Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies. And Dallas.

Happy late Easter! We have had the busiest week with no time for posting so I'm kinda behind!

What a wonderful weekend we had in Dallas! True - it was only a bit over 48 hours, but it was glorious. It was a packed weekend full of friends and family, and many things I've been missing! I've never been more excited about Freebirds and Trinity Hall! You know what else I miss without knowing it? I didn't realize how much I missed thunderstorms. Although it wasn't ideal to have a power outage on Saturday night while Meme was in the middle of cutting my hair in the living room (but completely hilarious that she finished cutting it with my dad holding flashlights and a head lamp) and it wasn't ideal that the airport shut down Sunday night, which turned our 10:30 arrival time in Denver to a 1am arrival, due to rain delays, it was so wonderful being in the midst of all that lightening, wind and rain! There's something so powerful and comforting to me about a thunderstorm. I know that sounds funny, but maybe it is just a reminder of how big and mighty our creator is....how powerful He is. And what a perfect reminder to have on Easter weekend, when we celebrate his death and resurrection!

The other thing I remembered how much I miss? Texas weather. People might think that's crazy, but I must say, this weekend in Dallas affirmed that I am a hot and sticky weather fan - it's true. 90 degrees and humid? Yes please! It was the first time I have worn short sleeves since we moved! Thanks for that Dallas! It was really sad to come home to 40 degree weather again. I'm holding out though for those beautiful, perfect weathered summers everyone keeps going on about her in Colorado. It better be pretty amazing to make up for this freezing excuse for a spring season here. And to keep me from wishing I was in a tank top and flip flops at home right now.

 We really enjoyed seeing everyone. Please know how much I miss you every day here in Denver, and how much of a tease it was to only see yall for a very short time. But not to worry friends. We shall return! And please remember if you would like to see us and have our undivided attention (instead of VERY divided), come see us in Denver!!

Here's some pics from our wonderful time....

Hooray for friends at Trinity Hall!

Cheesy easter egg dying

Here goes nothing...

Best egg competition! Dad took it hands down.

This is supposed to be A&M meets Razorback. 

My Razorback attempt was sub par.

Miss everyone! Can't wait to return in a few months for a longer stint!

Green Thumb for a Green City

Looking around the last few weeks in my neighborhood (literally looking around - since everyone has chain link fences so you can see in their backyards!), Grant and I realized we are falling behind on the hip Denver springtime activity. Over the last two weeks, I have noticed every one of our neighbors have been out planting their gardens, toiling away in their yards. So to keep up with the status quo of Berkeley Highlands, we tried out our newest and probably most challenging adventure yet....we planted a vegetable garden of our own! The house we are renting has the perfect set up. A 15 x 18 fenced in garden area complete with a watering system and compost pile. So when it comes to gardening we have no idea what we are doing, but I figure I can't fail too badly thanks to google, Denverplants.com, and our lovely landlords' sprinklers system so I don't have to remember to hydrate my plants!

What did I learn from our two day planting excursion?

1. Gardening is hard work! I had to pull up all the dead plants and weeds from last year's "harvest" and...watch out world! I am now a pro with a shovel.

2. Yard sticks are good for something. I never knew their purpose in grade school, but to plant teeny seeds they are nice to have for adequate spacing in the dirt. Did you know that cucumber seeds must be planted exactly three feet apart? And carrots, 1 inch apart?

3. Miracle grow and plant fertilizer are very different things. At Lowes, when we asked where the miracle grow was to put over our veggie plants, the guy about fell over laughing. Apparently, miracle grow is only for flowers. But there is veggie and fruit fertilizer. It's organic, healthy for people to have on their plants, and expensive!

4. Dogs like expensive vegetable fertilizer. We left Sage in the backyard for a few hours while we went to church on Sunday. When we got home, she had pulled the entire bag of veggie fertilizer down, opened it, and eaten the entire thing! Thank God she isn't sick!

5. Dogs like compost piles. Sage has also figured out how to open the gate to our newly planted garden (we have to put a lock on it to keep her out!) and she constantly gets into the big bin of compost, eating the nasty left overs she digs through to find. Sick.

6. Compost piles are NASTY. They stink, steam, and are composed of several things that I would never think helps my veggies grow. Some of which are - food scraps, grass clippings, leaves, coffee grinds, coffee filters, newspaper, lint, and my favorite...dog poop. We have opted to skip out on the dog poop. Hopefully our veggies won't mind. All this makes me wonder what commercial farmers put on the things we buy in the grocery store!

