i'm not convinced that it's december

I feel like I have put myself back together again, just like humpty dumpty, and I didn't even know I had fallen apart! After this summer the "Elise that loves to bike" died slightly and the "Elise that loves any form of transportation that doesn't involve exercise" came to be. It was a good few months being that Elise, and as you know the whole no transportation as exercise also evolved into just no exercise period. BUT, that has all changed. The feeble attempt to shame myself back to the gym actually worked, that and not really fitting comfortably into my clothes anymore helped too! I've been dutifully going to the gym and doing pilates at home, but today was SIXTY-TWO DEGREES and while we were driving around finishing up our christmas shopping I saw so many people in their attractive spandex and I just could not resist the temptation to jump right back into my own outfit that is a constant hug. And seriously I haven't been on a "real" ride since crossing the Golden Gate bridge back in August. It was so, so great. I am finally re-embracing the bike and I can not tell you how much I missed it and didn't even know it! I dug out my gear and pumped up my tires with the stupid little hard to actually fill my tires with pump. I tucked a clif bar into my jersey pocket, a water bottle in my holster and didn't even glance twice at the camelbak in the front closet. Another joy of riding now is that I don't have to carry squat on my back. NADA. That one factor makes such a huge difference. I took streets for about 5 miles until I hit my old training path and turned on towards the reservoir. It was so weird being back on the old bike path, I knew it so well from riding all spring on it and remembered places I stopped to picnic and how excited I was with San Francisco in my minds eye. I think back then it was a kind of unbelievable thing that I was training for, and to be honest the routes I trained on are pretty laughable when I compare them to the Appalachians and the Rockies, and Nevada... but you know what? It was the perfect route for today and a great one for me to get back on the (literal) saddle. Speaking of saddles, can someone please explain to me why I didn't invest in a decent saddle?! Ever at all during the trip?! I know I had my excuses and I know people thought I was crazy and should have spared no expense for the limited padding my bum would be perched upon, but I was nervous to get one because of the expense and the fact that they are so different on different people. I wasn't confident that I would pick the right one and as a result I just resorted to tilting the stock seat at an absolutely ridiculous angle and literally perch perching on the rear seam of the seat in order to assure that the least amount of contact between my rear and the seat could be achieved. Incidentally I kept it that way during a recent ride to school and for the next two days could feel my bones ever single time I sat down. In any case, the reason for all this explanation and rumination is because I recently came across this beauty for only $2.99 at Goodwill:

Handmade in Italy, this saddle usually costs over $100! It was pretty much a steal, but for some reason (probably similar to the reasons that I didn't ever buy a saddle the whole 4,200 miles across the US) after I bought it almost two months ago I didn't put it on my bike until today! Luckily I did because it is worlds more comfortable than my old saddle. WORLDS I say. But(t) in addition to my now comfortable derriere, my body felt pretty good too. It was just a perfect ride, I stopped when I wanted to take pictures because I didn't have to worry about cramming in some training miles, and even chatted with a guy about routes around Denver while dodging wayward pedestrians and their un-leashed dogs. Pretty fun, and picturesque, especially when you consider that it's the last week of December and it looks like this:

In addition to finding a new trail that runs really close to our house, I found our old, dear friend Dry Creek (pictured above, and no that's not the actual name). I don't know if I ever mentioned that old, dear friend, but Dry Creek was a constant companion on the trip this summer. I think we found a version of it in almost every state, some of them were even literally named Dry Creek, so I had to include this picture for Robby. Now I have to go to work, and in just a few more days it will be my birthday and a few days after that I will be home! I can't wait! I have some posts lined up from the crafting I have been doing for presents, but I can't post them until after Christmas. I've been busy though and am particularly proud of one project that I sewed with only a pattern that I made in my head with a few tips for attaching the final piece found on the internet. Hope you are enjoying the season, and getting more snow than us!

DONE!

Oh I am done, done, done with this semester! What started out as a fairly manageable schedule somehow turned into a crumbling, falling apart semester in the last few weeks of the term. BUT none of that matters now because I can't change any outcomes and for better or worse (oh chemistry final that I probably bombed with flying colors) it is FINISHED. I am so excited to finally take a breath without feeling like I should be studying or making note cards. I have today and tomorrow off from work and I am going to fill the days with making decorations, finishing shopping, sewing, crafting, cleaning and hanging out. I have been so close to the end for a while now, and now I am just going to enjoy the season. Incidentally we aren't even having many of the symptoms of the season, and although Minnesota got a dumping blizzard of a weekend, we are basking in a high of 62 today. I've been a little happy that the cold weather has been holding off because it makes my commute to school that much better, but now that the 16 mile round trip by bike or scoot has been eliminated I am hoping for some snow before I leave for home!

