Wicked.

Ok, time to catch up. I was too cheap to pay for internet access in our room again- $12 a day!- so here I am at the airport wasting time until our flight. We had no idea how long it would take to get from Midtown to LaGuardia so we left the hotel at 12:40 for our 3:45 flight. That was a mistake. Boo. We got to the airport in RECORD time due to our taxi driver who "loves fast cars and racing!" (That's an exact quote. When we told him we were from Indy he told us that he dreams of going to the race. I told him I was dreaming of never being in a car with him again!!) It took us a mere 14 minutes to get to the airport. I may have screamed and threatened to puke in his cab a few times, but so be it.

Once I caught my breath and put my stomach back where it belonged, we checked into our flight. The news made it seem like airports were swamped with people. Not true. It took us maybe 10 minutes to check-in and make it through security. The food court here is lacking to say the least. The airport is really small, but I think that is because they have the terminals broken up in such a weird way. We are flying US Airways and they charge for sodas onboard! What?! That is crazy. Jerks. They also charge $15 for the first checked bag. I hate that. I understand charging for the 2nd bag, but charging for the 1st just makes for slower boarding and deplaning as well as grumpy people. Whatever airlines. You all suck.

Now that I have updated you all on what is currently happening I will go back and cover the last day we had in New York City.

Friday morning we got up at a decent hour- 11 Eastern- and headed out to do a little shopping and eat lunch. I got these little crafts that I had been eyeing for 30% off since I waiting until after Christmas. Cha-ching. We tried to eat at 2 different New York-style delis, but the food grossed Jackson out. LOL! I thought he would love it! We ended up at a Qdoba. So it goes. I enjoyed my burrito immensely. We hurried back to the hotel to get ready for the show. We had to meet my friend Jenna at 1:30 so we were pushing it. Once I was ready- for once I took longer than Jackson to get ready- we hailed a cab. The cabbie didn't have a clue where we were going and passed the theatre! GRR! He had GPS. USE IT! Anyway, we got to the theatre and who do I see? SUZE ORMAN! 

You may not know of Suze if you're not a financial person like Jackson and me. We love to watch her show! Callers pose questions to her about what to do with their financial lives and she answers- she typically does an OK job, but I always feel that she lacks getting the whole picture. I scream when she gives tax advice because she does not know all of their information. And then viewers take her tax advice as fitting for them and it is a big mess. Anyway. We pause the show before she answers and give our answers. It is really fun. Jackson hates her because she thinks men are evil. She is a big lesbian and really does man bash quite a bit. I wanted to get a photo with her and tell her how we watch her show, but she was with some kids and we didn't wanted to bother her. It was still cool to see her. I assume she had GREAT seats. ;)

We found Jenna and headed to our seats- on the 3rd floor! Oops! They really were not bad seats though. I enjoyed the show. The set was incredible as were the costumes. I was unaware that they'd sing the ENTIRE show, but I lived. It was a cute story. Cuter since I'd been on the yellow brick road in Kansas and all. ;) Jenna entertained me before the show started. She is seriously so funny. It brought back memories of laughing myself to sleep in college. She is so witty and quick. She really kills me. My self-diagnosed ADD did not act up too much during the show because it was so fast-paced. 

We left there and headed to dinner at a place called Juniors on Times Square. Our food was excellent.  They were so busy and their cheesecakes are so popular that they sell them outside! I had to pretend to eat one. ;) Anyhow, we really enjoyed getting to see Jenna. She is seriously hilarious. MacKenzie would love to meet her, we're sure. :)

We went back to the hotel to change into comfy clothes and headed to the Empire State Building. It was a 2 mile walk, but since we'd had dessert we decided we'd better hoof it. We actually steered off course and saw Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building because they were pretty. When we finally go the to ESB, we walked through lines and lines. It was not crowded at all, but they make you go through lines so they can try to sell you things. I was annoyed. Mostly because I had a ridiculous fear of heights and I just wanted to get it over with. We finally got to the 86th floor and Jackson headed outside. It took me a second to get up the nerve to go outside. I finally did and found Jackson- on the other side of the building! UGH! I had to hold the wall the entire time. I did not feel steady walking on my own. I did it though. That was my second time atop the building and I am finished with it! The sights were incredible. I will admit that. 

We went to the world's biggest Macy's for a few minutes then headed home to the hotel. We wanted to wake up early today, but that did not happen. Our room was so dark and the bed was so comfy. It just sucked us in. We went to Central Park for a little bit to check it out. We ate at a cute little diner for lunch. Then we headed to that cab ride I mentioned earlier.

Well this blog has taken me within 2 hours of our flight. Excellent.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We're headed to Harry & Izzy's tonight with Susie. I love that place. And I love free food. Life is good. :)

The Curious Case of Manhattan

Merry Christmas!

