What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

    So once again I proved to myself that I am a blonde... err that maybe I don't think things through! Today was my day off (happy dance). I decided it would be a GREAT idea to take a run to the barn to feed my horses. Two birds with one stone, right? I have ridden my bike quite a few times and it usually takes about 30 minutes. Just to be on the safe side I decided to map it out on Google;1 hour 39 minutes; doable. So I loaded my camelbak and hit the road, only to discover it took me 1 hr and 15 minutes to get there, one way. I even jogged the whole time! I then had to feed, clean stalls, waters and take a quick rest to re-charge. I was prepared that the journey home would take a while, but seeing how most of it was downhill (I suffered the uphill trek on the way there), I figured I could shave some time off.  I made it 3/4 the way home and I decided I needed to walk because my legs were super fatigued. I kept thinking, man I must be super slow or  just having a bad work out day, because after all I was at double the time google said it would take! I got home and was E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D! You know it wasn't until Árni got home when were sitting on the balcony discussing our day, I was voicing my frustration with my performance, and he says"'Yeah, but that is just one way on google." DOH! I didn't double the trip, like the genius I am, I ran twice the amount I thought I did. Well, I didn't feel too smart after that but I did feel proud! I ran 10 miles!!!! That is the longest run I have ever done! So hey, maybe being a blonde paid off!! I'm feeling pretty strong now, and as I was getting ready for our date night tonight I put on a pair of jeans I haven't worn since Christmas, at which point I had to stuff myself into like a burrito and THEY FIT!!!! So as I conclude this blog tonight I am going to attach my "I FEEL STRONG" photo!

The Rustle of Aspens

Oh I almost forgot to attach some photo from our last trail ride in Golden Gate Canyon State Park....

I love my life in Colorado!

MWF Seeking BFF

    Today was a trying day. I guess the universe wanted to really test me to see what I am made of. Well, good news, I survived. I also concluded my day with an hour long walk with Giselle and now listening to Of Monsters and Men with a glass of pink wine. Things are looking better now, or at least the wine tells me so!

    Some fun news is I mapped out our September road trip while at work (yes it was that kind of day). Looks like we will head into NM, then AZ, UT and back to CO, of course with stops along the way. I am very excited to see the Grand Canyon for the first time and also see some of the southwest landscape. I am up for any suggestions from those of you who have been in this area. Looking for good places to stay, eat, see etc!

    This coming weekend Árni and I will be hanging out with some new friends of ours. We will be going to brunch in Denver at a place called LuLu´s and then catching a Rockies baseball game. The Rockies are terrible this year, but it is still fun to go! So I met met this new friend through work, she is also from the south and we have a lot in common and can hold a witty intelligent conversation. So stoked! We also went to a play in Denver last week and had a good time. It is so hard to meet good girlfriends in a new city, but also so very important. Yeah yeah my husband is my best friend, I´ve heard it before, but there are just some things you need a face to face gabbing session with a friend. True fact: face to face interaction is best, followed by phone call, text, email, letter (does anyone write letters anymore?). I am totally guilty of bypassing a phone call for a quick text, or skipping out on a get together to watch some lame television at home because I'm just too lazy to shower and pry myself off the couch. So I got inspired. I'm reading a new book called MWF seeks BFF. It's a late 20 somethings quest to find a new best friend forever in a new city.. sound familiar? Caught between being too old for the college bar scene and too young for children she sets out to go one one "girl date" a week for a year on a quest to find that friend. Now I am not that inspired, but it did get me thinking about all those "We should SO get together sometime!" that never actually happen. I'll admit I don't always follow up after that statement, but I am going to start doing just that. I abhor flaky people, so I guess I should make sure I am not one! When someone says 'we should get together' I am going to set up a time. When someone says 'want to meet for ________ (insert fun activity that requires clean hair and shoes)' I will say 'Yes!'. Why shouldn't I? I don't have any children, a very loving husband who adores my social butterfly moments and ability to entertain and keep up with any conversation, and a totally flexible job. Did I also mention I live in one of the most urban hipster cool cities with loads of activities but rich with culture and outdoors exciting?! We must not sit back as wall flowers and watch the world pass us by, but jump in with both feet even if it is scary. One of the awesome things about moving to a new city is the opportunity to reinvent oneself. So I vow from now on to jump at each chance to broaden my social circle and live up the rest of my twenties to the fullest. What's that acronym YOLO (not gonna lie TOTALLY googled that one when I first saw it) YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!!!

Mt. Evans or Bust??