Our first and only "snow" of the season...

In other news, I feel like I am finally settling into a routine at work. I am confident now, and am making friends with my co workers! It's a really hard job, but I do feel like I am making a difference in these people's lives, and that makes me feel good. One of my favorite patients is such a delightful hilarious old man who makes me laugh all the time. He reminds me so much of what I imagine my dad would be like if he were in that situation, commenting on everything, making jokes, getting dressed up in ironic t-shirts (my favorite says "cow pi" with a picture of the pi symbol in cow print) truly enjoying every one's presence and making the best of the situation. But, I could ramble on about work for a while and I won't bore you with that any more than I already have. Outside of work I am very much looking forward to celebrating my birthday (how on earth am I already 26?!), going home for christmas on the 25th with JP in tow and going to NYC in January for a bike & build reunion! I am just feeling very content and blessed at this moment for a lot of reasons. Things seem to be going well for many people that I love, and I am so excited for them too! I am happy to bid good riddance to the fall semester of 2010 and am looking forward to being almost, ALMOST done with undergrad requirements altogether!

brocah comes to denver

I know this was a little bit ago, but I promised pictures and I finally have the ten minutes that it takes to upload them...so here is my brother while he was visiting me!

Some of you might recognize the rusty trusty walsh-mobile behind him, which in true walsh-mobile form blew a tire about fifty miles outside of Denver on a cold windy night. Luckily my dad is a member of every roadside assistance club that will take him, and one of them was able to tow the van to our house. After conversing with our crazy neighbor while the tow truck banged around in the street for a while, we warmed up with beer and bbq fresh off the grill.

Here are Micah and Danny stretching together before heading to the skate park. I think Micah is far less amused by my documentation..

I took like fifty pictures of them at the park. JP took two. Guess who shot this one?! grrr....

There is always time for scooter time.

and also always time for a walsh fam photo op.

my wednesdays start on tuesday

I was trying to think how best to describe how busy things are in my life, and how ridiculously much I am looking forward to being DONE with this semester, when I thought of my horrible Wednesdays and this post was born. Wednesday is my craziest day of the week, and these are the many reasons why:

On Tuesday, I try to sleep until about 2:30 in the afternoon. I get up and study a bit and try to eat a bunch of food before leaving for work at 6:00. (Insert props to my boyfriend ((yes I just said that, and used a double parenthesis in the middle of a sentence that is already in a parenthesis to confirm that for you)) for making me amazing breakfast sandwiches for my breakfast at 5:30pm that help fuel me!) I work at the hospital from 6:30pm until 7:00am. After my shift, I rush home to get in the shower at 7:30 and let all the infectious everything wash down the drain and off of my skin. I make a sandwich, snacks and a big ol' cup of coffee to bring with me to school. I scoot over to school for my biology class from 9:00-1:00, after which I try to grab a few hours of sleep in the library until my night class starts at 5:00. Chemistry goes from 5:00-7:00 and then I am free, free, free to get home and eat everything in sight as fast as possible before crashing into bed. The only redeeming part of the whole day is that afterward I get to sleep from whenever my little head hits the pillow until 3:00 the following day. Every step listed above includes a lot of caffeine consumption and as little conversation as possible, both because I get weirdly emotional between work and being so tired, and because I get seriously dumb when I haven't slept.

So, that's how I spend the middle of my week. The good news is that I only have two more weeks of school left...wait, I just finished one of the weeks tonight with a big chemistry exam, so I suppose the REALLY good news is that I only have ONE WEEK left until this semester is kaput and I can go back to a normal person's schedule of working 40 hours a week between the hours of 6:30pm and 7:00am. And in answer to your unasked questions, yes I am still awake and writing this post at 9:27pm, and no I have no idea where my energy is coming from, at this point, I think I'm just running on fumes..

