can i wear my hoodie yet?!

Hello friends and family!! I apologize that this post is LONG over due and therefore, will probably have a lot of information. But hang in there! Hopefully it will be interesting!! 

It is September. Man-Cub just turned 21 and we will get to celebrate this weekend as I treat him to dinner at the Rio in FOCO. Pictures to come. :) But we did get to go home for the weekend and my parents treated us to brunch, and him to his first restaurant alcoholic beverage...a mimosa. :)

I mentioned we got to go home for the weekend. Yes, unfortunately that means we are back into the school routine. We are almost half way through week 3 meaning there's about 13 and a half weeks to go! But who's counting...

I can't believe summer is over!! And apparently neither can Colorado because it's been 97 degrees as we have been hiking around campus. Today it FINALLY cooled off enough that I was comfortable in my hoodie once again...now hopefully it will stay this way.

I know I did some random blogs throughout the summer, but I am going to give you a brief re-cap of some of my summer adventures. It was an interesting summer to say the least. I got to travel lots, and also went through some changes at my house, but enjoyed being home and survived to make it back to good old Greeley!!

I began my summer adventure visiting Kaylah in Taiwan. There was a previous post about that trip, so I won't go into detail. :)

I then came home to a failed job search, but was lucky enough to have a dad with a good company who was willing to hire me. I learned lots about...tearing stuff down. Dad apparently has enough sub-contractors now that they get to do all the fun stuff, like painting. So I tore lots down.

Part way through the summer I got to celebrate a wonderful two year anniversary with Man-Cub!

I got to hang out with some of my favorite little kiddos! (Who, by the way, also love Man-Cub.)

And I wrapped it all up with a trip to visit Selah in Charleston!! (Hopefully a real blog with more pictures will make it here shortly.)

That's my summer in a nut-shell!! I will try to get a Charleston blog up soon as well as my new semester blog. :) I will also document my weekend in FOCO after we get to celebrate Man-Cub's birthday and the first UNC vs. CSU football game since the 80s. :)

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Love from Greeley!

i wish i were a superhero

2 years ago, my best friend asked me to go out with him. I wholeheartedly said yes and to this day, we are still very happy! Last Monday was our two year dating anniversary. We went and found one of the new frozen yogurt shops in Colorado Springs and then went to tour Target. At Target we found some awesome superhero cups and although they may be meant for beer, I am greatly looking forward to having my milk in my Batman cup! :) 

He got Marvel for Spiderman and I got DC for Batman

Although we didn't do anything too fancy on the actual two year date, over the weekend, we went up to Fort Collins to enjoy some time away together and experience the Fort in the summer! After nearly 3 hours stuck in traffic on a Friday night through Denver, we finally made it to our destination where we were greeted by his roommates new little puppy.

I guess she's called a "chiweiner" as she is a Chiwawa/Dixon mix

After saying hello, we went to dinner. And let me tell you, friends, Fort Collins has some superb food!! (And apparently superb beer as well due to all the breweries, so one day we'll be able to enjoy that too.) We were so hungry though, we scarfed our buffalo burgers down before I thought to take a picture. They were good though. After dinner, we sauntered our way down Old Town (the downtown part of Fort Collins) enjoying the livelihood that is not experienced in the chilly months we are at school. We reached our destination to get our delicious honeydew bubble tea! 

Honeydew on the right, passion fruit on the left...mmmmm :)

After enjoying the air conditioning for a little while, we joined the crowds on the street again until finding our way back to the car and back to his apartment to play with the puppy some more. Saturday morning we purposefully woke up early enough to go get brunch at a very happening restaurant called Snooze. It was some goooood food, and definitely worth the wait just for breakfast. 

My sweet looking apple juice

My delicious egg and sausage sandwich with hash-browns

Man-Cubs wonderfully delicious sweet potato pancake...soooo good.

Considering we had just finished brunch, it was already getting to be early afternoon so we went for a walk around the CSU flower gardens. It was beautiful!!! 

As it turns out, it's hard taking a picture looking up at a little phone while facing the sun :)

Attempt 2 in the shade

And Man-Cub found a lady bug!

We shortly left the flower gardens due to the heat that was rapidly taking over, and headed back to his apartment to meet some friends that had come up to sign their apartment lease for next year. We walked around Old Town with them for a little until going to grab some linner at a wonderful sandwich place...which I also was too hungry to remember a picture. Once our friends had left, Man-Cub and I headed to the drive in theater, a first for us both. It was really quite the deal!

Man-Cub was smart and grabbed some pillows and blankets

And we really did have a good view! Even after more cars filled it in some.

We could take our own snacks, we got to relax in his hatchback Subaru and it was only six dollars a person for two movies!! It made a for a sweet date too. We got there at 6:45 and had to wait for the sun to go down for the movie to start. As we anxiously awaited to see Captain America, we entertained ourselves by reading Spiderman!! 

Although Man-Cub's favorite, I am just waiting for the Batman reboot.

We also got to watch the beautiful sunset behind the mountains!

