Dreaming About Sand and Sun.............

as I left the house this morning in zero degree weather - BRRRR - it feels more like January weather than February!! But knowing that we're heading to warm weather in Mexico next week DOES put a smile on my face!!

As I'm sitting at my desk at Glenn's work, looking out at the awesome view I have of Pikes Peak, it reminded me of something new at my house!!

Because I received a very nice bonus from my old boss at Christmas, I knew that I had extra money to spend on ME!!! And I've already purchased 2 items!!

The first is a new piece of luggage!! Since we travel so much, our luggage is really starting to show the wear and tear!! In fact, it was to the point that I thought we needed to duct tape a portion on the outside where the fabric is almost gone!! Anyway, we had stopped at a Tuesday Morning a while back and there in the back was luggage so I decided to take a peek!! I found this beautiful piece of gray luggage which is a carry-on and it has those fabulous wheels that can go any direction!! The price was right - and it's sitting in my bedroom just waiting to be packed!!

The second item I ordered is something I have wanted since October 1st when it first came out!! It's a book - a "coffee table" book - written by a local author. The name of the book is "365 Days of Pikes Peak" - and what the author did for an ENTIRE year was to take a daily photo of Pikes Peak - from a different location or time of day!! And along with the photo, is a paragraph or two about where he took the picture and why!! The book is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!! I have started from the front and have read and looked at the pictures for 6 months and I can't wait to finish the book!! A lot of the pictures were taken of course from places we know and have been so it really makes the book personable!! The book is not cheap - in fact it's $99.00 - but it is worth every penny and it's a book I'll treasure!

The sun is slowly peeking out now and hopefully that zero degree thermometer will be creeping up fast!!

Cabin Fever

Day #4 spent at home - YES, I'm getting cabin fever!! But it's not totally due to the snow......

Last Wednesday evening we took a crockpot meal over to Joleen's and ate with her while Glenn put up the last 2 of her blinds!! I could feel a sore throat coming on and sure enough, I woke up Thursday morning and could hardly swallow!! The nice thing was knowing I didn't HAVE to go into work!! And I spent the day gargling with salt water and reading a book - that's it!!!

And then about 6:00pm on Thursday night the snow started..................and that's when Jill called and cancelled Parker's 1st birthday party which was to be held on Saturday! Bummer - we had a full weekend planned - stop in at my old boss's surprise retirement party on Friday late afternoon before heading up to Denver - spending the night at Jaime's and her and I going to our llaser appts. early Sat. morning (a birthday gift to me from Jaime - having laser treatments to remove the hair above my lips) and then grabbing some Caribou Coffee and heading to Jessi's for a little bit to drop off some things and then the trek to Ft. Collins for the rest of the weekend!!

The weather was BAD - so it was a good thing that Jill cancelled and we didn't try to head up to Denver on Friday - and besides that, I was still sick!!

Glenn even took a snow day on Friday and spent the day at home - I'm not sure how much snow we actually got because we had so much wind with it but probably 8 to 10 inches that stuck around!! My throat felt a little better but now it was moving to a head cold!!

Saturday - I actually felt GOOD in the morning and then went downhill as the day went on - the horrible runny nose and head pressure started in and by evening I didn't feel good at all!!

And now it's Sunday morning and I had really hoped to go to church - but that's not going to happen because I surely don't need to sneeze and blow my nose around all those other people!! So once again, I'm spending the day at home - with my kleenex box and my hot apple cider!! I'm telling myself that I WILL go into work tomorrow and feel better - surely all this sleep I'm getting and down time will make me better faster!! One can only hope........................

Toasty Warm Feet

Remember my "Hotsox" I received in the grab bag at Christmas??? Well, they have been a LIFESAVER at work!! The upstairs office floor is brick and COLD!! I have a rug under my desk to put my feet on but many days my feet are STILL cold - so I stick my pink hotsox in the microwave for a minute and a half, put those cute slippers on and in a couple of minutes, my feet are toasty warm!!!

Just don't plan on walking in them very much though............

Office Decor

It's all finally done!! Except for the island that is being built by a cabinet maker, the office is FINALLY decorated! I LOVE it and it's a pleasure to walk into the showroom and see what a difference it makes to have a few items on the wall!!

Starting with the top level where my desk is, this is what you see when you get to the top of the stairway!

Of course I had to hang my picture of the peak that my friend took and framed for me many years ago!! Also check out our new (used of course) frig - the one side of it was really banged up and looked awful so I bought a neat poster to cover it with!!

I love these 2 pics I picked out - they're kind of 3D but the sun was shining in on them when I took the pictures so you can't get the full effect but they really look nice!! They're on the big wall over by the bathroom! And speaking of bathrooms, I did forget to take a picture in there but I have 2 nice prints of red flowers and green foilage!! Accented with a green hand towel makes it look much more feminine!!

Here's my 2 little friends that keep me company upstairs!! They're usually perched on the microwave - I just had to move them over to get out of the light!!

And this is my view out the window!! There are 2 of these large windows, side by side - but of course the one by my computer has the blinds down all the time because of all the light!!

Now we're down in the showroom - I ordered these 2 neat vases that have holders, filled them with rocks and arranged silk flowers in them. I plan on changing out the flowers each season!!

Here's the view when you walk in the door.

And darn it, if the right picture isn't crooked!! Guess I better straighten it out when I go in tomorrow!!

Just in case you don't notice, these are aspen leaves which is where we got our name!!

Here is the clock over by Glenn's desk and his display of all the kids and grandkids!! It turned out pretty neat!!