my awful secret

Okay, here is the truth of it. After this summer I was in amazing shape, the best shape of my life and most probably the best shape I will ever be in. I was tired of exercising, but I kept telling myself that I had a great baseline and all I would have to do is maintain so that my body would still be feeling fit and healthy. I biked the sixteen miles to and from school, and with the best of intentions I researched gyms near my new place and found one that would give me a super sweet unemployed-student discount. I paid for three months up front and happily trotted into the weight room and on to the treadmill. I actually did feel great, my lungs weren't as crappy as they usually are, and my legs were feeling strong. I was psyched that they even had a pool which the Y I used to belong to didn't! Hello only-two-miles-from-my-house-exercise-time!! Now here is the confession part: I have literally not stepped into that building a single time since then. NOT EVEN ONCE. After that run I basically haven't even moved. Oh my. Which is probably why, after dragging myself outside for a run this evening, I practically died from lack of being in shape. I can barely even stretch and touch my toes! Damn you b&b, I blame you for my complacency! I had to tell everyone so that I could shame myself back to the gym, so now you know my awful secret of neverexercisingatallever.

busy busy busy

This whole working thing is quite tiring! Yet another feeling that this summer got me good at functioning with? exhaustion. I sort of feel like my head is a giant balloon lately, and the words that come out of my mouth would do better to just stay in there for all the sense that they do not make. Outside of the tired adjusting period, work is actually going pretty well! It is A LOT of work, a lot to do and a lot of running around with eleven to twelve patients all needing different things, but I seem to be handling it relatively well I think. Now to just find a routine for the days in my life. I keep telling myself that I am young and it's only for a while and that it will all be worth it when I get accepted to a school and yadda yadda, but in truth working nights is quite a huge adjustment. I was recently trying to write a letter to Robby and it would only come out in list form, so in the interest of actually updating the world of how I am adjusting to my new life I am going to make a list for you too:

1. School is going really well! During this holiday break I am busy trying out figure out what classes will be the most beneficial for my applications next fall, and busy trying not to panic when the important ones are starting to look like microbiology, organic chemistry and genetics all at 5 credits a piece. Yikes! At least I will be settled into my job by then so that should help a bit. That and the fact that it will (hopefully) be my last semester of prereqs! That's been a long time in coming and I am more than ready.

2. I recently found out that part of my job includes cleaning and preparing recently deceased bodies if a patient dies during my shift. I was caught a bit off guard when they gave me the sheet of paper at 1:00am and told me that the guy from the morgue would be there within the hour.... talk about learning on the job! It was kind of crazy, absolutely strange but also weirdly commonplace. Or I guess I mean it was kind of just one thing on the long list of tasks that I had to do that night and it ended up just being something that I did in between turning people and answering call lights. At least I'll know for sure whether health care is the field for me!

3. My little brother is coming to visit!! First sibling to come to Colorado, and I am very, very excited! He will only be here for a few days while on his way to California, but I am planning some tasty meals and some photo documentation at the skatepark...that's for you mom!

4. As chaotic as my life may seem, it is going along pretty well. It's nice to be busy at work again, and I do feel like I am learning a lot. If you can't seem to get ahold of me just know that it is probably because I am working while you are sleeping and sleeping while you are working. I try to squeeze in phone calls when I am on my way to work or (if I am not 100% brain dead) when I am driving home from work in the morning. If you are a Minnesotan though, I finally have my dates for Christmas!! I am hoping to zip to Minneapolis for a quick visit, but I am flying in to Duluth on the evening of the 25th and leaving in the evening of the 30th. I hope I can see you all!! In the mean time, here is the nerdiest picture of me from the past few weeks just to make you laugh:

In chem lab we made some small explosives!

the fruit of our labor

Remember when I was in Lawrence, KS this summer in the ridiculous heat building a house? Well... the house was just recently finished! They had the dedication last week and sent us a photo so we could see what we helped to create. Here's the before shot of us busy putting up the outer and inner walls:

And here's the finished product:

What better way to keep this summer in our hearts then by getting a photo like this? We did make a difference!

pumpkins!

