Dooce and UNC and food philosophies

So, I realized that I haven't yet mentioned that I'll be leading a book discussion on Very Bookish in April. The little profile about me is already up, as is the preview of the book I'll be discussing. The book, by the way, is Dooce's new book, It Sucked and then I Cried. I have been dying to read this book since she first announced that she was writing it, and now I have it right here on my Kindle! So you should all order or check out a copy and read along with me over there.

Also, Dooce is coming to Denver to do a reading, and I've been planning to go for quite some time (before we even knew when we were moving here), but I've just realized that her reading is literally at the exact same time as the NCAA basketball tournament championship game. Now, if UNC (my team since age six) loses before then, maybe I can TiVo the game and watch it later. But if UNC is playing for the championship? I HAVE to watch it live. HAVE TO. Come on, Dooce. WHY DID YOU HAVE TO PICK THAT EXACT DAY AND TIME? Do you really think your readers don't care about basketball? Or is it because there are no real contenders in Colorado?

I have more to say about weight-loss surgery, and specifically about all the issues of judgment and blame and stereotyping that it raises, but I think I need to save that for another day. There's been a lot of serious weight-related talk around here recently, and I need a break.

But I do have it on the brain, still, and maybe that's why I have a question about eating. Not necessarily weight-related, but just habit related. Are there foods you restrict for yourself? No red meat, no dairy, no sweets, etc.? If so, why? Do you have a general philosophy about food and diet?

More on weight-loss surgery

Well, I suppose I can't write two posts back to back about weight-loss surgery and not follow it up with more discussion. So, let's discuss.

First of all, nearly all of your comments were incredibly supportive. I was very touched. I didn't agree with all of them, to be honest, but even when people said things I didn't agree with, they came from a place of genuine caring and meaning well. So I appreciate that.

I want to clarify a couple of things about all this. I think this may be something that is difficult for people who have never struggled with their weight to understand.

If there is a diet out there, I have tried it. If there is an exercise plan out there, I have tried it.

I haven't been blogging my whole life, so you can't know. But Weight Watchers was only the latest in a lifelong series of attempts at weight loss. And when I say lifelong, I mean it. I have diary entries from second grade talking about how I never wanted to go back to school because the boys in my class were mean and called me fat.

Here's a partial list of what I have tried: the Zone, Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, diet pills, exercising for hours every day, a general "healthy diet" of lean protein and good carbs, the fruit diet, drinking water instead of eating when I'm hungry, eating lots of small meals a day, cutting out all snacks, cutting out dairy, restricting myself to 1,000 calories a day, detailed meal plans, making sure to get at least 30 minutes of exercise every day (and forms of exercise include aerobics, step, weight training, elliptical training, hiking, running, jogging, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, interval training, yoga, pilates, swimming, and many combinations thereof), not going to bed until I've done at least 500 crunches and sit-ups, working with a nutritionist, working with a doctor, starvation.

I have tried these things. Some of them have been effective, but only temporarily. Not only do I gain all the weight back, plus some, if I stop doing those things--but they also stop working while I am still doing them.

I do not see surgery as an easy way out. I do not see surgery as a magic pill. I would not be considering it at all if I thought that I could lose the weight, and keep it off, any other way. But years and years of going around and around and around and never really getting anywhere has shown me that I do need to do something serious to fix this, before I develop serious health problems.

Here's the thing. I know that everyone, EVERYONE, has to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly in order to maintain their weight. What I am saying is that doing those things isn't enough for me. Having surgery is not an easy way out because it requires that I do those things after the fact. But what it DOES mean is that doing those things will actually help.

I think that this post by Mandajuice articulates perfectly the mindset that is borne of so many unsuccessful attempts at weight loss. I'm going to quote some of it here:

Halloween is a perfect illustration of the way the surgery has worked for me. I LOVE candy. I eat it every day. Normally, though, I'll eat maybe one or two pieces and then I'm done. I stop. I just... don't want any more. I think this MIGHT be how "normal" people feel about candy. They like it and they eat it in moderation and then they stop thinking about it.

Obese people? HELL TO THE NO. When I was heavy and there was candy in the house, I would eat it until it was gone. And if I wasn't eating it? I was THINKING about eating it. It was THERE and I knew it and I would spend days, natch, WEEKS punishing myself over my inability to control myself. I never EVER felt full and as soon as the candy was gone, I would just buy more. I felt much the same way about cheeseburgers. And Hagen-Daas. And everything else.

The best part of having gastric bypass surgery and why I think it works so much better than dieting is that, if you're doing it right, you lose that internal dialogue. The one that distinguishes between what you "should" be eating and what you WANT to eat. I have these vivid memories of walking into a restaurant when I was heavy and reading the menu and REALLY REALLY wanting something "bad" like a cheeseburger or the fettuccine Alfredo, but also seeing that they had healthier choices that I "should" eat and feeling like being fat was always LOSE-LOSE. You lose if you eat what you WANT and you lose if you eat what you SHOULD.

Now WANT and SHOULD are completely the same for me and that battle is over, literally for the rest of my life. I order what I want and I naturally eat the amount of it that I should. WIN-WIN.

I know that surgery sounds drastic. And in a lot of ways, it is. I haven't decided that I'm necessarily going to do it. But Tess said this to me, and it really resonated: I don't think that it's any more drastic than a lot of the other things that I have tried in the past. Many of those things were unhealthy. Having your weight constantly go up and down is unhealthy. Starving yourself is unhealthy. Being pregnant at this weight is high-risk. Being pregnant after weight-loss surgery is not, as long as you make sure to take all the necessary vitamin and mineral supplements.

Over and over again, I have tried a new diet or exercise (or both) plan. I have had great results at first. I've thought that this was really the time that I was finally going to lose the weight for good. But that has never been the case. As long as I stick with this cycle, I will spend the rest of my life having to deal with this. I will spend the rest of my life going around and around, up and down. I will never break that horrible relationship with food. The guilt and shame will never go away. Even when, according to all the diet books and research about optimal nutrition and physical activity levels, I'm doing everything right.

I'd rather go through surgery, followed by a year or so of big changes and adjustments, food restrictions, and all the rest, than deal with what I'm facing now for the rest of my life. And to be clear, this surgery does restrict not only how much you eat but also what you eat--but the latter restrictions relax with time. From what I've read, it seems that nearly everyone who undergoes weight-loss surgery is eventually able to eat pretty much whatever they want--just in much smaller portions than they did before.

If you take anything from what I'm saying here, take this: Diets might work for some people. Reasonable amounts of exercise might work for some people. But they don't work for everyone. The things that work for you are not the things that will work for all other people.

Everyone's body is different. Mine is particularly stubborn, and it's not because I lead an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle. Multiple doctors have told me this as well: if someone with a different body were leading the lifestyle that I lead, they would be at a healthy weight. But, in large part due to genetics, those things aren't enough for me. If I choose to have surgery, it's not because I didn't feel like losing weight the "right" way. It's because what might be the right way for you wasn't the right way for me.

But having surgery will help make those healthy lifestyle habits--eating well and exercising regularly--effective for me. And that's what I'm really looking for.

