dick wolf wrote this post

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Today my Dad and I were doing our usual (as in we did it for 3 days in row) walk to and around Washington Park. Monday and Tuesday we saw all the normal things, crazy runners, cyclists in spandex (!), moms with babies, people walking their dogs, etc. I think you get the picture.


Well today was a bit different. We started our loop around the park when I glanced across the pond to my left and saw several police cars in front of a taped off area along the water's edge. As I surveyed the scene I noticed a white tarp covering something on the ground. It was a body! How creepy/unfortunate!

This was straight out of Law & Order. You know, how every other episode begins with a body being discovered in a city park? I'm glad I wasn't the person who discovered the body!

Today was a strange day.

buffalo bill & beer

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My dad is out here visiting me and my sister. He arrived Wednesday morning-in the post-apocyolyptic chaos that was the morning after the snowstorm snowstorm (mild hyperbole) and up until today the weather has been pretty lame for his visit.

Despite the not so nice weather we decided to venture out of doors to pay our respects to Buffalo Bill Cody atop Lookout Mountain just west of Denver, near Golden. There are some great views of the foothills and such from up there.

To the East...

To the West...

There really isn't much to see on Lookout Mountain, but there are plenty of things to do- hike, bike, etc. All of which we were ill prepared to do. Perhaps one day I'll be fit enough to bike up a mountain (ha!). Then we drove into downtown Golden (cute town) and had lunch at the Golden Natural Market where I easily found something that fit into my new diet!

I really should get out and do more things in and around Denver. There are so many things to do out here and I need to take advantage of them. Although we did do one thing of my list....brewery tour! We went to the MillerCoors Brewery in Golden. It's free and you get three free beer samples! I only had one, Blue Moon Spring Ale (it's no PBR, and I prefer regular Blue Moon). It was fun; I'm a fan of brewery tours and such. I'd like to go the New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins, as well.


springtime = snow

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So last week we had a little snow storm. Apparently this is typical spring weather in Denver- but I'm not sure how I feel about it. Tuesday morning it was 57 degrees and sunny and by 6 in the evening the snow was coming down like crazy!


It wasn't a ton of snow, maybe a 12-18 inches where I live, but campus was closed. Of course, once again, the snow day is on a day when I do not have class! Life's just not fair.

flirting with veganism

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I've been eating vegetarian since reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. And it really has not been a difficult transition for me. I rarely cooked meat for myself at school, so cutting out the little that I did eat was rather easy. There is at least one vegetarian dish at every restaurant I've been to, some are much more veg friendly than others. I've also been trying to explore new and different foods- my fear of vegetables is disappearing (thank goodness!). My favorite thing to make are black bean & avocado quesadillas- delicious and nutritious!


So that is all well and good, but now I'm facing another dilemma. Should I continue to eat eggs and dairy? Those industries are no better than those that produce the meat we consume. Oh, but I love cheese. I obsessively love cheese. I'm having a difficult time imagining never eating cheese again. At the same time, I find it difficult to justify eating these products (other than their deliciousness).

And so, I've decided to explore veganism, flirt with it if you will. Test the waters. You get the idea. I don't think that being a vegan is something that I can just jump into, but I am more than willing to find out more. Does anyone have any favorite vegan recipes? Tips? Hints? Anything! I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.

There is one thing that makes me happy- PBR is vegan. No worries on the beer front!

open city

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When Sarah, Emily and I get together (and usually Elizabeth too, but she wasn't in D.C. this time!) we get brunch. It's our thing. And I love it. How can you go wrong with brunch?

I could make a whole photo album of Emily awkwardly drinking coffee. It would be the best photo album ever.

When you're next in Washington D.C. you have to go to Open City. We went for brunch (twice), but the rest of their menu looks just as amazing. The first day I had an asparagus and white cheddar omelet with fresh fruit and toast- oh, and an iced latte. And all three of us split at chai tea waffle. We love food. Everything was so good. The next day I had fruit and brioche french toast. I would move to D.C. just for Open City.

