Wednesday, January 7, 2015

New Year's 2015!

Like last year, this New Year's Eve Andy and I hosted a few friends for an informal gathering at our place. And again, like last year, it was a mostly last minute, thrown together hodgepodge of our Denver friends who agree that NYE is best celebrated no fuss with good people and good beers.


"This beer is so overwhelmingly exciting!" - Shelly

Cheers, friends.
 
This guy <3





 
 
Andy & I arrived home from our Midwestern Christmas trip late Tuesday (12/30/14) and spent much of Wednesday getting ready for the party sleeping in. We're pretty fortunate to have wonderful neighbors/friends in Shelly & Kevin and they'd taken care of some of the celebration prep work like buying sparkling wine and pulling together some awesome appetizers to bring over. So we just had to tidy the place up a bit, set-up the guest rooms, and buy a bit more beer and food at the store.

Those desperate eyes! "Get this thing off me!"  


Poor Rhett wasn't safe from the tutu. His poor self-esteem is just plummeting here.




I was behind the camera much of the night so I asked Andy to get a candid photo of me. AND THIS IS WHAT I GOT. You had one job, Andy.

The mix of people was awesome with friends from different areas of our Denver life that all mesh together so well, and play Cards against Humanity like pros.



Sometimes the Cards against Humanity round is just too much to handle.  




A very happy 2015 to you from us in Colorado!

-Breanna

Monday, January 5, 2015

First weekend of the new year - Let's make it count

There's all this new year pressure, right? With resolutions and new starts and gym memberships. And I'm all about being more mindful, intentional, and setting healthy goals with the changing year, but sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the things that were already working for you, too. This first weekend of the new year for Andy and I wasn't earth-shattering, life-changing, this-is-the-new-us material. Rather, it was a nice collection of relaxing, and enjoying our city, like we love to do.

Friday night we enjoyed a sushi date night at a place we're semi-regulars.

These are tough choices.

Sitting at the sushi bar - our new favorite thing.

"Caterpillar roll!! See?? It actually looks like a caterpillar!" - Things I said a lot at sushi Friday night.


We enjoyed a lazy Saturday morning, and in the afternoon went to the Colorado History Museum to view the last weekend of their exhibit on race.
 
Music and coffee.

 
Ella loves her new toy from her cousin ChaChi and has already successfully removed the tag. Next up: The ears.





I have to interject here and say a little about the RACE exhibit before I move on to the rest of the History Museum. I didn't take a lot of photos because I was so moved by the information I was taking it in. The exhibit was comprehensive covering issues like biases in housing, education system from public schools on to standardized testing and university admissions standards, the GI bill, and more. And spanning many races as well as discrepancies in these areas between and among races, and identifying some root causes in history. And on top of that, the delivery format was extremely interactive and engaging for people of all ages (and there were people of all ages there!). I'm so grateful Denver had this exhibit and that Andy and I were able to go. I so recommend checking it out if it comes near you. You can see the schedule, and learn more about it, here.


We're standing right on our home, Denver, on the huge map of Colorado.  

 
Don't worry, Michelle; I'm still a Packers fan.

Sunday was my high school friend, Jackie's, baby shower in south Denver. Jackie lived in Colorado for years before recently moving back to the Twin Cities. Her and her husband (and her mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law!) were in town this weekend which made it a perfect time for a Denver baby shower!

It's a boy :o)

I just couldn't bring myself to play this game. Melted chocolate bars in diapers? Noooo thank you!


The hostess, Erica, and the new mama.
 
Can hardly believe I've known this beautiful gal for 15 years!

Jackie with her mom and sister. All in town from the Twin Cities!

And, duh, we of course hung out with our friends and neighbors, Shelly and Kevin, Sunday night for a Mexican Train game night. I just barely lost to Kevin :o( so there will be a re-match.

It's a palindrome!

I hope you had a great first weekend of 2015! It was a chilly, snowy one in Denver, but we made the most of it and even had homemade chili and hot chocolate, and let our Ella bound through the field a couple times.





-Breanna

Friday, January 2, 2015

Friday Photos [1.2.15]

Here are some photos from Andy & my week:

Andy hangin with his best buds' cutie pie baby, Wren, at coffee Sunday morning. This little gal looooves beards :o)

Andy in his hometown <3

Andy's mama Mary and her partner Mark brought Andy and I out to a delicious and super fun dinner in Sheboygan Sunday night!

Playing games with Mary Monday afternoon. This card layout was so pleasing to me.

Art at Andy's fav place to eat in Sheboygan, Ella's Della.

Mary bought us some scratch offs. We didn't win big, but had a blast playing!

Randy, Andy's dad, and his new best buddy Snifter.

Playing some cribbage on the plane ride back to Denver Tuesday.

A peek into our NYE celebration in Denver: a few Denver friends, a lot of beers and wines, inappropriate games, and tutus for dogs.

My little snow pup in the field by our house Friday morning.

Happy 2015 to you! Was your end of 2014/start of 2015 celebration all you hoped for? This year is starting out pretty alright for me; I made a breakfast frittata, let my dog run her little heart out in the snow, and have some Rogue Valley spinning on the record player as I write to y'all. This year, it's gonna be a good one.


From me to you, cheers to the new year!


-Breanna