So there you have it - our showroom and office!! It actually looks even BETTER in person so come visit us!!

Our New Resident..............

Mr. Frog arrived at our house on Sunday afternoon via Jill at Suite Retreat (she forgot to bring him at Christmas!!) I immediately dressed him in his Valentine's outfit and am still deciding if I want him on the fireplace hearth or on the carpeted steps - wherever he ends up, I'm sure he'll enjoy spending this next year at our house!!

Since I also have a goose that has many, many costumes and never enough time to wear them all, I will donate some of them to Mr. Frog so he will have a little more variety!

Welcome to our house!!

Suite Retreat - 2012

The scrappers were at it again this last weekend!! Didn't I just scrapbook 2011?? Yes, it was the last thing I scrap booked a few weeks ago when I had some free time!!

Once again, all 4 of us were able to attend and it was great to have Jaime and Jessi arrive early to have the tables all set up for Jill and I - I'll have to remember that next year and come a little late again - he he..........

I did have shopping to do before I headed to the Embassy Suites but it was one of those not so great shopping trips where I didn't find what I was looking for.....sigh...... But I perked up after I unloaded the car and got all set up!!

We headed down to Happy Hour after we had a couple of pages scrap booked and waited and waited downstairs and NO bartender came to set up!! We FINALLY talked to another gal who said they had moved the "Mangers Reception" (such a fancy name!) to the actual bar, The Polo Club!! Which we were NOT happy with!! We all wear sweat pants and t-shirts and slippers and that's exactly what we wore to the bar!!

I have to admit, we felt just a LITTLE bit under dressed so decided to put on jeans the next night!! The bartender gladly made our "woo-woos" (cranberry juice with peach schnapps) and we enjoyed not only THEIR snacks, but OUR snacks!!

Dinner that night was catered in by Texas Roadhouse - and it was great!!

We actually didn't stay up too late the first night - I think we were all in bed by 11:15 and were back up by 7:30 to head down to breakfast - they DO make great breakfasts!!

We SURE had fun on Saturday - giggling over pictures, reminiscing about events, running down to our advisers' room when we each won prizes, snacking and snacking and snacking, taking power walks around the hallways to get our circulation going again, eating sub sandwiches for lunch that were catered in, and ONCE in a while, checking in with home to see how the hubbies were doing with the kids!!

Before we knew it, it was Happy Hour time again!! This time we dressed a little nicer and decided to sit down at the restaurant part which is connected to the bar - that was all fine and dandy till a worker came over and advised us that we were NOT allowed to bring our own food into the restaurant - oh well - we tried!!

Here's a picture of what our room looks like when we're all set up and hard at it!! And yes, we have one of the executive suites so it's extra large!!

We brought our own dinner for that evening - crab salad, veggies and sausage, cheese and crackers - yummy!!! But we didn't make it too late after scrap booking all day - we headed to bed at a decent hour and then ended up making shadow images on the ceiling from Jill's light on her phone and laughed and laughed............

I must have slept good - the next thing I remember was Jessi telling me her and Jill were heading down to breakfast and it was 7:40!!! YIKES!! Jaime and I flew out of bed and started our showers but by the time we were ready to head down to eat, the line was MORE than long and it was 9:30 before the line got short enough for us to join it - we'll remember that next year - no sleeping in on Sundays!!

Glenn was up in Denver for the weekend helping Gary finish up the bathroom project and then Gary was going to take Jaime's kids to church while Brad and Glenn went ice fishing!! Jaime had messages waiting when she turned on her phone - an EMERGENCY message from Rayna that there were no dog bones for the dogs!! And when Jaime called home and spoke with Rayna, she found out Kylan was eating snickers for breakfast - oh my..............

Packing up is really not fun but it must be done and by noon we were all out of there and heading back home!! The final count for pages from the 4 of us - 64 pages which are all double sided so a total of 128 sides!! WOW - it WAS one fantastic weekend!!!

Mountain Aspen

It's pretty strange not driving to Farmers every weekday morning - but instead going to work with Glenn and helping him out! I spent the first week and 1/2 DEEP cleaning the showroom and the upstairs office which is where I hang out!! Here is the upstairs kitchen (and the door marked private leads into the "girls" bathroom!) We're still hoping to get a full size refrigerator to replace the small one!

The big desk from downstairs was moved to the upstairs - there is lots of light that comes in from those big windows and the view from the desk? None other than a perfect view of Pikes Peak, with no other buildings in the way!!

I have added a couple of nice plants to the office but have yet to decorate the walls. Several items have been ordered but have not yet arrived with a couple more to pick up downtown! When the sun is shining, it's nice and warm upstairs - when it's snowing though, it's a little cold upstairs, especially on the floor so I just heat up my "hot sox" pink slippers and put them on till my feet get warm!

Here are some pictures of the showroom - again, it's not decorated yet on the walls but will be soon!! Also Glenn has ordered an "island" which he'll top with granite to use as a workplace when clients come in.

The door in this next picture leads into the fabrication department - a huge room that I will NEVER clean!! The sad part is that no matter how many times we mop, the floor always has "granite" dust tracks on it, which are tracked in from the fabrication room - but there's nothing we can do about it so I'll just have to live with the fact that the floor will not always be clean!

You can see the steps that go up in this picture - then there's a landing and another set of steps that go to the upper office - 24 steps - trust me I have counted them many, many times as I run up and down them!! No worries about extra exercising this year!!! I make it a point to RUN up them everytime as long as my hands aren't full!!

I'll post some more pictures AFTER the walls are decorated and our island is in!! But for now, at least you can picture where the Raymonds' go to work each day!