    So today started at 4am, rolling out of bed to drive 2 hours to hit the trail head as soon as possible, to torture myself with an 11.5 mile, 14,000+ft hike... it was great! So we met my new friend Laura at the trail head around 630ish where it was quite cold. As we bundled up and trekked down the trail, we were searching for the trail for Mt. Bierstadt, which supposedly forked off the trail for Mt. Evans. Both of these peaks are over 14k but we set out for Mt. Evans so that was what we were going to do! That is until we couldn't find the trail! We were in Arapahoe Nat'l Forest and didn't have any cell phone reception so no google maps to check the terrain. We probably could have just made our own way up the mountain, as this was no dense forest, but instead we decided it was smartest to stick with the well marked trail and hike Mt. Bierstadt! As we were descending through the marsh at the base of the mountain we came across a real treat!!! There were 3 Moose munching on the grass and dipping into the cool water. This was a real treat because you NEVER see moose in Colorado. Canada, yes... Colorado not so often. Actually I have never seen a moose on Colorado, although I did hear that there are some here. As a matter of fact this might be the first time I have even seen a moose in the wild (err.. not on a wall...) It was probably the most beautiful thing I have seen here in Colorado, and another reason why it was good we couldn't find the original trail! We hiked the cool wind whipping trail and alternated between freezing our tails off (yes, in August) and burning up with sweat from the hard work! After scaffolding some boulders we finally reached the summit with about 30 our our closest friends (busy trail today) and picked a rock to sit back and enjoy the fruit of our labor. By that time the wind had died down and the sun was shining, warming our faces, the air was crisp and clean and I was reminded how lucky I am to live here.

Pass, Set, SPIKE!

After a long work week Arni and I went to his company picnic. It was held at a local park and they supplied barbecue  beer and fun sports! Anyone who knows anything about Arni's company knows it is practically an  international operation! I believe they have an employee from almost every continent. Americans are the minority, seriously. Anyway it always makes for a fun mix of people and that includes the sports we played. I  learned all about the game of cricket... kind of neat. We played some ultimate Frisbee ( really we were making fun of the serious U.F. players and doing silly things like trying to catch it under our legs and jumping in the air), some soccer and a bad ass game of volleyball! I used to play volleyball in high school so it was great fun and I got to show off some of my skills. It is funny, out of all the "wives" I was the only one who would play any sports! Most of them sat around chatting and of course some had small children to look after. I grew up with a brother and all male cousins doing things like building forts and climbing trees, and I have always felt more at ease with the boys. So I had a blast! We also brought Giselle and she was plum worn out after 4 hours of being drug around by little girls and playing fetch! I tell you the fascination that little girls have with a poodle is funny, so cute. She really is such a great dog, I don't know if there is any other like her!

So today is Saturday, we ran a few errands this morning and now Arni is working on his thesis and I think I'll go spend some time with the ponies! We are still on the search for hay... =(  This drought has really hit Colorado hard, and what little hay we can find is EXTREMELY expensive. It is very frustrating. Hopefully we will have a very wet winter to produce good spring grass next year!

Tomorrow if all goes as planned we will hike our THIRD 14er! Mt. Evans. For those of you who are wondering about this 14er.. basically Colorado has 54 mountains over 14,000ft. The most, I believe, of any state in the US. They are ranked in class on their difficulties, with some of them only completed by straight rock climbing at some points. Many Coloradans have goals to complete them all or as many as possible. Last year, our first year in Colorado, I wanted badly to climb one, but I was a bit too intimidated, as this is a HUGE feat! This year, however, I decided I was going to do it before the end of the summer... and I did!!!! Not only did I climb a 14er, I did TWO in one day!!! I made that hike my B*tch!!! hahaha It was by far the hardest thing I have done yet, and I am so proud of myself. To climb a 14er you have to get up at about 4am in order to hit the trail head no later than 6am. You have to start so early because of the afternoon storms. We hike so high that we are above tree line, thus resulting on you being the highest point on that mountain. This makes for a great chance to be struck by lightening. So anyway you have to summit before noon and be back down before 2pm. Once you are up there though, the trip is entirely worth it. I have never experienced something so pure and as close to Godly that I can imagine! Unfortunately, this is not something I could take an out of towner on, as the altitude alone is something that you have to prepare for. I myself have felt some twinges of altitude sickness, in the form of headaches and even nausea. All worth it though!!

Happy Birthday Michelle!!

Today is August 11, 2012. On this day 28 years ago my BFF was born =) Happy Birthday Shelly, you don't look a day over 25! XOXO

Now THAT'S a Salute!

