It's all just fun and games

Healthful Living

Darren and I were reminiscing a while back about the different productions/concerts we have been to so I thought it might be fun to list them. One list consists of those we’ve done together and the other is ones we have gone to separately. So here they are:

List of shows we've been to together:
The Lion King
Rascal Flatts
Jack Johnson
Wicked (twice)
Phantom of the Opera
Blue October/Yellowcard
Live
One Republic
Barnum & Bailey Circus
Black Beard the Musical
The Christmas Carol
Andre Rieu
Les Miserables
Transiberian Orchestra
Brad Paisley
The Nutcracker
Warren Miller

Others:
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Light in the Piazza
Little Shop of Horrors
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
Michelle Branch
Staind
Nickelback
Nora Jones
Allison Krauss
Rick Trevino
Keith Urban
Brian Regan
Joel Osteen

Can you guess which ones I can claim and which ones Darren would deny? :o)


Story: Since we went to Wicked in L.A. the weekend we got engaged, as much as we wanted to see it again, we decided to pass when it came to Tempe in July. So one random Tuesday afternoon, Darren calls me in the middle of the day to see if I want to go to Gammage Auditorium after work and see if we can win some tickets through a raffle. Sounds fun to me! So we go after work, put each of our names on a piece of paper and wait with about 75 other people to see if one of our names will be drawn. After about 10 people we hear, "Darren Brown". We looked at each other astonishingly as Darren walks to the front table to pick up his loot. So for a total of $50, we received two 2nd row, center stage tickets to Wicked. Yay!! Doesn't get better than that :) We even got two of these prized buttons to show off.


0 comments |

Velkommen til Solvang!

Healthful Living
November 11th-14thIn November, we spent four fun-filled days in sunny California. We woke up Veteran’s Day morning, drove to Santa Monica Pier, and then stayed the night in L.A. The next morning we drove along the coast from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara. We spent a few hours walking around downtown Santa Barbara looking in the various shops and taking some fun pictures.


Hmm...someday :)

Later that afternoon we continued on our journey towards Los Alamos, CA, where we stayed in the most unique bed and breakfast. Click here to check out the website. Click on the “suites” link on the left to check out the different bedrooms. After some deliberation we decided to stay in the "Egyptian Room". It was the coolest room ever!! The ceiling was draped with material in order to resemble a sheik’s tent and the bathroom door was a King Tut statue. You had to pull on his beard to open the door. It had a fireplace, hot tub and remote controlled lights (allowed you to choose the combinations of color that you wanted). It even had Egyptian music playing and its own “Egyptian scent”. Ours was also the only room to have its own personal patio that overlooked the tree lined streets below. As we were leaving I asked the hostess what the old ship in the backyard was for. She informed us that the owner is currently renovating it to be the 7th guestroom. The theme will be Cast Away. Awesome!! Once that one is finished he wants to build a Tree House Room. Like an actual room in a tree! How cool would that be!? We definitely want to go back and stay in a couple of others.


The Victorian Mansion


The next room


The bathroom door


You know those optical illusions where two objects are morphed together and you either see one thing or the other (depending on right or left brain capabilities)? Well...where Darren saw a statue with a long beard, I saw a statue with a wide, gaping mouth. Imagine seeing that by firelight. Ahh...so romantic.



The next morning we went and walked around The Depot Mall, an old railway depot converted into an antique shop. It’s because of this depot that Los Alamos is knows as the Home of the last Pacific Railway Station. It’s the biggest antique store I’ve ever been in. It was fun to walk around and look at all the old stuff.

After looking through the depot, we headed south to Solvang, CA, in the heart of Santa Barbara wine country. Solvang, a quaint little village meaning “sunny field”, was founded in 1911 by a small group of Danish educators who came looking for warmer weather and less oppression. It consists of many shops and buildings that follow traditional Danish architecture and bakeries that offer authentic Danish food. It has a copy of the famous Little Mermaid statue from Copenhagen and a park named after the famed Danish fable writer Hans Christian Andersen (even though when asked, Darren thought he was a famous speed skater). For lunch we tried the famous frikadeller, medisterpølse, and rødkaal (meatball, Danish sausage and pickled red cabbage). For breakfast we tried the aebleskiver (light and airy pancake balls dusted with powdered sugar and served with raspberry jam). Needless to say, lunch was an adventure but the aebleskivers were amazing!! Some of our favorite shops were Jule Hus, a year round Christmas shop, the Thomas Kinkade Gallery (so many amazing paintings), and the Solvang Antique Center. My favorite part was the antique clocks. They were so beautiful and ornate. The most expensive one I saw was an 1870 American made for $123, 000. Can you even imagine? Solvang was such a fun place to visit with its old fashioned buildings and tree lined, lantern lined streets. What a perfect vacation!






