Baby It's Cold Outside

Falling about me as I write this is not the first snow storm of the season, but the first storm we’ve experienced in our new home. Last night I attended a book signing by Christopher Kimball (founder of Cooks Illustrated) in Highlands Ranch and by the time I left, my car and the streets were covered in thick snow. I crept along the freeway at 30 mph and did my best to keep from sliding off the road, as so many others already had. At one point I saw hazy flashing blue lights in the distance, then slowly crawled passed two cops surveying a car that had gone belly up. I cannot tell you how glad I am that we bought our Subaru Outback with AWD. It was a nervous ride with sometimes near white-out conditions, but I arrived safely home and happy to have faced my fears of icy roads without incident. The only drama was when I nearly blew through an intersection because I couldn’t stop on a downhill slope, but luckily no one was around.

This morning there was 6.5” of snow and by the time I got home from work it was 10”. An arctic front is headed our way, so once the snow stops we’ll have temps near 0 degF (-18 degC). Brrrr! I haven’t been that cold since…, well, since the last time I lived in Colorado. There’s a kind of restrained excitement in the office as people quietly discuss how much snow may be falling in the mountains, and how soon they’ll be able to hit the slopes. It’s interesting to overhear conversations about weekend adventures: skiing to backcountry huts for an overnight trip; having to do a self arrest after falling on a dangerous slope. Very different from the conversations in LA which mainly revolve around trips to Vegas, something I never quite understood. If only I hadn’t waited too long to get the cheap ski passes!


Once at home I snuggled into comfy clothes and delighted in the winter wonderland that is our new yard. Ten inches of fresh powder made the world seem magical. I let the dogs out and we ran around like kids at Christmas. It was especially funny to watch the dogs since they were practically swimming through the chest high drifts. Molly pranced and buried her nose in the snow, Spencer did his “trot in place” dance, and I frolicked with glee. The snow here is so powdery and dry that it falls through your fingers like fine sand, and blows away with the slightest puff. When you compact it into a ball it feels like Styrofoam. We have lots of fun throwing snowballs for the dogs and watch them try to retrieve them!

Here are some photos I took over the last two days:

Working Stiff

It’s been a long time since my last post but much has happened over the last month. Most importantly, we officially closed on our house! There was a wee bit’o’drama that I won’t go into here, suffice it to say that all’s well that ends well and this ended well indeed. We are absolutely loving the house, the yard, the view, the two decks, and everything in between. I love that I can’t physically throw a tennis ball from one end of the yard to the other for the dogs (though I got a new gym membership). I love that my furniture suddenly looks classier than it did at the homestead back in LA. I love that I have a basement and that I can actually park in my garage. I love that I can see the glow from the Red Rocks Amphitheater from my bedroom window. It’s quite windy here on the edge of the foothills; so much so that the walls bow from the pressure and our welcome mat keeps flying away, but it’s kind of fun. We haven’t had any snow since we moved in but I'll keep my fingers crossed.


In other news, I have once again joined the ranks of the employed. I accepted a contract position to work at Lockheed Martin on the CEV program in the structures group. Steve works just down the hall from me so we are able to carpool and eat lunch together (yes I know, how cute). We are located at Lockheed’s South Park facility, which entertains me to no end. “Goin’ down to South Park…” My first day was Monday and like starting any new job, I’ve been bored. Everyone else is frantically running around trying to finish charts and models, telling me to entertain myself until after the Thanksgiving holiday when they’ll have time to get me caught up. I took their advice and did just that, entertaining myself by modeling my desk, monitor and mug. Not too shabby, eh?


Everyone please have a safe Thanksgiving this year and let’s remember the lessons of the wise Alton Brown:
Brine, don’t baste your turkey

Alice in Halloween-Land

It worked out perfectly that while we were in LA picking up our worldly possessions to move to our new house, there should be a fantastic Halloween party at our old house. Glad to see the party pad is still kickin' (thanks Nick!). Several of us banded together for an Alice in Wonderland theme. I was assigned the Caterpillar as it was considered the most difficult costume (thanks Nick). I had to dedicate an entire checked bag on the plane to my costume!


It was a great party and everyone was on board for the festivities. We had a card guard, Tweedle-Dum, the white rabbit, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, Mad Hatter, March Hare, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Caterpillar. There was also an assortment of baseball players, Tinkerbell, and Ron Burgundy (among others) thrown into the mix. Thanks to everyone for a great time.




And since you've been such a great audience, here's my encore: a picture of our new friend Demo, the one-eyed chihuahua!