Today we were very anti-Christmas and slept-in until 1 pm Eastern time. In our defense that is only 11 our time. A normal Christmas would bring Grace with bells ready to open presents. We missed her today, but we did not miss the bells. ;):) We were dead tired from yesterday's red eye flight and full day of sight-seeing. 

After we finally got up, we went out to search for food. We decided to head to Chinatown because we figured only Chinese places would be open. This was before we left our room. As we left the hotel and entered the sunny world we realized that like any other day New York City does not stop. Stores were open. Restaurants were going. People were EVERYWHERE. This really rocked our world. We honestly thought that Christmas day was probably really slow around here. WRONG. 

We decided to ride the subway to Chinatown and the financial district. It is only $2 per person making it MUCH cheaper than taking a taxi. Our iPhones (God bless them!) are able to give us walking directions and public transit information. We did not have to read a single map as the phone just told us when to switch trains. Money! It was awesome. We had one little hiccup where I thought it read "Grand Central Station" and it said "Grand Street" oops. We missed the Grand St. stop and ended up crossing into Brooklyn! Shoot! We did get to see Lady Liberty that way, though. It was pretty funny. Once we were back on track we landed in Chinatown. Jackson says, "just show me a huge wall and I'll believe that I'm in China!" LOL!! It was very, very, very genuine. The signs were in Chinese. The papers were in Chinese. The people were Chinese. It was very Chinese. After finding that their food was too authentic for my American-ized taste we headed to little Italy. Little Italy was not as genuine as Chinatown. There was a restaurant that looked excellent, but the line kept us at bay. After all we were losing daylight since we had slept in so long! We ended up at a Sbarro (a wonderful place for a Christmas meal- right?!) and had pizza there. It was really weird that so many places were open. It was terribly easy to forget that today was Christmas day. 

We walked to Wall Street and got some cool photos. We went to see the Bull statue that Jackson had been DYING to see. It was pretty cool, but there were people everywhere. Again. We headed back to the subway to get back to the hotel. We only had to ride one train so there was no chance for missing anything. Whew. ;) Riding the subway was very easy, but those things need some LYSOL. No kidding. I am scrubbing myself tonight. And washing my jeans in boiling hot water. Ick. 

We decided to go to a movie tonight as I love seeing movies on Christmas day. Theaters are different here as they do not really have multi-plex buildings. The theatre we went to is really old and HUGE. We stopped in at 6 to get tickets for the 8:15 showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was really a cool movie. I normally do not support Brad Pitt in anyway, but the movie was great. We went to dinner before the movie since we had some time to kill. We had Chinese since it was more American around here. Haha! :) We walked down to Times Square to get cheesecake. The line- again- was too long and there were no tables so we headed back to the movies. We get to the theatre at 7:50- waaaaaay earlier than I would ever get to a movie in a regular town- and we have to wait in a line a block long. Are you kidding me?! We already have tickets. It was just the line to get in. Then there was a 20 minute line to get Milk Duds. GRRRR. These people must be the most patient on earth because all you do here is WAIT! The theatre was really old and historic. It was a great place to see a movie. It was so weird to walk out of the theatre to and be in New York City! We decided to go to bed at a decent hour tonight as we want to get a lot of stuff done tomorrow. 

We are headed to walk in Central Park and then to see Wicked with my roommate from IU, Jenna. We are also going to go to the top of the Empire State Building. It should be a good day.

We hope you all had a GREAT Christmas. 

Merry Christmas from New York City!

Isn't she a beauty? This tree is truly breath-taking in person. I cannot imagine a more beautiful tree. 
I love this display of HUGE ornament balls. It is really a cool piece of art. 
We met up with Heidi and Andrew at Rockefeller Center. It was so nice to see them!
Jackson in front of the LOVE sign because he is my love. ;):)

Ok, I am not posting anymore photos right now because it is a painfully slow process. Sorry. On to the rundown:

We left Denver at about 1 am mountain time. We flew JetBlue and they were awesome. Our flight was very full- much to our disappointment. We wanted to be able to spread out. They did, however, hand out sleep kits that had eye masks and ear plugs. How nice! Each seat has a tv and free satellites and movies. I watched for a little bit, but fell asleep. Poor Jackson couldn't get any rest. We landed 30 minutes early so it was only a 3 hour flight. Not bad at all! Thank you, JetBlue.

