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I broke down and finally bought new running shoes. Yup. Because I’m a runner.

Alright. That last part: a blatant lie. I hate running…so we can – for all intents and purposes – call them workout shoes.

For a while this summer, I was running a 5k once a week. I think I actually did it 5 weeks in a row at one point! Holla atcha girl. But I’ll tell you that I still hate running.

I’m going to pretend for a short minute, that my disdain for running comes from the fact that over the past year and a half, my running shoes TOOK A BEATING. My feet would hurt! The insole at the bottom had started to shift and occasionally would cause blisters on the arch of my foot! There was very little support in them after wearing them for upwards of 2 hours a day, 5 days a week (when workouts were HARDCORE).

They’re just so…SAD looking.

So, goodbye to my NIKE SHOX. You were good shoes. You were sexy…and comfortable once. I loved you. But I must move on:

Yes. So nice.

So I switched to Asics. I really REALLY wanted some shoes from Pearl Izumi that I absolutely loved…but they were $pendy – as in $80 on sale at an outlet shop that’s 2.5 hours away OR $130 regular price. EEK! These pretty ladies were $48 at DSW. I win.

I actually found out too that I pronate when I run. This means that I pretty much run on the outside edge of the bottom of my foot. All the way from my heel to the bottom of my foot, it’s wicked. I needed a shoe with a moderate stability, something that would be less likely to allow me to run funky. What I REALLY need is orthodics…but that’s another day, another million dollars.

These lovely new running workout shoes of mine were actually a product of some much-needed retail therapy, executed with my good friend Amanda. We spent some time talking on chaise lounges, discussed our relationships with our fathers, took turns describing how that “makes us feel”…KIDDING!

WE SPENT SOME FREAKING MONEY! HECK YES.

I love that girl and her strength as a woman is something to be envious of. We actually spent a day talking, laughing, drinking summery drinks at The Bucks (aka Starbucks). It was a lovely day overall. And yes, it was a fab lady date…thanks for asking.

Anyway. I’m so excited that this weekend is a three-day holiday. I have some pretty amazing things planned for this weekend that I can’t wait to share. It’s also my WONDERFUL mother’s 50th birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA! Love you mucho mucho.

Much (grateful for my mom) love,

1.) First, you find a Fab Lady of your choosing. Only THE BEST fab ladies make for a fab lady date.

2.) Invite said Fab Lady for a day/night out on the town.

3.) Once your Fab Lady accepts your invite – and she will because she’s fab and you’re fab – converse and decide on a meeting place.

4.) Laugh, chat and gossip with your Fab Lady until your hearts are content.

5.) Repeat as often as necessary.

I was fortunate enough this week to take part in not one, but TWO fab Lady Dates with two VERY fab women!

Lady Date Numero Uno:

On Thursday night I met up with a girlfriend of mine from college. Her name is Claire and she’s wonderful. We met through mutual classes for our shared major: advertising. We actually ended up being in the same group for several different projects, which is how our friendship was first hatched.

We tend to meet up every few months – although the intention is always to do it more often. Claire and I always have an amazing time together and this past Thursday was no exception.

The chosen meeting place for this Lady Date was Hacienda Colorado. It was the second time that this had been the restaurant of choice and for good reason: it’s delicious. We chatted about work, boys, our futures…and probably boys again. I neglected to take pics – I think my camera was charging at home – but I’ll be sure to bring it next time.

Lady Date Numero Dos:

Today I spent a day out and about with Kaity, whom you met in my previous post. Kaity is a friend of mine from high school. We spent the majority of our Senior year butchering the beautiful language that is Spanish together. Good times.

We actually lost touch after high school and through the magic that is Facebook, reconnected. I believe she actually became a reader of The Blog and was inspired to start her own blog (which you can find here). I’m actually not sure if I had any part in inspiring her to start a blog…but I’m gonna pretend, mmmk? Mmmk. We are unofficially blog BFFs.

Our very first Lady Date was earlier this year; we met at Cherry Creek Mall in Denver, CO…enjoyed some California Pizza Kitchen and shopped the afternoon away. We have since hung out several times, including our camping excursion last weekend.

Today’s Lady Date, however, takes the cake – uh oh. I feel a pun coming on.

First we saw Eat, Pray, Love based on this book which I LOVED and have recommended to everyone:

It was great. We agreed initially that neither of us would have chosen Julia Roberts as the lead but I think, in the end, she did a marvelous job. If you liked the book, you’ll absolutely enjoy the movie.