I really love Halloween. I just think it is so much fun, and people come up with such creative costumes! It's always been such a great time, and this year was no different. Although this might have been my first "adult" halloween in that I didn't really go out or do anything very special but stayed at home and greeted trick-or-treaters. For some reason kids in our neighborhood were really excited or just craving that sugar rush? I don't know why, but our first kids came to the door around 11:00am with no costumes on. It was weird. After a couple of groups came by with only a mask or a hastily put on crown I was getting pretty disappointed, grumbling about "kids these days..". BUT then a little boy waddled up to the door with a homemade Thomas the Tank Engine costume that had a train around him made out of cardboard and secured with suspenders. It was awesome. He (or his parents I suppose) redeemed my faith. After that we did get a lot of kids that were decked out, so many that we ran out of candy! Another one of my favorite things about the holiday is carving pumpkins. My parents just sent me a package and on the top of it was a picture of my mom, Micah and I carving a pumpkin together and I couldn't have been more than two or three, and I look pretty delighted! My problem is that I always have trouble squeezing in the time for carving, and this year was no different. After organizing a night where people came over for the sole purpose of carving pumpkins, I was somehow left with five untouched pumpkins and no jack-o-lanterns in sight. This was last weekend, so yesterday JP and I took them all outside and went at them full force. We each carved two and had a lot of fun doing it. JP went traditional and I kept with the animal theme of the past few years and carved an owl and an octopus that maybe looks kind of like a spider. Afterwards we roasted the seeds and (with inspiration from my brother) made some tasty enchiladas. Yum. It was a pretty great holiday. On to some pictures:

Hope you had an excellent holiday too!!

Hoooot!

Owl be sure to have a good time tonight!

visitors!

We had our first visitors, which after saying that I realize includes both to our new place and of the entire year! People, you have to come out to Colorado! The pictures in this post just might convince you if you were wavering at all. Our recent guests were so much fun to have and they were here for over a week so we were spoiled with homemade meals ready when we were done with work and school, dinners at our favorite restaurants, perusing the local thrift stores, grilling in the backyard, playing with the dogs and taking in the mountains. It was a busy time! JP's mom, Judy, and stepdad, Jim, drove up from Alabama to try their hand at road tripping and to help us settle in to our home. You might remember that for a while we had maybe one chair and a coffee table as our furniture, but that has all changed thanks to Judy and Jim, and we are fully furnished and ready for our next guests. So, on to some pictures of the week:


The first weekend they were here we did a trip to Estes Park as Jim had never been there. It's a great short drive from Denver and it really gets you into the mountains. From Estes, we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park and attempted to drive up Trail Ridge Road (which you might remember from such things as me biking it this summer). Unfortunately, just seven or eight miles up we were turned around because of supposed four feet drifts of snow across the road. It's too bad we couldn't take them to the top because the views there are absolutely breathtaking, but as a consolation it did snow on us just as we were getting out of the car to take some pictures. Jim and Judy were pretty much delighted to get the real Colorado mountain experience!

We also got to see some wildlife to add to the experience! Credit goes to Judy for snapping this photo even though she was freezing in the wind!

The following weekend we drove to Pike's Peak, which Jim and I had never been too, and it was quite a sight to see. At just over 14,000 feet it was pretty incredible and there was snow all around. I think the temperature dropped about 25 degrees from the bottom of the mountain to the top of it. We took lots of pictures:

JP and I of course had to have a little snowball fight, but it was short lived because it was so cold!

Yin even had some guests of her own, and they got along really well! With a big yard for them to play around in, and a neighbor dog to bark at, all three of them were pretty content. Of course the trip couldn't have been complete without a scooter ride:

I think they are hooked now!

clue two

Shhh..I know I should be studying, but look how much fun I've been having! We had visitors all last week (which I will blog about next), and with school and interviews and such I haven't had any time to work on my costume. My sister left me a voicemail saying she had come up with the best costume for this year and wanted me to be the first to know what it's going to be... then, as she was leaving the message, she thought better of it and decided to hold her idea ransom until she figured out what mine was. SO, costume time it is!! Behold, clue(s) two:

I got a few more kinds of fabric at the thrift store, the one on the top is this really cute table cloth and for the costume I think it will add just the right touch.

After being jealous of Carol's craft mat I finally got my very own one last week at the fabric store. I love it so much! In fact the first time I have gotten to use it was earlier today when I was pasting together a graph for my biology lab report. I go to a real college I swear. But, also pictured are a pair of fabric scissors that I inherited from my grandma. I love that I got a pair, she used a number of different ones, and they are a real solid reminder of her for me. Every time I sew I hope she's checking out my latest project.

The pattern...

And the work station.. see my biology notes in the corner? I was studying at one point today..


