New iPhone

Well, I got the newest iPhone, which it totally awesome and I'm obsessed with Siri and the screen resolution and picture taking capabilities and pretty much everything else, but I'm having issues figuring out how to rotate and save my pictures.  I never had problems with my old iPhone but I'm fairly technologically incompetent so I think I'm going to have to have Ryan take a look at this for me.  So, until I (Ryan) get that figured out, I might not be posting many pictures. 

So, anyway, we've had a good week and a half since I last wrote.  A week ago Wednesday Ryan stopped by our friend Jodi's house after work to help her with a quick fix on her convertible so she could drive with the top down in the gorgeous weather we've been having.  I suggested that we all go to dinner as I didn't know how long it would take and we didn't have any other plans.  Well, when we showed up at Jodi's she had some tasty beverages ready for us and the cup she handed Ryan had an uneven base (on purpose) so when he set it down it seemed as if it was going to spill everywhere.  Hehe.  Pretty funny joke.  After Ryan fixed the car we eventually went to dinner at Mickey's and Jodi and I enjoyed more cocktails and we ended up not getting home until well past our bedtimes on a weeknight!  It was fun to break the normal weeknight routine and spend time visiting with a friend.

Last Friday, Ryan took me to a Greek/Italian restaurant I'd been wanting to try and I had a groupon for.  I'd never had authentic Greek food until a few years ago when I was in Salt Lake City with one of my Greek colleagues and I couldn't get enough of it but he told me there wasn't anything as good in Denver as what we enjoyed in Salt Lake as the place was owned by a Greek man and his parents and Mom and Dad did a lot of the preparation and cooking.  It was actually kind of funny because the family that owned the restaurant knew people that my colleague knew in Denver.  Apparently the Greek community (out West at least) is pretty tight knit.  So, even though John warned me there weren't any great Greek restaurants in Denver, I was bound and determined to try to find one.  I'm glad that Ryan was willing to take me, considering it was clear across town, but alas, Bucci's in Denver did not measure up to Aristo's in Salt Lake.
This is a picture of the saginaki (flaming cheese) appetizer we got. 

Saturday morning, Ryan was up bright and early to start setting posts for our fence that blew over during some high winds.  I don't think the dogs are going to be very happy when he's finished and can't have access to the giant backyard behind us.  The neighbors back there made sure to tell us they didn't mind if we left the fence down for awhile because they just love our little little dogs.

While Ryan was working, he asked me to make him some coffee because he didn't want to come into the house all dirty and gross.  I proceeded to tell him that I don't know how to make coffee but he assured me it was very easy and to just put some scoops in the filter and fill the reservoir.  So that's what I did.

I don't think Ryan is going to ask me to make coffee anymore. 

Birthdays, Vail, and More

No I haven't stopped blogging!  I don't know what has kept me from updating in the past few weeks but since I've been away for so long this might be a long and disjointed blog.  With not very many pictures.  Let's see, where to start.  Well, two weekends ago we had a couple of birthday parties to attend.  Our friend CJ threw a surprise party for his wife at the West Woods Golf Club Bar & Grill that is pretty close to our house but we'd never been to.  Jane was surprised and we had a great night meeting new friends.  We also attended Lily's first birthday party, which was butterfly themed.  Lily did a great job on her cake and it was fun to catch up with Amy and Dion and Steve and Lindsay.  Also that weekend we went skiing at Vail.  I really wanted to try out a new ski resort because we'd only gone to Keystone all season.  I really liked that at Vail you park in an underground parking garage and then you have just a very short walk to the lifts.  And the village is SO adorable.  I didn't like the actual slopes as much as Keystone though.  I felt like I was catwalking a lot (which is where you are on a flat area and have to propel yourself) and that I had to take various lifts to get where I wanted.  I think a lot of that is probably because Vail is an older resort.  It was actually extremely warm up there that day and I was too hot in my ski gear!  Who knew that could happen?  Unfortunately, I think that might have been our last ski day of the season because it has been so unseasonably warm and there was never a really good snow base to begin with.

Also that weekend we got to enjoy a drink and pizza out on the patio at Udi's because the weather was SO nice.  We met our friends Jess and Jesse at Arvada Beer Company for some drinks and conversation and we enjoyed dim sum with our church group at a new place called The Emperor.

Last weekend we vowed not to make any plans and we did a really good job of it.  We got to take care of a lot of housekeeping type items and I was able to enjoy running outside, Ryan got to work a little on The Church Lady and he tore down the rest of the back fence that the wind didn't blow over.  Now our dogs have a huge area to roam around in because the neighbors behind us have a very oversized yard.  We also both enjoyed some pampering massages.  It was a wonderful weekend!  Sometimes I think the most mundane weekends can also be the most enjoyable. 

I read a couple books in the last couple weeks, one of which I loved:  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.  I also watched the movie Bridesmaids which I found pretty hilarious because I'm easily amused with raunchy humor and I appreciated that the humor was coming from other females.

Leap Week

Well, I'm afraid I had a much better "leap week" than Ryan did.  He had his wisdom teeth removed first thing in the morning on leap day.  Because I had mine taken out many years ago, I really kind of forgot what an ordeal it is!  I had to drive him there and stay during the entire procedure and then there were so many rules to follow about what he could and couldn't eat, and what he could and couldn't do, and then of course there were the prescriptions and the ice.  Poor guy came out of the procedure in a wheelchair with an ice stuffed sock wrapped around his puffy face.  Thank goodness we found a wonderful bed last weekend so he at least had somewhere comfortable to rest (you are right Meghan - such an improvement on quality of live).  This picture is actually a couple days after the surgery when he was more lucid and less puffy.

During the time Ryan was unable to eat, I on the other hand enjoyed a couple of lunches out with friends.  I met Amy and Lily at Yak & Yeti and discovered they have the best chai tea lattes on earth.  I have had chai tea lattes before and I have been to Yak & Yeti before, but I'd never had a chai tea latte at Yak & Yeti.  I am now forever ruined.  I also got to go to El Toro with Chris to dine on some delicious fried tacos.  Yes, a fried taco.  So incredibly delicious.  Too bad I didn't get pictures of either lunch outing.

By Friday night, Ryan was feeling a little better...well, better enough that he wanted to go to The Archive Room to try Batch 19, which is a pre-prohibition type beer brewed by Coors.  The company found some old recipes when they were cleaning out basement archiives so they decided to brew them.  It was actually really good and a pretty cool story.  Right now it's only available in Colorado but I think they are releasing it to other states in 2013.

On Saturday, Ryan helped Dion put down hardwood floors while I went skiing.  :)  I think I got the better end of that deal.  The weather was actually terrible which made it great for me because not many people were on the slopes.  I made several runs and did really well and had a really fun day. 

Ryan started to be able to chew as the weekend progressed and lucky for me he took me out to Beaujo's.  I had been craving it ever since I walked through Keystone Village and smelled the aroma of pizza.  We also stopped at one of our regular haunts, Arvada Beer Company/Mannekin Frites, during a Sunday cruise in The Church Lady.  We hadn't been out for a cruise for a long time with the weather and with Ryan having it torn apart to do some work.   

A couple other random highlights from the weekend:

We went to Murdoch's and they had baby chicks!  Sooooooo cute!

Also, discovered the best peanuts ever:  Ricky's Lucky Nuts in Spicy Chile Chipotle flavor.  And I read a really, really great book:  Every Last One by Anna Quindlen.  I read a lot and in the past year have greatly enjoyed most of the books I've read but I haven't been this moved by a book in a long time.  It was extremely emotionally difficult but I was just completely blown away.