7. I like gardening. :) It's therapeutic.

Hopefully in the somewhat near future, I'll have lots of veggie stories to share as they grow to be more than a pile of nicely groomed dirt. For now, here's some pics of what our garden looks like now. As it's hard to tell from the pile of dirt, know that there are carrots, onions, cucumbers, beets, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and jalapenos! Tomatoes soon to come as well. According to our well established veggie planting neighbors, it's too early to plant those, so they are living in our mud room at the moment. Come visit this summer and (hopefully) we'll have lots of home grown food to share!

Yes I made the sign. Some might find it cheesy, but I happen to find it clever. :)

Before we began. Lots of weeds and dead plants from the previous gardeners.

Digging. And more digging. And more digging.

A very guilty pup found with the empty bag of veggie food.

Grant working on our nasty yet very "green" new way of life. Composting!

Finished results! Can't wait until I can show some actual plants!

Ode to Whataburger

I have a confession to make. I had a minor (Grant might argue major!) "I miss home" breakdown yesterday. It all started with Whataburger. I was talking to my mom on the phone and she mentioned that she, my dad, and my sister (Meme) were going to Whataburger for dinner. And right then and there, driving home from work, I lost it. We're talking full on, all out cry fest to the point where I could hardly see the highway. When my mom inquired as to why I was bawling my eyes out and unable to catch my breath on the phone, what was my barely audible answer due to my uncontrollable sobbing?
"We don't have Whataburgers in Denver."

Ok, so I don't think my breakdown was simply because we don't have Whataburger. Although I miss Whataburger. I miss Bueno too. And Chick-fil-a (at least we have those, but the closest one is in Arvada - a 20 min drive away). I miss good fries, and super sized cokes, and I miss going for quick lunches just down the street on Greenville with Steph or Andrea or Kimberly on their days off in the middle of the week, when everyone else was at work. And I miss having days off in the middle of the week for those lunch trips and movie dates with those girls. And I miss my parents, and Meme, and being able to see family with a quick half an hour drive. I miss working on D8 and I miss my coworkers there and my transplant families. I miss 80 degree weather in April (it snowed yesterday again!) and surprisingly enough, I miss rain. It never rains here.

But after having my "I miss everything" moment (which was actually like three hours of off and on crying to which my sweet husband even had to stay home from his guys night with Austin to console me), I felt incredibly convicted. It reminded me of Michael's (our pastor here) sermon from Sunday, a sermon which totally pumped me up about living here and all it's potential to grow. Funny how that can change in a matter of 72 hours. Michael was talking about "the call" we have. The call to living for Christ he means, the responsibility of being in a relationship with Him. He talked about how the call was different, drastic, and developmental. And he talked about what being a Christian should really mean. It means living a life about God and His will first and foremost. I think what hit me the most in this sermon was his talking about Luke 14:25-26. This verse is something I feel like a lot of Christians don't understand, or choose to look over. It states:

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my follower."

 I feel so many who don't believe in Christ or who are looking for a reason to be angry at him could be appalled at this verse! How could a loving God call you to hate others? But Michael pointed out God wasn't calling us to hate others, nor disown those closest to us in our lives. What he means is to hate them comparatively. Meaning to know in comparison Christ and His will is above it all. To know that this life is fleeting. To know that God should have mastery over our lives, and we shouldn't look for that mastery in anyone or anything else. God wants us to live radically and fanatically for Him. He left His father and His perfect life in heaven to come save our lives on earth. So who am I to feel sorry for myself about leaving Whataburger, lunch with friends, and family close by to do His will for me here? And what an opportunity we have here to really make an impact for Christ, to be fanatical for Him in a mild mannered way, without being a fanatical pharisee. By this I mean the crazy people who protest on the street corners, condemning people to hell as they walk by. That is not the fanatical I want to be. What I want to be here is a friend to those who really need it, in a culture of people who are too busy living lives of adventure to care about their hurting or sick neighbor. I want to be an encouragement to others, I want to live in a way that people here really do want to know why I'm different, and I want to BE the church in a city where not as many go to church.

It's time to be (semi) ok without Whataburger. And without my mom and dad close by (unless they want to move here!! Fishing every wknd dad! Just saying...). And without my besties around the corner. There is a season for everything. And my hope is our season to be back in Texas will come someday again. But right now, we are to be in the crazy weather of CO, where I have ridiculous allergies, asthma issues, and the altitude makes me lightheaded. But also where I can drive thirty minutes in any direction and find a cool, outdoorsy adventure. Where I can get to know my husband so much better. Where I can make a difference in someone's life. While I can't promise I won't have another breakdown over something silly in the nearby future, I can know that our season is here, and here for a purpose.

