Happy Independence Day!

This July 4th, we decided to keep thing quiet. Maybe because we all had to work the next day, or maybe because it's easier than throwing a full fledged get-together. Either way, it was fun just being around family!

It's been unseasonably warm in Colorado so far this summer. So, we decided to get up really early (5:30) and head out of town to Golden Gate Canyon State Park for a hike.

We ended up leaving my sister's house at about 6:30 and getting to the trail head at 7ish.

This is Panoramic Point inside Golden Gate Canyon State Park and it is beautiful!

While there were some steep parts, the trail was for the most part pretty flat and a very easy hike!

We chose the Raccoon Trail because it was easy/moderate and it was only 2.5 miles, an easy holiday morning hike. The only thing that was concerning was all the trail signs said .7 miles or .8 miles which doesn't sound confusing except that it was difficult to know if it was .7 or 7 miles because the "." had been scratched off and every mile ended in "s". I felt a little like this...

Here's the best friends, Wilbur & Rocky. They loved the fresh mountain air and space.

I do hope everyone had a great mid-week holiday and were able to get out and do something!

The Avett Bros. at Red Rocks

I love The Avett Brothers. Love everything about them. Their look, sound, lyrics and most of all that they play Red Rocks! Their show last summer was one of the best I've seen so that meant the stakes for this year were pretty high. Well, they did not disappoint! And now I love them even more. Here is a song they played during their encore. It was the first time I'd ever heard it and now I can't get enough.

 We got really, really good seats for the show...Row 16!

And here's a pic of me and Danny. We've been friends since middle school and I'm so happy that we finally get to hang out together more!

Let Them Eat Cake

Last weekend my family hosted a fundraiser, Let Them Eat Cake, in memory of my Mom, Deb. It's hard to believe that 2012 marks four years since her death. Some days it feels just like yesterday that I spoke to her while other days it feel more like an eternity since she last gave me a hug.

Through all the pain and heartbreak of her death I'm happy that we're able to keep her memory alive in so many ways and that we always take time to celebrate her life with friends and family.

Once my sister and I decided that it was a dessert party that we were doing, we started thinking about where to get the goodies. While we did contact several bakeries in the Pueblo area, only one donated, Mauro Farms. And donate they did! They gave us two potica's and 70 traditional Italian cookies. Don't they look delish? Well, they were!

After we either didn't hear back from the Pueblo owned businesses or were told no, we turned to Denver area business and they were more than generous! I love living in Denver and this is just another reason why; people are so kind and willing to help. I emailed more than a dozen different bakeries asking if they'd be willing to donate a dozen of their speciality. I was happily surprised with what we ended up with!

Gateaux, off Speer Blvd. donated a couple dozen mini pastries as well as several little speciality cookies.

Victory Love+Cookies donated three different types of cookies.

Sugar Bakeshop donated a dozen lemon bars, but it seemed like way more than a dozen!

Gigi's Cupcakes donated a dozen of their decadent cupcakes, all varieties.

Cakes by Kristine donated red velvet cupcakes.

And, Cupcake Dreamin' donated a dozen vanilla and a dozen lemon cupcakes.

We also had cake pops from Starbucks that were a huge success, thanks to my friend Rachel and my sister wrapped mini-Hersey bars with teal ribbons.

It was a great event and we were able to raise $815 that will go to the St. Mary Corwin Foundation to help women in Pueblo battling ovarian cancer pay their medical bills.

Thank you to everyone who supported us and help us to remember a very special lady.

My Favorite Melody

Loving this song...it's a fun Summer anthem!

NOLA Finale

On our last day in New Orleans we didn't have any plans. We started off the day with mimosas then did some more exploring.

I loved everything about the French Quarter, except the smell, and can't wait to return!

Our last stop was at Central Grocery where we got some muffuletta sandwich's to take back with us for dinner. They did travel really well and it was nice to end our trip back in Colorado with a taste of The Big Easy!