Weight-loss surgery?

I've written about this before. It is definitely well-documented here. But I need to talk about it again. I'm nervous about posting this, and I'm even more nervous about the post I just wrote over at Not a Diet. But I need to talk about this.

I'm not as fat as I used to be, but I'm still pretty fucking fat. And it's making me miserable. It's been over a year since I've lost any real weight. And I'm starting to really, seriously wonder if there's any such thing as a permanent solution.

The thing about being fat is that it is always on my mind, always always literally all the time. I feel guilty every time that I eat, no matter what it is. Even if it's plain vegetables. Every time.

Torsten doesn't know how much I weigh and I keep it from him like it's this big secret because I find it so shameful and embarrassing. It's the only thing that I feel like I can't be totally open with him about and it has nothing to do with him and everything to do with me.

I hate every single photo of myself. I have learned so much through blogging, to let down walls and just be open and put it all out there. So I show lots of photos of myself, even hideous full-body shots, because what will hiding it do, how will it help? But still, I cringe.

I blame everything on being fat. If I get winded walking up stairs, I mentally beat myself up for being fat. Even if I'm with someone fit who has also gotten winded. If my feet hurt, I tell myself that it's my own fault for being fat. No matter what the problem, I blame myself for being fat. And then I don't see anything wrong with other people blaming things on me being fat. Even if that really isn't the reason.

I worry about my health. All my indicators are good and every doctor I've been to says that I'm healthy. But I just wonder how long it will last. Even though I eat reasonably well and get a fair amount of exercise, I feel in my head like I'm unhealthy. And I worry about pregnancy as a fat person.

I hate being carded, because my weight (although not the accurate weight) is on my license. I wanted to cry when I got my Colorado license and the woman asked me out loud what my weight was. At least in DC I could write it on a form and nobody would have to hear it.

If my shirt rides up while I'm wrangling a dog, the car and house keys, and two bags of groceries, and I don't have a free hand to pull it down, I worry about inducing nausea in anyone who happens to catch sight of my belly.

Just the thought of anyone weighing me, or measuring my waist, or my body fat, makes me want to cry. Literally, just the thought. It's such a source of pain for me and I don't feel like I can share that with anyone.

I hate that I can't fit into so many clothes, and I look so terrible in the ones I do fit into. I hate that I worry about fitting into chairs. Every time I hear a creak I assume that I've caused it. Even if it's on the other side of the room.

Losing all the weight that I lost... it doesn't matter anymore. It was a good start but I needed it to turn into something more, and it didn't. And the more research I do, the more I feel discouraged about the possibility that it ever will.

The worst part is that this is the only thing that's really wrong with my life. Not that I don't have the other, typical problems that come along with everyone's life. But being fat doesn't make dealing with those other problems any easier. It affects everything. And I don't know how to make it stop. I thought Weight Watchers was the solution, the permanent solution, but it wasn't. It was just a start and now I'm stuck, and frustrated.

I'm actually starting to think that maybe I should consider weight-loss surgery. I AM considering it, just by thinking about considering it. I posted about this in a lot more detail over at Not a Diet. Please go over there and read and tell me what you think. But please, play nice. You might have already noticed, but I'm a little sensitive about this.

Snowstorm!

So, we are expecting quite a bit of snow today--the weather reports are saying 15 inches in the Denver area, and two feet in the mountains. This will be our first big snowstorm since moving to Denver, and I have to say I'm a bit excited. Of course, we haven't gotten snow tires yet so we will be totally homebound, but that's the beauty of working from home.

I know Montana will love the snow too, because it snowed an inch or two right after we got her, and when I took her out for a walk she rolled all around in the snow like she was trying to make a snow angel. It was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen and I am looking forward to seeing more such antics this afternoon after the snow has started accumulating.

Also, I get to wear my new snowboots, the ones I ordered once we knew we were moving to Denver, with purple trim and laces, and which I haven't worn once because we haven't had any real snow.

I'm sure all the Coloradans who've been living here forever would kill to avoid this snowstorm, but both of us are all like, oooo. Snow! I assume that at some point this attitude will change? But then again, maybe not... I've spent eight years of my life living in Massachusetts and I still like snow. Perhaps once we own our own house and have to shovel the snow, that will be the turning point.

But the other lovely thing about the snow, and about Colorado weather in general? Is that despite the huge amounts of snow we're expecting today and tomorrow, this weekend it's supposed to be sunny and in the 50s again. That's what helps you not get sick of the snow, you know? A snowstorm doesn't mean that the weather is going to be dreary, freezing, and gray for weeks.

Basically, I love it here. And also, despite the shoveling that we'll have to do, I'm excited to have a house for the next snow, and a yard so that Montana can run around in the snow off-leash. Maybe if they do a good job plowing (and I assume that they do, since they're used to this sort of weather), we'll take her to the dog park this afternoon so she can make some off-leash snow angels there.

Hm. Maybe I'll add "snow-blower" to the list of things we need to buy for our new house.

On babymaking

Right before we moved to Denver, I had really strong baby fever. I wanted a baby RIGHT NOW THIS SECOND. I knew it wasn't the right time, but oh, I wanted one.

And now? Well, I still want a baby, but not in the same insanely overwhelming way that I did. If I got pregnant now, it would be fine. But it wouldn't be the plan, and I'm happy with the plan the way it is.

I'm not quite sure what shifted. I think it's just because I'm so distracted. We moved, we're moving again, we're buying a house, we're adjusting to working from home, we're exploring our new city, we have a dog. There's just so much going on. And I'm loving it. It's very fulfilling and new and fun and exciting. So there's not as much space for me to be wanting a baby.

And plus, it's so fun with Torsten, and so nice to be able to just, you know, go to the dog park or walk the dog whenever, and go out for dinner whenever, and sleep late on weekends, and go hiking and... well, everything you do when you don't have many responsibilities. And I'm not quite ready to give that up yet.

Plus, we've only been married for just under five months. We're still newlyweds. And I want to enjoy that. A lot of stuff has happened for us very quickly, or at least it feels like it's been very quick when you read along, but for us it really hasn't been that quick. We'd been planning to move to Denver for about six months before it actually happened. We'd been wanting a dog for years, and knew that as soon as we lived somewhere that allowed pets, we would get one. We weren't planning to buy a house quite so soon, but it makes sense for our situation, so there you go.

But right now, that's enough for us. We want to take a chance to settle in to our new house and our new city, do some decorating, relax, maybe travel a bit more, just revel in each other and our dog a bit more. And then we'll figure out the whole baby thing. It won't be TOO long, but it won't be next month, either.

It's funny, though, because now that we're in a position where we're pretty much set, checklist-wise, to have a baby at any time, it's made me start thinking about what it will REALLY be like when we have a baby. Like, we talk about where we want to travel over the next couple of years, and then it occurs to us that oh, you know, all the different places we want to go while visiting Torsten's parents in Germany? Like Italy and Switzerland and Berlin and France? Well, we're not exactly going to cross all those off the list before there's a baby, at least not if everything goes according to the current plan.

