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I'm going to watch my first ever roller derby bout this weekend.  So my friend Beth thought I might need a little extra help (like this handy diagram!) to understand what the heck is going on.
   

• If only striped derby socks were appropriate workwear. I'm such a sucker for stripes.  And it's really cold in my office.
• Though I'd love to have a huge star on my helmet, never would I want to be the Jammer.  Holy pressure. 
• Rollerskates are for real, ya'll.  I experienced a few months ago that skating is not as easy as it looks. And these girls are racing and blocking and jamming?!  

    
Yeah, I can't wait to see this go down.

Weekend: bike ride, grilling, festival, sunset

This weekend we grilled at our apartment pool, went to Fort Collins for the Colorado Brewers Festival, enjoyed an early morning bike ride, met a few new faces at a friend's backyard BBQ, and marveled over the beautiful sunset shining through a forest fire nearby. 

Now, to start the week. 
...with multiple cups of coffee, I'm afraid.

The (simple) Truth About Hummus

It's SO EASY TO MAKE!

-yes, I'm yelling at you.

Ingredients:
1 can of garbanzo beans (chick peas) drained and rinsed
1 squeezed lemon
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/8 c. tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/2 tbls. olive oil

1/4 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 clove of garlic

Directions:
Throw all ingredients in a food processor and mix together until smooth.  I used a little Cuisnart chopper, so anything of the like will work.

For other varitions:
Olive Humus (seen above, so good!)
Basil Hummus
Avocado Hummus

The tahini paste is a little expensive, about $8-9 a jar, but it lasts for quite awhile and makes such a big difference in taste.  You'll definitely save money in the long run by making your own hummus at home over buying it in the store. 

A Girls' Trip to Buena Vista, CO

We had such a great time exploring Colorado this past weekend for our 4th annual girls' trip. Valerie and Julie flew in on Thursday evening and easy enough, the rest of us already live here!  Each year we alternate between exploring a new city and going to "home towns", so this year we chose Colorful Colorado. 

Our first stop on Friday morning was the Colorado hot springs at Mount Princeton.  The resort had 2 large regulated pools, 1 a little warmer than the other that we enjoyed for a few hours.  And my favorite part, actually sitting in the Colorado River where the hot springs met the very cold water to create the perfect temperature.   The resort was beautiful, but soon after we had to hit the road and find our cabin near Buena Vista.  

... with this amazing view.  **jaws dropped**

Saturday was our "adventure day" with river rafting and zip lining.  Both of which I can't wait to do again!

We rafted the Arkansas River and even though it was low, the rapids were quite an exhilarating ride.  Our guide taught us the terms he would soon be yelling out as we go through the rapids and had enough confidence in our group to take different routes than the bigger group took. We made it through without flipping our raft, falling into the river, or loosing an ore, all of which we saw happen with the other groups.  Go team!

After lunch we hopped on a bus to arrive at our zip lining spot, over a canyon, very high in the air.  Whew.  After gearing up with harnesses and helmets, learning how to steer and stop with our hand, we set out for the first line to practice.  The first one I did with my eyes closed, because I was terrified, but the second - the seventh line was so much fun with a beautiful view of the canyon and river below that I soon wasn't scared at all.  Quite proud of all the girl's this day, it was a push out of our comfort zones and everyone had such a fun time.

Our last day we made a big breakfast and took a hike on the Colorado Trail around Twin Lakes.  Then, sadly, had to hit the road back to Denver to say our goodbyes. 

Already looking forward to the next trip!

Anniversary Celebrations

I went a little crazy with Instagram this weekend, so instead of camera shots of our wedding anniversary celebrations in Fort Collins, here is a tiny picture mash-up of all the things that we ate/drank/explored/enjoyed instead!

Left to right: Ryan and I grabbing a bite at Coopersmiths (a recommendations from the guys at New Belgium), a card break from eating at the Taste of Fort Collins, enjoying a drink at Beau Jo's, bloody mary at Snooze, the line for brunch which was totally worth the wait, samplers at Equinox brewing, morning sun from our lovely room at the Armstrong, lattes at Mugs, and an appropriate mug o' plants.  

New Belgium Brewery

New Belgium beer is one of Ryan's favorites, which in turn has become one of my favorites.  The company is a small craft brewery,  powered 100% by solar and wind.  And they like to have fun! AND they reside only an hour or so from Denver.  Score.

Ryan toured their brewery as part of his bachelor weekend a few years ago (told you that boy loves New Belgium), but I had never made it past the tasting room, which was about 4 years ago, so I was pretty dang excited to hear we made the tour cut. 

The tour lasted about an hour and a half, there were plenty of samples and I heard the greatest news of all... they are making more sour beer!  Supposedly it's the "new thing" and there is quite the demand for it now, which is awesome for me because I sure enjoy it. 

We viewed each room of the brewery, played with all the bike gear, wrote postcards, slid down a slide (of course they have a slide inside the brewery), and had a really fun morning...

All before 12 o'clock. 

2 years

There's no other person I'd like to be exploring this world with; I constantly look at you and our life together and think how did I get so lucky?

Happy wedding anniversary, love.

Bon Iver + Feist at Red Rocks

We got to spend the entire weekend with our friends Joey and Stacy.  What started out as sort of joking/ sort of serious text from Joey to see Bon Iver at Red Rocks turned into a real life trip from Oklahoma to Colorado. 

Feist was the second opener and really blew us away -- she took her music to an entirely different level, almost rock-like.  I was dancing around, enjoying the show, then the chorus would come along and I would think "whoa, I know this song too".  She made everything sound unique and fresh and I really enjoy her performance.

Honestly, I can't find the words to describe Bon Iver's show.

I really wish I could share somehow how incredible it was, but I just can't...so here are some photos instead!  (And the advice to everyone to add this band to your bucket list of must-see-concerts.)

  

Ah, just amazing.

And that really goes for the rest of the weekend with our friends as well.  It was wonderful to spend so much time with them and show off our new city.

Boulder Boulder

 

The Boulder Boulder is one of the largest 10K's in the country with over 50,000 participants.  50,000!  After I walked with Ryan to the start line, I made my way to the 2nd floor of a parking garage to snap this photo of all the runners lined up to start. The crowds were incredible. 

Ryan wanted to finish around 50 minutes, so I knew I had just enough time to make my way back to the finish line inside the Colorado University football stadium.

I hope all the runners felt like rock stars too.  What a finish line. 

We planned this fabulous idea of Ryan wearing a super bright shirt so I could spot him from above.  Yeah, look at all those neon colors running right along with him, haha.

 Ryan rocked this race, his first 10k, in 54 minutes! 

Afterward, we meet up with our friends Matt & Ashley who also ran the race earlier in morning and did amazing!  Ashley had her best time ever and Matt got 12 overall.  OVERALL!

So proud of all of them.