And don't worry. I will definitely be having Whataburger during my next visit home. Probably during my every visit home.

Tourism with Tauber

What a fun weekend! Jon Tauber came in town and kept us busy the entire 72 hours he was here! We had a great time touring Denver. There are so many things I have on my list to see and do and I was glad to have Taub here as an excuse to do some of it!

On Friday night we took him downtown. If you know Taub, you know what a food connoisseur he is, so of course he came with plans and reservations in hand of some swanky restaurant he wanted to try. I can't remember the name of it, but it was on 16th and Blake if you are ever here and it was great! Not cheap...but great! The boys enjoyed their extravagant meals of venison and duck, and me? One veggie plate please! But they were fancy veggies I will say! I'm not a fan of gamey tasting stuff or most meat in general actually, and chicken wasn't an option here. They only served animals that still bear their bones and/or scales on your plate (duck, fish, pork, lamb). And I don't do bones when it comes to food. :) We then took Taub down the infamous 16th street mall....a long walkway downtown full of shops, bars, restaurants, a movie theater, a mall, bowling alley, etc. Cars can't drive on 16th street, only the tram that runs back and forth and the buggy bicyclists begging you to pay them to "ride" you where you want to go. We had a great time exploring downtown and even discovered something cool I didn't know about Denver. They have a rent a bicycle system where you put a few dollars in and pull a bike off the rack, ride it anywhere you want, and return it at a different rack. It's kinda like the carts you rent at the airport, only a means of transportation instead! G and I want to try it sometime, just to say we did.

Saturday, the boys went out to Estes Park and fly fished. I enjoyed a leisurely walk around Sloan lake and lunch on a park bench there, then a great girls only afternoon with Brittany...where we learned there is only ONE Yogurtland in all of Denver! How crazy is that! They are running ramped back home! Every other corner in Dallas there is some yogurt place it seems. You'd think they'd be super popular here knowing how green and healthy this city is. But no. They make you work for your yogurt apparently. And although it was a 20 minute drive away, we found that Yogurtland, and it was well worth the trek I'd say.

Saturday night was my favorite! Matt Wertz and Ben Rector concert! If you don't know who Ben Rector is - look him up! He is an Arkansas Alumni who was in BYX with several friends of ours and such a talented, great guy! The venue was smaller than expected, but a cool environment. Ben and Matt are both from the south, went to school in the south, and tour a lot of the colleges there. The concert here was so much smaller than it would have been in Dallas and not near as many people were familiar with them. But they put on a great show together so I'm sure they has some new followers now!

Let me tell you, it was so refreshing to be around southern artists. Matt said "ya'll" about a hundred times in his 1.5 hour set and I loved hearing it every time! What I did find interesting once again, was Denver culture. This is my first Denver concert so it may have been coincidence but Matt took some time out to talk about his mission project in Africa, and he seriously could not get the crowd quiet to listen to his five minute spill. You could tell he was frustrated and many people in the front of the crowd were "shushing" those in the back, but for a brief minute, I was embarrassed that this was my city. I'll have to pay attention in the future and see if it was just this concert or at trend that closely follows the differences I have noticed here resembling a "all about me" culture. Regardless, it was a fun venue, wonderful concert, and it was the first time since we've been here that I have felt 100% comfortable. I love concerts and (other than the crowd) one great thing is the music stays the same. No change there. Grant holding me singing Ben's "Wedding Song" in my ear felt the same as it did a year ago when we saw Ben at House of Blues in Dallas (this song was our recessional from our wedding btw!). I was at peace for those three hours. So thanks Matt and Ben for coming to Denver and bringing me some southern charm!

