i hope y'all have had a restful, productive, inspiring, relaxing weekend. (excuse the contradictions.)

my little week/weekend has been each of those things plus some. a recap if you will...

as you know, i was in denver visiting sissa kelli belli smelli of denver. we just had a fabulous time but there were two toppers on the list. on sunday morning i was here...



it was this super, fantastic retro-mod restaurant that EVERYONE wanted to be at. we waited 45 minutes to be seated and it was WORTH it. worth it. worth it. belli and i made the decision to split breakfast. quantity-wise it was the right choice, taste bud-wise i wish we hadn't.

picture 1 - that is an egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich on pretzel bread with a side of hollandaise sauce. not contrived. not overdone. just perfection. it was the pretzel bread that set this sando over the edge. just DELISH. like yum.

picture 2 - this is a red velvet pancake with a cream cheese topping with espresso infused syrup and walnuts. holy balls. that's right...i said it. normally after eating a few bites of a pancake my teeth start to feel like they have little sweaters on them and like maybe i'll develop a cavity in the next five minutes. but this, my friends, was fantastic. i could have eaten three.

pair the not overly sweet pancake with the salty pretzel sausage sando...you've got yourself a treat. i wish i could remember the name of the restaurant. i'd recommend it.

on monday i was here...


this is red rocks. we saw the beach boys. they rocked. they harmonized. they touched my soul. the childhood memories came flooding back. i'm pretty sure my sissa and i burned through our beach boys tape making up dances to kokomo and barbara anne. those were the days...

naturally, kell bell and i were some of the youngest at the beach boys 50th reunion concert...but that's okay...these people have good taste in music. it just makes ya feel good.

we also found this stray wanderer. he was nice enough and we liked his shirt...


so we let him stick around. here he is enjoying a glorious caramel salted brownie. i enjoyed three. then i felt a sick.

alas, my visit to denver couldn't last forever. i had to get home since my farmer was also returning from his river trip.

it's wonderful to be home. where i can seclude myself from the public eye. forget about society. focus on my goals.

i also get to attend glorious birthday parties for cute, little gal-faces...seriously, isn't she the cutest? (the one in the zebra...)





and then this morning i got to go check water with my farmer. this consists of riding a four-wheeler all over the glorious acreage at 7 am. it's peaceful. serene. romantic. i love it all.



not romantic? when farmer has to stop and clean out the pump stations. he even pulled up a dead carp but i'll spare you that picture...


and rather than help farmer clean out the pump station...well...i just take self-photos...



speaking of goals...i did real good this week.

1. my goal was to do at least 45 minutes of cardio every day. and i totally did! it was a combo of walking/running/hiking/elliptical. i guess all that really wiped me about because i slept 12 hours yesterday.

2. hot mom arms - i'll probably need to refocus on this goal again this next week. i only did some random push-ups here and there. there was no concerted effort involved. redo.

3. my final goal was to complete some house projects. that didn't work out so well.  but i think i made up for it today by starting to clean/organize/discard the insane amount of "garbage" we have stored in our basement. it's...ummm...disgusting. i'll have before and after pictures next week.

a teaser...


that's just the TIP of the iceberg. it's way worse. we look like we could be on an episode of hoarders. you can clearly see why touch-up painting got put on the back burner.

new goals you ask?

1. you guessed it...more cardio! i'm going to give myself a little break this week and only do five days of cardio for at least 45 minutes.

2. finish de-hoarding the basement and get that bizz organized for a yard sale. once that's finished we just may get the carpet installed.

3. remember when my farmer and i lived in a single-wide trailer and i didn't like to cook in it? seriously...that was my excuse because i said there wasn't enough room. well...what's my excuse now? i haven't one. it's time to get focused on actual meals for dinner as opposed to the salsa, crackers, hummus, cream cheese dinner we had last night. seriously. no need to judge me...i'm judging myself.

have a great week kids. i plan on it...starting with a grilled salmon dinner this evening...