miscelaneous stuff

Here is the view from one of my drives to a barn out here. It was a long dirt road and now I wish I would've taken a pic of the road! Anyways, update on the work situation: the dressage barn wanted me to work for free, so I had to respectfully decline. I am still meeting with another trainer this Sat, so hopefully that goes better.

Jay's work had a company picnic on Sat afternoon and I met the wife of one of his coworkers, who has her own graphic design company and basically offered me a job, so I think I'm gonna go that route. I think she needs part time help, so I may still be able to find some work at a barn part time also, which would be perfect.

Sat morning the Heldts invited us to breakfast at "Le Peep" which is excellent breakfast grub. Then we hiked "the Rock", which is the castle-looking rock which the town of Castle Rock is named after. It was a good introductory hike for those of us still trying to get aclimatized (is that a word?) to the altitude up here. Sorry for the random placement of the photos, Blogger doesn't want to cooperate today.

For the Barn buddies

This is a post specifically for any barn buddies who are checking in. I have appointments with two trainers to see their facilities and talk about riding and working! The first one is tomorrow at a dressage-only barn. (Jay is excited about that because he thinks it's safer - probably true!) Here is a link to the trainer's website: http://westmantonstables.com/index.htm

The second one is a trainer that Tonja recommended and I'm going to meet her next Saturday (she is going away on vacation so I have to wait till she gets back). Here is her website: http://www.platinumfarms.net/index.html

I'll try to get some pics tomorrow but it might be weird for this new person to show up and start taking pics, so we'll see. Wish me luck!

more pics of new car

Jay's picture of the car wasn't really a good shot, and I wanted to show off the inside, which is really the best part. The front passenger seat also folds down so you can put really long things in if needed. You can see how it's all plastic so you don't have to worry about ruining fabric. Also there are nifty tie downs and hooks everywhere. It's pretty sweet.

Also, unrelated, yesterday I hung out with my friend Rachel and her baby, Aubrey, and had a really good time. She will be proud, and my parents will be happy: it does make me want to have one of my own ;)

Day Six in Denver

I started my new job today! It was pretty cool. Working downtown is a whole different animal (that's the slogan for Frontier Airlines if you didn't catch that). I had no idea how much I'd like it. It dawned on me that a downtown is the ideal place to practice architecture (duh).

Downtown Denver, particularly the 16th street mall area where my office is (picture to the left - from the 'net), is something to see. At lunchtime it becomes completely abuzz with activity. There's people walking everywhere, all kinds of restaurants & shops, and a good mix of historic, traditional, and very modern architecture all around you. The street is closed to automobile traffic except for the free shuttle that runs up and down taking you wherever you want to go. Just a sensory overload for someone like me, when I've never seen any of those buildings before. When I walked out of my building on the way home through the little plaza/cafe area at writer's square, there were some teenagers juggling. Then as I walked further, I saw someone hop on a bike and take off down a trail. As I looked closer, I noticed they had connected with a really nice bike trail that runs along the creek that cuts through Denver. You can ride your bike for miles through the city. So different from southern california.

I still have to figure out the best way to get downtown every day. The cheapest parking I found was $5 a day, and it was about a 5 minute walk from my office. I'm hoping to find a good park & ride arrangement that gets me home at a reasonable hour. Traffic wasn't too bad, but if I can take a train instead and save on parking, I'll be a happy camper.

Also, we picked up Jenna's new ride this evening after work. We noticed after we picked it up that there was the faint smell of cigarette smoke. We didn't smell anything at all when we test drove it. Hopefully its new enough that the smell will fade with a little assistance. Anyone know any tricks for getting rid of that? That was kind of annoying, since the car's in perfect condition otherwise. It doesn't smell like a chain-smoker was driving it or anything, but there's something definitely there. She still loves it, though. We dig the charcoal grey color.

The world's smallest kitchen?

I cooked dinner tonight in what could be the world's smallest kitchen. We bought an electric burner and a saucepan at the Walmart Supercenter down the street and I made some pasta. It was pretty comical, except Jenna isn't feeling well and didn't get to partake in the humor.

I thought I'd show you guys how awesome our kitchen is. The mini-mini-fridge is below, the sink/stove/coffee station in the middle, and microwave and pantry on top. Who knew you only needed about 3 feet of wall space for a kitchen...

