Fun in the sun...and rain?

Goose and Beaner would like to let you know that summer has officially arrived here in Colorado! The kitties spend most of their afternoons sitting in front of the sliding glass doors entranced by the song birds that are resting in the shade of our deck. We've had plenty of sunshine and heat (which Bill just LOVES while he's outside in a suit knocking on people's doors...). And just like my Florida summers, we have afternoon rain showers. The only thing that is missing (but certainly not missed) is the awful humidity!

I mentioned in one of my last posts that I would tell you later why I was wearing my glasses during Steven and Chrissy's visit. Thanks to my amazing family, The Boulder Eye Center, and Uncle Sam, I was able to have a surgery that I have wanted for many years - Laser Eye surgery to repair my vision. It was a graduation gift to myself, and well worth the wait! I had to wear my glasses for two weeks to prepare my corneas for the surgery.

I once was blind...


But now I see!!


What a difference it has made in my life to be able to roll over in the morning and see my husband's scruffy face clearly! To be able to fully appreciate the beauty of my surroundings without having to struggle with dry contact lenses! I will never have to say the words "Nobody move! I lost a contact lens!" I am so grateful.

I recently purchased another trail book titled "A Hiking Guide To Rocky Mountain National Park: 109 Classic Lunch Spots". The guide chronicles several hikes in the park that culminate in a breathtaking spot to have lunch, and is written with a great sense of humor. Bill and I decided to embark on a 7 mile out-and-back trail that links several mountain lakes together and promised to be spectacular.


Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived at the park the rain started dumping on us. For the next 2 hours we hiked and scrambled in pouring rain through the alpine woods to reach the first lake. We were soaked through and pretty miserable! I was determined to see at least one of these "beautiful lunch spots" since we had driven all that way, and Bill was a good sport (maybe he's starting to realize just how determined I can be...).


Just as we were about to give up and go back to the car, the rain subsided (praise God!) and we were able to hike on. We were rewarded with some amazing views along the way, and finally made it to Mill's Lake, the first body of water on our route.


Although it was still a little gray, the lake, surrounded by great mountain peaks, was pristine and lovely. We hiked on a little further looking for a few more "lunch spots", but eventually pooped out and turned around. Overall, our day of hiking wasn't one of the best we have experienced, but it was certainly an adventure!

Last weekend I convinced Bill to take Saturday AND Sunday off, and we got to go camping! We headed southwest by about three hours to the Arkansas River Headwaters State Park and found ourselves in another gorgeous spot.


Our campsite at Hecla Junction Campground was up on a small hill overlooking a bend in the river where white water rafters enter and exit.


Check out the view of our campsite home!


Bill wanted to make sure that everyone knows we fully enjoyed our camping snacks and "beverages"...


We attempted some river and fly fishing throughout the weekend, but unfortunately didn't catch anything. Our campground did not have running water, so we tried to rinse off in the river but it was freezing! I couldn't go in above my calves! We were pretty odorific by the end of the weekend, but "roughing it" is half the fun!





On our way back north on Sunday, we stopped at Spinney Reservoir State Park to try our hands at fishing again. This spot is rumored to be one of the best fishing spots in Colorado. Unfortunately again, we did not catch a thing! But it was a very peaceful spot with lovely scenery.



On our way into the park, we made some very special friends...



Those girls were extremely friendly and curious. We hung out with them for a good 5 minutes, scratching their noses and shooting pictures. The experience took me back to my island time and reminded me of my dear Donkeyshein (my surgery donkey in 7th semester). Now I want a donkey! (and my husband rolls his eyes...)

We thoroughly enjoyed our weekend away from the busy-ness of our lives; spending a few days away from the comforts of home in the serenity of God's creation was so refreshing.


In just a few days I am flying to Las Vegas to take my third and final licensing examination, and when I return we will have more visitors in our home! We love visitors!

Stay tuned for more Bliz adventures!

The Month Of June: Part Deux

In this installment, we lived through, I mean, thoroughly enjoyed 10 days with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece. We squashed 6 bodies (plus 2 cats) into our 1-bedroom apartment and had a blast!

We went to the zoo...


While we were at the zoo the tornado sirens went off and we had to hunker down in the basement of one of the buildings for about 15 minutes. That was certainly an interesting experience! The tornado was actually a few miles from the zoo and never got very close, but it got our blood pressure to rise!

Augustine and I loved the elephants the most...


