Let the Birthday Begin

Chris' birthday is Monday, and in true McFarlane fashion, he will begin celebrating tonight! He feels he's entitled to celebrate like a McFarlane after the pear brandy debacle the first time I brought him home with me...I'll never live that down.

Here's the agenda for our weekend:

Friday
5:30 pm: Leave for downtown Denver. Parking then a flight of wine at Cru Wine Bar
6:30 pm: Dinner reservations at The Oceanaire where he can eat his fill of water dwellers and I will have either chicken or pork (steak is tomorrow night!).
8:30 pm: Head back to the car, put on the warm jackets, hats and gloves. Stay for the Denver Christmas Parade of Lights. And Santa is at the end! This is my favorite part! I almost cry every year when I see Santa in the parade. I love him. Maybe it's because I was an adult the first time I saw Santa in a parade!

Saturday: no specific timeline
breakfast in a ramekin with an English muffin, spinach, bacon and an egg.
finish the Christmas lights outside. We need an outdoor bow and 2 floodlights (one for Santa and one for the reindeer)
Whole Foods for dinner fixings. Here's the request:

• Iceberg Wedge Salad with bleu cheese/ranch dressing, cherry tomatoes and bacon crumbles
• Petite Fillet Mignon with an herb Bearnaise sauce and sauteed mushrooms
• Potato and Thyme latkes with thyme and chive sour cream
• Homemade cherry pie

I guess I will be cooking all afternoon!

Sunday, Chris has requested a lazy day of watching Christmas movies in comfy clothes. I haven't told him yet, but he's on his own on that one! I have some shopping and cleaning to do! Although, I am sure I can find time for a movie or two! There are 24 hours in a day, after all.

Sounds fun and festive to me!

Best City EVER

Chris and I had no reservations about moving across "town" from a northern suburb of Denver to a southern suburb of Denver. It would have been the equivalent of moving from Mt. Pleasant to Midland (roughly).

And I love it here. I mean REALLY love it here. For a million reasons. Today was my second outdoor run (as I anxiously await fall and days when it's too cold to run outside--I am really done with this heat!) after a month long hiatus. Ok, maybe it was longer than that.

This morning, with a light breeze and a perfect running temperature, I set out to enjoy the crystal blue skies that can only be enjoyed from 5,800 feet above sea level. I was greeted by no fewer than 7 friendly dogs taking their owners for walks followed by human "good morning's" and "how do you like your shoes."

Trail running/walking in Highlands Ranch is apparently also a social event. I saw a mailman riding his bike to work, a local youth minister walking to church with three lunchboxes in his hands (he had repacked them for the kids who forgot them yesterday, I asked), a woman training for the Denver Rock-n-Roll Marathon in 2 weeks stopped to ask me about my shoes (yes, the super awesome Vibram Five Fingers!) and a park ranger who was cleaning up the coyote poop from the path and looking for their dens to make sure they are not posing a threat to the neighborhood.

Several happy wiggles from really cute dogs and even more mini-conversations with my neighbors. I don't know that life in a city can get much better than this. I love this place.