After a disaster with our shuttle service not showing up (do NOT use SuperShuttle- they suck!!) we got a taxi and headed into the city. Taxi drivers seem to have death wishes. Jeez. I about puked 800 times in the back of that cab from JFK to Manhattan. We got here in one piece, though. Our hotel was willing to let us check in at 10 so we had 2 hours to kill before we got some much needed sleep. Jackson had been up for over 24 hours at this point! We were pointed to a diner called "Astros" that was really good. It was so New York! It was tiny and the help was foreign. (There are not many English speaking people in NYC on Christmas Eve.) From there we went to a Starbucks to rest and enjoy a wonderful coffee treat. Yum! It was cold and rainy this morning so we wanted to take shelter- quickly! It finally came time to check-in and get some sleep and we could not have been happier. We showered up and got a long 3 hour nap. It was heavenly. 

We headed out to meet Heidi and Andrew at Rockefeller Center. The tree! Oh so lovely! We had lunch down by the skating rink and watched many people fall. One girl did some tricks, but they were lame compared to the Olympics. ;) It was nice to catch up with our friends in a place the none of us call home! 

We did typical tourist things and headed to Times Square. Kill me. Now. I have never seen so many darned people in one place. (Minus the breast cancer walk in Denver, but that was different.) I just wanted to scream. People run into you like you're not there. GRR people GRR. We walked down 5th Ave and did some shopping. I loved the window displays. We went to FAO Schwartz. We were like kids in there. It was a TON of fun!!! :) 

We came back to the room and cleaned up before we headed out to dinner. We went to an Italian place near our hotel. It was SO delicious. We had bruschetta that was to die for! YUM! And chicken parm and lasagna. It was awesome and not too horridly expensive. That's important because this place is expensive!

After dinner we headed to a church service here in the city in a really old, gorgeous church. We stood in line for 50 minutes to get in (the services are really popular here) and right as we are walking in I notice a homeless man sitting on the stairs. I went to him, gave him some money and wished him a "Merry Christmas." I had no more left his side when a security officer for the church told him this was not a place for beggars and made him leave. The church is not a place for people with nowhere else to go? Really? Then where are we to go? As Jackson pointed out to me, weren't we at church to celebrate the birth of Someone who had nowhere to go many, many years ago?! (Jesus.) We went into the service, but I just could not shake the feeling that these people were missing the point of a Christmas Eve service. I told Jackson I wanted to leave and we did. Jackson told a guy on the way out what happened and he brushed us off and told us to tell someone who cares. Oh ok. Sweet. Nice church. Not. My heart was absolutely broken. After a few minutes of being upset I regrouped and decided that jaded New Yorkers would not mess with my Christmas. My Jesus still cares for the homeless man, even if they do not. Thank you, Jesus.

Jackson and I went back to see the big tree and it was packed! Do people not sleep?! After a quick stop for some New York cheesecake- yum- we came back up to retire. I convinced Jackson that I just had to pay the $12 fee to sign online so I could update you all on our trip thus far. Thank me later. Haha! :)

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. May God bless you and yours on this very holy day. 

Keep tabs on MacKenzie

While we are away MacKenzie will be paying Camp Bow Wow's rent for the next 2 months or so (ok, a stretch, but still $252 is a lot of cash!) you can check her out at:
http://www.campbowwow.com/us/co/parker/CamperCams/tabid/1143/Default.aspx
She will be dropped off tonight around 7 Mountain Time and won't be picked up until the morning of the 30th. Tear. We'll miss the little pup.

Love and hate...

I feel that I have been in Denver long enough to compile a list of loves and hates.

Loves:
1. That snow melts very, very quickly. We're talking within hours. Cha-ching.
2. There is no humidity. Lovely.
3. The sun shines so much. Honestly. Cloudy days are few and far between. The sun even shines when it rains. Odd. I know. But this leads to my 4th love
4. There are so many rainbows here! Beautiful!
5. I enjoy living in a tourist-y destination. This has so far not helped out with people visiting us, but I harbor hope.
6. There are not many old people here. Sorry, Florida, but I enjoy people driving at higher levels of speed.
7. There are mountains here. They're gorgeous. I cannot ever imagine life without them again.
8. I do not have flea/tick treat MacKenzie because there are no issues with them in this climate. Cha-ching. That stuff costs a fortune.
9. Flights out of Denver tend to be very inexpensive and the airport (when the trains are working) is lovely.
10. Jackson lives here and that is all that I need. :)

Hates:
1. There is a SEVERE lack of sweet tea in the greater Denver area. SEVERE.
2. McDonald's of Denver has done away with bagels in the morning. That's such crap. I had to go to Burger King because of this and I HATE Burger King.
3. The fact that Mexican restaurants do not serve white cheese is inexcusable.
4. The fact that there are only 2 Cracker Barrels locally and it takes at least 45 minutes to get to either of them is just annoying.
5. I will move on from food- but it is the worst thing about being out here. 5 is that Denver drivers are horrid in the snow! GRR.
6. I hate bicyclists who do not think that they have to follow traffic laws...this means that I hate all of the bicyclists in Denver.
7. People with big dogs here seem to think that leash laws do not apply to them. No, my little 14 pound white schnauzer does not want to play with your German Shepard weighing in at 130. Thanks, jerk.
8. The toll road by our house is increasing its rates to like $2 per toll plaza. That's going to be an expensive drive to the airport now. Grr.
9. They put a pink clay and sand mixture on the roads which is just hideous. Hideous. And it does not help anything to melt. What the heck?!
10. We have no one here to puppy sit for MacKenzie so we have paid about $400 to Camp Bow Wow in 4 months alone. Ouch!

