My first real winter

I survived my first winter in Colorado!!! It wasn't that bad but definitely colder than I can really handle. And snow in May is not my idea of a good time. I am really glad that I got to experience it and go sledding and hiking in it. Freshly fallen snow is just so beautiful and pure. My favorite place that we've gone hiking is in Estes Park. There is a trail that takes you to 3 different lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park. It's cool to be able to walk across the frozen lakes, the last time we went you couldn't even tell they were lakes because they were so covered in snow. The downfall about hiking in snow is when you post hole. Erica makes fun of me for using this term but I heard it from somewhere and it stuck. The urban dictionary defines post holing as "trying to walk in deep snow and sinking up to your knees". My problem when I hike is I like to take the path less traveled, I blame it on Robert Frost, and that's when I start sinking up to my waist! My job is going great at Pearl Izumi! I truly do love where I work and who I work with. My actual work isn't always my favorite because sometimes I have to sit at my desk all day and do computer work but a lot of the times my projects allow me to get up and interact with different people. Working in an environment with a lot of runners and cyclers is fun and different. Some of those people are crazy, this one guy just ran a 50 mile race last week!!! I wouldn't even want to ride a bike for 50 miles let alone run 50. I really wish that I could take this job with me where ever I go next (which I'm hoping is Nashville). I don't really have much to say, I haven't blogged in like 6 months and should have a lot to say but I just wanted to get started blogging again so that's all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing good and enjoying the nice warm weather. I miss all of you!!!

Fall in Colorado

Clearly I have gotten lazy on this whole blogging thing! It's not that I've been busy it's more that nothing has really been going on. I did have a temp job for about 5 weeks doing customer service/data entry stuff up in Boulder. It wasn't a bad job but it did require me to sit in front of a computer for 7 hrs straight and talk on the phone A LOT. Two things I don't really like to do :) The guys I worked with liked sports so that was nice. Finally got to talk to people in person about sports. My roommate leaves the house on Saturdays when Florida plays because I apparently get really into the games. I try not to and tell myself at the beginning of the games to just sit there and watch and stay calm but when refs make bad calls or players make dumb plays I can't help myself! I've titled this blog "Fall in Colorado" but I feel like a lot have days have been winter. Apparently I am in for a big surprise when winter actually gets here. It has already snowed here and when I wore a sweater and winter coat to work I got made fun of and they asked what I was going to do when it actually got cold. I guess 27 degrees isn't cold to them but to this Florida girl it is!

I have really taken advantage of living in Colorado though these past 2 weekends and have gone hiking 3 times! It's pretty tough and I feel like my legs are going to fall off while I'm hiking up these mountains but it's totally worth it! One day I'll actually hike a fourteener but not it's not going to happen this year! Lyndee and I went to Saint Mary's Glacier last Saturday because I wanted to see fall leaves. Well, we didn't see any! I felt like I was in a blizzard because it was snowing and windy but Lyndee told me not to be dramatic. :)

The next day I went hiking up the Royal Arch trail in Boulder. It was a whole lot warmer and I got to see my fall leaves. The trail was about a mile long and it was like climbing a steep staircase the entire way!

I have started going to the young adults small group at the church I attend. It's really good despite the people being more on the younger side than me. I have had quite a few awkward moments the last couple of weeks. Well, not really awkward for me because I don't care but I think awkward for them. We break up into guys and girls for prayer time and this one girl feels the need to say whatever she thinks so 2 weeks ago she was talking about how nice everyone looked (mind you, I was wearing jeans, my "football is everything" hoodie and had a braid in my hair because I hadn't washed it in 4 days) and she went around the room saying what was nice about each person. When she got to me she says "and you, with your um, braid!" It was funny. Then this week when we split off all the girls started talking about their first dates, one asked me about mine and I said I had never been on one and that same girl says "oh, I am so sorry!" I was like "It's ok, it's not like I have a terminal disease. I'm ok with it!" :) Anyways, I feel like this next picture is going to be me when I'm old and I'm actually looking forward to it. Lyndee and I saw this lady one day when we were out yard saling. She was just sitting in her driveway watching cars go by I guess. The funny thing is it wasn't even cold that day so I don't know why she was dressed like that.

Lyndee and I went to this thrift store we really like in Denver called Gone for Good. They always have the neatest things and they don't price anything, the more you get the better deal they give you. I found these hiking boots for like 8 bucks on Friday. They were originally purchased in 1991 for 180 dollars. While they aren't the most fashionable boots they are in really good condition and hiking boots aren't cheap so finding a pair for 8 dollars is a steal and I couldn't pass them up.

Well, I'm going to head to bed. I'm exhausted from my hike today! Mom, I will try and be better about blogging. Miss everyone!

Finally!!!!

I finally got a permanent job! It's part time but at least it's something. I will be working as a Recreation Attendant at the Marriott International in downtown Denver. Basically I just have to keep the pool and recreation area clean and stocked. If I want extra hours they said I could help out in the laundry dept which would give me some experience to maybe be able to finally get that job on a cruise ship that I want! The only downfall to this job is my in time will be between 6-7am and my supervisor went to FSU! I don't know which one is worse!!!! My temp job I had at Adams County Human Resource Department was good. I got really bored because it was just filing and thinning out case files but it paid so I can't complain and I was able to listen to 2 books on my ipod while working. :) Lyndee, Erica and I got a new roommate for a few months. Her name is Nicole, she went to Africa with Erica last year and lived up in the mountains north of Boulder but her lease was up and she needed a place to stay for 3 months while she finished up this teaching assistant position at a baking school in Boulder. It's nice because it will help us with our bills AND she brings home baked goods everyday that the students make. The summer is in full swing here and there are some days I feel like I'm going to melt b/c it's so hot! Who doesn't have AC in their house?! or at least ceiling fans?! Good thing we have a basement to hang out in. It's literally at least 20 degrees cooler down there most of the time. Denver has movies in the park every week during the summer so Erica and I went to watch Forrest Gump, one of my favorites, last Sat and tonight they are doing a light show and fireworks downtown at the capital building and the Colorado Symphony is going to be playing. These are the things I like about living near a big city, always something to do!

