Monthly Archives: December 2010

Christmas 2010

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We had a nice, slow Christmas this year and just stayed in Greeley. Even so, it was more stressful than usual with my mom having a hard time adjusting to life without my dad (the holidays are the worst) and all of us trying to help my brother along in his process of moving out and growing up. I really have been missing my dad a lot too even though he visits me in my dreams almost nightly. On Christmas, we were looking through our posts from last year and it’s hard to believe that he was doing so well less than a year ago.

Anyhow, this year Britton and I had two meals again. One at his family’s house and the other at my mom’s. We were hammed out! 🙂

We made a snack/cookies/tea/cocoa basket for everyone and had fun baking up the cookies together. And even though Christmas day was actually quite a nice dry one weather wise (in the 60s or so) we now have a white blanket on the ground just in time for the New Year.

Here are a few photos from the day. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday.


My aunt Laura, my mom, and Rob cooking


Me and my Grandma


Christmas dinner


Cookie Baskets (plus Schnoodle)

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From Up Above

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Well I found the property on Google Maps.  It looks as though my memory was right in that we are the only house in the area.   I had a GPS location from my phone I grabbed during my last visit but I couldn’t figure out exactly where it was at.  We are excited for this new year and the things it will bring. The real estate agent received our contract, so we are on our way to an exciting year!


Click for larger View

There are 2 clearings (triangle shaped and one directly across from the property that is squarish shaped).  The clearing across the street had been filled in with Greenery by the time I got there but the triangle clearing was pretty much the same from what I remember.

Both areas would make for good places to build additional housing.  In total there are 11 cuerdas (acres).  Our plan today is to build another cabana and a pool on the property and visit as often as we can.  Over the next couple of years we will work towards moving permanently.

We have a plot plan and I am trying to match it up to the picture so we know our borders.  That will help us with the planning out of where to build the next structure and where to put our pool!

Well I wanted to put up a brief update as to what we were doing.   I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and has a happy new year!

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Faith, Hope, and Love

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With the holidays upon us, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on three important parts of our lives. While they are all unseen in that they are just concepts, I think they are really what make life worth living.

Faith- I was especially thinking about faith in regards with how we trust one another. Without our faith in people, we wouldn’t be able to live. There is a social contract inherent in every interaction. But especially with the ones closest to you. They also have the ability to crush or hold high your faith in humanity the most. So take care of this trust, and when someone says they have faith in you, believe it, hold it close, and honor it!

I was thinking about how much Britton trusts me, and how much I trust him. When I went to Puerto Rico a couple of years ago and saw the property in Lares, he trusted me completely enough to sign a contract to buy it sight unseen. Now, I have the chance to do the same with this new property in Isabela. Faith is a wonderful thing.

Religious or spiritual faith is also an important element to remember this time of year. And if you think about it, it’s the same type of thing. We trust unfailingly in something that is unseen and untouchable. But yet, this faith can be very important in our lives.

Hope- This last year has been a tough one on the hope front. I felt like I used up every last ounce of hope I had with my dad. It was all I had left. I knew his death was inevitable and approaching quickly, but I couldn’t lose hope. It got me through those tough nights of worry. And even after he was gone, hope for a better world beyond kept me going.  Hope keeps us going. It keeps us positive. Without it is only desperation. And as it should by its nature, my well of hope is replenishing day by day.

Love- …and the greatest of these is love. Think for a moment what your life would be without those closest to you. It would be so gray and colorless -lifeless. Love brings meaning to our lives. Love strongly, consistently and don’t forget the importance you have in others’ lives, especially those you love and who love you. Give love freely. Commit random acts of kindness. Leave the world -or at least your little corner in it- a little better for you having been there.

Happy Holidays to All and to All a Goodnight

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Boulder at Christmastime

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Today we didn’t really have too much on the schedule, so we decided to use a gift card we had been hanging on to and go up to Broomfield to Buca di Beppo, the Italian restaurant. Since it’s quite a ways away from Greeley (about 50 miles) we went ahead and made a day of it. We stopped off at a couple of stores and then we went to Boulder to walk down Pearl Street.


Standing between two boulders in Boulder on Pearl Street

Boulder is a pretty cool place and very different from Greeley. It was kind of cool to see it at Christmastime too. In Boulder you’ll see lots of street performers -there was a lady singing Christmas songs on the corner when we were walking by. There are all sorts of unique boutiques and local shops. We stopped into the Boulder Bookstore which is an old converted building that is more like a maze filled with books than a typical store with stairs every which way and nooks and crannies filled with places to sit and read.

Boulder is a much more progressive and also more expensive city than Greeley. You see both hippies and yuppies all over. Britton works right outside of Boulder about 5 miles from IBM so he gets the benefit of higher wages in what some call the Silicon Valley of the Rocky Mountains but lives in Greeley where you can buy a house for about a third of the cost of Boulder. I think it works out great!

I was accepted into CU (University of Colorado- Boulder) for college, but I received a bigger scholarship to UNC (University of Northern Colorado) in Greeley and I could live at home for free so I didn’t end up going there. I think it probably would have been a pretty cool experience, but ultimately I am happy I stayed here (especially financially).

It was a great day out. Boulder -and especially Pearl Street- is just one of those places you have to visit if you come to Colorado. While I am excited about living in the tropics there is just something about Colorado at Christmastime that is magical.

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