As you can see, the pros outweigh the cons and we are really happy here. No place is perfect, we know that. But if you don't strive for improvement you'll become complacent. Ick.

P.S. I GOT THE JOB! :)

A new ring

We went to church this morning- it was packed- and heard a GREAT sermon. I love to see families together worshipping near this holy holiday. The sermon was given from Joseph's perspective of Jesus' birth. The speaker brought up a ton of things that I had never thought of before. It was really lovely.

After church we headed to Shane Co. to get Jackson a new wedding ring. I missed him looking married. :) He had a $300 budget (because people who lose things do not get rewarded!) so we ended up with a tungsten titanium ring. He really likes it. It was $317 so we went a little over budget- when don't I?- but who's counting?! ;) 

Then we headed to lunch at our favorite Chinese joint. Yummers. We had a nap and watched the Broncos get beat. We love watching the Broncos lose. :) Tonight we are baking cookies for Jackson to take into work and watching the Giants vs. Panthers game. We're looking for a Giant win! 

I have an interview tomorrow so please keep that in your prayers. Have a great Monday!

I have added this photo of MacKenze simply because she is so cute. ;):)

Mazda vs. Median

Well, well, well. Remember when I said that my car had no damage from my brush with the underneath of a semi? I was incorrect. Incorrect is an understatement. I was dead wrong. I knew when I tried driving it that it felt bad. I was right. Let's start at the beginning of the morning we had here.

I wanted to take my car to the Mazda dealership to be looked at because it was driving terribly. Jackson, ever the thrifty husband, wanted to take it to a discount tire store. Guess who won. Jackson. Of course. We head out to a store that it is to be 9 miles from our house. Totally fine. We get there- wrong store. We had accidentally called and ordered tires to a store 30 minutes away. Awesome. I'll drive my wrecked car on the interstate for miles. Why not? I mean it is just safety right? GRR. So we drive and drive and drive and finally get to the other store. Oops. They cannot aline my car because the tires are too big. GREAT. WONDERFUL. THANK YOU. Oops again. I need a new wheel because mine was cracked in the whole Mazda vs. median fiasco. (Aren't SUVs made for all terrain driving? And doesn't a median count as all terrain?!) Ok. A new wheel. Sweet. Order me one. No problem. Oh wait a new wheel- not even the tire just the inside- is $565. AWESOME. Again, thank you. So I get the wheel ordered. We get the 3 tires put on. We pay. A cool $1,500 t0 get out of the place. They not have to trailer my little Mazda from BFE to Castle Rock- a solid 25 minute drive from our place- to get it aligned and install the new wheel. It won't be done until Tuesday. We leave for New York Tuesday night. WONDERFUL. Again, thank you. UGH! What an annoying day. I have an interview Monday morning and I have no car. Our insurance will not cover a rental car unless we file a claim. If we file a claim then our rates go up. Jackson told them how much he hated insurance and how we pay for something we cannot afford to use. I totally agree. I hate insurance companies. (On that note, do not ask me who my interview is with on Monday because it is totally an insurance company, LOL- but they only do life...no auto. Whew!) A rental car for 1 day (1 day!) is like $55. Are you kidding me? No. We will just have to think of a plan. I am beyond annoyed right now. GRR. GRR.

On the positive side of things since we were already so far out of town going to a Cracker Barrel was feasible. Ah yes, nothing like comfort food and sweet tea to ease the pain of a cracked wheel. I mean my wheels are not even chrome- why are they so expensive? GRR.

We did Christmas shopping for MacKenzie tonight. She got food (HA!), a new red ball and some poop bags. I know. She's spoiled. ;) Practicality this year folks. I have a wheel to pay for! We also made a Target run and it was shockingly calm there. I loved it. Our friend Meg was brave enough to face Wal-mart today. I am rarely that brave on regular days, but the Saturday before Christmas? Forget it. I told you that she's a trooper.

