Snow

Welcome to the Rockies we had our first snow and it was so beautiful!  I was not ready for snow but it was too pretty to care.  The only downside was that Jesse and I had to take the bus for the first time since moving to Denver.  So Tuesday morning we got up and headed to the bus stop, which lucky for us is just at the end of our block and also lucky for us our company gives us a pass to ride all public transit for free.  The bus wasn't so bad, however, it was not as enjoyable as riding our bikes (even though I must face the hellacious hill on the way home) biking is still the best way to get to work.   Enough with that rant, Denver ended up getting some serious snow last week!  Good thing - we got to use all our new gear and hit up the slopes  Bad thing - our huge tree out front suffered some damage and now we are on limb duty.

I'd say we got over 6 inches based on our patio furniture.

Hitting up A Basin

Book your ski trips now!!!

Honeybadger Don't Care

Random title, funny youtube, check it out.  So Bacon came to town and we had the best time ever, seriously.  We were having too much fun to even capture all our adventures on film.  She got in on Friday night and being the trooper that she is went to dinner at Linger even though it was after 11pm her time.  New Yorkers don't care, they take what they want (seriously watch the youtube).  We soaked up the Denver skyline and shared some tapas.  We went home to get our beauty rest for the early morning gameday. Saturday morning we went and grabbed brunch at a place around the corner from my pad called Hash then bellies happy we went to the Kstate watch party at Highland Tap and Burger.  That place was rocking, especially since we were dominating KU - oh yeah!  Then I took Lauren on a tour of a day in the life of us, via bikes.  Bike route on the way to work and around some of our favorite parks and happy hour spots.  The night was topped off by seeing the creepers that were out on the zombie crawl and catching a cab at 3:30 am.  You have never lived until you walked with the living dead, some people in Denver are so weird!  Sunday, we went on a hike in Golden and had Lauren sample "the best beer cheese soup ever."  Then the worst thing happened, she had to leave.  Come back soon bakie!

5280 Adventures

Lately our lives have been full of F's; Friends, Family, Fall, Football, Fun, Fried Food, well you get the picture, and I hope you were not associating F's with FAILING - how dare you!

Here are a few pictures of live recently here in the mountains, that John Denver was not lying about anything!

View from our hike in Breckenridge - Breath Taking

View from the back porch at the ski house - also breath taking.

View of our building at work.

And last but not least the Aspen trees, you really have not lived until you see the Aspens in their full gold in the fall - seriously.  Now book your trips for next year because my phone camera does not do them justice :)

On another note, my sister, who is the most amazing athlete (no shocker there) made it to the state championship cross country meet.  This year, not only has she been undefeated so far, but she has only let one of the boys beat her (brag much!).  So the state meet kicks off and she goes blazing off the starting line.  Right off the bat she is neck and neck with another undefeated girl that won nationals last year.  They pull way out ahead of the pack and continue to be side by side for most of the meet.  I was so nervous for her!  I ran ahead close to the finish line to cheer her on, and as soon as she could see the finish line she kicked it into high gear.  Katie ended up winning by more than 20 seconds and still only let one boy beat her.  That girl is amazing!  I am so proud of her and so happy that I got to see it in person!  

House Hunters

So long time no post, but I have a good excuse at least.  New job, new city, new house, packing old house, settling into new place, and finding all the Denver hot spots.  We are loving living in Denver and more on that to come, but this post is about something else, something that never came to fruition - the Moore's on HGTV.  

When I first knew that we were serious about moving to Denver I thought to myself how cool would that be if we were on House Hunters.  I did some investigating and found out that any old average joe can apply to be on the show, so I did.  All you have to do is submit some information and a few pictures.  Yup, thats it.   So I sent off the email and attachments, and I really did not expect to be contacted by Pietown Productions let alone by the executive producer, but it really happened!  This got me a little too excited and Jesse not so excited... I am sure that he was really looking forward to being on TV looking at houses and talking about things like "Oh, I love those floors!" or "I hate that tile."  In fact I am not sure if I even asked him his thoughts on HH :)

Warning - for you HH fans, it is semi fake - GASP!  You actually have to be under contract on a house BEFORE you start filming the show!  I know I was shocked too - but really when I thought about it it makes total sense.  The people ALWAYS end up in a house and HH is back so soon that it would make a lot of closing deadlines tight.  So I was told to let them know when we were under contract on our house in Denver so we could work out filming schedules - well we found our house in one weekend and were set to close in 30 days - nuts I know!  So of course they were the first people I let know that we had found a house, sorry mom! 

