Christmas Letter

It's been so long since I've updated my blog! I apologize to my 10 readers. :-) I've been so concentrated on my other blog that this one has been thrown by the wayside. I thought as a great way to update you, I'd publish the Christmas letter I sent to all the Pi Phis. Kelsey (Callaway) Sundgren organizes a big mailing of Christmas letters among our pledge class so if you're not a Pi Phi, you wouldn't receive this so please enjoy!

I hope this letter finds all of you in the midst of a wonderful holiday season! I’m looking forward to reading all of your letters because, based on Facebook, it’s been a year of engagements, weddings, new home purchases and career changes!

Bryce and I will be celebrating two years together right before Christmas. Between February and July of this year, we were house shopping nearly every weekend and I think we looked at all the houses for sale in Denver. Finally, we found the perfect place and moved in to our downtown loft in mid-August. It’s a brick building across from Union Station and we love it. Henry gets along with Bryce’s two cats perfectly (although the same probably can’t be said for me) and loves living so close to the dog park.

We were so lucky to take a few fun vacations in 2011, starting with a four-day trip to Napa Valley in April. We loved wine tasting at sea level… you get to taste a lot more! In August, right after we moved, we left for the annual 10-day trip to Martha’s Vineyard. Hurricane Irene was there vacationing at the same time but after a windy first day, the storm blew over and we had sunny, 80-degree beach days for the rest of the trip.

The best trip of the year might have been Las Vegas. Bryce surprised me with the trip for my birthday (in July) but we waited until it cooled down and went in October. It was Bryce’s first time to Vegas so we saw the Blue Man Group and Cirque de Soleil and spent at least six hours playing Craps.

My job in social media marketing is going full-speed and I will have been with the same company for a year and a half this month. As a side project, I started a style blog and it has led to some really interesting marketing opportunities. You can check it out at www.eStyleChat.com. Leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by!

If you’re ever in Denver or up in the mountains skiing, I would love to see you! I finally said goodbye to my 913 phone number this year so you can now reach me at 720-402-4216.

Lots of love for a Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!

Whoa, long overdue posts of the new place

Sorry for the delay! Here are pictures of our new place! Bryce is just chilling in a few. :-) Upstairs is the entertainment area with the green couch.

IRENE

Yikes! We're in Martha's Vineyard for a week of relaxing and could see the edge of Irene coming from the south while we were on the ferry from Boston yesterday. It started raining pretty hard and today it's not raining yet but it's very windy and the power is clicking on and off.

Shouldn't get too exciting though because Irene has already been downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm and is moving far enough west to where we'll just get the edge. There's a photo on my Facebook page if you want to check it out!

After today we should be able to head to the beach Monday so we've stocked up on "provisions" for the storm (not to be confused with Chardonnay, which you're allowed to call a provision when you're in Martha's Vineyard during a hurricane). If we get any really cool weather, I'll post a picture!

Latest and Greatest

Wow, has it really been two months since my last post? That's terrible! But I wanted to give a few updates on the loft, the move and the move out.

We are getting SO excited to move to the loft. We've taken over multiple loads of odds and ends from Bryce's house and the apartment so we feel like we're in good shape when the movers come this Sunday. Should be relatively painless! The new dining table, wine rack and couch are already situated so it's feeling homier by the day.

And as much fun as it's been to live in a downtown highrise, we're ready to move a little closer to the ground as well. The new place seems much more like home and a little less like a swanky hotel. Bryce's two cats have already been enjoying the loft. It's going to be quite an adjustment to live with two cats that shed everywhere! Bryce plans to use the furminator on them everyday but right now there are chuncks of hair floating all over the loft. Henry doesn't really shed so this is a major change for me. Not to mention the litter box. Ick.

But it'll all work out. Henry is sooo nice to the cats and really wants them to come play with him. He'll lay on the floor and put his head down or roll over so show that he really is nice. :-)

Keep an eye out for pictures next week!

Tonight we're headed to the 311 concert, which was a blast last year. Can't wait to go again!

Have a great Tuesday.

Love,

Em

It's always something

Last week got a little stressful with the housing situation when we found the sellers hadn't been entirely honest about the existence of two parking places. There is, in fact, only one spot but room to park two cars. Downtown parking is priceless when you own your home. We're talking uncovered parking lots that have spots renting for over $125 monthly. After some renegotiation, we came to a new deal and closing is still on for this Thursday.