The rest of the evening was spent watching football. The Cowboys lost. Add that to my crappy day. I love the Cowboys. :/

Tomorrow should be better. I hope you all are well! :)

Seven Pounds

Jackson, Meg and I went to a movie tonight. We saw Seven Pounds. It is pretty much one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Go see it. Now. Seriously. Go. We had a taco dinner here before. Meg is such a freakin' trooper. She rolled out to see us right out of chemo! Seriously. She is my hero. She's just awesome.

If you are a loyal blog reader (if you're not, that's totally fine this just won't make as much sense to you.) then you will recall that I LOVE getting presents in the mail! Honestly. I love it! YAY for presents in the mail. I do not include things that I purchase via the internet presents in the mail. That's just silly. I also do not purchase things that way very often so I have gotten way off of my point here. Back to presents in the mail. I love them. This week was a GREAT week for presents in the mail. I do not mean just wrapped presents, I include Christmas cards as presents in the mail because the represent thoughts. And thoughts are really the best presents. Besides perhaps a Gucci bag, but who cares?! Anyway, I love Christmas cards with photos. It is always so nice to see how people are! This week I got a ton of cards. Thank you everyone! I loved it! I also got a package from my sister-in-law, Kathi, and from my dear friend Cali Kate. Thank you, ladies. LOVED IT! Kate sent us the most beautiful artist rendition of the Golden Gate Bridge (a personal favorite) and I love it so much that I sat it on my desk so that whenever I am on the computer (wayyyyyy too much!) I will see it. Thank you Cali! Kathi sent us a lot of goodies (I opened them early. Shame on me!) but my favorite it a snowman drawing/painting by Grace that is framed so nicely. It looks gorgeous. I seriously love it and I am considering leaving it out all winter (Shannon and her mom think that snowman represent winter not Christmas but I am not sure how I feel about that yet...).

Today was a tremendously wonderful day. Yay.

" I CANNOT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Today it snowed. I do not watch the weather so I was unaware that the weather was going to change. I met Jackson for lunch and then went to get a pedicure. Finally! It had been too long! Then I had a knee doctor appointment. I have to have surgery. SURPRISE! Oh wait. No. Anyway, I have surgery on January 9th. Susie is flying out the night before so she can go with me and so Jackson won't have to miss any work. I want to keep his days off for fun- not surgery! He really wanted to come so don't think he's a careless hubby or anything. ;) Anyway- on to the juice.

I wrecked my car today. Don't worry. I am fine. My car, surprisingly, does not have a scratch. (And if it does I cannot see it yet so I feel ok about it.) I was on my way home from getting the surgery news when I got to an intersection and just could not stop. I was trying. I really was. I knew my car needed new tires. I actually have an appointment to get new ones tomorrow. These puppies just have no traction or grip left on them at all. I knew they were death wheels. So I am trying to stop at this intersection and if I cannot stop I will go under a semi. I was not looking too forward to the whole airbag going off, ambulance coming and canceled trip to New York City thing so I was thinking fast about how to avoid this situation. I looked to my right and saw a turn lane triangle thing (super technical language, I know) so I coasted through it and then to avoid hitting a car I ran my Mazda up into a rock-filled median. It took me a second to catch my breath and remember to put my car into "park" so that I wouldn't cross the median. I burst into tears (because isn't that the normal reaction when you avoid a serious accident?) and finally found my way home. I thank God that it was just a little scare and no one (nor my car) was hurt. I definitely think He was watching over me and gave me an escape route. When I got home it was as if MacKenzie knew Mommy was upset because she jumped into my arms (she never does that) and licked my face all over. Gross, but it is her way to show love. I am again thankful for God's provisions and protection.

I'll be getting those new tires tomorrow.
I hope you all are well. :)

We need heat!!!!!

As most of you know, Jackson and I are semi-reluctant landlords. When we decided to up and move to Colorado the housing market was and still is in the toilet. Instead of taking a beating on our homes we decided to rent them. We have been extremely blessed in the way of our tenants. They care for the homes really well. They pay their rent on time. Most of all, they very rarely call us. Lovely. Yesterday I got a call though. Sigh. The heat at Jackson's house was not working properly and was topping out at 64 degrees. Rob, our tenant, assured me that they would just build a fire and wait until morning for it to be serviced. I really did not want to pay the after hours charge. I had to call Susie to see who she uses. She hooked us up with a few names and Jackson got up early this morning to make some calls. It is not so easy to coordinate things in the morning when we live in a different time zone! Jackson is a trooper and made the calls before coming back to bed for a little bit. We were able to get someone out there this morning and it turns out that it just needed serviced. A few filters that we did not know about needed changed. He changed out a few parts and viola! HEAT! YAY! It ended up only being a $105 fix. We are so grateful. It could have been a lot worse! So now everyone is happy and warm again. Yay! :) Let's keep our fingers crossed that no more repairs are needed until after we sell the place. ;)

I have a knee doctor appointment this afternoon. Yick. I'll let you know how it goes!

