Looks like we're getting a new van...

Just ordered this sucker today!!! Moto/MTB road trips, here we come :)

Some good and some not so good!

 

After a really great time with Doug and a couple of relaxing days in Boulder, Bryce and I headed up to the Winter Park condo to put the finishing touches on the property! The first thing that we always do when we get there is start a fire in the wood burning fireplace...luckily we have A LOT of cardboard to burn after unpacking all the new furniture.

The trip started out really great with an easy drive in the sunshine with little traffic. We were able to get the chandelier up and the granite cut without too many issues and then hung up some fun artwork in the bathrooms and bedrooms!

 

I did somehow manage to break the glass in a picture frame while trying to fasten the back board and then all things went downhill from there :(

 

Bryce somehow wired the 4 prong 220 volt plug incorrectly and not only blew the main power circuit to our entire unit, he also sent 220 volts to a 110 volt circuit inside our oven and it no longer functions...oops! After several phone calls to the electrical company, we found the main breaker box to turn the power back on but unfortunately the range display still needs some fixing...I think Bryce is calling Whirlpool today :)

I honestly cannot sew to save my life but the curtains we chose for all three closets were 3-6 inches too long and it just wasn't going to work for me! I decided to hem each curtain (yes, that would be 6 total) by hand so they would not drag on the ground. I'm pretty sure I poked myself about 15 times per curtain and my fingers are extremely sore today!

 

After we get a new picture frame, hang a few more pieces of art and fix the range, we will officially be 100% finished with the remodel. All the kitchen drawers have been fully furnished with every cooking gadget you could think of and the place feels just like home! Now all we need is a renter for the winter and we'll be all set :) You can find more pics here https://picasaweb.google.com/Golfchick84/WPForRent.

More Holiday Fun!

Well, I made my first attempt at going uphill on my MTB and it wasn't a failure. It was pretty either, but I made it and good times were had by all :)  After running a few errands on Friday morning, Doug and Bryce convinced me to head up to Betasso on the mountain bikes for an easy spin. It was absolutely perfect and a great ''first ride'' back!
 

My general rule of thumb is that the Christmas tree cannot go up before Thanksgiving so Friday evening was the perfect time. We had just devoured a great lunch at Moe's and Shelby had come over to hang so we put on some good tunes and got in the holiday spirit.

The boys also even convinced Shelby to make her world famous chocolate chip cookies! I have to admit I wasn't part of the heckling but I sure didn't mind that she wiped those things out...holy yummy cookies!

A Very Relaxing Turkey Day!

My favorite mechanic in the world, Doug Berner, surprised me on Tuesday evening by telling me that he was on his way to Colorado after working at Ironman Arizona! After he got into Boulder Wednesday afternoon, we went out to the Valmont Bike Park to play around. This was my first time on a bicycle in over 5 weeks and it was Doug's first experience at Boulder's newest $4.2 million bike park! After our short ride, we headed home to meet up with Bryce and hit the infamous Rio Grande restaurant for dinner!

Doug's most favorite thing to do while traveling on the road is to hit up all the mountain bike trails he can find! Since I am most definitely not ready for any kind of mountain biking, Bryce took him out to Heil and Picture Rock where they connected via the ''Wild Turkey'' trail...how ironic for a Thanksgiving Day ride :) Shelby and myself headed out for an easy spin on the CX bikes while the boys did their thing then we all had a delicious dinner of potatoes with BBQ chicken and yummy pastries from Alfa Alfa's for dessert! Not the typical turkey and stuffing meal most people were having but the combination of the simple food and a good movie was perfect for a relaxing Thanksgiving night!

Health Update

I know I've been busy posting photos and updates about the condo but I've been pretty quiet about how I've been feeling. I had several rough patches during the first few weeks as my body really struggles with the high dosage of medication, but I've almost hit 6 weeks of resting and I'm starting to finally feel a bit better. I'm not getting the head rushes and dizzy spells I was before but I'm still falling asleep on the couch around 8pm and waking up around 6am each morning. It's supposed to be REALLY gorgeous this week so I think I might try to get out and go spin around outside very easy with some friends to enjoy the nice weather! I have another blood test next week to see where the Epstein Barr Virus stands in the body but I'm definitely heading in the right direction which puts a huge smile on my face :)

Soooo close!

