THE LORD OF THE RING!!

The day began much like any other. It was an early winter morning in November (disregard the presents in the background). The day was a lazy one as it was the weekend and I didn't have to work this day. I awoke. Complete (IE: with ring). Who was to know, this was the day the ring would try and escape from its owner.


The day became an arduous one. While the rings owner thought today was going to the aforementioned "lazy" one, the ring (and the owner's wife) had other plans. CHORES ABOUNDED!! "To the store", said the wife of ring's owner. "We need sustenance!! But first we need to put in the laundry." A loud sigh came from the ring's owner as he trekked past the trials of the never-endingly long hallway to the house of laundry.

Here, in the house of laundry sits the monsters of peril which many a man (and perhaps one woman) dread more than any other. These particular beasts of burden require extra attention as they are peculiarly good at not doing their jobs properly. The rings owner must pay a toll to the machine in order to make it function. While most days, it was paid in dollars and cents. Today, with the help of the ring, it was much more. With the toll paid, the monster filled its cavity with liquid to help dissolve the soap (otherwise, because they are so crappy, it leaves white soap spots all over your clothes and makes you wonder why you even bother washing them in the first place...) The ring's owner stuffed the clothes into the soapy opening, making sure as to not overfill the monster.

Then, back to the domicile and off to the next journey. To the store, back from the store, back to the laundry. What is this?! The owner spent too long away from his laundry that some other villager took out their clothes and cast them aside like unwanted scraps. Saddened, the owner took his clothes and moved them to the fire breathing dragon which scorches the clothes dry and then back to his shire.

Due to the large amounts of evils in the world, training is required to maintain peak performance. "TO THE GYM!!", the wife said. After hours of training, lifting heavy objects, and stretching (as to not get cramps) the owner and his wife make their way back home.

It wasn't until now when the owner noticed. When had it happened? Where did it go?! The ring... it had successfully made its escape!!!!!! But where? But when? Had he had it all day? Did he lose it only recently?

Mildly panicked, he scoured high and low. Back to the gym, back to the laundry room, to the car, in the bed, under the bed, the couch, hallway, laundry room, in the other people's laundry (while the wife stood lookout. Maybe they stole the ring?) etc, etc, etc. The ring was lost. Sadness again filled the owner. He wept and wept (well not really).

After some time passed. The owner stood up with an epiphany. He ran out of the house and down the never-endingly long hallway to the house of laundry. Perhaps, he thought, when the vandals removed the clothes instead of stealing the ring, as was previously thought, the ring fell out. He fell to his hands and knees and scoured the depths of the dirty ground. A glint came from under one of the monsters feet. With a forceful nudge, he lifted the front of the monster to see it there. Sitting sheepishly, staring back at its owner, laid the ring.

With the ring back in the owners possession, the world is right again. The scare the ring gave would not be forgotten. To this day, the owner has not worn it since, at least until it is re-sized to the point where it won't fall off again.

The moral of this story, at least I think the one which was learned... DON'T EVER DO THE LAUNDRY!! Get someone else to do it.

Tree 2010

Yay, our tree is up! We spent much of yesterday assembling our faux tree and adding the touch of holiday memories with our years of ornament collection. We discovered over half the ornaments are "Island of Misfit Toys". This fact made me happy! We found a great spot for our Olsen famous advent calendar next to the tree. Choosing a perfect hand-made holiday symbol to add the the calendar daily is one of my favorite traditions. The only thing we have left to do is add the train around the tree. The big question is, Lego or Misfit train???

New Shoes

I got the gift of new boots! I thought I was cold weather prepared when we moved here but I was wrong. Even though it is sunny here most days the weather is extremely cold. Before my cold weather experiences consisted of most winter days being in the mid-40's and wet. Not here. When we have ventured out into the elements my feet have been so cold. Matt got new kicks to wear to school and keep him warm but I was out of luck until a nice gift was given to me. New Boots! I was so happy I cried.

I knew I wanted just the right combination of comfort and style for work and play. I easily found a great weatherproof cushioned black boot with fuzzy fur lining the tops perfect for playing outside. Then the search began for a nicer boot to wear with a dressier outfit and still keep my toes warm. I spent a lot of time roaming the department stores and trying on shoes. With the boot being a fashion style of this season I had so many options. But what was the perfect boot for me? With my crazy process of elimination and a great Black Friday sale at Macy's I found my perfect boot; shorter black boot with a zipper side to easily slip on and off my foot with a sturdy heel, a few inches lift to boost my height while saving the bottom of my pants, and a great overall contour fit. I have worn them both out and they are perfect indeed. Thank you!