 Arni and I are sitting here watching Peyton Manning play in his first ever Broncos game! Pre-season, but hey whatever FOOTBALL SEASON is BACCCCK!!!  So funny, I am more of a football fan here than I ever was in Florida. We started really watching the Broncos play a couple years before we even moved to Colorado, it has been so much fun to share this with Arni. It is like we have "our" team, and it has become a weekend tradition in the fall to get together with friends for dinner and football.We loved watching Tim Tebow every weekend last season, and it was always exciting. We were understandably upset when he got traded, but we are still Broncos fans first and foremost, so we have big hopes for this season!

  So news today the Olympics are still going on, we will skip it tonight because of the game, but they are so much fun to watch. Always rooting for my classmate Ryan Lochte (even though I'll even admit, Yes he IS a D-bag... a nice guy, but a d-bag none the less) I also got to watch a bit of the equestrian jumping and was reverted back to being a little girl watching the stadium jumping and drooling over the horses.. I'm still drooling...20 years later =) Oh and one last thing I watched about the Olympics today might put a smile on your face... So the US rowing team was in the news today... not because of the great job they did, but because one of the team had a genuine BONER on the podium... AND it was caught on picture! But the funniest thing about this whole situation is this video....

Got to love Steven Colbert!

So upcoming plans: Hiking Mt Evans my third 14er this weekend, in-laws coming on town the end of the month, taking them to see the Grand Canyon, and flying home in October! See ya'll soon!

We are more than just status updates...

     So as I have come to the decision to leave the social networking world that is Facebook I figured I better start blogging again to keep family and friends in the loop of our life here in Colorado. I have let this blog go long overdue, and it is not that I haven't had time to update, but rather I spent my online time wasted on Facebook reading status updates that either share way too much information, are entirely conceded, or very heated with a political jargon. I just have had enough! In the few days I have already forgotten about it and have been super productive! The house is cleaned, a healthy dinner is on the table at night, I'm spending more time at the barn with my horses and I'm even organizing and getting crafty ideas from pinterest. Oh, it's not that I can't find ways to blow my time on the internet, I'm very good at that!

    So as for an update, summer is slowly coming into the home stretch, and I quite okay with that. Although, this summer has been a blast, it has been a record heat wave. I know I know, I'm from Florida... I'm turning into a pansy! Ski season is calling my name in the distant and I am ready for my THIRD ski season and I am totally ready to tear it up!! I am excited because this  year I will spend less time on my butt and more time on the slopes! =) Arni says I am getting better and I even skied some black diamonds last season. Crazy to think we have lived in Colorado for close to 2 years now, seems just yesterday we were saying goodbye and packing up everything we owned into a moving truck. I haven't blogged in almost a year, and now looking back on old posts, I wish I had. It is kind of nice to have a journal to read and reminisce over. So the goal is to not look back a year from now and say, darn I wish I would have blogged more!

    So to my whole 3 readers, hope you enjoy!

Finland..the land of saunas

So I am writing this blogpost from the great country of Finland! I have been here for almost 2 weeks on holiday visiting some friends. It is the second notch on my Scandanavian belt ;) It is incredibly different from Iceland, but yet still has many typical Scandanavian qualities. The first difference from Iceland is the TREES! Millions of trees everywhere... flat lands.. lakes and more trees. As my Finnish friend Kati put it, "Finland is not a flashy place." No, it certainly is not, but what it lacks in landscape it makes up for in culture. I find that any country you visit is always better with a local. So I am actually staying in north Finland in a town called Oulu. I have certainly has my fair share of culture through food! Potatoes, moose, reindeer, bread and cheese! yumm! Oh and lets not forget the required 78 cups of coffee and pastries. I've never been so wired in my life. Some truths about Finland I have come to realize...Fins are not friendly... not to outsiders, but to everyone. Perfect example: today as I was helping my friend move out of her summer appartment and our hands were incredibly full a fellow Finn (who didn't reply when we said hello) rode the elevator down with us, walked out before we did, opened the door and let it slam in our faces... this is typical. As my other Finnish friend Emilia stated, Fins just want to stay to themselves, they do not like to talk to people because they do not want anyone to know anything about them. Well, gee golly! I sum it up to cultural differences. Kati also took me north to the artic circle, and their summer house bwhere I got to enjoy a traditional smoke sauna. I stripped down to my birthday suit in the middle of the wilderness and stepped into a charcoal pit and beat myself with a birch tree branch! Sounds like fun ey? Seriously though, One of Finlands finest jewels are the saunas.given the chance to visit one should definetly take this up, as long as you are fine with being stark naked with a bunch of random people that is ;) Overall though, I have enjoyed my time here and my time with friends. I fly home on thursday and I am ready! I never realized how much I could miss the Rockies! I need wide open spaces!