Sunday was our major touristy day. After church, we went to Golden and took a Coors Brewery tour. What did we learn on this tour? Don't forget your ID and try to get free beer by wearing your wife's 21 and over wristband. They WILL notice you are not Michelle Usry and things will not go well. Hahaha...Grant may or may not have gotten in trouble for this. :) After our eventful tour, we went down to Golden's Heritage Village, which much to our dismay doesn't open for two more weeks but I'm so psyched to go back! It's a cheesy theme park lover's dream! Complete with old kiddie rides, a big corn maze, and an alpine slide we can't wait to try (by we I mean I - Grant has to try it because he's married to me). We then went up to tour Evergreen. How beautiful that little town is! We hiked Red Rocks and visited the amphitheater, and topped the day off with a trip to Park Burger in the Highlands before taking Taub back to the airport. What a very full weekend! And if that wasn't enough...right after Taub headed back to Houston, we got a fun surprise from Elise Williams! She missed her flight home coming back from Houston and stayed with us for a night! So great seeing her as well! I must admit, I was kinda glad she missed her flight. :)

We seem to be a revolving door these last few weeks. Please don't let that stop! Come visit us and we'll do more touristy stuff. I love it! Here's some pics from our adventurous and very busy wknd!

Fancy restaurant downtown!

Cool rent-a-bike system

Matt and Ben playing together

Good times at the concert

Heritage Square. 

My favorite pic from the whole wknd!

Red Rocks Ampitheatre

Trouser Troubles

So today was not the best day in my life. I went to work today. We wear business casual to work but on days you are in the office and not clinic, you can go pretty casual. So I had on my tan corduroy pants and TOMS of course. :) I love these pants by the way. They are anthropologie (which I usually can't afford but am totally in love with) and I bought them specifically for my rehearsal dinner. So I'm in the office, things were a little slow, and I decided to clean out my new desk. Stephanie, a friend at work was helping me. As I was germicidalling (ok that's probably not a word) everything and getting rid of the tons of trash left from the previous desk owner, I bent over to pick up some papers underneath and heard a terrible sound. The sound you never want to hear if you are at work, pretty new and still trying to get to know people, and wearing a pink lacy thong under your corduroys.

Much to my dismay, after confirmation from Stephanie, I realized my pants had ripped from top to bottom! My favorite corduroy pants! From my wedding week. Making them my sentimental corduroy pants :( This of course meant most of my right butt cheek was exposed to the world and I quickly became a Victoria Secret advertisement. It also meant I was immediately questioning how a thing like this could happen. They are widelegs! Have I gained weight in the buttocks area? Did I catch them on the corner of something? (hopefully the latter and not the former!) What happened?! Whatever the cause, obviously this was not the best thing to happen at work. Fortunately I wasn't in clinic today to scare away all the kiddos and their parents with my now inappropriate attire. I managed to get by sitting very intently in my office the rest of the afternoon and snuck out with my bag strategically placed on the way to the car. So embarrassing!!!

And what do I find when I get home? A very excited dog in her room (our fairly large mud room enclosed by a baby gate). Every day I come home hoping she is still in her room, and to my excitement she still hasn't figured out she can jump out of the room - so you would think she'd stay out of trouble. But no. She managed to snatch my favorite nike shoes off the top of the dryer (which is HIGHER than the baby gate she is so afraid of I might add) and chewed them ruthlessly to their death. We're talking a hole in the toe and no more sole on the bottom. Bummer.

It was a very sad day for me in the wardrobe department. But the upside....maybe this means my hubby will let me go shopping?

Dog Lovers - the understatement

What a fun week for us! It's been great for homesick me. The last few days felt like being in Dallas. There's good and bad to that. Bad (or Grant might argue good...) - we have plans every night this week. Good? They are mostly with TEXANS!! Cav (Lauren Cavender) has been in town hanging with us, there was basketball watching with Austin a few days ago, dinner with the Ravenesis last night. And Jon Tauber is coming this weekend! So fun! But in the midst of the last couple days, in a completely unrelated and random realization, I have reaffirmed what was quickly noted when moving here. Coloradans are obsessed with their dogs. They LOVE them! Not saying I hate it. We love Sage way too much and treat her like our child. But it's a whole nother level here! For example...

Grant and I had breakfast at our favorite place on Tennyson a few days ago. It's a cute little yellow house converted into a restaurant. Afterward, we decided to walk the strip and see what shops were there. In the process of four blocks, we passed two vets, a pet adoption center, and two dog accessory stores. But my favorite? Mouthfuls. It's a pet shop complete with toys, a million different colored collars and leashes, pet clothes, outdoor dog gear (backpacks and shoes), organic pet food, a ton of different flavors of dog treats and bones, and an entire snack bar with dog cookies covered in icing and cut in cookie shapes i.e. eggs and bunnies for easter. The best part? The store was packed with people and the cookies go fast! I'm not dogging the store (no pun intended!). I actually was a sucker for huge wall of dog toys and if Grant weren't with me, probably would have bought some! Check it out!  http://www.mouthfuls.net/

Then Monday, before meeting up with Britt to work out (hooray for a workout accountability partner!!), I took Sage to the dog park a few blocks away. This park, Berkeley park, is a 2 acre dog park on the edge of the lake. It's always packed. Even on my way to work in the morning (at 7am!) there are four or five people there, and when I took Sage around 5, probably 70 dogs. Not exaggerating! And of course Sage LOVES it! So many friends for her to play with!

