Project 365: Day 97

No appointments scheduled for Friday so I hopped on a flight one day early! Headed home to see my fiance!!! YAY!!!

Project 365: Day 96

Headed to Arkansas for the week with a colleague of mine, Fred. At 61, he's got more energy than I could EVER hope to have (even now!) and this year he ran his 28th consecutive Boston Marathon (that's every year since I was born!!).  He's a great guy and we had lots of fun, but I'm glad the trip only lasted two days.... I can't keep up with him much longer than that!!!

Project 365: Day 95

Yummmmmm

Project 365: Day 94

We had an awesome Memorial Day on a hike to Herman's Gulch just off I-70. The hike was absolutely gorgeous and it was the perfect weather for a hike. This is why we live in Colorado folks - it was amazing.

 Little Wanda came with us (so did Aimee and Kev!) and was a perfect little hiking buddy.

 Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that it was a bit early in the season to be wearing my Choco hiking sandals.... there were a couple parts with some pretty deep snow and I definitely couldn't feel my toes for some of that time....

 But with views like this along the entire hike, who needs toes anyway? 

Once we got to the top, Aimee and Kev helped us out with a little engagement photo shoot (much to Nick's dismay) and we got a couple nice shots of the two of us.

 It sure is a beautiful life.

The Color Run

Yesterday Nick, Aimee, Kevin, and I did the Color Run and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

The Color Run is a 5K where at everyone wears white shirts and then at every kilometer they have a group of people throwing colored powder on the runners (a different color at each station) so that by the end of the run everyone is covered in color.  They also give all the runners their own packets of color to celebrate with at the finish line.  It's basically amazing.

Aimee and Kev came to pick Nick and I up at 8 am and out of almost 10,000 runners at City Park, we got in the line early enough to actually be in the first group of runners to hit the course.

 Even before the race started, I was so excited I could barely contain myself.

You were supposed to save your color packet for a big party at the end, but some people just couldn't contain themselves

and I got a little splash of color before we even crossed the start line.

Then only a couple minutes into the run, we found a yellow color packet on the ground and Kevin let it rip! He completely covered Nick's legs, it was awesome.

Pretty much from the get-go it was clear that this was the most non-competitive 5K I have ever done. We were probably running a 12 minute mile, but we didn't care we we having a blast. As we approached the first color station, my enthusiasm level was through the roof, I skipped through the orange color station yelling "color me!! color me!!" and they did! 

This is Nick running and me skipping through the first color zone

One K down and 4 to go! We were on a roll

The second station was blue

and then came yellow

and then green

 Kev was rockin' out his first 5K ever

After the green color station it was off to the finish line and I was on a runners high like I've never been before!

But you have to admit that even by the end of the entire race... we still weren't really THAT covered in color. I was a bit surprised by it, I have to say.

Not to worry though, because we still had our color packets! It started tame at first, Aimee and Kev asked me to take a picture of them throwing the color up into the air.

Then it was our turn and Nick and I got ready for our picture. We grabbed a handful of our yellow color and I was about to throw mine up into the air when....

Nick threw it RIGHT in my FACE!!

 And let me tell you... that stuff (while edible) does not taste good!

So I got Nick back...

 At which point Kevin completely NAILED me.

By this time people were getting really excited and before we knew it the entire place exploded into the best color party EVER.

It was freaking AWESOME. Thankfully, Kevin is a fantastic photographer and got some great shots capturing the celebration!

 By the end of the color party - we were completely covered!

But thankfully, they had leaf blowers to help us get the loose pigment off our bodies and clothes before we got into our cars, it was pretty fun!

 I was on cloud nine! It was seriously one of the best days ever!

On our way back to the car, we stopped by the start line which had been completely transformed from a couple hours earlier. There were obviously a lot of runners in the later groups that just couldn't wait for the race to start. Of course we took the opportunity to snap a couple more pictures!

 Our last group shot of the day

We ended the morning with bottomless mimosas (only $7!!) at Las Margaritas and topped the afternoon off with a bicycle brewery tour and a BBQ at a friend's house. It was an amazing Saturday! There will definitely be more Color Runs in my future, I'm hoping to make it an annual event!!!



Project 365: Day 93

Sunday we spent the day lounging around, hanging out with Aimee, Kev, and Ian. We ended up at Moe's BBQ for dinner and played bags as the sun set.

Project 365: Day 92

THE COLOR RUN!!!

The color run this morning was absolutely AMAZING and there will be an entire post dedicated to how awesome it was with LOTS more picturs to come, but for now, here's my picture of the day! Best Saturday morning EVER!!!!

Project 365: Day 91

After a great day in Omaha, Nebraska I landed in Denver 20 minutes early and Nick and I met up with Aimee for dinner at a new bar in town. Congratulations to Aimee for landing an awesome job as an art teacher in Jefferson County School District. I'm so proud of my little bunny!!!!!

p.s. Moscow mules are the BOMB!

Project 365: Day 90

crappy weather in Minnesota.... boooo

Project 365: Day 89

Another glimpse into the glamorous life of a traveling salesman...

Project 365: Day 88

I love coming to Minneapolis because every time I come I go to the Mall of America. It really is the most ridiculously over-sized mall on the planet, and I love it!

I don't think I'd ever take my children there though, because in addition to having every store you could ever imagine (except a Dicks and an Anthropoligie - both of which I would have liked to visit today) they have an amusement park that is outrageously priced. The first time I was at the mall I wanted to take a ride myself, but it would have cost me like $20 and I'd rather spend that money on retail! Anyway, here's a shot of the indoor park and a giant Peep keeping a watchful eye over the landscape.