But on the other hand, my parents traveled with my sister and me when we were very little, and while it's a daunting and often frustrating thing to do, it can be done. And given how far we live from both our families, our kids are just going to have to learn to travel from an early age. So yeah, maybe not so much with the leisure vacations a year or two from now, but we can still be us and do the things we want to do, at least to a limited extent, once we have kids.

So, you know. They say you never really know when you're ready, but I think that I will know, or at least have a general sense. And I think Torsten will too.

What about you? If you have kids, how did you know you were ready? If you don't have kids, do you want them? How will you know when the time is right?

Birthday redux

Well, my birthday was great. Low-key and lovely. There was lunch from Whole Foods. A long trip to the dog park, where Montana played remarkably well with the other dogs (a small incident where she got knocked over by two labs stampeding after a tennis ball notwithstanding). Tons of Facebook messages and emails and phone calls and snail mail cards.

There was yummy Mexican at a hole-in-the-wall place that came highly recommended, and rightfully so. There was a delicious, if slightly too sweet, chocolate raspberry cake from Whole Foods.

There was a purple flower arrangement from Torsten:


And this book, also from Torsten:


(And, not birthday-related, although birthday-posted, there's a new post over at Not a Diet.)

And of course, there was, and continues to be, this amazing doggie:


All in all, a perfect day.

They say it's your birthday.

So, my birthday trip was awesome. I am still gleefully in disbelief over the fact that we live somewhere that allows us to take such fantastic weekend trips to such gorgeous places. We went to Glenwood Springs, about 150 miles west of Denver. We picked it for the hot springs, but that actually turned out to be the least interesting part of the trip (although still relaxing). The whole weekend was just great. You can see the full set of photos here.


I don't quite know what I was expecting, having never been to a hot springs before, but it wasn't a huge outdoor pool full of kids. You know? The water was lovely and we did find our own little spot to relax for awhile, but there were screaming kids with squirt guns everywhere, and the day was a little warm for such hot water, and we were both turned off by the fact that the pool charged separately for EVERYTHING--towel rental, to turn the bubbling jets on, to use the water slide.


Still, it was lovely and relaxing and I think we'll definitely go back there with our kids someday. And the town itself was gorgeous. We had a GREAT time. Somehow it hadn't really occurred to me that the drive would be through the Rockies (even though duh, west = mountains), but we did go through the mountains and it was BEAUTIFUL. We went through Vail and other gorgeous mountains, and at the highest point we were at about 10,600 feet.


The city itself is in Glenwood Canyon, and our hotel was right on the Colorado River. There was a little river walk that was perfect for quick walks with Montana. She was very well-behaved, but it definitely felt a little weird to be in a hotel room with a dog. And at first she freaked out in the elevator (she doesn't like new surfaces, and she was also scared of the movement), but by the end she was a total pro. And she's really good in the car. Basically, she's perfect and also adorable.



There was an excellent brewery nearby, and we drove up a random country road and stopped every little while to take photos of the stunning view. Then yesterday we took a tram up to the top of a mountain (Torsten nearly peed his pants on the windy tram ride, but it was totally worth it), and then took Montana for a little hike along the river through the canyon. We also had a yummy birthday dinner on Saturday night, and did a bit of outlet shopping on the way back, and then got home in the late afternoon and spent the evening relaxing.




And now here it is, my 25th birthday. I feel pretty great about being 25. When I was younger I don't think I ever would have imagined that I would be in this place in my life at this age, but I'm so happy with everything that's going on. This has been an amazing year, and it's only March. I have high hopes for 25 being even more fantastic. Starting with Mexican food and birthday cake tonight.

New blog and doggie and hot springs and weekend!

Well. I've been reading tons of design blogs, and I just added approximately ninety bajillion of them to my Google Reader, but I was struggling to remember all the pretty things I liked. So, I started a Tumblr blog where I'm posting all the interior design images that I find attractive or inspiring. It's really fun. I spent awhile going over archives of a bunch of sites that I liked, and I feel pretty caught up now, so I can just add photos as they get posted, for the most part.

Also, I showed the blog to Torsten? And he hated pretty much every one. Really, it's a miracle that we managed to agree on a house. But actually, I think he'd like the things about the pictures that I like, once he saw how they were applied in our own house. He just has trouble extrapolating from model homes to our own lived-in space.

In other news, we went on a hike out in the foothills last weekend, and had a great time. The landscape was gorgeous (full set here):





And Montana enjoyed herself, despite still having to wear her t-shirt (we figured out that we needed to tie it up, 80s-style, to prevent her from tripping):


But the good news is, she got her staples out yesterday and she's healing great, so no more t-shirt for her. We even took her to the dog park last night, and she was fine. And perfect timing, too, because this evening we're going to a hot springs as a pre-birthday trip for me, and she's coming with us. Though of course she won't be coming to the actual hot springs, there is a river nearby and I'm sure she'll appreciate going on lovely nature walks without having to be humiliated in front of the other dogs in her hobo-esque t-shirt.

It should be an awesome weekend. I'm excited for my first-ever hot springs trip, and for turning 25 in just a few days. I hope you all have awesome weekends too!

Planning for domesticity

So, the inspection went well. The inspector found some issues, but nothing major, nothing incredibly expensive, and nothing beyond what you would expect to find in a 45-year-old house. There are a few issues that we're definitely going to ask the seller to take care of, but I don't foresee any problems with that.

And, we've been officially approved, not just preapproved, for our mortgage.

So really, this is all proceeding very well and quickly and smoothly, relatively speaking. There's still more paperwork and final costs to work out and the appraisal has to meet or exceed the purchase price, but the biggest things have already happened, and had the right outcome.

So now we move on to logistics. Like, we just unpacked our entire apartment (and I will try to remember to take photos of it before that changes), and now we have to pack it all up again. We just paid a ton for movers, and now we have to do it again. And book them, and insure them, and all the rest.

Though it will be easier this time because we're just moving across town, and for a few weeks we'll be paying rent and mortgage so there's no rush, so we can move all our boxes and stuff ourselves, and only pay to have the furniture moved. So it won't be nearly as expensive or logistically difficult as moving across the country. But still. We just did it. We just need to remind ourselves that this is, hopefully, the last time we'll be doing this, at least for a very long time. I know you can never know what's around the corner, and what amazing opportunity might come up in some other city. But we plan to settle in Denver, and raise our kids here, and we hope that this house will be our final home, our forever home.

And ooo, it will be nice to have a yard so that Montana can go out whenever she wants and we don't have to go down with her and stand there holding her leash and pleading with her to pee.

Speaking of Montana, the vet pointed out that she has quite a bit of tartar buildup and recommended that we brush her teeth, so I bought her a little doggie toothbrush and toothpaste. I didn't notice until I was actually brushing her teeth that the toothpaste was poultry flavored. Am I the only person who finds that really disgusting? The thought of chicken-flavored toothpaste, combined with having her lips pulled back and my hand in her mouth, nearly made me puke. She seemed to like it, though, which almost made my desire to puke worse.

But oh, she is so worth it. I can't even deal with how cute she is, and how sweet, and how loving. When we get home after going out without her, and we let her out of her crate, she literally gallops down the hall to greet whichever one of us didn't go let her out of her crate. Oh, she is so precious. I can't even imagine how I'll feel about kids once we have them.