On other news I got a 4.0 for the summer semester..go me! Three more classes and then I graduate! ::happy dance:: I start up Monday, along with a 40 hr work week..boo and then my husband is jetting off to Denmark for work..double boo! But I have the arrival of my inlaws the first week of September to look forward to =)  Well as they say in finalnd heihei!

Midsummer Night's Dream

Here it is midsummer and my lack of blogging means that it has been a pretty rad summer! Only one minor glitch to set us back from full throttle, but looks like we may be back on track to living our first summer in Colorado up to the fullest! Since my last blog, we have done some cool Colorado trips, like a weekend in Steamboat aka my future home, a fantastic stay with friends in Beaver Creek, a day at the "beach" Boulder reservoir, and many BBQs and get togethers. We also had a trip back to Florida, which was too short but much needed. Nice to see all my friends again and my dad through an epic 4th of July party/family reunion. Still have a few months of summer left, and a rodeo, scandanavia trip, and some long pool days to look forward to! Life is certainly much better than I expected it to be here in Colorado.. I have no complaints! Hope to blog more frequently, but at the same time.. hope I stay just as busy!

The summer kick off

Well, I suppose you could say summer is about to kick off, but seeing how it was 38 degrees today, makes it hard to believe! I have had a couple weeks off in between semesters. My friend Debbie has been visiting with us from Florida, been nice to see a familiar face. We went 90 miles an hour while she has been here! Hiking, sight seeing, a baseball game, some downtown Denver time, and just having a good time. She leaves tomorrow..too soon. So DH and mines summer schedule is pretty full. I actually start class again tomorrow, but am only taking two, albeit accelerated, classes. DH is working on his thesis this summer. He leaves for California in a couple weeks for a business trip and then we will both go home to Florida in July. I can't tell you how excited I am! It will have been 7 months since I have seen my family and I am ready for some ocean time :) I also have a VERY exciting trip planned in August.... I am going to FINLAND!!! This will be my first trip, and I am going to Oulu, which is in the north. I am meeting some of my Finnish friends there, and staying for almost 2 weeks. DH has volunteered to stay back and take care of the animals.... He is the best husband :) ohhh.... I also forgot to mention something extremely important...our one year anniversary! Not that we have anything special planned other than maybe a relaxing weekend, but I cannot believe it is coming up on one year! Other plans for the summer is a weekend with our Icelandic friends in their mountain cabin for Sautjándi Júni, or Iceland's independence day, and ending the summer with Kings of Leon and Alison Krause concerts! Wow, we are going to be exhausted! Love it all though.... Means I am living. Looking forward to seeing everyone in July, and a reminder the Friday I am in town we are meeting at our typical restaurant for drinks and dinner!

Gleðelega Páska!

Also known as Happy Easter! Well at least I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday! We certainly did. We had our fabulous friends Bryan and Ana Marie come stay with us for a week. Although the weather could have been better ( I swear they brought the FL rain with them!) we still managed to have a grand time. It even snowed for them, how magical... Well for them at least, I am OVER IT! Somebody please inform Colorado that it is spring time :) for Easter day I cooked a traditional English supper in honour of my grandmother and of course the royal wedding! I made roast beef, Yorkshire pudding with potatoes, carrots and gravy. Dessert included butterfly cupcakes, mincemeat tarts, scones and lemon bars. I ran out of time or I would have made hot cross buns on good Friday. My grandmother would have been proud! All in all there were 8 of us. My German friend and her husband, the two Icelanders, husband and myself and our two Florida friends ( Columbian and Italian) so we certainly had an international Easter! Sóley brought me my first ever Nóa súkkulaði egg, which is a chocolate egg filled with candy and a fortune ( in Icelandic) and I was beyond excited for that! We stayed up to the wee hours playing games and rocking out guitar hero style! For my first ever holiday away from family, I can say it was fantastic, as I am quickly learning friends make a fine family :D
As for some day to day updates, I finished all my final exams :: does happy dance:: and passed my classes! Two weeks off until I start my next two classes, so I am going to work my bootay off and make some dough. My good friend Debbie will be here in 2 weeks and I'm pretty stoked to see her pretty face! I miss my friends terribly and hope they all come visit soon.
I will post some pictures soon from Easter and the time spent with my friends which they were here, but now I am going to watch the Royal wedding, as I have recorded it and have been waiting patiently and also avoiding all media at work!

In the home stretch!