Bryce and I drove up to the WP condo Thursday evening so we could have the appliances delivered and the plumber come fix the hot water heater on Friday morning...we also spent the day working from the condo :)

Although the plumber was there for over 2.5hrs and our stupid home warranty wouldn't cover the claim, we now have hot water and that is truly all we care about. On the appliance side of things you might have noticed the nice gap in the counter top on the first photo...well that is because our range is less than 1cm too wide and will not slide in! We were not prepared for this so we will bring the proper tools to cut the granite tiles next weekend. I keep forgetting that everything that is supposed to take 2 minutes usually takes 2 hours and that was true for the dishwasher and refrigerator as well. We still need to hook the dishwasher up because we were missing a piece and the fridge came with the hinges on the wrong side so those needed a lengthy fix as well!

As Bryce worked on the technical pieces in the kitchen, I was busy building more IKEA furniture. This queen sleeper is NOT lightweight but it was actually pretty simple to put together.

The bunk beds in the guest room, however, were NOT simple to put together :) This piece of furniture was by far the most complicated of all items I've purchased from IKEA...I totally understand why but I'm still going to complain.

Several hours later, we had 2 bunk beds with bedding, a dresser, and a nightstand for a finished guest room.

I know I swore that I wouldn't pick up another paint brush ever again, but I had to finish painting the brown bathroom white. I also added the final decor to both the master and guest baths and we took our first showers using the newly heated hot water!

 

Bryce made a huge difference in the overall look of the place by changing all the switches, plugs and thermostats.

After picking up that center beam from IKEA that we were missing last weekend, we were finally able to get the master bed all made up. It felt so good to sleep in our own place for the first time since we've owned it.

What a difference the long stainless pulls make on the cabinets. The combination of the appliances and finished cabinets really make the place feel complete.

Lastly, I began to un-package and organize all the kitchen and dining items. I know it's nothing too exciting, but it feels good to start putting all the boxes of stuff that have been on the floor in their proper place! We plan on making our final shopping trips for the last minute items this week then completing all the remaining work during Thanksgiving weekend so it will be ready to rent by December 1! If you or anyone you know is interested, please send them my way :)

Another close call

For whatever reason, I cannot seem to keep my iPhone with me to save my life. From leaving it on the top of my car and having it fly off on I-70 to leaving it in the grocery basket at Safeway, I seriously think I need one of those fancy wrist phone carriers so I don't lose it anymore! It just can't be pink :)

Although misplacing my phone is a serious problem, I do have to say that Apple's new ''Find My iPhone'' application is pretty darn cool. Bryce downloaded it to his phone, typed in my info and tada, found my phone inside the grocery store. Once the phone is found, you have the option to lock the phone remotely or even wipe all the info inside the device right from the application. Yes, the app is neat but it's not an excuse to constantly misplace and forget my phone everywhere...as everyone always tells me 'Erin, SLOW DOWN'...I'm working on it!

We're making progress!

  

 After this weekend, I'm pretty sure I never want to see a paint brush or a can of paint EVER again!!! After a bit of a stressful day on Friday, I headed up to the condo with Shelby in the afternoon to crank out some oh so dreading ceiling painting. Quite obviously I'm not very good at it either!

 

Bryce drove up later that night and after a good night sleep, we were ready to crank out some major work Saturday. One of the first items on the list was to switch out the front door lock and install some weather stripping so it doesn't snow inside anymore :) As an added touch, we replaced all the interior door knobs with new stainless ones!

While Bryce cranked out his projects, Shelby and I were busy painting, painting and more painting. I honestly hate painting but we really didn't have much of a choice unless we wanted to stare at poop brown colors everywhere! Along with painting walls, I had to re-paint all of the trim which is soooo tedious! I got through it but swore I wouldn't pick up another brush after Saturday

I stayed true to my promise and didn't touch one paint brush on Sunday. However, my hand is still sore from building endless amount of furniture from IKEA. I do have to admit that their products are by far the simplest to put together than another other brand I've ever worked on! We're both extremely excited about the new dining table...not only because it looks awesome but there are actually 2 leafs underneath that you can add to make seating for 8-10 people.