Not only does this restaurant have delicious food, it also has some of the best coffee I've ever had. Ever. You really need to check this place out.

Chai Tea Waffle. Enough said.

Iced Latte. OMG. Heaven.

Hello, Lovely.

Friends!

Fantastic news! Sarah (and hopefully Emily) will be joining me in Budapest for the better part of the summer. I cannot wait- we're going to have so much fun!

spring break in d.c.

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I survived finals and had a great time in D.C.! It was so nice to see Sarah and Emily again- I hadn't since either one since May. That is way too long to go without seeing such good friends.

We were only there for a few short days, and I had my stupid, awful, horrible paper to finish, so we didn't get to see a ton of stuff, but it was good fun. National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Natural History Museum, Washington Monument, Obama's Humble Abode- we made our rounds. We went out in the Adams Morgan neighborhood and that was a lot of fun- I made a fool of myself by doing a jig on St. Patrick's day. Thankfully, everyone else in the bar was too drunk to notice.

The weather was simply amazing. 70s and sunny every day. This is the first spring break I've ever had where I went somewhere and it actually felt like spring- I loved it. What a bummer to come back to snow!

My only regret is that I couldn't stay longer!


A brief photo montage:





I really liked D.C. and I could see myself living there after graduation. The summers sound pretty horrendous, but I'm sure I would learn to deal. What are your thoughts on D.C.? Any suggestions of what I should see/do next time I'm in town?

airport tales

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I am inherently stressed by travel. In particular, by airports. Something usually goes wrong, or I'm late. Or I'm running to my gate sweating like mad and looking like a crazy bag lady. Well, here I am sitting in Denver International Airport. I've checked-in, checked my bags, gone through security, bought a latte and am now set up to write my paper. That's right. I've still got one paper left before I can really enjoy my spring break. I have school stress added on to my usual travel stress. I'm a big ball of stress.


I've got six hours to write this paper. The countdown is on. When I land in Washington D.C. this paper will be done!

Did I mention this gate smells like Band-Aids? It's quite distracting...

food propaganda

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My walls are incredibly white. And it's really starting to bother me. I'd like something to hang up in my kitchen/dining area. I've been searching far and wide on the internet for something unique- I think I found it. New American Propaganda from the Victory Garden of Tomorrow. None of that Triumph of the Will stuff from back in the day.

VGoT is an art project posing as a propaganda campaign for new, American homefront values. The message style draws from American mid-century homefront propaganda, and the messages essentially draws from 21st century needs as found in the current environmental sustainability movement. The campaign is designed to access America’s history of ingenuity to overcome adversity, and apply those values to fighting modern problems.





I think they're pretty fabulous, and you can get the prints for only $12 each! Visit The Victory Garden of Tomorrow on Etsy today.

snowboarding

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No. 1 on my Denver to Do List - Go snowboarding. Check!

Yesterday Emily (my sister), Greg (brother-in-law), Paula (friend) and I went snowboarding at Copper Mountain. It was my first time ever. I've never done any sort of winter sport (not even sledding!) before, so it was a completely new experience.


Paula and I decided to take a lesson- and it's a good idea we did! I wouldn't have made much progress without one. I felt pretty good about the first part of the lesson, but then we moved to the bunny hill. It would have been fine except for the fact that there were four year olds whizzing past me. They were all over the place and it was difficult to go down without almost colliding with them. I was really discouraged after our lunch break- the bunny hill made me feel like I was a lost cause when it comes to snowboarding. But things got better as the afternoon progressed.

I'm really afraid of heights- I can't even watch heights on television without my hands getting clammy and a deep-seeder nervous feeling. As you can guess, I wasn't too excited to go on the chairlift. In fact, I was ready to quit when Paula convinced me that it would be fine. And it was! It definitely is not my favorite thing, but I made it through. I did fall getting off it...but I expected as much. Our only run down a regular hill took us an hour, but it was fun! I did much better on the green run than I did on the bunny hill (the bunny hill = awful). Oh, and I did fall about 50-60 times, I stopped counting.