Having Faith

There's this picture thing I saw on Pinterest that says "Faith in God Includes Faith in His Timing". I have been trying to focus on that and some days are fine and then some days I get really stressed out and think maybe I made the wrong decision by coming here. God has had a different time frame of things than I would have liked but I got a temp job for 3 weeks doing some administrative stuff at an office near here. I'm pretty excited about it because 1. I'll get out of the house and 2. I'll be able to pay some bill :) I start on Monday and it's from 8-4:30. Not too excited about having to wake up early but I'm not going to complain. They are hiring 4 of us to do some work for a project the company is working on which will be fun to have 3 other people who are in the same boat as me. Maybe they will be my age and I can make a few friends! I'm also excited because my last "2 week" temp job lasted 6 months and I'm the one who had to quit. 

The unemployment time has been a nice relaxing time and has allowed me to start my training for my half marathon that I probably wouldn't have started because I wouldn't have wanted to workout before or after work but now that I've started and gotten up to 4 miles I'm not going to stop. My pace has improved to about 13 min miles so I'm happy about that. I still have to walk parts of the hills but I can at least run up half way now. 

A couple funny stories from the last few weeks. 1. Lyndee had a friend from Norway here and the day she left she told Lyndee that she liked me and I thought I was nice and that you couldn't even tell I was homeschooled cause I wasn't weird. I guess even Norwegians think homeschoolers are weird. 2. Yesterday I was sitting in this old yellow chair we have in the living room watching Prison Break and eating my Chick-fil-A when all of the sudden my chair just falls back! It was so funny, Lyndee actually peed her pants. The thing I was most worried about was spilling my Chick-fil-A sauce because, even though I had asked him for extra, the guy only gave me 2 packs! 

It's been a few weeks since I've blogged! I was busy for about 8 days entertaining my sister, niece and nephew while they were here!We went to Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, Boulder, Denver Zoo, Children's Museum, Red Rocks, Hiking, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed their visit!
Yesterday started my and Erica's official training for our half marathon in August. Running at this altitude and will all these hills is tough. Doing 2 miles killed me and I can usually do that pretty easily in Florida. My goal for the marathon is to avg an 12/13 min mile, which sounds like a lot but right now my avg is 18 min mile so bringing it down 6 mins would be a lot for me. I guess I should really say my goal is to actually finish the 1/2 marathon in one piece and basically not die :). They only give you 3.5 hours to run the 13 miles so it'll be a close one I think.
On Sunday night I met up with my best friend from Kindergarten, Lesley Atkinson. It's crazy what social media can do for you these days. I saw that she was visiting from Charlotte and she invited me to go see a NC bluegrass band at a club downtown. We haven't seen each other since elementary school but it was like we had been friends this entire time. She took this picture of us and sent it to her mom and said "Guess who I'm hanging out with?" and her mom replied "Jamie Damcott". Guess I haven't changed much in 20 years. :)

I'm still a little anxious and nervous about not having a job but I am learning to trust that God will provide for me and am very blessed that I have the support of my family about the whole situation and am thankful that they aren't hounding me about it. I'm very thankful for the family God has blessed me with! I do miss the little family gatherings but hopefully soon I will have my own "family" of friends here (stupid Broncos, sent my husband away from me).

Go Braves!

I got to go see my Braves play tonight. It was quite the exciting game. We came back from being down 6-0 to win 12-9, a fan got hit by a foul ball and had to be carried off by a stretcher (not sure exactly why though), it started raining in the 8th inning so they delayed the game and then it started hailing, a fan near us got kicked out because he brought in a bottle of liquor (which is prohibited). Another exciting thing is I got to see Chipper play one last game before he retires at the end of the season. It's crazy to think about him not being there because he's been with the Braves the entire time I've been a Braves fan! He debuted with Atlanta in 1993 and spent his entire career with them. It's nice to see that some people and teams are still loyal these days b/c that just doesn't happen anymore, especially if your career is 19 years!
In other news, I still haven't found a job and am getting a little discouraged about it. I do have to go take a test on Microsoft Office for the city/county of Denver for an admin position. It says it's going to take 3 hrs to take the test which is crazy cause my NATA test was 3 hours and I feel like it was a little more important. :) Anyways, please just say a prayer for me that I will get a job and be at peace about things.

exploring my creative side

I bought a dresser off of craigslist on Wednesday and decided to repaint it to match my room. I am quite proud how it turned out since I am not normally that creative. I only had to go to Home Depot 3 times on Thursday for supplies and called my mom and dad a dozen times to make sure I didn't mess anything up! I still need another tall dresser because I don't have a lot of closet space but I do have a lot of clothes. I am going to wait till I find a free or cheap one then paint it to match as well. I have seen a lot of refinished antique dressers on craigslist for like 150+ and feel like I should go into business myself buying up old dressers and redoing them. It's really fun and rewarding.