Has anyone else caught Olympics Fever?? :) I'm normally not such a nut about watching sports on TV but there's just something about the Olympics that I love. Maybe it's watching all the different countries competing and the honor that goes along with winning a medal. Maybe it's the sappy commercials that make me teary-eyed no matter how many times I watch them (anyone seen the Visa commercial where the dad finishes the track race with his son? AH! Gets me every time!). Maybe it's the excitement of seeing if Michael Phelps can break the record for most Gold Medals ever won. But I think the main reason I love watching the Olympics is...because I don't have cable and NBC happens to be one of 2 stations that come in clear for us. :)

Just kidding! About the cable thing, at least. I really do love watching the Olympics. The Opening ceremony this year was just awesome! Chicago better be thinking already about how they can top Beijing's opener, should they get the bid for 2016. I would love to see Chicago or Madrid get the 2016 Summer Olympics. I love both those cities so much- it would be great to be able to return to either and watch the Olympics there. (I say I'd like either to win the bid, but I'm about 70% hoping that Chicago gets it.)

So in case anyone is wondering why I didn't blog about what an amazing, fun weekend Will and I had...it's because we were working hard at making permanent dents in our couch from our butts being glued there watching every hour of Olympic coverage that NBC has broadcasted thus far. And as such we barely left our apartment all weekend. We aren't even picky about the sports we watch- we have sat through multiple rounds of rowing, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, sabre fencing, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, basketball, synchronized diving, and water polo. And we're only on the 4th day! The good news is that I am now an expert judge in multiple sports. So if anyone needs to know the intricate details of how to win a sabre fencing match, I'm your gal! :)

To quote my adorable niece...Uh Ohhhh.

I came home last night to an...interesting...surprise. There was a note on our door from City Gate, our apartment complex, checking in with us to see if we will be renewing our lease at the end of next month. That in itself isn't the problem. We know we won't be renewing our lease. The date that our lease ends, however, is a bit of a shock.

To explain this, let me rewind to last September. We were still in Chicago, planning our move out here. Steve, the assistant manager for City Gate, called to let me know we got the apartment we wanted and we discussed the lease length. At the time, Steve gave me two options to choose from- 11 months or 13 months. I asked him why 12 months wasn't an option and he went into some yadda, yadda, yadda details about how October 1 isn't a great time to try to rent an apartment out here.

So, long story short, we thought we had signed a 13 month lease with our lease ending on October 30th. Apparently, we have not. Another classic example of how fantastic the management has been at this particular apartment complex. And yes, I am being sarcastic. We haven't had the greatest experiences dealing with them. I got a copy of the lease last night, and sure enough, our move out date is listed as September 29th.

So, this puts a bit of a curve ball in our plans. My last day of work is scheduled for October 17. The plan was to leave that night for Vegas, see Jimmy Buffett out there, come back on Monday, pack up our stuff and hit the road by the weekend, arriving in Nashville in time for Will to go the the Titans Monday Night Football game with his dad. NOW, however, I'm not sure what we are going to do. Apparently move to Nashville a few weeks earlier than expected! I do have the option of staying with a work friend and then leave on the original planned date, but who knows at this point.

Ahh, life. Always keeps you on your toes! :)

Sweet Relief...

In honor of my dad, who loves to talk about the weather, I am dedicating this blog to the heat wave that Denver is currently enjoying. Finally, after 23 days of waiting, we are getting some relief from the heat! This is record-breaking weather we've been having out here. The temperature has been over 90 for 20+ days, and today it is actually supposed to drop...to the mid-to-high 80's. Whew! What a dip. Ugh, talk about a heat wave! I know I shouldn't complain since I don't have to deal with humidity anymore (for a couple more months, at least!), but man, it's been hot here! To be fair, we do have some humidity...this morning it's up to 72%. But it doesn't feel as though you are stepping outside into someone's steamy bathroom after they've taken a really long, hot shower.

Thank you, Lord, for creating semi-arid deserts that don't require humidity. I'm a big fan of the fact that my hair doesn't take on a life of its own and spiral into an out-of-control crazy, frizzy mess when I walk outside. I can deal with feeling like I am living in an oven, but I'm not sure I'm ready to return to the land of saunas. :)

So I thought I'd take a moment this morning to sympathize with all my fellow Midwest bloggers. I hear the weather there is just awful, too. Dad said the heat index was 109 the other day...that's quite close to what our temperature was the other day. Another friend likened the humidity in St. Louis to "chewing his air before he swallowed." Yikes. I hope everyone is staying cool and doing their best to beat the heat!

Camping, and Sand Dunes, and Taos...Oh my!

My bosses Carla and Echo took the company on a camping trip last weekend. We left early Thursday afternoon and headed up to the Cripple Creek KOA. Ironic to Will and I- we went there once in April and figured we'd never be back...and this was our 3rd time going there in the past 4 months!

Camping was great with the whole team! One of my coworkers Mark brought his bags game, so we played many, many rounds, complete with calistenics for the losing team. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I was often on the losing team so I did a fair number of leg-lifts and push-ups. We did some team building exercises, too. Those were equally competitive. We had to show our best dance moves, and prove our ability to shotgun a beer- I won that competition, hands down. :) Other than that we spent most of our time eating, drinking, and chopping wood to keep our campfire going at night. We all got to stay in cabins, so it wasn't truly camping, but we had a good time.

Saturday morning Will and I packed up early to get on the road to the Sand Dunes National Park. We bought a National Parks pass last fall and want to hit as many national parks as we can while the pass is good. We were just a few hours from the Sand Dunes from Cripple Creek. The drive is really, really pretty, but barren! We (well, I) was worried about running out of gas on the side of the road- even gas stations were few and far between. We did find a gas station...and paid the most that I have ever paid for a gallon of gas- $4.09. Gulp...will the prices ever go down?!

