A snowy season opening.

Wednesday evening was the big Denver Nuggets season opening basketball game. And no snow was going to keep this fan away from the big event.

The Pepsi Center is rather impressive in size, and I was reminded that it was the location of last year's democratic convention!

Micah and I once again teamed up with Melissa and Andrew. (See Melissa's post on the evening.)

And then came the half time show. I was on the edge of my seat to see who would be this year's musical guest (mainly because I heard Vanilla Ice (last year) and MC Hammer (2 years ago) had shown up).

And the Nuggets did not disappoint. It was Naughty by Nature! You know you're down with O.P.P.

See the excitement written all over our faces!

And lastly, I leave you with Denver's famous star, "The Birdman." He's on the left hand side, the one with the spiky-bird like hair, and just so you know he has tattoos of wings on his biceps. Cute, huh?

And here is Birdman's biggest fan, oh the resemblance is striking! (Yes, there is fringe plastered on his shirt to look like feathers).

The season opening was everything I hoped it'd be and more.

A tale of pumpkins, large and small.

It was Saturday, aka Pumpkin Day. The kitchen was stocked full of ingredients to make the most decadent pumpkin delights. On the menu was Pumpkin Coconut Curry, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies and of course the king of pumpkin treats, Pumpkin Pie.

Scarlett, Melissa, Micah, and I were geared up for the evening.

We sliced open a large pumpkin, scooped out the inside, separated the seeds, and were on out way to taste bud heaven. The pumpkin seeds turned out great! Toasted just so with a little olive oil and some kosher salt.

However, the pumpkin curry is where the menu got derailed. It had barely any flavor, even with large amount of spices that were thrown in.

Now, on a side note, www.allrecipes.com led me deeply astray with the idea of boiling pumpkin. We did so and it turned out to be one sloppy, wet mess. We tried to make the pumpkin cheesecake brownies, but suffice it to say they were not that good.

Sunday came and with it a renewed dedication to making the last item on the menu: pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie. I love the texture, the flavor, the crust. I love it all. And, I had been craving pumpkin pie since fall began. Micah and I busted out the remaining pumpkin (yes, the one that was so wet and sloppy) and tried our hand at straining it so as to get out the water. It didn't work so well, but we trudged on anyway. We rolled out the dough and carefully placed it in the center of the pie pan. Then came the pumpkin mixture and it was disastrous. I don't even know where to begin with how horrible it looked. It was stringy and oh, so thin (the recipe said to mash the pumpkin, not puree it). We poured it in its shell and put it in the oven. It baked and baked and baked. And it still came out slimy. Not one bite could I polish off it was so bad.

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And then came round two. Pumpkin may have won the first time, but I was not going down without another fight.

First off, we used a small pumpkin. It was round and cute, less intimidating.

Second, we roasted the pumpkin in the over instead of boiling it on the stove.

Third, we pureed the pumpkin in small batches instead of mashing it.

Other than those three things, we used the exact same recipe and it turned out amazing. I'm not kidding when I say it might be one of the best pumpkin pies I've ever had. It was just the right creamy texture. It was beautiful and we topped it off with a dollop of homemade whip cream.

Blogiversary.

It's been one full year since this little blog blossomed into being on the world wide web.  A year full of pouring out my thoughts, experiences, and photographs into posts of all sizes.  A year ago I was simply an anonymous blog stalker, but then I too got caught up in the magic.

I could reminisce the times we've shared, the laughs and the cries we're had, but then again you could just scroll over all those posts and read up on them yourself.  But, let me just say, it has been a sincere pleasure discovering a whole new world of posts and comments and flickr uploads.  Blog, you have provided a much needed creative outlet and I cannot wait to see what this next year will bring.

And thank you friends and stalkers alike.  I hope we can continue on this road of life sharing and reveling in the minute, the colorful, and the bewildering world all around us.

And just for fun, here are a few wedding favorites (taken by jshipley photography).

Oh, and one more thing, today I relinquish my Californian statehood for that of Colorado.  Mourn with me folks.

Leaving social work at the door.

I am a social worker, bleeding heart and all. This is who I am. It makes up a large portion of my identity. It riles me up when I hear of injustice. It urges me to listen to the underdog. And it perplexes me as I try to understand the complexities of life's numerous dilemmas. This is who I am.

But...

I am also a wife and a daughter and a sister and a friend and a student and many times it is hard to be these while donning my social worker hat.

