Colorado Weekend Top Ten

After a fun and busy 3-day weekend in Colorado, we are back in New Mexico. It is especially exciting because it is officially FALL, and right on cue, the weather is chillier and the air is crisper, which means I can wear the hats and scarves and sweaters that have been gathering dust in the back of my closet since May.

But more on wonderful Santa Fe fall weather in another post. Right now we are going to share with you all the abbreviated version of our Colorado weekend, in chronological order for your reading pleasure!

1. Reuniting with my Bestie

Jordyn & I at a frolf course near her house.

I hadn't seen Jordyn, my best friend of forever, since last December, which was a ridiculously long time, so it was especially excellent to spend Friday afternoon with her. One of the things I love most about our friendship is that we are basically happy doing anything together, which is why we are always laughing in pictures of the two of us! On Friday we walked to a park and took cute pictures together and watched a random Disney movie on Netflix. And it was great!

2. Wedding!
At the core, I would say all you need to make a wedding successful is good people, good food, and good fun; Brandon and Ginger's wedding had it all. Plus, the ceremony was incredibly touching and we got to dance a bunch. Eric has known both Brandon and Ginger for a long time, and in the past few years I've gotten to spend some time with them as well, and it is so obvious that they are a phenomenal couple. It was so great to be there are bask in the happiness that their relationship brings.

Eric & me pre-wedding.

As Eric & I slowly approach serious wedding planning time, it is good to be reminded of the joy and love that weddings bring to everyone involved. Plus, it gave us some good ideas and inspiration. So congrats to the happy couple once again, and thanks for throwing a great party!

3. Breakfast at Silver Grill
Jordyn had a class at 9 on Saturday morning, but I really wanted to squeeze in more hangout time with her, so we went to the Silver Grill Cafe for an early Saturday morning breakfast. Silver Grill is one of Eric's favorite places to eat because they make their own fresh-squeezed orange juice and amazing cinnamon rolls. Ask him sometime to describe their cinnamon roll french toast, which is what he ate on Saturday morning. I got biscuits and gravy, which is always my first choice for breakfast food. It was a great way to start the morning.

4. Going to College

Eric with an outdoor sculpture at CSU.

We had a couple free hours on Saturday morning, so we went to Eric's alma mater and walked around. Neither of us had been to the CSU campus in a few years, and it was fun to hear some of Eric's college stories I had never heard before and see the new changes on the campus (although some of them, in our opinion, are quite ugly). Being on a college campus made me miss being a student quite a bit - the library, the student activities, the academia - but then I remembered homework and missed it a little less.

5. Brunch at Silver Grill
Yep, you read that right... back to the Silver Grill Cafe for brunch! As we were ambling around CSU, Eric's sister Lindsay invited us to brunch with the wedding party and friends, and we had to laugh when she told us that everyone was going to the same place we had just eaten at mere hours before. But hey, it isn't one of our favorite Colorado restaurants for nothing. We had an awesome veggie quesadilla, and we got to spend more time with our friends that we had seen the night before!

6. Longmont Oktoberfest
Did you know that Longmont has an Oktoberfest? I didn't, until we got to Longmont on Saturday afternoon and my dad suggested we go to Oktoberfest that evening. I guess it's usually a fundraiser for the Symphony, but this year they understandably had changed the focus to flood relief. Pizza and beer for a good cause? Fine with me! Apparently many other Longmonsters felt the same way, because there were a TON of people there (at least by Longmont standards). I also found out that three new microbreweries are supposed to come to Longmont in the next year, which will make 6 total! Is Longmont getting cool without me?

We also ended up running into a good number of people we knew, most of whom I hadn't seen in years! It was quite the pleasant surprise.

Eric, me, Debbie, and Eileen!

7. Food from our Parents
I know this is cliche, but it really is awesome to visit our parents and get food from them. Parents know what is up. When we got to Eric's parents' house late Thursday night, his mom had conveniently just baked some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that we had as both a late-night snack and a breakfast snack. In Longmont, we lazed around in the afternoon eating my dad's delicious kale chips (I was the one that got him hooked on them last year, and now he is almost better at making them than I am!) and homemade hummus. Then, back at Eric's parents' house, they gave us a big bag of potatoes from their garden and gifted us some cinnamon honey spread from a Colorado farmer's market! Our families have good taste.

8. Chopping Wood
Most of you probably know that Eric is essentially a lumberjack. He wears flannel shirts, he has a beard, and he loves pancakes. Turns out he is also really good at splitting wood. Eric's folks graciously allowed us to take some of their firewood off their hands, and it needed splitting, and Eric made it look so easy... so I worked up the courage to try.

Admittedly not wearing the best footwear for the job.

Despite my lack of coordination and my general aversion to using large, heavy tools, it was pretty fun and I sort of got the hang of it. So consider me a lumberjack in training! Still working on growing out my beard.

9. Costco
Another first from the weekend: I went to Costco for the first time. Ever. My brother generously took us on a Sunday afternoon, even though historically that is the most crowded day. (He lives literally next door to Costco, it is ridiculous.) It was overwhelming, and we of course ended up buying a few more things than we anticipated, but Eric has convinced me that it will save us lots of money. And combined with aforementioned food from parents, we suddenly have so much food in our house! Is this what adulthood is like?

My favorite thing about Costco was the fact that we bought a large block of Tillamook pepperjack cheese for like, $8. The high prices of Tillamook outside of the Pacific Northwest have made me sad since we moved here, but now we have enough cheese to last us a good while. Oh, and the free samples were pretty nice, too.

10. Amazing Skies
Okay, this technically isn't about Colorado, but on the way out of New Mexico and on the way back, we saw the most incredible skies, filled with orange sunsets, dark purple thunderstorms, and rainbows. I tried to take pictures but of course they look terrible in comparison to what we actually saw. We always talk about how amazing the skies are in New Mexico, and to have a reminder of that on each end of our weekend seemed pretty lucky. We are glad to call this enchanting land home.