Halloween 2010

This Halloween was a fairly quiet one compared to last year. I decided since Darlene emailed me all month Wilton's Halloween recipes and decorations, that I should give-in and try baking one of these festive cupcakes. I made from scratch the classic German chocolate cake, cupcake. Then I found a simple butter cream frosting recipe, added food coloring, and busted out my baking tips. Voila! Yummy creepy cupcakes that I hand delivered to Matt's co-workers, dropped a plate at the neighbors, and devoured a few for myself.Yum!

We bought pumpkins, as always, mainly for the pumpkin seeds. Disappointed that there was only a small bowls worth of seeds, we lost the motivation to carve our pumpkins. But we have had some tasty apples, some of which we baked in the oven with cinnamon. The aroma of the apples baking filled our apartment and made me happy while a little homesick. It reminded me of the annual Carmel apples Lauren and I used to make and make no more. Sniff. On Saturday we decided to get out of the house and head downtown to HAPA Sushi in Cherry Creek. We had walked by this happening joint many times but never went in. We gave it a try and census says - 7 out of 10. Not the best I've had but pretty good. I was feeling the spirit of Halloween so I used my makeup to create Zombie looking eyes before we headed out on the town. I tried to convince Matt he should have Zombie eyes too but he wouldn't budge. Oh well, maybe next year he will participate.

We had the opportunity to pass out candy in our apartment building. All we had to do was tape a pre-designed Halloween sign on our door to let kids know we were giving out candy. We got a huge bag of candy for all the trick-or-treaters but sadly we only had about a dozen kids show up. As tradition, we put out the smokey skull with the creepy green lit-up eyes on our doorstep and it was a hit. Thank you again Darlene for the only Halloween decoration we own. At least the quality of it is awesome!

Fall Festival Botanic Gardens Chatfield

This weekend we set out to celebrate the coming of fall. I looked online for Denver events in the fall and was not surprised to find a bazillion ideas. It was my day to choose the activity so I settled on the Denver Botanic Gardens Fall Festival. It was about a half hour drive in the rain from our place to the festival.

When we got out of the car the clouds broke up and the sun poked its head out from behind the clouds. We wandered the pumpkin patch for awhile to find a good carving pumpkin, but sadly it seemed they were all picked over. The only ones left were rotten, green, and deformed which is not a good base for great carving. We strolled through the vendors and enjoyed all the kids participating in fun activities while sporting their creative Halloween costumes. There was a really impressive exhibit of turn-of-the-century steam engines on display. One of the collectors gave us a great demonstration.

For our finale of the day we decided to try the corn maze. The first picture below is the design of the corn maze and it looks impressive but we never really found a dead end and was able to do the whole maze in less than a half hour. We were a little disappointed with the easy skill level of the maze but glad to get out of the house. When we walked back to the car the clouds began to gather and it started to rain.

First Friday

This week we headed down to the art district on Sante Fe street. Every town seems to have some type of art walk including Denver. We have been to many art walks, but I think this was the most impressive with 10 blocks packed with people cramming into over 60 independent art galleries. It was even expressed to us that this may even be the largest art walk in the country. This exhibit included many impressive 3d canvases ranging from landscapes to emotional faces.

This very simple exhibit explored light and shadow. White paper folded into cranes and oblong circles were pinned off the all the walls and lit from above the space to create a very impressive piece of art. This was the only space I saw people whipping out their camera phones to capture the essence of the piece. Although I think it was impossible to capture the emotion without experiencing the space itself.

This picture shows one of the packed galleries overflowing onto the street. Portland never had the art following that Denver has. It was amazing to be part of the experience. Galleries full of unique original art with everyone from the artist to ordinary people critiquing the pieces and filling spaces. Street vendors trying to sell art and musicians playing instruments or free style raping capturing crowds on the street. It was fabulous.

Here is a pic of MoJo standing in front of a artistic film piece capturing the process of the artist. I can't wait to go back next month!

Lauralee and Shey's place

We finally visited Matt's aunt and uncle, Lauralee and Shey, by Castle Rock, CO.
Hopefully I spelled their names correctly :)

Apparently they love Mexican food, so it was fitting that Lauralee made an excellent taco lunch for us. Thank you again for the great food. I really enjoyed the green chili egg souffle. As I went back for seconds of the dish, I wished that I could have sat down and devoured all of it to finish by licking the bowl. Seeing that it was our first introduction I felt I keep that to myself and stay appropriate by just having a small slice on my plate and settle with enjoying every little bite.

After lunch we had a small tour of their cute place and Lauralee was kind enough to share her Vaseline glass collection and amazing artistic quilts with us! We continued outside to see their new toys; two 4-wheelers. Lauralee and Shey hoped on their ATVs as we took the Rhino and headed over to the Olsen's plot. What amazing views of the valley from the top of the land.

We are still considering camping on it but Shey made a point to let us know a mountain lion with cubs has been spotted around the neighborhood. Then we headed back to the house for ice cream sundaes with all the classic toppings!! It was a lovely afternoon.

I wanted to add these two pics of a thunder show right outside of our window. I wasn't quick enough to capture the lightening but I think these shots turned out well.

Rockies Win

It was a beautiful day to enjoy our nations favorite past time. With tickets being so cheap, we decided to catch a ball game before the end of the season. What better way to do it than go to see our new local team, the Colorado Rockies. This game was an experiment to see where the best seats are. That is why there are a few different vantage points of the field. We would sit in one seat and than move to another to find the best. Although the Rockies were on a 9 game winning streak, there were plenty of empty seats in the house.

Though the picture may not show it well, this is a TINY TINY stadium. I couldn't believe how small it was when we arrived. Honestly, there are no bad seats here. Even in relation to Fenway, which is a small park in the baseball scheme of things, this was far smaller.

Here we see JJ standing against the Denver skyline. The park is pretty much right off the heart of Denver. Not a bad sight. The buildings are nice too.

While the baseball game is interesting, we all know why we go to the games. That's right, to eat. First thing I did when entering the park, was buy a bag of peanuts. I don't know what they put in those things, but they always taste better at the park. Maybe because I can just throw the shell on the ground. A culinary mystery for sure.

The game was a close one against the DiamondBacks. We were tied heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Last batter up. One strike. Two strikes. The pitch, the swing, HIGH FLY BALL INTO THE OUTFIELD. GOING, GOING, GONE!! HOME RUN. Rockies win. 10 in a row. Good thing we were there. Probably would have lost without us.

Red Rocks

Tuesday we had the pleasure to head up to Red Rocks and enjoy the John Mayer and Owl City Concert. Thanks the our great friend, Chelsea, I recieved this amazing and unexpected gift of two tickets to this concert for my birthday.

Never been to the Red Rocks, we decided to leave early so we could have a picnic and enjoy the beautiful scenery that everyone raves about. We hopped on google maps and followed the directions of 18 miles and 22 minutes. Not really thinking that it was rush hour, we followed the freeway route. A few miles into the drive we found ourselves in 6 lanes of stop-and-go traffic. I tried to embrace the experience as an adventure; my first time driving in real traffic in a big city, whoo hoo! A quick hour and fifteen minute drive later we drove up a winedy road following a pack of cars to the parking areas. We decided we had found ourselves a perfect spot when we observed about 20 cars of people picnicing by their vehicles under the rocks. This is the area in the pictures above. Once you drive through the rock tunnel, u arrive in a massive hearding of cars parked in lines up to the venue.

We spent about an hour enjoying our picnic, the amazing view of the city and each others company. Then we headed up the the concert. As we walked up the stairs I started to get winded. Matt explained we were about 6,200 feet, and I could fell it.
We found a decent spot to place our blankets in the open seating area amongst the sold out concert of 9,500 people in the ampitheater. We had an amazing view of the city in the background as the sun was setting. We ventured off to the visitors center and then explored the beautiful grounds. We learned that the Red Rocks opened 1906 and has hosted some of the biggest names in the business including the Beatles, Greatful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Rolling Stones, Rush, etc.

(The below pics are off of my phone since I couldn't bring in my Sony camera, but you get the idea, it was pretty neat.)

Washington DC Trip!

We invite you all to come along with us and enjoy a fabulous weekend which was spent in our nations capital, Washington DC. Although, I am sure most of you know what was going on, I will inform the rest of the blog readers of the back story. One of my high school buddies (and former band bass player) Adam Ross, made a wonderful decision to marry a beautiful woman, former Ms. Kaitlin L'Italien, now a Mrs. Allow me to take you on the journey though our weekend.

Thursday 8/26. Day One: Wake up at 3am to drive to the airport in order to catch our extremely early 6am flight. Spend the next million hours on two 2 hour flights to arrive in Dulles, 30 miles from downtown DC. The main event of the evening for us was the attending of a Washington Nationals baseball game. You can see here, the stadium was packed and our seats were top notch. JJ was extremely excited when we entered the stadium, but after an overpriced hot dog and some roasted peanuts, she began to fade quickly. I guess some of us need a little more beauty sleep than others!! (I'm so going to get a punch in the arm for that one!!) After the game, which the home team lost, there was a spectacular fireworks display shot off from a barge in Anacostia River. One of the better shows I have ever seen. I wonder how good the fireworks would have been if they actually won.


