Archive for the ‘Greeley’ Category

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Canvas and Chocolates Event at UNC

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

I happened to receive a flyer in my work email the other day for an event to be held at the University of Northern Colorado later that week. I thought it looked fun and interesting, so I invited my new friend Amy to come with me to it. It was called Canvas and Chocolates and it was put on by the UNC Women’s Resource Center. From their website, it looks as though they put on a number of cool free events like this!

It was a lot of fun, and how could it not when you mix chocolate and crafts?


In the UNC Ballroom

The event began with a registration and putting your name in for a drawing of some gift cards. Then they asked you to go and get some acrylic paints on a paper plate and take a seat anywhere in the ballroom. At the tables easels and canvas boards were already set up along with cups of water and paper towels.

After we set up at our table station, we got in line for the coffee and all the various goodies that could go into the center of attention: a chocolate fountation. It was delicious, but the line was not moving very fast because there was so much to choose from and not much area to move.


Chocolate Fountain!

Then we heard a little from the event organizers and did a guided meditation on what empowers us. I of course immediately imagined Puerto Rico and when we bought our house there in Rincón. We were encouraged to use that vision to paint a picture of our own personal empowerment.


My empowering palm scene

Many people had different visions when it came to this, and people had different painting skill levels. It was really neat to see all the creations around the room.

It was a cool night and reminded me how much I love to draw and paint. I just wish I had a little more time to do it. I would definitely recommend this evening again, and invite more friends and even Britton to it -as men were welcome as well.

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Posted in Adventures, Art, Colorado Daily Life, Food, Friends and Family, Fun, Greeley, Puerto Rico Property | 3 Comments »

Juice Fast Day 1 Complete

Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Yesterday was our first day of our juice fast and I think it went pretty well. Britton got a little agitated/irritable he said around 3 until 6pm. At 6pm when we had more juice he said he felt a lot better. So we needed to adjust so that Britton is getting enough food during the day. Our guidelines for this fast are:

Drink a big glass of home-made juice 3-4 times a day
1st one of the day is heavier on the fruit
The other two main juices should be heavier on the veggies

We modified ours a little to also include eating any of the fruits or vegetables that would be going into the juicer. It is really pretty hard to not eat or chew anything all day. Chewing gives you that satisfaction of having eaten. We also have frozen some of the pulp and juices so we could eat that as well.


The Cart of Produce

We have been somewhat creative with our juicing as well. For instance, last night I made a soup/juice out of the vegetables. It is a sort of tomato/vegetable soup. I also added in some cut up veggies like avocado slices that aren’t able to be juiced. We put in some horseradish root and habanero peppers and it was really good and spicy!


The Ingredients for the Soup/Juice

We’re getting a little hungrier today and have been noticing all the junk food ads on TV and while driving. Since this fast doesn’t have any added salts, sugars, fats, caffeine or other added “stuff” it is supposed to help “re-set” our system to be more sensitive to these leading culprits in junk food so that it is a little easier to avoid their temptations. It was interesting having “soup” without any salt, but all the spiciness made it feel like it was still really pretty good!  So maybe it’s already working? Also, fruit tastes a lot sweeter when you don’t eat any candy or sweet snacks during the day as well. The only downfall so far besides just craving food, is I had a small caffeine withdrawal headache. It wasn’t strong since I don’t drink much coffee usually, but was still noticeable. It’s interesting to test things out and see how your body works.


Soup Juice with seeds as a topping

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Posted in Challenges, Colorado Daily Life, Food, Fun, Greeley | 1 Comment »

Rincon House Considerations and Updates

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Well Cassie and I are still in the afterglow of our time in Rincon especially since we are in the depths of winter here in Colorado. Lately we have been going over plans on how to remodel the wood house.  If we move a bathroom, pour some concrete and redo the interior and roof we think we could make something pretty cool.  We would save quite a bit of money and make something special.  Saving money would put us a lot closer to moving, which is the goal.


The house from the road in (with the ocean view as a backdrop)

We haven’t seen a whole lot of wood houses in PR.  In Rincon however, they do exist throughout Puntas so it is do-able, possible and not entirely crazy.  Our first thoughts about keeping the wood house revolved around the idea that, wood houses in tropical areas don’t last.  After seeing the current wood house that has been there 20+ years and the wood that has been protected still looks fresh, we are starting to change our opinion.

Not a whole lot going on here.  It’s winter and most people are staying inside.  We had a good time with friends watching the super bowl and having get togethers, but we are ready for spring already!

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Posted in Colorado Daily Life, Greeley, House, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Property, Remodeling and Renovating, Rincon | 2 Comments »

Of Pigs Feet and Spam

Monday, January 16th, 2012

On Saturday my friend Kelly had another White Elephant/Re-wrap your crap party. We don’t have too much crap left after our multiple clean outs and garage sales, but we managed to put together a pretty good gift of random never-opened bathroom essentials inside a fish bowl. It was also the day of the Broncos big loss, so it was nice to have the White Elephant game instead of just football.

The first present we chose was a powdered coffee gift with two fairly decent glasses with it. I thought we had lucked out. Then, of course, as the game is played…our gift was “stolen” by someone else and we had to choose again. This time, we got what had to be the worst present: pigs feet and Spam! Yuck! But it was a pretty funny present.


Kelly LOVES the pigs feet haha :-p

We had a fun night out and then Sunday we prepared for Puerto Rico. We are leaving this week!! Lots to do still, but we are looking forward to going back to the property and getting some work done.

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Posted in Colorado Daily Life, Friends and Family, Fun, Greeley | 4 Comments »

Random Teepee on Poudre Trail

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

The other day we took a long walk down the Poudre Trail from 71st Ave past 83rd Ave. It was cold, but sunny, and in our black hoodies and pants and at a brisk pace we stayed fairly ok. When we got to 83rd by the old Hazelton School House which is now being used as the Poudre Learning Center, we went off trail a bit by the pond and happened upon an empty old teepee (or tipi depending on your preference for spelling).


Teepee on the trail- they don’t usually lilt so much though!!

Teepees were the main form of lodging for the nomadic Native Americans/Indians who lived in this area. They mainly hunted the wild buffalo that roamed these areas and moved according to the weather and the food sources in the region. People still find old arrow heads around here in fields from time to time. A reminder of the wilder times only a few hundred years ago.

This teepee is not an authenic tipi, but a reproduction, similar to the teepee displayed at Centennial Village. There was some information inside of it about teepees and the Cottonwood trees of the area. We did notice how much warmer it was inside sheltered from the cold slight wind that day. With a fire in the middle it would have been pretty toasty!

We thought it would be pretty cool to have a teepee for our property in Puerto Rico, or maybe we could go with the thatch huts that the native Tainos used! Could be fun.


Huts that the Tainos used in Puerto Rico (pic taken on our honeymoon)

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Posted in Colorado Daily Life, Fun, Greeley, Winter | Comments Closed

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