Melissa's Trip to Colorado!

My best friend Brittny offered me a much needed vacay away from life and the day to day with Arden and got me a frequent flyer ticket to come visit her in Colorado! After some scheduling with my Mom regarding childcare coverage for Arden and a long weekend spent at my parents house so it didn't feel like I was going to be away from her for a whole week, I was off. It was a great trip! Also my first away from Arden that long (5 days) which I'll be honest was A LOT harder then I expected. Our friend, Becky was also meeting us out there so it was a fun reunion for all of us. The first day, we ate lunch in Boulder and then drove up to a lookout over Boulder from Flagstaff Mountain. Then we headed back to her and Gabe's super adorable little house in Longmont, just outside of Boulder. Brittny and I caught up over pizza and then I crashed while she went to pick Becky up. The next day the four of us went for a 4 mile hike up Rabbit Mountain, close to Longmont. Then we went to movies (a much missed treat for a mom!) We then headed home and made a yummy dinner and celebrated Brittny's dog, Duncan's fifth birthday. Brittny celebrates all of her animals birthdays- this is maybe the 3rd or 4th party I've been to. Then the next day, Brittny, Becky & I headed to Rocky Mountain National Park which is about 45 minutes from Longmont. It was gorgeous! The mountains were beautiful! We took a short hike around a frozen lake and then drove around and found some elk! We then checked out the Stanley Hotel which apparently is the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the "The Shining". Then we headed back home and made yummy lentil soup and watched Grey's Anatomy on the computer- which is my idea of a perfect night!Saturday we drove into Denver. Becky is dating Adam Scone who plays the organ for one of our favorite bands- Mofro who were opening at the Fillmore for Galactic and the Mile High Mardi Gras celebration (hence the masks in the below picture). Mofro played an awesome set, except for the fact that it was WAY too short. I'm not a huge fan of Galactic, and I was tired to I headed back to the hotel early. I'm getting too old to stay up until 2 am! Sunday we killed some time walking at the 16th St. Mall in Denver before I had to get to the airport for my flight. All in all it was a good vacation, I miss both my man and my baby tons, though!

Snowy Obama Day!

So I think a lot of Americans, ourselves included will always remember January 20, 2009 as a monumental day in history. The day that Barack Obama became the first African-American President. A President that has again instilled a grassroots sense on pride, hope and strength in what we can do as a nation. Despite some of the critics, I don't think anyone is under the impression that anything in this country can be changed overnight and that the economy is going to bounce back quickly. But at least some of us can now have a sense of hope in a brighter future.

This historic day was marked here in Raleigh with a huge snow storm (well huge for us ;) We got about 6 inches of snow! I haven't seen that much snow in Raleigh for at least 4 years. Of course everything shuts downs here with that amount of snow. We tried to take Arden out in the snow, but she wasn't a big fan, so we went for a short walk. It was great to have Dave home and to be able to sit an watch the inauguration coverage. I can't ever remember watching any, and especially not a whole days worth of inauguration coverage! It was fun, emotional and inspiring all at the same time. And I never thought I would say anything like that about politics!

New Years!

For New Year's Eve we spent it with our friends, Jenn & Brian and their son, Oscar. Well sort of. We went downtown Raleigh for the early kid-friendly acorn drop at 7pm. It was freezing so we really had to bundle up, but I'm a big fan of doing New Year's at 7 pm. Raleigh is the "City of Oaks" hence the acorn, in leiu of the times sqaure ball. Then Dave and I headed home, watched some TV and called it a night at 10 pm. I was totally fine with that- I must be getting old.

2009 I'm sure will be an interesting year as they all seem to be turning out to be for the Drenzek family lately. I'm not affirming any specific resolutions, I feel you should be self- reflective throughout the year, not just with the mark of the beginning or end of the calendar. I do plan to hit the gym quite a bit more- considering going at all is more for me period. But considering I've got a free membership to the brand new Y downtown because I'm teaching there now come January, why not?