NOLA Part 3

On our second day in The Big Easy we did a walking history/voodoo tour. Here I am at St. Louis Street and Bourbon Street. It was pretty amazing how different Bourbon St. was just hours after our arrival! It was super crowded the night before, but as you can see, it's dead in the daylight!

The French Quarter definitely operates on its own clock. Most things didn't open to the public till after 10 a.m. Not quite what I'm used to but it was nice having the street pretty much to ourselves while we made our way to The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum.




We were told that Gerry, our tour guide would be late, but he was 20-25 minutes late for our 10:30 a.m. start time. Well, he made up for it later...what was supposed to be a 2 1/2 to 3 hour tour went well past 4 hours.

My only regret of the trip is that we didn't snap a photo of Gerry. He was quite the character: entertaining, told really bad jokes which he always ended with "that was a joke", and he was very knowledgeable. He said his family had been in the area for 300+ years.

We walked from his museum through the French Quarter to this very old cemetery. It's at the corner of Conti St. and Basin St. The graves inside dated back to the 1800's.

We'd never seen anything like this before. In Colorado, everyone is buried underground and all you see is tombstones, not actual tombs. It was pretty interesting.

We were luck that it only sprinkled a little bit while we were in the cemetery, but doesn't that cloud look ominous?!

This tomb is the main reason why I think Gerry took us to this cemetery. It's supposed to be where the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau is buried. Gerry explained that the xxx's on the tomb are people's markings. He said that when Marie was alive a good majority of people were illiterate and they would make their marking as a way signing their names. Gerry said people still do this today to let her know who has visited.

While I didn't my mark, I did leave an offering. Why not, it can't hurt...right?!?!

Gerry did tell us that this is Nicolas Cage's vaulted tomb. Who knows...

After the 4 hour walking tour, I was starving so we had a late lunch, walked around the city more, took a ride on the street car.

As soon as we stepped foot on the streetcar it started to rain and it really came down. I was definitel happy that we were not walking around it! After our ride, the downpour was just a sprinkle so we walked back to our hotel and made it just in time for my favorite part of the day, cocktail hour!

NOLA part 2

Once we got checked in, we hit the streets to explore. We walked all around Bourbon St., up to the French Market, over to Canal Street and then back to Bourbon St.

The smells at the French Market were phenomenal and made me hungry. Well, to be honest I think I walked off the plane salivating and my appetite for Cajun/New Orleans/Creole/ food as well as Fried Chicken was never really satisfied because I am still dreaming of the food in NOLA and nothing I have at home seems to do the trick.

At the French Market, we got some Gator Jerky for my Dad. He likes weird stuff!

Along the way, we stopped at Cafe Du Monde and had coffee and beignets. I thought they were delish, my sister said the real thing in Paris is better but I don't have anything to compare Cafe Du Monde to, so I LOVED them!

To my sister's point, there was A LOT of powdered sugar on these babies and when when the wind would blow, so would the sugar. Before we left our table, we had to dust ourselves off.

Like I said we walked all over the French Quarter and beyond on the day we arrived. Here's a pic if Canal St. My sister said it sort of reminded her of Miami.

And here's a shot of Bourbon St. at night. The day we arrived was the last day of the French Quarter Festival and the streets were packed. It was like a mini-Mardi Gras, so I was happy! The other days we were there, Bourbon St. was not nearly as busy which was nice, but it was also fun to see it busy.

Later in the evening we went to dinner at Desire Oyster Bar. It's connected to our hotel, and it was pretty good! I got a soft-shell crab po' boy and it was delish! However, I did choose to not have the bread with the second half and almost all of my fries were left behind. It was just SO much food!  We also had BBQ shrimp for a starter and those were really good! My sister got the jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice trio which was really, really flavorful and one of the best things I tasted while there!

During dinner we heard some music outside, which there was a lot of, but this music was moving. So, I went outside to see what it was and it was a wedding processional walking right up Bourbon St. following a band. The people behind the couple were waving streamers and dancing. It seemed so fun, I really wanted to jump in the party but dinner hadn't arrived yet.