Holiday Prep

Mark and I are getting ready for our first holiday's in Colorado. We put up two trees this year and I had mark hangin icicle lights outside in freezing weather (yes, I know Amy and Julie don't care for icicle lights). Turns out the wind in our area blows the lights into the gutter - very frustrating. This year our tree has red berries and poinsettias with our ornaments. And of course, decorations aren't complete without tons of bowls of Ikea ornaments!



When my parents were here my mom, a crabby mark and an excited Mandy created our sky skape on the wall of our fireplace. Poor Mark had to balance on a very tall ladder to install my curtain rod at the top and then hang all of the ornaments on clear fishing line. Everything was up and put away and while having a beer and admiring the wall, my mom and I realized we had an empty space - so out came the ladder and an even more crabby Mark. But it was worth it - the sky scape is a perfect addition to the red feather trees.



This is also the first year that I have my shopping done and wrapped - even stocking stuffers! Mark and I put in two good nights of wrapping - we of course were assisted by Lola and Cricket. While not nearly as helpful, they added lots of energy. Lola is totally freaked out by wrapping paper tubes and talking through them. BONKERS!



We have all enjoyed listening to a Classical Christmas on XM Radio (866 - for you directTV'ers). Happy Holidays!!

P.S. I know this blog is pretty Lola heavy - but Lola is a camera hog - when you turn it on, she sits and poses - its hard not to keep them coming. :)

Sick Pup

This one is for Martha Olbrys... Lola has suffered a pretty bad bout with Kennel Cough. Poor thing has had the shivers, an upset tummy (she, like her mom, can't take medicine on an empty stomach) and a hacking cough. She wouldn't eat so we found ourselves trying anything we could - including wet cat food and chicken noodle soup.

We were a bit out of sorts by the whole thing, so we would get up early in the morning and bring her into our bed for some cuddles (this is usually a no-no). Here she is looking pretty pathetic. :)

Yesterday she finally felt like her energetic self chasing the cats and chewing on random items, and hoping to sleep in bed and eat people food. I am a sucker for her eyes, so without Mark knowing I am letting Lola clean my plate - actually she would be a good dishwasher if you didn't mind dog drool.

We have finally kicked our 3 round with Kennel Cough - we will be avoiding Day care for the rest of the year. 

Mark and Mandy go to New York

We finally took our trip to New York City to see Mark's Dad and some old college friends. It's been over 3 years since our last trip, so the visit was long overdue.

We flew in Friday morning on a waaay too early flight (courtesy of Mark), and took a cab into a snow covered New York. Michael had been organizing a cocktail party for that evening so we just hung out and did a quick trip out to buy supplies.

The party was a great opportunity to get together all the people we hadn't seen in years in one place and it went fabulously. More evidence that hiring a bartender is the best money you can spend at a party. There were some of the usual suspects who we last saw at our wedding (see Martha Olbrys, Julie's Mum pictured with Mandy). In addition some of Mark's friends from Stanford came along (Harad, Kulman and Heysse), Greg D who was in NY for work, and even Reid MacLean, whom Mark went to school with in the first grade! After the party we all went out way too late to dinner at Docks and didn't get done until midnight... much later than we usually eat!

Saturday we woke up feeling a little the worse for wear and had a lovely relaxing morning with croissants and tea and then got ready to go to see Edith (Mark's nanny from long ago) who lives across town. Edith fed us some of her wonderful fried rice and we were serenaded by Justin, her 5 year old grandson who is quite the musician!

After catching up with Edith, the three M's (Michael, Mark and Mandy) went downtown to see Rockefeller Center and visit Kate's Paperie to look for some unlined journals - which turn out to be frustratingly hard to find! Rockefeller Center was an unbelievable crush of people, it took at least 10 minutes to walk three blocks down 5th Avenue to get there from where we left our taxi marooned in traffic! The tree was fantastic and we got a lovely photo of it that appears in our Christmas newsletter that is in the mail (no, honestly, it is).

Once we got home we had little time to relax and get ready to go out on the town. For weeks before the trip we had been discussing what to do for Saturday night with Guy, Todd and Matt. But with a week before we were to arrive, Todd heroically bit the bullet and booked us at Pepolinos, a lovely little (though recently expanded) italian trattoria in Tribeca.