WHICH, by the way, will NOT be now. I know, we have the house, the dog, the city, etc., and all of you are just WAITING for me to announce my pregnancy, but no, it is not happening yet. I mean, I can't guarantee that accidents won't happen, but barring that? Not just yet. You'll all just have to keep waiting.

It's inspection day!

Today, in just a couple of hours, is the house inspection. I am remarkably nervous about it. Well, I suppose it's not that remarkable, given that if the inspectors find something major wrong with the house, it could cause the whole deal to fall through. In fact, that's really the only thing that could cause the deal to fall through.

We filled out what felt like several reams of paperwork yesterday in order to apply for our official mortgage, not just preapproval, but since we were preapproved at a higher amount than what our house costs, we don't foresee any problems there. We should be able to lock the rate today. I am learning so much about all this stuff. It's so interesting. Thank god I have parents who have been through this process before, so I can call them up and ask about escrow and what reasonable closing costs are and if they can just take a quick look at this contract before we sign it to make sure we aren't about to inadvertently sign away our souls.

So yes, today is really the last hurdle. I am trying to relax by reminding myself that the house was a fix and flip--i.e., an investor bought it for cheap and renovated it, and then tried to sell it for a profit (sucks for him that he bought at the exact wrong time, but our good luck). And if you're buying an investment property you'd probably get it inspected pretty thoroughly, right? We can only hope. I mean, we looked pretty closely ourselves and didn't see anything major, but we aren't inspectors and don't know what we're looking for.

In any case, it should be a fascinating experience--our first home inspection. Apparently it will take three hours. We have to be present, as does our real estate agent (who is turning out to be pretty great, actually, despite our initial misgivings). We picked an inspector who specializes in remodels and comes highly recommended. There will also be a sewer inspection and a radon test. Two things I had never heard of until this weekend, let me say. But both apparently quite important.

And we talked to a family friend of ours who is a landscape designer, as well as a childhood play space designer, about options for landscaping our backyard to minimize highway sounds as well as create a safe, lovely space for our kids and dog to play. She was incredibly helpful, and suggested conifers as the best sound absorbers, which means that we get to plant some lovely Colorado blue spruce trees. And we may look into a water feature, perhaps a pondless waterfall, to create some pleasing white noise while not creating a drowning hazard for small children.

After the inspection is done and any issues that come up during it are dealt with, and our mortgage is officially approved--well, I don't think there's too much left to do after that. Assuming the house appraises for at least the value of the purchase price (and there's little doubt that it will), there's no further reason for the sale to fall through. Just a bunch of details to take care of, like picking a homeowner's insurance plan and figuring out moving plans. And repacking everything we just unpacked. Won't THAT be fun? But so, so worth it. Because once this logistical headache part is done, we can move into our house. Our HOUSE.

Decor

As I'm sure most of you know, buying a house is a blur of mortgage applications and appraisals and inspections and paperwork and constant meetings with your realtor to sign just one more thing. And we are dealing with all that logistical stuff and actually I find it all very interesting. But oh, thinking about this house which will so very soon be ours... it's like a blank canvas. It's just been redone, so we don't need to worry about the house itself. But the furnishing, and the decor? I don't even know where to start.

I've never really decorated before, at least not since I was into posters and dorm room chic. Our DC apartment had some framed artsy photos and a couple of paintings hanging up, but that was it. 95% of our furniture is from Ikea, and we never painted because it's too much of a hassle to paint back when you move out.

But oh, I love accent walls and bright colors and interesting artwork and light fixtures and cabinet handles and lamps and vases and fascinating furniture that fits together beautifully but unexpectedly.

What we're starting out with is so minimal it's almost laughable. Our house has eight rooms, not counting the basement or the bathrooms: 4 bedrooms upstairs, and a living room, family room, kitchen, and dining room downstairs. The basement is another big room with a bedroom off it, so I guess that counts as ten rooms, but I'm not even thinking about basement decor yet, so let's not go there.

In terms of the furniture we already have... well, there isn't much of it, at least not when you spread it out over eight rooms instead of the two we lived in for so long. We have a bed, dresser, and two nightstands for the master bedroom. We have a mattress, and just a mattress, for the guest room. We have a desk for each of the other two bedrooms, which will be turned into our offices, at least for now. We have a bookshelf to go in one of those offices as well. We have a couch, coffee table, and TV stand for the living room. We have a small table and four lightweight chairs for the dining room. We have a lone armchair for the family room. We have one area rug that can go... somewhere.

We also have an Ikea entertainment center, but it is too big for the layout of the living room and the color of the wood (very light) would clash with the floors of the house, so I think we're going to put that in the basement and turn the basement into a bit of a media center, eventually. Once we have somewhere to sit on while enjoying the media. Other than the floor.

A lot of the furniture that we do have is stuff that we eventually want to upgrade. The dining room table, for example, really doesn't fit the dining room. It's too small and the wood is all wrong. We'd like a glass coffee table for the living room, I think. Our bookshelf is already full to bursting, so we need another one of those. It would be nice to have a second armchair in the family room. We'd like a bedframe for our bed, and a proper set of furniture for the guest room. Eventually we'll need kiddie furniture for two of the bedrooms (or at least that's the plan). We'd like some furniture on the patio too. Maybe a china cabinet or something in the dining room. And I assume we'll want some assorted end tables and whatnot on which to display photos, vases, and other accessories. Plus, we need artwork for the walls. And let's not even get started on the yard.

Obviously we aren't doing this all at once. We do plan to go to High Point next time we visit my parents in North Carolina--it's the furniture Mecca, where you can get high-quality furniture at pretty much any price point. People go there just for that. They stay in hotels and buy truckloads of furniture to furnish their entire houses at once. We won't be doing that. We don't have the funds and I think we'd like to add on to and upgrade what we have slowly, over time.

But oh, just looking around and trying to get inspired is so fascinating. I bought Elle Decor yesterday and while I was overwhelmed at the high-end nature of what they featured ($2,000 teapot? Anybody?), the colors and the stylish furniture that they featured was just so beautiful. A lot of it isn't what we want for our house--too outre or modern or whatever--but it's definitely inspiring.

It's hard to know what we want. A lot of stuff looks lovely in photos, but the idea of really having it in our house is just overwhelming, or wrong. A lot of rooms just look SO put together, like too much so, if that's possible? I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself clearly. I look at amazing design blogs, like this and this and this and this, and it's all so gorgeous and exciting. But at the same time, if I stayed in a guest room like this:


Well, I'd be impressed, but also I'd feel kind of like I was staying at a bed and breakfast. And I would wonder just how compulsive my host was to have created such a ridiculous guest room to begin with. Do you know what I mean?

And yet, I love this.


And this.


And this.


And this.


And this.


And I'm wondering how to do similar things in my own home. And I really have no clue if I can, or if it would look good if I did it, or how much it would cost. But I'm kind of excited to find out.

What do you think? Do you do any interior design in your home? What's your style? What are your inspirations?

HOUSE.

