{why i love denver so far}

- I remember what August feels like in Texas. Today in Denver... high of 83 degrees.

- 3 Crate and Barrel locations to choose from.

- 4 parks within 10 minutes of where we live.

- Everyone's in great shape. It's inspiring.

- If the Rockies hit 7 or more runs in a game... you can get 4 tacos for a dollar the next day at Taco Bell.

- The visibility of mountains from anyplace in the city.

- Fat Sully's Pizza (see last post).

- The availability of hiking locations to work off all the pizza.

- Minimum speed limits signs.

- The fact that even though I already don't like the mayor, I can still make fun of the fact that his last name is Hickenlooper.

- The easy-to-navigate layout of the city.

- Farmers Markets.

- The fact that I know we've only begun to discover Denver.

{Fat Sully's... proof that God loves us}

I love New York.... as does anyone who is of sound mind. The reasons that I love New York are great in number, but close to the top of that list would have to be the pizza. I know there is a long-standing and epic battle over whether New York style pizza or Chicago style pizza is best, but I am unequivocally and unapologetically team New York. I don't even know that I've HAD Chicago style.... but I can't imagine a circumstance where it would be better than a hot, fresh slice of pizza, so big and so thin that you can't eat it without having to use both hands and/or fold it in half.

But be aware... there are many cheap imitations out there. San Antonio can boast only one authentic New York style pizza joint that I have found (Pizza Bella on Nacogdoches). So when we moved to Denver, I made it my own particular mission to hunt down the best New York style pizza in the city. The first week we were here, I ordered a pizza from one place, and I will admit, they were close. But the slices were entirely too small.

And then we found it... Fat Sully's New York Pizza. As a New York pizza enthusiast, I am about to make a bold statement. Fat Sully's New York Pizza has the best New York style pizza that I have ever had outside the confines of the city of New York, and I would even say that it's better than some of the pizza I've had IN New York. It is superb and as authentic as they come.

What makes it better than some of the pizza that I've had IN New York, is that it is made fresh before your very eyes. Even some New York places will leave a pizza sitting out all day and throw a slice in the oven to warm it up when ordered. At Fat Sully's, the dough is always flying about as they whip up fresh pizza after fresh pizza. I've included a picture to show the size of the pizzas as well. As their slogan states... they're "Big Ass Slices" (sorry mom).

But I haven't even told you the best part. $2.50 a slice. I rest my case. If you're ever in Denver... hunt it down, because you won't regret it. Unless you're team Chicago, in which case, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

{things to distract me from packing}

With our pending departure for Denver, my last day at work was over a week ago. Since then, I've been faced with a bit of a dilemma day after day of what to do with all of this time off. I could pack... OR I could do something else. It would seem that doing something else won out most of the time. And now I will show you the product of choosing something else besides packing.

One thing that I should know better than to do, is to go to Hobby Lobby when I'm bored. I go in on a mission, and then after about 45 minutes of wandering the aisles, I will almost always find myself a little project. But this time I had a good reason. If you'll remember, when my niece Sofia was born, I painted a little box for her with her name on it. Well now I have a little nephew on the way, and wouldn't it only be fair that he get something too? Bear in mind... I am not a particularly creative or artistic person. I assure you of this. My husband is the artist, no question about it. But this is actually pretty easy. The only supplies it took was a wall-hanging made of unfinished wood, a little acrylic paint, and a few paint brushes. And voila, a fun little art project...

I was also helping my mom throw a baby shower for Stefanie this past weekend. Typically when we throw a shower, my main job is to find a cake. For a baby shower, I thought it would be a fun change to do cupcakes instead, so I began visiting some of the cupcake shops and bakeries in the area. I was truly shocked to find that they have the audacity to charge as much as $3.50 PER CUPCAKE, even when you're buying as many as 2 dozen cupcakes at a time. I left the last cupcake shop annoyed, and thought to myself "I could make the cupcakes for much less than that, and probably do a better job." So that's what I did.

I used to make cupcakes in college from time to time, so I was a little rusty with my cupcake skills and had to get the hang of it again, but I had forgotten how much fun it is to decorate them. These were french vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, all with chocolate buttercream icing. The blue and green confetti are store-bought and made of sugar. I did, however, make the birds out of fondant. I'd never used fondant before, so I was pretty proud of these. I may just have to start making cupcakes more often.

All in all, I had a lot of fun distracting myself from packing... but with our move now only 2 days away, it can no longer be avoided. We've gotten a lot done, but we still have a lot to do. So next time you hear from me, I will be reporting from Denver! I will hopefully post a few pictures of the drive and our first few days there. So until then!

Cheers

{may... the abridged version}

We thought that once we'd made the decision about where we were moving, we could finally breathe a sigh of relief. After all... that was the hard part, right?

Wrong. If memory serves, I don't think we've had more than an hour to relax at home since April. I am happy to report though that we DO now have a place to live in Denver. I can't say that I've ever signed on an apartment that I've never personally laid eyes on, which under normal circumstances, would be a little unsettling... but we researched... literally... every apartment, townhome and rental home in the greater Denver area, and we feel completely confident that we've found the right one for us. Not to mention that it's double the square footage of our current apartment. That rocks pretty hard in our opinion. So once we are settled in, there will be pictures of the new place. We're very excited about it.

