Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

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Two full weeks off from teaching is always a wonderful treat during the Christmas season and I welcome the time with open arms! The first few days of the break took place in Tampa, Florida where my parents have recently retired and my sister and husband live. Although the time was short, the time with the family was wonderful. I also was able to squeeze in a little knitting which came in handy in Colorado. (Check out the first pic below for the finished project!)
Since Adam just moved out to Denver, I wanted to spend Christmas and the rest of the time with him so he wouldn't be alone for the holidays. I arrived the Wednesday before Christmas and have been having a blast. Thursday morning was spent and the killer REI store shopping for Adam's presents and couple of items for me (including some proper boots for being in this lovely snow!). The afternoon was dedicated to shopping for Christmas dinner and the evening was spent with a neighbor of mine from Alaska.
Adam and I woke up early Christmas morning and he took to the kitchen to make some yummy Pamela's pancakes with blueberries! After breakfast we decided to head outdoors for a lovely, long walk in City Park and complete with picture taking then stumbled upon the Denver Zoo which was open! We had a great time checking out all the critters!
The rest of the day is being spent prepping the food for Christmas dinner, hanging out, and even doing some knitting.
The pictures below are a recap of the Denver trip so far...

My finished project! Mittens!

Hanging with Mimi and Lulu!

Checking out a stunning coral reef

A bizillion ducks!

How snazzy is this critter?

Yep, I'm skipping! Snow makes me THIS happy!


My love and I...our first night in Denver together.

May you and yours have a lovely and peaceful holiday...

Much love and good karma to all,

r

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Operation Denver and a Birthday

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So Operation Denver got a real jump-start this past week and a wicked, fast way. The original plan from the get-go was for Adam to move out in December taking some of our house stuff with him, start job hunting, and begin school in January. I would stay in Atlanta to finish out my year with my students, rent out my house during that time, then join Adam near the end of May/beginning of June. This past week was when everything was supposed to start going down but things took an interesting twist.

To make the move easier, Adam and I decided to have professional movers take our things out to Denver and they were supposed to pick up on Saturday, December 5 and arriving in Denver on Friday, December 11 . Adam's plan was to leave on Tuesday and make his way out there after my birthday on the Monday the 7th. Two weeks ago, we also decided we would go ahead and put the house up for rent so I might save some moola by renting out the place and moving into some smaller digs. We both had high doubts about the townhome renting out any time before February because people don't tend to rent out during the holidays and the beginning of the year but we thought it wouldn't hurt to put it out there.

So here's how it all went down:
-November 30: We got all our boxes Monday evening to begin packing up Adam.

-November 30: Also Monday evening, a couple wanted to look at the townhome but was asking about any offers we had. Thought this might be a bad sign since I had no intentions of waiving a security deposit or anything.

-December 1: Tuesday afternoon the movers call to say they are still picking up on Saturday but because they have a light load, they will be delivering Tuesday morning, which means Adam has to leave earlier than expected. Adam was ticked because I was turning 30 :) on the 7th and he wanted to be with me.

-December 1: Later that day, the company I have taking care of my renting, called to say the couple who looked at the house the day before want to rent my place. Yay! They also want to see if they can move in by the upcoming Saturday. Yikes! I said yes decided I would bust major tail with the packing to make this work. It seemed to make sense since Adam could go ahead and take most everything with him now since the move out/move in date was now on the same date as mine. I start to freak a little because I still needed to find a place to stay but Adam's parents came to the rescue and offered up a room in their house for the reminder of the time I was in Atlanta. I jumped on it!

-December 1-3: LOTS o PACKING! Packing was going so well by the 2nd we decided to move the actual moving day to Friday since the company said they could do that day and it would be cheaper to switch to a week day.

The move day went down on Friday, December 4. Adam worked late on Friday then we both worked Saturday evening together and he was Denver bound in his car Sunday morning, December 6th. He arrived safely on Monday evening and is getting settled in a little before beginning the fun task of finding a job. Anyone know a restaurant/bar/pub in need of an awesome bartender??? :)

Needless to say, Operation Denver has begun!!! Next up, I'll be finishing the final changes to my resume over the next 2 weeks then plan to begin sending it out to potential schools/systems. I'm just glad this ball is finally rolling!

I miss Adam so much already and am really glad I'll be coming out to Denver for Christmas to see him. We also will be checking out potential venues in the Boulder area for a possible wedding in August/September. Any suggestions?