Let There Be Music

When I came home one night last week and found this you could say I was a bit worried:

I knew Ryan was up to something and over the weekend he completed his project:

Now we can listen to music in The Church Lady!  Without the antenna we would get some music through some static through some junky speakers and because we don't have any cassette tapes, we couldn't use the tape player (when was the last time you saw a tape?).  Ryan replaced the speakers too so of course we did some weekend cruising with the improved sound system.
I guess because he was already working on cars he gave the Hondallac (my mobile filing system) a MUCH needed detailing.

Because I love blogging about food (thanks Vearl for pointing that out) I will include some of the delicious meals we had this weekend.  We didn't have any plans so we cooked in for every meal and it was really nice.

Last barbeque of the "summer".  Technically it's fall but the weather was super warm and nice this weekend.

In honor of Oktoberfest. 

Sliders!

Also this weekend, someone in our fur family surprised us with a gift. 

Yes, that is a dead bird on our living room rug.  While disgusting, I must say this was a much better situation than when Peanut brought the live snake into the living room and held it captive under the couch for the entire day until Ryan discovered what it was she had been playing with.  If you've never heard that story you'll have to have Ryan tell it to you.  Amazing that these sweet innocent looking fur babies could create such havoc.

(I know that's a picture of just Mojo's ears.  Ryan thought it was the funniest picture so I included it.)

Office Space

Partway through the Eat Right for Life nutrition series that I previously blogged about, I decided it was time to kick the soda habit.  I figured that whether it was diet or regular it just can't be good for me.  I knew the hardest part would be kicking my caffeine addiction, especially because we have three refrigerators around the office full of refreshments. 

I had been drinking 2-3 cans of diet soda a day (several years ago I was drinking as many as 8 a day!) so I decided to slowly wean myself.  (I'd tried going cold turkey several years ago and it was a debacle.)  It's been over a week now since my first day of no soda and since then I've been soda free!

In other office news, I was asked to be involved in a recruiting video for my company.  Basically, I was videotaped while being interviewed about why I chose the company, what I like about it, etc.  My boss knew when I was supposed to film so he helped by "staging" my office.  I walked in this morning to find this:

Pictures of the CFO/President and VP of HR tacked to my board with a giant heart in between them.  Let's just say that when HR and the video crew arrived at my office they re-staged the area.  And stuff like that is why I love where I work.  HAHAHAHA!

Eat Right for Life

My company is extremely health conscious and is always trying to find ways to educate and aid employees on the path to a healthier lifestyle.  Recently, employees were invited to attend an Eat Right for Life Nutrition Series.  I jumped at the chance because one thing I've never been great at is eating healthfully.  I'm great at working out and staying active because I love it but I also really love food and have always found it difficult to make good decisions about my nutrition.  The older I get, the more it becomes painfully obvious that what you eat has a huge impact on your overall health.

The nutrition series was broken up into four classes over a seven week period and was led by a registered dietitian.  The four classes were "Basics of  Metabolism", "Maintaining High Energy Throughout the Day", "Boost Your Immune System", and "Optimize Cholesterol Levels".  Basically, the gist of the classes was that managing your weight is a simple calories in/calories out equation; however, not all calories are equal.  Also, it is important to have a good balance of carbs, proteins, and fats in your daily diet and we should strive to have each of those components at every snack and meal.  It was extremely helpful for me to attend these classes because there is so much out there these days regarding nutrition and it's difficult to distinguish truth from fads.  What the dietitian taught us is based on science and really made a lot of sense.  Since the beginning of the program seven weeks ago I've been listening to my body and making more conscious decisions about my food. and I can honestly feel such a difference. 

In addition to the classes we were also given the Eat Right for Life book by Dr. Ann Kulze.  I haven't read it yet but I plan to so I can learn even more.

I wanted to attach the handouts I received from each class as they contained a ton of great information but I can't figure out how to do that in blogger so if anyone is interested (or knows how to attach pdf documents in blogger) let me know and I can send you copies.

Pics from Jaime

Ryan's sister sent a bunch of pictures from our family camping vacation in July and I just had to share some of them.

T-Rex (not sure if this is before or after the breakdown):

I believe this was the family camping out in the parking lot while T-Rex was being looked at:

Moose!

Pictures of us with moose in the background:

I could not figure out this puzzle!

Angry Birds:

Fishing:

JCPenney pose on horseback:

It was so much fun going through these pics and remembering the good times!  Where did the summer go?  Thanks Jaime for sending these!

Fall Camping

Ryan and I decided to go camping this weekend as the weather was still supposed to be temperate.  We were able to find a great spot Friday night and set up.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and played with the fur babies. 

Here tough Peanut chases Mojo as he chases his ball.

Here, Mojo has a fun game of fetch with himself.

China decided to run off at some point during the morning and Ryan found her way down the hill carrying back a prized possession:  a piece of bark.

Later we decided to go on a bike ride.

Unfortunately, we didn't leave camp early enough and it started POURING on us a little over halfway through our ride.  It was SO COLD!!!  We finally made it back and we were both completely soaked. 

 Ryan started a nice fire for us to warm up and read by.  And later we used it to make dump cake.



We ended up running out of propane (we were not the most well prepared this camping trip...)  so we knew we wouldn't have a hot breakfast today.  Ryan decided to make the best of it and brewed his coffee over some coals.  He was very proud of his "survivalist" ingenuity.

 We had a great weekend and everyone in the family is worn out.

Les Miserables

Last Friday, Ryan and I got to attend the traveling Broadway show of Les Miserables.  It was my company's summer event for employees and their significant others.  We started off the evening with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at The Corner Office, which is right across the street from the Denver Center for  Performing Arts Complex.  I was pleasantly surprised by how good the place was!  Then we headed to the Buell Theater for the show.  We ended up having seats in the SECOND ROW!!!  I was so excited that we could see the orchestra in the pit when we were standing and we were SO close to the actors on the stage.  The musical was amazing and I loved every minute of it!  I tried to get a picture to show how close we were but all you see is the lady in the background (who is not an actor).

The next morning, Ryan woke up early to road bike with Dion.  They rode from Dion's house in Thornton to Golden, about 25 miles.  Amy, Lily, and I then met them for brunch at the Bridgewater Grill.  It was nice enough we were able to sit outside with a view of Clear Creek.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the "yoga squirrel" I saw inside the hotel.



Afterward, we browsed at the Golden Farmer's Market and then headed to Arvada's Harvest Festival in Olde Town.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key.  We watched some football, ran errands, worked out, read, cooked, and basically just hung out together.