Balloons to the rescue.

Sometimes my office has the grumpiest bunch of people you have ever seen. I always feel like Pippi Long Stocking (is coooomin' into your town!) when I'm at work because I'm miss little chipper and cheerful. I'm usually a pretty peppy person anyway so I'm not complaining and I'm happy to do what I can to spread the wealth....but sometimes it can be exhausting.

So for the past two weeks I have been helping out another department that was short staffed. Because of my two weeks in Denver, I had a pretty good understanding of that department and was able to actually help instead of just ask questions and annoy people. Only problem is...they are so busy and so short staffed that everyone is WAY stressed. F bombs fly around the office more than smiles and papers/phones/pens/white outs are constantly being thrown against our little cubicle partitions. DEPRESSING! GUYS! We just ship stuff! I'm not saying I don't take my job seriously, I do...but we aren't doing open heart surgery on children. Don't be so damn down all the time. It's FREIGHT!

So I was joking around with people about it (because that's how I handle uncomfortable situations) and said, "Do you need a balloon? Would that make you smile?" just totally screwing around. But then it dawned on me that this could actually be a good idea. Stupid? Yes. Immature? Duh. But possibly a cheap way to get everyone out of their poopy little diapers and act like happy adults. And it worked! I literally tied a balloon on everyone's chair that had been grumpy. In retrospect it was probably a little embarrassing for them but everyone seemed to be a good sport. And it actually worked! People were talking about it for days!

My boss called me in to his office in the morning and is totally serious (which he never is) and is like, "is this to cheer everyone up? balloons? That's your answer?" and I'm thinking...oh damn...is this inappropriate? I know we have a casual office but maybe i took it too far or it's not "professional" or something. But then his "I'm trying to be serious face" broke and he grinned and he goes, "I'm just screwing with you. Great. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work...I really appreciate it". I was like, SERIOUSLY? GREAT!

And that is how Lizzi saved the day.

Cherry Crickle

So another food blog. Did I just eat the entire time I was in Denver? Why yes, yes I did.

We went to Cherry Creek Grill on my last Saturday there after the Zoo (loooved it!!) and had this artichoke in the picture with this awesome dip...it was ammaazzzzing. I can't honestly say I haven't ever had an artichoke like this. Hearts, sure. But hittin' it straight up like edamame? nope! So all in all apparently my trip to Denver was full of trying new things.

On that note, I'm going to rummage through my kitchen. Nothing else to do on a late Saturday afternoon than snack, right? Right. Adios my amigos.

Shooting Stars and Mountain Sheep

Another Denver story!! I went on a little hike one day and stopped at this Nature Center in the middle of no where. I ran in to the restroom and there were calenders all over the place talking about this Perseid Meteor shower. I've never even seen a shooting star so I figured when I was in a city that I could get far enough away to actually see a meteor shower -- I totally had to go.

So somehow I convinced Andrew to drive me out to the damn mountains at 11 at night. I was so super excited, especially since right when I jumped in his car I saw my very first shooting star -- and we were still in the middle of the city! a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!

So thirty minutes later we end up at Red Rocks. There was a concert going on and we were trying to get away from the lights....so we drove up a little bit higher and then hiked for a bit. We ended up sitting in the middle of a trail on a little cliff which is totally as bizarre as it sounds. Andrew was making me feel oh so comfortable by telling me "we really need to watch out for wild animals up here" . Needless to say...everytime the damn wind moved a leaf I whipped my head around looking for the mountain sheep that would end our lives.

The meteor shower was a bit disappointing though. I saw tons of shooting starts...but no

"shower".

We jumped in the car and started to leave. On our way down we found a road that was super dark and I saw whatever a big shooting star is called (comet? I don't know...), screamed for Andrew to stop and got out. We ended up laying on the top of Andrew's car and I thought this picture of his feet hanging through his sun roof was so funny. Not sure why....but it looks a bit morbid, no?

Anyway...fun night in Denver.

xx

Bone Marrow? Why not.

So when I was in Denver, Andrew kept telling me about this place "Bones" that had the best lobster ramen (I know, right?) ever. We finally made our way there on a Wednesday night and I have to agree with him. Best. Ramen. Ever. My ramen doesn't usually cost 20 bucks...more like 15 cents, but oh well. When in Rome, right? So for an appetizer Andrew says, "oh my god, you have to try the veal bone marrow...it's amazing". What? No. What? Absolutely not. Veal? No. What? Bone Marrow? Absolutely not. As always, somehow Andrew convinced me that it wasn't unethical and that I should try it. It was....interesting. I'm not sure I want to go back and order it again, but I'm going to have to blame that on mental reasons...not the lack of tastiness. I was however, very proud of myself for stepping outside of my little Dallas box. Well worth the experience.