A few days ago, Micah's family had a mini-crisis on their hands. In the midst of talking about what was going on, I got entirely sidetracked on the implausibility of numerous ideas and thoughts of various family members. It was my brain working in overtime to analyze the situation, criticize the power players, and not so humbly completely forget that, aside from messing in family politics, being a wife was more important for the moment. Being the person that Micah, my friends, family members, and colleagues need often means setting aside prodding for understanding and "intervening" as I see fit. And it most definitely means putting down my obsession of the underdog. Because although there's most likely someone that has it worst off, trying times are not the best to raise such awareness.

Sometimes, I just need to leave (social) work at the door. To give an example of how extreme I may be, Micah and I compromised at 95% social work to 5% not.

It's going to be a rough ride giving up that 5%, but social work shouldn't control my whole life. It's who I am, but it's not all I am. I would hope I'm a little more complex than that.

tears 2.

news.

unforgivable medical "mishap."

confusion.

wrestling time.

fury.

thinking, wishing, praying.

heavy heart. longing to be there.

tears flowing.

i love you.

fall in the park

Remember last weekend when it was 18 degrees? Yah, well, this weekend it was in the 70s. I don't understand it, but I'll take it.

This weekend was beautiful fall weather. Micah and I walked in the park, ate lunch in the park, and ran in the park. We are gearing up (and by gearing up, I mean I'm still thinking about it) for running in the National Marathon. In order to do so, you have to have a qualifying run. Basically, that means I need to sign up to run a 5k and do it in under 31 minutes (which shouldn't be too bad). Although, I'm still blaming the Denver altitude on my slowness (it's of no concern that I've been here almost 4 months).

I think Micah found a run we can do. It's the Race for Fetal Hope, which supports expecting families diagnosed with fetal syndromes. The foundation's mission (as per their website) is to "provide support, provide information, fund research, increase awareness and be an outlet for leading medical information pertaining to fetal distresses and syndromes."

If you'd like to learn more, you can click here.

pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

It seems as though recently everyone's been talking about pumpkin and chocolate creations recently. So, in honor of this new obsession, I made some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Here's how.

The ingredients:

4 eggs

2 cups of sugar (I mixed brown and white to give it a little extra flavor)

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1 tsp vanilla

1 & 1/4 cups of vegetable oil (this seemed like a lot, so I used 1 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil)

3 cups of flour

2 tsps baking soda

2 tsps baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon (I added a little extra)

1 tsp salt

12 oz chocolate chips (I used less because I didn't want the chocolate to overpower the pumpkin)

I also added nutmeg (I sprinkled it in, so I'm not sure how much.

Directions:

First, I mixed all the wet ingredients + sugar together (eggs, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and oil &/or applesauce).

Second, I combined all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg) and stirred them into the pumpkin mixture.

Fourth, I folded in the chocolate chips.

Lastly, I greased the muffin pan and filled the cups 3/4 full. And then baked them for 16-20 minutes (mine came out just right at 18 min).

The finished product:

And, a very special birthday shoutout goes to JJ (Veronique's son) who turned 1 today!!!! JJ, you're too cute for words. Thanks for flying all the way to san francisco to meet me. I wish you all the happiness in this next year of life! --Love "Auntie" CG

See? Isn't he cute?

18 degrees and a light dusting.

the first snow.

As I write this, there are white powdery flakes falling gracefully from the sky. To commemorate this moment, I made myself hot chocolate (from scratch) and then curled up, wrapped in a blanket, it the coziest chair in the apartment. Yes, there's something magical about the first snow. The ground isn't cold enough for it to stick yet, but it has fallen nonetheless.

The picture below on the other hand does not symbolize winter in my mind, but it was a beautiful surprise that came in the mail yesterday! Micah's aunt gave it to us and fedex brought it right to our door (well, make that our mailbox 3 flights downstairs).

And today the wedding photos came!

A warmed house.

On Saturday, Micah and I had a housewarming party to christen our new home. We used our fondue pot for the first time and borrowed three more, so there's really no telling how much I ate over the course of the evening. But, it was so much fun to drink and be merry with friends old and new.

Here was the set up. Our table could barely hold all the fondue pots!

We incorporated the kitchen chairs into the "living room."

And, I added a little fall cheer to the mix.

Yes, the chocolate fountain was not operating properly, but it still tasted great! This one was earl grey infused chocolate.

And we had a champagne toast as well (copying my sister's idea from my lingerie party).

Peter and Lien. They're cute!

Later in the evening, some cards were busted out.

And I got to enjoy multiple glasses of wine. It was a good night.

Thanks to everyone that was able to make it, you (or maybe the wine) made me feel warm and special!!

on the first day of october my true love gave to me...

a starbuck's pumpkin spice latte!

(well, I bought it, but with the money from Micah's wonderful, paying job!)

photo credit