Spring Classes, Snow Storm, and Samba Room

Well, it's been a busy week and an even busier weekend.  I started my last two classes this week.  The first, Governing Global Economics is interesting as we discuss the Multilateral Economic Institutions of the world (e.g. IMF, WTO, World Bank).  I'm excited to see how they relate to the current global economic crisis.  The other class is International Law (with a strong emphasis on business law) and it looks like it will dovetail nicely with the other class as we discuss cases regarding the legal side of things.

The challenge came this week when I went to pick up Erin and her friend Leah from the airport.  The news was reporting a heavy snow storm coming in, but as I drove out to the airport at 11am on Thursday it didn't seem to bad.  It wasn't until we started back that the roads piled up and the snow made it impossible to see more than 50 ft.  It had only taken 30 minutes to get out to the airport, but it took three hours to drop of Leah and get back home.  Fortunately we were in Erin's car which had a bit more traction.  You can see how my truck fared with the blizzard as I left it through the whole thing (this picture is from the following morning).

However, by Friday afternoon many of the roads were starting to clear up and Erin went out to try out a hairdresser/makeup artist that she was thinking of using for the wedding.  Since she was going to be all dolled up I decided to take her out to dinner at the Samba Room.  The food and the service was excellent and after the main course I had a surprise for her.  Our jeweler had been fixing Erin's engagement ring and constantly finding reasons to keep it.  The snow storm had even kept me from getting the ring from him on Thursday.  But then on Friday I was able to get it from him while Erin was at her hair appointment.  As I gave it to her after dinner it was like proposing all over again as she was so happy and excited.  We finished the night at our favorite vodka bar just up the street.

The rest of this weekend has been filled with wedding preparations.  First cupcake tasting yesterday and the full meal tasting today.  I was very happy with both places we went to this weekend and as we had some delicious food Erin and I looked forward to our wedding.

Busy Spring Break

Well spring break has come and gone quickly this past week as I now start back up with classes.  Perhaps it seemed to go quickly because of all the celebrating last weekend.  First downtown on Friday night after my last final, then on Saturday as we celebrated Erin's father's birthday, then St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday. 

I'm actually a little surprised that Brian and I we're able to make it up to Copper Mountain for snowboarding on Monday in between all the partying.  It turned out to be a great day and I'm glad we went.  It was also fun to include Erin's brother Andrew as he was also on spring break.

The rest of the week was just as busy.  After recovering from St. Patrick's day Wednesday morning Erin and I went up to see the guy that's making Erin's wedding band assured that he was finished fixing up the engagement ring that he was using as a mold.  While the engagement ring looked great we were dissapointed to find out that he hadn't re-sized it.  We came back an hour later hoping that the ring would be ready, but were instead met with an explanation that the ring had broke when bent for resizing and would require additional work.  Hopefully it will be ready this week.

Thursday was definitely one of the most interesting days of the week as I went in to see Erin teach one of her classes.  It was certainly a different environment than what I'm used to and it was nice to see what Erin does on a regular basis.  While most of the time was spent by the students giving demonstration speeches (demonstrating different skills for 5 - 10 minutes), I was still able to see what Erin deals with each day.

The rest of the week has been spent working on a website for one of Erin's friends.  I'm glad to have the work and hope I'll be able to get more clients this next quarter.  Still, it doesn't really feel like spring break was much of a vacation and instead a chance to do some different things.  Fortunately with only two classes this quarter I should have more time to do both more work and have more free time.

Finals Done, Celebrations, and Snowboarding

It's been a great weekend as I finished my last final Friday night and went out with friends for drinks downtown.  The closer I get to graduating, the more I look forward to it.  With one more quarter containing two classes, I'm almost finished.  Of course that also means I need to start doing more work :)

On Saturday the celebrations continued as I joined Erin's family to celebrate he dad's birthday.  We had a wonderful meal at Luca that was filled with a few tear-jerking moments as Erin and her siblings toasted their father.  I'm very happy that I could have been a part of it.

Sunday was more of a relaxing/recuperating day.  Still, Erin and I found the time to meet her friends from out of town (who are also coincidentally getting married this summer).  We also had a chance to get out in the beautiful weather for a walk before coming back home for dinner.

Today was another exciting day as my friend Brian, Erin's brother Andrew, and I went snowboarding up at Copper Mountain.  It was a beautiful day and the snow was much better than we expected.

It's been a busy weekend and a great start to Spring Break.  I'll need to focus on work projects soon, but for now, I'm going to get some sleep.  To everyone reading this, I hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day.

Fun Weekend Before Finals

Last week was mostly spent studying so that I would have this past weekend free for fun with Erin and friends.  This started Friday night with a night out at Dazzle with our friends Brian, Cassie, and Neil.  The music and the drinks were good, but the best was talking with our friends and getting caught up on our busy lives.  Of course, the hangovers the next morning weren't all that much fun, but we got over them.

We had to as Erin and I went out to talk to an "inkstress" in Highlands who would help us with our wedding invitations.  Fortunately, since we already had a theme in mind the deliberations about what kind of style and colors went fairly quickly.  After that it was a quick lunch and a stop in to try cupcakes (which we're getting instead of the traditional cake).  While one of the cakes was definitely off somehow, the other one was delicious.  We have more bakers to see later this month, but it's nice to know we have someone to fall back on if need be.  We were then on our way up to the mountains to stay with Erin's friends, Pete and Leah.  They cooked us a wonderful dinner before we played a fun game of Pictionary.

Since we knew we weren't going to be skiing/snowboarding long on Sunday we took our time getting ready in the morning.  We finally got on the hill at noon and enjoyed the mountain for the next three hours with more of our friends.  After a while the wind started to pick up and we decided to head back down.  In Keystone we again got the chance to enjoy our friends company over drinks.

Back at Pete & Leah's place we got dinner ready for them Sunday night.  We finished the day by watching "Religulous" by Bill Maher.  I though it was funny in several parts, but it pushed it's point a little far I think and had a little bit of the kind of hyperbole that is evident in Michael Moore films.

This morning we again got a late start and headed back to Denver.  Erin enjoyed having the day off from school as she looks towards having speech and debate tournaments that she'll be at for the next two weekends.  We spent a lot of the time planning our honeymoon this summer and making reservations.  It's going to be a great trip out to California, but it sure is taking a lot of preparation.  I think we'll both be happy when we're finally out there and we don't have to think about all this planning any more.  Until then, I've got bakers to contact, finals to finish, and websites to develop.

Wrapping up the Quarter

I'm starting to have more time this week as the quarter comes to an end.  There are projects to finish and finals to prepare for, but it actually seems easier now then it was for midterms.  I even had time to go running with my friend Brian.

It was a nice weekend, though short.  I was able to go over and welcome my aunt and uncle back to Littleton with pizza and a hand unloading their truck.  Then Saturday night Erin and I went to her friend's birthday party at Sushi Hai in Highlands.  Finally on Sunday Erin and I had time to go out for a hike at Matthews/Winters Park just north of Red Rocks.  It turned out to be a great day for it.

Of course wedding plans keep progressing and the ever-fun honeymoon plans.  We're looking forward to a very exciting summer.