We had fun relaxing at home...




Chrissy and I went on an awesome 7.2-mile loop hike together - girls' day out!


...And then we rewarded ourselves with some of the best fries in town.


We visited Hammond's Candy Factory in Denver...


...And bit off more than we could chew.


Next stop, a day trip to Rocky Mountain National Park!



The kids decided to brave the freezing mountain water...

...And try their hands (and feet) at bouldering!


We were all exhausted by the end of 10 days...


...but it was worth every second. We miss them so much! Come back soon you guys!

Look here for a more in depth picture tour of our adventures!

The Month Of June: Part One

We're back! Man, June has been a crazy month! Bill and I had so many exciting things going on this month and we want to share them all with you. However, in the interest of saving time, my sanity, and your attention span, I have decided to split this month into three consecutive posts.

Part One: Graduation Weekend in New York

Even though my official date of graduation was January 31, 2009, Ross University has a ceremony once a year in June. All my classmates came from around North America and descended upon Madison Square Garden for graduation. It was great to see everyone again and catch up on what they're all up to. It was encouraging for me to hear that many of my classmates are going through the same thing I am (taking multiple tests to gain licensure), and are still waiting for the official "go-ahead" to practice.


I had forgotten just how much fun it is to hang out with my fellow Rossies! After graduation, we all got together at a local bar and took over the place. Bill and I were able to reconnect with my old crew and had a great time sharing new stories and old.


The other great part about going out to NY was that we got to see my family in New Jersey. Bill had never met my maternal grandparents or many of my aunts and uncles. I tried to warn him that my northern family is crazy, but he fits right in! As always during a visit to NJ, there was a lot of wine, beer, teasing, and laughing. I only wish we could have spent more time!


We did get a little extra time with Uncle Scott, Aunt Linda, and mom; we spent the day as a group just tooling around Manhattan and Central Park. Thanks to the willingness of the rest of the group, I was finally able to experience something I've wanted to do for a long time - have a drink at Tavern On The Green in Central Park!! This restaurant is one of the most famous places in NY; celebrities frequent this establishment and many movies have filmed here.

Overall, we had such a wonderful time visiting with family and celebrating my accomplishment. Graduation felt like closure on a very long chapter of my life. In the surreal moment when we recited our Hippocratic Oath, I sent a prayer of gratitude up to heaven for the gifts that God has given me, and I felt that He was proud of me.

There were so many pictures taken in NY that I couldn't put them all in the blog, but if you go here, you will see the album from our trip. Enjoy, and look for the second installment soon!

Memorial Day weekend festivities

I DID IT! I raced in the BolderBoulder 10K on Memorial Day and beat my personal time record for a 10K by 14 minutes! The finish was inside the Buffs' stadium, so as I sprinted across the finish line there were thousands of people cheering me on. It was a surreal and elating experience! Bill and the Koschmanns were there to support me, and there was video taken of my finish which I will try to post later. But here I am after the race, glowing and ecstatic!

Since it was a Memorial Day race, all servicemen and -women were being honored. Many people raced in honor of someone who is currently serving in the military or served in the past.

During the 4th mile of the race a lady ran up next to me and said, "Excuse me, miss, but who is Steven?" I proudly replied, "Oh! He's my brother!". And she said, emphatically and sincerely, "Please tell him THANK YOU." I was very moved by that gesture. So, Steven, thank you for what you do - not only from me, but also from random people in Boulder. :)

More Memorial Weekend fun - while our neighbors were BBQ-ing, Bill and I were enjoying "PJ day" which is a beloved occasional pasttime of ours. During Bill's nap #2 on that day, I snapped this shot of the kitties. Bill said he was just trying to "walk in the kitties' shoes" for a day. I can't tell if the cats were enjoying Bill's presence during their nap time, or annoyed by it.

Joy of joys!! Also this weekend, two of my dear friends from back in my Gainesville, Florida days came to Colorado to visit Amy and I. We all hung out together Friday night and all day Saturday. It was just like old times...




It was so nice to have some "family" visiting, especially those whom I haven't seen in a LONG time. It was just like not a day had passed. My cheeks were sore from laughing so much! Nick and Jules - we miss you already!

"Braving the Bear (Market)"

I rarely post a blog since Liz does a great job of keeping you in the loop on our lives in Colorado, but I thought I'd give a little commentary in my world.

