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.

WICKED!!!!!!!

As you all probably know, Wicked is my favorite musical out there and I was so excited when I heard that it was going to be in Denver while I was here. I had already planned on buying tickets to a show and really wanted good seats but they were 200 dollars and Erica (and myself, really) couldn't afford the 200 dollar seats so we were going to just get the cheaper 60 dollar ones. Well when my friend Kori was here she told me about a lottery they do for the shows. I had heard about that but thought it was only for shows on Broadway in NYC. For those of you who don't know what the lottery is, 2.5 hrs before each show you go to the box office and put your name in a drawing and then 2 hrs before the show they draw names and you can get up to 2 tickets at a discounted price. Every place is different, in Orlando they were free I think but here they were 25 bucks, which still is REALLY cheap! So, Erica and I decided to go today after we got done yard saling to try and get tickets for the 2pm show. I hadn't showered since Thursday so I looked pretty rough but I didn't care. Erica's name got drawn so we got 2 tickets. We came home, showered and got dressed and headed back downtown and got there literally 2 mins before the show started. Our seats were FRONT ROW!!! Granted the view was obstructed but all the main parts were done far enough upstage that we didn't have a problem seeing anything. It was so AMAZING, I want to go back everyday and put my name in the lottery but I know I can't afford that even at 25 dollars. I will try and go again to see it though before it leaves town on May 20th.

Pike's Peak

Today I went to visit Pike's Peak with Kori, a friend of mine that I worked with at Disney, who is making her way across the country on her move to California. I picked her up at 7:20am to drive down to Colorado Springs for our 9:20am reservation to ride the Cog Train. It should have only take an hour and a half but we got stuck in the rush hour traffic of Denver and didn't make it there till 9:22am. Luckily, they held the train for us.We were people running up to the train with everyone sitting on board staring out the window at us looking very angry that we made them 2 mins late. On board we were seated next to a lady and her parents from Russia. I didn't catch the moms name but the lady's name was Olga and the dads name was Nikolai. I thought that was pretty funny because if I was to think of any two Russian names those would be the two. :) The ride up the mountain took about an hour and a half. The scenery going up the mountain was gorgeous, this Florida girl hasn't seen mountains like that much. Speaking of "Florida Girl", I was not very wise in my shoes of choice for the trip. I knew it was going to be cold on the top of the mountain but I figured we were only going to be up there for 30mins so it wouldn't matter too much which shoes I wore so I chose my Chacos. Well, I chose wrong! I got off the train at 14,110 feet above sea level and it was -5 with the wind chill! We stood outside for like a minute to take a picture then went inside to buy some of their "world famous donuts". We stayed inside for about 20 mins then went outside to take a couple of more pictures before we had to board the train to go back down. We were only out there for maybe 8 mins but I thought my toes were going to get frostbite and fall off they were so cold and hurt so bad! I didn't even take that many pictures because my hands and feet weren't functioning properly. I don't know how people can hike and camp in that kind of weather. Anyways, my toes are still attached to my body and aren't discolored or anything so I may have been over dramatic with the whole situation :)

After Pike's Peak we decided to go to Garden of the Gods because Erica had told me that it was really pretty. We pulled in and parked at the very first parking area and took a lot of pictures of the area and of this rock called Balancing Rock. After we got done with our pictures we loaded up and started back towards Denver. We were so excited about that one rock that we had seen that we didn't even realize that there was WAY more to Garden of the Gods than that. I'm glad that I will have more opportunities to visit there when other people come to visit. We also tried to visit the Seven Falls but it closed at 2pm today for renovations or something and we got there at 1:55pm. I will be going back there though because waterfalls are one of my favorite things in the whole world!

I really enjoyed seeing a friend from Disney here and can't wait for many more visitors. Colorado is such a fun and beautiful state. I know I will miss the beach a lot and may have a tough time dealing with the cold weather at some points but I am very happy with my decision to move here and can't wait to see what God might have in store for me to actually do here.

Getting Settled

I am getting settled into my place here in Arvada. I bought a night stand off of craigslist and repainted it. I did not realize that the paint was oil based so when I went to clean the roller I squeezed it with both hands and turned my hands black. Obviously soap and water wasn't going to work to get the paint off and I couldn't drive to the store to get mineral spirits and both my roommates were gone so I had to go to the garage, without using hands to open doors, and dip a paper towel into the gas tank of the lawn mower and wipe my hands off. That helped with the paint but then my hands smelled like gas. I must have washed them a thousand times and applied 4 layers of lotion to get that smell off. Lesson learned though, I will never squeeze a roller with oil based paint again. I am pleased with the outcome of the night stand though and look forward to finding a dresser to refinish as well.

Starting my life in Colorado

The first few days in Colorado have been filled with trying to find furniture for my room. I have now become a Craigslist stalker, and we all know I'm good at stalking, so that when the right dresser comes along I will be the first one to get it! I found a night stand for 10 bucks that I'm going to paint to match my black and lime green theme I have going on. Erica and I went yard saling yesterday but since it was Easter weekend we didn't find much. Erica did get a snow shovel. She said she would teach me how to use it but I think I will let her handle that. :) I am trying to adjust to the cooler/dryer weather here. My hair has so much static in it and I'm sleeping in sweats and a hoodie with four blankets on my bed. Erica also informed me that we don't have AC in the house which apparently is common here b/c it doesn't get that hot.

Friday night we went to a Good Friday service and on the way we drove past Mile High Stadium. Almost shed a tear since I will never get to see Tebow play there as a Bronco. He isn't the reason I decided to move to Denver but it sure was going to be a huge perk to be able to see him play. I am excited about all the sporting/theater events I will be able to attend. The Braves are coming to town at the beginning of May and Wicked is here April 11-May 20! I need a job to pay for all these events. I did have an interview on Friday but I'm not crazy about the job and my wise mother said that I shouldn't just settle for any job just to have a job so I think I will wait till something exciting comes along. I have been extremely blessed to have such supportive parents that didn't hold me back from quitting my job and moving 1500 miles from home without having a clue what I'm going to do for a job here. They know know I'm a gypsy at heart :)