Well the executive producer was out sick for a few days and we couldn't make the logistics work, since they wanted to film our old house in OK and the shoot in Denver was going to take up some time, time that we didn't have starting new jobs and working on closing details on our house - sidebar - getting a mortgage in Denver is WAY more intense than getting one in Oklahoma.  They needed our tax returns from 2005 on.  Um, hello, I was in college in 2005 and pretty sure I didn't need a tax return from the few weeks I worked at Southern Sun, Kites, and the Salty Rim.   So disappointing end for me, happy ending for Jesse.  

Will post pics of the house soon! 

These are a few of my favorite things

New couch for a new house in a new city, and as Barney says, "New is always better."  If you aren't a HIMYM fan you should be.  Well as I sometimes agree with that I do love antiques and a good old fashioned craigslist find!  As time is of the essence here and in order for Jesse and I to have a place to sit (or sleep) in the new house we needed furniture for the upstairs living area.  Our regular old furniture isn't slated to arrive in Denver until the 13th of October and since we are going to be on air mattresses and the floor I dragged Jesse to a big box furniture store (gasp!)  This place wasn't as overwhelming as IKEA and the couches and chairs seemed to be of a little better quality.  I was hoping to find more but settled on a couch.  We walked by this couch at the beginning of our trip and raved about it - Jesse wasn't sold.  So we walked around and around and around, found a different couch we both liked, then walked around and around and around and came back to the beginning and Jesse said (to the couch I originally liked) I think I like that one better... well duh!!  We still need some more furniture but at this point I had worn out the "man tolerance" of furniture shopping so I have until October 5th to add items to our delivery list, stay tuned for more furniture items.  As of now if you come to visit we will have A couch and An air mattress until that semi comes with our goodies!  

Denver Bcycle

On the walk home from work on Tuesday, Jesse and I looked at the Denver Bcycle racks and decided we would rather bike back to the apartment then walk.  So we walk up to the rack and insert our cards and away we go.  First of all I was wearing a dress to work that day, so getting back involved a lot of one hand steering-not so great for someone who isn't used to regular bike riding - sorry Denver if you saw anything!  We rode back to the APT and changed clothes before heading out on an adventure for the night, trust me this was an adventure

Me on the Denver Bcycle

So we decide to ride up to our new stomping grounds and around before heading back to LoHi for some grub.  The ride to our new house was all uphill, and I was cursing the fact that I had pants on, I was dying!  Jesse seemed to be sprinting ahead of me on the damn bcycle 3speed bike on constant uphills to our house, huffing and puffing, we finally leveled out.  We made smooth sailing to our house, and from our current downtown digs we made it to our house in under 10 minutes, score!  After we saw and dreamed about being in a more permanent spot we cruised upwards to the Rocky Mountain Park close to our house and did some comfort cruising.  Then we were headed back to grab some dinner and hopefully still make happy hour, which we did!  

Bison Tacos and Happy Hour Scooners - wonderful!

Now that we were satisfied we cruised on down to Deans Urban Market by our house for some groceries just like the big city kids do :)  We got some groceries from here and headed back to our house to unload and hit the hay......BUT jesse decided to read the fine print on these bikes and while they said 24 hour checkout you still get charged usage fees by the HALF HOUR.  At this point we had the bikes since 5pm and it was now 8pm (at least).  At first I thought, screw it we're keeping the bikes!  Then I added it up and decided it was best for them if we let them have some rest...

Deans Urban Market

So we unloaded the groceries and tired legs and all we headed out to find the closest dock station to our APT, well we found one close by, so we headed out.  The closest one of course we couldn't ride to because of road construction so we were on the lookout for a rack full of red bikes.  After riding around for a bit we saw some, thank the lord!!  We parked those bad boys around 10pm at this point we had them for over 5 hours - thank you 30 minute charges.  Once we had the bikes safely in their home and we were headed back to our APT we spotted a brewery (not unusual in Denver) we decided to stop in to quench our thirst.  I got the lightest beer they had and of course Jesse got the Mile High IPA.  Since I realized I hadnt been to the restroom in over 5 hours I decided to go before I left, here is what I saw by the bathroom.

