Crocs gone wild

Chris's office just completed its move from Loveland to Longmont. Turns out that the Longmont office is just across the street from a Crocs warehouse. Last weekend Crocs had a crazy 4 day sale at this wharehouse. Let's just say that the first day of the sale was out of control. Our parking lot at work was full of minivans and kids and old ladies driving 30 miles an hour. Our HR department and our property owner had talks directly with Crocs headquarters and things were much more tame the second day so I decided to check out the sale with my buddy Ivan. We only had to wait about 10 minutes to get in the door (the line the first day wrapped around the block and was at least an hour long.) As soon as we got in we were handed a giant trash bag for our wares.

It was interesting to say the least...

Here is the line to check out. People had their trash bags full of crocs.

The second day they had police directing traffic in front of the warehouse and tour buses shuttling people from a nearby mall parking lot.

Early Birthday Present

On Saturday a very thoughtful neighborhood cat left Erica an early birthday present. I'm so glad I didn't step on it when I went out to get the mail. That might have been the end of our poor little friend. Anyway, we plan to take the bird in and nurse it back to health. When it is ready to fly again we will use an ultralight aircraft disguised as a bird to help our fine feathered friend migrate and return to its family. All in a days work...

JHAWK dinner

Monday night after the first day of Congress, Erica and her grad school classmates had dinner at Gino's which is known for their deep dish pizza.

Angela and I.

The Gang + Dr. Grasso.

Weekend

We were home bodies this weekend and didn't venture too far from Emily and Andy's house. We did play a good amount of Guitar Hero on Sunday...

Chris stayed in Chicago until Monday morning when he flew back to CO. Erica stayed until Wednesday morning so she could attend the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Annual Congress on Healthcare Leadership.

Saturday Breakfast at Blue Max Coffee

The boys.

Emily and her fancy coffee.

New Wake Up Call Service from Southwest Airlines

Erica did not get a good start to the day when Southwest called this morning at 4:59am to let her know her 7:45am flight to Chicago was canceled and she should call to make new arrangements.  Luckily, she made the next flight out and is now in Chi-town with Chris and AGPERP.

Race Day

Post Race @ Kelly's. Official times not available yet, but we are both pretty happy with our performances.

Katie & Christina Pre Race.

Erica could see these 3 crazies for most of the race.

Chris & Franzy.

Westport St. Patricks Day Run

We are running 4 miles through historic Westport to celebrate St. Patrick's Day today. The race starts at 10am and starts and ends at Kelly's Westport Inn.

Thank You W.

We have both been struggling with daylight savings this year - just can't get out of bed in the morning. Chris thinks its a good thing because there is more light in the evening. I argue that it is too cold to take advantage of it. We're getting a divorce.

Whoa, its been a week!

I can't believe it has been a week since the last post, time is flying these days. Here is the latest:

I ordered my cap, gown, tassel, and hood for graduation today! I also have a volleyball double header tonight. There might not be any winning involved, but it sure is a good way to get some laughs in. We are pretty comical.

Chris started his new commute to work this week. They moved his office to Longmont, which pretty much doubled the drive time every day.

Sunday Funday

When we are in KC, we get together with the gang on most Sunday nights for Keith's good cooking and wine. This past Sunday we had pizza and lasagna with Keith's homemade sauce.

Saturday Night Recap

Last night entailed a trip to the gym. It was interesting...lots of interesting characters. We are thinking of going to a different KC location next time. Chris reports there are young and attractive looking people at his gym which is also bright and inviting. This was not the case last night. Besides the borderline scary people, it was dark and cave-like despite being a pretty new facility.

We got home at 9pm and cooked a late dinner. We had mashed sweet potatoes, fresh asparagus, and chicken breasts with a new "sauce" I found on-line that would use the last of our orange muscat. The sauce had excellent flavor, but it turned out to be more of a liquid than sauce. We ended up dipping our chicken in it like it was an aus jus. I didn't add all of the broth and cooked it for close to an hour total. I guess I am not good at reductions (yet).

I also made a Watergate Cake. A coworker of mine passed on the recipe to me this week. We had cake and coffee for breakfast this morning. It baked up to be a really pretty green and Chris liked it so well I might just have to make it again for St. Patty's day!

Orange-Honey Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup Essencia (orange Muscat wine) or late-harvest Riesling
• 2/3 cup chopped shallots (about 4 large)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into 3 pieces

Preparation

Whisk first 4 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 12 minutes. Add stock and simmer until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 20 minutes. Whisk in butter 1 piece at a time, allowing each piece to melt before adding next. Season with salt and pepper.

Source: www.epicurious.com

Watergate Cake

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz) box white cake mix

2 pkgs (3.4 oz each) pistachio instant pudding mix

3 eggs

1 cup 7-UP or other clear non-caffeinated soda

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip or other non-dairy whipped topping

Directions:

Mix together cake mix, 1 box pudding mix, eggs, oil and soda. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely.

Beat the second box of pudding with milk. Fold into the Cool Whip. Frost the cooled cake and keep refrigerated.