It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Finally -- snow! We had our first real snowy days this weekend. Downtown Denver had it's annual lighting ceremony on Friday, and the combination was perfect. Wojtek and I spent the weekend walking around, window shopping along with some actual shopping (gotta love recession sale prices!) and enjoying the local flavor. The lights were fantastic, so festive, and they even had horse-drawn carriages trotting down the street. We also headed to Boulder today for lunch and to walk around the Pearl Street Mall. We took a drive up in the Boulder Mountain Park. It was foggy and so the views weren't exactly spectacular, but what we could see was great. I wish I had my hiking shoes so that we could have done a little more exploring, but the drive itself was nice. We saw some wildlife, and I even managed to not wreck when I came across 2 baby deer on the side of the road and slammed on the brakes to take a picture... don't worry, I made sure there were no cars/people around! Wojtek has the pictures but when I get them I'll post some.

On a side note, this year Wojtek and I celebrated our third Thanksgiving Day together. We were going to have our friend Adam over for dinner, but the poor guy ended up in the hospital with some dislocated and broken ribs after not quite landing a snowboard jump.... needless to say he wasn't able to make it. So we had a nice little dinner at the apartment by ourselves. It was actually the first turkey I've roasted (2 years ago we made a chicken because that was all we could find the day of, and last year we ate at Mom's) and it turned out delicious!

Working hard!
The finished product! Mmm!

And now Wojtek is on his way back to St. Louis at the moment.... I wish I was going with him, but I've got another 3 weeks until I'm finished with this clinical. In due time, I'll be back to my own apartment with my own stuff and my own family. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the holidays around people I love.

Cheers!

3 days left!

Wojtek will be here on Wednesday and I'm so excited!! He'll be here for a week and a half so we'll have lots of time to spend checking out the rest of the city and do a little exploring. We're also going to go skiing and boarding - this time hopefully with a little more snow! The things I've done since I've been here have been awesome, but it's just not the same without him here to appreciate it with me.

On another note -- only 5 weeks left of my clinical. It feels like it has gone by a lot slower this round than other clinicals. As much as I love the kids, I'm just not as much of a fan of the setting and my coworkers. I think I've pretty much decided that I do not want to work in a hospital. It's too structured and cold, and the hoops you have to jump through sometimes are ridiculous. I'd like to have a little more freedom than that where I work, or else I would just go insane.

But I have to keep reminding myself that it's all part of the learning experience and even though I'm not super happy about where I am, I've figured out a little more about myself and what I want. So that's not so bad. Now if I could just get going on some of my projects that are due in a few weeks.........

Biker babe

I finally got to enjoy some good old outdoor fun this weekend. Adam let me borrow his mountain bike which is just about my size and so I took advantage of some decent weather and went on a ride yesterday. It was a little windy and cold, with not a lot of sun, but it was still really nice to be on a bike after over a month of not riding! My legs needed it. I have been trying to walk everywhere I can so that I get some sort of exercise, since I hate running (even though I have a handful of times since I've been here) and I don't have the funds for a gym membership. I considered buying a bike to use just for this time I'm in Denver but that didn't quite work out which is fine because I don't need 4 bikes! So I was glad when Adam mentioned that he would hand his over for the weekend. I'm hoping I get another nice weekend before it gets too cold to be out.

On another note, I'm going skiing tomorrow! I got a 4-pack today so I'm ready to hit the Keystone slopes -- make that slope, it's still early in the season and the mountains haven't really gotten much snow yet, so they only have a couple of runs open. But they do have enough open to go from the top of one of the mountains to the bottom, so that works! It's just enough to get my ski legs back. When Wojtek gets here in a week and a half hopeful there will be more runs open and we can actually spend a day up there and not get bored. I'm excited to be skiing again though, for sure.

I'll be sure to take some pictures and share them when I get back! Until then, enjoy some of my snaps from Breckenridge earlier this year.

So exciting!

Oh man, I can't wait for tomorrow to be over with! The thought of a democratic president, particularly Obama as president, is so incredibly welcomed. I will breathe so many sighs of relief. Not to mention I wouldn't mind not having to talk/listen/read/watch about the election for a while, though I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more for a while at least.

My clinical instructor decided to take the whole day off this year for the election. During the last election he had to wait too long and wasn't able to get to vote because he had to get back to work (horrible!). So this year he just simply took the day off. I guess he forgot that Colorado had an early vote so he could have just done that?.... But I don't mind! I get to sit in front of the computer in my pajamas and watch as the numbers roll in.

So - If you haven't already -- go vote tomorrow!!

Another beautiful evening

The weather could not be better right now. I was outside at 8:00 pm and no coat and not even the slightest shiver or goosebump. I headed over to Stella's Coffee House to do a little reading and writing and had my newest favorite tea - jasmine pouchong. Oh my goodness it's so beautiful! I want to wear it, it smells so good. I'm going to have to find some when I get back. Wonder if I can turn it into a body spray..... :o

Oh, and there was the cutest bakery down the street from Stella's called Pajama Baking Co. They had a sign out with a bunch of pies listed. If I hadn't just stuffed myself on pumpkin bread from the coffee shop I would have stopped in for a slice. I'll have to go back.