I can only think of HotTubTimeMachine..... or this belongs outside the Mens restroom in a gaybar.

The adventure concluded with the Moores being wornout and having rode our bikes for almost 13 miles when that was not what we were intending.  We survived and bring it on Denver!

Catoberfest

Reflections from fun filled weekend.  First and foremost the Cats had an amazing win (Hell Ya) that kept the weekend on the right track.  Jesse happened across the KSU Alumni group in Colorado called the Colorado Cats.  Anyways,  the Denver Cats get together to watch the game at a place called Highland Tap and Burger, and there is a ton of purple in this place, and it is really fun!  I wish I had a picture of this one guy who ripped his shirt off and spun it around his head like a helicopter when we won, and on the other side of the bar a guy that shouted "I am going to burn this place down if they don't reverse that call" and I am fairly certain he wasn't messing around.  Luckily we were right by the door.  I bought myself a new powercat sticker the club sells, and I must say its pretty cool even though it doesn't have Ad Astra Per Aspra anywhere on it.

So after the victory we celebrated by eating on a rooftop deck at a place called Tavern and watched the sun set over the city and the mountains, it was pretty spectacular.

Friday night we tested the waters at Oktoberfest, which was only a couple of blocks from where we are staying right now.  It was pretty great, however, there was not a single German beer?!?!  Options were Sam Adams (American) or Coors (American), I guess I did see one place that had pickle infused vodka, not real sure what country is going to claim that, but we got over it and grabbed a couple of Steins of Oktoberfest and let the people watching begin.  There are lots of interesting folks in this city, especially downtown.   We got to catch up with some good friends and had a nice time and we weren't even in Leiderhosen.  We left there feeling festive so it was a success.

Lastly, we made a trip to IKEA aka Hell for Jesse.  This is the largest IKEA I have seen, there is a two story parking garage attached.  Did I mention that it is so busy sometimes that it is one in one out?!  It was a zoo - we sped through there - coming from a girl who LOVES LOVES LOVES to shop for home goods it was too much.  I was grossed out by all the people laying on mattresses and couches and putting their paws all over everything.  I am going to have to give myself a pep talk before going in there next time, Get in Get out, Ready 1-2-3 break!  I do know that I do not think I can talk Jesse into going back there ever again.

Blame it on the Al-Al-Altitude

Went for a run tonight, about died, going to blame that on the altitude and not the fact that I haven't seen a gym in three weeks.  Other things to blame on the 'tude - dry skin, chapped lips, shortness of breath, and an increased thirst for wine and beer!  Okay so maybe I can't blame everything on the altitude!

Temporary Living

As you all know we have made it to Denver - but we are still living as guests in this city.  After staying at four hotels, friends and families houses we finally found a corporate apartment.   This city appears to have an intense rental market so we were having a hard time finding a decent place that would rent to people without longer term contracts.  After many disappointing a craigslist search - at one point there was considering renting a room in someones apartment - yikes! We found a place, its right by the ballpark in an area called the ballpark district - original.  The best part is having a kitchen and a fridge so I can stop eating out and be able to fit into my pants once again - it will be nice to say goodbye to muffin tops!  

We are loving living in this city!  At our new jobs we get every other Friday off to enjoy it, which makes it even better.  Last Friday we went on an amazing hike and enjoyed the weather and finished it off with some locally brewed beer - the Moore's could get used to that!  This morning we walked to work and back and it was so wonderful, I think that is the best way to see a new place - walk by it and be able to see everything that is around you.  For instance, on the way to work we passed by a place that advertised "the best happy hour in denver" so of course we knew we had to stop back by there on the way home.  Only problem is I didn't remember where we saw it - damn!  So on the walk back home we passed up every place because I didn't think it was it.....well that just meant we ended up stopping at the last place along the route which was right across from the ballpark on a game night.....obviously there was no happy hour specials then, only rowdy rockies fans who only care about the other things that ballgames have to offer since their team stinks!  Lesson learned pay closer attention to where you are when you see something you want to come back to!

I guess once we have a Denver address we can start to call ourselves something other than temporary!  Inspections went great so we are on track to be in our new place October 6th!