Kind of a mess, but so much fun! Do you know what I'm going to be??

at long last

I've been holding off on writing much about my job search, mostly I think because I didn't want to jinx it, but rest assured that in the almost two months since I've been back in the real world I hav ebeen searching every job site out there. I'm working with a resume that is so childcare and restaurant heavy, that finding a job in the health care field was frustrating and for the most part fruitless. I basically look like a new CNA graduate, especially after having only gotten my Colorado certificate last month, and most of the places I talked to had so many applicants that they simply weren't hiring anyone with less than a year of recent hospital experience. My slightly beefed up resume gives me about eleven months of experience five years ago. That's the beefed up version! Things were looking pretty grim when I found a hospital that was taking applications for open house interviews. I figured that if my resume couldn't really sell me, I would have to sell me, so I applied. Literally twenty minutes later I got a rejection email from them, indicating that I didn't have exactly what they were looking for. I was so frustrated! I was rejected in less time than it took me to put together the entire application! LAME!! I put it out of my mind and then three days before the interviews I got an email from them asking me to come. I assumed it was a fluke, that they had been meaning to email an Elizabeth Welch or Welsh or some other similar sounding name, and I almost didn't even go. I sucked up my pride and put on my one surviving interview outfit and went to the hospital. Things actually went well, and the interviewer seemed to like me a lot, but there were a ton of applicants and there were only two available positions so I chalked it up to good interview experience and tried to put it all out of my mind. Low and behold I received a phone call a few days later asking for a second interview! The second interview took place last Thursday, and was a typically intimidating experience. I hate the anxiety of those kinds of things that make my mind go blank when required to think of a specific event in which I demonstrated leadership or good communication skills or what have you. Why can't my brain and mouth ever work together during interviews? I feel like I get all stuttery and shakey..but in reality it must have gone well, or maybe that's how everyone gets during interviews. Two workers took me out on the floor to show me what they do everyday, and how things work in the facility. Everyone I talked with took care to tell me that this will be the hardest job I ever have, but if I can make it there I can make it anywhere. The interviewer also let me know that if I really want to be a PA, this is the place that I need to be. SO, as I am sure you have now deduced, I GOT THE JOB!! They called last night to offer me the position and I happily accepted. I am officially a working CNA in Long Term Acute Care (LTAC) at Vibra Hospital. The only thing I am a little worried about, aside from my complete lack of experience, is that they want to train me on days and then start me working nights. JP and I will have opposite schedules, and with school sandwiched in their somewhere we will practically never see each other! I know we will figure it all out and adjust to this new chapter in life, even though it may take a lot of time. I can't help but think that this is the start to it all. Working full time, going to school, studying, applying to PA school for now. Once I (hopefully) get accepted into a program and begin PA school, those two years will be hugely challenging and demanding of all my time and energy. Here I go!

just $8.00. seriously.

Okay folks, I am sure you have heard about ordering glasses online, and how cheap that can be. My friend, and old roommate, Carol bought some from one of those websites after her expensive ones were smashed in a car accident. I don't know why I didn't jump on the band wagon then, or when a regular at a restaurant I used to work at boasted about his five new pairs that were coming in the mail. I think I just tuned it out as too good to be true or something. But no longer, no longer. My real life glasses have a prescription that is laughably outdated. Well, laughable in the sense that I couldn't see anything that was more than a few inches from my nose, and what I could see would go in and out of focus as my eyeballs strained to correct themselves. I don't wear them too much and so I didn't want to deal with finding and going to an eye doctor and paying hundreds of dollars to replace and update them. Then a small light bulb popped into my head and I started checking out glasses websites. After calling my old optometrist and getting a string of confusing numbers, JP and I started browsing the $8 section on Zenni Optical. It's hard to tell what they will look like, even with the websites zoom feature, but at only $8 a pop and shipping costs the same no matter how many pairs you buy you can't really go wrong. So I ordered a pair with red wire rims and a plastic pair that was the closest style to my current pair that I could find. A few weeks later, TAAA DAAAAA:


Don't they look nice?! A friend of mine who just got glasses for the first time said "it's like everything I see is in High Definition now!" and that is completely true for me too. I really had not realized how horrible my prescription was, and now I can see everything!! It's fun to have options too, I've never owned more than one pair of glasses at a time and now I can switch it up if I want! Plus, if they end up breaking in my bag or in an accidental sitting-on incident it doesn't matter too much cause they were so cheap! I couldn't get a good shot of the glasses actually on my face (the fact that I was wearing contacts at the same time might have had something to do with that..), but here is the best one:

it's that time of year again!

Okay folks, here is the first peek at my Halloween costume. I am really, really excited about it! In fact, as soon as I post these pictures I am going to start cutting that fabric!

