14,036 feet

  On Saturday I hiked my fourth fourteener!  That makes four down and only fifty more to go! I met up with my friend Laura and her friend Andrea at 6 am in Denver and from there we drove about a couple hours to Mt. Sherman,a peak west of Fairplay, CO. You can read more about Mt. Sherman HERE at 14ers.com. Mt. Sherman is in the Mosquito Mountain Range. It seems that no matter the distance or elevation gain, or how much better in shape you are 14ers are just plain HARD! So this trail, like most 14ers was a pretty busy trail. There was a large group of people in front of us and when we caught up to one of the members of the group we asked if it was some sort of meet up hiking group. Apparently it was the 100 year anniversary of the Colorado Mountain Club and so every member of the club signed up to hike one of the state's 54 peaks over 14k ft. Little did we know we would be part of this 100 year climb when we started our day! This day was a girls hike day, so I didn't have my pack mule aka husband to carry all my stuff for me. I tried to lighten up my pack as much as possible, without leaving behind life saving essentials (Hello, have YOU seen the movie 127 hrs?!) but it was still pretty heavy after food and 2 liters of water plus extra clothes and the works. Wow, what a difference wearing a heavy pack makes! I don't think any of the 14ers I have been done would be considered easy by anyone in their right mind, but darn, this one was hard for me! I think I may even claim that is peak had the best view yet. It was a 360° panoramic view and I couldn't possibly take enough pictures to show this. For such a cool day ( 34°F at the start of the hike) the lack of wind that Sherman is notorious for made for quite a warm hike. It could also be the 10 layers of clothing my husband insist I wear because "It might snow on you at 14,000 feet!". Anyway, we found a nice spot in a man made rock alcove to have lunch, where we did the third grade trade, you know "What do you have? Wanna trade?" haha, it was a fun day and  I love having friends who like to be active like I do. I'm not 100% sure, but I'd bet that this will be my last 14er of the season. The Aspens are already changing, although still warm here, the high country is chilling quickly and there will soon be snow covering these peaks. I figure four in one summer is pretty good and early snow means early skiing! Today we have had a nice relaxing Sunday Funday. This morning we went to a local farmers market and bought some peach goat cheese made by local farmers and sampled all sorts of deliciousness like whole milk from Longmont Dairy. Love supporting the local farmers! As promised, I made buffalo chicken dip and other artery clogging football foods for opening season for the Denver Broncos. They play @home this evening, so we will be rooting them on and I'm sure explaining American football to the inlaws! =)

Cheers!

Road Trip 2012

This is a summarized recap on our road trip! I'm also attaching some pictures:

    Day one Drove to Santa Fe, New Mexico!
Santa Fe was a fairly short drive (~7 hrs) from Denver. What a cool and artsy city. The Adobe style houses were definitely one of the best attractions, along with the local Native Americans lined up flea market style selling their jewelry and pottery. I bought a couple of bangles and we walked around enjoying the good weather and lovely art. The in-laws also enjoyed this, but being as this was their first day at altitude (Santa Fe is over 7000ft! Had no Clue it was so high) they were quite a bit winded and tired. I remember what it was like coming from sea level to over 5000 feet not much fun! We had a nice southwestern dinner with some tasty margaritas and called it a night! One of the things I loved most about Santa Fe was the colors!

Day two long drive to Sedona, Arizona.

    Arizona is in ways what I expected it to be like but in more ways it is totally different than anything I expected! The landscape is so varied, I saw everything from dusty plains, to red rocks, to lush green forests, to mountains lined with cool streams! As we were driving an incredibly scenic byway through winding mountain roads we suddenly came across the fairly small town of Sedona. What amazing views! This town is exactly what I pictured Arizona to look like. Soaring red rocks and bright blue skies, its like we were sitting in a John Wayne movie. After we "Oooed and Ahhed" over the town we found our hotel and decided to rest beside the pool. Oh my Gawd was it hot! I am from Florida and I am declaring that Arizona was as close to hell's heat as I think one can be. I felt like I was boiling even in the pool! So we decided to wait until the evening before venturing out to the trails. When we finally decided it would be tolerable to hike we chose "Bell Rock", one of the more famous rock formations and from what we read a fairly easy hike. We also read about Sedona having certain trails that contain "vortexes" of energy, Bell Rock being one of them. Now,  I'm not so sure about that hippy new age energy stuff, but hey anything is worth a shot right? Apparently where you find twisted Juniper trees the energy surge is highest, so I found the biggest twisted juniper I could find and stood by it, hmm nothing.  Oh well, regardless I did have a ton of energy hiking, but who knows it could be from the beautiful surroundings, or perhaps I did tap into some "Earth Energy"! As we were completing our hike a storm started to set in, churning the grey skies and sprinkling the dry ground. We were on the last section of trail when a double rainbow (OMG...lol) appeared. It was seriously breathtaking!

