her little sister, Merrill (www.merrillgrant.com).

CSO concert

As for annual tradition - I attended the Colorado Symphony Orchestra concert in Cheesman Park with Megan. This is the first year I've actually prepared something for our picnic - chocolate bundt cake made with almond extract and amaretto drizzled with a powdered sugar/milk glaze. I didn't take any pictures, so instead you can check out the ones from previous years. Honestly it looks pretty much the same every year and of course Megan and I never age.
2008
2007
2006
2005

Cherry Creek Arts Festival

I attended the Cherry Creek Arts Festival again this year. Here are a few new favorites:
Tropical Paintings
Handmade Guitars that are really a piece of art more then an instrument.
This guy's metal work stuff was selling really well.

Lake Wylie - Take 2

We went out on the lake again on Sunday. Here is a video of Shawn's dad solum skiing and everyone else on the boat. Aggie got a little braver her second day and actually rode up front for awhile.

Lake Wylie

Suzanne and I drove to Charlotte to visit Eileen and Shawn. We went out on the boat in Lake Wylie. We brought Eileen's dog, Aggie, with us. She's never been swimming before. Her face was priceless when she was lowered in the water from the boat - somewhere between pure terror and shock. The life preserver was in case Aggie didn't move her legs and sunk like a rock. After we brought her back on the boat, she was looking at the water with new interest. Shawn had to hold her from jumping back in. Suzanne tried knee-boarding for the first time. And I took a few runs on the wakeboard. Eileen's co-worker Mandi and her husband Michael joined us.