We don't have all our furniture yet but adding the simple things such as curtains, a side table and rug really make the room feel more like a home.

Add a TV and stand and it really feels like a home :)

Oh the infamous red couch! This thing has the world's greatest queen fold out mattress in it but holy crap is it heavy. I'm still not quite sure how, but somehow Bryce and I managed to get it from the van to the living room.

To top the weekend off, we built the night stands, dresser and bed frame for the master bedroom. I've been extremely impressed with everything from IKEA but unfortunately got stumped because we didn't purchase a $10 center beam for the bed frame separately. How difficult is that to add into the box and how many people leave the store without getting that miscellaneous extra piece? It's a good thing that we weren't planning on sleeping there and that I've got another trip planned to visit IKEA later this week!

We joined the ridiculousness club :)

The Torrance brothers were the first of our friends to indulge in the EXTRA large television department. Although they gave us crap for over a year about how tiny our 37in TV was, we could have cared less since we hardly watch anything on it.

However, after a few movie nights at their places, we were slightly envious and decided to go for the 55in LED as well. Since we're furnishing the Winter Park condo from zero, we're taking a lot of our current household items up there and refreshing the Boulder house. There's gonna be some serious E-riding (mountain bike/moto video watching) going on this winter :)

Boulder House Changes!

The above picture is how my office/guest room used to look. It wasn't bad by any means but we really wanted to bring the couch to Winter Park since it has an amazing sleeper in it. Also, Bryce has started working from home a few days a week so we wanted to incorporate a desk that we could share when he's home.

After doing lots of IKEA internet shopping, I sent Bryce to the store downtown Denver with a big list and an empty moto van to pick up the goods. I'm sure it probably took him 3 times longer to find everything than the average person, but he and the goods made it home safe and sound :)

After a full day of furniture building, I finally got the new office put together. We now have a double desk with a super comfy chair/ottoman to read or relax. It's absolutely perfect and we're totally loving it!

Last Brrraaaaaap of 2011

 

Sunday was the final Rocky Mountain Enduro Circuit race for the 2011 season. It was out at Miliken in Jamestown which is only 45 minutes from our house and a really fun place to ride.

Although I was super bummed not to be racing because I'm still pretty sick, it's always fun to be on the sidelines supporting your favorite person in the world :) Plus, as you can see, it was SOOOO muddy and I hear it was really sketchy.

Bryce has finished in the top 10 overall and therefore has been racing in the AA/Pro class for the past 6 consecutive years. However, after a few stints of bad luck, he needed a 3rd place in this race to maintain his AA status for 2012 but fell a few spots short. I know he's a bit bummed out because several contributing factors were out of his control, but he's okay with it and excited to make some good contingency money racing the A class next year.

Deep down, his only true goal was to beat our good friend Scott Bright, and that he did! I'm super proud of him for wrapping up another solid season injury free and motivated for 2012. I'm also excited to unofficially say that I tied up the RMEC Women's Series Championship :) Brraaaaaaaaaaaaap!

And the remodel begins!

   

After hanging out in Best Buy an hour longer than we planned to order appliances, Shelby and I finally made our way up to Winter Park late Thursday night so we could get a solid day of prep and painting in on the new condo before Bryce came up Friday evening.

 

 There is so much to do but since painting the cabinets is a several step process, we started there!

 

This is the horrid brown cabinetry and wooden paneling with in the kitchen that does not match the speckled gray granite counters at all.

 It is obviously very far from finished but holy cow what a difference the black makes!

  

This picture doesn't do justice to the brown color on the walls. To give you a better idea of how gross it is, the ceilings are actually cream.

A nice coat of gray on the two far walls is MUCH better :)

Again, no one wants a beige/brown color that doesn't match the light floors...

So we took care of that with an ''almost'' white to really brighten up the room and accentuate the floors. Add some colorful artwork and it will be dazzling :)

A humungous thanks to Shelby for helping Bryce and I out for 2 straight days! We are so excited to have a rocking place to PART-A this summer with a kickass neighbor upstairs!