So I just wrote a really long post then accidentally deleted it.. grrr.

Summary: Home stretch of this semester, 2 finals one project (group project.. they are slackers, I am doing all the work.. some things never change from the 3rd grade)

Horses be here first week of May, happy girl... broke girl.

Met the other 3 Icelanders residing here in Boulder..lol.... fantastic people.. so much fun to hang out with!

skii season over.. sad
spring is here..happy

Fun trips planned for the summer, including one trip home, possible grand canyon, ? Finland in august, and summer completion with a brewery tour. Epic.

DNP, CRNA, APN ???

hmm, 20 days.. guess it's been a minute since I blogged last ;) April is fast approaching, and so comes the end of my spring semester. As excited as I am to finish I am also freaked! I have 2 APA papers to write, a final project/exam and 2 more final exams. The worst part is the class that I am struggling with the most (Nursing Research), is the one that I have the most due in.. boo hiss! I'm telling you this is a tough class. Null hypothesis Type I & II errors blah blah blah, sucks. Next semester I am taking Health care Management and Economics and Intro to Critical Care Nursing. MORE FUN!! haha.. well at least the CC nursing will help me further my career and hopefully be interesting. Speaking of my career, I am finishing up orientating in the PACU & Day Surgery pre-op. Things are going good, and the patient care really isn't an issue for me, but the charting and paperwork sucks! For my friends who are still using Cerner.. be happy.. very very happy! Meditech royally sucks monkey balls. Otherwise everyone is pretty cool, except for one bitch ass nurse, who will remain nameless. Maybe I am threatening being mid 20's and having more critical care experience than her? Who knows, maybe she is just a bitch.. but she sure does treat me like shit.. but yet I remain pleasant to her. I refuse to succumb to the crotchety nurse stigma like her. And you know what else? I'll probably be her boss one day...hahaha! So it's not a secret that I am going back to school to further my nursing career, but the question still remains what do I want to do when I grow up?! My Masters is certainly in my near future, I had briefly thought about CRNA (nurse anesthesia) school, then switched to Nurse Practitioner, and now I think I am back to CRNA. There are some tough decisions to make though. One being the fact that I have no time to waste. By 2015 all advanced practice nurses will be required to have a Doctorate, but if I can get done before then, I will be grandfathered in. That means I have to finish up this degree, take my GREs, apply and be accepted and finish all before 2015. Pretty big task. Did I mention that in order to be accepted to anesthesia school you must quit your job? Yep, it's that grueling. So then here is the kicker. No life. It sure feels like I have been in school for my whole life anyway. That is what happens when you have to work full time and school part time, it takes twice as long. So subjecting myself to another 2-3 years of this is pretty exhausting. I think about what about having kids, keeping my horses, building a house?! I'm trekking towards my 30's  and feel like I may miss out on a lot, but then again I also feel it would probably be worth it. Anyways I have a lot to think about, but I am glad I am getting some OR type experience to add to my critical care =)

 Some things I have to look forward to:
1.friends coming in town in April and May!
2.spring semester to be over
3.having a real paycheck!
4.going home in July
5.bringing my horses to Colorado


That's it for now! Maybe I won't wait 20 days to post again!

Colorado life

Colorado life is pretty darn swell! As you can probably tell from my lack of blogging DH and I have been pretty busy lately. I FINALLY got a job! Go me! And I have been working Monday thru Friday lately for training purposes. It's certainly safe to say I am not a m-f kinda girl. I loathe getting up early every single day.. Ask my husband, I'm a bear. The job is going well so far, tough learning a new charting system, docs and the whole surgical thing is new to me. With time though I'll get it down. School is getting pretty intense too as it's past the halfway mark in the semester. Technically I am on spring break, although it's not much break working 5 days a week plus 2 hours of homework each night! It's the only way I can stay ahead though... And I like to goof off on the weekends :p speaking of weekends..they are a BLAST here in CO! We go hiking, skiing, sightseeing and not to mention all the fabulous things to do in Denver! Last weekend we went hiking in Boulder, went to the Denver symphony and then I met a couple friends on Sunday to go skiing :) left DH at home to study for his test, he was uber jealous! I have made a few friends here and things are going great! I'm keeping myself super busy and still manage to have a couple gfs to grab a drink or a yoga session with :) don't get me wrong... I REALLY miss home and the salty air, and my horses! But we are making the best of it and enjoying all that CO has to offer us. Today my mom sent me a where's George dollar and that made my day. Miss my family and it's only been 2 months, hope they come visit soon. On the plus side I have some great friends coming for a visit very soon and I can't wait to see their faces!!!