Day 3 short drive to Flagstaff, Arizona

Nothing to report about Flagstaff, ehh, some good Mexican food... yep guess that's it.

Grand Canyon visit!

    Okay so the Grand Canyon is definitely something worth reporting on! Having one of the 7 wonders of the world, so close to me would be a travesty not to see. I can't believe I waited this long in my life to visit. We visited the south rim, and it is nothing short of magical and totally worth the drive. You drive for a very long time through what I can best describe as a scrub forest and then BAM you are looking at a giant hole in the ground! Okay, although literally it might be a giant hole, it was so much more than that. It is like directly observing the earth's history through geology. Of course like anything magnificent, pictures don't do a damn thing for the human eye. The best recommendation I have it to see it for yourself. Take your kids, take your folks, hike it, ride a donkey, whatever... just go see it! Although we wanted to hike, we had Giselle with us and dogs were not allowed on the trails, so we settled for walking the rim, which turned out to be much more  work than we expected, so all in all we got some good exercise and made some amazing memories.

Day 4 Drove to Monument Valley, Utah and Cortez, Colorado

    On day 4 we headed north to Utah just to grab a quick portion of the four corners to see Monument Valley. Oh, and before that we drove down Route 66! Anyway, for such a long drive it went by pretty quick, I find when you have such a scenic trip, driving is half the fun. Monument Valley was another "right out of a Western" scene. We stopped just a couple times for pictures, but mostly just enjoying the clean air and amazing landscape

Oh and I can't leave out my little trooper who is probably the most well traveled dog there is!

When we got to Cortez, CO we went to the Mesa Verde National Park. This is the home of the Pueblo Indians who were curiously cliff dwellers. They left behind their dwellings in canyons but obviously no written records so they still remain a mystery to us. The reason their dwellings are so curious is because Pueblo Indians were traditionally nomadic people, meaning they followed their food sources. If the big game migrated, so did they. So for them to set up permanent residence in these cliffs still makes archaeologists scratch their heads. They speculated that with the introduction of corn, they no longer needed to follow the game, and a probable 70% of their diet came from corn. As for the dwellings being integrated into the cliffs, that could very well be for water source, or shelter from the harsh elements, or possible even defense. At any rate, scientists still are no closer to having answers, but what a cool history experience this was.

On day 5 and the final day of our trip we drove through beautiful Durango, CO and headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

   Right smack dab in the middle of nowhere, after passing miles and miles of farmland you come across the Sand Dunes. Cradled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is literally a desert. Miles after miles of gigantic sand dunes have formed after millions of years of wind erosion and below freezing temperatures. I have never been to the Sahara Desert, but after looking at these I can imagine what it must be like. So we four, doused ourselves with sunscreen, shades and flip flops and decided to hike to the dunes! Heh, after about half way there we had to carry the dog because the sand was so hot, and then my Icelandic in-laws declared their viking bodies were not designed for this heat and turned back (I was actually thinking the same, but since my husband was still trekking along I figured I might as well keep going). Well being the geniuses that we are, IN OUR FLIP FLOPS, we hiked to the top of a dune. The fate of my scorched feet is still yet to be determined. A couple of times I thought "Screw this I don't need to see this dirt that bad!", but then I am glad I didn't. The view from the top was amazing and I really felt I was in a desert! The half a mile trip back uphill in soft sand was quite fun... cough cough, but hey I got some unintended exercise in and saw some pretty amazing things.

    We had a pretty swell road trip this year, it is always nice to sleep in ones own bed, so I am glad to be home! Happy Labor Day!