Next we went to D Bar. Wait up, hold on a minute. You haven’t heard of D Bar?! Okay, neither had I until Kaity introduced me…but it’s amazing. Get this. It’s a restaurant…based around desserts. Yeah, I mean they have other food and everything. But the desserts. Holy cow. Delish. It’s the Brain Child of Keegan Gerhard, the guy who hosts the Food Network Challenges. Google him. If you watch Food Network, you know who he is. And he was there, ya’ll! I saw him. In real life. No pics to prove it though…because that’s just awkward.

ANYWAY. Kaity and I had already eaten lunch so we decided to only get dessert. This is SUPER appropriate after having just watched Eat, Pray, Love (you need to watch the movie to find out why).

Kaity’s Banana Split. Oooooooh. Drool.

Dig in, Mama!

I ordered the Cake and Shake – yum!

Slurrrrrrrp. Aaaaah.

And with that, I’d also like to announce that I’ll be starting Weight Watchers again.

BAZINGA!

Much (dessert) love,

…and other fun activities of course!

Since I haven’t felt particularly inspired to blog about anything lately, we’re going to have to make do with a picture blog update. Cheers!

A WEEKEND CAMPING at DEER CREEK with The Weigangs and my honey.

This here is the log bridge we had to cross to get from the cars to the (BEST!) camping spot. Can you cay…precarious?

The happy little 2-person tent that Jacques and I shared. It’s a good thing we like each other because it was close quarters!

Kaity and Tyler’s camping mansion. Seriously. It’s a tent MANSION.

Probably my favorite candid shot of the weekend. Miss Kaity roasting her bratwurst over the fire. YUM!

…and camping kisses.

We did go on a happy little hike. Pics – because it happened.

This is kind of hard to see but it’s two trees that fell down side-by-side, roots and all! Pretty amazing…river running right underneath it.

Much (I badly needed a shower) Love,

Mine. My heart. It’s happy.

There were a few years there where I lost sight of how truly important this is. I had forgotten how to protect my heart from all the wrong things and in turn, suffered some major heartache along the way.

Boys. Friends. My health.

Somewhere in my journey between then and now I developed some bad habits and made certain things priorities that really shouldn’t have been. Long gone was the belief that everyone needs respect and unconditional love.

I look back at my rugged relationship with a boy who didn’t deserve me and reflect upon forlorn friendships that have since become little more than echoes of the laughter we shared. In taking a step back from these things, I can only now see that I had merely forgotten what was most important to me. A happy heart.

The boy doesn’t deserve more words than what has already been said. Book closed.

My friends. Ah, yes. No evil words here. I had surrounded myself with a select few, whose company I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of great memories we have, these friends and me. As I have spent a great deal of the past year rediscovering who I am, who should be in my life and who shouldn’t, a handful of these friendships were tested.

Everyone tells you that your twenties are some of your most important years. You find your true passions, who you are, your values evolve. Things that once seemed more important than anything else have taken a backseat. In the simplest words, you change.

A friend of mine told me earlier this year that the person I am now is not familiar to her…that she doesn’t know me anymore – sounds cliche, but I don’t think it was meant to be. As an outsider, I can see what she means. Three years ago I wasn’t this girl. I was unhappy. I was fat. I was so unsure of the future that I was suffering severe anxiety attacks because of it. I didn’t believe that I deserved to be loved.

The me now is so different from that girl that yes, I can understand why it would seem unfamiliar. Which is okay. It seems that I have different interests and different priorities now, too. I had forgotten that I LIKE to be active. My health is now more important to me than it’s been in YEARS, which I am very pleased with. The party scene is no longer appealing to me in the “Let’s get blackout drunk” sense.

I’ll tell you now, the difference is surrounding yourself with positive people who you want in your life, and who know without a doubt that they want you in theirs.

The woman I am now is so incredibly familiar to me; I finally found my skin.

It saddens me that I wasted too many years being fat and unhappy and scared…but only for a split second, until I realize that the rain has stopped and it’s time to go outside and play again.

And by golly, PLAY WE DID!

Williams Canyon; 26 July 2010. Probably my favorite new hike!

Natural skylight

What *rebels* we are!

Wild raspberries! Tastey

…and mountain seashells! As in, seashells found ON the mountainside! Procured a whole handful for the Small One.

Much (happy hiker) love,

A couple weekends ago, I officially opened HOTEL del PRO. In other words, I hosted my mom, my grandma, my ten year old sister and Lilly, a dog my mom was sitting for a week or so.

I live in a two-bedroom apartment. It wasn’t an impossible feat, by any means. But it was, however, a challenge. Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my family and I’m so happy they decided to come visit. I took the couch, my Gram got my bed, mom took the futon while Evan rocked the floor. Everyone seemed pretty content with the sleeping situation. All in all, I’d say it was a success.