We also found a car for Jenna today. After spending hours narrowing down our needs, wants, and what we can afford, we dropped the idea of going full-on Colorado and getting an all-wheel drive wagon (passat, subaru, audi) and decided to go for fuel economy, versatility, reliability, style, and value. No, we didn't buy another Scion xB, but we got its cousin, the Toyota Matrix, which narrowly beat out a brand new Nissan Versa we were considering. We actually haven't bought it yet, but we're in process. It is in immaculate condition, a 2005 with only 14,500 miles. We decided that less than a dozen snow days a year, and maybe 3-4 mountain trips weren't worth the expense in first cost, mileage, maintenance, etc. that it would take to go all-wheel-drive. The Matrix is pretty cool. I never really looked into one before. Lots of cool little extras that show the designers really thought about what they were doing. I might even like it better than my xB.

What can I say, we're big fans of the "compact wagon" body style.

Tomorrow we go to the DMV and get our Colorado licenses and register the xB. Wednesday I start my new jobby-job and we pick up the new Matrix afterwards (then Jenna will have to go back to the DMV once again to register that one...)

Also, unrelated, there were some cool clouds and lightning off in the distance on the ride home. Weather is pretty cool.

I have to stop saying "cool" so much. Can anyone hook me up with another word?

Hello Colorado!!!

Well we made it! Jay got the internet hooked up pretty quickly, and luckily our studio includes high speed for free (well, included in the price, so i'm sure we're paying for it, but it seems like free). As Jay said in the comments of another post, the trip was great, really smooth and reasonably fast. The only incident was me hitting a poor defenseless bunny in the middle of the night - I still feel bad. Luckily it wasn't a deer, though, as I did see one dead on the road a ways after the bunny. The bunny wasn't quite big enough to damage the car, not even any blood on the paint.

Sorry no pics for now. But please keep us in your prayers that our house sells quickly, as this studio is going to feel pretty cramped pretty fast, and we can't really afford to upgrade to the one bedroom apt. Also pray that I find a job out here that will be something I like that will pay enough. I was going to look for something in graphics, like i did back home (before the horses), but it doesn't pay that great out here. I am really hoping to find another horse job, preferrably teaching lessons, as that should bring in a bit more money, if I can find a trainer to work under who needs a lot of beginner lessons taught. The other plus to working at a barn again is that I could probably bring Ella with me so she doesn't have to be cooped up in the studio all day either.

Thanks for all the prayers thus far, and we'll post pics soon.

Goodbye California!

We're off to Colorado today! We're packing up the car and heading out in a few hours, making a couple stops at parents' houses, then heading east. I have to unplug the computer here pretty soon, so we won't be posting for a few days.

Birthday greeting

I know I'm getting old, but this is a letter I got in the mail yesterday - my 29th birthday - from the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) asking why I haven't signed up yet, since I'm "fully eligible". Apparently I skipped a few years this time... It looks like a good deal! Discounts on motorized wheelchairs, dentures, and cruises...



(it could just be that they mixed up my address with my dad's with the same name, but I like my story better)

Ella's travel arrangements

We bought a crate for Ella for the car ride to Denver, and apparently Jay likes it more than she does! Ella is a little unsure of it, but we're going to put her food in there everyday so she will have to go in to eat, and hopefully she learns that it's a happy place. We have a week now to get her liking it - good thing we didn't just buy it the day before and assume all would go well.

packing day

wow, 2 posts in one day!!! this must be what happens when you're not working!

So today my friend Shelby came over to help me pack. I told her I will help her UNpack when they move to Colorado (which she is going to take me up on next year.) It really didn't take all that terribly long, but of course it's not 100% finished. I think Jay and I can handle the rest though. Here are the fruits of our labors:






And here is what we have to eat on and drink with for the next week:

Nieces and Nephews

Our niece had a dance recital a few weeks back, and we just got the pics from the family. Here are a couple. She is the one in the pink...wait...
she's the one on the far left. It's pretty funny how they are all doing something different in this pic - i think they need to work on thier coordination a bit more...




then we had family picture day at Jay's parents' over the weekend. Here are a couple of the kids: