yikes!

So when we moved, I walked into the trailer hitch on the back of the uhaul we had rented, leaving me with two ugly bruises that sat over two hard bumps on my poor shin, one each from where the top and bottom of the hitch had hit. The next day, a portable metal shelf fell on my leg, an inch to the right of the trailer hitch injury. It hurt SO BAD, even after lots of ice. I could walk on it comfortably after a little while, though, and I could walk fast on it without much pain after a few days. Anyways, there are still three bumps under my skin, but the bruises are almost gone (it happened Aug 1-2, and I'm still waiting for them to heal up all the way!). I took a picture on the 3rd or 4th to document my poor legs, and here's how it turned out. Do you think I could use some sun in a bottle?! I don't think being a grad student scientist is helping my extreme whiteness.

living with macgyver

So this weekend, Brent and I bought a $5 hot glue gun from home depot, and I feel like even that was overpriced. As soon as we opened it, the plastic stand fell off. Thankfully, the boyfriend is an engineer, and armed with just some pliers and a paperclip, he went to work. Sadly, the gun didn't even work when we plugged it in, so we have to return it, but here is the evidence of all of his hard work:



If you enlarge this one, you can see him curling the ends of the paperclip to make it fit in the notches of the glue gun. It even folds in!


The finished product, with its upgraded paperclip stand.


Being a silly dorkus after sitting for many pictures.

phew!

Holy frijoles, people! The day before (a couple of days before?) my last update, Brent left town for a business trip to Anchorage (a sunday afternoon). That Wednesday, my super awesome friend Haleh came to visit until Friday, and it was SO much fun. We did the Celestial Seasonings tour, prarie dog stalking, pearl street shopping, dinner at chautauqua dining hall, browsing the farmer's market, hanging out at the Stanley Hotel (where Stephen King wrote The Shining), and Rocky Mountain National Park. It really reminded me about how much fun and important it is for me to have some high quality girl time, and it was so so so nice to spend quality time with a good friend who knows me better than most people. Yay, friends!

After Haleh left on Friday am, I cleaned the house up and hung out until leaving for another trip to the airport to pick up Brent after his flight arrived at midnight. It didn't really arrive until 12:30, and we didn't make it home until 2am... crazy! I was exhausted, so it's a good thing that Alaska is 2 hrs behind Colorado. Brent was much more awake, and managed to drive us home from the airport. Anyways, so that's why I haven't updated lately. Things are much calmer now, so hopefully I will be able to be a much more attentive blogger! Here are some fun pictures from my girl-time adventures. I miss you already, Haleh!


Dinner at Chautauqua Dining Hall!


The Stanley.


Drinking iced tea/coffee on the grand porch of the Stanley.


Haleh, just before we forded this raging river!


Blue Jays kept us company during our picnic lunch, but were disappointed if they thought they'd get any food from us.


Sisters! (Did anyone else ever dress like their friends as a little kiddo and pretend to be sisters? No? You totally missed out!)


SO pretty.


Seriously, how amazing is this picture? Haleh was like the elk paparazzi while I drove, and she took such great pictures!


Elk nuzzling or play fighting or something... and such a pretty background!


The clouds on the drive back.

a chance to breathe

We have now officially moved, and things have been going nonstop since my last post. After Brent passed his oracle exam, we started packing in earnest and didn't stop with the business until, well, we really haven't stopped being busy yet! We finished moving out by the 30th, when housecleaners came. I definitely recommend hiring people to do move-out cleaning, rather than trying to do it yourself. It only took the professionals 1.5 hrs to do what would have taken Brent and I a full day, and the price was really really reasonable. Tues the 31st, we finished moving some last minute stuff out of the old place, filled a moving truck with our belongings from the garage, and got the carpets cleaned. Our landlord was very happy with the condition of our condo, so we got the full deposit back, which was really great and such a relief! We unloaded the truck on the 1st, and since then we've been trying to figure out where everything should fit in this new place.

At first, I was a bit sad to be leaving our old place, but now that we have most of our stuff unpacked, the new place is starting to feel much more like home. It will be really nice when it's all unpacked and set up, yay! Following are some pictures from the move, in chronological order from move-out to move-in. Can you tell we're tired in that last one?!

Sorting through strange things from my desk while packing and going loopy!




Brent, being a moving stud, in a picture that wont go vertical. What a guy!