Overall, I had a really good time! Unfortunately my body hates me today- every bit of me is sore. I'd like to go again sometime! I could really use the practice. I'm now in training for the 2014 Olympic Games.

After a long day of snowboarding (I woke up at 4:30 am and we still got stuck in ridiculous traffic!) we headed East to Black Hawk to meet up with my cousin, Brian. He plays poker for a living (pretty cool!) so he's up playing at the casinos around here. Black Hawk is such a strange place. It's all casinos! That's it. The population is under 200 residents! How crazy is that?

It was a lot of fun getting to see him and exploring the casinos- we went in four out of seventeen (you read that right). I wont $18.12 on a 2-cent slot machine- I only put $1! We had a great dinner at a steakhouse in one of the casinos. A really great night!

Unfortunately, my fun is over. I worked through the pain and finished one final paper (1 class down, 2 to go) and still have a lot to do tonight, but progress is being made. I can't believe my second quarter of grad school is almost over. It's flying by!

oh joy! it's the weekend!

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Everyone else makes "Happy Weekend!" posts so I'm jumping on the bandwagon! Next week is week 10. Week 10 = the last week of the quarter. The last week of the quarter = hell on earth. I'm trying to live it up this weekend/avoiding homework. How, you ask? I'm going snowboarding! It's my first time! Should we take a poll on how many times I'll fall? I'm guessing about 100.


What are you up to this weekend? Have fun! I hope the weather is great (it'll be 60 in Denver, so I'm heading up to the mountains to avoid spring-like weather).

just romping around

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So I've developed a new love for rompers. I don't know why. I don't even know where I would wear it/if I could pull it off (most likely not). Maybe this is just a case of I've been looking at something so long that I've started to like it. What's your opinion on rompers??
This one is my favorite!

Maybe if I was some sort of skinny mini. I better lay off the baking for a while!

my denver to do list

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I've been living in Denver for over five months and I haven't done much other than go to school and work. Boring! Okay, not always, but I might as well try and enjoy Denver and Colorado and whatnot while I'm out here. Who knows when I'll get another chance to come back!


I've made a list of things I want to do while I'm out here...

My Denver To Do List:
  1. Go snowboarding
  2. Eat at Casa BonitaEat is a loose term at Casa Bonita
  3. Go to a Rockies Game
  4. Go Ice Skating
  5. Visit the State Capitol building (and stand at exactly 1 mile high)
  6. Hike up a mountain (an itty bitty foothill is more my style)
  7. Run a 5k (Yeah....this has been a goal for a while. I'm going to make it happen!)
  8. Visit the Denver Art Museum
  9. Go on at least one brewery tour
  10. Convince my sister and brother-in-law to get a furry friend/pet.
  11. Go Snowshoeing Snowshoeing with Sarah
  12. Learn how to curl (the olympics instilled in me a burning passion for curling, or something like that)
  13. Visit the Denver Zoo
  14. Go to a concert (or something) at Red Rocks
This list is a work in progress. I'll update it as I do things or think of new things to do. Any suggestions?

welcome to march

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Today is the 1st of March. I ushered in the new month by injuring/embarrassing myself.


I had to present my research paper today in class. I made a handout, but unfortunately all the printers on campus weren't working. I tried three different locations- no dice. I finally found a place to print them and felt quite relieved that that mini-crisis was over.

As I'm walking up the stairs (indoors, mind you) 25 handouts and a phone in my left hand, latte in my right, coat draped over one arm, backpack on....and I'm down. Don't know how, don't know why.

Don't worry, my shins broke my fall. I have bumps and bruises the size of golf balls to prove it. Thankfully no one else was in the stairwell when this happened! I was most upset over my spilt latte. The top didn't come off so I picked it up, washed off the lid and drank it while nursing my pride (this just shows you how desperate I am for caffeine).

Hopefully this isn't what the entire month will be like for me! How was your first of March?

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