The next adventure

In case you haven't heard, I no longer live here. I've spent the last two months settling into my new home in Colorado. It's been an incredible roller coaster, leaving everything and everyone on my little island and heading west to a big city. I've gone back and forth between excitement and slight depression and I have to say that it was a much harder transition than I had expected. Instead of finding endless opportunities waiting at my new doorstep, I found job hunting to be exhausting and depressing. I couldn't believe how inconsiderate people could be and how hard it was to simply get an interview, but thankfully things have finally started to fall into place. Now the holidays are coming up and I'm getting knee deep in wedding planning in my new home....

On the water

Days like these are going to make leaving Maine really difficult. I can't tell you how fabulous the Regatta was this year...the weather was perfect: the sky was clear, the sun was out and there was just enough of a breeze to keep us from baking. There's really no way you can beat a sunny day on the water with a beer and some snacks.

Garden Fresh

Mmmm
Nothing like veggies straight out of the garden!

I almost forgot how good it feels to cook your own food. I've been so busy getting together a portfolio and organizing bank accounts and checking out caterers that I haven't had time to enjoy some of my favorite things! I keep thinking that I'm missing out on hiking and biking, but I've forgotten about the simple things like cooking.

This weekend Joe and I picked blueberries in the park and made asparagus pizza, blueberry pancakes, grilled shrimp with a grilled veggie and feta salad (obviously not all in the same day), and I just pulled a blueberry coffee cake out of the oven! Yummm!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone had a fabulous fourth of July! I had to work on the official holiday, but was able to sneak out in time to catch the fireworks. We had arguably the best seat in the house, on top of our friends photo shack on the town pier. I've never been that close to a fireworks display before and it was actually a bit intense. You could feel the mortars shake the dock and if the wind hadn't been blowing away from us, I might have felt the need to duck and cover!

Here's your sign...

Anyone interested in what I've been so busy with this summer? Here's a taste...just two of the 5 signs I painted for the gallery. Still working on the new website at the moment, hopefully It'll be up and ready for input by the end of the week!

Time flies...

Went to Florida a couple of weeks ago to visit friends and it already feels like it was months ago..I wish I could go back. It was probably the best vacation I can remember having been on in terms of being what I need at the time. I was in serious need of some r & r and that's exactly what I got. We basically lounged around and caught up with old friends. Perfection!

Is it Friday yet?

...because I'm exhausted!

Yesterday was a particularly long and exhausting day at the paper. I'm not sure if the heat seeped inside me and sucked out all of my energy or if it was just the perfect storm of late ads and odd shaped stories, but I caught myself wanted to get up and walk away numerous times. On the positive, thumbing through my printouts is still extremely gratifying. I feel so accomplished knowing that I can put together an entire newspaper on my own--that's not something most people can say.

Website building is turning out to be incredibly gratifying as well. I'm impressed with how much I actually learned from my online courses. Simply perusing other websites and checking out their code is turning out to be not only helpful but kind of fun as well! It's definitely challenging to build a website from scratch, especially since I don't know a single person familiar with CSS and XHTML, but so far I've managed to solve every problem I've encountered with a little bit of concentration and a few deep breaths. Here's about where I'm at so far...well one of the versions anyway. I've actually got three different versions going at once so I can play with different gallery styles and decide which one I like best. I'll probably be soliciting opinions on functionality and aesthetics a little bit further down the road. For now, here's what I've got! Hopefully I'll have some time to do some work tonight...got get this baby up so I can get myself a job!

Happy Father's Day!

...to all the dads out there! Including, of course, My Dad!!! Thanks for everything you do! Love you bunches!

Heading west

Joe recently took a trip to Wyoming to work on his dad's new cabin. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go with him, but he did bring back some pictures to share. I can't express how excited I am to go and see it in person! It looks amazing and cozy and comfortable, just what a cabin out west should be! Good thing we're moving closer to Wyoming so we can visit it more often!

View from the top

I've fallen behind in my postings, but I suppose that's a typical occurrence these days. My life has been filled with comings and goings and lists that seem to go on for days. I've been trying to wrap up spring projects since we're already well into summer, but new things keep making their way onto my lists and the old ones just won't go away.

BIg projects on hand:
Finishing my web design courses (finished!)
Finding/finalizing a wedding location (almost there...)
Redesigning/painting promotional material for Sagegrass Gallery (should be finished today)
Design my online portfolio so I can....(haven't even started)
Find a job in Denver.

That's the long and short of it.

For now, here's a couple photos of a hike up Parkman Mountain. Beautiful, but extremely windy, view from the top after a strenuous and satisfying hike.

Derby day!

Kentucky Derby festivities at Leary's! Who knew my garbage bag flower-making skills would come in handy after high school! I do enjoy any excuse to dress up and be silly!

Tulips are blooming...

May has proven to be unpredictable up until this point as far as weather is concerned. We've been cold and rainy then warm and rainy, then sunny, then cold, then back to rainy again. But thankfully we've had some good days to enjoy all that spring has to offer here on the island - one of those things being the Stewart Estate Bulb Tour. As gorgeous as ever, and for once on a warm and sunny morning, the walk was a nice start to my Saturday. The tulips seemed much fuller than last year, looking more like a bed I'd like to lie down in for a nap in the sun.

How do people find the time?

I promise I'm not purposely avoiding my little blog, I just can't seem to find the time to sit down long enough to type more than a few quick words. And with that....

Just kidding! Although in truth I really don't have much more time than this. I just got home from work (Yes, it's almost midnight. And yes, I did get to work at 7am this morning) and am having a quick snack to silence my grumbling tummy before heading off to catch a few zzz's. Tomorrow I have almost the entire day off from the paper, but I have about a weeks worth of things to do at the gallery, so I'll be waking up at 7 and heading into there for the day.

Between the two jobs, the start of the tourist season (Yikes! I always forget how much busier and more hectic everything gets.), my online classes, job searching, volunteering for the Y, and on top of that trying to start planning wedding stuff and all of the trips and visits that need to happen this summer....I'm exhausted just thinking about it all!

I think I could use some serious beauty sleep! It's off to dreamland for me!

Brunch with a view

As usual, I'm late getting these up, but Happy late Easter! Special thanks to Joe's Grandma for sending us to the Inn for brunch. It was delicious as always and you can't beat the view!

Hup!

The past two weekends have apparently been a struggle for mother nature. It was around 19 degrees two weeks ago and within seven days it had risen to about 65. Unfortunately for Joe and Pete, the first canoe race of the season was two weeks ago. Being the troupers they are, they went ahead and took part in the race in spite of the weather, paddling their butts off to stay warm. In the end, they both claimed to not be cold while I, on the other hand, was frozen, shivering on the bridges, watching them paddle by. And to add insult to injury, I got a serious sunburn that I was not expecting.










The next weekend brought another sunburn, but I suppose I deserved that one since it was bright and sunny. I actually joined in on the race that day and paddled down the river with Pete while Joe and Brian followed behind. It was surprisingly easy -- no one fell in and my arms weren't even tired after paddling for an hour! It was definitely a fun time made even better by a picnic on the water afterward.