January News

January has been a cold month which may be why Erin and I haven't gotten out much.  As Erin has returned to classes and I've been programming we have a couple of notable occasions though.

About a week ago we went to get Chinese food and play some pool with our friends Laura and Jim.  It was good to hang out and catch up with them since they live north of Denver and we don't get to see them very often.

Last Monday we went out with our supper club to The White Chocolate Grill.  It was our turn to pick the place to go and our friend's Brian and Cassie had recommended the American-style restaurant.  It was a very good recommendation as the food was delicious.  We can't wait until we get a chance to go back.

We also had a fun night last week as we went to have dinner with Erin's mom Susie.  Over Christmas we had been talking about a dish that we enjoyed growing up but hadn't had much lately: Mac & Cheese with cut up hot dogs in it.  Since Susie was going to be home alone last Thursday with Mike out on a business trip we went up to cook her the meal. 

I guess I shouldn't say she was home alone, since the weekend Mike and Susie went out and got a new puppy.  It is a very cute shih tzu-poodle mix (a shih-poo) which they have named "Dante".  Erin went to help them pick it out and has fallen in love with it.  While I agree that it's very cute, I prefer larger dogs which has led to many conversations between Erin and myself about what kind of dog we could get one day. 

With our current plans of living abroad next year though, a dog of our own will have to wait.  Erin has been hard at work applying to a number of schools and school systems.  We're preparing for a trip out to Boston in February to attend one of the larger international schools fair.  While we've been in contact with a few schools already (one in Cambodia which we turned down, and another in Qingdao, China) the whole experience is somewhat daunting and we hope we'll be able to line up some more interviews at the fair.

We end this month with Erin's birthday.  To celebrate with just the two of us I took her up to Evergreen for some skating on the lake and some wine.  Erin confided that skating was the one thing she's done the most to celebrate her birthday.  While it was cold out on the lake the sun would peak out from the clouds every now and then making it an enjoyable experience.  Afterwards we had lunch at Creekside Cellars which is always nice.  We finished back in a bookshop in Park Meadows with hot chocolates and a lot of books on Boston and China.

So while the year has started of cold and somewhat slow, it promises to be an exciting one.

Molly Brown and a Geeky New Year's Eve

On Wednesday last week Erin and I went to the Molly Brown House with her family.  We were very excited to go since my aunt Janet was giving the tour and we were finally able to see it.  While she's been a guide there for quite some time we had only seen her there once before in November when she was dressed up like (and in the character of) Margaret "Molly" Brown.  Unfortunately at that time there wasn't an actual tour so we found ourselves wanting to learn more.  We were not disappointed as Janet told us everything we wanted to know about Molly Brown as she took us from room to room in the house.  It was a fun experience to see how people lived back then and the kind of life that Molly Brown had led.

After the tour we found a really good BBQ place on Colfax called Wolfe's with a kindly elder man behind the counter.  We came to learn that he was, in fact Wolfe and that he had been at that location for the past 15 years.  After lunch we walked over to a jewelry and trinket store called Pandora Jewelry so Erin's brother could find a gift for his girlfriend.  All was going well until we tried to go to our next activity: seeing Avatar in 3D on the IMAX screen at Colorado Blvd. and I-25.  As we pulled into the already full parking lot we soon learned that the show was sold out and would be sold out until the 10:25pm showing on Friday.  While we had a similar difficulty the weekend before we found it hard to believe that the show was sold out again.  Erin and I may try again to see the show this weekend.

New Year's Eve found Erin and I back at her parent's place for a delicious dinner.  It was a great meal before we went out to a party for the family's friend (and our wedding guitarist) Jim Butler.  His 60th birthday was a few days away and so he had combined the celebration with New Year's Eve at the Swallow Hill Music School.  It was nice to catch up with him and his family.  After the party Erin and I decided to celebrate the New Year's Eve back at her parent's place.  There was a video game her and her brother had been trying to beat earlier that day, but hadn't been able to because of technical difficulties.  Well, three hours later (and two hours past midnight) we finally beat the game.  While it wasn't the typical New Year's Eve bash, it was a lot of fun and it felt like we had started the New Year off to a great start.