We started our evening by touring Guy and Todd's lovely apartment on the upper west side (not too far from 500 West End Avenue). And we got to meet Lauren, Todd's long-time squeeze who we both agreed was a fantastic person (Todd traded up!) From there we went down to the Brandy Library, which was very civilized where we had a few martinis/gimlets/sidecars etc. before braving the cold for a 3 block walk to the restaurant. As I said, the restaurant was top notch and seemed quite inexpensive for a well-regarded New York eatery. We met Matt Harad there.

After dinner, we found our way to the east village where we took over a booth at the Hi-Fi bar and spent the evening playing Galaga and drinking more than we needed to. We had a guest appearance from Subbudh (Guy's freshman roommate) for the evening which was a wonderfully random element. Greg D even caught up with us at the bar for a fabulous evening. Of course, the next morning I was cursing the 4am bar closing time, but at the time, I would have wanted to be anywhere else.

Sunday morning rolled around somewhat cruelly, but Michael kindly volunteered to go wait for a table at GoodEnoughToEat a few blocks away, which was just what the doctor ordered. We spent the rest of the day taking it easy in the apartment. Mark set up the Airport Express and new multifunction printer and put some things up for free/sale on craigslist to start chipping away at some of the excess equipment currently filling up 500 WEA. We had dinner with Brooke and Norman and then went to be early as we had yet another stomach-churningly early flight (6am this time - Mark, will you never learn?).

We can't say we got much rest, but we did hit the city right and promised it wouldn't be another three years before we returned!

Time for Snow Boots

This morning we woke up to freezing temperatures - today's high is 8. Poor lola has to use the outdoors to do her "business" - she bounded in half way through (don't worry no mess) wimpering and not wanting to touch her paws to the ground. Brrr.

I had an early morning dentist appointment right next to "Struttin' Pup" a very fancy schmancy pet store. Now Lola is the proud owner of "Hot Dawgs Pet Boots". When I put them on she acted as though she couldn't walk, but they were very useful once we got outdoors.

The trick is to keep them on her! Here she is ready to pull a sled! 

Earth to Mars, This is Lola

Somebody has a skin owie on her leg and can't leave it alone! Lola doesn't seem to mind the collar, so we thought, but last night in her kennel she chewed it off. This morning she bounded out screaming "VICTORY!"

Still pretty cute! 

Lola Graduates!!

We have been taking Lola to Level 1 dog training after she was too old for Puppy Kindergarten. This class has a bit more structure and we learn commands like sit, down, stay, heel, walk pretty and wait. There were 3 other dogs in our class - Haley (Austrailian Sheepdog - you may have seen Lola romping with her in a previous blog), Izzy (a Cockapoo!!) and Ralfie (a standard poodle that just constantly barks). The best part about dog school is learning tips for keeping your dog out of trouble and occupied. For you dog owners here are a few:

1. Buy the Kong Konches, fill them with wet dog food and then FREEZE them. This buys you at least 20 minutes as they try to get every drop of food out - without freezing you might have 2 minutes.
2. Buy a dry food toy - you can put the dogs dry food in a toy that they have to roll around to get little nibbles. When lola is hungry she finds the toy and then rolls and rolls it around to eat - also time consuming for her.
3. Buy cheap fleece and braid it into tug-o-war toys - these will last about a day, but what fun (make sure to take it away once it starts to fall apart - we sadly found out what fleece looks like after being digested.
4. Finally - buy lots and lots of chewy's, always have something for your dog to chew on... Lola's graduation gift was two tennis balls connected by a blue roap. The roap lasted about 5 minutes - and then it was on to chewing up the tennis balls. Its amazing what little teeth can do.

Greg D Lights up our Life

On Sunday night Greg, Josh, Amy and my mom were here for dinner. Greg mentioned a cool trick about putting a burnt-out light bulb in the microwave in a cup of water and watching it glow. We absolutely had to see how it worked...

We took a light bulb and filled a coffee cup up with a bit of water to cover the metal portion of the bulb. We put the bulb in and started the microwave. We all gathered around patiently to watch - and what do you know the bulb instantly lit up. The colors changed from White, to green-ish white, to blue-ish white, to purple-ish white... we were cheering. In the middle of our cheer....KAAA-BOOOOOM...the ladies in the crowd scream. The bulb exploded into a Ga-gillion pieces (yes, this is a real number).