Get ready to come visit us!!!!

http://www.cohomefinder.com/p/80211/1067869.htm

Thriving and Surviving

Upon arriving in Denver before my first night of work I went to check into the hotel that Jesse had reserved for me via priceline for two nights (or so he thought) with bags in tote and car keys in the valets hands.  When handing the front desk lady my card for incidentals and my id she informs me that she has "Good News and Bad News".   She goes ahead and gives me the good news first that she sees a reservation for me the bad news being that it was for the prior night ....  Yup, I didn't have a place to stay at 8pm the night before starting the new job, lets just say I was not too happy.  

There is a bright side, I got to stay with one of my best friends Christina at her house in Strausburg, CO.  The only downside was the hour and half commute in the morning before my first day of work - Jesse still blames priceline for the error - I am pretty sure it was operator error.

Despite the mishaps I had a great first week, and I am so excited to start exploring this new city!  Hope everyone has wonderful weekends!

Jesse has arrived

Well Jesse finally made it to Denver!  While he will tell you it was uneventful - I am certain that it was not as he was hauling two black labs in the bed of his truck.  I can only imagine what a spectacle that was when stopping at rest stops to let them stretch their legs and take care of business.  Reason being that their kennels only fit sideways in the bed, so every time they stopped Jesse would have to let the bed down move one kennel sideways and let dog #1 out, then take that kennel out and repeat for dog #2.  These are not small animals so I can't imagine the effort it took to shuffle those kennels around, the thought and the chaos makes me smile a little bit!  While just the logistical part might be interesting enough one of our dogs went #2 in their kennel and Jesse had the pleasure of cleaning that up, really glad I wasn't around for that one.  

Even though all our mutts are a lot of work I already miss them, well mainly Cosby, who my wonderful mom gets the pleasure of watching.  Cosby has already made her way into my mom and her husbands bed...bad habits die hard!

So 2 out of 5 of the Moore family have made it to the big D, stayed tuned for how the rest of the clan make it here.

Go West Young Man

Well the Moore's are on the move... to the mountains!  After much discussion we finally made the decision to turn our day dreaming into reality.  Sounds easy right, find a place where you want to live, find jobs, a place to live, etc. well reality check, its not!  To save you all the horrible stressful details there is a happy ending (may still be a ways away) but this story can still be considered a fairy tale.  

Once the decision had been made to start looking for jobs and I made a list of every single oil and gas company in Denver and did all the research on each one I found out that the pickins were slim.  Then one night I was on twitter and I decided to search for jobs by hashtags (who would have thunk it) - low and behold I stumbled across a few that were posted by a recruiter.  I applied and talked to the recruiter who told me it would be impossible to get a job in Denver since there is already such a large pool to choose from - well that just lit a fire under me :)  Not only did I find a job I found a company that would actually pay to relocate us and buy our house in Bartlesville.... which brings me to the hardest part of this journey, leaving our home, friends, work, and lives there.  

Still wrapped up in the dream of big city living and all that it offers I was in a daze and the time in b'ville usa slipped away from me, and before I knew it I was packing my clothes and leaving for the last time.  The last night in our home was spent reminiscing and ended in tears.  I actually broke down a few times on the long haul out to Colorado.  While I was unbelievably excited to come out to Denver it was too hard to tell our friends we were leaving.  

Right now I am bouncing around from hotel rooms and incredibly wonderful friends and families homes, but the Moore's are dreaming about the day we will be in our NEW HOME!  We spent labor day weekend looking at too many houses to count and finally honed in our two favorite neighborhoods in Denver - Washington Park and Highlands.   Too many hours were spent househunting online and we had narrowed down our favorites, Jesse's and mine.  We looked at both the first day, and after all the houses we saw they were our favorites still (again who would have thunk it), but later that night my favorite had an offer on it ... of course!  So we went out again in the morning and after looking at multiple houses decided we weren't ready to get into a bidding war - so we continued looking.  Jesse's pick was set as the bar and no other houses could compare so we took a leap of faith, and two days into our new lives we had a house ...well pending all inspections are clear as it was built in 1906!  Yes, 1906 - which is over 100 YEARS older than our current home!

Speaking of - anyone want to buy a house in Bartlesville - wish I could pick it up and move it to Denver... 

http://homesite.obeo.com/684778

More details and funny/sad stories to come on our mountain of a move!