Christmas in the Beautiful Chilly Southern CO Mountains!

Christmas at the Sharp's Wonderful Home in Del Norte

I haven't taken my camera out since I've been here, so I'll try and snap some pics before we leave tomorrow. I've been down in Del Norte, CO since Monday evening. My friend TJ needed a ride to his dad's house for Christmas (he had major knee surgery last Thursday), and I was homeless for Christmas, so I think it worked out pretty good for everyone.

Two of the 5 crazy doggies: Chester the sweet puppy and Dodger the crazy dog

We got here, almost, without incident on Monday! TJ's little brother drove us down, and I had to give him the benefit of the doubt driving on the road that takes you back into the woods to their house. I mean, he drives the road all of the time, right? Well, he's just got his learner's permit, and I'm guessing he doesn't pull any shenanigans when his dad's in the car with him. Well, the roads are pretty darn slick, and we come around the corner only for Ty to say Tokyo Drift and give it some gas. This ended with us being stuck in a snow drift facing the other direction! Ty ran to their house and got the snowmobile with the wench to try to pull us out. No luck! He and his dad ended up digging the Explorer out the next morning.

Christmas day was really beautiful. There's tons of snow here, and they live in a wonderful serene mountain setting. It's really a great place to be to just relax and forget about the rest of the world running in "pinned" mode. Tyler got a clay target thrower (I'm sure that's not what they're really called) for Christmas, so I got to try my hand at shooting moving targets. It's been quite awhile since I've shot a shotgun, and I'm pretty sure I've never shot at a moving target before! It was great fun, and I even hit a few targets now and then. It really reminded me of being at home on the farm growing up. Life is simple, you can pretty much do what you want and nobody comes around to tell you that you can't! It's awesome!!

The rooster is the alarm clock in the morning

Precious, the tamest chicken ever!

TJ and Ty getting the eggs that we had for breakfast each day

Winter wonderland entertainment!

TJ giving Ty a little lesson in shooting!

Well, anyway, we're headed back to Boulder tomorrow. I hope the roads aren't too bad, as I'd like to get home before too late to celebrate one last Christmas, a little late!

I hope everyone had a really wonderful time with their family and friends this holiday season!

Fundraiser for Tara

Jill designed some cool labels for some custom eco balm chapstick. All of the proceeds go directly to the Tara Llanes Heart of a Champion.

There are only 250 of them, so get them while they're still available!

tarabalm.blogspot.com

Christmas is Next Week!! Seriously?!?

Well, not that I care, too much. I'm not going home and not quite sure what I'm going to do yet, but it's just amazing that December has flown by so fast!

Here's some random tidbit updates from what's been going on lately...

Me and Buhly

Melissa, D, and Jaymie

My friends Melissa Buhl and Jaymie Mart came to visit a few weekends ago. Buhly is from AZ and Jaymie heralds from Scotland, so they were a little shy in the snow of CO! Really it came about because 10 minutes after they left Melissa's uncle's house in Grand Junction, they had driven their rented sports car straight in to the ditch! haha They didn't get hurt and the rental car was fine, so, in the end, it just ended up being a funny adventure. They made it to Denver, though, and good times ensued from there. We went out dancing one night and drank and ate and then drank some more. It's amazing how much you have to catch up on after 2.5 months of not seeing each other. I had such a wonderful time laughing and laughing some more while they were here. It's too bad that we all live so far away from each other!

Totally spent after a night of dancing our asses off!!

The weekend before the crazy girls' visit, we had the CU Cycling after MTB nats party. The theme was Cowboys and Indians. James went as a cowgirl in my newly purchased $4 shiny vinyl Wranglers (thanks Longmont for having killer deals on silly cowgirl jeans!!). Bama decided that he needed to deliver the keg to the party in a wagon, so, I helped him out on that adventure. We had a great day shopping in Longmont and carting kegs around in little red wagons!!

James in his "cowgirl" outfit

Bama and the keg carrier

Other than that, I've just been getting back into the gym and getting started training for next season. Boy is it hard to think about May and riding and racing when it's all snowy and crappy out here! Hopefully it melts away soon!

I hope everyone has a Merry Merry Christmas and enjoys visiting with friends and family!

Holiday Humor

Clearly Procrastinating...

So, one of the guys that I work with really wanted all of us to choose a superhero "to be". He really wants to be Spider-man, so I think he just wants company. haha He got posters for people and their respective superhero. I'm not much into comics, so I had no idea. This little survey, however, will decide for you! haha The funny thing is that I think I had a higher Spider -Man % than he did! I guess 90% for Supergirl is pretty convincing! :)

Your results:
You are Supergirl

Supergirl 90% Robin 80% Green Lantern 75% Superman 75% Spider-Man 70% The Flash 65% Wonder Woman 60% Iron Man 55% Catwoman 40% Hulk 40% Batman 35%

Lean, muscular and feminine. Honest and a defender of the innocent.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Our Sunsets are Amazing!

Lately, I have been stuck in the dungeon (aka my office/lab) at the ~4:30 p.m. hour. Today, however, I left early, and was treated to a wonderful, wonderful sunset. I love living in Boulder! (Sorry didn't have my camera to share it with everyone, you'll just have to take my word on this one!) (:

Random Thoughts for the Day

Random Thoughts:
#1: So, one of my friends is a senior chemical engineering major here at CU, and they got an email from one of their professors the other day that told them that he didn't want them pulling more than 2 "all-nighters" a week to work on their projects! WTF!?!? He's on crack. He then told them that it would be better if they slept for 4 hours or so and then got up and started working again at like 4:00. I told my friend to save the email forever, as a reminder that things will never be as bad as his senior year in ChBE!

#2: It has recently become very apparent to me that it is very easy to sit around waiting for something to happen to you, and I don't mean just any random thing, but something you want to happen. As it turns out, you may be sitting and waiting still until you're old and grey when you can put in 1/2 an ounce of effort and be pleasantly surprised with the outcome! In fact, the outcome might be overwhelming! So, if you've been hoping something will "happen" to you, do a little tiny bit to contribute to it happening, and you might be very surprised!

#3: This is really funny, so if you need a laugh, take a few minutes to watch.

#4: Also, funny...The other day the power went out at my friend Kate's house, and her roommate asked her if she thought her car would still start...uhhhh. I hope she's "slow". :) Also, she asked her (at some point) if in real life stars are really star shaped or if people just draw them that way. Seriously!!

#5: Happy Monday! Make the most of everyday, even the sucky days of the week. :)