The Microwave is fine and Mark and Greg cleaned up the tiny extra sharp pieces of glass (lightbulb glass is some of the sharpest glass around) - it was honestly a fantastic experiment. If you are looking for a party trick this might be it.

We think that next time we might keep the microwave on low so we have more chance to view the glowing bulb. Definitely TRY this at home.

Flowers arrived today

We opened our door to a lovely vase of flowers this afternoon from Nate and Michelle.

Thanks guys, that European Flower shop does a great job! Even ex-Fiore arrangers would approve.

Brrrr (pt. 2)....

We had our first autumn storm yesterday and the flatirons got a nice powdering of snow to improve our view. Boulder valley also was covered in fog, creating this nice image of the flatirons pushing up out of the fog. Our weather is going to be back up in the 70's by the end of the week, so this just serves to remind us that winter is on its way.

Brrrr....

We got our first frost on Saturday - we took Lola out for her morning walk and she was cold, we and shivering. I finally convinced Mark to let me get her a fleece jacket - he still refuses to let me dress her up in any costumes. We found this cute blue pullover that makes her look like a little horse. Today we wore it on our walk in the rain with great success!



You may have noticed from other blog posts that Lola likes to pose for photo-shoots. She must be getting ready for her modeling career!

After today's walk, Mark agreed that she needed the warmth - so I will be looking for an argyle sweater for the holidays.

Squeaker-mania

My brother's best man, Spencer, owns and runs West Paw Design which makes pet products. While in Montana at Josh and Amy's wedding our babies received a box full of toys in a Halloween theme. The cats go crazy for the catnip, especially cricket, she spends hours rubbing her little chin on the toy and then throwing it up in the air. Crenshaw is much more reserved and prefers to drug himself on his own time.



Inside the box was a black stuffed bat for Lola - each wing has a squeaker in it - I dropped it on the ground and Lola instantly took off with the bat. She zoomed up the stairs and all we could hear is squeak, squeak, squeak. Spencer and West Paw pride themselves on how tough their squeakers are (kill us now) and we can now personally vouch for that - even our OCD Chew monster can't kill the squeaker.

A week away

While Mandy and I were away in Montana for Josh's wedding (photos to follow), our friends Dave and Kristen house sat for Josh and watched our cats. They both have a fabulous sense of humor and I do believe their journal conveys an accurate sense of events at our house that week. Click the pictures below to enlarge...

Lola Update

Lola is growing and growing and I thought I would give everyone an update. She is now 16 weeks old (almost ready for a rabies shot). We have been trying hard to get her as much socialization as possible - she goes to puppy daycare a couple times a week where she gets to play with all types of dogs. We have also started Puppy Kindergarten.



Most of the class is spent playing and romping with other dogs (yes that is lola beating up on an Austrailian Sheepdog - Haley is her name). But we are also learning basic commands - Sit, Down, Stay, No. We think she is such a smarty pants!!



She has also outgrown her puppy collar and has graduated into a bigger size XS instead of XXS. :) We had to get a matching leash - here she is showing off her stuff.



Each morning we take her for a walk to try and run some of her energy out of her. We have a great open space trail close to our house and as we walk on the trail she bounds through the tall grass. Mark calls it her "wherethefuckarewe" bounce.



She is quite a bundle of love and lives for validation. She will be heading to Montana this month - her first plane flight. We know she will do great. We are still learning what to be careful of... last weekend when were were out of the house for a couple of hours we came home to find the little devil happy to show us her art project.



How can you resist!!

Tom Petty at Red Rocks!!

Last night we (Mark, me, Jessica and Yancey) trekked over to Red Rocks to see Mr. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. We arrived to a bit of rain, but we were able to park at the top of the lot and avoid the 800 stairs to get into the ampitheater. Yancey forgot a jacket, but Jess had a bright red fleece blanket that he wore as a cape - "Chicks dig capes" is what he told the parking attendant.



The black crows opened for Tom Petty and it was quite a show. Jessica and I wondered what the attraction was between Kate Hudson and Chris Robinson - or how they hooked up.

