Exciting Friday Night

Now you've done it. I broke the blog seal, and now it's just a place for me to write even more than I already do on Facebook. I apologize in advance.

I had to report that I just attended the most exciting sporting event ever, at least for me. Joel said he's been to more exciting high school/college games, but I guess I went to lame schools or I have a short memory. We saw the Nuggets play the Cavs and we won by 2 points. And we had good seats (I love this Nick guy who works for the Nuggets who likes to get me tickets). Anyway, it was the most fun I've had at any game of any kind. I was disappointed in LeBron though, I partly went to see this supposed super star and didn't get much of a show. But my Nugs won so I can't complain. And I got to see my boy Billups after he's been injured for many games so that was good too. Oh yeah, and Joel caught one of those plastic balls the mascot throws into the stands so I even have a souvenir!

And THEN...I know, it's hard to believe there's more :)...walking home from the train station, we saw the little fox who lives in our park and who we often see during cold weather. I've named him Foxy, original I know. He was laying under a big tree right by the sidewalk and we got about 2 yards from him before he saw us. He sat up, turned around in a circle, layed down again in a more comfortable position I guess, and didn't run away until I pushed my luck and tried to get closer for a picture. It was strangely exciting for a country girl like me, having never seen a fox close-up before. He was very cute. And small, about half the size of Kaya if not smaller.

OK, the end. Sorry no pictures this time, and I promise not to turn this into my personal rambling blog. I just had to share the good end to a crappy week.

Love,
Erin

The Morrison Holidays

Well, I'm finally giving in and posting on Joel's blog. I fear he will never do it himself again...you'll all just have to harass him into it. :)

We had a good Christmas in Denver and New Year's in Bozeman. This was the first year I haven't gone home to NY at all so that was hard, but I guess getting there every year until I'm 32 isn't so bad (don't tell my mom that though, she said it didn't make her feel any better). I don't know if it was our job worries or not going home or what, but I never got into the spirit much and we didn't even end up getting a tree. A nice centerpiece that my mom sent helped though...it even smelled good.



Joel also got motivated one Sunday and put lights up...



We spent New Year's Eve at our friend's, Lisa and Aaron's, house. They cooked the traditional Italian Christmas Eve 7 fishes dinner. It was amazing. We opened gifts together at our house Christmas morning, including those that family had sent. Everyone was very generous, thank you.





Kaya even got her very own squirrel to destroy -- I think it helped her feel better that she can never catch the ones in the park.



Then we spent the rest of the day in Longmont with Mike, Susan, and all the family. We had a great time, had good food, and unfortunately watched the Nuggets lose. The place was a zoo...literally...and I loved it!





After another short week at work, we made the long drive to Bozeman on New Year's Eve and spent a couple of days with good friends. We celebrated 2010 at the local bowling alley, saw a bunch of people over the next couple of days, and watched a lot of Glee. The perfect weekend.







We came back to Denver on Sunday, celebrated the Boise win on Monday, both had job interviews on Tuesday, and are currently watching a boring championship game that Joel is convinced Boise would do well in. I have to agree. I found out today that I didn't get the job I interviewed for on Tuesday -- it was violence prevention with the state health dept and I would have loved to get the job, so I'm pretty disappointed. I guess I'll stick with what I've got for now -- I started the Interim Executive Director job on December 16 so I will keep plugging along. Joel's interview was with the state mining reclamation division and he felt like it went well, no word on their decision yet. And he has another interview with a consulting firm on Monday. So we continue to cross our fingers and stay hopeful about his job search. In the meantime, he still likes his temp job and they are committed to keeping him on as long as they can.

That's about it from here. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, peaceful 2010. Phew, that was tiring, wasn't it Kaya?

4-day weekends, hit-and-runs, and meat boxes

It's been a pretty eventful past 2-3 weeks, as many of you know. I started a temporary, part-time job at the Denver Metro Wastewater Treatment District (sewage treatment plant) this week, just a week and a half after arriving in Denver. I'm helping out with their annual fish sampling in the South Platte River and am basically a grunt doing whatever else needs to be done. They are responsible for monitoring chemical and biological conditions in the river as part of their effluent discharge permit. The positives of the job are that I have work and money coming in, I enjoy the chance to work mostly outside for a bit, the work is in line with my education and experience, and the people I work with seem great so far. I think its tough to be working in a position that I'm way overqualified for and also don't love how you don't really feel a "part of something" as a temporary employee, but I'm happy that I was able to line something up so soon after getting to Denver as an unemployed person (now I'm just under-employed).

Erin felt fully initiated into urban living a couple of weeks ago when our little Ford Focus was side-swiped in a hit-and-run while she was at the art museum. Fortunately, someone saw the whole thing happen, got the driver's license plate number, and called the police. We let our insurance company know what happened and the Denver Police (last we heard) are tracking down the driver. We're hoping for the best. After my hit-and-run experience in Bozeman I don't have a lot of faith that this is going to turn out well for us. I know, I should be more positive, but I feel like I've been down this road before.

In more exciting news. We are the proud new owners of a large box or meat. We were visited by a door-to-door meat salesman on Friday evening and he left us with 4 new york steaks, 4 Kansas City steaks, 8 fillet mignons, 8 bacon-wrapped tenderloins, and 24 patties of chopped beef. We declined the box-o-pork due to limited freezer space (we're not suckers). Looks like it will be a steak night tonight (and tomorrow. . .). We'll have to start jogging a little more I think. Or there's always Statin.

The Photo

I happened upon the photo that Erin sent to the paper. For your full technicolor enjoyment:

Engaged

I know you've already heard the news, but I hadn't blogged about it yet. So join the rest of the Bozeman area in sharing our engagement announcement. Posted by Erin and ran in Sunday's paper.

Yes, matching Christmas turtlenecks.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Some of you may have already heard this news from me or through the grapevine, but I thought I would put out an official notice.  Erin was offered a job in Denver with the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA), a coalition that serves sexual violence non-profits around the state.  She starts on July 13th.  I don't have work lined up yet, but am working very hard to do that (anyone want to hire an environmental scientist or researcher?).  Currently the plan is to move her down there for the start of her new job while I continue to look for work while working in Bozeman  (assuming I don't find something first).  We're not planning to do this living in different cities thing forever, most likely a couple of months (as necessary).  I would love nothing more than to be able to go down there together.  Anyway, those are the basics.  We're excited to have a change in scenery and start new career challenges.  Busy times ahead.

On the Brink

Erin finished a draft of her professional paper on Monday for her Masters in Public Administration and presented her work today.  She's worked so hard over the past few months. . .years and I know it has been a strain while working full time in a new job.  She did a fantastic job with her presentation and after was given the merit award for outstanding achievement in her program.  I was so proud of her and happy to see her get the well-earned recognition.  She'll be writing all weekend to turn in her final draft and. . . that's it!