Hey hey!
Soooooo the last entry ended with me making promises of stories of my trip to Colorado,
Those are coming but I'll give you the lowdown on the boring day to day stuff first....and obviously an update on the man himself - Sir Slobs A Lot....that being Randle...just in case that wasn't clear
Oh but first of all I want to point out that yet again I am doing well on the resolution of monthly blog posts! whooo for me :)
So I've survived the first month of the semester, I've been attempting to enjoy my classes, one of which I'm actually succeeding in, it is called 'Kafka and his readers', those of you who've read any Kafka you will now how weird his stories are but they are actually a great read, plus apparently every sentence and even word choice has a deeper meaning, this is even more apparent when reading in both English and German. It is safe to say it is 3 hours of deep thinking...it hurts my head!
Unfortunately the same cannot be said for my other class, which is entitled 'From Luther to Lessing' and features religious texts from the 14th and 15th centuries which, for an atheist like me, is a pretty tough slog! The only way I'm getting through that and the ridiculous amount of research and reading I'm having to do for my M.A exam in March is regular 'Bitching Hour' with a fellow TA from the French Department, the lovely Jordin, the plan is usually to go just for coffee but lately we've required a little something extra and this seems to have taken the form of pretty doughnuts!
Oh new motto is.....
so far it's working well for us...just not our waistlines :)
We've finally been getting some cooler weather, in fact it's actually been cold, and I know most of you won't believe me so here is your proof!
And to my European and Canadian buddies, 30 degrees fahrenheit is -1 centigrade - that's right - below freezing in Florida!!
Randle has been loving the lack of heat. They recently built some new small lakes behind my apartment complex, with walkways and little benches, luckily nobody really seems to know about them yet so the slobbery one is taking full advantage and running free a lot, he's a very happy bunny.
He's also been very supportive with regards to my thesis reading, sitting in the sun with me for an hour or so everyday while I read :)
Early on in January I finally got myself a shot with my polaroid camera and impossible film that I was proud of! Joey and I took Randle and his blind, diabetic, 13yr old Yorkshire Terrier P.J (P.J doesn't like to walk far or be cold, so we wrapped him in a blanket and put him in my backpack!) to the lake on campus, Lake Alice, we got to see a beautiful sunset and some great pics.
Continuing on the theme of making the most of the cooler weather we also took our bikes out on the local trail, riding for 20 miles, getting to see the prairie. Obviously on the way home rewarding ourselves with a stop at the bar for beer :)
Oh and speaking of my bike, for Christmas Joey had bought me brand new white tires and white handlebar tapes to spruce her up a little, we finally got around to putting them on and doesn't she look spectacular :) :)
although unfortunately it seems white is not the colour for me as she's already back to slightly grubby looking....
I'm going to apologise in advance for this next little bit of news as I know people hate workout brags buuuuut I'm very very proud of this as I never thought it would be something I'd be able to do....I ran my first ever 10 miles! And I don't mean in a race or anything, I just left the house and ended up running 10 miles in 1hr 33 mins!! (no I didn't get lost!)
One of my new years resolutions for this year is to run a half marathon so it seems on I'm on my way. I'm actually looking at the one in Yellowstone national park, I figure if I'm going to run 13.1 miles I may as well do it somewhere beautiful right? So watch this space for updates on that.....although Joey is currently bullying me into the full 26 miles instead....so we shall see!
Unfortunately January wasn't all donuts and outings, there was great sadness too. It saw the loss of the mum of one of my very best friends, Rita. She had been sick for a while but it still came as a shock. Roula was a lovely lady who I was lucky enough to spend time with on my 3 visits to Winnipeg. She always made me feel welcome and instantly part of the family and will be greatly missed by those who were lucky enough to know her.
Before I knew it the end of January had arrived and it was time to head to Colorado - EEK!
We were flying to Denver and then driving to a town right at the foot of the mountains called Boulder. It is a place Joey has visited before and loved and it's safe to say after only a short time there I could see why. It's a great little town, much more european in nature than anything in Florida. Great bars, restaurants, cafes and more are all within walking distance...a phrase almost unheard of in Florida.
We arrived relatively late in the afternoon, got to our amazing Air b'n'b called The Perch (if any of you are still paying for crappy motels/hotels you need to get in on the Air b'n'b act, you don't know what you are missing!) so after ditching our stuff and wrapping up warm we headed into town. Our host recommended a local organic burger place called The Mountain Sun which we decided to try, there was a great vibe, the food was AMAZING but best of all....they had CIDER, like actual real cider, not sugared apple juice with alcohol, and even better, it wasn't $10 imported stuff, it was locally brewed, these people know what they are doing, $6 cider....as you can imagine, after 18 months of not being able to find any good stuff, I was a very very happy bunny :)
The next morning we jumped in the car and headed out to explore. Our first stop was for caffeine, we found this great little coffee shop that was dog themed and welcomed dogs...the reasons I liked this place just keep growing....
The scenery was so beautiful we just kept driving and ended up at the Rocky Mountain National Park
The road right through the middle was closed for the winter but we still got to see a lot, the views were just breathtaking.
Joey is a born and bred Florida boy, and whilst he has seen snow he has never seen it fall or played in it, that's right folks, he'd never had a snowball fight, been sledging or built a snowman! This had to be rectified! I started by getting him smack in the head with a big fat snowball and then talking some locals into letting us borrow their sledge.
Saturday saw the arrival of a snowstorm so he got to dance around on the porch while the snow came down :) Being there when someone experiences that for the first time as an adult was pretty cool I have to admit. Before the storm set in on Saturday we decided to tackle one of the smaller local peaks, Mount Sanitas. It took a good hour or more to reach the top, again, the views were just....AMAZING
What else made Boulder great? Oh yeah, I ate honestly the best breakfast I've EVER had at a restaurant called Snooze, we found my favourite English cider at the local shop, numerous vintage shops and the cherry on the top....an independent new and used book shop that spread over 3 floors....so lets just get this in a list, good coffee, dog friendly, mountains, cold but still sunny, books, vintage clothes, local and imported cider, amazing breakfast food, multicultural food, oh and my first postbox porn in months!! So really the only question is, when can I move??!
And then it was over and it was back to Florida, where the big guy was waiting for me so it's not all bad!
February is in full swing, my little brother is coming to visit, I get spring break and I'm supposed to be running a race that requires me to eat 6 doughnuts halfway through so on my next entry expect vomit pictures!
anyway, that is all for now, as always,
Love and Slobber
Me and this one
xxx
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