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