It was a little more excitment than we would have liked, but it's all going to work out. This weekend was Bryce's sister's 33rd birthday. She throws a big BBQ each year (with tofu hot dogs and burgers as Mo is a vegetarian) and we cruised over Saturday night for the big party. It was a blast with lots of family and friends and we ended up staying and talking until after midnight.

Yesterday was an extravaganza of furniture shopping and we found a dining room table at Crate and Barrel that was on sale as the floor sample. It's big enough to seat 10 so I'm seeing a lot of dinner parties in the future.

Hope you're all looking forward to a great week!

Happy Monday

FINALLY...a winner!

After looking at no less than 100 homes since March, we finally have a winner! Right about the time Bryce and I were beginning to get pretty discouraged on the home search, we decided that maybe we didn't need a "house" at all an instead decided to take a look at a downtown loft that was relatively new to the market.

Last Thursday was a torrential downpour. The streets were flooded with running water and cars were flooding and stopping with their hazards on in the middle of the roads. It took us all over an hour to make the 15 minute trip and then we got to the loft...and it was locked for the night. The automatic door had closed and the seller's broker didn't know the code. We waited around for almost another 45 minutes hoping someone would go in or out (not likely considering there is a garage entrance for residents) and finally the broker called with the combination.

Clearly we had better like this place after the miniature adventure to get in! We did! It's the perfect place for us right now. Great location and the ideal living situation for two people that don't need four bedrooms for kids. But we have a guest room and you're all invited to visit!!

Besides the rain, the additional excitment to this weekend was that Bryce wasn't in town and didn't have cell phone service. After looking at the loft Thursday night, he left town to go fishing and about two hours out of Denver, he loses cell phone service. But we planned for it and had our gameplan before he left. It was a nice homecoming to get back in cell phone range, call and know we had a new place to live!

We close in two weeks and will be able to start moving things from the apartment to the new loft and putting things on Craigslist that we don't need or want anymore. By the time my lease expires in late August, we'll be all moved to the new place (which is less than a mile from my apartment) and unpacked already.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to tackle the week!

Birthday weekend, Visit from the Parents and more

A Happy (belated) 4th of July to everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend, drank a few beers and watched some fireworks.

Sunday was my 24th birthday and had some friends over to take advantage of the new 3rd floor deck at my building. We ordered some BBQ, baked some cupcakes that afternoon and made raspberry bellinis. My parents were in town and came to meet some of our Colorado friends and some of Bryce's family so it was a great night.

Thanks for all the Facebook birthday wishes!

I took Friday and Monday off of work and it was a much needed four-day break. We've been house shopping like crazy and have yet to find the place for us. Today though, we're headed out after work to see four places that were pre-screened by our Realtor to be really good choices. House shopping really shows you how sneaky people can be with photos. What looks like a great house turns out to be nothing like the pictures! Luckily, since Bryce has lied in Denver for about 25 of his 29 years, as soon as he sees an address he can tell if we'll like the area. So at least that has saved us from seeing places in sketchy areas of town.

I'll keep you posted!

Have a great day,

Em

Visit to AZ, warmer weather and more

Hello everyone!

It finally feels like summer in Colorado! Took us long enough. Our first above 80 day was yesterday and we should have a beautiful weekend.

Last weekend for Memorial Day, we took a quick trip to Arizona to visit my parents. It was a fun but short trip of drinking prickly pear margaritas, hiking and star gazing in my dad's telescope. The week back was a blur and flew by. This weekend is going to be our first weekend in a month to just chill. No working on Bryce's house, no major house hunting, no events or dinners, no Rockies baseball game. It's going to be great!!

Bryce's house went on the market almost two weeks ago in tip-top shape. Took a look of Clorox to scrub that place to perfection (not to metion 15+ loads of Goodwill and trash trips) but it looks great. Anyone looking for a charming house on a nice street in Denver? :-)

Henry is getting his summer hair cut tomorrow so definitely keep an eye out for pictures. Poor guy, he always looks so skinny and pathetic when he gets his buzz cut. Oh well, it always grows back and he sure loves it for swimming!

Have a great weekend and I hope nice weather and at least one day to relax is in your very near future.

Which one tastes better?

That was the theme of our past weekend in Santa Rosa, California on a wonderful wine tasting trip. Between the amazing wine, the delicious food and the lush, green countryside, it was the epitome of relaxation and indulgence. Wow did we eat some good food and drink some good wine. It seemed that it all just kept getting better and that's what prompted the name of this post.

