West side livin'....

Golden, Colorado.....my new home sweet home :) Derek and I moved over Memorial Day weekend with the help of our friend Rusty - thanks Rusty!! I can not believe we filled up an entire 26 foot Penske moving truck ~ good grief. The move was not fun, but it is fun to be living on a new side of Denver! The commute to work is now 11 min flat and I couldn't be happier about that.

However, living in an apartment/condo is taking some getting used to. It's been 8 years since I've lived in one and I forget all the good things an apartment can bring, such as...

1) A hot tub!!! Which Derek and I used after our 2nd night here...the move caused lots of sore muscles!
2) A pool!! It's open....we just need to go try it out!
3) A fitness room! I swear I will use this...just need to get that first push to go!

However, there have already been several bad things that this apartment is bringing, such as...

1) Cold showers....ugh...there's been WAY too many and I've only been here a week :(
2) A smoky stench... what the heck?! I think its in our carpets...ugh...
3) No grills allowed... this is one rule that may have to be broken... I mean, look how small and versatile this balcony grill is!! I think all apartments should be allowed to have this nifty thang :)
4) People above us, beside us, and all around us... I'm feeling claustrophobic!

Ok, I kid about that last part, I'm not really feeling claustrophobic. But I am excited to find a new home to settle into :) One where we can grill to our heart's content and take hot showers! Its the little things don't ya know....

A Mountain Wedding Weekend!!

What a fun weekend Derek and I had up in Beaver Creek, CO on May 16, 2009 for Courtney and Daren's wedding!! It started off on Tuesday 5/12/09 with Derek's friend, Sean flying in from London to stay with us. This was my 2nd time meeting Sean and he was just as much fun as the first time when we met in London! We of course had to visit our favorite local bar, PS Lounge for some drinks :)

On Thursday, another friend of Derek's, Brady, flew in from Florida. This was my first time meeting him, although I felt like I already knew the guy from all the stories I had heard from Courtney and Derek. And he definitely lived up to the stories! The four of us then road-tripped up to Beaver Creek Thursday night for the Schouten family pre-wedding weekend BBQ! There I met a few new faces of Derek's aunts, uncles and a cousin. It was fun mingling and meeting Derek's family and family friends. Of course, the famous shot-ski came out and I think everyone who was in the wedding party partook - most more than once! Ha! A fun Thursday night all in all :)

Friday was a spa day for the ladies in the wedding party (plus me!), and a golf day for the gents. The spa was soooo nice and relaxing and I got a lovely manicure to boot! That night was the rehearsal dinner followed by an open bar at a local establishment. More great food and good times had by all!

Saturday was the big wedding day :) Courtney looked amazing in her dress and Daren looked just as dapper. The ceremony itself went off without a hitch, followed by an elegant cocktail hour and reception. I don't think I left the dance floor for more than 5 min at a time and we stayed up waaayyy too late, but oh well....weddings are a great excuse to cut loose and have some fun!

Kentucky Derby!! (minus Kentucky...)

Last weekend, and after the great Friday night engagement(!), Derek and I attended a KY Derby party hosted by our friends, The Hornings. Everyone in attendance was in appropriate attire and we all had a ton of fun! The hosts had the KY Derby theme going throughout their house complete with a betting station where you could pick the winning or losing horse, as well as as a 'mint julep' station where I discovered that Amy and mint julep's do not go well together...

They also ordered a ham from Kentucky (I guess KY ham is better than CO ham?!), and served these great tasting KY chocolate balls, which apparently are made with rum :)

Derek broke out his best linen suit, complete with a pink shirt and purple/pink tie. I dug through my closet and found an old dress that I hadn't worn in probably 7-8 years (which is proof to Derek why sometimes it is good to keep old clothes around even though you never wear them)!

They look like the rat pack, no?

Everyone had the same idea with the white hats :) I super-glued a flower onto mine :) Our lovely hostess and host, Lindsay & Jesse

My future sister-in-law, Courtney and my future husband!!

The big event!!!

It FINALLY happened....

I'M ENGAGED!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a whirlwind weekend.... It's Monday night and I STILL can't believe that I am a bride-to-be!!!

Derek totally caught me off guard last Friday night, May 1st, while we were signing a lease on our new rental...

We just finished walking around checking out our new digs, when he started talking all romantic and sweet to me!! It was sooo cuute!!! Saying how excited he was for this next phase of our lives together, and that he can't wait to spend the rest of his life with me.... then he said "in fact, I want to start it right now"! That's kind of when I realized what was happening....because he pulled out a ring box, got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him and be his wife :) :) :) How could I say no???? OF COURSE THE ANSWER WAS YES!!!!!