Day Two: Culture Day (At least to begin with). Today, Matt's old next door neighbor, Matt (shown above with wife Cory and JJ) made our way down to "The Mall" in DC. We were caught by surprise to see a large amount of people had congregated on the mall that day. Unknowingly, Glen Beck, FOX News blah blah blah, was holding a rally today. We could tell who was attending the rally just by looking at all the middle aged, sweaty, men and women all walking around with folding chairs and American Flag T-Shirts. Interesting as it may be, that is not what we did today. We, on the other hand, decided to attend a couple of the Smithsonian Museums. First, the Air and Space Museum. One of Matt's personal favorites. While, I am sure I have been there over 10 times, every time is more amazing than the last. The shear magnitude of the exhibits in the building are astonishing. Shown here, are pictures of all of us enjoying the museum. One personal favorite is a picture of Matt, and his "Special" friend, Matt.

After our whirlwind tour though space, we traveled back in time. During our visit to the Museum of Natural History we enjoyed an amazing collection of fossilised dinosaurs. Shown here is but one of the many, many, many rooms.

Next stop on our trip through the Natural History museum was the Gems and Mineral Exhibit. Shown top left, is the 45.52 carat Hope Diamond. Shown here for the first time out of it setting since its creation. This picture does not really do the stone justice, but I will have you know... its kinda big. Shown below is some other, less impressive 31 carat diamond. Yeah, I know. Whatever. Top right, shows Matt standing next to the body of a giant squid. Some fun facts about this creature of the deep. It can grow to an estimated 43 feet in length, its primary predator and food source is the sperm whale, and no one has ever seen one alive in the wild. SPOOKY!! Isn't scince fun?! Our last stop within the museum was to the Butterfly Pavilion. This was a large dome one could walk through amongst hundreds of live butterflies. Shown here are a couple of examples of those beautiful insects.

It was getting late in the day and it was time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up for the main event of the evening. However, being DC, there are a million things to see on the way to wherever you are going. Here are a few art pieces in the Statue Garden right outside one of the many Smithsonian's.

Ok, here we go. The MAIN EVENT (of the evening!!). Being the crazy overachievers both Mr. and Dr. Ross are, what better way to spend the night before their wedding, than to put on a Rock n' Roll show for all their friends. Actually, a little back story about this, Adam and Kaitlin originally met in this band. Adams friend had told him about a girl with an amazing voice which would be perfect for their band. She came, auditioned, sang, joined, and the rest is history. The lovely couple played for two hours in front of hundred of screaming fans!! Awesome. Pictured below, top right, Dan Harris and Matt. Top middle and right, Bride and Groom, (DUH) Adam and Kaitlin. Bottom from left to right, Adam Hess, Dan Harris, Matt "The Man" Olsen, Jon Halpert, and Al McRae (all high school friends of Matt)

After a lovely evening of ROCKING OUT, we made it back to the hotel and rested up for the somewhat smaller MAIN EVENT on Day Three:

Located in a small chapel in the heart of Georgetown, a man and a woman became man and wife. It was a very nice service which had a lot of audience participation. I guess thats what you get from Catholics. Unfortunately, from where we were sitting/standing, we were unable to get a good shot of the groom with the bride, but just close your eyes and image one.

After the ceremony, a bus picked us up and transported us to the reception. A location expertly named, "The Top of the Town". Sitting on the twelfth story, we enjoyed a birds eye view of many of the national monuments. The pictures do not describe how amazing this location was. Never in a million years would I have hoped for this. Visit their website to get a better idea of views. You will not be disappointed. We weren't. (http://www.topofthetown.net/)

While it was hard enough to try and cram so much into three days, we had a few more hours on DAY FOUR: Our flight didn't leave until 4pm so we still had time to see a few things before we left. JJ had expressed to me she would like to see some of the national monuments she had not seen last time she visited DC. Shown below, is the World War II memorial. A fairly new site which I had not seen before either.

A short distance from the WWII memorial was the Vietnam Memorial (shown below top right). You never understand the magnitude of this particular memorial until you are standing there. Next we walked the steps to the Lincoln Memorial. Though there were tons of people in and around the memorial, amazingly enough, JJ is shown here alone with Lincoln. (Top right) We see the view from the Lincoln Memorial over the reflecting pool toward the George Washington Memorial.