OMG YOU GUYS WE'RE BUYING THE HOUSE. YES WE ARE. OMG OMG OMG.

I am DYING with excitement. I mean, obviously we haven't closed yet, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work out, unless there's a financing issue (and we're preapproved, so there shouldn't be) or something horrible comes up during inspection (which I doubt). We went to look at the house again on Saturday, along with another in the same neighborhood, and decided we wanted to make an offer. We made the offer on Sunday, the owner countered two hours later, and we came to terms that night. We weren't planning on buying a house quite so soon. But then again, when I met Torsten I wasn't really looking for a serious relationship, and look how that worked out. If the perfect thing comes along, snap it up, even if you weren't expecting it to happen for a few more months. Right?

We are on a 12-month lease in our current apartment, but we knew we'd likely buy before the end of the lease term and made sure that we could break the lease--and we can, for the penalty of one month's rent.

And you guys, the house is perfect. The other house in the same neighborhood but not next to a highway that we looked at this weekend? It was smaller. It needed a lot of updating. The kitchen was fine, but low-end. The floors weren't great. The rooms were small. The closets were tiny. The whole thing felt wrong. And it cost $120,000 more than ours.

I tried making a pro and con list for our house, but everything was a pro. Even the highway, because it allows us to get a much nicer house in our price range.

We did a lot of research into the highway thing before we made the offer. The sound wall is great, and throws the sound up and over our house--unfortunate for the neighbors a few streets away, but good for us. It blocks particles from coming into the yard, so we don't have to worry about pollution. The decibel level isn't high enough to cause any sort of stress-related illness. We sat in the yard for 10 minutes and by the end, we barely heard the highway anymore. And in the house you can't hear it at all.

And the house. OMG, the house. Torsten took some photos to show his parents, and you can see them here (plus you've already seen a few photos).

The entryway:


The living room, with bay window visible this time:


View from the kitchen into the family room, which the renters are using as a dining room for some reason:


Three quarters of the master bedroom (unfortunately you can't see the GIANT double walk-in closet):


From the back:


You guys, this house has everything. If we had made a checklist of what we would look for in our ideal house, this would be it. For example:

• Five bedrooms. Not necessary, but it allows us to have two kids, each with their own bedroom, and an office for each of us, assuming we both keep working from home long-term.
• A beautiful finished basement.
• Hardwood floors upstairs and down.
• Gorgeous, remodeled kitchen.
• Great neighborhood, about 15 minutes from downtown, with nice houses, quiet streets, lots of families, good schools, and easy lightrail and shopping access.
• Incredibly spacious bedrooms with huge closets.
• Big windows and lots of light.
• Separate formal dining room.
• Two fireplaces.
• All new, beautifully-done bathrooms.
• Two-car garage.
• Big fenced yard with covered patio in the back.
• Brand new roof, two new furnaces, new electrical panel, and new paint. No updates needed for at least 15, and probably more like 25, years.
• A price low enough that if Torsten, the high earner of the two of us, were to lose his job, we'd still be able to cover the mortgage on my salary. It would be tight, but we'd manage.
  

Seriously, you guys, it is perfect in every way. Not only does it have everything we were looking for in terms of location, size, bedrooms, etc., but it is done in a beautiful style that perfectly suits our taste. I never would have thought that we would find such a perfect house, ever, much less so quickly.

Although really it hasn't been so quick, because I've been looking at it since it first came on the market in October, and other listings since even before then. And we first saw it in person almost a month ago. We've been doing tons of research and looking at tons of listings, and we know that this is the house we want.

Assuming there are no snags before we close, we move in in just a month. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG HOUSE.

Happy happy place

I forget who it was, but somebody recently said to me that even though they know I'm working and everything, hearing about my life makes it seem like I'm on an extended vacation. And I have to say, I kind of feel that way too.

I mean, I AM working, and a lot, and it's fine. In fact, it's great. I love working from home, having my own space and a lovely window and not having to commute, and being near Torsten and having healthy lunches and having Montana around being adorable all the time.

But my life just feels so relaxed and lovely, you know? Maybe this is a honeymoon period but it's more than that. It's just a quality of life difference. Working from home is a big part of it, but being in a city that we love makes a huge difference. Wanting to get out and explore is such a new feeling. Having fun, beautiful places to explore, and a car that gets us to all of them... it's so nice. Having a dog forces us to get outside and move around, and I feel great about that.

I'm losing weight. I feel like I'm slowly starting to get to know my way around, and maybe even make a friend or two. I'm excited about the possibility of that house. I love the people here. I love the mountains. I love how much time Torsten and I get to spend together. I love that we feel settled already. I love that this place is so affordable. I love how friendly everyone is. And I LOVE the weather. Not just the unseasonably warm temperatures we've been having, but the sun and the lack of humidity. The sun! It just totally banishes seasonal depression. I can totally handle cold temperatures when there is sun to go with them.

And I just really love feeling at home, and permanent. There's no transience to this. This is where we want to be. I can't imagine a better place for us. I mean, every place has its drawbacks and I'm sure we'll find Denver's, but the good stuff we've found so far will definitely outweigh whatever bad stuff we come across.

I love thinking about the future. I love that we're so close to it. I love that there will be a home that we will make together. I love that there will be a family someday to fill that home. I was thinking about buying a house and being pregnant last night, and how fun it will be to decorate the baby's room. It just makes me so happy.

It's all so real, you know? It's right in front of us and it's ours for the taking, just as soon as we want to reach out and grab it. And knowing that, and being in the right setting for all of that, is just so relaxing.

Moving to Denver was scary. We knew we wanted to do it, but it was hard to uproot ourselves and move further from both of our families, particularly mine because we had been so near to them, especially my sister. There were so many unknowns. But we knew, in our guts, that it was the correct decision for us. And we were right. I just didn't realize until we got here to what extent it was going to make a difference. But it so, so has. We weren't unhappy in DC, not at all, but here? We are definitively, unequivocally happy.

More about the house, plus photos!

Your comments yesterday were SO USEFUL. Seriously. Torsten and I read them together yesterday evening, and found all the different perspectives very informative. Thank you!

I thought you might like to see a few photos of the house. A lot of them were in a weird animated form that I couldn't save, but there are a few I can show.

See the beautiful kitchen? It's even nicer in person.


You can't tell in this photo, but the dining room is painted purple. Bonus!


Part of the reason why the living room is so bright is that there's a huge bay window just to the right of this photo. Also, note the fireplace. It's one of two.


And here's the foyer, with the lovely tile floor, and you can also see the wrought iron railing on the stairs. Which lead to another level of hardwood floors, with giant bedrooms, spacious closets, and two lovely remodeled bathrooms.


Plus, it's not just the floors and whatnot that have been redone. The house has two new furnaces, a new roof, a new electrical panel, new paint inside and out, and new pipes. Really, it's great. I'm only sorry I can't show you more photos.

We're going to take another look at this house, as well as at a similar house a few blocks away that costs $114,000 more, this weekend. We're in no rush, especially as our understanding is that nobody else is currently considering buying this house. We just want to get a feel for it and whether or not it should continue being a contender. We're going to take a lot of your advice and check out the house at different times of day, and talk with the neighbors. We're also going to look into measuring decibel levels and finding out more about possible air pollution.