And the kicker....going to restaurants. We've eaten out a lot this week since people are in town. Every restaurant in the Highlands, and several downtown, have dog bowls and faucets for water on their patios. We went to a bookstore the other day in the Highlands and there were two people with their dogs IN the store. Most of the stores on Tennyson and 32nd have dog friendly posts on their door. But the newest and funniest/coolest thing I saw last night at Parisi. Dog parking!! They are little hooks on the wall in a designated part of the parking lot outside Parisi, right next to the bike racks (which we used since we rode bikes to dinner!). The hooks are made special for you to attach leashes to. They literally are labeled Dog Parking Spots with little signs! Hilarious! I love it! Wish my dog was a little more behaved so we could take her in stores and restaurants. Maybe if we are here long enough she'll calm down someday...

On a side note, we had a blast with the Ravenesis and Cav! So good catching up with them and we were so glad they came to stay with us for a little bit! I can't wait to visit Matt and Jenny in Lake City, where they run Sky Ranch! Their stories are amazing as they are living solo on the ranch until the summer campers come. They even saw a mountain lion the other day! Crazy! Here's a pic of the largest calzone I've ever seen from Parisi last night! And I'm impressed to say that Matt ate every bit of it - and gelato after!

And what did we do when we got home after dinner? We played with the dog.  And then she slept with us in our bed. We fit right in I think!

The Forecast says sunny....

I had no idea the weather here was so crazy. I think living in Texas, you associate Denver with what the weather in the mountains is like. Because that's what you see, travel to, and hear about most often. But weather in the mountains is predictable. Most likely, it will be cold and snowy until late April. And after that, a little less cold and sunny. In Denver, it's just crazy! This weekend was a great example of that...

Yesterday was the perfect Saturday. We slept in late, cleaned the house, and stayed outside most of the day, enjoying the beautiful sunny, 80 degree weather. Last night, we cooked out with Austin and our neighbors Jason and Andrea while their two year old Addison colored our sidewalk with the chalk the previous owners left in the bungalow. It was 70 degrees and the perfect night to enjoy a burger on the grill and hang out in the backyard with a beer (or really sweet wine for me, who just can't come to like beer no matter how many times I try!) All the yards around here have chain link fences, so our older neighbor Don came out and struck up a conversation with the boys while he barbecued on his grill. We waved at our neighbors two doors down as they played wiffle ball with their kids in their backyard. As corny as it may sound, I imagine this was what life was like before iphones and internet took over the world. After our little cookout, we all came in, made cookies, and watched the final four. We don't have the swamp cooler turned on yet so we slept with the windows open to stay cool. This of course led to many nightmares of big men climbing in my windows and robbing me and a terrible night's sleep for me. That won't surprise you if you know me! Grant, of course, slept through my getting up all night long, and even was snoring when I turned on the lights and shut the windows at 5am. If you know him, this won't surprise you either. :)

Yes I said swamp cooler. For those of you in Texas, who like me before moving here, has never heard of a swamp cooler, it's a cooling device that cools air from evaporative water. They are huge in Denver. AC is not near as frequent in houses, especially in neighborhoods like ours.  But you have to turn it on for it to run and it's not something you just switch on and off like AC and heat from the same device. Since we are swamp cooler virgins, our landlord will have to come do it. We have no clue how to use it! But it may have been a blessing in disguise that we were too novice to try and figure it out because today was a whole different season in the weather department! This morning, when I let Sage out before going to church, it was sunny and 65. By 10am on our way into church, it was cloudy and had dropped to about 45. When leaving church around noon, it was 40 and raining. And during lunch in old town Arvada with our new small group (who we LOVE by the way!), it started snowing. Now, at 6pm, it is still snowing on and off, our grass is covered in white, and it's 30 degrees. And I thought Texas had crazy weather! This place is nuts!

At least we enjoyed warmth yesterday. It encouraged me. I'm pretty sure I'll love the summers here. There is just something special about a sunny day in Denver with the mountains in the background. I can't say I love the snow yet, especially not 12 hours after warm weather, but it was great cuddling on the couch and watching reruns of the Office all afternoon today with Grant and Sage while the snow came down in the background. Maybe I'll get used to the madness? Maybe.....