This blog moment is coming from the other half of the BLIZ team (Bill) and is brought to you today by the letters "L", "D" and the number 10.

As you can imagine, I've been doing a lot of "hand-holding" with clients who are concerned about their investments. Consider these news headlines:

"STOCKS SLIP AND CRASH - Violent Plunge Brings Panic"

"PANIC RAGES IN MARKET"

"NO PLACE TO HIDE - It's been a rough year on stock exchanges around the globe"

"ANOTHER BIG COLLAPSE OF BUYER CONFIDENCE"

Sound familiar? When do you think these were published?

The first two headlines featured in the Los Angeles Times on October 4, 1929. The third was published in Barrons on January 9, 1957. The last one was printed on November 23, 1974 in BusinessWeek. What can we take away from this?

If your long-term goals haven't changed, your investment strategy shouldn't either. The letter "L" is for Long Term Strategy. Many people have abandoned their long-term money and put it into short-term positions (i.e., savings, money markets, CDs). While their money is protected from investment loss, it is actually losing purchasing power due to future inflation. A CD earning 2 percent at the bank will never catch up to the inflation rate of 3 percent!

The letter "D" stands for Discipline. Instead of buying low and selling high, people tend to to just the opposite during a market correction like what we're experiencing now. We are emotional beings, and even the most logical people will stop investing or pull their investments when things feel uncertain.

The number 10 represents the rate of return in the stock market over the past 75 years. Our most recent bull market was one of the longest runs we've ever seen. Historically, the market has responded dramatically every year following a bear market. It's anybody's guess what kind of jump we'll receive from the next bull run. People who have taken themselves out of the market are going to miss it.

At the end of the day, it is time IN the market, not TIMING the market, that is going to carry your long-term investments forward.

Enough money talk :) Have a great week!

** Bill's mugshot can be found at http://www.edwardjones.com/en_US/fa/index.html&CIRN=313269

And now to the most famous National Park...in Colorado

Last Sunday, Bill had a most excellent idea for our "day off" activity - to spend the day at Rocky Mountain National Park! Imagine my surprise when I realized that the RMNP is only 1.5 hours away from my house! I immediately packed up our sandwiches and Gatorade in the day pack and we began our Rocky Mountain adventure.

Look what we found on the side of the road just outside the park! There were half a dozen male elk just hanging out in somebody's yard! I was impressed.

This was, of course, before we got into the RMNP when I realized that elk are more numerous than prairie dogs. And there are A LOT of prairie dogs. But they're still cool. :)

We drove around the park for a little while admiring the amazing views and searching for other little wild creatures. The park brochure listed some featured hikes for the time of year, so we decided to hike the Bear Lake Trail to see a waterfall.

Snow! It was in the 70's and very sunny that day, and we hiked the entire trail through the snow. Luckily for me, I am an experienced 'snow-hiker' (remember the Royal Arch hike?), so I did fine. I could hear Bill, however, slipping and sliding all over the place behind me. It was great fun.


The waterfall was beautiful - powerful and loud! It wasn't a very long waterfall, but it was wide and resembled a very steep river rapids. It was pretty impressive. Unfortunately the only picture Bill took of it was the above close-up of the water. Hmmm... maybe I should carry the camera from now on... :)


Here we are being goofy at the summit of the hike with a very small portion of the RMNP behind us. We tried to take some serious, more romantic pictures - but that's just not our style. They came out totally cheeseball, so we stuck with our more comfortable goofiness. Why pretend to be something you're not?

The picture below was my favorite spot during our visit to the park. Just gorgeous.


We had a fantastic day at the park. We even purchased an annual pass, so we can go back any time. There are so many trails to hike, and campgrounds to stay in, and creatures to find, and fish to catch, and...

Wow. What a great day.

Just for fun: this is my friend Soren on the day I we hung out in the giant sandbox at the mall. Jen (his mom) and I both had coupons to use at the VS store. Soren decided that it is very fun to play with drawers (pun intended). ;)

And here is another amazing Colorado sunset. Have we mentioned how much we love it here?

In other news - if you haven't already heard, I passed my NAVLE (my 2nd of 3 licensing exams)! Bill is still doing great with Edward Jones and has opened several accounts. I'm running the Bolder Boulder on Monday, so think fast and enduring thoughts for me! In 2 weeks we're going to NY for my graduation ceremony and Bill will meet my mom's side of the family for the first time. That should be good.