For our honeymoon, we traveled to Steamboat Springs for a mini-vacation and stayed in a very nice bed and breakfast for the weekend.  We enjoyed some relaxation time at Strawberry Hot Springs and hiking at Fish Creek Falls (above).

October was a busy month for us.  We traveled to Glenwood, MN to celebrate my grandparents 55th wedding anniversary and celebrated my 27th birthday.  Also, I took the plunge and applied and got accepted into the Masters of Non-Profit Management program at Regis University.  Grad school was challenging at first, but I am almost half way through the program, and I am enjoying my classes!

We celebrated Christmas with Joe’s family in Ohio.  Joe’s mom made some delicious meals for us!  Joe also took me on a tour of his college campus OSU in Columbus, OH.  

Joe and his younger brother, Paul

Joe and I with the OSU campus in the background.

In February, I made the decision to leave my job of 3 1/2 years to focus on school full time.  It has been tough to find part-time work with the economy and the competitive job market, and I have been out work for about 5 months.  Joe and I have made the decision that it’s best for us financially if I go back to work full time, so I am currently sending out resumes and hoping to find a job soon in the non-profit field!

In March, Joe found a great deal on a fly-and-drive deal to Ireland, so we decided to travel and finally have an extended honeymoon!  Dublin is a very busy city, especially the week before St. Patrick’s Day, which most people take as an extended holiday to travel.  After arriving at the Dublin airport at 6am and picking up our rental car, we set off to find our bed and breakfast for the night.  Little did we know how confusing driving can be in Ireland!  We ended up stopping at a few stores and asking for directions, and then somehow we wound up at the airport again!  Finally, after putting our heads together and carefully reading the map and street signs, Joe and I found our bed and breakfast.

The next several days we drove around the southern and western part of Ireland and saw some amazing countryside!

Wiclow National Park

Lake at Wiclow National Park

Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park

Cliffs of Moher – This was our favorite part of the trip!

Croagh Patrick – Don’t let starting at sea level fool ya!  This is a tough hike!

After returning from Ireland, we settled back into life and got ready to move in May.  We are now living in Congress Park and love it!  I also started running and training for some races this summer.  So far, I have participated in the Colfax 5K, the Boulder Boulder 10K, and the Steamboat half marathon!   Our other big news is that we are now proud parents of…….two cats (no kids for a while!).  Their names are Earl Grey and Stoli, and they are both Blue Russians.  After a lot of ruff and tumble, they are finally friends, with the occassional knock down fight!  They keep our lives interesting, that is for sure!

At the end of May, Joe’s brother Paul and some of his friends came out to visit for a week.  We had fun showing them around Boulder, Denver, and the Rocky Mountains!

Finally, our most recent news is that Joe bought a ‘75 VW Bus in June!  He’s planning on doing some engine repairs himself, and then we want to transform the interior of the bus into a camper so we can take it on the road!  I’ll let him post some updates about his repair work.

Well, there you have it!  This first year has been an adventure!  Joe and I are looking forward to what this next year will bring for us :)

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See more progress on: open my own non-profit

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Anyhow, everyone in our building in general tends to be anti-social, so it’s easy to fall into the pattern and perpetuate it, even if you are a very social person who likes to get to know people, like I am.

Nevertheless, in one of those funny situations that neighbors who don’t talk to each other get caught – and that there’s no way to get out of – we were forced to communicate with one another.

I was walking up to our building after getting off the bus and noticed he was getting his mail, and my mailbox is directly next to his. For a few seconds I thought of killing time standing outside, walking to the back of the building, or even just walking past him and going upstairs to my place, but I knew that would be petty.

So up I went and did what I do best in these situations: I sprang up some small talk about how annoying it is to get junk mail, and we both related our frustration. Afterward, he rushed upstairs quickly, obviously trying to escape the uncomfortable moment, even though it was a futile effort since I’d have to walk past him to get to my studio.

I walked up the stairs slowly to minimize the agony of having to cross paths again, and when I got up to our floor, I tried to walk by him as quickly as possible. To my surprise, as I walked behind him, he commented about the huge snowfall we’re supposed to get.

I said “That’s good news,” and asked him if he was a skier or snowboarder. He opened up and told me that this year he skipped out, since he was buying a house. I told him that’s great, and since we were both going into our apartments, I felt the need to say something to end the conversation on a good note.

Without thinking, and not realizing until later how strange it may have sounded, I said “Well, it’s good to see you again.” He said “Likewise,” and we both smiled and went our separate ways.

For a moment after stepping inside my place I thought about how I may have sounded dumb, but I soon stopped caring. I found myself feeling unexpectedly happy and good about our neighborly exchange. For a person as cynical as myself, this was a refreshing change from the norm. At least for one instance throughout our time living in these apartments, my neighbor and I treated each other with respect, and a degree of friendliness that we all could afford to show more often.

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It just doesn’t get any better than this. I wish I could have been at this game :D

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Flickr user and SomethingAwful forum goon Flogera has gotten lots of views lately – he’s made some of the coolest video game fan art ever conceptualized. Using perler beads, he’s made really accurate and kickass “live” pixel art versions of classic Nintendo and Sega character sprites. Check out the full Flickr set, but don’t get too excited – he’s not selling these anymore :(

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