8/27/2006 - Back to life

The last week has been such a whirlwind, I can't believe tomorrow we go back to work. We still have a ways to go as far as getting settled in. I don't know what we'd have done without having Dad here. He is such a sweetheart. And he worked his butt off to help us make this place feel like home.

He and Arwen spent Tuesday unloading the truck. Then Wednesday it took most of the day finding a storage unit, getting signed in, and moving all our extra stuff into it. The woman at the storage place was a hoot. It was apparently her first time being left alone at the place and she was not entirely sure how to do anything. It took about six tries before she was finally able to give us a working gate code. If I'd had any place important to be I might've gotten peeved, but I couldn't help but chuckle.

It was sunny and hot during the day (80's probably), but it cooled down nicely at night and in the mornings. We managed to eat at a couple of good restaurants with Dad, but I wished we'd been able to do more "fun" stuff. By his next visit hopefully we'll have the scoop on what's fun to do around town.

Today we got to hang out with some of our new Denver friends - Doug and Amanda. They're the ones who introduced us to this great neighborhood. We're already starting to learn our way around here. There is so much to walk to from our house. Right out the front door you can see the beautiful mountains. Catty-corner from us is Berkeley Lake Park with, you guessed it, a lake. Squirrels, ducks and geese roam around oblivious to all the folks walking dogs, like it's a small animal paradise. In the park is Smiley Public Library and a Rec Center, which offers affordable gym memberships. There's also an off-leash dog park where we take Sasha twice a day.

We live right next door to a charming dive of a bar. Last Wednesday we checked it out with Dad. It was "Ladies Night," and boy was the place hopping. Including myself there were three whole ladies there! The bartender laughed out loud when I asked for a Shirley Temple.

In addition to the bar, there are a couple of excellent restaurants within walking distance - one Thai and one Italian - as well as a couple of coffee shops, a yarn store (YES!!), a bookstore, a hardware store, an organic market, and an "antique" shop that looks like it's probably more of a thrift shop. Our car may find itself parked in the driveway much more that it was accustomed to in Houston.

Tomorrow is Arwen's birthday. I've managed to pick up a few presents for him but I feel kind of bad that I haven't baked a cake or anything. I haven't been feeling great the last few days. We had our friends Andye and Gavin over for dinner last night and I cooked a big veggie fajita feast, but since then the thought of onion, garlic, salsa or sour cream just turns my stomach. The foods I normally love are repusive to me. I'm hungry all the time but at a loss for what to eat. I picked up a book on nutrition during pregnancy, though, so I just need to make time to do some reading. Hopefully it'll have some good suggestions.