let the festivities begin!

Even Penelope gets in on the fun!

Ahh... Fall. I love it. I'm not sure what I love best - could be my birthday, which is the first day of Fall, could be the cool, crisp weather that makes you want to bundle up on the couch and read a good book, maybe it's the leaves changing colors, or perhaps it's that Fall brings us Halloween, which, quite possibly, could be my favorite holiday? Who knows? All I can say is I am so happy and excited - let the Fall festivities begin!

Matt and I decided to usher us into the season with a little party. It was a great excuse for me to make all my favorite Halloween recipes and decorate the house. We munched our way through the night and through the super cute movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Up next... Shauna's pumpkin party. A whole day devoted to child-like fun - hay rides, corn mazes, hot apple cider, toasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin picking, and pumpkin carving - can't wait!

Halloween party photos...

birthday wishes

I recently celebrated my 28th birthday... YIKES, I'm getting old! I could not have wished for a more wonderful day. My sweetie pie friend, Tasha, worked her magic and surprised me with a fabulously fun day with friends.

My girlfriends picked me up and we all went for mani-pedi's. We relaxed our morning away being pampered and enjoying some much needed girl talk. Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks for our caffeine fix, and then we were off to Boulder. Our next stop was the beautiful Dushanbe Teahouse where we enjoyed a yummy brunch and mimosas.

The rest of our afternoon was spent shopping. The most fun was had at the hat stand on Pearl Street. I bet we spent a good half hour trying on every hat that stand had to offer, but it was the best silly fun!

The boys caught up with us for a delicious seafood dinner at Pappadeaux's. After dinner we headed over to Tasha and Jacob's for dessert... ladies and gentleman, this presented the best surprise of the day - my birthday cake. Tasha dreamed up a pretty daisy cake for me - white petals with a pink center - it would be just lovely. A trip to the grocery store provided her with a bundt cake pan, kind of looks like a flower she thought, then all she would need to do is fill up the center and her flower would be complete. Fast forward a bit... cake is iced, but those pretty bundt cake lines are now gone, covered up with white frosting. The center, a little higher than the cake itself, but iced in pretty pink frosting. Having a hard time visualizing this masterpiece, well trouble yourself no longer...

Confused? Are you thinking, hmm... this reminds me of something, but I'm not sure it's a flower. It looks a little more like a.... boob? Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! Tasha Belle made me a boob cake! And let me tell you, it was the best damn boob cake I have ever had!

And just when I thought this birthday can't get any better, my hubby surprised me with a murder-mystery dinner train ride through the Royal Gorge. I'm a lucky lady!

More b-day pics...

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

We recently spent a beautiful afternoon at the Denver Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect day to stroll through the gardens and snap pictures of all the pretty flowers and plants.







More pictures from the Botanic Gardens

pretty pillows

I just bought new pillows for our living room and I am super duper excited about them. I know what you're thinking... Nikki, they are just pillows, but that's just because you haven't seen them yet! I have been thinking about sprucing up our living room for a while now, but have just been waiting for the perfect item to come my way. And then, while casually flipping through a Crate and Barrel catalog I spotted them, and it was love at first sight :) So, I lured Matt to the mall with me and we snatched up four pretty pillows.

tee time and the dnc

As I'm sure you all know, Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention this year. We were really excited to be a part of all the festivities, so we hopped on our bikes and headed downtown to experience Obama-mania first hand. It was a truly unique experience. Downtown Denver was movin' and groovin'. There were literally thousands of people lining the streets, and you could feel the energy and enthusiasm flowing in the air.

Feeling a little inspired from our night at the DNC, we decided to get crafty and make some Obama t-shirts. It was so much fun! Tyson made a really cool stencil of Barack Obama which read, "B.A. Barack U.S. - I Pity The Fool Who Don't VOTE OBAMA". For all you Mr. T fans, you get the reference. A few of us bought iron-ons and created our own fun slogans. Mine read, "Obama Baracks My World", and let me tell ya, he does!




Check out our crafty creations...

St. Mary's Glacier

This past Labor Day weekend, Nikki and I went hiking at St. Mary's Glacier with Tyson, Hannah, Tasha, Sean, Brian, and Kat. We had a great time, perfect weather, and amazing views. Okay, so it's technically considered a "permanent snow field" and not a glacier, but it was fun to go out and slide around on the snow. There were some people who brought their skis and poles, but that's much more work than I'd want to do. I prefer lush snow and chair lifts! :)

Click here for more pictures

i see london, i see france...

Matt and I took an amazing trip to Europe this summer. Our three week adventure took us to London, England; Munich, Germany; Interlaken, Switzerland; Paris, France; and Barcelona and Madrid, Spain. We have wanted to travel to Europe for a long time now, but what a lot of work it is! I can say though, that it was all worth it. Believe me, we were pretty worn out by the time we got back to the states, but we wouldn't trade our experience for anything. We had such a wonderful time and we were exposed to so many beautiful things - it was great! Okay, so there is so much that we want to share, but I warn you we got a bit lengthy! So if you have some time read on, and if not, skip to the end and check out our pictures.