1200 Miles West

It all started last night…sometime during the evening hours we got a note from Sara letting us know that she was going to be taking Mike and I to an upcoming Rockies game to celebrate his birthday. In her note she said the following:

Happy birthday, Mike! In celebration of your birthday I have 3 tickets to the Rockies game next Wednesday night at 6:35pm. I have no idea who the Rox are playing but I do know I’ll be treating you to all the beer you can drink.

And by all the beer you can drink I mean 1 beer.

After thanking Sara for her thoughtfulness, Mike decided that he was going to ventured out to the local Game Stop to pick up his reserved copy of the new Grand Theft Auto IV. Oh, and did I mention that the game wasn’t available until midnight? That’s right, while I was fast asleep Mike picked up and proceeded to come home and play his new game for two hours. He was lucky to be out of bed when my parents called at 6:30am MT to wish him a happy birthday!

Once we got to work, Mike was surprised by a Thomas the Train helium balloon (which thankfully didn’t cause any traffic issues for Sara!) that was tied to his monitor and a post on the Indigio blog wishing him a happy birthday.

Later in the day a FedEx ground box showed up with gifts from Michigan. Inside were two golf shirts, two pairs of shorts, a Tigers t-shirt, a U of M t-shirt, a wine opener, a U of M license plate holder and this sweatshirt which Mike will be wearing to the hockey game tonight.

We’re off to see the the Red Wings play the Avalanche tonight. Hopefully we don’t get beat up!

Dale was ran out and picked up a fabulous cake to help the team here at Indigio celebrate. I’m not sure what kind of cake it was, but it was good!

I should also mention that Mike received Home Depot gift cards from his Mom and Jim, his Dad and Claudia and even Grandma Kelsey. I’m not exactly sure what he bought with them, but yesterday he showed me a drill with a light on it, so I guess that was the latest and greatest option.

I can’t speak for Mike, but I think he would agree that he is lucky to have friends and family that love him!

Don’t be confused by the title…the reason why we’re wondering asking about grass is that we’re not sure if we’ll have any before September.  This is due to the fact that our water district does not allow new sod to be installed after May 15th or before September 1st.  Doh!

I called our landscaper in a panic today to see if we can move our installation date up.  Keep your fingers crossed as I don’t want to get stuck with a dirt backyard until fall arrives!

We’ve moved the section once since it was delivered and while the house is out of sorts due to the chaos of getting new furniture and installing the first of the two cabinets that Mike built, it’s starting to feel homey.

I just learned that there is a new West Elm here in Denver, so between that and Scandinavian, I should be able to find something.

Here’s a sneak peek at the cabinet’s that are still under construction…

I’m not going to compare my time to Mike’s, but I will say that while I didn’t run the Cherry Creek Sneak the walk was just as fulfilling. I think the last time I walked 5 miles without stopping was last Summer, so it had been a while. The time flew by as it was a beautiful sunny day here in CO and I enjoyed some good conversation while hoofing it around the course with Sara.

After the race we met up with Mike and Angie to check out the vendor tents. I stocked up on vitamins, power bars and these chewy things with caffeine.

On Saturday, I spent the day downtown with Sara at the Colorado Women’s Expo. We enjoyed talks given by both Suze Orman and Bob Greene. We also enjoyed lunch at Cooks Market, a trip to the nail salon and a peanut butter caramel apple. What more could you ask for on a Saturday?

This morning Erin and I joined our good friend Sara Pacheco for the Cherry Creek Sneak. We all participated in the 5 mile run/walk with me running and the girls walking.

It has been awhile since I have run an organized race but I was excited about the event. I used to really enjoy and place fairly well in 5K races because I was constantly training them for them. A large part of that was due to the Marine Corps physical fitness test being a 3 mile event.

As I get older, I have found that my body prefers longer and slower runs so the 5 mile seemed like a good event as I transition to 10K (6.4 mile) races and maybe even a half marathon. Most of my training runs have been between 5-8 miles as well so I knew how to pace myself.

There were 3801 people that participated in the 5 mile race this morning - 1647 Male, and 2154 Female. When they say that Denver is America’s fittest city, I believe them. Besides the great attendance for the race this morning, as soon as the weather has warmed people have been out running like crazy people.

I placed 604th out of the males and 123rd out of my age division (34-39). I’ll even admit that 189 women finished before I did. The cynic in me says that I have become mediocre in my old age with the results of this and my GMAT but the reality is that I feel pretty good to have placed in the top 37% of the men that participated.

I had a great time and my thanks to Sara for getting us out for this event. I look forward to more races this summer.

As the Indigio Inspires team prepares for the upcoming MS Walk on May 3rd, we are raising additional money by having a bake sale at the office. Not being a baker, I quickly volunteered to bring chocolate covered Rice Krispy treats and pretzels.

Here’s a picture of the pretzels before I got started.

Good thing I don’t like chocolate as these look very appetizing.

If you’re going to be in the office on Friday, stop by the game room after 2pm and help out a good cause while enjoying a tasty treat.

Also, I should mention that we’re raffling a weekend at the Winter Park condo away. If you’re interested let me know as the tickets are $10 each. The money goes to a good cause, so if you’re interested in a weekend in the mountains let me know and I’ll buy you a ticket!

Mike and I have met with numerous landscapers and we’ve finally decided on a plan that we both like. While we’ve modified a few things, here’s a sneak peek:

Hint - If you click on the image to see a larger version.

They won’t be able to get started for another three weeks or so, but we’ll keep you updated with pictures as they make progress and ultimately finish.

Let us know what you think!

Our day started at the Dushanbe Tea House where we enjoyed a light lunch and some wonder green and oolong teas. For those of you who haven’t visited the tea house, I highly recommend it. We sat on the patio by the stream and enjoyed the April sun while chatting. It was definitely a great start to our day in Boulder.

After finishing up with lunch, we strolled through the farmers market. I have to say that it’s one of the better outdoor markets that I have been to. We even found gluten free chocolate cookies that we enjoyed later in the day.

Next we headed out to Pearle Street to do a little shopping.

While shopping we stopped into JJ Juice and Sara enjoyed a broccoli, carrot and apple juice, while I had a mango flavored smoothie.

By the end of the day we had walked 6,200 steps, however we still stopped to smell the flowers!

Hugs to Sara for spending the day with me!  It was fun and I can’t wait until this weekend when we head out to the Colorado Women’s Expo and then the Cherry Creek Sneak on Sunday.

Last Friday we were treated  by Indigo to dinner and the Mammoth game.  When I say “we” I mean Mike as he put in some long days and nights working on the Botanic Gardens website.

At the Mammoth game Mike disappeared for a little while and when he returned, the above picture was snapped.  The Mammoth came out on top winning the game 14 - 3.  They are headed to the playoffs, so maybe we’ll make another game before the season’s over!

A week ago last Saturday (I know I’ve been delinquent in updating the blog!) we met up with some fellow Indigian’s to celebrate Heather’s 34th b-day and her recent promotion to Director of Marketing. Sara was nice enough to make a reservation at McKinners which is known for their pizza.

We had a blast hanging out with everyone while enjoying a few beers and maybe a tequila shot or two. Here’s a cute shot of Heather, Ronnie and Jesse.

Mike and I headed out around 10pm as we had been to a BBQ earlier in the day out in Broomfield at Jess and Chris’ house, but from what hear Heather and the boys closed down the bar.  Happy Birthday Hebs!