ski retreat!!!

yes, our small group finally picked a date (this past weekend) and headed up to the Borger's cabin in Fairplay to spend time together. the weekend was wonderfully engaging . . . fixing meals, eating birthday cake, playing Munchkin, skiing, opening the door to find a stuffed bear standing outside, discussing the Church and our role in it, squeezing 8 of us onto one couch to play Catchphrase . . .

a few pics of the skiing portion of our weekend . . .

adam, rebecca and peter at the base of super bee.

and again . . .
rebecca and me.

becky and rebecca on the lift.

yep, that's my boyfriend.

the mogels i skied in one of the back bowls at copper.

nothing better than hot chocolate and granola bars after a day of skiing.

jon, scott and rebecca

peter and me.

view from the lift.

the crew: scott, rebecca, peter, me, adam, becky, phil, jon

hear ye, hear ye . . .

for all those virginians and marylanders that i love and miss, this is a pathetic group announcement. i use the word pathetic only because i wish there was time in my days to talk to each of you on a regular basis. so that a message like this one would not be necessary.

but this is what you revert to when you move away. group updates over email, group announcements on a blog, group hang-outs when you go back to visit, conference calls where you catch up on 3 weeks on living in an hour's time. it is the nature of moving. of loving people in one place and at the same time trying to begin loving others in another. of change.

mind you, it's better than nothing. i think sometimes how different things would look were we to have been born in another age . . . another century . . . when communication was nothing of what it is now. when 'posting' something on a 'blog' would have seemed like an outlandish, sci-fi concept. we are blessed by technology . . . when we use it for good (that's a whole other blog topic . . .).

as matt robins would say, i digress . . .

this point of this blog was to let you know:
i'm coming to town. flying in to d.c. on 3 apr 08 at 2235. will be staying in d.c. for one day, two nights. then travelling to salisbury on 05 apr 08. i'll be around until 08 apr 08. please let me know who will be free as i want to cram as much hang out time as possible into those shrot five days.

my valentine.

peter was away on business for our first valentine's day. while i didn't think it would matter all that much, i missed him a good deal and was disappointed not to spend the evening with him. but what i didn't know was that while he was away he was using swiss army knife scissors, tissue paper and a picture of us to make me a homemade valentine. it was worth waiting for. :-)

meet henry.

henry is one of peter's nephews. and to our benefit, we get to see him (and his lovely parents) quite often. almost weekly.

recently, i picked up my old manual SLR and shot some pics of him around the house. here you have some of them.





isn't he just about the most adorable thing you've ever seen?

maryland.

get.

ready.

i'm coming

home.

next weekend.

i hope to see as many people as possible in the short 46 hours i'll be on the east coast. i don't plan on sleeping much.

take care in this small place.

*******found, read, appreciated and scooped up this card today in a quaint shop in downtown littleton.

risky, but wonderfully necessary, business. *******

maryland meets colorado.

this entry has been delayed secondary to internet problems and a busy life. but it is worth posting, even if late.

my dear girls, annie and anna, came to visit me! what a wonderful gift to me - for them to spend their money and time to come see me. it was truly a rich blessing. a much needed taste of home.

i will spare you a lot of writing as you would be reading for hours if i were to write of all of our adventures together. instead, i'll let annie's pics give you a taste of our time together. for a full photo report, see her flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/juliannaelise)

around the house

outside by the pond

art museum and stella's coffee shop

downtown for dinner and the art show

colorado springs

at the airport

boba @ lollicup

the west is a different place.

i feel like i'm getting a new education living out here. many things i've never heard of or seen or done. it's kinda fun. like the thrill you get when you visit a new country, but without being so intimidating and uncomfortable. so here's something new.

boba. otherwise called bubble tea.

my new friend peter introduced me to this interesting little drink. it's like a smoothie, but has these tapioca balls floating in the bottom of it. they are a funny texture - kinda like you have really soft, round gummy candies in your drink.

then they give you these really fun, fat straws so you can drink them up.

they have all sorts of flavors. i had coconut. peter had honeydew.

strangest flavors: avacado and green bean.

we tried boba at this little asian tea shop called lollicup. so asian. notice all the little animated figures.

so i'm living in . . .

and while i haven't taken a ton on pics since i've been here, i do have a few to share. below you will find just a few shots of my cute little cozy apt.

first - 'HI!' there's me. notice the tee. that's where i work. craig hospital. check out the link next door. fantastic place to work. 100 year anniversary.

now for the apt.

the front door.

dining room.

opposite the wall mirror.


my frig is already covered.


kitchen. after having people over for dinner. before doing the dishes.

bathroom colors.

spare bedroom. (for those of you who knew my last apt, the spare room is decorated like my old living room was. come visit so you can see for yourself.)

my bedroom colors. (found this coverlet at pier 1 for under $20. was originally over $200. pretty sweet deal.)

thes best way to see is just to come. really. pictures don't do it justice.