Pre-Anniversary Celebration

One of the things that Tim and I have grown to enjoy are good dinners at home together. Cooking and maturing our palette for wine are two hobbies we have found as a married couple that we have a desire for. In honor of our first anniversary, we celebrated with a pre-anniversary dinner. We had never attempted shrimp scampi. It turned out so well I had to take a picture for the blog. We had our favorites; homemade mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli along with our favorite wine, The Smoking Loon Syrah. I just thought I'd share the yumminess of yesterday's meal with all of you.

Long time, lots of news...

There are no excuses, except to say that May was an extremely busy, exciting, and eventful month. I will attempt to summarize all of the excitement in a few short paragraphs.

To begin, the weekend of April 26th, I flew back to South Carolina to throw my former roommate a baby shower. Carly had several weeks (so we thought) before her baby was to be born. By May 3rd, Davis Benny Phillips had entered the world. I guess we got the shower done just in the nick of time! Here are few pictures from the shower:

Me with the mommy and other hostesses (L-R: Hillary, Autumn, Carly, and Resa)

"Carly's Cravings"--a table full of all the food Carly could imagine to request!

Be it a boy or a girl, this baby was well stocked!

Sarah McAndrew and I--this is Emily's sweet little girl.

All of my friends (L-R: Hillary, Autumn, Carly, Emily, and Resa)

Shortly after returning from South Carolina, we got yet another snow (see blog entry for May 1st) and then I threw another baby shower for my sister-in-law, Michelle. May 3rd (the day Davis was born) Melissa and I hosted a wonderful Italian-food-themed shower for Michelle. Unfortunately, no one took pictures! The only picture from that day was taken later on by Tim, as the last few guests played Dance, Dance Revolution on the Nintendo Wii. Tim took a picture of my dance skills...it is definitely harder than it looks!

The following week was the week of the Cardinals. We went to Cardinal vs. Rockies games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. Tim and Matt even took in an afternoon game on Thursday. Here are few of the pictures from all of the fun:

Everyone at the Monday night game (L-R: Matt, Michelle, Hillary, and Tim)
Everyone's favorite Cardinal--Albert Pujols

Another important event that occurred in the early days of May was Rocky's first birthday. Here's a picture of him playing with one of his new toys:

The next week began a course of many days of work for Tim. He eventually ended up working 18 days straight! None of us were too excited about this, but Rocky took it the hardest. One of the Saturdays Tim had to go into work, Rocky sulked under the couch for a good solid two hours. He was very disappointed to spend another day without "Dad time."
Aside from all of the early excitement of May, I am now on VACATION! This means I get a lot more time at home. From being at home, I have found a new hobby of Rocky's. He now likes to sit on the bed in our bedroom and watch dogs and people pass by.
When he gets really excited about some creature on the other side of the window, he sits up tall and barks a very quiet, yet threatening bark. It's quite funny to watch!
Last, but certainly not least, the beginning of June ushered in the birth of Matt and Michelle's little boy (and our godson), Carson William Brock. He was born this past Monday at 9:29 am. He was 6 lbs. 10 oz.--very small for a full-term baby and he is just adorable. We have been to the hospital each night. Here are a few of the pictures we have gotten thus far:

The happy godparents with Carson

Matt's first diaper change...he learned a lot! :)

Uncle Tim bonding with the baby

Still adjusting to the light, Carson winked at me!

Day two--before another diaper change

Wide-eyed and ready for the world--Precious!

Now that it is June, summer holds much excitement with plenty to do. Besides playing with our new nephew, Tim and I begin the summer celebrating our one year anniversary. We will go to Seattle to celebrate this milestone. I will make sure to QUICKLY post pictures from that adventure. Shortly after that, we will have many friends and family visit. We are excited about it all and look forward to keeping you all updated. We miss you and love you. Happy Summer!!! (Yay! No more snow!!!!!!)

Weather forecast

"It's raining, it's snowing.

My irritation is growing!

It just turned May,

and it has snowed all day!

Who knows what we'll have in the morning!"

My Backyard

So, when I moved to Colorado, I didn't expect to love everything about the state. I am a person quite partial to my home state of South Carolina. I also didn't expect to be as annoyed as I am by certain components of life here. Many of you enjoyed my commentary on the favorite things I have in Colorado, but I noticed no one from SC commented on them. I'm balancing the blog by now sharing the things that annoy the heck out of me.

To begin with...there is one good season, Summer. Every other season is a smattering of good days mixed with snow and cold! For example, it is close to 70 degrees today. I can't really complain. However, last Wednesday/Thursday, this picture shows what my backyard looked like.

It's not that this southern girl can't handle the occasional cold front, but COME ON! This is not predicted to be our last snow. The saying out here is "If you don't like the weather, wait an hour." That statement couldn't be more true, but my sinuses have had it! It is time for spring, sunshine, and tans! I don't want to still wear socks and corduroy in late April! Tim's input here: No one out here can drive in the rain, but drive like demons in the snow!

Another thing that annoys me is that there are no dentist offices that are free standing...at least none I've seen. They are all in strip malls. Those of you back south...do you feel comfortable having your teeth pulled at a strip mall? Don't get me wrong, I love my dentist out here. However, I would have never tried her out had she not been highly recommended!

A third thing that annoys me is how every street, road, avenue, place, way, and boulevard have the same freakin' name! There's Euclid Ave., Euclid St., Euclid Way...you get my point. If it weren't for Google Maps and a couple uniquely numbered highways, I'd constantly be lost!

Many of you have heard me complain about this, but it needs to be said again. The educational funding out here is laughable. More money goes into the upkeep of the stadiums that house all the professional teams than to the schools. Justification is that people don't move here for the education. However, most of these people move here, settle, have kids, and then send them to schools that still have chalk boards, orange carpet (that was ripped out of my first dorm room before I moved in), and asbestos! But, please keep making the Pepsi Center state of the art instead! I'm down off of my soap box now.

The last thing is a little thing but annoying to both Tim and I. People out here don't Barbecue...at least not in the true sense of the word. Yes, I know the Australian term "shrimp on the barbie," but do you REALLY think about burgers and hot dogs when you hear the term "barbecue?" No, you think of some selection of meat, that is slow roasted or GRILLED, and then has a yummy goodness of sauce (KC Masterpiece, mustard, vinegar, whatever your liking) spread over it. What our good friends in Colorado kindly refer to as a barbecue is known elsewhere in the world as "cooking/grilling out." Imagine showing up for a barbecue and getting a Sam's Club burger and some Doritos...These are just a few of my less than favorite things in Colorado.

I do enjoy my time here. Like I said, summer is humidity-free and much less buggy. We have a much better public transportation system. People are generally healthier and more active and we have great parks for Rocky to meet new dogs. We are far away from friends and family, but have met some wonderful people out here. Hey, if I could pick anywhere I could live, it wouldn't be Colorado or South Carolina. I'd be independently rich and on a beach in Hawaii.

"I left my heart in San Francisco..."

Not really. I just really, really loved the trip Tim and I took for spring break! The weather is what spring should be like in late March. The flowers were in bloom and the sun was warm. There was fog and mist...not very common in Colorado. By far, our favorite part was visiting Sonoma and Napa. We took a bay cruise, a trolley ride to Chinatown, toured Ghiardelli square, and ate tons of wonderful food! Restaurants we recommend are R & G Lounge (Chinese food at it's best) and Scoma's Seafood (one of the oldest seafood restaurants in the city.) The ride down Lombard St. was much more fun for Tim than me, but neat just the same! The hike through Muir woods was amazing and cold! Click on the picture below to see all the pictures we took. Tim took over 200, but I've cut the list to 86.