Missin' out

One bad thing about being in Denver is I missed the family barbeque this weekend! We have been planning this thing for a month and of course...I miss it. I asked my mom to send me pictures of the Smith boys and Jack Sprat so I could feel a little bit more "there". I thought this was so funny. Jacob, Caleb, and Samuel are all smiley and cute....happy as little clams. So then I get the picture of Jack.

Bahahahaha.

He is pissssssssed. Unfortunately I just don't know what to say to Amy. Jack just loves me more. I'm his favorite..I'm SORRY. I can't help it. I'd love for him to love all of his aunts equally. I promise...but it just isn't so. I'm sorry. Amy...maybe you can win over the next dog in the family. ZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On top of the world

Today was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. One of the huge things I wanted to do when I was in Denver was go to the top of Mount Evans. AND THAT I DID!! :) You feel like you're on top of the world. You are literally IN the clouds. It's an insane drive though. It is the highest paved road. I wish someone else had been driving so I could have taken pictures because you are literally on the edge of cliffs. There were so many cars but I still found myself asking "do people actually drive this?!" I had to drive about an hour or so outside of Denver and then up the mountain. Once you get to the base of the actual peak, it's another 15 miles up. The summit is at 14,000 feet (more than 2.5 miles). That didn't sound all that high when I thought about it...but that fleeting thought makes me a total moron. It definitely makes you wonder if you are scared of heights. :) Thankfully I made it to the top in once piece.

Little did I know there was a little hike at the end of this HOUR DRIVE UP THE MOUNTAIN! It really wasn't that high...but coming down was a bit more crazy. I sort of lost the trail down so ended up just sort of...hiking down rocks. Which I guess is really what people in Colorado do all the time...but lets be honest. I'm from Dallas. I know how to get 10 hours worth of shopping into 1 and know my way around a bottle of hairspray. I don't hike up mountains that are 14,000 feet UP. So I was very proud of myself. The picture just to the right of this is the little hill I hiked down. Is it stupid that I'm super proud? OH WELL! I don't care if it is! I'm so lame when it comes to outside activities (probably because I live in Dallas where it feels like hell when you walk out of our overly air conditioned buildings and physical activity sounds about as good as a punch in the face) but I would love to be able to crank that area of my life up a bit. Maybe I need to move to Denver. THOUGHTS ANYONE??!! :) Today was awesome. So so so beautiful.

Lookout Mountain

On Saturday I woke up and wanted to explore Denver. I went downtown for a few hours which ended up being cool but a bit uneventful. My plans for the day changed last minute, but wanted to still do something outside so I decided to the head towards the mountains. I was hoping I'd get lucky and run into something cool and that's exactly what happened! I saw an exit for "Lookout Mountain" and figured it had to be what it sounded like. It was! :) It was beautiful. I'm pretty much convinced anywhere you go in Colorado is amazing. So there are a bunch of trails all around Lookout Mountain and I really wish I could have gone and explored a little bit -- but everyone says not to hike by yourself. So I just sat and hung out and enjoyed the scenery. Andrew said this is where everyone used to go in high school to make out. Do kids actually drive 30 minutes outside the city and up a mountain to kiss? I think I made do with a car. Or my front porch. Anyway. Awesome day!

The Mile High City

So I'm in Denver for two weeks for work. I've only been here a couple of days and haven't had a chance to get out very much...but I love love love it. It's so beautiful! The scenery, weather...everything. Last night was the first night I was able to really get out into the city. Andrew came and picked me up from work and went to eat an ammmaaazing dinner. The neighborhood we were in was so cute. I'll definitely need to ask Andrew where we were.

After dinner we went downtown and drank a little vino at Cru. When we were there Andrew took a picture of me that he changed with "fat booth". So I've seen these pictures on Andrew's facebook of him and his friends as totally fat, gross men. So it's an iphone app that is so so so funny. So of course...we had to do it. Here is what I would look like if I ate everyone I knew. Uhhhh......so gross.

Anywho. Not much to report at this point...but I'm sure more stories will come shortly. Keep you posted. :)