While they were down here, we all decided to go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It’s new to me and my little sister is an animal-lover to the max. I thought this was a pretty grand idea.

Perks of the zoo: ice cream (for nostalgic purposes) and the giraffes.

Here are a few of my FAVORITE pics from the day:

and last but not least…the wildest animal of them all.

So very happy we went.

Much love,

Right. Almost a month since I last posted. Whoops.

The truth is that I’ve just been busy! Which is a good thing. I’ve made some really fantastic friends here in The Springs. Tonight is my first night to be home. By myself. For more than an hour…in over a week. It’s been insane!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m lovin it! I’ve been playing softball and sand volleyball and going out for drinks; Jacques and I even went to our first Rockies game of the season last Saturday! I’m enjoying the HELL out of this summer.

Since the last time I posted, Jacques participated in a bike race. It was the Firecracker 50 up in Breckenridge, CO on the 4th of July. It was a 50 mile race and my guy did really well. He placed 6th in his age group and I’m so proud of him! He has another one coming up this weekend (which I won’t be attending) which is the Breck 100 (a 100 mile race) and I know he’s going to KILL IT!

I won’t be attending this race because my mom is coming down for the weekend…with my sister…and my grandma…and some dog that she’s watching for the next week. My apartment will soon become Pro’s Hotel! Eek! I’m really excited to see everyone and we’re thinking about going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I haven’t been yet and nearly everyone speaks highly of it so hey, why not?! Should be a good time.

Work is still going really well. We start certification next week and I’m really nervous. So far I’m doing really well so we’ll see if we can keep that going! I’m still liking my job and LOVING the company so no complaints here! I also really love the people I work with – we’re a crazy (and super eclectic group) which amazingly, works really well for us. Honestly, some great new people that I’m sure you’ll hear more about.

There’s really nothing else to say…except that I need to get back into the swing of posting more often!

Much love, Pro

There are three letters that work well here, better perhaps, than any other three letters.

O.M.G.

Okay maybe a WTF is in store too.

Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I can truly say that I am grateful for my body and what it is capable of.

I can tell you, with a great sense of pride and accomplishment, that I climbed the Manitou Incline.

This may mean very little to some of you, and nothing to most of you. It really does require a proper introduction:

Length: just under 1 mile

Elevation Gain: roughly 2000 ft.

Incline: 50 degrees (at the steepest point)

Degree of Difficulty: Strenuous

Yeah, you read that right. 2000 feet of elevation gain in under a mile. Basically, it’s a mile of “stairs.” Let’s use the word “stairs” loosely here because it’s actually stairs for probably 30% of trip and then GIANT FREAKING STEPS as tall as my knee for the rest of it.

Now I can’t even say that I was blindsided by any of this. I’d gotten a small synopsis of what it was all about from Jacques’ mom and my coworkers. I had fair warning. It didn’t actually HIT me until I was standing at the base of it and went “Oh shit.”

It was 85 degrees out when we started hiking and probably well into the 90s by the time we were half way up. It took us a little over an hour to complete it (including stoppage time which we estimate was about 15-20 minutes). We ran out of water once we got to the top (oops!) and we were both super cute sweaty by the end of it. Of course, Jacques made it look easy but that’s what he does. He’s a machine. I’m just proud that I finished.

Here are the rest of the pictures from the trek up the BEAST:

Definitely not even half-way…

Getting steeper…

You turn around to see how far you’ve come, and this is what you get…

…and then it gets tricky…

This is at the top of what they call “The False Summit.” Just below this, it was so steep that you couldn’t see the “rest” so you thought you were done. Please notice that you can’t see the trail behind us because well, it was THAT STEEP. Then you turn around and see this:

Oh my god. That’s more stairs! It never ends. Ever.

Us at the summit. Yes, I know I’m a hot mess. Let’s be real. That’s a fake smile too.

View from the very top, with a look back at the whole thing.

Yes, I know that was a lot of pictures of the same thing: stairs. Now you know how I felt. Then we had to turn around and hike right back down – FOUR MILES! Yeah, I didn’t know it was that long, either. Four miles. Just to go home. So 5 miles and 3.5 hours later…

I really am very proud of my body. A year ago, I wouldn’t have made it. Probably not even close. I would have been dying AND in tears before we got to the halfway point. That was also about 50 pounds ago. It’s amazing the limits we’re capable of pushing ourselves to. It reminds me why I wanted to get back in shape in the first place. It also reminds me that I still have 35 pounds to go. However, Jacques and I figured that we burned probably somewhere around 1300 calories between both hiking up and back down again.

My favorite boy did treat me to some ice cream in Old Colorado City when we were finished. I guess that *almost* made it worth it. The thing about this is, now I just have the stupidity drive to do it again – and shoot for a better time. Less than an hour sound good? I’ll regret that later…

Much (sore) love, Pro

My living room…that is.