Also, we talked to the real estate agent again and made it a bit more clear that we were still interested in the house, and she was very accommodating and also got us the contact information for the next-door neighbor, whom I will be calling. So perhaps I painted her in too negative of a light? I will always inherently be suspicious of any realtor, or anyone who works on commission, because they all have a vested interest in selling you this vs. that, and it's hard to know what to trust. But she is knowledgeable and helpful and now that she knows that we're interested in this house, she's being very useful. So for now, I think we'll likely stick with her.

We are definitely taking our time with this, and we're going to keep exploring other options as we go. But do the photos help you see why we love the house? Because really, we LOVE it. And the rooms not pictured are more of the same. I HEART.

House-buying beginnings

Now that we're in Denver, and we know we want to settle here, Torsten and I have started dipping a toe into the whole house-hunting endeavor. Not REALLY, in that we haven't started applying for mortgages and we don't plan to buy right away. But we do want to get to know the area, think about price ranges and neighborhoods, and take a look at the different houses that are available at different price points. We also want to figure out what our priorities are in a house and what areas we're willing to compromise on.

We're starting to figure out our parameters, but we're also in over our heads, I think. We don't want a mansion. We also don't want a tiny starter home that doesn't have room for a family. This isn't the market to buy a little house under the assumption that you can flip it for a profit in a couple years and move on to something bigger. We'd rather spend a bit more up front, lock in a low mortgage rate, and stay in the house pretty much forever.

So we want three bedrooms plus an office/guest room, so that we can have two kids and a bedroom for each of them, plus a place for visitors. We'd like a fireplace. We much prefer hardwood to carpeting. We'd rather a house that's recently been brought up to date rather than trying to deal with contractors and whatnot to update it ourselves. We don't want it to be unmanageably large, but we don't want to feel like we're on top of one another once we have a bigger family, either.

And we found a house that is very nearly perfect. It's two stories. It has hardwood upstairs and down. It has four bedrooms plus a fifth in the full finished basement. It's recently been redone. It has a two-car garage. The kitchen is spectacular. It has a living room and a family room, each with a fireplace. The bedrooms are spacious, with large closets. It has a really nice yard and patio. It's in a good neighborhood in a good school district, not downtown but not too far away either. It's near a light rail station and a Whole Foods. It's in our price range; in fact, it's cheaper than we would have expected. Literally, there is not one thing that we would change about the house itself.

But its location has a flaw, which may or may not be fatal. It is literally right next to the interstate. But it's not as bad as it sounds. The yard is roomy, and there's a fence, and then behind the fence is a huge gray concrete wall, and on the other side of the wall is the highway. You can't see it, and certainly you would never end up with a car accident in your backyard. But you can hear it.

I actually don't think I mind. You can't hear it in the house, only in the backyard, and because it's a highway and not a city street, there's no stop and go and honking and whatnot. The cars going by make a steady whooshing sound, almost like white noise. Torsten thinks he would mind it more than I do. There are probably ways to minimize the noise, like planting trees along the wall, or putting in some sort of water feature in the backyard.

I also like the wall itself, because it means that you have total privacy. Nobody can ever build a house directly behind ours so that we can see into each other's windows. I like that.

So of course this raises questions. We have a realtor but we didn't exactly seek her out. She responded to an email query and has sort of become our realtor by default. She has basically dismissed this house as a contender, saying that the noise may not bother us now but it might bother us later. She might be right, but on the other hand I think it's likely that we would get used to the noise and stop noticing it altogether.

The realtor also says that we have to think about the implications of the highway when we consider trying to resell the house someday, which is true as well. But then she did research into other houses on that block and said that the highway wall doesn't seem to have affected the prices much. Plus, we aren't trying to make money off our house. We just want a house at a locked-in mortgage rate so we can pay it off and own it and not have to worry about renting and moving and inflation and all the rest.

So I can't totally figure out why she is trying to talk us out of this house. It's a good deal because it was a fix and flip and the flip part hasn't happened due to the market. Its price has been reduced by $54,000 since it first went on the market five months ago, and we could certainly get it for well under its list price. It has everything we want. And what she is telling us is that to get another house that meets our criteria in that or a similar neighborhood, we'd need to pay $100,000 more, at least. Or else we'll have to live 45 minutes outside of town.

So then the question is, would we pay $100,000 more to live in that house not by the highway? Or is the highway not really an issue for us, and therefore it's actually good that we've found the perfect house by the highway because it saves us some money? Except that she says that in the past the highway hasn't affected the price... but maybe now in such a buyers' market, people can afford to be pickier? Really, which houses sell and which don't seems to be kind of a random thing as far as I can tell.

And why isn't the realtor discussing this with us? Does she somehow know better than we do what things we should and shouldn't put up with? My mother suggested, and I think this is a very good idea, that we see if we can get in touch with someone else who lives on that block, and talk to them about what it's like to live next to that wall.

In the meantime, we aren't really doing anything. Our realtor knows what we're looking for, and we've seen some other houses and lots of other listings, but nothing that we've liked nearly as much, even at much higher prices. And that's the other thing. Even if we did decide to pay $100k more for the same house not on the highway, such a house doesn't necessarily exist. We have very specific things that we look for in a house, and it's rare to find them all in one place.

So, we're looking, trying to get a feel for things in and out of our price range, for comparison. And so far everything that I've seen makes me like this house on the highway more. I could see raising our family in that house. But we aren't in a hurry. Although I know that I'll be very sad if we find out the house has sold. That isn't a reason to rush into anything, but maybe it's a sign?

I just don't know. We've never done this before, and that's not helping either. But I really, really love that house, and so does Torsten. I guess that's a starting point.

WHO'S a poor puppy?

OK, she's not a puppy (although we keep calling her that), but Montana is definitely a poor doggie.

I wasn't going to post about her again because three days in a row seems like a bit much to talk about my dog (although really I could talk about her forever because OMG I LOVE HER and everything she does is obviously fascinating). But then she had a little incident yesterday evening.

When we finished work we took her to the dog park for the second day in a row. She was doing really well and we were very impressed. She was running around, chasing dogs and letting them chase her and generally interacting and playing very well. Then she started coming up to Torsten and me and not leaving, and then I looked down and saw a big smudge on her side.

I looked closer and it wasn't a smudge, it was blood. It was hard to see through her fur, but when we pulled it apart we could see that it was a pretty deep gash. We still don't know how it happened. We were watching her the entire time, and we didn't see any incidents at all. The vet thinks maybe she was running and gashed herself on a stick caught on a fence.

Of course, it was after business hours so we couldn't take her to her regular vet (if having her first appointment set for three days from now counts as "regular"). Luckily, in researching vets a few days ago, I had found a highly recommended emergency clinic (though I hadn't expected to need to go there quite so SOON), so after a call to a friend to get her to look up the clinic details I'd emailed to myself (because of course I hadn't brought my BlackBerry with me), we went there.

