Goodbye October, Hello November!

Did I tell you that Charlie got hurt and needed stitches a few weeks ago? He gets them out tomorrow (hopefully), but until then he is all bandaged up

Charlie and his bandaged leg

 

Did you know that Halloween has come and gone and everyone (including me) is now thinking about Thanksgiving? Here is me on Halloween with my friend Amy’s son Jake. He was a skunk and it was the first time he had gone trick or treating! Dan is with his friend Joey’s son Logan, who was a very adorable dinosaur. We have friends who have kids… isn’t that weird!?

Can you tell that Jake has some candy in his hand?!

 

Lil' Stinker and Me

Dan and the Dinosaur

Also above you can see the brown color that I started to paint my dining room. We have now decided to go with green, so I will be painting away again next weekend.

 

Dan and I just got back from a weekend trip to Boulder, which is one of my favorite places! Dan’s friend Todd is on CU Boulder’s football operations staff and hooked us up with tickets to the game against Iowa State yesterday! We had a blast. It was fun tailgating and pretending we were college students again.

Here’s Todd leaving at the end of the game to go to the locker room. 

Go Buffs!

Here is Dan and I watching the 4th quarter. It was a close one but the Buffs pulled it off and won 28 – 24!

CU vs. Iowa State

 

All in all it has been a busy fun-filled few weeks. I hope your weekend is going well. Happy Sunday!

xo Ash

Happy Halloween!

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Dog!

I had some IT issues yesterday, so this post is technically a day late but still relevant… Yesterday was a big day here in the Springs. My office had their annual contest again where we compete with skits. This year we created a David Letterman set and had Palin as a guest and had a funny top 10 list. It was a lot of work, so I am glad it is finally over! It is the first year that I have competed and not been on a winning team, but I’m okay with it.

We had a pretty good trick or treating turnout last night. We handed out peanut M&Ms and halloween themed pencils. I got a lot of flack up front for the pencil handouts, but they turned out to be a big hit!

I hope your Halloween was a good one. Fill me in later on how it all went.

 

xo Ash

Happy Halloween!

Ode to Emma

 

2008 Coffin Races

 

This past weekend, Dan and I went for the second year to Manitou Springs’ annual coffin races. What is cool about this event, besides the people watching, is the story of how the event came to be. To give you a bit of history, the races are for a woman named Emma Crawford who came to Manitou at the turn of the century in a quest to heal herself from tuberculosis. You see there are many springs around this town (hence the name), and many people came here thinking that they possessed healing properties. Emma enjoyed hiking and one day went on a hike up Red Mountain. The hike was a bit too much for her though, because shortly thereafter, she became very ill and passed away. Her wish was to be buried at the top of Red Mountain and it was granted shortly after her passing. However, years later, the weather patterns of Colorado began to take their toll on the summit. One day the granite mountain top gave way and Emma’s remains were washed down the side of the mountain into the town. The coffin races were formed 14 years ago to honor Emma and her love for Red Mountain. 

So basically, the Emma honoring is done in 3 ways.

1.The Friday night before the races, a wake is held for Emma. Yes, by wake, I mean the funeral kind of wake… I have never been so I can’t tell you for sure, but I think the coffin remains closed… haha!

2. On Saturday afternoon a parade is held. This involves a parade of hearses followed by a march of all the teams who will be racing up and down the street. Have I told you that each team needs to have some sort of theme? That is one of the best parts. The themes are often ridiculous and sometimes very funny. My personal favorite is the hillbilly team. They also were in the race and parade last year:

 

Wister - That's his wife and his sister!

The chilluns

Hillbilly Parading

Notable teams/parade goers from this year also include:

Political Team 08 - McCain and Obama were also represented - this was the best picture I got though - ha! Palin makes me laugh :0)

Flame Thowing Hearse - see flames below

Yes - these were directly above my head

Creepy Clown

Forest Gnomes

I have no idea what this guy is supposed to be but his costume rocked!

Look at this woman's eyes

This team meant business

Uncle Fester with the Adaams

 

3. The teams face off in a race down the street with their coffins. Each team must race with an Emma in the coffin and the best time wins. 

 

I have a million more photos but this post is getting out of control with the imagery I’ll leave you with Dan and I at the race.

Dan and I at the Races

We can’t wait until next year!

xo Ash

Carving Pumpkins

So I now know the hardest part about this blog thing… Actually finding the time to create a worthwhile post.

Did you know October is my favorite month of the year? It is! I love so many things about this month it is ridiculous. The first thing I love, is the annual pumkin carving party my friends Amy and Jesse have.

Last weekend I went to their 3rd annual party. This was the best year yet! I also had my best pumpkin design out of the 3 years. It has become increasingly competitive, so I had to come up with something unique this year in order to even compete. 

Here is a photo from last year’s entrants:

 

2007 Entries

Can you guess the one I made? It is a coyote howling at the moon (3rd from the left). And no, I did not win in 2007. People were more creative than I was

This year the bar was raised. Here is my personal favorite:

 

Pumpkin Spaceship

This pumkin actually lit up and the aliens are made out of gourds. How creative! Amazingly this was not the winner. Instead, this guy who used a template of Obama’s profile won. Lame, right?

Anyway – here is a pic of all of the entries:

Entries 2008

And here is my awesome creation:

Hear No Evil

See No Evil

Speak No Evil

I had a few different sugar pumpkins in the house that morning and decided to create a series of 3. They are very hard to carve though, so I will probably not use them again. Anyway – aren’t they cute!

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

Today I am heading over to Manitou Springs to watch the annual Coffin Races, which is one of the best events of the year. It is quite a spectacle, so I will be sure to post some photos tomorrow.

Have a great Saturday 

xo Ash

Tech Cravings

Melis -

I have technology cravings today. Have you seen this?

 

Storm

 

What about the new Macbook?

Macbook 2008

I can totally afford these… right? Today I am carving pumpkins and can not wait! I also have to find new paint colors for my dining room because the brown paint did not work out the way I had planned. Oh well! I will post my pumpkin art for you later. Have a great Sautrday.

 

xo Ash