It was really a sweet plan for only six dollars. Once it started to get dark, the excitement heightened and we both wished we could be superheros. Captain America was awesome, and the after the credits scene made us very excited for all the new superhero movies coming out next summer! (The final Batman, the re-done Spiderman, and the Avengers. You all should be excited because they all look awesome!) Having to wait for it to get dark to start a movie meant the movie didn't start until later, so our first movie wasn't over until after 11. Needless to say, we were not going to stay until 3am just to watch Transformers again. So although we didn't see two movies, one movie in theaters for a hot date that only cost six dollars was still a deal! This morning we got up and again, went to Snooze to try some more items on the menu. 

Man-Cub's delicious eggs benedict jazzed up

My delicious pineapple upside down pancake

And my delicious omelet with goat cheese (seriously, try it some day)

Alas, no matter how good it was, it was just too much food for us both to eat, even together.

After brunch, we headed to get some gas, say goodbye to the puppy and load up, and we hit the road. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so happy to still be dating my best friend. He's wonderful and I love that he has taught me to love superheros! Two years later and I couldn't be happier. :) This one's for Man-Cub. :)

it feels like summer

Yesterday was the best fourth of July we've had here in Colorado for at least the last two years. One year it snowed, and last year it poured rain, but yesterday was superb! There wasn't even a breeze! Man-Cub came to pick me up and after a quick picture to send to the sister in Charleston, we headed to a quaint little town close by to watch the fireworks. 

Gotta love his shirt, right?

After arriving in the cute little town for fireworks over the lake, we hiked to the top of a nearby rock so we could see the fireworks at eye level. 

Our view from the top.

After our arrival, Man-Cub pulled out a fantastic little picnic he had packed with little h'orderves. It was splendid and we especially liked the fruit salad that we couldn't quite get to fit in the picture. 

So, we settled in and got ready for the fireworks show!!!

It was a wonderful evening spent with fun friends who we joined on the rock! Thank God there was no snow this year! :)

Happy 4th!

I haven't gone to fireworks yet, or had my picnic with Man-Cub, but those pictures will arrive shortly. :) 

Anyways, yesterday I went with Man-Cub and his friends for some outdoor rock climbing. Considering my deathly fear of heights and the thought of plummeting to my death off a rock, I was not too keen on climbing, but was ready to take some pictures! Unfortunately, the rain beat us to the rock. We were able to "hike" a little ways up, but there was no actual climbing considering the rock was all wet. But the clouds did make for a good photo opp. 

Don't be fooled. Although they look smokey, those are my beloved Rocky Mountains.

Considering there was no chance of climbing, but we were all off work the next day, we decided to hang out a little more in the quaint little city of Manitou. After aimlessly walking around for a little while, we decided we were ready for some food. We found a rather expensive restaurant, and considering we are all poor college kids, we went for the cheapest appetizers we could find, four biscuits for $2.50. We also had chosen this restaurant for a special reason, there was one appetizer that Man-Cub specifically wanted to try, and we all were willing to participate. They call them "Rocky Mountain Oysters." (For those of you that don't know, it's actually bull testicles.) 

I know you're squealing now saying that's the grossest thing ever, but they actually weren't that bad!! In fact, they came with cocktail sauce, so if anything, they were just an edible spoon for the sauce. haha 

After that great adventure we walked around Manitou a little more just enjoying each others company and the beautiful summer evening. 

One may argue that I need to find more girlfriends, but really, what girls do you know would be willing to try some Rocky Mountain Oysters? ;)

i can't believe it's already july

Summer is almost half over and I haven't even had a real blog since school got out. Although this summer has yet to have anything too eventful occur, I did get to start it with a great adventure!! 

My oldest sister and I got to go visit our middle sister in Taiwan!! Although documenting the whole trip would make for a very long blog post, I will try to give you a brief overview.

Although very tired upon our arrival, after a quick nap and some time to clean up after the longest flight of our life, we went over to see where she works, the TV studio!! It was very eventful, as you can see above. 

Although it insisted on raining the first few days we were there, we refused to let it slow us down...at least any more than our jet lag already had. We tried lots of yummy drinks, specifically teas, and went all over the city to some tourist-y spots. The Buddhist temple was really quite impressive. 

Even though we were very tired by dark, our sister kept our nights full with nights out experiencing the Taiwan clubbing scene, some Taiwan type karaoke, night markets and walks around the Grand Hotel. Although I felt quite exhausted, it was all pretty fun and at times, quite beautiful. 

One night, we even got to see Maroon 5 in concert!! So fun!! 

One day, we were even on set filming for an episode to air in November. It was surprisingly exhausting being in the studio all day. But when we weren't in the studio, we kept ourselves busy, visiting Ikea, going to some tea farms and even going to the top of the second tallest building in the world!! 

After the whole trip, I have to admit that one of my favorite parts was getting to ride the scooters all around the crazy city! It definitely made me wish I could have one here. 

In the end, we had to leave. It was hard saying goodbye to our sister, not really being sure when we would see each other again. But it felt better knowing she had a life and seemed rather settled in such a foreign place. We were both quite proud of all that she's done on her own. 

It was a fun trip, filled with lots of sister bonding. A great way to say goodbye as we all seem to be rapidly stepping into adulthood, and me being the only one left at home during the summer months when I'm not at school. I love my sisters dearly and appreciate the time we had together. Although this is only a very brief description of our trip, it was definitely worth mentioning.