Wine Light

Chris installed a new light in the wine room last week.  We had been talking about a new fixture and the opportunity presented itself as we were walking through Lowe's and saw this fixture marked down from $132 to $32! 

I think the light looks small in this picture, but is well sized for the room and it adds a little "fancy".  The previous light, which was the Rutbo from Ikea, was just too big, put off too much light, and wasn't really all that special, in our opinion.

Recap of the Week

Katie & Chad "premiered" on September 22!: The highlight of the past week, was the marriage of our friends Katie and Chad, and our trip back to Kansas City to celebrate with them and the KC gang.

Rockies Game: We went to our last Rockies game on Monday, the 24th.  Our friend Brian went with us and one of Erica's pals who recently moved from KC also joined us.  The Rockies held off their 100 game losing streak by beating the Diamondbacks.

Working Hard for the Money:  While certainly not a highlight, we put in our hours this past week and then some.  Chris was facilitating training sessions over seas, which called for some unconventional work hours.

2 New Restaurants:  We had gone crazy on the deals websites recently and had 2 expiring vouchers to use up at Cebiche & Venue.  Cebiche is a Peruvian restaurant.  Chris had Lomo Saltado, and Erica had a seafood dish.  We shared a spicy ceviche.  

Friday night, we walked to Venue for an awesome 3 course meal.  Chris thinks he out ordered Erica, but she isn't so sure.  We enjoyed Pork Belly, Pear Salad, Shrimp and Grits, Chicken Gnocchi Carbonara, an Apple Tart, and a Brownie with Bourbon Caramel Sauce.

We definitely will be back to both.

Today:  This morning, Erica went to the salon for a haircut, manicure and pedicure.  Meanwhile, Chris held down the fort and completed some needed cleaning.  Erica joined him when she returned.  Brian then came over late in the afternoon and we headed over to Hops and Pie.  They were celebrating their second birthday  with Avery Brewing.  There was a raffle (we didn't win) and a Skirt Steak, Gruyere, and Mashed Potato pizza.  We all really enjoyed the beers and were surprised by which ended up as our favorites of the day.

Happy Friday!

This made me laugh today.

Queen of the Night

I found these black Queen of the Night tulips this morning at Planters Seed Store in Kansas City.  We are here this weekend for a wedding.  I have not seen these anywhere in Denver, only on-line.  I bought a dozen bulbs to take home.  They were cheap!

Champagne Wishes

Up close of what the new shrub roses in the backyard look like.  The buds are apricot in color. They open with an apricot center, like this picture, and when fully opened they are a clear white.  The plant is called Champagne Wishes.

They have their own root and were 40% off.  We found them last weekend when we bought all of our evergreens.

We planted them against the neighbors hot brick garage.  We will see how they hold up.

Back Yard

Here is the back with the new stone and a few rose bushes that we planted this week.

Devotchka + Colorado Symphony at Red Rocks

We saw Airborne Toxic Event and Devotchka with the Symphony last night at Red Rocks.  Our friends Brian and Steph went with us.  

We scored 3rd row seats and it was an amazing show.  Chris said he was impressed with Airborne - we had never seen them before.  

Little Sprouts

Newly sprouted grass.  Mom and Dad threw out some seed in the front yard on each side of the walk near the street while they were here.  Chris and I were not hopeful it would take.  We had gone through this before this past spring, and if you let the grass seed dry out for one second (which is easy to do here in dry, sunny, Colorado) you are out of luck.  So, we were shocked to see these little guys yesterday.  It wasn't all us though, mother nature helped out by raining for almost a full day last week and cooling down the temps.

Dad also took nice grass that we were digging up in the back yard, and sodded the bottom right corner in the front yard.  It is lookin' good!  

C&E Landscaping Co.

C&E Landscaping is proud to present our latest garden transformation!

We started off with lots of periwinkle, weeds, and an unruly bush with huge roots.

After lots of elbow grease, rock, and new plants:

We wanted to use shrubs and evergreens only, and that is exactly what we did.  Spreading Yew, Emerald 'n Gold Euonymus, two Blue Star Juniper, three Dwarf Alberta Spruce, and a Dwarf Montgomery Blue Spruce.

We were able to take advantage of end of season sales and got 50-20% off all of the plants.  Everything is slow growing; the pine trees won't reach maturity for 10+ years.  The plants will eventually fill the space, but in the meantime, we are looking forward to a low maintenance plot.

Got Rock?

6 tons of 1.5 inch Mountain Granite was delivered today.  Special thanks to Cori & Bob for helping to move it all.  

2 Days of Play, Now Time for Work

Moving sprinkler lines.  The new garden is all cut in.  Next step, firing up the tiller - that will have to wait until tomorrow.  We are headed to Boulder for a house warming party for the rest of the night.

Stranahans's Distillery Tour

This morning we headed to Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey for a tour of their distillery.  They do small, hand made batches of whiskey. 

The Rack Room:

Red Rocks

We went to Red Rocks today. Did a little hike on the Trading Post Trail and had a little lunch at Ship Rock Grille.

Cutting In

Starting to cut in the new beds.  This got rid of a lot of dead grass that never wanted to grow against the hot garage.

Getting Ready for Rock

Chris cut down the bush in the back yard which puts us one step closer to completing the back yard face lift.  We will be putting rock along the fence and along the neighbor's garage and shed.  We have agreed on an outline for the edging, and Erica has a good idea of what she would like to plant in her new garden space.  We have to move a few sprinkler heads, among other things, before we are even close to wrapping this up.

Wedding Crashers

These are our neighbors Elizabeth and Kevin.  They were very thoughtful to invite us to their wedding.  We had a good time and took Kevin's advice to take advantage of the open bar.  Pam can attest to this - she got the "we can't drive, can you please come and get us" call at the end of the night. Thanks Pam!

Click. Click. Click.

Erica was headed out grocery shopping this morning.  She hates to grocery shop, but was looking forward to it today - she had made a list and had her coupons all ready to go.  

She turned her car on and it freaked out - it made all kinds of weird noises and a bunch of dash lights came on, and then click. click. click.  The interior lights, brake lights, door locks, etc all worked.  So, we aborted the grocery getting, did yard work (aka talk about plans for the back yard and dead head the rose bushes) and went to the game.

When we got home tonight, Chris removed the battery and took it to have it tested at O'Reilly's.  45 minutes later, our suspicions were confirmed.  Dead battery.

The new battery is in and she started right up.  Now we are relaxing on the back patio with a bottle of Cameron Hughes Zinfandel.  It is a great night with perfect weather.

Go Buffs!

We watched CU take on CSU at Mile High Stadium today.  The Buffs blew their lead and lost to CSU.  We hung out with Libby and Greg (Chris's aunt and uncle) afterwards for a post game tailgate and then walked home.