We got to the park around lunchtime, picked out our campsite, ate some lunch and took a hike up to a lookout point for a really cool view of the dunes. Unfortunately that is about all we were able to do at the park. There were some dark clouds looming during our hike, and we got back to our campsite with just enough time to put our tent up before the sky opened up and it started dumping rain. We tried to wait it out under a tree, then eventually moved to the visitors center. It looked like the worst was over, so we went back to our campsite, but the rain picked up again as soon as we got there. So we did what every rainy camping trip calls for- we sat in the car with a beer and worked out 5 crossword puzzles. Around 6:30 the rain still hadn't let up, so we decided to give up and leave the campsite. Camping in the rain with no fire is just not fun.

We were headed toward Canon City, where the Royal Gorge Bridge is (a place Will insists we go before we leave for Nashville- I'm not sure how I feel about walking across a 1200 ft. tall bridge) when I looked at a map and realized how close we were to New Mexico. I had never been to New Mexico, so on a whim we turned south and went to Taos! We rolled in around 9:30 and quickly realized that Taos was not exactly a happening place, particularly at night. And as our luck would have it, it was raining there, too! We just couldn't escape the rain!

We got a hotel room at the ever-so-nice Don Fernando Hotel after driving back and forth along the "downtown" street and not finding any place else. And instead of dining on tasty southwestern cuisine at a cute little restaurant we got Applebees to-go and watched a few episodes of "Myth Busters" before going to bed. Talk about a bust...Taos was definitely one on Saturday night!

Sunday we slept in and repacked our very wet tent in its bag. We left the sand dunes in such a haste we didn't bother to put the tent away properly. We were more concerned with keeping ourselves dry so packed up as quickly as possible. Then we drove through the downtown area again to get to the Taos Ski Valley. It looks much cuter during the day! We didn't realize that ll the buildings in Taos are built to look very southwestern-y.

The drive to Taos Ski Valley is really pretty! There is a national forest the whole way up and a really pretty river that runs right along the road. There was a bike race happening on the top of the mountain...but not much else. We spent awhile walking around and then decided to set off for home. Every ranch we passed I swore was Julia Roberts'. She owns a ranch just outside of Taos.

The ride home was really pretty, too. We drove right through the mountains and through a really cute little mountain town...too bad I forgot the name. All in all it was an unexpected trip, but I do love being spontaneous, so it was a lot of fun!

Mile High Music Fest

What an exhausting weekend! The first Annual Mile High Music fest happened- 24 hours of music over 2 days, and we attended both days, from start to finish. It was hot, loud, crowded, and tiring...and overall, awesome. :)

I loved that I got to see a lot of my favorite bands in such a short period of time! For being the first concert they have had like this in Denver, I thought everything went exceptionally well. There were plenty of porta potties (though they could have been more spread out across the park), there was a TON of space so you didn't have to be dripping sweat on your fellow concert goers, they had 2 tent stages set up so you could escape the sun and still listen to music, and there were several free water spots around the park. But Lord, was it hot!! Saturday the high was 97 and Sunday it actually hit 100 degrees! We were very responsible (unlike many, many people) and drank lots of water in lieu of beer so we could stay hydrated. That definitely helped us be able to hang until the bitter end on both days!

My only complaint about the event was the parking situation. It took over an hour to get out of the parking lot on Saturday! I don't think they were prepared for the number of cars that would be trying to leave at the same time. That was frustrating, especially since all you want to do at the end of a long day of sun and music is to climb into bed as quickly as possible! Sunday wasn't a whole lot better, but they did seem to move traffic more quickly, which was nice.

Over the course of the weekend we got to see Eric Hutchinson, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Bob Schneider, One Republic, The Roots, The Black Crowes, Tom Petty, OAR, John Mayer, The Flobots, Dave Matthews, Ingrid Michaelson, Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz, and Gavin DeGraw, Tea Leaf Green, and a few others. Not a bad weekend of music!

Will was a trooper and put up with me dragging him from one stage to the next, and didn't complain when I danced and sang loudly to my favorite songs. :) We had a great time hanging out with Jenn (one of his college friends) and her boyfriend Brian. We have similar tastes in music so we were able to see a lot of shows together.

Date night!

Will is always full of surprises. He planned an impromptu date for me last night! After work we went for drinks at the Marriott downtown, and then to the Keg for dinner. Such a fun way to spend a random Tuesday night. Good food, great company, lots of laughs....and carrot cake "to go" for dessert tonight. :) I love this guy so much- he makes me a very happy camper.

Camping

We FINALLY got to go camping last weekend with a few friends! We drove up to the Nederland area and did some car camping along the Caribou trail. Car camping is much more my style than backpacking. I love being able to have a fire and lots of good food and a big cooler and music playing from a car. WAY better than throwing everything on your back and hiking a long way to a campsite with no fire to keep you warm.

I went 4-wheeling for the first time! We took 3 4WD vehicles and had a blast on the trails. It is amazing how the cars are able to traverse some of the terrain. The highlight was definitely going across a creek and through a bunch of mud to get to our campsite. :)

The weather was perfect camping weather...hot during the day, cold (really cold!) at night and not a cloud in the sky so we saw lots of stars. Unfortunately Will and I had a rough night's sleep thanks to our poor tent layout choice. We were leaning to the left so I ended up right against the side of the tent, with Will trying hard not to roll on me all night. We had a great time, though. Can't wait to get in some more trips before the summer's over.