San Diego - Part 1

I am in San Diego right now! I have some friends who go to Colorado every year for a family reunion. While they come here to play, I fly out to San Diego to watch their dog and play a little too! Its a splendid arrangement. :) 

{This is Teddy! He is an energetic, intuitive dog and he like to go on long walks on the beach-ha!}

{I always look forward to seeing all the Bougainvillea when I come out! It grows everywhere here and it's gorgeous!}

{These are the biggest succulents I've ever seen. :)}

{Ah, the beach. Oh how I love the beach!}

{My little charge for the week! Doggie heaven!}

{Public Art in Solano Beach. They have a design district there...can't wait to explore it again!}

{They use succulents as primary landscaping in a lot of yards.}

{Look at the little guy....darling, right?!}

{Sand in my toes...what a great feeling!}

{Sunshine sparkling on the water...dreamy!}

Cirque du Soleil-Amaluna

Last week, I got to see Cirque du Soleil for the first time ever! It was more magical and unique than anything I've ever seen! 

{Being at a circus tent made me feel like a kid...so fun!}

 

{This is the only photo I have of the inside because they made an announcement right after taking this that we weren't supposed to...whoops! }

 

 {Megan, me, Megan and Mindy}

{magic}

There were contortionists, jugglers, arial artists, gymnasts, musicians, etc...just amazing and seeing it in the circus tent was so personal; every seat has a great view!

Happenings...

Here's a bunch of photos from random events over the last few weeks!

{Public Art on my walk in Lowry.}

 {gorgeous Russian Sage plants!}

{Sister came up to Denver for a Journey Tribute Concert by a local band called Eclipse!}

{It was at the Lakewood Heritage Center with a great little amphitheatre. Such good music and a perfect summer night!}

{They handed out free glowsticks! It was middle school the last time I had one of these. :)}

 {Beautiful moon on a perfect summer night.}

{Every summer, there is an event called Fitness on the Rocks. It's at Red Rocks Amphitheater and tons of people attend! There are lots of classes all over the amphitheater: kickboxing, mixed martial arts, stair climbing, yoga, etc... My friends, Emily and Megan, went with me. We did the Total Body Workout. It was such a great way to start the day and inspiring to be exercising with 9,000 other people!}

{A couple weeks ago, I went to the Pearl Street Farmers Market with Katie. It's been a while since I have gone to one of these because I usually work Sundays and have to head straight to work. It was such a treat to have a leisurely morning, after church, grabbing lunch from a food truck and buying some fresh veggies for the week!}

{I started meeting my coworker, Suzanne, at Red Rocks again once a week to get a morning workout in. You can do so much in that place and our legs usually feel like jello by the time we're done! Pretty awesome.}

{As if I haven't been at Red Rocks enough recently, I went to go see Princess Bride at Film on the Rocks! This was my first time going to this and it's SO FUN! You can bring your own food in and get cozy with blankets and bleacher seats, while you watch a classic movie on the gigantic screen.}

{"As...you...wish..."; "Inconceivable!"; "My name is Anigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!"}

{Just before leaving for San Diego, I got to have a quick lunch with Sarah! She is back in Colorado for a bit before leaving for Africa again....so thankful for the time with her and blessed by her friendship!}

Flagstaff Mountain-Boulder, CO

I didn't have anything planned today, so of course that means it's a great day to go hiking in the mountains!! I was so looking forward to spending the day on my own, exploring and stepping away from my busy life in 'the city'... :) It was glorious.

I decided to tackle Flagstaff Mountain, outside Boulder. It is absolutely beautiful!  Chautauquah is the most popular place to hike around Boulder, but I've done that a couple times and I wanted to see something new so I just kind of winged it and found some pretty gorgeous trails. 

Being in the mountains, especially in the summer, is my favorite. It is one of the things that consistently draws me closer to God and reminds me of perspective. It feels so good to hike hard, muscles in my body working to keep balance on uneven terrain, my skin baking in the strong CO sun and dripping sweat as I scamper up and down trails at elevation; all the while feeling so alive in the fresh air and small in those big, beautiful mountains. There's really nothing like it.

{I'd say the name of the trail, Rangeview Trail, was pretty accurate!}

{can you believe this charming trail winding through the wildflowers?!}

{that peak you see in the background is one of the Flatirons that make up the Chautauquah Hiking Area}

{facing East, overlooking Boulder down below (all the red buildings clumped together is CU-Boulder)}

Thankful for a new hiking spot to explore!

Josh Groban

One of my friends, Megan, works for Southwest Airlines. They have tickets to various events around Denver that she gives away to clients. This past week, she had some extra tickets and I got to go with her to Red Rocks to see Josh Groban and the Colorado Symphony! It was absolutely incredible and we got to take it all in from the 18th row!

{There was a beautiful rainbow!}

{The amphitheater holds 9,425 people...every seat was full! Amazing.}

He was amazing! He sang just beautifully and had a wonderful band, not to mention the whole Colorado Symphony, backing him up. My favorite moment was when he sang "You raise me up" in the encore..it started raining lightly and couldn't have been a more perfect finale to the whole evening!

What an amazing concert!