I've got a couple more fabrics, but I think they might be in JP's car. Clue two should be ready soon!

officially a dork on two wheels

Although you might have thought that I already was a dork on two wheels, now, according to my sweet boyfriend, I officially am. Yes I spent the summer fully clad in spandex while riding a bicycle everywhere, which is pretty high on the dork-o-meter in my opinion, but now I own a scooter. A SCOOTER. That was just in case you needed a double take. Because, guys, I OWN A SCOOTER.


Who knew such good could come out of having my car stolen? With my auto nowhere to be found, the insurance company cut me a check. I lucked out because my beloved MN rust bucket, okay it was only a little rusty but in Colorado a little is a ton, was declared to be in average condition since the insurance company had never seen the car, and I got more money than I thought I would. In fact, they ended up giving me more than I paid for the car in the first place. I'll take it! I had to! All this leads up to this weekend when my dream of owning a scooter was finally realized. I wasn't excited about looking for a new car, nothing was jumping out and it seemed like it would be a long and frustrating process. The rental car my insurance is paying for is up on Wednesday, and I didn't want to rush into buying a car just to have a vehicle. Ever since Annie brought me along on her hunt for the perfect scooter, which ended in an awesome little red scoot, I was hooked. Before this whole debacle I couldn't really justify buying a scooter, but with the extra money I can (kinda of) justify it now! Besides, I LOVE IT. That's justification enough....err, maybe not, BUT I am still looking for a car while I scoot around the city in style. Now I've got more time to figure things out, and am getting 100 mpg while I do.

Plus, Annie said we could start a scooter gang together and that's about as cool/dorky as it gets.

the whilrwind that was september

Well, September, you are just about gone! Real life is turning out to be just as chaotic (in a much, much different way) than my life this summer. I suppose that's just how it goes, right? In any case, lots has been happening around here. But first, I will start with the one thing that hasn't been happening lately: my car. No word from anyone, although JP did think he spotted it on his way home from work the other day and stealthily followed it for a few blocks...alas it wasn't my car, just one of the thousands that look exactly like mine minus the good old MN rust and the snarky bumpersticker. I've let it go for the most part, and the insurance company will let it go as well this Thursday if it hasn't been found by then. Finding another vehicle for me should be interesting, and I am sure picture worthy as well, so don't think for a minute that I would leave you all out of the fun when the time comes.

What else...I passed my CNA recertification exam with flying colors!

Well, since it is just a pass/fail thing, I am left only to assume that the colors were flying, but either way I am done with the anxiety that comes with preparing for a practical exam with just youtube and some hastily scratched notecards. PHEW. The elise-goes-to-PA-school planets are finally starting to align and a job at a hospital is hopefully soon to come! Passing this exam of course just means that it is time to study for the next exam(s), which seem to be never ending. Luckily I am doing alright in my classes, and with no job for the moment I can use this time to start studying for the GRE. The fun just never ends when you are a perpetual student!

In other news, although you already know that I survived Hwy 50 in Nevada, otherwise known as The Loneliest Road in America, this summer, I now have Nevada's gift to me on my refrigerator to prove it:

and on my lapel (if I had one):

As part of the tourism schtick for Hwy 50, you can get a passport when you enter the sate and get a stamp for each of the towns along the route.

Since there was nothing else to do while in that state other than bike forever, I got my passport filled up and after moving and unpacking I found it at the bottom of my camelbak and mailed it in for a present from the state of Nevada. Somehow it redeems the state just a little bit, and it reminds me how proud I was of all of us for making it through such a challenging place in one piece.

Lastly, I have gotten in a bunch of family time lately. A few weekends ago I flew to Ohio for my cousin's wedding and had a great time catching up with everyone and getting to see my parents again for a few days! Weddings are my favorite, and growing up in an Irish Catholic family we went to four or five every summer. I got to see my cousins all the time! It's slowed down a lot since then, and the last wedding on that side of the family was over two years ago. Needless to say, it was a beautiful celebration and a much needed mini reunion of sorts to boot! I also got to see some cousins this past weekend in Boulder for Sep's third birthday! Molly and Phil and their little brood were in town from Chicago and we celebrated Sep's birthday with a picnic and a hike that for some included a bear sighting!

Here we are post-hike, but somehow without catching a glimpse of the bear that we apparently hiked right past..

So that's the compacted update for the past few weeks of settling back in. I am ready for fall to be here, and am getting in the mood for baking pumpkin bread and knitting some christmas presents. I'm plotting out my Halloween costume already, and am really excited about it! Oh, it is going to be great. I'll put up some pictures of the preliminary supplies and crafting soon so you can get in on the excitement as well.