Catch Up

My, oh my... It's been entirely too long since my last blog... I apologize for the lack of posts for the past couple months. Let me try to catch ya'll up with what's been going on in my little world.

September:
After returning from Chicago for Labor Day weekend, I was really busy with work and we were also winding down our kickball season. Brian and Danielle had a business trip to Chicago for our last game, as well as a few other team members no-showing to the game so we were short on players, but made a good showing. In fact, it was probably our best game of the season. I think if we had played with that much determination (and beer) in previous games we might have won a few. Desiree and I were the only girls there that game, so basically we were up to bat every 3rd time... (you have to bat boy-girl-boy-girl). There were a couple close calls and then one exceptionally bad call at the end of the game, where we would have tied up the game and gone into extra innings. Despite Bill arguing with the ump and the other team for quite a while, we had no luck in getting them to reverse the call, so the game was called and we walked away with no wins this season. How pathetic are we!?! Anyways, it's fun nonetheless and we're going to get a team together in the spring to kick some ass. Or at least just drink some beer.

The last weekend of September was not only Danielle's birthday but also the Great American Beer Fest. In what's become a Danielle/Birthday tradition, we went down to the Beer Fest to celebrate her birthday with 1000's of kinds of beers and also a few thousand people. The line was incessantly long to get in to the beer fest. And despite Brian and I getting there late and after Danielle and the rest of the crew, we somehow snuck into line ahead of them and got in a good 20 mins before they did. I attribute it to our short heights and clever ways. Anyways, we finally all got in and the drinking began. Rich, Dez, Bill, and Kimberly also joined in the festivities. After the beer fest concluded we all headed over to Paramount Cafe on the 16th Street Mall for some eats and more drinks.

So, I think that about covers September. I am undoubtedly forgetting many, many things... But this'll be the highlight blog. :)

October:
The first weekend of October, Brian and I headed up to Fort Collins for a day. We were wanting to do some thing sort of touristy, and since I had never been to Fort Collins, we thought that might be a great idea, and then almost simultaneously, we both came up with the idea to do tours of all of the microbreweries up in Fort Collins (there are like 4 or 5 there). So we drove up in the morning and began our brewery tour at the Fort Collins Brewery. There, we tried 5 or 6 different beers and enjoyed their lovely patio. After trying such beers as Pomegranate Wheat (my favorite) and Retro Red (Brian's fave), we purchased a couple 6 packs and moved on to the next Brewery down the road... Odell Brewery. The tasting room at this brewery was much larger and more commercial than Fort Collins Brewery. We got to try 9 different beers that were served on a neat wooden tray with an explanation of each beer. After Odell's, we headed over to New Belgium Brewery- home of Fat Tire... We tried 4 beers in their bar-style tasting room. So, I guess we didn't really do tours of the breweries, but just did tastings at each of the breweries. But, let's face it, that's the best part!

On October 21st, Brian and I went to Aspen for the weekend. The night before we were watching the news and ALL of the meteorologists were talking about a big winter storm going on up in the mountains and advising that no one go up there if they don't have to. But we had reservations at a hotel up there already and I was super excited to go up in the mountains in the winter (well, it wasn't winter yet, but sure did look like winter). So, we got up early on Saturday morning, grabbed some coffee and donuts and got on the road. The snow had pretty much stopped by the time we got up into the mountains, so it was really just an issue with the roads not being cleared off. But, honestly, the roads were really fine. The only time I was driving super slow and cautiously was up through the Eisenhower Tunnel, as the roads were snow-packed. Once we got past Vail, the roads were totally clear and there was hardly any snow. We stopped in Glenwood Springs for lunch and walked around the little town. It's pretty cute- very small, but I think we counted 3 tattoo/piercing shops, which we thought was a little odd. From there, we drove down to Aspen and checked into the Hotel Jerome, a very nice, historic hotel in the heart of Aspen. Since it was still an off-season weekend, the town and hotel was quiet and we got upgraded to their largest suite. It was seriously twice the size of my apartment. We spent the afternoon walking around Aspen and window shopping. Window being the key word. Aspen is full of couture shops and boutiques and is anything is absolutely ridiculously priced. I was HOPING to find a pair of nice shoes there, as I neglected to pack any dress shoes for the weekend and was going to be stuck in my New Balances the remainder of the trip. After walking in and out of stores filled with Manolos and Jimmy Choo's, I gave up!

We had dinner at a cool Mexican restaurant. It had all of the regular Mexican entrees on the menu, but they all had a cool little twist to them and what we ate there was sooo yummy. And the margaritas were delicious as well. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and were going to hang out at the J-bar, the little bar in the hotel. We decided to run our coats up to the room before having some cocktails. While we were up in the room, we were looking at the window overlooking the town and admiring Aspen Mountain and Brian asked me to marry him! Yup, you guessed it, I said Yes. :) I know blogging about a proposal does not do it justice. We are both extremely happy and excited for our upcoming wedding, and most importantly, our life together. After the excitement of the proposal, I thought I was going to pass out, but managed to collect myself to call my mom and share the good news. After that, we headed down to the J-Bar for some celebratory cocktails. Forever, Aspen will hold a very special place in my heart!

On Sunday, we drove back to Denver and spent a lot of time on the phone with our parents and family sharing the good news, of course!

Ok, taking a break to post this... More catching up to come soon!