While I am sure we did more things, I am just plain burnt out from writing about our trip. It was incredible to see DC with JJ, see all my old friends and make some new ones, as well as enjoy a little vacation to boot. It is unfortunate how quickly reality sets back in once you get back home. Oh well. At least from time to time, we have the ability to escape it.

Museum of Nature and Science

This weekend we headed to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Located in the eastern side of Denver within the 330 acres of City Park. The City Park is so large that is has the Zoo, museum, golf course, 2 lakes with a boat house, rose garden, fountain, great view of the city and a plethora of pathways to wander.

We decided to start at the top floor of the museum. I chose the Prehistoric Journey exhibit. As we wandered through the maze of exhibits and fossils we finally made it to the dinosaurs!! Here is a really neat exhibit I am next to with trees, a stream, jungle sounds and 2 dinosaurs fighting. We continued through the Egyptian exhibit and down the the next floor. We explored the

Indian Cultures, Expedition Health, Exploration Colorado, and Wildlife Exhibits. This museum had the largest collection of life size stuffed animals I have ever seen. Here is a picture of me next to a post prehistoric ravenous animal. (I can't remember the name.) The last floor had the space odyssey and the gem and mineral exhibit. Here is a picture of Matt next to a piece of a Crystal mine in Mexico that was relocated and reassembled in the museum.

Sunday, we woke up early and went to visit one of the local farmers markets. It had a small bounty of fresh vegetables and fruit and a lot of craft vendors. One item which we have noticed at both the farmers markets we have attended thus far are the fresh roasted green chiles. Here you can see the vendor roasting (and coughing) the chiles in a large drum. Delicious!! We bought our first bag and made great use out of them in some fresh salsa verde.

IMAX Experience

Last night we ventured into the night to the local movie theater which happens to be and IMAX theater! We have heard Inception was a great mind twisting movie to see. At ten in the evening we sat in the dead center isle of a giant theater with just a few other people and enjoyed our first experience in an IMAX film. Now I have been to OMSI IMAX in Portland, but these new IMAX theaters sound and look impressive! The previews for TRON on the screen looked amazing and we will definitely be back to see it in IMAX 3D!!

Boulder and Estes Park

Being Matt's last day before he has to get back to the reality of work and school, Team MOJO hit the road and explored the areas surrounding Denver Metro. First stop on the trip, the town of Boulder. According to the Colorado guide book we purchased, Boulder is a hip and happening area which specializes in alternative medicines, hippies, and a free thinking culture. My goodness, is this another Ashland? After being there for about thirty seconds, we realized the scope of Boulder left Ashland in the dust. Nevertheless, it was a fun place to visit.

Boulder had a plethora of "art" type sights to see throughout the city. And I mean CITY!! It made our little town of Ashland look like a one horse town. We actually visited Boulder during the Colorado Asian Festival which consisted of Asian dancing, food, and umbrella's. All of which we decided to leave for the other tourists to purchase and enjoy.

We walked through the Boulder shops empty handed and drove on to our next destination, Estes Park. The 40 or so mile drive was actually very familiar to Matt. He couldn't place the reason why. It wasn't because he had been there more than 20 years earlier, which he didn't recall one iota (sorry Mom!!!) However, the drive was very familiar.... until he mention it to JJ. THE SHINING!! During the beginning of the Shining when they are driving to the hotel... that's the road we were on. Actually, the Stanly Hotel in Estes Park was the hotel Steven King was originally writing about during the book. He stayed there while writing the original novel. Scary stuff. Thank goodness, we did not get stuck in the snow while here or surely JJ would be a goner............... HEEERE'S MATTY!!

But, I digress. When Matt's mom told him to visit Estes Park, we packed a picnic to enjoy while eating in the park itself. Needless to say, it is only a town called Estes Park. Here is a picture of us enjoying our picnic in the car before exploring the town.

Don't worry though. There was plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy surrounding the town. Here a picture of water goddess Jessica walking on water.

One thing we haven't yet become used to is the sheer magnitude of the mountains here. Most peaks being upwards of 13 - 14,000 feet. WOW!!!

What's this?! Why, its Jellystone Park. The official home of Yogi bear. He is shown shamelessly posing with the two of us. Thank goodness we had already finished all of our food our he might have stolen our picnic basket!!

We are glad to have had the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of our surroundings before we have to become functional adults in society. Hopefully, soon, we be able to explore a little more of this alien country.

DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!