Add-ons

I forgot to post this photo of MacKenzie making sure David had plenty of balls to throw! :) Too cute. Please disregard his Purdue t-shirt and how disrespectful it is to wear such garbage in our home. ;)

I also wanted to post that I got a semi-disappointing B on my taxation final. There's always next semester. :/

Only a few days until we head to NYC! I could do without all of the flying time though. Ugh.

We're back!

6 days and no blogging. I cannot believe it. I didn't even miss it too much! I opted not to take my computer to Palm Beach and while Danielle has one I just never found time to blog so here I am now...back in the freezing cold with nothing better to do! :) I'll do a timeline as I feel that will be the easiest. This will be a long post so go get your coffee/diet coke/ drink of choice and settle in for a weekend rundown.

Friday
My plane left at like 6:20 AM so I had to be out of the house around 4:45. Ok, make that closer to 5 but who is keeping track?! ;) Anyway, I get to the Denver airport and make it through security (I HATE getting dressed for the airport then undressing around 600 strangers for the security lines then redressing in some corner all while trying to make a freakin' early flight- so annoying!) and head down to the trains to concourse C. Well the trains were not working. As I am standing on a not-yet-moving after 35 minutes train, I start thinking about the engineers who designed Denver's airport. (While I know many great ones I will admit that for the most part I dislike engineers nearly as much as I dislike cinnamon.) I imagine that the design meetings went like this,
"Let's make a HUGE airport!"
"Yeah!!!"
"Let's make it so big that people cannot walk from concourse to concourse. Seriously, let's not put in a way to walk. Let's build fancy underground trains!"
"YEAH! TRAINS! We LOVE trains!"
"Ok, what if the trains were to break down, then what?"
"Trains break down?! Why would they do that?! Why on earth would we waste money on a second way to get around the airport?!"
"You're right, let's rely solely on the trains!"
As you are now aware, the trains do not always work. The trains not working caused delays EVERYWHERE. Didn't the engineers know that there are only a few planes that service the entire world and when one is delayed it has a domino effect?! UGH!!!!!! End of rant.

Once the entire flight was able to make it to our gate we took off. A mere 1 hour late. I was certain that I would miss my connection in Atlanta (another huge airport with trains- but sweet tea and a way to walk so I give them a pass) to West Palm Beach. It turns out my plane was the one continuing on to West Palm so I didn't have to worry. I just sipped sweet tea and waited for the beach.

While I sipped sweet tea in Georgia things were going crazy at Jackson's office. There were a ton of people fired for under performing. Thankfully Jackson is awesome at his job so he's fine. It was still quite a day for Mr. Petefish as people were freaking out. All of the people who lost their jobs had families. What a though time of year to get a pink slip. Our hearts go out to them. We are extremely thankful for Jackson's position. Jackson's friend David flew in that evening and the two of them went to the Cherry Cricket for dinner. Yum! Then they went to bed after long days and a day on the slopes ahead of them. MacKenzie was at Camp Bow Wow all day. She says she had a nice time.

After I finally landed in West Palm (after sitting with really fun people who made the flight seem like it was 5 minutes long) I got my rental car and headed north to see Danielle. Aren't I so grown up? Flying and renting a car on my own. I know. I had a case of the "Oh my, I'm old!" while on my way to Stuart. Danielle lives in a cute little town about 30 minutes north of West Palm on I-95. I love Stuart for 4 main reasons: Danielle lives there, Sonny's BBQ is there, Tropical Smoothie is there and they have HUGE bridges that I enjoy walking across. Danielle and I caught up for hours before we decided to go to dinner and chat more. We went to Sonny's BBQ which is my favorite Florida restaurant. The food is just so good. Yum. Yum. I could eat there daily. That night we went to see a local group perform and they were really good. It was kind of folk/pop music and I really enjoyed it.

Saturday
David and Jackson got up super early and headed for Copper Mountain to go skiing for the day. They made it up without any issue even though the roads were not great. Jackson took over my little SUV for the weekend so he wasn't worried. ;) They skied all day until their legs "felt like jell-o" and then they headed back to Parker. Since it was earlier than we had expected (we planned for bad roads) Jackson was able to spring MacKenzie from camp a day early. She loves to play with David so she was elated. She brought him toys all night and he played quite a bit. Mac loves a player. They were so sore and tired from skiing that they did not do anything exciting. I know. They're old. Sorry.