I’ve said it before: when it comes to clothing or decorating, I wouldn’t really say that I have any TRUE sense of personal style. I would love the be the kind of girl who can make all sorts of quirky, eclectic stuff work…but I can’t. It’s just not me. That being said, I’m actually really happy with how my living room has turned out – thus far. Here are a few pictures:

It’s pretty much done. The only thing I’ve not yet purchased (which will be purchased in the near future) is a big clock to go above the fireplace. So see? I promised pictures…and I delivered. Eventually.

In other “big” news…I got a dining room table! Um, I’d still like Jacques to build me one – when he gets the chance – but I have one now that will suffice until that can happen. It’s kind of rustic looking, and while I don’t know whether or not it’s made out of reclaimed wood, I could almost pass.

I’m still looking for the right chairs. I’ll probably just stick with something simple in a dark wood or even a black. We’ll have to see. Either way, I’m pretty excited about the table! Woot!

That’s all from me. Nothing too exciting, I know. I’m off to run a 5k with Jacques. Don’t be jealous.

Much (decorating) love, Pro

I’ve consumed a couple beers tonight. Tastey beverage, that beer is.

My good friends Amanda, Josh and their baby Jayden came down tonight to watch the season premiere of True Blood (awesome btw; I want more!). The three of us started watching the show together when I lived in Broomfield and we’ve decided to attempt to continue the tradition. They’ll be coming down here every Sunday! I’m thrilled to get to see them every week!

They brought beer with them – Landshark to be precise – and I decided to enjoy a few. I’m now just a tad bit tipsy and decided to blog. If you were here right now I’d be talking your ear off…count your lucky stars that you’re not!

After they left I started thinking. About what, you ask? Everything truthfully. Mostly about the future. What a topic, eh?

Seriously. I know so many people who are transitioning into the next chapter in their lives and part of me is jealous. They’re all getting married and having babies and buying houses. This all sounds AMAZING. Granted, I’m not quite at that point yet but the prospect is thrilling. It all has me taking a step back and reminding myself what is important.

Tonight Amanda asked me what it’s like to live alone. I told her that most of the time, it’s great. I know that when I clean up a mess, the mess is my own. If I want to just read and have it be quiet…I can. And honestly one of the best things is that I can keep the temperature at whatever temperature I want! In college that was always a big thing…four girls could never decide whether they were hot or cold…whether we were cold enough to want to pay for the heating bill or hot enough to turn on the a/c. It sounds like a small thing, and it may very well be. But it really is about the small things sometimes.

I’m really happy that I’m enjoying this time in my life; living alone and experiencing that, because there are a lot of people who never get to. This is not to say that they *should have* by ANY means. Most people I know wouldn’t change where they are and how they got there for anything in the world. However, I do know a select few who wish they would have lived alone for a bit. I’m just happy that I have, and that I am.

Now, Jacques and I have discussed, on occasion, moving in together and since he’s not working (and we don’t know WHERE he may end up) this isn’t something that we can even discuss on any level of seriousness yet. Eventually yes, I would like for us to move in together (he does too) and Jacques is the first guy that I’ve dated that I could even seriously say that I WANTED to live with…that I’m EXCITED to live with. When it was mentioned with two of my past boyfriends, it was almost because I felt like we were supposed to. We’d been dating for a couple of YEARS and well, isn’t that just what couples *DO*? Move in together? In both cases, it would have been a huge, monumental, gigantic mistake. With Jacques it’s not so much about the time that we’ve been together, but more about the fact that he’s amazing. We get along really REALLY well and I have no doubt that it would be a great thing for our relationship. Eventually

In the mean time, I’m enjoying my own place while still looking forward to the future. I’ve been thinking about stuff like this a lot lately so don’t be surprised to see other posts like this in the near future: Pro’s Thoughts on Life (gettin’ deep here!).

Change of topic (heads up!): Garden! My peppers are growing!

Spicy banana pepper!

Poblano pepper: hopefully for homemade chiles rellenos!

My lil jalapeno – homemade salsa! Yum!

I have about 9 strawberries now and there are 5 little Early Girl tomatoes that sprouted over the weekend too! Woo hoo…can’t wait.

Much love, Pro

As promised, here are some of my favorite pictures from last weekend (Memorial Day) up at the cabin…

Here are a few from this weekend!

…last night’s sunset. Looked like the sky was on fire!

First strawberries from my container garden.

Baby Jayden’s first watermelon experience! Needless to say, he liked it. A lot.

The rest of this weekend won’t be quite as exciting…

Much love, Pro