Our House. In the middle of our street.

In honor of all this house talk, I thought I'd post some pics of our new (rent) house! Don't be deceived by the outside, the inside is updated and great! It's a 3 bedroom so COME VISIT US!! 

Front

                                       
Backyard, complete with bungalo, two car garage, and covered porch with outdoor fireplace and grill! Only problem...the chain link fence is no match for Sager. She can jump over with ease - and does.

Love our living room/dining room combo.  It's HUGE. Beats the old Avery apt. space any day! However I do miss Andrea...who is no longer always in my living room. :(

Our bedroom. Yes boys - the Texas bed made it's way into the master. Sad to say...

Guest bedroom

Bathroom (obviously)

Love my red kitchen! 

Did I mention you should COME VISIT US?

To Stress or Not to Stress

Can you be stressed due to lack of stress? I think I can! That may be strange...but for a nurse's personality...maybe not?  If you know me, you know my job in Dallas was a very high stress, high acuity, extremely busy job. That job was extremely stressful. It literally exhausted me physically, emotionally, and mentally on a regular basis. And I loved it. I had a passion for it. I even enjoyed getting up at ungodly hours to do that job. I miss my transplant families every day and how wonderful they are. My new job? Not stressful. In fact, not stressful at all. I wouldn't say it's boring. There's plenty to do. It's just not life or death, difficult things to do. It's prior auths and refills. It's borderline easy. And I'm being paid more to do it! So why am I feeling stressed? Why am I complaining? Well...because I'm a sinner saved by grace for one. I should be thankful to have this job. And I am. But also in light of this situation, I have recently decided I might need stress to not be stressed. I think I thrive on busy, critical, mentally challenging situations. And not having them is stressful! I mean, I'm have acne like never before, and little things that shouldn't bother me lately totally do! Weird as it sounds, I feel like many fellow nurses will understand me.  And I maintain that it's ok to have that personality. The world needs us...right?

So what do I do to destress from my lack of stress? My new favorite Denver obsession. Look at houses - and dream about living in them. This city is full of old, historic, amazing houses full of character. Other than Cherry Creek, most of Denver proper is old, restored houses.  My neighborhood alone has tons of them. Every single house looks different, and most of them were built in the 1900-1920s and have been restored and redone on the inside.  Our house is that way, and although I could do without it's original front porch and window awnings, I love it's character. Our neighborhood is quite funny actually. All of the Highlands seems to be this way. On our street, you will either find young 20-30 somethings who are married and/or single with young kids, and old, retired 70-80 somethings who have lived in the same house since the 1940s or something. Our next door neighbor, Don, who is the neighborhood watchdog and informant, has lived there since 1960 and our neighbor Shirley, 1945.

So this is my new destresser. Every day after work, when I'm stressing about how unstressed I am, I take a different exit in my area and drive through the neighborhood streets on my way home, looking at houses. If I see one for sale, I look it up online when I get home, and drool over how much character it has and how pretty it is on the inside too. I have even gotten Grant in on it. A couple times a week we walk to Berkeley Park, take Sage on an excursion to the dog park, and let her "hunt" around the lake. Berkeley lake is full of big reeds and brush, and it's hilarious to watch her hunt for birds as we walk along the path, dodging bikers and baby joggers. She really thinks she's on a hunt, and behaves beautifully! She doesn't even notice the other dogs and/or small children, which is usually a challenge. After our lake time, we then take a different street back each day and dream of which house we would want to buy. My favorites? The old brick house on Tennyson, which much to my dismay, sold this week. The two story yellow house on Winona that looks like a barn, and the green house on Stuart with the big red door and screened in porch. I'll have to take pictures and post them for fellow house lovers to ooh and awe over at some point. I'm not sure if this new obsession is a diversion from baby fever, since so many friends have recently had babies (congrats to Annie and Jono, Luis and Regina, and Caitlin and James on your little ones!). Or maybe it's just my new therapy thing, but I LOVE house hunting. Obviously we won't be buying a house any time soon. We just moved to Denver, started new jobs, bought a car, and are about to pay for school. Plus, the houses in this neighborhood average 400,000. But hey...a girl can dream right? Or at least destress from having no stress. :)

Here's some photos of today's Berkeley walk....

At the dog park!

Sage is a frequent in the lake. But right now the water is too cold 

so she instead stands at the edge and whines. 

Sager on her "hunt".