Tag: running

10 Reasons To Be Glad It’s Spring

Lauren6 Comments

Did you know yesterday was the first day of spring?

I did and if I had been planning ahead, I would have posted this yesterday.  Planning ahead instead of say, Googling chronic tiredness and then trying to convince everyone that I have a rare condition where I dream too much and all the energy my brain is using to create such vivid dreams is making me tired instead of allowing sleep to be restorative.  Oh dear, I’ve said too much.

Anyways.  It’s now spring!  And I don’t know if it was my trip to the sunny and eternally summer-like state of Arizona or the two days of 70 degree weather we had a couple of weeks ago, but I am ready for spring and here’s 10 reasons why.

1. The return of hiking season.

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My sister and I were just lamenting about the fact that last St. Patrick’s Day we were out on a hike in Boulder.  This year, it’s a week past St. Patrick’s Day and there’s snow in the forecast.  I’m ready to feel the pain and exhaustion of a good hike, which always feels like I’ve never exercised in my life.  I want that feeling.

2. Baseball!

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Rockies Opening Day is so soon.  They put out their new commercials yesterday and they just made me want to be friends with the whole team.  Fingers crossed for a better season than last year.

3. Spring birthdays.

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  I love other peoples’ birthdays!  All the celebrating but none of the center of attention-ness.

4. Fresh spring flavors and meals.

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And by that I specifically mean tacos.  Oh so many tacos.  But also fresh asparagus, light salads and sweet fruit.  Warm hearty comfort foods make winter taste oh so delicious, but I’m so ready for something a little brighter.

5. Trips to the Farmers’ Market.

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And all the expensive produce that I am suddenly convinced I need when I am there.  In similar but not-exactly-related news, I really want to sign up for a spring/summer/early autumn CSA this year!  I spent some time yesterday doing some farm research and have a few picked out that I need to debate over and then that part where I convince Joey to shell out a big lump sum for vegetables.

6. Spring blossoms.

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Apart from turning leaves, is there anything more breathtaking than freshly blossoming trees?  Not to mention that sweet delicious smell they produce.  The white ones are beautiful but the pinkish purple ones?  My favorite!

7. Easter.

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And all the brunching, family bonding and Easter egg hunting that comes with it.

8. The arrival of the Bolder Boulder. 

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Actually I am terrified for “America’s Best 10K” because I feel I might die every time I’m done running 3 miles, which is in fact only half the distance of a 10K.  Thank goodness it’s a race where walking, keg-standing and slip-n-sliding is highly encouraged.

9. Our family trip to Vegas. 

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This is not a picture of Vegas.  This is a picture of alcohol, which we will consume in Vegas.  And my sister will finally be able to do this legally.  Because she’s turning 21 in April.  Yay!

10. It’s not winter! 

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And I will celebrate any season that isn’t winter.

Happy 2nd Day of Spring!

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What part of spring are you most excited about?

What’s your favorite spring meal?

Have you ever self-diagnosed yourself with a rare condition after doing too much Googling?  Still just me on that one?

Weekend Things & Boulder International Film Fest

Lauren3 Comments

Spoiler Alert: I will be talking about two movies that you will probably never see, but if you seek out depressing films, stop reading this post and go see Easy Rider and Lore.

Good morning!  Is it really Monday again?  Please say no.  Just kidding, I don’t actually hate the work week and I had a pretty exciting and eventful weekend, full of lazy mornings, family, food, film and some lovely Colorado weather.  And before you start hating me for bragging about having good weather, please know that snow is all over our forecast for this week.  *Shudder*  

Anyways, in no particular order, highlights of this weekend included:

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1. A late Saturday morning breakfast, followed by an outdoor run that was so windy I wanted to scream but that was perfectly lovely when we turned around and ran with the wind.

2. Happy Hour at SALT on the Pearl Street Mall.  I ate two sliders and my weight in roasted cauliflower covered in some cream sauce.  Afterwards, Joey and I both wondered why we don’t eat more cauliflower.

3. An exciting (albeit sadly ended) CU basketball game.  This was my Christmas gift to Joey and being the horribly uninvolved student that I was, I never once attended a game while I actually went to CU, so it was way fun to see all the school spirit.  And to sing the CU fight song literally every 3 minutes…

4. Strawberry Pancakes on Sunday morning.  I made a strawberry simple syrup last week and saved all the leftover sugary strawberry pieces, so I blended them up and added them to the pancake batter and they were divine.  A pleasant hint of strawberry sweetness, plus we had buttermilk on hand and buttermilk always makes pancakes better.

5. A simple Sunday evening where I attended yoga with my mom, ate a delicious dinner that I completely avoided helping make and some mature movie viewing.  For the record, we picked Peter Pan.  Neither of us had seen it in years and it was so great.  I swear you have a whole new appreciation for Disney movies when you watch them as an adult.

And finally…

6. Boulder International Film Fest!

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This was the 9th year that Boulder hosted a slew of mostly unknown films, documentaries and shorts, some of which have gone on to be Academy Award nominees.  I don’t know how we’ve never been, but this was totally up our alley and believe me when I say it was so hard to narrow the list of films we wanted to see down to a reasonable number.  The films are shown at 4 different locations.  We ended up seeing one at the Boulder Theater and one at the First Methodist Church across the street.

Friday night we saw Easy Rider.  This movie actually came out in 1969 and while I’d never even heard of it, both my parents assured me that it was a classic.  Just picture Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding down the highway on big ol’ choppers, with long hair and giant bug-eye sunglasses.  Total hippies.  Oh and Jack Nicholson looks about 20 years old in the movie.  Although I loved the soundtrack, the fact that they travel down to New Orleans and the whole free love vibe the main characters had going on, I won’t lie, the end of the movie was seriously depressing.  They all die!  Actually, they are all murdered by southerners.  My mom was not feeling proud to be a southerner by the end of the movie.

On Saturday afternoon Joey and I saw Lore, which was a sold out showing.  It was a beautifully filmed and strikingly sad depiction of the harsh realities of being a Nazi family in Germany just as WWII has come to an end.  I always find films about WWII to be so fascinating and moving.  How could an event like that not be?  For me, the movie was interesting in that it showed things from a German family’s side.  I found myself both hating and pitying them.  Such a tricky subject to film and I really applaud the makers of Lore for doing such an amazing job.

Okay okay, I’ve talked enough.  Happy Monday!

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What was the highlight of your weekend?

Have you ever been to a film festival?

What is your favorite Disney movie?