Turns out that Tom Petty sounds just as he did when he first started playing, and still continues to look as "sexy ugly" as possible. He is actually starting to look more like the Fonz (Henry Winkler), but Mark thinks he looks a bit like John Elway (must be the altitude or the beer). Mark and Yancey smoked some stogies and we supported our local brewery and Yancey by tapping the rockies and drinking Coors.



Tom played all of our favorites, ending with an encore for me "American Girl". There was a huge variety in the ages of the concert goers - and lots of tribute smoking out. Red Rocks is simply amazing, both the sound and the setting ROCK!!

Back to School!

I remember how hard it was to go back to school after a fun filled summer of laziness and no homework. But today I got a surprise - Miss Jenna Baro, our neighbor started her first day of kindergarten today. She stopped by to show me the crown that she had made in Mrs. Morris's class. She decided to let crenshaw in on the fun... since his head was too small (yes, he has a small head) for the crown, Jenna improvised and made a belt.

Crenshaw played along but gave us a few dramatic scenes reliving the days of the Safe-Cat Cat Jacket. [For those who don't know - I purchase a harness type jacket for crenshaw when he was little that had a handle on it. You could really pick him up like a lunch pail. When we would put it on him, he would wait until you were looking and dramatically collapse on the floor.]

Crenshaw enjoyed being part of the celebration. What a sport!!

Visit from Guy

This past weekend Guy (One of the KA Bro from Stanford) dropped in for a visit. He is on his way to Aspen for a week of fresh air and outdoor activities. He is also hopeful that he may land a Colorado Sugar Momma. The boys did an afternoon of golf, and then we had a late dinner at our house.



Guy showed up with a bottle of Cakebread wine as a welcome gift - he was proud to say that he had visited Cakebread while touring napa with the Etters. The Wine was delicious. After all of Guys talk about being a practiced drunk he was exhausted and in bed by 11:00.



We decided to play golf again on Saturday (with me this time) - and I was happy to convince Guy that we should share a cart - you know Mark, he is anti-cart. We strategically placed a cooler of beers in our back yard (hole 4) so that we could grab them as we passed. All was going well as we teed off on the 6th hole...



Thunderheads came rolling in and we started to see a lot of lightning around us. Guy and I were nervous but Mark and Josh made us push on. About 15 seconds after mark called us babies - the rain started pouring down and we had to make a run for the lightning shelter. It was like a party in here - and all was going well until... uh oh, we ran out of beer.



Fortunately, Brave Josh decided to venture out into the rain (take one for the team), run to his house (on the 6th hole) and bring us all back cold drinks. What a hero!!



We waited in the shelter with our fellow golfers for about 45 minutes until we decided to give up - Guy needed to be heading to Aspen, Lola needed to be collected from doggy-daycare and I was freezing (notice mark wearing a jacket).

Josh and Guy headed to josh's and mark and I braved the rain to return the cart. By the time we made it home I was soaked and dirty. We had a lot of fun with Guy and look forward to his yearly trip out west!

Back from Mexico

We are back from a fabulous week in Mexico with Scott and Julie - Zihuatanejo was wonderful. The weather was hot and humid which meant lots of cold beer and margarita's was really our only option to stay alive. Thank goodness we were up to the challenge!We spent the majority of our days on the beach reading and doing the crossword puzzle that was delivered in the NY Times Digest each day. Julie is excellent at the puzzle and I was easily addicted - until Friday rolled around and it was extremely difficult, even with 4 brains we were stumped.

Hotel Villa del Sol is lovely - there are many pools (including an infinity pool and a bar pool) and a fabulous beach. The water in all of the pools was an exact 98.6 degrees - it felt what we imagined a sensory deprivation pool might feel like.

One night at dinner (the food was awesome) Scott made a point to say that he wished people would write more on their blogs - you know me I am completely visual, but if Scott could remember that each picture I post is worth a thousand words, I might get the award for being the most prolific blogger around!



More Mexico stories to come...

Hola! Tomorrow morning we are off to Zihuatanejo for a week of fun in the sun. If all goes as planned we will be meeting Scott and Julie on the beach with tropical drinks! We can't wail. We aren't bringing laptops (thank goodness) so no blogging while we are away - of course I will overwhelm you with them when I return.