The whole thing ended up costing $200, but actually, the emergency vet was great. They saw her almost right away, they treated her well, and they were very skilled. They shaved a square patch around the laceration, flushed out the wound, and gave her several staples to hold it closed. She was so well-behaved that she didn't even have to be sedated during the process, which is apparently very unusual. They also gave her a shot of antibiotics and gave us seven days' worth of the medication to follow up with.

Then she started licking her wound, and they said that to keep her from doing that, or chewing on it, we could either put a t-shirt on her or put one of those big plastic cones around her neck.

Guess which option we chose?

We went walking, again.

Well, we had a lovely weekend with our dog. On Saturday we went for a six-mile walk (hike? But flat) at Barr Lake, north of the city. We were planning to do the full 8.8-mile lake perimeter walk, but part of it turned out to be a wildlife refuge with no pets allowed, so we had to go halfway and then double back.

Still, we had a great time, and it was lovely, and when we got back Montana was so tired that she lay down to eat her dinner, which was pretty much totally adorable.

Torsten, as usual these days, manned the camera. Full set here.





Yesterday was much more peaceful, although we are totally turning into those people who bring our dog with us everywhere. But she is just so mellow and well-trained that it's no problem to have her. For example, yesterday we went to lunch at a restaurant with an outdoor patio, and tied her leash to the table leg, and she lay quietly without begging for food or getting up during the entire meal. As a reward (well, not really, but so that she could run around and just be a dog for awhile), we took her to a dog park and watched her slowly learn to play with the other dogs. She had a good time, though I think things will go better once she's a little more sure of herself and of the fact that we are not going to leave her.

Also yesterday, we booked a weekend trip to a nearby hot springs as a birthday present for me. This was recommended by Artemisia, and I am seriously looking forward to it. I've never been to a hot springs before, but isn't that the point of living in Colorado? Or at least one of the points? And, as further evidence of how we take our dog with us everywhere, the hotel we booked allows pets, and Montana will be coming with us.

Our first time boarding her will be when we go to Germany in May. I think when we come back from that trip and pick her up, that may be the moment when it gets cemented in her head that we are her forever family. After all, she was with that prison training program, and happy, for two months, but that didn't turn out to be her forever home, so it might take her awhile to realize that this is it, here with us.

Oh, and also this weekend? UNC beat Duke. If that isn't the perfect way to cap off the perfect weekend, I don't know what is.

Introducing Montana

Meet our new dog, formerly known as Dog A, Montana:


Is she not the most precious thing you've ever seen in your entire life? Ever?

Both she and the other dog (whose name was Tessa, though we would have changed it) absolutely captivated our hearts from the moment we met them. We had been leaning toward Montana already, and meeting them cemented it because Tessa, while adorable and sweet, was on the large side (probably 70 pounds, though she's listed at 60, and our apartment has a limit of 65), and VERY active and also quite strong and likes to pull a lot on the leash. Ultimately we decided that she would likely be better off with a bigger family with kids that will run around with her all the time.

Montana, on the other hand, is more mellow but still likes to go for walks and hikes. She can lie around the apartment all day with only short outdoor breaks while we're working, but she'll also love coming out with us for longer treks on the weekends. And you guys, she is just the sweetest, smartest, most adorable thing ever.


And damn, is this dog well trained. She's house-trained (and although we were expecting a few accidents with the stress of moving into a new home, she learned right away how to tell us she needed to go out). She's crate trained. She knows how to sit, lie down, come, stay, and heel. She knows tricks including shaking and rolling over. She is trained not to beg at the table and she knows to wait her turn. She doesn't bark and she's not destructive. But oh, is she smart. She definitely tested us, and is still testing us. The handler showed us a perfect sit-stay-come, and then we tried it, and she stared innocently off in the other direction as though she hadn't heard a thing. But we are passing her tests, and she's learning who's in charge. I took her for a walk yesterday and had her at a perfect heel, and we walked right past another dog, who was straining at his leash and yapping up a storm, and while she was definitely interested, she did not break her heel and we strolled right by, incident-free.


And oh, she just has the best personality. She's a little timid, but that has already gotten better, and we have high hopes that once she's relaxed and learned that we are a safe and loving home that is not going to give her up, she will start enjoying all the toys we bought for her. She has already chosen the kitchen floor as her lie-down spot of choice (probably because the tiles are cool), but she also likes to be with us and will walk back and forth between our offices, spending a stint under each of our desks.


She's a little thin--mostly just lean, but when she breathes in you can see her ribs, so I think she could stand to gain about 5 pounds. We'll talk to the vet, because we definitely don't want to over-feed her and give her weight problems, but I think she's just a hair too skinny at the moment.

After we picked her and filled out the paperwork and gave the check, she was taken away from us to be prepared, and then we attended a two-hour "go home" class together, where about 10 dogs and their handlers (inmates at the women's prison) came into a room and we were shown all the things they can do. And seriously, watching her? And how she sat in a perfect stay and then daintily picked her way among the crowd of walking dogs when called to come "in traffic"? I cried. I just can't believe she's ours. I love her so much. Now I have an inkling of how parents must feel. I love everything about her--how alert she is and yet simultaneously still timid, how she tries to test us but is ultimately obedient, how she elegantly scarfs down her food, her giant pointy ears like wings on her narrow face, the scar on her nose. She was absolutely worth the wait.

It's DOG DAY!

Do you remember years ago when Rosie O'Donnell had a talk show and a huge crush on Tom Cruise? And she talked about it all the time and then she finally booked him to appear on her show and for the entire week leading up to it she had giant signs on her set with pictures of him and captions like, "IT'S TOM WEEK" or whatever?

No? I'm the only one? Well, whatever.

My point is, that's how I feel about this week and the dog. Like I've been counting down to it every day, and last night I couldn't even SLEEP I was so excited, and really, how can I talk, or think, about anything else? Because OMG DOGGIE DOGGIE DOGGIE.

As I've mentioned, we're meeting two dogs, but we are definitely leaning toward one. They both have names already; if we get the dog we're leaning toward, we'll keep her name, but if we get the other one, we'll change it, although we haven't talked about to what yet. But her name is not that nice for a dog, and also sounds similar to my name, so if we get her, it will have to go. For now (in the interest of... protecting their privacy? Or something?), I will not reveal the names. If we get one of the dogs, I'll tell you her name tomorrow.

But, here are the two dogs. I've posted pictures of them before, but really, you can't do that too many times, can you? And this time I've added summaries of their website descriptions. They both sound amazing and I KNOW it's going to be tragically sad that we can't bring them both home.

Dog A:

• 3 years old, yellow Lab mix, approximately 50 pounds
  
• Mellow and smart
• Loves attention, good companion for just about anyone
  
• Loves outdoors but is sometimes distracted by rabbits
• Gets along with other dogs really well
• No interest in toys or balls at all; likes people, training, and naps

Dog B:

• 3 years old, "absolutely gorgeous" yellow Labrador Retriever, approximately 60 pounds
  
• Extremely well trained
• Was considered for assistance dog work but was disqualified due to love of chasing cats
• Good family pet
  
• Can be picky about her dog "friends"
• Active dog looking for an active family

I will let you know tomorrow how it all turns out! In the meantime, which dog would YOU lean toward? And which one do you think WE are leaning toward?