Once I finally woke up (the time difference is a killer!) Danielle and I headed to walk to bridge. This is a quite popular thing to do in Florida and I really enjoy it. Stuart has a particularly huge bridge, the Roosevelt Bridge, that I enjoy walking. It is 1.3 miles from shore to shore so it is a nice little workout. We ate lunch at Tropical Smoothie. I love that place! Then we cleaned up and headed south to the Palm Beaches. We stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel. Food heaven! Then shopped at the Palm Beach Gardens mall. That place is so nice! Whew! I loved it! We went to City Place next, but since they have a new night club "Taverna Opa" that plays loud music the echoes through the whole place the mall didn't hold the same place in my heart. They had fake snow falling and people were so excited about it. I thought it was cheesy! We did a little more shopping then headed to the beach. Ahh that drive into Palm Beach on Royal Palm way is my favorite! The wind was gusting and it was a perfect night to stare at the ocean. The salt, the waves oh I love it! :) We decided to head back to Stuart and see what was going on. We ended up at a karaoke party. Classic. I had not seen karaoke in a looong time. People still suck. Really. They do.

Sunday
Jackson and David headed to Red Rocks to see some local Denver sights. It was a freezing cold day and Jackson lost his wedding ring while taking off his gloves. He is certain it is somewhere in the snow at Red Rocks. He worried and worried about how to tell me. I didn't care at all. Accidents happen. We'll look for a new one soon, but until then he is ringless. He's much more upset with himself than he needs to be, but whatevs. Anyway, they saw Red Rocks and then headed to Golden for a tour of the Coors brewery. Jackson says it was not as good as the at Anheuser Busch. Too bad. They ate at an old restaurant in Golden that had excellent "bar food" so that means Susie would love it. ;) They played with MacKenzie a bit more- David wanted her to learn to shake hands but he was not successful- then David headed home to Indy. Jackson was so tired that I am pretty sure he was in bed at 9! Old. Again. I know.

My Sunday was again a trick of the freakin' time zones. I made Danielle miss church because she didn't wake me up-??! So once I was finally around we went to Tropical Smoothie- AGAIN- then headed to Okeechobee to see my grandparents. We visited there for a few hours. We looked at old pictures and took a golf cart ride then headed back to go to a Cantata at Danielle's church. It was beautiful! I loved it! :) That evening we went to dinner with her parents. They crack me up. They're so fun! After a little bit of time at the bookstore we headed home to watch John and Kate Plus 8. I don't love the show, but it is like a train wreck. You cannot turn away. Kate's attitude gets on my nerves! ugh!

Monday
Jackson had to go back to work and he was tired! Poor kid had a busy weekend and needed a weekend from his weekend! No more people were fired so that was a positive.

I had the whole morning and afternoon to play in Florida still so we went to breakfast at Tropical Smoothie (by now you all feel badly for Danielle and I do not blame you. We do not have decent restaurants in Denver so I was determined to eat what I loved while on my trip.) and headed to the bridge to walk. It was such a nice day! 75 degrees. Ah, love it! I cleaned up and headed to West Palm to meet with a friend from high school for lunch. I went to to high school and IU for one year with Brittany, but had honestly not seen her in like 4 years. We chatted easily and it was so nice to catch up. She's a personal trainer and in the most ridiculous shape. Note the self: workout. Shoot. Anyway after our visit I milled around City Place until it was time for my flights. Palm Beach's airport is so little and lovely. Security takes all of 5 minutes and I love it. My connection in Atlanta was only 30 minutes so I, of course, ended up booking it through the Atlanta airport from one side to the other and made my flight. Whew! I was ready to see Jackson and MacKenzie! I landed and once Jackson figured out how to pick me up- I won't go into it as it is more frustrating than the loss of his wedding ring- I was homeward bound. MacKenzie was so happy to see me that she jumped from the front seat to the cargo area and into my arms. Aww. :) I love that little dog. We ordered some Chinese food and caught up on our weekends. It was lovely. Then we went to bed and snuggled close since we'd missed each other so much. We're pathetically in love and I love it. :)

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

Wild decor!

This is a house in the neighborhood across the street from ours. This photo does not do it justice. It is tackier than this. Really. It makes our place look nice. ;)

We have been busy getting the house ready for a guest (our first non-family overnight sleeper!). I baked cookies and grocery shopped. The boys should be all set. Tomorrow I intend to do a good cleaning of the guest bath and I will be finished!

I started packing today only to find that my Grandma's present did not fit into my luggage. I went to mail it at UPS 2 day to Danielle's so I could take it to Grams on Sunday and they wanted $93 to ship it. $93! Are you kidding me?! Are you kidding me?! I took my present to the good ol' U.S. Postal Service and sent it 2-day for $9.80. That's more like it. UPS must be on CRACK. UGH! I was so mad! They also wanted $6 for a box and $7 to pack it for me. Listen, UPS, I love the whiteboard commercials but your prices are insane. INSANE. (End of rant.) It was cheaper to mail my package than to check a bag with Delta. Madness. I have such tight connections- think 45 minutes in Atlanta- that I hope everyone is on schedule and ready to go. I better wear comfy shoes so I can book it across the ATL airport. :)

Until next time- have a great weekend! :)

SO excited!