I was so surprised, caught off guard and shocked!!! He definitely wins the award for surprising me!! I absolutely LOVE the fact that I was surprised and had no clue what was going on :) It was the perfect Proposal in my opinion :)

I couldn't be happier to marry the man of my dreams!! And I am honored to be his soon-to-be wife!! This next phase and chapter of our lives together is going to be very exciting!!! Wedding planning here we come :) I Love you Derek!!!!

Didn't even have time to take my coat off - ha!

Isn't it so pretty?!? Derek picked this out all by himself - so impressed!!

The newly engaged couple :)

Bath Junkie!!

A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to this cute little store in Park Meadows mall with some girlfriends. It's called "Bath Junkie" and apparently is nationwide, although this was the first I'd ever heard and/or seen it. This store is described as a "drop-in spa" and is very hands on. The set-up is basically this: You pick out "scents" (200 to choose from in fact) which range from traditionals such as vanilla, lilac, juniper and rose to weird scents such as dirt, chai latte, snowstorm and fizzy soda. Then you mix the scents in different types of lotion to make beauty products such as an exfoliating salt scrub, body lotion, massage oil, body mist and hand wash. There is also a mens line of products that you can "make", as well as items for pets! AND...you get to pick the color that you want the product to be - so fun!!

We had a great time in the store and came out with some awesome home-made products! For a mere $30 I left the store with the following 3 products...1) a pretty turquoise-colored salt scrub that smells like rain :) 2) a nice pink-colored body lotion that smells like bubble gum (although I was attempting a "fruit smoothie" smell of grapefruit and papaya) and finally, 3) a light brown-colored "snowboarder" smell body massage oil :)

The salt scrub is AMAZING and leaves your skin sooo soft! The lotion is GREAT for people such as myself with really dry cracked hands.... and as for the massage oil....well, I haven't used that one yet but I'm sure it's going to be just fine ;)

I would highly recommend this store for both men and women to enjoy! To read and learn more about it, check out the following link:
http://www.bathjunkie.com/story.html

Good 'ol Grand Rapids

Another new city for Amy and another new wedding for Derek to be in! That's right, this time we hit Derek's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan for his childhood friend's wedding on 4/11/09. And what a lucky day weather-wise for the lovely couple! Clear blue skies and temps in the 50's...it was great! Which, according to Derek, is very rare for Michigan in April.

We flew from Denver to Chicago, stayed a night with some friends there, and then drove the next morning to Grand Rapids. It was so nice to be back in the Midwest!!! I love all the trees and the greenery :) I sometimes forget how beautiful it is back there.

I must admit, I wasn't overly excited about going to this wedding simply for the fact that Derek was in it, and I didn't know a single other soul that was going to be there...however, the night after the rehearsal dinner, we all went out to a bar (Malarky's) and all of Derek's high school friends came out to meet us. They were so nice and so easy to talk and sooo much fun! We had a blast!! There was karaoke, arm wrestling (I won!), old stories to hear and share and lots of laughs :)
While the boys were doing the rehearsal before the wedding, the girls went to the Botanical Garden which is where the actual wedding was taking place. It was very pretty and there were tons of butterflies...
The wedding itself went off without and hitch and good times were had by all! I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Michigan and would definitely go back to visit again:) Next time, however, hopefully my boyfriend won't have food poisoning on the plane ride back to Denver....which is a whole other story in and of itself, that I'm sure he'd appreciate if I didn't share....ewwwww!!!!

Phoenix & Tucson!!!

Derek and I had a GREAT time down in Arizona for Ian and Jill's wedding on March 28, 2009. We flew into Phoenix and stayed with Derek's parents, and then we all drove down to Tucson (2 hours maybe?) for the big day. It was Derek's first time being in a wedding and he did great!!! But really, how can one mess that up?! The weather was superb as well :)

After Tucson, we came back to Phoenix and stayed for a few more relaxing days. Thank you Pam and Tom for the AWESOME hospitality!!! During the days we would go hiking, bike riding, golfing and also did a lot of sun soaking :) At nights we were treated to some very nice dinners, both at their house and out in Scottsdale, and also sat in their backyard enjoying the outside fire pit and surround-sound jazz music :)

This was my first trip to Arizona and there are definitely some things I noticed about Phoenix that I haven't seen in other places......therefore, I made a list!

The Top 5 things that I will always remember Phoenix by:
1) The numerous photo radar detectors for speeders...they are everywhere!!!
2) The beautiful cacti!
3) How "new" the city feels...it is very nice!
4) The numerous airplanes in the sky at any given moment.
5) Lots of lizards!

You can't beat the clear blue skies and warm temps that Phoenix has to offer! However, I still like my Denver better :) :) :)

Check out the link for complete pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/tderek/ArizonaTuscon#