Thinking of dogs makes everything better.

Work is CRAZY right now. Last week was kind of a light week, with us still setting up and getting used to our home offices, and people still remembering that I was working for them, you know? But now they have the memo loud and clear and we have two huge deliverables due this Friday. And you know, being the editor, I get the stuff at the very end, after everyone else has pushed it to the very last minute getting the actual writing done.

And I get that, you know? I do. But it does mean that at the end of the process I am crunched and crazy whenever a deadline nears, because I am the last stop before delivery, and while that's happening I can't take on any unexpected work. I started early and ended late yesterday and the day before that and I expect more of the same today. I kept thinking that yesterday would be the last day but oh, it wasn't, because there is more and more and more of this, always more components, charts and figures and appendices and on and on and on. I went to bed last night straight after finishing up the most crucial piece, and my eyes were totally red and oh, I was so tired.

But after today it really WILL be done, because it HAS to be done because there is just no more time, and running into hard deadlines like that, as scary as it is when you're mired in the middle of it, well, I kind of like it because it means that there is an end in sight, and it is clear and finite and THERE. And I like that.

And it's very convenient that today is the last day of this, because tomorrow is dog interview day! I cannot even believe that in approximately 24 hours we might be bringing home a dog, our own dog, my first dog since I left home at age 17. We could watch the American Idol wild card show with her! We can go hiking with her this weekend! All these things we normally do in the course of our day-to-day lives... well, she'll be there!

Even if it doesn't work out with one of the prison program dogs (though I really hope it does, especially as we both have a very strong adoration for one of the dogs in particular that we're going to meet tomorrow, and in fact have already started referring to our future dog by her name, and yes I know that we're jumping the gun a bit but OMG I LOVE HER), at least after tomorrow we'll know and then can go right away to one of the great shelters in the Denver area. We won't have to wait around anymore, is what I mean, because there won't be anything we're holding out for.

But OOOO I hope it works out. The thought of that dog tomorrow is REALLY helping me get through today. And just imagine how much more the dog will help when she's actually nearby while I'm working! It will be wonderful and I'm relaxing just thinking about it.

Working from home: yes or no?

When I told people about our plans to work from home once we moved to Denver, I got quite a variety of reactions. Some people (us included) thought it was the Best. Thing. EVER. Other people thought we'd be ready to murder each other after a few days cooped up in the apartment together. A large segment of the people we told expressed concern that we would never get anything done. And quite a surprising number of people were mostly thrilled about the idea of getting to work in their pajamas.

Here's how working from home is turning out for us: awesome.

When we were in DC, I worked from 9 to 5, so with the two-hour time difference, my boss and I came up with a compromise: I work 8 to 4 Mountain time, which is 10 to 6 Eastern time. So, I'm working an hour earlier, but I get up at the same time because all I have to do is roll out of bed and start working.

Torsten gets up before me, which will be handy once we have a dog that needs to go out early in the morning. When I get up he comes out of his office and says good morning, and then we both go into our offices and close the doors so we don't disturb each other. Sometimes we even Skype each other from our desks. I know, we're lazy, but it's better than calling out and potentially interrupting a phone call or a very focused editing moment.

If anything, I feel more productive. I have a very nice space to work in, and there's no distraction around--no people talking, stopping by, etc. I do still have contact with my coworkers via phone and email, but the distance makes people, myself included, think a bit more before instigating contact, which means there aren't as many minor disturbances.

Plus, I don't feel like I'm just putting in my face time, you know? Because I'm not putting in my face time, so I just get things done. I'll take a break to shower and get dressed once I've checked my email and taken care of anything urgent, and then I'll have breakfast while working. I get a lot done--it feels like things just fly off my to-do list. I mean, it's still work, and there's still a lot of it. But it's not nearly as start-stop as it is in an office.

Around lunchtime, whichever one of us gets hungry first will knock on the other's door and ask about food. If we both have time, we'll eat together at the dining room table, but even if one or both of us is swamped, we spend a few minutes together in the kitchen, making our lunches.

And speaking of which, the making of the lunch? And the being at home? So healthy and money-saving! Sandwiches or leftovers every day! What a great idea! And no temptation to go out instead. Once we have a dog, add a couple short walks to the daytime routine and we are talking way totally healthy! Much more so than being cooped up in an office all day, not moving, and grabbing the first convenient thing for lunch, you know?

Plus, with the BlackBerry things are so flexible. If I want to go to the gym midday when it isn't crowded, I just go, bring along my BlackBerry in case anything comes up, and work an hour later to make up the time.

And the other thing that I LOVE? Other than finishing work at four when there is still so much daylight left? Is that when you're done with work at the end of a long day, you're exhausted, and all you want to do is go collapse on the couch with your husband? You don't even have to deal with the commute first. You just walk down the hall and there you are. BLISS.

Still, I can understand why some people wouldn't like to work from home. It's definitely unstructured, and you have to have a specific type of work, and specific type of coworker, and a specific type of attitude and self-motivation to make it work. I'm lucky to have the convergence of all three of those things.

What do you think? If you had the opportunity, would you rather work in an office or at home?

Outdoorsy Denver photos!

This weekend was very get-out-and-explore-our-new-town oriented. With the aid of this awesome list, we have some very cool places to check out for walks and hikes, and I hope to hit up all ten of them over the next few months. This weekend we went to number 1, City Park, and number 5, Highline Canal, although we stayed near the city for that one and still have plans to head further south to the more rustic parts of the canal some other weekend. Preferably with the dog.

I hear DC got some serious snow this weekend, which makes me think back to all those DC-ites who said, "But won't you be COLD?" when we told them we were moving to Denver. Well, apparently not, considering that it's been in the 60s and sunny almost every day since we moved here, and the forecast doesn't call for the weather to change anytime soon.

Sorry to all of you East Coasters. But if it's any consolation, I saw a whole bunch of robins this weekend. Spring is coming! And this pre-spring weather is absolutely perfect for walking around exploring the city. Torsten manned the camera (full sets here and here):




See why I love this place already? The mountains are just painfully beautiful. I totally understand why people say the mountains get in their blood. I'm not sure I'm quite there yet, but I can already tell I'm headed in that direction. They've already gotten under my skin and they are definitely headed toward my bloodstream.

And oh, how much more fun will it be to take all these walks and hikes with a dog? This is doggie week! Our interview is on Thursday and my fingers are seriously crossed that things work out with this prison training program. But if they don't, there are many other dogs that need homes in shelters and rescue programs, and I know we'll provide a good one.

Also this weekend, I had brunch with Penny, who is as charming and fun as I was expecting. She has known for months about our plans to move to Denver, and has provided information, links, and even attempts at job networking for us. She has been invaluable and it was so exciting to finally get to MEET her and just sit down and chat instead of being like, "So wait, what's the weather like in November? And what neighborhoods should we check for apartments?" I had a great time, and I didn't even have a panic attack after the fact where I freaked out that she must have hated me. This is serious progress, right?

Three days til dog! Eeeeeeeeeee.