Hiking Kenosha Pass

Kenosha Pass is the first trail I hiked when we moved to Colorado 2 years ago.  Ryan promised me changing aspens and feed me granola bars as I huffed and puffed my way up the trail.  Thankfully I'm a-okay with the altitude and now can really enjoy the view.

Isn't this place magical?

I shot some film while we were exploring, I can't wait to see how they turned out.   I'll be sure to share. 

I Am

I'm quite head over heels with Netflix.
              

Especially since giving up cable in August (again), it's so nice to still sit down and enjoy a good flick.  Most recently I watched House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, holy good friends, he knocked my socks off in a creepy old man, but somehow I still like you, kind of way.  While I was immersed in that show for a few weeks, I had left my beloved documentaries to the wayside. 
                  

Last night, I was "recommended" a recently added doc on Netflix called I Am.  I immediately assumed it was going to be biblical, since Jesus said those exact, albeit famous words.  But was surprised it was written/directed/about the director who made slapstick comedies: Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura, etc.  And thought, hmmmm, I'm not so sure. 
                              

I have to say, the film felt a little cheesy at first, but the more I watched it, the more "into" I became.  It wasn't necessary religious, but it did have those undertones (which became major points) that everyone is connected to each other, everyone should be kind to each other, everyone in the entire world is a community in many ways. 

To say I was in tears by the end is a bit of an understatement.. it was late, I was emotional, it happens.  But more so, I do need those reminders sometimes that people are good; that we should stop caring so much about ourselves and start caring for our communities around us.  And this was a really good reminder. 

Check it out.

Homebuyers, oh and I'm back!

A girl can be a little indecisive, right?  Isn't that in our nature or something?

Welllllll, Wordpress and I didn't work out, so I'm back on Blogger for now.  Really, it's not so bad. Blogger and I had a pretty good thing going for a very long time and I'm sure I can find a space here again (with a few changes of course).  So, here I am!  Again!  Yay!

Jumping right in.... we bought a house.  And already had a little house warming party.  What?!

Thankfully there is little to update/restore, but I can't wait to share the small DIY projects we plan to tackle along the way. I'm looking at you, Young House Love, for some major inspiration. 

The death of Google Reader, plus a move

Hi friends!
I've missed you!

Ah, this little blog, all mine for 6 years.  It had 3 titles, over 10 headers and many more template changes.  It evolved from stories of an unemployed college grad, a haven for wedding ideas, the joys of DIY and sewing, and lastly to adventures while living in Colorado.

And now, I'm not sure where it's going next, but I know that I need to take a step back and figure it out.  I want to find a more genuine voice and for whatever reason a new format seemed to be the solution.  The creative juices are flowing again!  I've been exploring Wordpress for the past month and eventually created a new space: https://mysimplestoryblog.wordpress.com/

It's a work in progress, some of the links don't work yet, etc., but I wanted to share it with you all before Google Reader dies (seriously, why are you doing this to us Google?). So bookmark my new space and we can still keep up with each other!  I'll be writing very soon, I hope. 

My love for Instagram is still going strong, so feel free to follow me there if you aren't already  @my_simple_story

Skiing in Park City, UT

Ryan took a man trip to visit some friends living in Park City.  Between brewery tours and distillery tours, they seem to have found some time for skiing.  And these were the awesome shots he got!  He should steal the camera from me more often. 

I wasn't worried about the DSLR out and about in the snow at all.  Ha!

Tristan Prettyman is so over Jason Mraz

Tristan Prettyman has all the support she needs from our Denver community.  At her concert Friday night, the first stop of her tour, any time the word 'Jason' was mentioned, the entire crowd booed.  To catch anyone up, they were engaged in 2011 and shortly after he broke it off and left her devastated, poor thing.  So now, her new album Cedar + Gold is all about her next few years as a single person, trying to figure it all out.

I listened to her music in college, when she was a one woman show, so the addition of her band was really nice.  For the most part, all of her songs are upbeat and danceable.  The entire (female) crowd was singing along, she sure has a lot of followers! 

When the jacket came off and the band left, things got real.  She sang the song "I was going to marry you" which isn't a secret at all that it's about her and Mraz.  It's really beautiful and maybe my favorite from the album, but also incredibly sad of course. 

Tristan really interacted with the crowd.  And like I said before, everyone seemed to be pretty big Jason haters now, so she joked a lot about him.. nicely of course.. and everyone yelled that she was lovely and "doesn't need him".  It slightly felt like a group therapy session, which is sort of awesome, thinking if I had got dumped by a guy, I'd sure love to hear from hundreds of people how great I was.  Right?!  Drama aside, she really has an incredible live presence and sang amazingly. 

She said, just recently, that she was truly able to let everything go, and that it took too much energy to still be so angry and upset.  She feels free now.  **crowd roars** 

We were definitely there for the music, but thank goodness we knew a bit about Jason and Tristan's breakup or we sure would have been confused why the crowd was so intense about this subject!

Three more members of Team Tristan.  Had such a fun night with Hannah & Rachel.