An Education

The snow was falling Sunday afternoon which can only mean one thing - go see a movie! We are lucky enough to be a short walk away from the Starz FilmCenter which is a lovely seven-screen independent moviehouse and the home of the Denver Film Festival in the fall. Funnily enough, it always seems to be snowing when we go there. We're not sure if it starts snowing because we decide to see a movie or if we decide to see a movie because it's snowing...

Sunday we went to see An Education, and I am now in love with this movie. Its 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 3 Oscar nominations are definitely justified. The movie is about a 16 year old girl living in England in the 1960s who is working hard to get an education so she can go to Oxford when she meets a charming older man who shows her a different life. The movie is beautiful, and the acting is wonderful.

Also, the fashion in this movie is to-die-for fabulous. Seriously. Dying.














(When I go to Paris, this is what I'm wearing.)





Go see this movie.

V-day Weekend Sum-up

I realize Monday would probably be the appropriate day for a weekend recap, but oh well. You'll have to settle for hump day this week.

Our weekend started early. A day early and early in the AM. Our friends, Drew and Stefanie, came in to visit, so we took Friday off to hang out. Their flight came in at 7:30. WHAT? That's usually when I wake up, but Drew and Stef are worth it, so I woke up at 6 (Who knew it was so dark at 6?) with little to no complaints. On the plus side, I got to watch an episode of Saved by the Bell: the College Years while I got dressed.

First things first, we got brunch (it was 7:30 AM afterall) and came up with a tentative plan for our day. After dropping off their bags at our place, we grabbed the pup and walked over to REI. Drew and Danny both came away with nice ski/hardshell jackets that were on sale (score!). Next, we hit up Falling Rock Tap House for a late lunch and some really good beer.



Not too far away, we found Great Divide Brewery and made it in time for a tour and happy hour. After a short stop at home to pick up our friend, Andrew, we walked across the street to the Pepsi Center for an Avalanche game which they won - yay!



Saturday started with - big surprise - brunch (did I mention we really like brunch?). We did a bit of wandering and shopping on Broadway, found a great sale at Fancy Tiger, and had some ice cream. For dinner, we decided to get dressed up and take Drew and Stef to Jax which was oh-so-good.



Sunday, we gave our guests something they'd been really wanting - Snow! It didn't snow too much, but it was beautiful. Because of the snow and cold temps, they got to witness the pup getting suited up to go outside and watch her make a big scene about wearing booties.



After ogling the falling snow, we did what we do best and headed to - say it together - brunch. Our brunch destination this morning was Duo in Highlands which I highly recommend. Their weekend quiche is always amazing, and I don't even like eggs. I love their coffee too. Mmmm....We hit up a couple shops on Tennyson before heading home to help Stef fit all her purchases in her suitcase. She, of course, had nothing to worry about as I am an expert packer.

Before heading to the airport, we decided to try out the Cherry Cricket which boasts the #3 burger in the country. I can tell you that they have an excellent green chili cheeseburger, awesome chili cheese fries, and yummy fried mac and cheese bites. Can you tell we like food?

We had such a great weekend with Drew and Stef which we always do. We miss you guys already!

Possibly the easiest meal ever

This meal has become my husband's all time favorite which is perfect for me because it's oh so easy to make.

Slowcooker BBQ Chicken Baked Potato:
1 chicken breast per person
1 bottle BBQ sauce of your choice
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 potato per person

Place chicken breasts in a slowcooker (they can even be frozen). Pour about half the bottle of BBQ sauce and the Worcestershire sauce into the slowcooker. Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low. Shred the chicken and place back in the slowcooker. Add some more BBQ sauce if needed. Cook on Low for another hour. To serve, place shredded chicken on baked potato. Top with cheese and sour cream.

This makes me so happy

Musings from the Front Porch

My friend, Meg, recently started a wonderful blog called Musing from the Front Porch where she talks about being a first time homeowner and all that it entails...from decor to cooking to lessons learned. She just featured our Denver loft on her Style Spying. Check it out here.

Also, here's a video tour of our place.

A New Adventure

As far as this blog is concerned, I have been MIA for about 6 months (oops!). There was a major change in my life that sucked up all of my time. In those 6 months, we sold our house in the South and moved out West to Denver. It was a whirlwind!

Colorado was a place that Danny and I had thought about moving to several times. It felt like a place that we would love, but with the timing of life and jobs, it just didn't work out. Then Danny started working for a company based in Denver, and he started coming out all the time. All the time. Last March, I came with Danny on one of these trips, and we really fell in love with the city. We decided to set a lofty goal for ourselves: we would move to Denver by the end of the year. We went back home and continued our daily lives with some talk of our goal but no real steps toward it.

Then a few months later, we took our first small step. We traded in Danny's rear-wheel drive, 2 seater convertible for an all-wheel drive WRX wagon. All-wheel drive is an important thing to have when you're dealing with snow and ice. My car lease came to an end, so we turned it in. Moving with one car would be much easier than with 2. Step 1...that wasn't so bad.

The next step (and it was a big one) was putting our house on the market. Talk of this went on for weeks until I finally took the plunge and emailed our realtor to set up a meeting. That really got the ball rolling. We put the house on the market. There was no turning back now.

The next thing that happened was something we weren't expecting - the house sold 10 days after we put it on the market & the buyer wanted to close at the end of September which was only about a month away. Ah! "Did that really happen?" was a common phrase for the next few days and even weeks. We obviously hoped to sell the house quickly but not that quickly!

We were ecstatic that we were able to sell our house so fast, but with closing at the end of September that meant we were moving to Denver in a few short weeks and didn't have a place to live when we got there! Luckily, Danny had a business trip scheduled in September, so he was able to extend it & look at places. He found a wonderful place with help with our Denver realtor and signed the lease, all without my even seeing it. Good thing I trust my husband's taste...

The sad part of all this excitement was that we had to say goodbye to our friends and family a lot sooner than we had been expecting. The next few weekends were spent hanging out and saying goodbye to our friends and to the South. It was bittersweet, but we were so excited about our new home & our friends and family coming to visit us there.

So, at the end of September, we set off on our new adventure, and we're loving every minute of it!