We flew out last Thursday morning and Bryce finally got his birthday present from me, which was a car ride and champagne from the Sacramento airport to our hotel. We relaxed and drank champagne and Tom drove and showed us the sights. We didn't waste any time wine tasting and went to the DeLoache vineyard after getting checked in and drinking yet another bottle of champagne. Gotta love drinking at sea level! It doesn't catch up to you like drinking champagne in the mountains.

That night we had appetizers at Willie's Wine Bar and then went to Stark's steakhouse for dinner. Friday morning was a trip to Ferrari Carrano vineyard with some of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. Stay tuned this week for pictures! We did both the Classic and Private Reserve tours (we missed the group tour, thank goodness, so they let us do the Reserve tasting for free). After Ferrari Carrano we went for lunch and a bottle of wine from Papapietro, a boutique vineyard that specializes in Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs.

After our morning and afternoon out, we went by a cigar shop for Bryce then headed back for massages. Yep, it was a pretty over-the-top indulgent trip. VERY much needed. Friday night was our dinner at the Vintner's Inn and their restaurant. We had a glass of white (Bryce got the Fume Blanc from Ferrari Carrano that we had tasted earlier) and then split a bottle of Sangiovese.

Saturday was a totally different pace and we took a three hour drive south to Monterray California to watch Graham in a mountain bike race. He had no idea we were coming so it was a really fun surprise. He had a good race, we got very sunburnt and then we all went out to dinner near the dock on Canery road where John Steinbeck lived and wrote.

On our drive back, we got a call from the hot air balloon pilot who we were supposed to meet up with in the morning for a 6:30 hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately, he said the fog forecast wasn't looking good. Oh well, next trip! Instead, Sunday morning we went to the Korbel champagne vineyards, tasted all the varieties of Korbel we didn't know existed and then went back to check out of our hotel.

After a beautiful ride back to the airport with an incredibly fun driver, Rick, we hopped on a plane an reluctently flew back...but the story isn't over.

Our plane landed just after 6 and we were ready to head to the apartment for an early night in. Well, after pulling up to the building and seeing no less than 5 firetrucks, we knew that wasn't likely. To make a long story short, someone on the 12th floor had decided to commit suicide using hydrogen sulfide, an extremely deadly gas. In addition to killing himself, he sent two people to the hospital, including the conciege who had tried to find out what the smell was. We would have left immediately to go back to Bryce's house and sleep, but Henry was still on the 26th floor. We waited until 11 PM but the firefighters still were estimating another few hours and said anything above the 20th floor was safe, including Henry.

We went back for a pretty awful night of sleep then I came back early to find Henry lounging around feeling like he was king of the castle for getting to spend the night by himself. All's well but it was a wild end to the trip.

I'll post pictures later this week! Love you all.

Happy April!

It's been awhile! Sorry for the long absence, the longer I work at my computer during the day, the less I'm inclined to blog. But here's a "catch up" post for the last 6 weeks!

Henry celebrated his second birthday last weekend with a swimming trip to the lake. He had way too much fun and could barely move that night he was so tired. Bryce will be celebrating his 29th birthday this Friday and we're going to dinner with his family at an Italian restaurant then out with his friends on Saturday night.

Moving back to March, Rach and I had a WONDERFUL weekend! We went shopping, to the spa, out with Savannah to a great wine restaurant and watched the entire third season of True Blood nearly start to finish. I'm about due for another pedicure (both of us agreed the Woodhouse gives the best pedicures we'd ever had) so Rach, if you could just fly back so we can go back to the spa, that would be great. :-)

I've read a few great books lately and tried a few great bottles of wine. If you haven't checked out Elizabeth Gilbert's sequel to Eat Pray Love, it's a must read. Called Committed, it is her search across many countries and many traditions for what marriage will be for her. Romantic it is not, but thought provoking it is.

A week from today Bryce and I are headed to Sonoma for a weekend of wine tasting! It's something we've always wanted to do so we'll be spending three days at the Vintner's Inn relaxing, eating and drinking. Can't wait!

Work at GolfTEC is also going really well. It's an extremely busy time of year pre-golf season so we've been working overtime making sure every aspect of our marketing efforts is a success. I can't believe in July I will have worked there a year. Time sure flies.