Hans Christian Andersen statue






???




medisterpolse and rodkaal for lunch




there were storks on a lot of the buildings (In Denmark, a stork roosting on your roof is considered good luck)



1 comments |

Mi Heroé

Healthful Living
This next post is for you babe. As we have just celebrated our one year anniversary it is only natural for me to look back on our previous year together and reminisce on all the wonderful moments we have spent together. Our moments range from fishing and camping to vacations and Broadway shows. Amidst all of these I realize the only reason they mean anything is because of you. You make every day a little bit brighter. You make every sunrise and sunset a little bit grander. You make every joke a little bit funnier. You make every song a little bit sweeter. You make my life a whole lot better. As is stated in a well-versed song, “You are the reason I believe in love. My dreams came true because of you.” You truly are my everything. And since I have so many things to be grateful for, I had to narrow my list to include those closest to my heart:

Thank you for loving me and teaching me how to trust. Thank you for needing me. Thank you for holding me when I need it most. Thank you for lifting me up when I am down. Thank you for holding my hand everywhere we go. Thank you for putting your arm around me and holding me close. Thank you for opening the door for me each and every time. Thank you for taking care of me when I am sick. Thank you for all the sweet notes you write and leave for me to find. Thank you for watching “cheesy romantic movies” from time to time because you know I want to. Thank you for calling me in the middle of the day just to say hi. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication in taking care of our family. Thank you for all the fun trips and unforgettable memories. Thank you for being a spiritual giant. You teach me something important nearly every day through your example. Thank you for being such a great listener, even when I’m sharing my newest “nutrition fact.” Thank you for being open-minded and willing to try new things (i.e. musicals, vegetarian-style dishes). Thank you for always making me laugh: intentionally or not. Thank you for singing me songs. Thank you for asking me to dance, even when it’s just in our kitchen. Thank you for rubbing my feet and painting my nails. Thank you for being the best food chopper in the whole world. You make dinner so much easier. Thank you for all the picnic dinners and breakfasts in bed. Thank you for all the kisses and all the hugs. Thank you for loving me ALWAYS and in ALL ways. And ultimately, thank you for teaching me what true love really means. And because of this last thing, you will always be mi heroé and my best friend. I love you babe!
4 comments |

Our second honeymoon...

Healthful Living
No. We did not try steer roping...
...or go to a dairy.

This last weekend marked our one year anniversary. I cannot believe it has been a year already. Crazy! We went to Greer, AZ and stayed in the Greer Lodge Resort. It was fun to go back, since this is where we took our engagement pictures.
Greer Lodge Resort

inside the Lodge



For a little background information, my step dad bought me a fly pole for Christmas about 3 years ago because I told him I really wanted to learn how to fly fish (and despite what Darren says, its not because of Brad Pitt in "A River Runs Through It." (ok...maybe slightly ;o) Anyway... since I could not find someone to teach me, the pole has remained in its case ever since. Well...by staying at the Greer Lodge, we were entitled to FREE fly fishing lessons and a FREE bike rental. Yay! So Darren and I decided to take advantage of both. We first took a fishing lesson from an ole' cowboy named Larry. He taught us how to "cast", how to "fish", how to choose the right fly, and where to find the fish. We even learned to "shadow cast", which is when you whip the line from back to front over your head, well actually to the side of your head unless you want to catch the hook in the back of your head. We learned that this technique is used to dry out the "dry fly" and to create the appearance of a fly landing on the water quickly and then flying away. It was so much fun! We both really took to it and were both able to catch a fish by the time the day was through. We're going to take the fly pole with us next time we go fishing so we can practice.






As it started to rain we had to dart under a bridge to keep from getting soaked

There were a lot of spider webs under the bridge and as you can tell, I hate spiders!
1 comments |

Pics of Greer

Healthful Living
Just some random pics of Greer. I love the sunflowers by the water. I asked Darren if we could move somewhere like this...green, cool, trickling streams. He asked me if I'd be okay with 8 feet of snow in the winter. Um...I'll have to think about it. :o)







0 comments |

"A rose by any other color..."

Healthful Living
Darren sent these flowers to me at work wishing me a happy anniversary. He is the king of surprises. I never know what he's going to do. Funny story...the night after receiving the flowers, Darren and I had a conversation similar to the following:


Me: Babe...thank you so much for the flowers. It was so sweet of you. I love them. And especially the color. I've always loved orange roses.

Darren's response: Orange?

Me: Um...ya. Orange.

Darren: They were supposed to be red.

Me: Really? Well...they are orange.

So apparently Darren had ordered red roses in an orange vase in order to match our wedding colors. Cute idea but not exactly executed according to plans. But once I convinced him how much I loved the color and how perfect it turned out, he decided this was one mistake worth making. Thanks again babe! They were absolutely perfect! :)
0 comments |