We have a few hopeful leads on the job front, but nothing set in stone yet, so if we had one prayer request in this whole moving debacle, that would be it. Pray that God opens up the perfect jobs at the perfect time.

We took our little anniversary trip to Canada, and it was a blast. It was relaxing and adventurous all at the same time, and it was completely different from any vacation we'd ever taken. I don't know about the rest of Canada, but the parts that we saw were absolutely stunning. Unfortunately, I suffer from a little affliction known as altitude sickness, so there were a few hours of repeated nauseousness as we drove up into the mountains to go horseback riding, but by that evening, I was feelin' good again. I know what you're thinking... you're moving to Denver and you get altitude sickness? I don't know what to tell you about that. We'll see how it goes.

I genuinely dislike downloading pictures to this blog because of it's dreadful slowness, and because there are so many, I will again employ the usefulness of redirecting you to a link where you can find pictures from the trip. Hope you enjoy!

We're about to take a very welcomed break from moving plans to celebrate Maurice's sister's wedding, and we're so excited to be a part of the joyous occasion. So until next time...

Cheers!

{from miles and miles of texas to the mile high city}

So let's recap the last post. Most of you savvy minds figured it out, but if anyone should be left scratching your heads... we had a song by John DENVER and Whitney HOUSTON. After another really long process, it was narrowed down to Denver and Houston.

And we've decided that we're moving to Denver! Our excitement is two-fold.

First... this has just been a really long process for us that has lasted over a year. If you'll remember, we nearly moved to Philadelphia about this time last year, but after a lot of thought, we were certain that it wasn't the right move for us... despite what an amazing and beautiful city it is. So we stayed in San Antonio and came up with ANOTHER list of places, and before we knew it, we were playing the "where are we moving" game again. It's a long and frustrating process, but we did our best to hold onto our faith in the fact that if we asked God for guidance, He would undoubtedly show us what to do and where to go. Receiving that answer and seeing God's faithfulness is certainly the thing we are most excited about.

And secondly... we're just excited to live in a new place! We love Texas. We always have and always will, but this is a really welcomed change, and we can't wait to learn about and discover the city of Denver and all it has to offer. And not to mention its proximity to the mountains for some great hiking and snowboarding. I feel fairly certain that there may be some sort of snowboarding on a professional level in our future.

So we're excited. yes. that is a perfectly safe assumption. There is certainly a lot of work to be done in our near future, in terms of finding jobs and a place to live. Let me assure you... in the past few days, I have seen every apartment and rental home in the greater Denver area. No stone has gone unturned. Let me also say this... I quickly learned that the terms "renovated", "fantastic", "updated" and "great location" are all relative and subjective terms. But the perfect home is out there, and we will find it :)

So that's that. We're going to Denver. We're very excited. Hope you'll come and visit.

Cheers.

{so you think you're smart, do you?}

Last year, when Maurice and I had narrowed down our moving options, we offered a little hint as to what the final considerations were. So it would only be fair that I extend the same courtesy this year. However... I'm not gonna go so easy on you. It is going to take some careful thought and consideration. At least I hope so.

Maurice and I have narrowed it down to 2 places. And here are your clues as to what those two places are:

"Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong"

and

"If I, should stay, I would only be in your way"

... Guess if you dare

{A Brain Dump to Pass the Time}

My sincerest apologies for not blogging much lately. For the most part, there hasn't been much to blog about. We're still trying to work out the moving situation and working pretty much all the time, and it just doesn't seem like that's left time for much else! So what little news and stories there are to tell, you will receive in a new brain dump. And so it begins...

* Today Maurice and I booked a trip to Victoria, British Columbia for our first anniversary, and I am pumped.

* While we are in BC, we have decided we are going to go on a whale watching tour... also pretty pumped about seeing some killer whales.

* I am already trying to remind myself that the Pacific ocean and Sea World are two very different places, and that when I do see a killer whale, I should probably not try to reach out and hug it.

* Speaking of whales, Maurice and I watched "The Cove" last week.

* Everyone should watch that documentary, but only if you can stomach it.

* We also watched "The Blind Side" last week.

* Everyone should also watch that, but only if you can stomach watching the footage of Joe Theismann getting his leg broken.

* If you know what I'm talking about, it's at the beginning, so cover your eyes.

* Stefanie and Adam found out recently that they're having a boy, and Maurice and I are so excited to have a nephew.

* Sofia can't say "Aunt Kelli" yet, but she can say "Uncle Mo".

* It actually sounds more like "uh mo". We're pretty sure that counts.

* I gave up sodas for lent, and last night I dreamt that I had gone without sodas for so long, that I walked up to the fountain drink dispenser at subway and had forgotten how to use it.

* I woke up feeling equally as frazzled as I would had I had an actual nightmare.

* A lot of people told me that when you give up sodas and then try one after a while, that you don't like them as much anymore.

* What a silly thing to say.

* I just realized that because Maurice and I will be gone on our anniversary, that means we get to get out the top our wedding cake and eat it early.

* I am still very on the fence about Minnesota, but Maurice has begun to bribe me with promises of various gifts, upon my agreement to move there.

* I'm not sure if he's aware of how much a cashmere scarf costs.