My lease downtown expires in August, so we've been evaluating some different housing options. This alone is worth a full blog post so more to come in the future!

Finally, a big congratulations to two friends who are now engaged. Claire Markey and Paige Andrews are both marrying their wonderful boyfriends and I'll be in St Louis to be a bridesmaid in Paige's wedding next March.

Hope you're having a wonderful week and enjoying every single day.

Tickets, boots and towing...oh my!

Well the overzealous group of Meter Maids in Denver (you think Manhattan's Parking Nazis were bad? Think again) had just met their match with Channel 4 News Investigators. Turns out, the people of Denver have been paying tickets for the last two years written by "Special Police Officers" who weren't that special. Two Denver parking ticket writers were just discovered to not be authorized at all to write tickets...and they'd written over $1 million in tickets.

The city might be paying back all that money to the citizens, many of whom might have contested the tickets and only received a form letter in response. Great work Channel 4 news!

Other notes from my world include a fun weekend with Bryce and Graham. Bryce and I drove to Mountain Sun to have dinner with Graham last Friday night. Long wait, but always a good place! Then Bryce and I went to an amazing quasi-Valentine's day Brunch at the Brown Palace on Sunday. It was wonderful.

Can you believe next week is March? I'm very happy to report that so far, I've kept my New Year's resolution of writing down something every day. Three months down...a lot more to go!

Happy Hump Day!

Brrrr are you staying warm?

I hope all my Kansas friends are staying warm during these chilly weeks and massive snow storms! We've definitely had our share of snow this month but every time I look at the radar I think Kansas is getting more!

Not a lot of updates but here are a few fun notes...

1. In two weeks I get a visitor! Rach is coming!

2. I've enjoyed connecting with two Pi Phis who live in Denver after we touched base via the Pi Phi Christmas card this year. We've had fun watching the Bachelor!

3. Bryce and I are going to Napa and Sonoma for a few days this April! It's something we've wanted to do for a year and finally booked our flight.

4. Henry is loving the snow and has goofy (but kinda cool) booties to wear outside so the ice melt doesn't hurt his feet.

5. Work is going really well and is incredibly busy. I sure haven't been golfing much lately and I'm looking forward to things slowing down for our creative and graphic design team so everyone is under less stress.

6. Valentine's day is right around the corner! I think Bryce is cooking...and I also know he's reading this so I'll just say I'm really really excited for him to cook dinner.

Stay warm, drink some hot chocolate and be safe!

Politics

This post is about a week late but is on a topic that has been in the news and on all of our minds for long time. The shooting in Arizona is an atrocious example of the worst of politics in America and the sway that power-hungry politicians have over the mindless masses.

Friends of the Arizona shooter say he was incited by a brief conversation he had with the congresswoman and felt she did not adequately address his concerns. So he shot her? Granted, he was already a volatile personality but we watch politicians throw daggers and shoot bullets (figuratively) every day on television. We hear Sarah Palin say things like "it's time to reload!" To someone like this guy, did he take it all a little too literally? Did the words, the jabs, the unbelievable negativity that has become American politics justify, in his mind, taking action?

The attitude of "We care more about beating the other party on this bill than actually passing it" has become so prevalent that it's no wonder someone took negative political rhetoric to the next level and caused injury.

In the heartbreaking ceremony after the shootings, Obama called on everyone to inspire love with their words and to stop the negativity. In my opinion, his words cannot be put into action fast enough. Politicians: concentrate on the things you were elected to do, get off Fox news, stop making reality shows, quit campaigning for re-election two years in advance and make your actions and speech a positive example for the American people.

Our thoughts go out to the families of the victims, to the congresswoman making a miraculous recovery and to the 9 year old girl he shot, who will never have the chance to be the public servant she wished to be someday.

As Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

5 down, 360 to go

On the early morning of Day 6, 2011, do you have any resolutions? 2010 was a great year for many of us, despite the normal ups and downs that come with life changes. What do you hope for 2011? I already think it's going to be a great year.

Bryce and I are headed to Breckinridge to enjoy the snow this weekend! Then the next weekend, we're going to the Denver Rodeo. :-) Can't wait!

A few days ago, I found a big packet of Pi Phi letters in the mail! Our pledge class sent Christmas letters to everyone with photos and updates. It was so fun to see what everyone is up to these days.

And finally, a special note to my good friend who is having a very bad day. I'm thinking of you.

May 2011 bring much fun and much success in your life!