We are about to explode with excitement!

Jackson cannot wait for David to be here to ski this weekend. I CANNOT WAIT to be in Southern Florida with Danielle for some girl time! YAY!!!

In just a few more weeks we'll be headed to NYC for Christmas. We get to see Heidi and Andrew one day. My old friend Kyle another. My old roomie, Jenna, is going to see Wicked with us. I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE ALL OF MY DEAR FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I can wait 2 more weeks! Bring it! :)

Weekend in the West

Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown Denver to see the Parade of Lights. Our good friend Meg and her friend Heidi met us at the light rail station around 3 to head down. Thanks to Meg for free light rail tickets- AGAIN! We all walked around the 16th street mall for a while then went to dinner. Well, they ate dinner. Somehow I managed to not find one thing on the menu appealing so I later ate at a Corner Bakery. They all liked their meals though! And we got to sit outside in December because it was such a nice night!!!!! :) LOVE IT! We watched the parade on 17th street. It was a nice show but really SLOW! There must have been a 20 minute break at one point. The kids around us got kind of restless and began running into the parade route- it was pretty humorous. I wore boots down there that were not that comfortable because I had planned to buy new ones when we got to the mall. Well the store was out of my size so my brilliant plan failed and by the end of the night my feet were killing me. I ended up walking in my socks back to the light rail station. Sweet. I know. ;) The light rail on the way home was PACKED. A small child actually bit Meg! I screamed. I was so grossed out. Parents really had no control over their children and they didn't care. How annoying. Also, men were sitting while women had to stand and hold on. Grr. Anyway, we had a fun night- public transit and all!
Today we went down to Colorado Springs to go to church and to hike. Above is an aerial photo I found of the New Life Church campus. It is HUGE. I really didn't mind the size, though. Today marked the 1 year anniversary of the shootings on their campus. The family who lost 2 daughters stood up and spoke. There was not a dry eye in the house. The sermon was on grief and the pastor knew what he was talking about as his nephew was killed this week in a car accident. I was heart-broken for him. We decided that if it were any Sunday except the anniversary of the shootings that he wouldn't be there. He was a trooper and delivered a very touching message.

After church we headed to Chipotle for lunch. We ate outside with MacKenzie as it was another gorgeous 60+ degree day here. After lunch we headed to Pike's Peak to do some training on the trails. We ended up on a stair trail that almost killed me. My legs are jell-o. We didn't even get half of the way up that trail either. We intend to conquer it one day when we are in better shape! MacKenzie was worn out and slept the whole way home. She just tugs and tugs out on those trails- she loves it.
We had an unfortunate event happen tonight: Jackson's 1st gray hair. He came out of the bathroom this evening yelling for me to come quick. We plucked it then sat in mourning of his youth. He is certain he will have to soon start dying his hair. Poor kid.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get a ton of snow. This wacky weather is really different, but I'll take it! I enjoy a nice day sprinkled in among snowy ones.

Happy Birthday, Susie Petefish!!!

Jackson got a drunk dial from his mother last night to remind him that today was her birthday. We knew that already, but the reminder was nice. ;) She is in New York City for a lady's getaway and will be attempting to appear on the Today Show this morning. We'll be tivo'ing it.

Have a great day, Susie! We hope you're not too hung over to enjoy it! ;)

We love you! Happy Birthday!

Baking our parents' recipes...

The ever-so-popular with the Petefish family Lena Cookies! YUM! :)

This is the tray I made for Jackson to take into work: half Lena Cookies and half of my Dad's famous fudge recipe. (The fudge is soo good! Thanks, Dad and Diana!) It was really fun to make things that our parents made for us as kids. I hope Jackson's co-workers will enjoy their treats. :)

The weather here was so nice today...it was nearly 70 degrees! It was wonderful. MacKenzie got to take multiple walks. :) It is supposed to snow tonight, though. This is like Indiana's weather on crack! Even in Indiana we didn't have this big of a temperature swing!!!

There's not much else going on here. Jackson is getting excited for his skiing weekend and I can hardly wait to get to Palm Beach! I love having things to look forward to. Hope you all have a lovely day!

RED

Today is World AIDS Day. You can help support the Project (RED) by going to Starbucks today. The intend to give $.05 of every sale to the (RED) cause. Those mochas could add up quickly! I really like this cause (not just because of my obsession with the color red either!) and I am proud of Starbucks for partnering with it.

In other RED news... this is what I hope to get on my exam today: a BIG, RED A+. :)

Have a great Monday!