Friends are more important than money

    So this weekend was the weekend of the friend! My husband has been quite busy with his thesis and I have been on this "Just say Yes!" kick, so I booked my weekend up! I made plans with my friend Jess about a month ago to go horseback riding Saturday (she has a very demanding job so we have to book our dates in advance). We originally planned on going to Hall Ranch but had to change our plans last minute due to the road to the trail was also the same route for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge ( the US equivalent of Tour de France) so all the roads would be closed down to traffic. We decided on a place neither one of had been called Rabbit Mountain. Formerly called "Rattlesnake Mountain", but a name change due to obvious reasons! The trail was very beautiful, although not comparable to Hall Ranch, nonetheless it was pleasing. The trail was VERY rocky and Cracker had just been shod a few days before and was still tender-footed so we didn't actually ride too far. Instead we did a 3 mile loop and found a grassy area to park for lunch and generally just caught up on each other's lives! Saturday night I met my friend Soley at her place and we shared a bottle of champagne and then went to our new favorite hangout. We got so caught up chatting that when the lights came on as the bar was closing I had to laugh because I can't remember the last time I closed a bar down! I had already decided to crash at her place ahead of time, and the taxi wait was one hour so we just walked back. Boulder is such a college town, the streets were literally crawling with drunken students acting a fool and up to general shenanigans. I had to laugh again as I was reminded how much I am NOT into the college scene anymore, although 5 years ago I probably would have acted just as these kids were. Man I'm getting old! There was one particular college-esque activity I welcomed, and that was a giant piece of greasy cheese pizza! Nothing like pizza at 3am for your sobering walk home! We had planned on getting breakfast the next morning, but due to the late night we rain checked that! I did, however, on the way home find this cool little bagel shop so I picked Arni and I up some delicious bagels with lox and capers..yum! Hmm I must be hungry all I seem to be talking about is food in this post!! I left my husband to his studies after breakfast and met up with Nina for a pedicure. We had a good laugh reading the names of the new fall colors (Nina is German) "Deutsch You Want Me Baby? ,Danke-Shiny Red, Suzi & the 7 Düsseldorfs, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, and German-icure by OPI" I went with "Deutsch You Want Me Baby". I left with some new tootsies and a satisfied feeling. It was nice to have a whole weekend full of friend dates. So tonight Arni and I are cleaning and generally getting things ready for his parents visit. Oh and of course watching Sunday football! So happy weekend everyone and I'll attach some pictures from this weekend!

The Chickens Work!!!

    Okay this blog post today is really just dedicated to one of my most favorite people ever, Kati. Kati, who always makes me laugh and amazes me with her wit and humor. No other person can send me texts that literally make me laugh out lout (or fall out of my chair), and put a smile on my face quite like she does. So Kati, this one is for you. I am so glad for that day: "Hey, this is Kati, she is from Finland and likes horses. You guys have so much in common!" Ha Ha, and I am So glad your chickens work, and thank goodness for lentils!! XOXO

HEY Batter Batter

  The Rockies won today... on a Sunday!!! So they have been playing something awful bad this season and legend has it they lose every Sunday game, so imagine our surprise when they actually pulled it off! It was a good time, even if we are not the biggest baseball fans out there. Our friends live downtown, literally within walking distance of the field, so we walked from their place to Lola's, where we had brunch and then to the game. We scalped some cheap tickets and then got into a pretty good section because our friends knew the usher!
    The problem with weekends is they go by entirely too fast. Friday night I had a "husband date" and we saw the movie "Hope Springs". Well, he begrudgingly went and ended up liking it more than I even! Saturday we hung around being lazy and Saturday night I went to a jewelry party and caught up with some former coworkers followed by a "girl date" with my friend Soley. We met up in Boulder and had a good gab session over a couple cocktails. As much as I love our action filled weekends when we hike, bike, or ride I adore weekends we get to catch up with friends and be social.
    Sunday night starts the prep for another long work week, and my poor husband has to have 40 pages of his thesis turned in by Friday. We will both be glad when he is finished with this and we can have our evenings back together. Until then, I'll continue blogging, reading and meeting up with friends... no so bad! I'll end this post with a couple of pictures from today!

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!